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

BTW, if you're one of the millions on Facebook, look us up.
Red Oaks Assembly of God | Promote Your Page Too

*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.