Well, Newscoma was kind enough to nominate me for the “Thinking Blogger Award,” and her comments were generous and kind, a greatly-needed lift during a difficult week.

Now, I am supposed to link to five other bloggers whom I feel are deserving of the award. The trouble is that this meme is, for lack of a better term, a benign pyramid scheme, spreading like wildfire. Each level of people getting tagged increases the number of participants exponentially. And this is the type of meme that everyone wants to participate in, because of the pride involved in displaying your “award” on the blog. Already, several people whom I had planned this morning to nominate have, in the interim, been nominated by someone else (I’m looking at you, Art, Stacie and Jennifer).

Fortunately, there are a lot of great blogs still un-nominated. Before I get to them, here are the rules set up by the originator of the meme:

1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think,
2. Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme,
3. Optional: Proudly display the ‘Thinking Blogger Award’ with a link to the post that you wrote.

OK. Here goes:

• Hit the Back Button to Move Forward. I suspect Gavin has already been tagged, probably more than once, and just hasn’t responded yet, probably because he’s too cool for that sort of thing. But I always enjoy reading his blog. Gavin and I share a common interest in a domestic short-term missions group, and that’s how I first came in contact with him. But I’ve gotten to appreciate him and his faith even more through his postings.
• Faith & Works. I wasn’t going to include Peter; because his blog is owned and operated by his employer, the Louisville Courier-Journal, I’m sure it’s difficult or impossible for him to participate in games like these. He’s got to stick to content, and so there’s little point in tagging him. But when the topic is “blogs that make you think,” his certainly qualifies. I’ve only known about it a few weeks but I really enjoy it.
• Fixin’ Supper. Here’s a great example of how a personal, or at least very domestic, blog can take on a serious issue when the situation calls for it. Laura has spoken passionately about the standardized school attire issue. I can’t say a whole lot about this issue, pro or con, because I cover the school board in Bedford County, which is studying the issue right now. But Laura’s posts have given me something to think about that as I do so. And in any case, I admire her passion in speaking out on the issue.
• In That Number. Phisch turns the details of her everyday life into compelling reading. This is the personal blog that other personal blogs wish they were.
• Locusts & Honey. This is just a shameless attempt to get picked more often as the winner of John’s regular caption contests.

There you go.