on giving up the ghost

Despite how it trails me everywhere, despite that the email address still forwards to me, despite that I still occasionally introduce myself incorrectly, the truth is that I am no long Maggie Emma Thomas.

As such, it's time to retire this blog, whose very name is no longer correct.

You can find our new one over at BookofKellers.wordpress.com.

Love,
Maggie Keller

on being preachy

In all honesty, I'm a bit at a loss for content on this blog. I don't live or teach in Nigeria anymore, I don't feel like my day-to-day life is all that interesting, and I don't know how well my friends and loved ones would like it if I started writing about them. Also, I don't have a cute kid to write about, or the adventures of being married or owning a house to draw on, like some of my other blogging friends.

What I do have though, is a big God, who condescended to save tiny insignificant me. And if my relationship to Him and with Him is all I can think to blog about, well then: That's all there was to write about in the first place.

I worry some about getting a bit preachy. Then I worried more about the connotations of being preachy. Then I worried less, because I figured as long as I'm preaching the right thing, I can be okay with being preachy. Then I worried some more because holy interwebs, Batman: am I preaching the right thing?

So I pulled out the dusty old Bible concordance biblegateway.com and searched the term preach. (Sometimes, in my head, I imagine that this blog is my tiny pulpit and these posts are my tiny sermons. So it makes sense in my head to go to biblegateway.com for these things.)

Here's what I found (emphasis mine):

• 2 Corinthians 4:5 "But what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servant for Jesus' sake."
• 1 Corinthians 1:18, 23 "For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God...but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles."
• 1 Corinthians 15:1, 12-14 "Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand... ¹² But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? ¹³ If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. ¹⁴ And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith."
• Philippians 1:15-17 "It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. The latter do so out of love...The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely...But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice."

I preach a gospel of grace, to myself as much as to you. I preach Christ, God incarnate, being crucified and raised from the dead. Whether I preach Him to boost readership, whether I preach Him to remind myself of his grace, whether I preach Him to reflect glory and honor back to Him, I preach Him.

Christ.

Alone.

daily dose of embarrassing humor

Discovery of the YEAR:

I kept a Xanga account during my freshman year of college.

Oh my it is atrocious. I was so angst-ridden. How did I live with me?!

I'm not going to share the address with you, because I am that embarrassed, but here's some fun snippets. Let's all just laugh together. I'm nothing if not self-deprecating, yes?

"Interests: music, friends, coffee / Expertise: massages"

5/24/06: "Maybe I'll try keeping this thing updated more often. Maybe I'll start waking up before noon. Maybe I'll start running 3 miles every day. Maybe I'll be a size 6 before August. Maybe I'll be more responsible this summer. Maybe I'll make a lot of money. Maybe I'll plan out my life...at least the next 3 years. Maybe I'll receive some kind of Divine Revelation about my future. Maybe I'll take life more seriously. Maybe I'll take life less seriously. Maybe I'll bond with my brother this summer. Maybe I'll get to know my dad better. Maybe I'll quit talking to half my Wheaton friends. Maybe I'll develop my relationships here at home. Maybe I won't come home at all next year. Maybe I'll make a rash decision this summer...like choosing to pick up and fly to newhampshire to see Jayj or to newjersey to see Mattie or to texas to see... Maybe I'll learn how to be a leader amongst my peers. Maybe I'll make a lot of really good decisions this summer. Maybe I'll make a lot of bad decisions, too. Maybe I'll actually sort through all my crap. Maybe I'll just let it sit in the boxes until August. Maybe I'll cut my hair. Maybe I'll just let it grow. Maybe I'll start playing tennis. Or golf. Yeah, maybe golf. Maybe I'll be a fantastic nanny this summer. Maybe the kids will hate me. Maybe Connor will be an angel this summer...who am i kidding, maybe he'll threaten my life. Maybe I'll buy a new wardrobe. Maybe I'll get colored contacts. Maybe I'll come back a changed woman. Maybe I'll just stay the same.

Maybe."

11/23/05: "well, God continues to be good. (what a surprise) I am still an English major, but the hope is to become certified to teach ESL overseas. That's right...Maggie's gonna be a missionary."

9/12/05: "I secretly want to do something semi-destructive...dying my hair wasn't enough"

It's just so humiliating! If you were friends with me back then, thank you for sticking it out until I was less annoying. And if you dated me back then, well...bless you. That must have been a bumpy ride.

SSP

If you haven't caught wind of it yet (which is doubtful because I've orchestrated a veritable fire storm on Twitter, Facebook, and our website), I'm now getting paid to write blogs for my company, Rivendell Sanctuary. It's all very exciting.

This just might be as good as it gets: getting paid to do something you love.

And this is what my blogger friend Allison would call shameless self-promotion, or SSP:

Read our blog (and my introductory post) at: Rivendell Sanctuary Blog.

P.S. There are a record 5 hyperlinks in this post. If you click on all 5, you will not only boost traffic for all of these lovely people and organizations, but you will get a thousand cool points in my book. Win-win, really.

Relocation

For the duration of my time in Nigeria, this blog will be continued at:

MaggieInNigeria.blogspot.com