Too Much Information

So Julianne turned me on to this site called sitemeter, which acts as a counter for how many visitors this blog gets.

But here's the scary part - It also tracks where people are accessing this blog, what time you access it, how much time you spend - and even what site you looked at BEFORE reading my blog.

For example - earlier today - sometime this afternoon my time, someone in Quebec looked at my blog - but I also know that this particular person also did a google search for "santosh ninan yaletown christian" which led them here. Someone else in Vancouver also did a search for "santosh ninan blog" which led them here. (Is this freaking you out yet? - short brown brother is watching you)

What has been really interesting is to see where in the world people are reading this thing. There are the obvious suspects: Vancouver, Saskatoon and Calgary, where I have communtites of friends.

But what is interesting is that in the past 24 hours there have been readers in Thailand, Alabama,
North Battleford Saskatchewan,
Ottawa,
Nambour Queensland Australia (which I have never heard of),
Mountain View California,
Lincoln Nebraska (I know who this is - Dr. K.),
Hudson Bay Saskatchewan,
Grand Prairie Alberta,
Villa Park Illinois and
London England.

All I can say is WHO ARE YOU PEOPLE!!!! What draws you to these somewhat inane ramblings of a struggling church planter who daily fights self doubt and other lesser demons?

Anyways - I'm flattered you read these pithy ramblings. Hopefully some of you toss up a prayer for us from time to time. (Send money too).

Criticism -

someone said something to me today which I percieved to be a criticism. It wasn't even an objective thing - it was just their reaction to something I had done. It was also done in a public setting in front of about 10 other people. It really ticked me off (imagine another word for ticked - with all these exotic readers I am now more self concious about the language I use on here).

I thought about it for awhile - criticism is an emotional sliver. It gets under your skin and makes you uncomfortable. If you don't pull it out, it will get infected. So I pulled it out - but am still suffering from phantom pains. People - think before you speak. Your unintentional comments can wound others in ways you never imagined.

More James Houston:

"Clarity about the things of God grows brighter when accompanied by a compelling desire to possess them in the heart. Only rebirth can produce a love for God. Only God's supernatural work within the believer can bring about true religious affections. These affections are not birthed objectively as the result of intellectual achievement or subjectively as an emotional state. In fact, self deception works so deeply within us that valid affections for God are impossible unless they are bestowed by his grace operating on us." - 143 - Joyful Exiles

How often have we evanglicals deluded ourselves into thinking that more study, degrees or better Bibles will get us closer to god. Or our charistmatic sisters and brothers have thought that ecstatic experience can get us closer to God. Intimacy with God CAN come through study, prayer, worship. But the true source is ALWAYS ALWAYS His grace.