Dust in the wind.

The great fear of conscientious bloggers is that their words will go unread.

Don't they realize nothing survives? Especially in the capricious streams of the Internet, there is nothing permanent. Even something as established as The Iliad or the complete works of Shakespeare is bound someday to disintegrate in the interminable flames of Time.

So why write a blog at all? Is it merely self-justified self-expression? Is it a frantic grab for fleeting Web fame? Is it to lend a sense of accomplishment to an otherwise defeated life?

I can't speak for everyone, and I can't even be sure some of those reasons aren't in the back of my own mind, but I can posit a more durable reason for typing for the benefit of an Internet readership, however small: to honor Christ. We're Americans, and we engage culture willingly and unwillingly all day every day (unless you live in Wyoming or some off-grid commune in the Midwest); the only way I can see to put all that engagement to good use is subjecting it to the rigors of biblical analysis and judging all things, whether they be pure, true, etc.

Beyond that, whether my blog is read or not isn't that important. Of course I want it to be, but what I'd prefer is for God's people to show themselves a nation apart, a body able to discern between what honors Jesus Christ and what doesn't. My blog is a meager contribution in that direction.