When Other Godbloggers Say Goodbye…

Riding Off Into the Sunset I had a colossal post about “a personal Jesus” slated for today, but instead want to comment on what is a growing trend: Christian bloggers signing off for good.

Cerulean Sanctum is NOT going away, I’ll say that right off. However, this last week Matt Self of The Gad(d)about and Marla Swoffer of Just Marla said adios to blogging. There have been about a dozen others in the last month or so, a trend I did not see at all in 2005. As a joke, Rebecca of Rebecca Writes posted a link to an April Fools post claiming that Tim Challies was hanging it up. As much as that might seem impossible to believe that Tim would quit, when I first read the link to that post, I was not surprised that it might be true.

For many, the costs are too high. For Matt, it distracted him from his work in a job that often has one working sixteen hour days seven days a week. For Marla, it took her away from family. Both of those are legitimate reasons to quit. I suspect that Matt and Marla aren’t the only Christians who’ve found that they were losing more in “real life” than they were gaining from blogging. Knowing when to say goodbye takes guts. Saying goodbye to a blog is a little death.

I’ve flirted with shutting down Cerulean Sanctum at least a half dozen times in the last year. Even this last Friday I considered pulling the plug. I started the blog as a ministry at a time when I had no ministry options at my old church. When I saw some other Christian blogs, I realized the need to write on American Church issues no one else addressed. Even today, not many Godblogs exist that talk about the issues I try to tackle here. That’s one reason this blog keeps going.

Some of the e-mailed responses I’ve received from readers to the questions I asked last Thursday are heartbreaking. Many people are stuck in a downward slide and cannot find help from their churches. That kills me. It’s one of the reasons why this blog exists, though, an it’s why I’m staying on. Earlier this year I posted that we Godbloggers were too trapped in petty centuries-old bickerings over doctrine to see the great potential to use blogs to tie people together for practical ministry. Even now, I’m working to see that reality come to fruition.

In hopes that Cerulean Sanctum can grow and be a nexus for helping people all over the country, I took a small step and registered the domain name ceruleansanctum.com. You can access the blog that way. If you have Cerulean Sanctum blogrolled, please change your pointers to https://ceruleansanctum.com—it redirects to the longtime URL for this blog (http://www.dedelen.com/cerulean.html), but expect that to change in the future, too.

For all those Godbloggers who have gone on to better things, I understand. Thank you for blessing us with your blog presence.

And stay tuned here for more to come….

Tags: Blog, Blogs, Blogging, Blogosphere, Godblogging, Godblogosphere, Church, Faith, Christianity, Jesus, God

Request for Reader Information on Jobs, Tithing, and the Economy

Anyone who reads Cerulean Sanctum knows that I tackle plenty of business issues and the American Church’s response to them.

Well, I have a huge post coming up that will be looking at the dichotomy between all the positive comments we hear about the health of our economy and the reality of many Americans. For instance, The Wall Street Journal just ran a front page story about our strong economy, while another story on the same page said that singles’ ads are now including pleas for possible mates who have good health insurance policies. To me, that latter story negates the former and tells a much different story.

What I’d like to hear from readers are answers to the following nine questions:

4. Do you actually tithe ten percent?

5. If you are married, do both you and your spouse work? How might that have changed in the last seven years?

6. What message do you hear in your church or among churchgoers about employment, finances, and the economy? Does that message reflect your reality?

7. Have you or your spouse been laid off in the last seven years? When you found a new job, was it for more or less money?

8. Have you moved in the last seven years in order to follow work?

9. What extended family lives within thirty miles of your home?

If you find that these questions are too personal for this blog’s comment section, PLEASE e-mail at the address listed in the sidebar. I get many e-mails from people who are struggling with issues like these, so if this is a tough area to write about in a public forum, send me a private e-mail. Know, too, that every e-mail I get like this receives prayer—that I promise!

If you are married or single, please let me know which one applies to you. Also, your age would be nice to know.

I hope to have this post (it may turn into a series) out next week.

Thank you all in advance.

Tags: Economy, Jobs, Work, Tithe, Tithing, Church, Faith, Christianity, Jesus, God

Books, Writers Groups, and Shameless Promotion

Content on Cerulean Sanctum is going to be a little light in upcoming weeks. With the rough of my speculative fiction novel Fade into Blue complete, I’m pushing hard on editing to FINALLY get it wrapped up by the end of April. That puts me almost three months behind my original schedule. Sickness and general mayhem took their toll on my finishing the rough draft, but things have been speedy lately. I rewrote the first forty pages and as one of the guys in my writers group said, the results were “spectacular.”

I thought I’d take a little of the blog space here to plug the efforts of my writing cohorts. They’re all published authors, so I’m kind of the lowly member of the esteemed group. All three have recent books out, so I’ll devote a little space to each (alphabetically):

H. Michael Brewer’s latest is Lessons from the Carpenter: An Apprentice Learns from Jesus, a devotional examination of Jesus’ ministry through the lens of his earthly work as a carpenter. The reviews on this one are glowing, and it’s a featured title at Family Christian Stores and The Crossings Book Club. Mike seems to be one of those pastors that can pull meaning out of any situation and that wisdom shows up in his books. He’s also a comic book expert and fan of speculative fiction, so you can bet I’ve taken his advice on my own writing. You can catch Mike (and a few other of his titles) at his site.

Wayne Holmes has an even newer release that we finally got our hands on yesterday, The Embrace of the Father: True Stories of Inspiration and Encouragement. Look for it in April 2006. Wayne has several excellent books available, all of them ideal as gift books for mothers, fathers, and teachers. And if you love the prayers of children, also consider another recent title of his, Whispering in God’s Ear: True Stories Inspiring Childlike Faith. Wayne’s got a stupendous eye for grammar and punctuation mistakes; when his corrective pen is done with my manuscript submissions, there’s so much red on the page it’s like a mafia hit! And he’s almost always right, too. Wayne’s author site is here.

Joe Lacy gives us a stirring look at the life of African missionary/doctor James Foulkes in To Africa with Love. If you like tales of how Christ helps believers overcome all obstacles, even in the wildest places on earth, this is the book to grab. Joe’s also got an incredible basketball novel he’s pitching now, and I’ll vouch for it. Some of the most amazing metaphorical language I’ve ever read in a novel. My own work feels meager compared to Joe’s mastery of a phrase. Agents and publishers, are you listening?

Okay, okay, my name may not be on the cover, but several of my devotionals are featured in A Cup of Comfort Devotional. Lucky me got the prime spot for the last entry of the year in that work. If you like brief meditations on the Christian life, this would be a fine devotional to check out.

Anyway…

Joe, Wayne, and Mike have been superb eyes and ears for me over the last few years. I thought now would be a good time to mention their writings since I’ve spent so much time blabbing about my novel.

Thanks guys!

Tags: Writing, Books, Novels, H. Michael Brewer, Joe Lacy, Wayne Holmes, Dan Edelen