More of the same, and then some.

I've intended to post something about this blog for some time now. What's "In the Clearing" all about? Or, in other words, why do I do what I do?

When I shut down gratitude & hoopla (I'm still kind of proud of that name) last year, it was because (in part) I wanted to get away from the devotional blogging that was represented there. I wanted to expand beyond those bounds a little, and blog more often about other things that interest and excite me. Poetry, for example. Fantasy literature. Art. History. Baseball. A smidgeon of politics now and then. Even a little autobiography perhaps.

So this was going to be, rather than a Christian blog, a Christian's blog. Do you see the difference? I wouldn't necessarily be seeking to inspire or encourage or educate people. Not primarily. No, this would simply be me thinking aloud about any number of things.

Which of course may cause an intelligent reader to wonder, "What's the point?" If you're not trying to be an influence, if you're not trying to be a "blogger of note," and if you're not trying to attract an ever-growing readership, well, umm, aren't you just muttering into your hat?

Well, sure. Pretty close to that, anyway. But the fact is that I do have readers. And God bless Milton Stanley, who routinely directs them my way. In fact, the comments lately have featured several apparently new visitors. But the point is, this is just me talking. Sure, the blogosphere is overcrowded (as Tim Challies has recently noted) with millions of unimportant mutterers like me, but so what? There's room, isn't there?

So here's what I hope to be doing more of here at In the Clearing. I hope to doing more of the same, and then some. Nifty quotations from the books I'm reading, the ocassional pondering over the state of the church, the occasional biographical sketch, some poetry now and then (more of this than heretofore, I hope), and of course the obligatory look-what-I-found-online post.