This is a guest post by Waylon Baily.
When I started blogging, no one asked me if I had lost my mind, but I am quite certain that my wife came really close. She did mention how she was happy that she didn’t have a deadline for posting a blog every day.
Have I lost my mind? I don’t think so. Not yet, at least.
I am new to blogging. I do this because I felt the impression of God to do so. Since it comes from God, I love it. At the same time, I’m not quite sure how I fit into all this.
Today, I received an email that reminded me why I do what I do. The email is from a member of my congregation who I saw in church this past weekend. I saw her, but she didn’t see me–at least she didn’t see me well. She has lost considerable eyesight as a result of a stroke, and she is deaf. Church, and many other settings, have become extremely difficult for her. In spite of everything, she perseveres.
Her email today referred to a recent blog post. The title was “How Can I Hear God Talking?” You can see it here.
She gave an incident in her own life when God spoke to her friend and her friend responded. As I read her email, I was reminded that while God did very much for her in worship this past week, she received nothing from me. She could not hear me or read my lips. Yet, she can read my blogs and interact with me and the other subscribers to my blog. What a blessing! It’s a blessing both for her and for me. I am encouraged by her faith. When she interacts, no one supposes that she can’t hear or see. She never writes of her problems; she always writes of God’s solutions. She is a real blessing.
Without my blog, I would never have experienced the blessing that she has become in my life. Without the blog, we probably would have no adequate way to interact.
What a blessing the internet is–or, at least, can be. She could read books and other material without the internet, but the internet allows her to interact in real time with other like-minded believers. She gets to express her feelings and experience with others through my blog and with her friends. And we get to experience what she has to offer from a lifetime of tragedy and triumph.
Her faith is strong, and she is making our faith stronger.
How is God speaking in your life? Please share God’s work in you.
Waylon Bailey serves as pastor of the First Baptist Church of Covington, Louisiana, a position that he has held since 1989. Prior to that time he served for seventeen years as the J. Wash Watts Professor of Old Testament and Hebrew and the Chairman of the Division of Biblical Studies at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. He is the author of five books, including commentaries on Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah in the New American Commentary. His blog is http://www.waylonbailey.com. He would love for you to subscribe and interact.
