Hi…You’re not alone.

When I first set out on this Blogging thing, I obviously was (and still am) pretty clueless about what’s out there in Blogsville. So, I did some research. Actually I did A LOT of research. Over the past month I’ve read somewhere in the area of like 400 blogs. Believe me when I say, I’ve seen some crazy stuff and some not so crazy stuff and everything in between. Of course there are blogs of cute kids, zealous moms and even meat turtles, but I don’t really remember much about those. What I do remember are the three or four blogs that I couldn’t stop reading. It wasn’t because they were super entertaining and shared a common thread with my blog. It wasn’t even because of witty pictures and funny stories. I was drawn to the very real and very honest conversation about the pain the authors were/are dealing with. One in particular was from a person battling mental problems and others were from people with serious health issues or issues of just plain old being alone. They (for the most part) didn’t have many followers (1-10) and what struck me the most was the followers they did have, seemed to be a close loved one or sometimes a spouse. Yet here they were, firing blindly into the vast web with the hope that someone, any random stranger would take five minutes out of their day and offer a brief hi…you’re not alone.
As I am adjusting to this new blog thing in my life, I find that I am obsessed with numbers of page visits and followers. I check my comments often and always make sure to re-comment on other blogs. But the thing that freaks me out the most… is the fact that I’m happy. I have a beautiful wife and three kids I’d die for, a job that puts food on the table and even a couple of dogs that can be pretty cool when they’re peeing outside of our home. God has blessed me incredibly. And yet I still obsess over stats and comments…..But what if I didn’t have my family? What if I didn’t have a relationship that is constantly growing and maturing with God? Heck, what if I didn’t even have my dogs?
How much more would I look for stats and comments then?
Blogspot has a button that’s located up on the top of the page. On my blog it’s right above the “Dutiful Dad” heading. It’s called “Next Blog>>”. If you hit that button, you will be taken to a completely random blog that has no affiliations with my blog. So how about it fellow bloggers, got five minutes? I dare you to hit the Next Blog button and see what comes up. Odds are you’ll get a fluffy page with someone’s kid dressed up as a bunny. But maybe, you’ll hit the 1% of blogs out there that I’m talking about. Maybe you’ll pull up a blog from a person whose whole entire day would be rocked by someone just saying, hi…You’re not alone.