It's a Brand-New Year

There's really nothing magical about turning the page of your calendar, but it still feels magical, which is why so many of us make New Year's resolutions.

Of course, the old saying "Man plans, God laughs" got the better of me last year. I said I would write fifty-two blog posts here last year, and I fell woefully short (by my count, I posted 10, although I began drafting close to 25). In fact, I stopped my regular writing gig over at iSlaytheDragon.com to focus on my writing, and yet here I am. I also resolved to read 50 books on Good Reads, but my profile there was a constant reminder of how far behind I had fallen. Even my book club read less than our usual eleven books per year.

Last year was the hardest year of my life thus far. My daughter was born, and she is not the sleeper my son was. We assumed throughout the year that she was just one of those Fussy Babies you occasionally hear about (through sobs), but we discovered in September that she has a rare eye condition that has kept her in near constant discomfort, likely since her birth. In addition to this, my son is now two (almost three), and the switch has flipped from nice, compliant son to toy-room terror.

So on the one hand, I look at my failed attempts to write and think, "Man, what did I accomplish in 2014?" And on the other hand, I think, "How in the world did I get anything done?" And really, measuring a year by posts written and books read is a sorry yardstick for accomplishment. Some days all you can do is wake up and do your duty before crawling back under the covers. I've learned a little more what Paul meant that God's grace is made perfect in weakness. (I wish it were a little more perfect, or that I was.) Daily bread has taken on new meaning for me.

So in 2015, I resolve to do nothing, which we're told ensures that we'll reach our goals. I pray today for the strength for today, and tomorrow I will pray for the strength I need to face that day. Baby steps and daily bread. And lots and lots of coffee.

Back to the Blog

In November 2010, I started a tag for my posts called "excuses." I meant it as a joke to catalog my apologies for when I abandoned the blog for too long. Twelve posts since then have borne this scarlet tag, which, unfortunately makes up 10 percent of my total output on this blog.

Mea culpa.

However, like camptime revivals of old, I am recommitting to this blog--and I hope that it outlasts many of the camptime recommitments of my youth group. The reason I think it will stick this time is that I ended my regular writing commitment for the board game blog iSlaytheDragon at the end of June. (Explanation here.) It's surprising how much energy it takes to write regularly, and now that I've taken a week off, I can devote that energy to new pursuits. One of which is this blog, at least for the time being.

Coming in 2014...

I miss this blog. I really do. So that's why, when I thought of resolutions for 2013 (yes, some of us really do try to make resolutions even after a long string of failures), revitalizing this blog was at the top of the list. It's true that I still write a lot (mostly about tabletop games, these days...), but I'd like to broaden my horizons this year.

My resolution began with something crazy like a new post every day. But I'm going to strive for one new post a week. I'd like that to be consistent, but to make this easier on myself, I'll take that fifty-two number as the standard--an average of one new post a week in 2014.

That doesn't sound too hard, does it?

We shall see...

The Book of Job: "The Riddles of God Are More Satisfying Than the Solutions of Man"

That was some July, huh?

...

The purpose of July was to reinvigorate my writing and hopefully renew a more regular habit, but as soon as the pressure wore off, a few days' break turned into a few more, and a few more, and a few more, and then a full-on holiday. Sorry about that. I really will try to be better.

In the meantime, lots of things have happened (maybe subjects for future blog posts?). Some of you may remember that I began writing a series on the Book of Job (post 1, post 2) two years ago, but I dropped off before getting to the hard bit. Well, yesterday the hard bit was the lectionary reading for the week, and I attempted to deal with it. Here's the audio of the sermon on Job 42 if you're interested.

A Mid-Month Apology

At the start of this month, I let the Interverse know that I would blog each weekday during the month of July. I should have heeded Ecclesiastes 5, which speaks of never vowing rashly. I believe I chose the worst month to undertake a writing project like this, especially given how out of practice I am with the sort of blogging a reader might expect here. (I'm fishing for your expectations here: please leave them in the comments.)

The rationale behind a daily blog update was 1) I hadn't posted in a while; 2) I felt guilty for not posting in a while; 3) I thought it might be a good exercise to write something new every day. While I won't exactly call this a failed experiment, it's getting there. I've reposted things I've already written (which goes against the spirit of "write every day"--though I will say that I've at least lightly edited each piece), and I've posted a lot of quotes. This isn't necessarily a bad thing: I think Chesterton's a smarter, more engaging writer than I am, so it's probably almost a boon.

But still, as for cultivating writerly discipline, I have not succeeded. And for this, I ask you to forgive me.

I have some good post ideas if I can ever find the time to flesh them out. Of course, you might have to come back in August, when I have more time to develop them, to read them.

I'm Not Very Good at This...

So, it's been nearly three months in between posts. Since my last, I've written eight or so drafts of posts that I wasn't happy with and thus haven't seen the light of day. It turns out I'm not very good at this blogging thing.

However, I am strongly considering ditching Facebook in the coming year, and if I do, I will be much more committed to this blog and its (few) readers. Still, I am quite sorry for being such a fairweather friend.

I have a post cooking (well, make that nine posts cooking), but it likely won't be fully baked until after Christmas. So until that next post, merry Christmas! I pray you may experience all the blessings of the season as Christ is born in you.

Back to the Blog

I was going to jump in just now with one of the (many) posts I started in the draft folder over the past month, but to do so would be to ignore the long period of silence--now nearly a month--and that's not fair to my faithful readers. (I love you, Mom!) So: a brief explanation of what has been happening.

Convention Convergence

Not like most of you will notice, since I'm such an unfaithful blogger, but I will be gone this weekend and unable to post.

It's not often that I stray from my home, especially in pursuit of entertainment or hobbies. So imagine my surprise when there was a bit of wiggle room in the budget that allowed me to attend a convention this year. The only problem was, which one?

A Few Brief Comments on My Youth

I realize I haven't posted here in a while. Things have been a little crazy in my household, not least among things taking my time is the sermon I'm preparing for Sunday (on peace, no less, something that seems elusive at the moment).

In any case, a few days ago, I did get the chance to sit down to a movie, a movie I watched often when I was younger: Flight of the Navigator. Abby said she was done with period pieces for a while, and I thought she had said that she liked Flight of the Navigator from when she was a kid, so I put it at the top of the Netflix queue. It turns out, I made that part up. She had never heard of it, and after reading the description and hearing the '80s music play over the DVD menu, she wasn't particularly keen on watching it. Still, since we rarely send Netflix DVDs back without watching them and she wanted this one sent back right away, she agreed to, and so we watched it.

I realized early on that I remembered almost nothing about the movie.

What's New?

A while back I conducted a survey about my blog. Most respondents were in agreement about what they'd like to see more of, but there was one key category where everyone was split: games.

One of the questions I asked was, "What would you like me to write more about?" Another was "What would you like me to write less about?" The top answer in "less" and the almost top answer in "more" was games. The readers of my blog seemed divided, and rather than alienate anyone, I decided, from now on, to post about games elsewhere.

A friend and I collaborated recently for a map design contest (which we didn't win), and we liked the collaboration process so much that we decided to collaborate on a blog. So my game reviews and other geekiness, which were starting to feel out of place here, will now be posted over there, at iSlaytheDragon.com. (You can see an explanation here, and my first new post there, a review of Race for the Galaxy, here.)

What does this mean for this blog? Well, nothing, really. I still plan to keep up with new posts as often as I can. If you subscribed to this blog exclusively for posts about games, I suggest you migrate your RSS subscription to iSlaytheDragon.com. If you liked the game posts and my other posts, by all means, subscribe to both RSS feeds! By this arrangement, I hope to keep everyone at least mildly happy.

Things are slowing down at work (finally!), so I expect new posts to come on a fairly consistent schedule from this point forward. Thanks for reading!

Friday Links

Rather than dash off something subpar for your Friday afternoon reading, I thought I'd direct you to some good reading I found recently on the Internet. (And if you're interested in this kind of thing on a more regular basis, if you look at the bottom of my blog, these articles show up periodically as I share them on my Google Reader. Or you can follow my Google Reader shared items here.) Here goes:

A Week Off

This has been...quite an off week for me. My grandmother passed away on Saturday, and her funeral is this weekend. In the midst of this, I have lots to do at work, and I have a sick wife at home to tend. However, underlying all of this, I know that God is faithful, and I'm trying to keep things in perspective.

But because of what's going on internally and externally this week, please forgive me that posting will be light or nonexistent. I hope to return to my regular three-or-so-posts-a-week schedule next week. In the meantime, please pray for my family and for me.

Easter looms large and makes the shadow much more bearable.

Spontaneous Four-Day Weekend Upsets Blogger's Plans

Monday is typically the day for my game review...but no review today. After spending the weekend with some friends from Michigan, we were waylaid by an ice storm we knew nothing about. (We only just heard about it at church on Sunday, and it arrived as soon as we left.) I'm not the spontaneous type and rarely do things that fall outside the realm of what has been planned. Still, near Chelsea, Michigan, we decided our car would travel no farther. We stopped off at a hotel, and the leftovers from our lunch, which were well beyond what we needed to eat and which we were planning for today's lunch at work, became our dinner. Our lives paused for a day, and we were still provided for.

Consequently, my blog plans were also hindered. Game review hopefully tomorrow, followed by your regularly scheduled programming...unless God or his acts intervene again. It wouldn't be the first time, and I'm sure it won't be the last. "Man plans, God laughs."

Excuses, Excuses

I suppose I should have evaluated the state of things in my life before I launched into a new blogging venture. In any case, it has been over two weeks since I last posted, so I thought I should give an explanation.

...except that I don't really have time for that today, either. The holidays loom, and there is much left for me to accomplish before I can see family unfettered. I'm preaching this Sunday, so I'm working on my sermon. Perhaps when I finish it I'll post it here for your edification or disputation. In the meantime, I will continue to think about some ideas I've been kicking around, and hopefully after Thanksgiving I will post with more regularity.

Thanks for reading. I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!