Been A Long Time Since I Rock & Rolled

It's been a while since I blogged on a regular basis. I'd like to share with you why.

Have I ever told you that I'm a middle child? I was fortunate to have grown up with two great sisters. One is 2 years older. One is 5 years younger. I read about birth order recently and how one's birth order will often tell you something about them. Psychologists say that middle children can typically be described like this… Flexible, Easy Going, Social, Peacemakers, Independent, Secretive, May Feel Life Is Unfair, Strong Negotaitor, Generous

I think this is a pretty good description of who I am. The only traits I'm not sure about here are "Secretive, May Feel Life Is Unfair, Strong Negotaitor" Those three I don't really see in myself. Especially the strong negotiator. As a person who hates conflict, I typically try to avoid situations which require strong negotiation. But the peacemaker in me will try to smooth over a situation. So I guess it's not too far off the mark.

I think one trait that is typical of a middle child that describes me is being a "people pleaser." I want everyone to be happy. I agree with Mr. King when he asked "Why can't we all just get along?" (Rodney King not Dr. Martin Luther The King) So I wonder, why in the world would a people pleaser choose to be a worship leader? Every Sunday I place myself in a position of being judged. There are hundreds of people in the sanctuary judging every song. Unfortunately, in a service that is blended traditional hymns and modern worship, every song you sing is possibly not liked by someone in the room. And somehow I'm OK with that. I realize that everyone worships differently and if you don't like the song we're singing now, hang on you might like the next one.

But I realized recently, that in my personal life, I don't let go of judgements quite so easily. You may have noticed that I haven't been blogging as much recently. A couple of months ago, some of my blogging friends sat around discussing our blogs and the subject came up about being a good writer. Now I will be the first to acknowledge that I am not a great writer. But in that conversation they all agreed (strongly) with my opinion of my own writing skills. Some actually had advice on how I could be a better writer. If I'm being totally honest, it cut pretty deep. So deep that I decided that maybe I should not blog as much and only try to post articles that were clearly thought out, well written, and possibly good. While I have not stuck to those standards in my recent blogs, I have found myself starting a blog article every day, only to decide it wasn't good enough and never posting those entries.

Well, today is a new day. I have accepted that fact that my blog is not going to be funny or snarky. It's not going to be informative or educational, It's definitely not going to be inspiring. It's just going to be what it started out as being, Tales from Street Road. You may come here to see stories from my life as a father, husband, inside sales guy, & worship leader. If you enjoy good writing, correct grammar, short sentences, and witty writing, there are thousands of other blogs out on the interwebs for you to enjoy. On the other hand, if you like difficult to follow "run-on" sentences, excessive use of "quotes" and commas, and general random thoughts from a Christian, college educated, married nerd/redneck father, then this is the place for you.

To close, I'll leave you with this nugget of grammar wisdom from the guys at 30 Rock: "You should never end a sentence with a preposition at."

Take Luck,

Shawn