a place to vent

it's funny how much time blogs seem to take me. i just spent the last hour trying to add a pic to my profile. pretty sad, huh? oh well. i realized today that we all need to vent. sometimes we vent to our spouses and sometimes about them to friends or family. but there is one problem to this whole need to vent. we get rid of our frustrations and discouragement, but only by placing them on someone else's shoulders. now, a good xian (that's christian only faster to spell) would say that i simply vent to God and then feel better, but honestly, that would just be a load of crap. do i tell God that i am frustrated and pissed? yes. and does he listen and comfort me? of course. but this way, the internet acts as a catch-all, where others can read what is going on and encourage me or tell me to man up and quit whining. the more i do ministry, the more i understand our need for community. this space lets me vent while at the same time lets my community (even from afar) do what it was made to do - remind me of why i do what i do in the first place. i find i learn best through discussion, so most of the stuff you will see on this site will be thoughts on theology and life, but occasionally, you may just catch the venting of a frustrated man, husband, father, or church planter - whatever roll i may be in at the time.