I'm convinced now that there is quite a difference between blogging and journaling. Today I was looking through my bookshelves and came upon an old journal I kept for a little while in late 2002. I marveled at some of my entries, and was surprised by my own frankness in some of them. Some were no different than what I would post here, but I am glad to have a short record of writings from this time, some of which I would never share with the world for anything. When I began my first blog way back in the day, many of my entries were of this nature. It's still out there if you can find it. :-) Somebody from Alabama did.

But this practice has evolved for me, especially when I realized that people were actually coming here and reading this. Now I write not only for me, but with some kind of audience in mind. It's a wonderful thing that I will continue to do and enjoy, but I think that we need to be honest with the fact that blogging does not equal journaling. It is not a replacement - it's a similar exercise, to be sure, but not the same. I've been slowly working through the journals of Jim Elliot, and often wonder what they would have been like had he written them as a blog. Would they be so intensely personal? Would his spiritual thrashing about been so evident? It is true that Jim seemed to know that someone might see his someday, so we have to know that even his own writings to himself were pre-edited to a degree. So, all that is to say that perhaps journaling is something I should pick back up at some point. It certainly would give additional perspectives on myself years down the line, perspectives I probably wouldn't have even with a thourough blog.

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Also, to all men: read through Letters to Philip: On How to Treat a Woman. I found this old book at a garage sale and, while being a little old fashioned in places, the wisdom is SOLID and POWERFUL. Men need the kind of insight into the female life that this book provides.