You may have noticed that sometimes I get a little scattered.

My writing can be a bit…oh…hodgepodgey.  Looking back over the six months since I started this blog, I see that I have written about hiking, braces, car failures, home improvement nightmares, dogs, dates, worship, and my favorite chair, among other bits and bobs.

Sort of a digital stream of consciousness.

I thought it might be time to sort of remind you, and myself, exactly why I’m here. On the page, I mean—not on the planet.  There is a theme of sorts running through all this, if you look for it.

It all began with a very stereotypical midlife crisis.  I won’t go into the details here; if you want to read about it, be my guest.  Suffice to say that I asked the questions that most men ask when they are pushing—or pulling—40, and I didn’t like all the answers I got.

I found myself sort of stuck on a particular verse from the Bible—Ephesians Chapter 4, verse 1, to be precise.  In this verse, Paul says to his readers, “…I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.”  Now I know that I’m taking this out of context, which is often dangerous, but I found myself wondering, “What, exactly, is my calling?”  As a Christian, my primary calling is to glorify God, and there’s enough in that to chew on for a lifetime, but what other callings do I have?  Husband, father, son, friend, teacher—I wear a lot of hats.  Do I do any of them well enough to be, “Worthy of the calling?”

Hence this blog.  It is the musings of my days, a sharing of the struggle to make the ordinary extra.  Trust me when I say that this life of mine is nothing special in the eyes of the world.  I have set no records, conquered no nations, won no trophies that should command your attention and respect.

Actually, I did win the Pinewood Derby in Boy Scouts when I was eight, so maybe that does something for you.

Mostly, this is a place to chronicle my attempt to live life on purpose, every day.  I try to share what I’m learning, in the event that it might be of help to you, but you can see that I’m not the expert.

That brings to mind my daughter’s perennial question concerning this blog:

“Daddy, why do you tell people all those embarrassing stories about yourself?”

It’s an excellent question, with a simple answer.  Success stories aren’t funny.  Call it human nature, but we like to laugh at other people’s mess-ups.  To you, I am other people.  Since I have plenty of mess-ups, I offer them as fodder for your entertainment and edification.

So, how to categorize this blog?  I hope it’s entertaining, but I hope it’s more than entertaining.  I hope you learn from it, but it’s not a how-to-improve-your-life-in-eight-easy-steps kind of blog.  I would be honored if you were inspired, but posts about my broken dog and my fondness for napping are hardly life-changing.  I share Scripture when it applies, but this is not a Bible study, and I am not a Bible teacher.

I guess, in the end, this is a travelogue.

I want you with me on this journey.  I need you, because sometimes I feel like I’m just mumbling to myself, and I get a little twitchy.  Use the Comments section below to…you know…comment.  Ask questions.  Offer advice.  Just let me know that you’re along for the ride.

Why don’t you do it right now, before you leave this page?  If you’re with me in this adventure, if you want to live a life worthy of the calling you have received, let me know.

All it takes is two words: “I’m in.”

So, are you?