pat loughery

Like so many of my friends who were so helpful to me  the blog-zenith of four to six years ago, I find myself wondering if this weblog has run its course.  I think about nuking it all, maybe starting up an anonymously written blog elsewhere.  I especially thought about this when a hacker got into this site and my others and spam-infested them, and it was weeks before I had the energy to actually fix anything.  But for the time being, I don’t think that’s the path to take.

I started this site back in November 2003, when we were planting a small, missional church in our commuter town/not-quite-suburb of Seattle.  It’s always been easier for me to think in writing than to think in speaking, and this blog has helped me to explore ideas, process some thoughts, report on where life appeared to be heading, and to connect with like-minded thinkers and practitioners of the Christian faith.

In that time, I’ve made so many friends – real friends, not some web-simulation – with people exploring similar things as I have been.  I count many of you who I have read, and the few who have read me here, as true friends, though many of us have never met in-the-flesh and perhaps never will, this side of eternity.

And in that time, I have changed.  In some ways I am a better person, in many ways I am not.

In the past seven years, my 1-year-old daughter has turned into an eight year old fireball.  In that time, my son was born and is now in his final year of preschool.  Our church plant lived and then was closed, I went back into software as a way to make an income, and have worked for four different companies and learned a lot about what I want to do for work and what I don’t want to do.  In that time, I started work on a Doctorate in Ministry, initially as theological help for a church planter, and now just because I’m enjoying it and hope to be useful again one day.  In that time, both of my parents-in-law have passed away, and the past few years have borne far more than their fare share of loss and grief our way.  I have experienced small to great shifts in my understanding of faith, culture, the church, my calling, the state of my life, and my future.

Every time I rediscover Thomas Merton’s “Prayer on Discernment When I Don’t Know Where I’m Going” it rings more true than it ever has before.

So, “all that to say”, I will continue to write here, probably with much less focus than in earlier days.  But I’ll write what and when I can.  I don’t recommend navigating your web browser here often for content; I do recommend tossing this site into your RSS reader of choice or, if I can get the email subscription mode restored anytime soon, then that may be good for you too.  I apologize in advance for what you will read here in coming days, and what you will not read.  I have no particular interest in gathering readers here, but if my thoughts are helpful to you (in agreeing or in disagreeing), have at them.