August Ask Me (Almost) Anything

Time for one of my favorite posts of every month!

I do this “Ask Me (Almost) Anything” post once a month for a few reasons:

1. I value community. It’s my solution to almost every problem, because—theologically speaking—I think community is God’s solution to a whole lot of problems.

   Lonely human in the Garden of Eden? No sweat. I’ll make a community of humans. Trying to live like Jesus is hard? What if we put a bunch of people who are trying to live like Jesus together.

   
   I think there’s power in community. That’s one of the reasons I’m still a part of a local church. I believe in and would like to see the full potential of community realized. I’ve realized that a lot of people are looking for that sense of community and belonging in online spaces too. And so I try to foster that sense of community in a number of ways. Which leads me to the next point…

2. A lot of y’all don’t know who I am. That’s still kinda weird for me to navigate, because (in person) most people just… know me. They get my humor. They’ll know when I’ve switched into an introspective mode. They know how much I care about certain things, and how much I don’t care about other things. In these online spaces, a lot of people simply don’t know those things. When we don’t know things, we often assume.

   These posts are opportunities to lessen the burden of assumption. I think communities are healthier where curiosity is encouraged. If you’d like to know something about me or how I feel about something or what I know (or don’t know!) about something… just ask.

3. It’s an additional perk to offer to paying subscribers. I’ve recently gotten to the point where I’m comfortable identifying myself as a writer. Even in the professional sense. I don’t make enough to pay my bills from writing. But it’s still something I recognize as labor, even if it is something I very much enjoy doing. I make almost all of my writing available for free here. I do this because I didn’t start writing to make money. I started writing because I liked writing and thought I had stuff to stay. That hasn’t changed just because I have bills to pay now and kids to send to college (should they choose to go that route). After awhile, most of my free posts move into an archive where people who’ve chosen to support me financially (y’all are for sure going in my Hall of Fame, by the way) can view all of my writing at any time. But every month, I shoot off a couple of exclusive posts for my paying subscribers as an additional thank you, and this is one of them.

   With that said, I never want money to be the thing that stands between somebody and community. If you want to participate in these discussions and posts but simply don’t have it at the moment, I get it. Not only have I been there, I’m there right now. Shoot me a message and we’ll get you squared away. While I value your support, I value your presence more.