I never dreamed

(from First 50 Words)

I never dreamed that I wouldn't be a congressman by now. Or at least working in Washington for a congressman. I had always been interested in politics. I remember lying in bed as a child and listening to the election returns when Jimmy Carter won the election to be President of the United States. I think I even cried a little, since I didn't want him to win. Through high school and college, and even into my early adult working life, I remember having discussions with other male friends of mine. They were all into watching sports all the time. My argument always made the case that no matter what sports team won a certain contest, their life would not be any different the next day. Politics, on the other hand, were different. One election or one bill passing Congress could have a devastating effect on their quality of life. It was important to monitor what the government was doing and contact your congressmen with your opinion. I wanted to be elected to congress because there I could really impact people's lives.

The first vacation I went on with my wife after we were married, other than our honeymoon, was to visit some relatives of hers that lived in the Washington D. C. area. We had a couple of days to ourselves to explore Washington, and I called up my congressman's office asking for any sort of tour or anything that they could arrange. It was last minute and I wasn't expecting much. Well, to my surprise, they got me access to the floor of the House (which wasn't in session). I got to walk around the floor and even sit in some of the chairs. I was absolutely thrilled. Sounds like a sports fan getting access to a team's locker room when they're not there, right? I was convinced that one day I would be there for real.

Well, over time my priorities have definitely shifted. Instead of feeling compelled to change people's lives through government action I now feel compelled to change people's lives because of the changes Christ has made in me. I don't go door to door and ask people "where will you go if you die tonight" or anything. That is not my style. I use as my personal guide a saying of St. Francis of Assisi - "Spread the Gospel at all times, and if necessary use words." I just do things for people. They need help - I provide. Whatever it is. Help you move to a new house? Done. Need your grass mowed? Done. Need a ride somewhere? Done. Need someone to just sit and listen? Done - though it is difficult for me to do that without trying to provide a solution to the problem. I'm working on that. But out of that I hope they see the light of Christ in me, and ask me why I do the things I do. I can then tell them it's God that compels me to do this. If it was up to me, I'd be home on the couch, surfing the web on my laptop.

I started this without even knowing where I would be going. I really thought this was going to be about how I wasn't doing what I always dreamed I'd do, but what I've realized is that I should have started with...
I never dreamed I'd be an evangelist.

This writing thing

I was perusing links on my blog, making sure they weren't all dead. I hit the First 50 Words link, and the post for yesterday is about a writing workshop the author attended. In part of the preface, she mentioned something that was said in the workshop:

Writing practice hasn’t changed. You write for 10 or 20 minutes. You read. You do it again. You don’t edit, cross out, worry about spelling, you just write. You do this every day. You show up and write.

How do you do this? How do you not edit, cross out, or worry about spelling? I can't NOT do it. I edit while I type, automatically. I might edit later, but I edit while I type without thinking about it. I also correct spelling. If a word gets a little red underline (I'm using Firefox which checks my spelling as I write), then I automatically correct it. How do you let all this go and just write?

And why does 10 or 20 minutes seem so short, yet when the time arrives it seems so long? And I just did it again - edited that sentence 3 times before typing the period at the end. AARRGGHHH.

And now, after having gotten going on this, it's time to close the laptop and go to work. What I want to do is make more coffee, sit here in this easy chair, and keep reading and writing. But as Paul said "For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do." I know he was talking about sin, but it fits my situation right now.

And now I'm late for work. Well, late for leaving for work which will most likely make me late for work unless I break some traffic laws along the way.

The one where LTW gets a laptop (again)

After almost two years without a laptop, I finally have one again. Not new, used, and it's a long, boring story about how I got it, but nevertheless I like it and I'm happy to have it. What I'm not going to do is say how I will now resume trying to post regularly, because that has proven deadly to my posting in the past.

If any of you that write regularly read this, please post in the comments where you get your writing inspirations. When you log into your blogging software, and don't already have something urgent on your mind, what do you do to get motivated? Tips, hints, and tricks greatly appreciated.