{"id":187,"date":"2005-09-26T11:43:21","date_gmt":"2005-09-26T15:43:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/shadow.sombragris.org\/?p=187"},"modified":"2005-09-26T11:45:01","modified_gmt":"2005-09-26T15:45:01","slug":"a-belated-first-anniversary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shadow.sombragris.org\/?p=187","title":{"rendered":"A belated First Anniversary"},"content":{"rendered":"

\nThis day, this dreadful day, let each contend;
\nNo rest, no respite, till the shades descend;
\nTill darkness, or till death, shall cover all:
\nLet the war bleed, and let the mighty fall;
\nTill bathed in sweat be every manly breast,
\nWith the huge shield each brawny arm depress’d,
\nEach aching nerve refuse the lance to throw,
\nAnd each spent courser at the chariot blow.<\/p>\n

(Homer, The Iliad<\/em>, Book II, translated by Alexander Pope)\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Near three months ago (on July 9), this blog turned one year old. I was aware at the time of the anniversary; but my bandwidth and work crunch prevented me from doing anything. At the time, I was hastily finishing a work project that had gone horribly out of schedule, so practically every single second available was spent working.<\/p>\n

I think that now it is a little late for a celebration, but we all could use some hindsight. Was it a good decision? I think yes, it was, for several reasons.<\/p>\n

Blogging opened a whole new world to me. I got to know several people from places near and afar, people that I now count as friends and brothers, even though I never met them personally —and in many instances, I did not even see a photo of them. The interaction with them enriched my faith and my intellectual life enormously. I owe to you a debt of gratitude.<\/p>\n

Additionally, blogging gave me a voice I would never have otherwise. Thanks to many people, I am reasonably well placed in the TTLB Ecosystem, and people using search engines such as Google can find me easily. This means that I would occassionally receive feedback from unexpected quarters. This means that I am heard… and by necessity, this also means that the blogosphere is very<\/em> patient and forgiving :D.<\/p>\n

But finally, blogging gave me a chance to fight.<\/em> This blog can be many things; but it is especially a weapon of warfare (2 Corinthians 10:4–6<\/a>). I tossed out all my delusions of peace; I saw too much to think otherwise. “This day, this dreadful day, let each contend; \/ No rest, no respite, till the shades descend”, and I intend to do so. We are in the midst of a ferocious war that knows no prisoners and knows no rules, and will not cease until complete annihilation of the enemy is achieved. “\u00c2\u00abThere is no peace\u00c2\u00bb, says the LORD, \u00c2\u00abfor the wicked\u00c2\u00bb” (Isaiah 48:22<\/a>). I might not be a mighty general or a great strategist, but this blog is my device against the wickedness and the darkness that tries to engulf us. Thanks to it, I have one more chance to “fight the good fight of the faith” (1 Timothy 6:12<\/a>). I am not a general; I am just a soldier, but I fight.<\/p>\n

Thanks to everyone who read and continue reading this blog. Your support and appreciation makes it all the more worthwile to do so. I promise to hold the fort \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This day, this dreadful day, let each contend; No rest, no respite, till the shades descend; Till darkness, or till death, shall cover all: Let the war bleed, and let the mighty fall; Till bathed in sweat be every manly breast, With the huge shield each brawny arm depress’d, Each aching nerve refuse the lance…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":159,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,6,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogs","category-faith","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shadow.sombragris.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shadow.sombragris.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shadow.sombragris.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shadow.sombragris.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/159"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shadow.sombragris.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=187"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shadow.sombragris.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shadow.sombragris.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shadow.sombragris.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shadow.sombragris.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}