Culturally Irrelevant

I guess it makes sense that it’s 2009 and a guy with a blog called “Culturally Irrelevant” is blogging for the first time. Forgive me if it takes a few posts for me to get the hang of this. Other confessions of some unintentional irrelevance…

I grew up Assemblies of God in a conservative Christian home. My parents were loving but very strict. I cut my musical teeth on Farrell and Farrell, Petra, Take 6, DeGarmo and Key…need I say more? I know a couple U2 songs, but secular music wasn’t allowed in our house, so what I got was in my brothers’ cars on the way to work or school. We didn’t have a TV for 6 years of my childhood, but I managed to catch the tail end of stuff like Hunter, Simon and Simon, Riptide, Matlock, A-Team, and The Fall Guy. I spent most of my time in high school and college mowing lawns, memorizing passages of the Bible, reading books and studying Greek verbs.

As of today, I have a beard that kids don’t like, I don’t use Facebook or MySpace (not because I don’t like social networking, but because I don’t seem to have time to keep up and I don’t like the ads…ok, so that dates me), my wife and I don’t have cable, haven’t seen a blockbuster movie in about 6 months, my wife cuts my hair (except when I won’t let her), I didn’t see Obama’s acceptance speech (read the transcript after the fact on Obama’s website), still using flip phones, just got off dial-up a couple years ago, using a first generation iPod that my brother won at work and mailed to us out of pity, and our only computer, a Dell Inspiron from 2002, finally crapped out on us (don’t worry, we’re using my mother-in-law’s old desktop and still going strong with XP 2002! Thanks, Gwen). The irony in it all is that I work for a thriving technology company…go figure.

Anyways, my wife is a brilliant woman who has chosen to be a stay-at-home mom rather than use her degree to make more money, we have two quirky but beautiful children and our boxer continues to be both annoying and loyal at the same time. We might keep him if he quits stepping on the kids and making them cry.

I’ve asked myself over and over, “Why blog?” There are lots of incredible blogs out there, and I’d personally rather read them, which is why I haven’t blogged until now. But honest writing is therapeutic, and I’m at a point in my life where I see the value in shared experiences. My wife and I have spent lots of time over the years looking at other people’s blogs, emailing bits and pieces back and forth, being encouraged by what others are seeing in life and in God’s heart. So, here’s to blogging.