My 1st Year @ ChristianBlog.Com: 100-Blogs and 1000-Comments
My 1st Year @ ChristianBlog.Com: 100-Blogs & 1000-Comments
When I first found ChristianBlog.Com in December of 2005 it was still offline and, according to the Site News, it was in the process of under-going a complete refocus and redesign. I came back again and again for a period of about two weeks in anticipation of joining. I was looking for a site where the content would be "safe" and I could spend time getting to know more Christians. Updates on 12/15, 12/19, 12/21, 12/22 kept me chomping at the bit until finally the membership was opened to the public for a beta status testing group. I was ecstatic to get in on the ground floor of a newly redone site. I joined ChristianBlog.Com on December 23, 2005 and I am one of the first handfuls of members that first week. I am certain there have been days along the way when John and his beta team had second thoughts about keeping me here!
I came as a brand new blogger and knew nothing of what blogging was or should be or how web-based software worked. For the first month I stumbled about clicking here and there and tried to figure a lot of what the site was about on my own. Then I suddenly became "knowledgeable about the site". Why I was shooting off message about things that "weren't working" or "looked wrong" to me. I was certain that the beta team at CB must be feeling "blessed" to have someone like Me to "help" them through all this stuff. They would reply, being ever so polite and understanding. Explaining and re-explaining that the site was in "beta status" and yes there were some issues to be resolved and some features still needed to be completed and "thank you" for the mention of them. Well that was all I needed, I was off in a dead run (click?) to find every thing that wasn't working. Their God given portion of patience was large and forgiving to say the least!
I also, about that time, became a super blogger! You know the type. It doesn't matter what you write, their goal is not to find the good it, but to find some "error" you may have made and "correct" it. Oh don't misunderstand; I did this all in the name of Brotherly Love and well...foolishness. You see, I hadn't really taken the time to find out what the site was about or ask what the goals of the site even were. I had not even stopped and read the Policies or the Agreements. I simply had determined in my own mind and in my own understanding what ChristianBlog.com was going to be! As it turned out, I was wrong and it became evident very quickly and the hard way.
In swift, quick, and no uncertain terms the beta team educated me on how to respond and how not to. I was reminded of the importance of following the "rules" established by the Policies of the site and that the Agreements were to be read and not simply glossed over. How to respect the Topic of the blog, by keeping comments on topic and not "willy-nilly" as other thoughts popped to my mind. I had a few blogs and comments removed; not because of they were bad blogs or comments, but because I wasn't honoring the Agreement I had made when I registered/joined the site. It took a big swallow to down that bite of pride, but the learning I've done here has been a growing blessing the longer I continue to be apart of the community.
Over the last year, I have been blessed to meet and get to know Brothers and Sisters in Christ from across the farthest reaches of the globe. I have heard their struggles and praises. I have prayed for many and many have lifted my family and me in prayer. A few of those, who share many of the same struggles I do, have become good friends.
Some of those who are my elder have given gentle helpings of Life Wisdom, which all we younger men, husbands, and fathers need. They have been honest and Christ like as they have they shared encouragement, instruction and even correction. It has been a blessing to see both my wife (homeschoolmom) and my mother (poodlelady) and my sister (songbird)join CB and be apart of a ministry I have so very much enjoyed. I can only hope that as my home church friends begin to use the site for our Small Group Blogging (thetruthproject), that even more "family" will become a part of ChristianBlog.com
So here I am 100 blogs and 1000 comments later, reflecting on so many prayers, praises, joys, heartaches, hopes, dreams, visions, celebrations, losses, knowledge, questions, answers, laughs, tears, and friends; and I feel like I have really only seen the "tip of the iceberg" of what God intends to do with this ministry and the people who are apart of it. We have made a choice to do what is right and good, in the eyes of the Lord, in choosing a site that is about honoring him and the family. My many thanks to John, whom I am honored to call friend, for allowing me to be a member of such a unique beginning of a ministry like ChristianBlog.Com and I encourage him to continue to fight the good fight in keeping it a "safe" haven for the Body of Christ.
Your Brother In Christ,
GreyBear
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Author: greybear
Location: Lima Ohio USA
Gender: Male
Age: 44
Blog Entries: 185 (archive)
Blog Comments: 1265
i am a christian(31yrs), husband(17yrs), father(6), & friend. i'm a ragamuffin sinner saved by grace. as a christian, i am a work in progress. i love my wife & kids and believe god intended marriage & parenting to be for a lifetime.......
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i came to christ at an awana's night at the age of about 12. no fireworks or deep sobbing, just a simple understanding that i needed christ. many thanks to those leaders who took the time to prepare my heart for god's call. my parents were not real consistent in...
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You were such a welcoming voice of CB when I first joined ... and had a lot to do with my actually wanting to stay. Thanks for being such a integral part of the testing and "bug finding" in the development of CB with John. 
