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

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

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

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

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

David (“ded”) is a great friend and brother to me. I first met David when he was one of our son’s seventh-grade teachers. Since that time, David and I have become very good friends. I value him as a brother in Christ and as one who functions as an elder in my life.

David and his wonderful wife are ones that we try to fellowship with often. The path to finding points of intersection in our schedules has not always been easy, but every time we get together, it is a blessing to us. I always find myself coming away from conversations with David feeling more in love with Jesus, more in tune with the Spirit, and more desirous to live life fully in the Spirit.

For a long time now, David has been contributing very insightful comments on this blog. Several of you have commented in the past how much you appreciate his wisdom and input into the conversation. I couldn’t agree more!

So, it is with great pleasure that I introduce David to you now, not just as a friend, not just as a brother, not just as a vital part of the comments here, but now as a blogger as well. David’s new blog, Spirit in the Wild Wood, is now open, and he’s already got a couple of posts up there for your edification.

I can’t recommend highly enough that you add David to your blog reader, favorites, or however you keep up with your blog reading. You will definitely be blessed by this dear brother!

Until next time,

steve

The topic was “Worship and Music” and Michael gave me four very insightful questions on which to share my thoughts. You can read the interview on Michael’s blog here.

There are already some good responses over there, and you can feel free to join the discussion there (I think you have to register for Michael’s blog in order to comment) or provide responses here.

Thanks for the fun interview, Michael! I hope that the discussion is productive.

Until next time,

steve

Anyway, hop on over to Gordon’s blog and read the interview there.  For those of you who only know me as a blogger, it will give you insight into the musical side of my life.

Until next time,

steve

You may have tried to access the blog while I had it down for the upgrade, and I apologize for that inconvenience. As it turns out, I am having to tweak a few things, so you may notice some changes, or things not working correctly around here for a day or two while I iron out the bugs.

If you see anything strange, please leave a comment here and let me know!

Until next time,

steve

First of all, you may have noticed that I changed the banner picture at the top of the blog. I loved the misty bridge picture that came with the template, but finally found a good picture to substitute and make my blog that much more original. Where did I find such a picture, you ask? Right out our back window last October when the leaves were their prettiest here in Boone.

I also updated my picture in the sidebar, since the other one was well over a year old. I took the opportunity to enjoy the new Photoshop Elements software that we received as a Christmas present by overlaying my picture onto a picture of the Blue Ridge Mountains that we took just a few miles from our house. The mountains are beautiful. Now, if I could just do something about the fact that my face is quite a bit rounder in this later picture than it was a year ago. Sigh…

Also, some of you may have noticed that I have included functionality on my blog now to see “Snap Previews” of external links before clicking them. A good example of this is when you mouseover this link right here. You should see a popup that shows what the target website looks like before you click on it. This only works with “external links” — that is, links that are outside of my blog. If I link to another page within my blog, you won’t see the preview. I also have disabled it for links to Bible passages on BibleGateway (such as John 3:16). There isn’t any need to preview those sites, in my opinion. (By the way, this plugin is available for WordPress.com users, as well, according to this article.)

Finally, I have added a new page to my blog called “WP Plugins“. This page would better be called “WP Plugin” (singular) for the moment, since I only have written one plugin, but hopefully this will not be the last plugin I write. As I develop more plugins, I’ll add them to that page.

Writing plugins for WordPress is a new thing for me, and I’m very excited about having written my first one. It wasn’t a whole lot more than making modifications to an existing WordPress function, but it was something that I wanted to have in terms of functionality, and something that I couldn’t find elsewhere in other plugins. So, I tried it myself, based on the info received on a support forum, and have now released it to the public!

If any of you have WordPress (I don’t know if you can install additional plugins on WordPress.com blogs, or just self-hosted WordPress blogs like I have), and would be interested in being something of a beta tester on this, download it and let me know what needs changed or what works well.

Thanks! I hope you all are having a blessed day. I hope to post again soon.

Until next time,

steve