Blog 277 – 04.20.2016

I got on Facebook about a year ago for the sole purpose of building a platform, a following, a readership for my blog with the hope of being a well read and well known published author someday. I accept anyone wishing to be a friend and am always looking to friend request others I think might be interested in reading my blogs. Most weekdays, the days I normally post blogs on this blog page:
www.theencouragingword.co
I also try to post a teaser on Facebook to try to tempt anyone who reads the teaser to also go to my blog and read it. One year into this I have achieved only minimal success thus far with this approach. I am writing five days a week but my platform has not grown as much as I hoped it might. There is so much out there to read and there are so many blogs competing for attention.

I looked at the statistics for my blog page and was encouraged to find out that my blog has had over 10,000 views and over 1,000 visitors, and that one day it had 520 views. They say it takes at least five years to grow a successful business of any kind. I hope I have four more years to grow my platform. I intend to keep at it till I have written 10,000 blogs and have at least 10,000 devoted fans, followers, readers. I heard a man a few years back say the secret to becoming expert at anything was to do it at least ten thousand times.

Just today I had a college friend accept my friendship request and then ask me to like a page called Time To Sound The Alarm. I looked at it and thought I’d use the idea for a blog. Many people have probably been turned off by the name of my blog thinking it just another “religious” blog. I do quote the Bible from time to time but only because I know those words so well. I also quote song lyrics, movie dialogue, books, and poetry I have read. In spite of my early religious training, three years in Bible College, and several more years trying to be a teacher and preacher in a particular sect of Christianity, I consider myself well read and think I have exposed myself to a fairly good education. All that aside I have opinions like most everyone but am open to change my mind about them if presented clear evidence that a different opinion, belief, or view would serve me better.

Back to the It Is Time To Sound The Alarm page. Is it time? I don’t think so. That alarm has been going off for about 2,016 years or so and is I think based on a misunderstanding of Jesus words which were probably pretty garbled having been passed on by word of mouth mostly for many years and then recorded sometime later by people like most people with their own agenda or axe to grind. I personally no longer believe the words of the Bible, a word that means simple “a book”, are any more whole or holy than any other book. There is a great verse in Rufus Wainwright’s many versed song Hallelujah that says:

“You say I took the name in vain
But I don’t even know the name
And if I did well really what’s it to ya
There’s a blazing light in every word.
It doesn’t matter which you heard
The whole or the broken hallelujah.”

Do I believe it is time to sound the alarm? No, I do not, anymore than I believe Jesus or anyone else is coming back to straighten up the mess that we have made of this planet. That my friends is our job. Our parents should have taught us, “You make a mess, you clean it up. You inherit a mess. You clean it up.” Oh, and somebody please turn off that alarm and let’s get to work making this place the heaven on earth it will be if we but think and speak and make it so.

Your friend and fellow traveler,
David White