Blog Life

So I search Twitter from time to time for terms that interest me...like Frederick, or Methodist, etc. I did just just a few moments ago and stumbled across locustsandhoney.blogspot.com...and I guy named "John the Methodist" in the blogosphere. Apparently he's been around for a while. I seem, however, to have discovered his blog on a bad day.

As evidenced from his posting today: http://locustsandhoney.blogspot.com/2008/12/i-am-no-longer-candidate-for-ordained.html, "John" has been discontinued from candidacy for ministry. Now, a lot of things go through my mind...most of all being how impressed I am he's kept his identity a secret-ish thing. That having been said, I don't know him, don't know his situation, and can only imagine what a bad turn of things this must be.

But I am STUNNED if he truly was discontinued for standing up against his DS as noted. I'm of course overcome with curiosity to know all the details, but I'm mostly terribly disappointed to hear of all this. My father is a district committee chair and serves of our conference BOOM and I know he along with others in our conference take their role very seriously. And I know that things are rarely as simple as we might like to think. Not everyone who enters the process will (or should) end it with ordination. And anytime someone is discontinued, it's rough. In our conference at least, it's also a ling process and doesn't happen suddenly. It's long enough, in fact, that a candidate has time to find a better conference if for some reason they don't mesh well with theirs (I've known few people who actually thought their chance at ordination was improved if they switched conference, but it's out there).

I wonder how the community that has gathered around this blogger will shape up now, and it will be interesting to see how his anonimity does or doesn't persist. He mentions having others in his family who don't want him to give details. I don't get that. I mean, if there's something really sketchy going on, why not? But, it's not my life, and not knowng that conference or the climate there, I can only hope that it's not what he's describing. But it very well may be.

I suppose I really need to get into watching other blogs...goodness knows it's hard enough to keep up on my own that following others seems daunting...but who knows...maybe it will help the juices flow better...