Blogging as a Community

Early on I began to experience blogging as a community. I had been blogging for about three weeks when, on January 19, 2005, I got my first comment on my blog from Kevin. I was so excited to have made contact with someone in the Blogosphere.
Here is what he said:

Great analogy! I am struggling here too. It is a scary thing to have to make a decision when a habit would make life so much easier, and a rule just makes it a breeze!

I loved the way that he resonated with and validated something that I wrote. His comment, and others like his, greatly encouraged me to share my struggles, pain and feelings on my blog.  I still keep up with Kevin today - not so much on his blog but more on Facebook. I consider him a friend even though we have never met in person.

A few weeks ago Ann and I had the honor of sharing a meal with Therese here in Chicago. I first saw her name on a blog that we were both commenting at. Here is how she responded to a post I wrote about taking refuge in God back in January 2006:

I can remember a time in my life when I had no worship, no faith to fall back on, and the desperate sadness you describe had Nobody to cling to. It's bad enough with a Savior. Without - I wouldn't go back to that for anything.

Again a person resonated with something i had written. A relationship of sorts began back then and our afternoon together simply made that relationship even more meaningful. Over a meal we had a chance to share our life experiences and enjoy each others company.

This afternoon I met and shared a great time of lunch and fellowship with Keith (picture taken today), an old Chicago area friend from the Blogosphere. Interestingly enough we also met as we shared comments on that same blog Therese and I commented at many years ago. Soon after that I began visiting his Broken Pilgrim blog and he mine. Our time this afternoon passed by so quickly and we talked about all different aspects of our lives. We also shared about our common bond of faith and love of God. It was like we had known each other for a long time - which I guess we have.. in a virtual blogging community sense.

I could go on and on about all the great people (like Karen, Missy, Millie, Wanda, Sue, Ron, Gregg, Eddie, Ed and many others (I apologize if I omitted your name) that I have met in this forum - some I have never even seem a photo of. Yet I feel that I know them to a degree because I have shared a conversation or two with them in the comments section and sometimes in an email thread. And those have been so enlightening to me.

I close by inviting any of you within proximity of Chicago this summer to send me an email if you would like to meet up for coffee or lunch. And I extend the same invitation to anyone close to Kansas City. It would be great sharing some non-virtual time with you.