Everything That's On My Mind

After a nearly year-long blogbatical* this blog is returning with a slightly different (and at this point, experimental) format.

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*A neologism not of my invention, but useful.

As you can see (unless you're using an RSS reader), I've finally gotten around to redesigning the site. I consider this a live beta at this point and I'm certainly open to comments and suggestions. I envisioned a more interesting background for the masthead, but while I'm handy with computer graphics software I'm not an artist. I'd be happy to take suggestions/submissions from artsy types.

Please let me know if you have any problems viewing the new design. I've tested it in IE7, Firefox2, and Safari, but I may have missed something along the way.

P.S. If you are using an RSS reader and the upgrade caused a deluge of posts on the feed, I apologize.

Since my one year blogiversary came and went recently, I guess an introduction is long overdue. As anyone who knows me will admit, however, I'm not easy to define. I am a walking, talking paradox and anachronism. I'm a complete sports nut but I also love the theater, especially Shakespeare. I love the work of Chip Foose and Alton Brown, too. You may catch me listening to anything from Muddy Waters to John Coltrane to The Beatles to Marc Cohn to U2 to Switchfoot to Israel Houghton. I'm a musician, but I could never narrow it down to just one instrument. I'm 40 years old, part Baby Boomer, part Baby Buster. Sometimes I feel like a kid, other times I feel like a very old soul.

I'm grateful to be a part of the Assemblies of God yet I must admit I'm a bit of a maverick. I have a great appreciation for a wide variety of church families. My circle of friends includes evangelical Catholics, Methodists, Orthodox, self-described recovering Baptists, and other wild lovers of Christ. I've been involved in fairly traditional evangelical churches all my life yet I'm beginning to realize that my faith journey has brought me to a point where I have much in common with the "emerging" conversation, even while parts of the conversation make me quite uncomfortable at times. I'm just trying to follow Jesus as best I can, and help others do the same along the way.

So now you know why this blog is entitled "Everything that's on my mind" (with apologies to Charlie Peacock) and why I warned you in my first post, "you never know what might be on my mind." I started this blog primarily as a way to share interesting articles and blog entries that are relevant to our church or to the church at large, but it has become more than that. If you have a hard time figuring out what kind of blog this is don't feel bad, I can't figure it out either. It's just another part of my journey, and I'm glad you're along for the ride. Please keep your hands, arms, legs, and feet inside until the ride comes to a complete and final stop. Thank you and enjoy your day.

After a bit of a false start, I'm up and running on dasBlog. For those of you using RSS readers, the new feeds (RSS and ATOM) are at the upper right. For everyone else, you'll see the new search functionality and categories at the right. If you notice any problems with the new format please let me know.

I'll be continuing the Will of God series ASAP, now that the conversion is done. Thanks for being patient.

This is a public service announcement. I'm going to be switching blog software this weekend. I've been testing DasBlog and I like it quite a bit. It will make my blogging life much easier. There are a couple minor drawbacks (no HTML allowed in comments), but the benefits (email notification, searching, categories, trackback/pingback support, etc.) outweigh them by far. I was able to move the current blog history and comments over to DasBlog, so we shouldn't lose anything.

I'm announcing this now because if you read my blog via an RSS feed, the URL of the feed will be changing. Check back after the changeover to find out exactly what it will be.

My series on the will of God has been generating more comments (finally!), which is nice. I want to warn those commenting, however, that I'm using REALLY low-end blog software. It doesn't notify me when there are new comments. I do the best I can to review old posts to look for comments, but I may not always catch them. If I haven't responded to your comment, I'm not ignoring you intentionally. If I've missed your comment and you're waiting for a response...email me.

I'm planning to upgrade to more powerful blog software (probably WordPress) when I have time. As the Bard said, however, "Aye, there's the rub."

To me, blogs have always seemed to be an exercise in arrogance. You need to really believe that someone cares what you think to start a blog. But as a pastor, I get up and preach every Sunday assuming people want to hear what I have to say, so it's not a great leap from there to blogging. So I guess I'm arrogant...or something.

I've never been much of a writer, and I've never kept a journal of any kind. I do, however, see the value of such a thing. So even if no one reads this blog, at least it will be a record of what's on my mind...which is a scary thought at this point. If any entry is actually helpful to someone else, then "praise the Lord and pass the ammunition."

So, hang on tight...you never know what might be on my mind.