How dial-up has affected my life . . .

When I started blogging nearly three years ago, I'll admit it - I did it at work. The church I was on staff with had a high speed connection to the web, and I surfed the blogs and posted to my own. I guess I'd feel guilty about "wasting my employer's time" by going online, except that even with that time factored in, my average number of working hours each week was pretty crazy. Also, the majority of the time I spent online triggered deep theological thought and action, which, I guess you could say was "work related." So there, I've just purged myself of residual guilt that apparently has been haunting me for the past couple of years. I feel cleansed.

Since I left that church position to go into the high paying and glamorous life of a church planter, I was banished to the world of dial-up. Michelle and I have never had a high-speed connection at home. I've whined on occasion about this, but somehow the high pay of a church planter never translated into cool toys like high speed web access. I'm sure there are lots of frivolous things I did with money that could have been sacrificed in order to pay for it, but oh well.

But I will say this, being a dial-up guy has affected me. I have tried (at times like now quite unsuccessfully) to keep my time online brief in order to not tie up the phone line. This means surfing blogs a lot less. I've had to find theological stimulation in other ways, like actual books. That's cool, because I've read a ton of great stuff. But in terms of what's going on in the "emerging church" I've fallen behind, and my participation in the conversation in the blogosphere has dwindled over time to an almost non-existent level.

I'm interested in re-engaging at some point, but that probably won't happen until we're a high speed family.

All of this may sound like more whining, and honestly it probably is at some level. However, I think this whole scenario has helped me be more aware of the power of the internet to consume large amounts of time. I don't want to sit around wasting my life. Hopefully when the day comes that I surf and post more, I'll have more balance. Hopefully.