90 Days

I started blogging the week after the first iPhone was released.

Boy has a lot has changed in 13 years!

The goal for me has always been to process first. As I write, I learn. Ideas and experiences crystallize in my mind when the words come off the keyboard.

But I also write to share. I want people to learn with me. I’m a teacher at heart. I love to pass on and help. So I write.

I’m going to try something I’ve never done before: I’m going to post something–anything–for 90 days straight. Will I fail? Most likely.

But if I never set a goal, what’s the point?

I’ll likely post about faith, theology, culture, leadership. The stuff I normally write about.

But I’ll write about personal finance or other money matters (a huge passion of mine).

All the posts will live here on WordPress, but they’ll also be on my Medium blog. Each month, I’ll send out a newsletter via Substack with the “top 5” posts (I’m banking on there being five good ones).

So this is day 1 and I’m writing about writing.

Wish me luck.

Packing Up the Boxes Again

I remember sitting in my college dorm room, circa 2005 trying to figure out Xanga. Xanga! That’s when I first started blogging.

I didn’t stay at Xanga long. It was like a drafty apartment. I quickly moved on to Blogspot. A nice townhouse. But then I realized the people in the WordPress neighborhood were better off.

I was keeping up with the blogging Joneses. I moved in.

It’s been the perfect home for the past 13 years. So perfect that, by mid-2018 (11 years of publishing on that platform), I had posted at least one blog in every month except seven. Seven. In eleven years. And most of those months off were taken off by design because of various seasons of life or travel.

It’s been a good run. But the time has come to pack up the boxes and move again.

Over the next few months, my website here at jamespruch.com will be repurposed into something new. I’m excited about it, so watch out for changes this fall.

In the meantime, that means no more new writing here. All my posts will continue to live at jamespruch.wordpress.com, however.

Think of that space like the National Archives. Except way less cool, way less old, and way less precious.

But still awesome. And I hope those 13 years of posts are helpful to you.

So, what’s next?

Enter Substack.

Substack is like a blog, but more like a newsletter. Once you subscribe (just like here on WordPress) you’ll get new posts in your inbox. Are you subscribed to my blog here? I’d appreciate you subscribing at Substack.

I’ll continue to write about the things that have always intrigued me: theology, the life of faith, and culture. But I’ll include other topics I’ve grown to love over the years, especially recently, like leadership, strategic thinking, finances, and more. (I have a lot of interests, okay?)

It’ll be a junk drawer newsletter. Weird, I know. But life’s kinda like a junk drawer, isn’t it? And we all know that the best treasures are found in the junk drawer.

Head on over to Substack and subscribe. It’s completely free. What do you have to lose? (Hint: probably nothing.)

As always, thanks for reading.

Image and Social Media

Jonathan Dodson writing about how everyone, male or female, fights for image particularly in writing and social media:

In writing this book, I am tempted to make writing decisions that reflect an intellectual image, instead of writing in a way that will best serve you. We all face the temptation to project false images of ourselves because we find the real image inadequate. This is easily done with social media. Our online image is often different from our offline image. With our Facebook status, we can project how we want others to see us, not who we truly are. Blog posts can be shrouded in airs of intellectualism, edigness, or humility. If we are honest, our real image is nowhere near as attractive as we want it to be. We want to be more beautiful, more successful, more creative, more virtuous, more popular, and more intelligent than we actually are. We all have an image problem. The problem, however, is not that we lack beauty, success, creativity, virtue, popularity, or intelligence. The problem is that we believe the lie that says that obtaining those images will actually make us happy. Believing the lie, we fight rigorously to obtain (or retain) our images of choice.

– Jonathan Dodson, Gospel-Centered Discipleship (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2012), 54-55.

1,000 Posts…and Counting

This is the 1,000th post on Beneath the Cross! I started this blog in June 2007 for nothing other than to write down what I learn to share with others. I have averaged just over a post every other day, and by God’s grace, people read what I write.

I wanted to celebrate by simply thanking you for subscribing, commenting, or simply stopping by on a whim. I am truly humbled that people find this blog helpful and engaging.

All glory belongs to God for however he uses this simple medium to herald the glorious gospel of his Son Jesus.

What I Have Learned in My First 11 Weeks of Seminary

I attend seminary at Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary, through their online program. The online aspect is not ideal, but it is functional for me and my family. So far, I’m learning (I hope). More than anything, I’m being exposed to scholarship and lots of reading the average person wouldn’t read (not even me).

I have learned two very important lessons in the first eleven weeks of this semester. First, I am totally not an academic. (Can’t you tell after I used the word totally?) God has given me a shepherd’s heart, not a professor’s heart. I love to teach doctrine, but I love to herald the good news more. I love to dig into finer points of theology, but I love to motivate and challenge to pursue holiness more. Seminary is pricking and prodding my academic skin, which is thin and frail.

Secondly, in general, it takes a lot of work for me to focus when I read. Don’t let this blog fool you, I am not that smart. It is hard for me to comprehend anything above a college football article on ESPN.com. I often find myself reading the same sentence three or four times. Seminary is pushing me to rely on the Holy Spirit to control my literary ADHD when it comes to the teleological argument and the neo-orthodoxy movement.

I love to read and write, it just takes a different shape in my personal time and here on the blog than in an academic setting. Thankfully, because of the cross, God’s grace is abundant, fresh, and powerful. And its fountain doesn’t run dry over seminarians like me.