The future of this blog... what is it?

I've been thinking a lot lately, and have a lot of reasons to consider why, if at all, this "wii" little blog ought to continue.

One thing that I set out to do from the early days was to ensure that there was a forum for people of faith within the political realm to express their views and concerns regarding our political process. Canadians who are Christians have expressed to me, over the years, their concern that there seems to be no place for people with a Christian worldview within our political process. I disagreed with them, and have sought through this blog to prove them wrong. It seems, after a lot of reflection, that I may have been the one who was wrong.

I haven't come to any firm conclusions as of yet, but I do know that things will likely be changing around here in one way or another. I have had a blast doing this, and along the way, I've learned a lot. I thought I'd share some of what I've found in my two years of doing this.

1) There is significant hostility towards faith in the political sphere. Most noteably, and this fact is proven by literally hundreds of comments in my two plus years doing this, there is a latent and permiating hostility towards evangelical Christians on the part of the left, most specificially within the youth membership of Liberal Party of Canada... with even a slight (but more tolerant overall) dose of it within the youth membership of the CPC. Overall, it seems that the belief within people of all political stripes is that it would be better for everyone, in their opinion, if all of us "evangelicals" would just disappear.

2) It's easy to win the argument, but lose the war. Or, to be more precise, I may win an argument with someone, but it makes it more difficult to discuss the more important eternal matters with that person after they've been shot down politically. My online name has the order correct... I'm a Christian first, a Conservative second. I'd rather help someone be reconciled to the Living God through the Lord Jesus Christ, than convince them into taking out a CPC membership.

3) People think I'm full of hate. This is probably the most shocking thing I've discovered in my time blogging thus far. I truely find it amazing that people actually read what I have to say, then assume that I'm some hate filled extremist! Everyone I've ever spent any length of time with can attest to it, I'm one of the most happy all around people I know! Honestly, I neither hate nor even strongly dislike anyone! When I express an opinion, I'm amazed to see how many people think that I could actually ever hate anyone! Each and every one of us has been created in the image of God, and is loved by our Heavenly Father, who desires to have fellowship with all. Everyone is special and of immense value, and I want to do what I can to reach out to them and share with them God's love. In the political realm, I simply want to see the best policies put forward for this nation, policies that will solve the greatest number of problems and issued for the all the citizens of this country... and it honestly bewilders me to see how many people don't understand the ultimate goals which our policies have... not hidden agendas, but the betterment of life for ALL Canadians.

My post on Dion getting heckled the other day is a great example of this... I thought it was funny, and I thought it was nice to see that the media, for once, was covering a group that wasn't fawning over him. I honestly believe that Mr. Dion's lack of leadership, and the policies of the Liberal Party of Canada, are bad for this country. I don't hate Liberals... I just disagree with their policies. So what? The amount of hatred I've seen for the expression of a Conservative political point of view has been quite shocking. I discovered that there really are people who will go to any and all lengths prevent Conservative policies, whether they have to lie, distort, or do whatever to stop us from doing what we think is best for the people of this country. Maybe I've been nieve, but I have honestly been shocked by this. I've always heard that this is a country of tolerance, but that is truly a myth that has been propogated for years. Many of those individuals on the left, who want to change and remake this nation to fit their image of what it ought to be, are truly some of the most intolerant and hate filled people I've ever met. (not to say there aren't any on the right... but I've seen and heard many, MANY more on the left... it's about an 80%-20% left-right split)

4) I don't know if anything I've done here has actually made any kind of difference. Whenever I do anything, I want to make a difference in people's lives... I want to be a good example, I want to help them out, I want to see them succeed, I want to see their problems solved. That has always been my motivation. I've always been involved in helping others, and I even won the Town of Pickering's 1997 Citizenship award for all the things I'd done that year. (not that I wanted recognition... it was just a nice bonus) The Lord asked us, those who are Christians, to serve Him by serving our fellow man... a goal I want to achieve. One way that I thought I could do this was by trying to help people, through this blog, better understand why a Conservative government would be the best option for Canada. Along the way, I think I've ticked off more people than I've actually helped... and as that is an utter failure to achieve my goal, it causes me to rethink my strategy.

5) There are other ways that I CAN make a difference. A good friend, who has read this blog from time to time, and has seen other things I've done, reminded me that I have a standing offer to write for a small Christian magazine... and offer I have not yet taken them up on. If I spent as much time reading and writing for that publication as I have here, I might actually be able to make a difference. Also, I've been involved locally with my EDA... there's a lot of things that I could be doing behind the scenes which would have a much better likelyhood of making a difference in my community.

So, again while no firm conclusions have been made as to the future of this blog, those are some of the observations I've made along the way. I'll be spending the weekend thinking and praying about what to do, not just blogging-wise, but commitment-wise overall. Whatever I do, I want it to be said that I made a difference, not only in this life, but more importantly, the one to come.

Because when it all comes down to it, the answer to the question of life is not the Conservative Party of Canada, it is not Stephen Harper, it's not even "42"... it's Christ.