Theological Musings

wanted to take a moment to draw my readers’ attention to another new podcast venture with which I’m involved.  Some of you already are listeners to Beyond the Box, the podcast that Raborn Johnson and I produce weekly.

This new podcast is another one that I’m excited to share with you because it not only involves topics that I care about, but it’s also my lovely wife’s podcasting debut.  That’s right! Christy and I are co-hosting a brand new podcast called “It’s Really That Simple“.  And the URL to find it is “really that simple”, as well: ItsReallyThatSimple.com (just make sure you leave the apostrophe out of “It’s”, or just drop the first word altogether and go to ReallyThatSimple.com – that will work just as well!).

This podcast does not venture into the theological minefields that Beyond the Box does.  But it does address simplicity in a multitude of areas, from faith to education to nutrition.

So come on over to “It’s Really That Simple” (not available in iTunes yet, but will be soon) and take a listen to the newest husband/wife podcasting team on the ‘net!

Until next time,

steve

t’s hard to believe that today marks three years since I started this blog!  I had no idea at the time I started it that I would enjoy such wonderful conversations with such a diverse group of readers.

While posting here has been sporadic at best in the past year, there have still been some really stimulating conversations, and some of you have really helped me think through some potentially difficult topics.

Thank you to all of my readers and commenters for making these three years a fun ride.  While I’m busy with other ventures (like podcasting and a not-yet-ready-for-publication joint blog with my wife, as well as our foster/adoptive experiences and my regular musical work), I do hope to continue to spark some interesting discussion here on this blog.

In the meantime, may our loving Father richly bless each of you on whatever journey you find yourself.  And may you find yourself growing deeper and deeper in an understanding of his love and the freedom that comes from life in him.

Until next time,

steve

ome of you might remember my good friend Raborn Johnson.  Ray and I have been friends for quite a while now.  For about 2 1/2 years, we have been meeting regularly — almost every week — at local restaurants for breakfast or lunch, and to share the journey together.

Many times in the past, blog posts by either of us have been sparked by the discussion that ensues in those times together (many of them lasting more than 2 hours).  For over a year, another good friend Tom has been joining us, too.  And sometimes when his schedule allows, frequent commenter “ded” (David) has joined us, too.

For a while now, Ray and I have talked about how much fun it would be to capture those times together to share with others.  Neither of us really knew anything about podcasting, nor did we know exactly how best to bring those discussions to others.

Instead of trying to actually record our conversations in a noisy restaurant, however, Ray and I have decided to start recording podcasts in a more controlled environment, but with the same type of conversations that take place in our weekly get-togethers.

So, I am excited to announce the start of a new podcast, with its own website:  Beyond the Box.  You can listen to the podcasts right there, if you want, on each post.  If you prefer to use iTunes to download them and listen there or on your iPod, the feed you need to subscribe to in iTunes is http://www.beyondtheboxpodcast.com/?feed=podcast.

Each episode (we intend to post a new episode weekly, if possible) runs about 30 minutes.  Our first episode, entitled What Is the Box?,  gives a pretty good idea of what you can expect.

Fun? It is for us, and I hope so for you, too.  Challenging?  Maybe, maybe not.  Controversial?  Probably.  But it’s not much that you haven’t already read on this blog in the past.  Instead of reading posts that have been thought out, edited, and refined, you’ll hear two guys just thinking out loud about some of the topics that pertain to our journey.

Comments on each post are more than welcome, and I hope that some of you will be listening regularly and giving us feedback as we bring the discussion to you in a new way for us.

We invite you to join us on the journey…beyond the box!

Until next time,

steve

ay back in early March of this year, I created a small bit of controversy in what resulted in the heaviest traffic this blog had ever seen. On one day (March 7), I received 396 page loads. (For those of you not familiar with website stats, a page load is any time a page is viewed and does not necessarily represent unique visitors.) I have never come close to that amount of traffic in one day since. For the most part, I get about 60, 70, maybe 80 hits on a good day.

Until today…

Apparently, there is a “social bookmarking” site called stumbleupon.com which enables people to browse to blogs and websites that fit their interests. If I understand it correctly (I’m not even sure I know how all this works), someone sees something that they like, and they “stumble it”, meaning that they list that page on stumbleupon.com. Then, others who are interested in similar topics can click a button in their browser and surf from site to site viewing content that is related to those topics.

So, apparently someone really liked my post “You Might Be Misrepresenting God”. And they decided to “stumble it”. I saw a bump the other day to 171 page loads — quite a bit for me in recent months as I haven’t been writing much and haven’t really stirred too many pots.

But today, the traffic started again, and as of the writing of this post there have been 2,387 page loads today. I’m not really big on stats like I used to be, but I can’t help feeling a little funny about the fact that so many people are looking at this blog all of a sudden. Maybe I should have quit writing when I said I was losing my voice!!

So, the burning question is: who stumbled me?? I’m not sure yet whether to thank you or to permanently ban you from my blog…hehe! Just kidding.

Until next time,

steve

o, I’m not talking about getting laryngitis. I’m just referring to the lack of motivation I have had to post on this blog lately.

I’m not entirely sure what it is. It’s not really apathy. It’s not because I don’t want to provide reading material for my faithful readers. It’s not even because I am disinterested in any topics that I might write about.

It’s just that I’m struggling right now to figure out what exactly I want to focus on in my writing. I find something of a “blogger’s block” on this particular blog.

I’ve written several posts on our foster/adoption blog about the current events in that part of our life. I find that I want to write about that! And writing those posts seems very easy for me right now. Like I used to feel here.

So, this blog sits. Collecting dust. Is it dying? Honestly, I don’t know. It’s been a part of my life for over two years now. So part of me doesn’t want to let it go. And yet, I wonder…

I think what it really boils down to is that I’m starting to outgrow the phase of my journey that birthed this blog. The phase of my journey where I began asking a lot of questions. Began challenging a lot of things. Began exploring various topics related to church and theology that played into all the changes taking place in my experience.

But lately, I’m finding that I’m enjoying just resting in Christ. Just enjoying my relationship with him. I’ve asked a ton of questions, and I’ve explored a lot of different topics. And I feel like those questions are dying down now. At least for the time being.

So what does that mean? Well, I’m not sure. I think it just means that I’m putting my attention elsewhere for right now.

I have an interview at Barter Theatre in Abingdon, VA (the interview I’ve been waiting for for months now) on Tuesday, November 27. I’m excited about that. They have changed the start date on the job. It was originally slated to start mid-January, but now is mid-March. I’m pleased with that change, and if I get the job, it will be nice to know that I have two extra months here in Boone with the people with whom we fellowship.

And our foster/adoptive situation is quite exciting right now. We’re eagerly awaiting word as to whether or not we will have the chance to adopt a particular little one that we are quite fond of, despite the fact that we’ve only had one weekend with her, and that was several weeks ago.

Those two things are what are mostly on my mind lately. Well, those things plus a couple of theological thoughts that I always feel are too controversial to put on a blog. You know, the kind of things that I’ve talked about in the past that somehow mysteriously get people thinking that I don’t value the Bible or some other such nonsense. And controversy just isn’t my thing right now.

I guess there are a lot of things I would love to talk about, but just can’t find the voice with which to do it. So, after spending all these words to say, “I have nothing to say right now,” I’ll leave you to return to your regular reading elsewhere.

Feel free to check back here whenever you want. Better yet, just add me (or keep me) in your feed reader, and you’ll know if I post again! This phase may not last long. But I figured I’d at least just be honest about it and let you know why my posting is so sporadic here.

God bless you all, and I hope to continue to dialogue with many of you on your own blogs, if not here.

Until next time,

steve