The importance of linking
This post is written mainly to blogging beginners or to those who may get a little lazy in their blogging. One thing I consistently enjoy is checking links from blogs I read to other blogs. It’s a way that I often discover new writers that I enjoy and find new things to think and write about.
However, as much as I enjoy finding these hidden nuggets, it’s equally frustrating to be reading a blog and see someone mentioned in the blog who is not linked for the reader’s convenience. Here are some reasons for taking the extra 10 seconds to create a link to someone’s blog when you mention their name or allude to an entry of theirs:
- It drives traffic from your site to theirs. They can see where incoming links are coming from (most bloggers have some sort of counter/stat plugin installed for this).
- It builds blogging rapport. Many times, a blogger will come visit your site when they see you’ve linked their site. Often, if they like what they see, they will also link you.
- It builds new friendships, relationships and influence. You never know when the extra time you take to link will bring someone to your site who ends up being a regular reader and eventually a friend. I’ve had several blogging friendships started with a simple link.
- It promotes integrity. It’s waaaay to easy to copy and paste on the net. Linking to your sources helps you stay honest and also communicates to your readers that you care about attributing information to proper sources. In the long run, it makes you a credible blogger and source of information.
- Encouragement. When a new blogger begins blogging within your circle of friends or influence, it’s amazing how a simple mention in your blog of them (with a link, of course) will encourage them. They’ll immediately see traffic from your site, and they’ll be encouraged to continue blogging and blogging well.
- Quality. When you link regularly, it has a way of holding the bloggers you link to accountable to a higher standard of writing. If your blog is one of great, consistent quality, they will also be challenged to “live up to” your willingness to link them.
- Trust. By linking to another’s site, you are in essence saying that you are willing for your carefully cultivated readership to associate you with them. With that said, be careful about linking to sites with questionable content. When your readers find links of consistent interest, amusement, encouragement or direction, they will frequent your blog and oftentimes link your blog to their own because you become a “fount of information.”
- Waste someone else’s time. One negative of effective linking is that folks can wind up chasing rabbits on the net forever. They read something great on your blog and then follow your link somewhere else… then a link there leads them somewhere else. Before they realize it, an hour has passed… and you are the initial culprit… But aren’t you glad you have the self-discipline to limit your own internet reading? ;)
- Build your readership. I think that’s been implied in several of the above points, but the way the internet functions these days is obviously like a spider web. A small movement at one spot on the web can cause a tremor somewhere else. By linking consistently in your blog entries, you’ll eventually see more traffic on your own blog. For instance, if someone is searching for “Joel Osteen,” and you’ve written about him and linked to his church, any search for his church or for him will also turn up your own site and its mention of him. Some folks are shameless about doing this. They use linking for the simple purpose of getting linked or noticed in search engines.
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Review: The Barbarian Way (rated 4 stars)
The Barbarian Way: Unleash the Untamed Faith Within
by Erwin Raphael McManus
Erwin McManus’ short book called The Barbarian Way is a fantastic book challenging believers to quit playing it safe and to embrace a life of adventure, faith, and risk in Christ.
There are so many quotable paragraphs and thoughts in the book that I’m just going to have to encourage you to read it for yourself.
However, try this on for size:
Somewhere along the way the movement of Jesus Christ became civilized as Christianity. We created a religion using the name of Jesus Christ and convinced ourselves that God’s optimal desire for our lives was to insulate us in a spiritual bubble where we risk nothing, sacrifice nothing, lose nothing, worry about nothing. Yet Jesus’ death wasn’t to free us from dying, but to free us from the fear of death. Jesus came to liberate us so that we could die up front and then live. Jesus Christ wants to take us places where only dead men and women can go.
Throughout the book, McManus compares “civilized†Christianity to the “barbarian†way of Christ. He speaks of the Messiah in a way that compels you to discover more. This is no smiling, VBS-poster-boy Jesus. The Jesus he reminds us of is the Jesus of the New Testament, the Jesus prophesied of old. It is the Jesus that carries His own cross and that bears all our sins. It is the Jesus that urges us to trust what we cannot see and to abandon ourselves to a love we cannot fathom.
All in all, if you’ve got a couple of evenings, this book is well worth the investment.
A favorite line of mine to conclude with…
I was surprised to learn that a group of buzzards waiting around together to feast on leftover carnage is called a committee… This explains so much of what’s going on in churches – a lot of committees waiting around to live off human carnage.
See more about The Barbarian Way: Unleash the Untamed Faith Within
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Bring on the Reformation…
Vintage Christianity has a pretty powerful polemic regarding the need of fresh reformation in the church at large. Read the 25 theses there and let fly your thoughts and comments on which ones struck you deepest.
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Amazon wades into Apple stronghold selling mp3′s
Amazon unveiled its new service today that you can buy DRM-free MP3′s for 89-99 cents a piece! Cheaper than the iTunes store and without copy protection, this service is worth trying and watching. One thing I’ve long been frustrated about buying from iTunes is the inability to put those songs on Sam’s PSP. Since it’s not an Apple device, the copy protection provided by DRM prevents you from putting a song I’ve purchased on a non-Apple device. That’s totally bogus. Of course, Apple began offering songs that are DRM-free, but you have to pay more for them!
So check out Amazon’s tune collection and give it a whirl.
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A recommended book; help out a blogger!
Tim Challies’ first book will be released in December! The Principle of Discernment is going to be a wonderful addition to any Christian leader’s bookshelf, and I believe will be an important must-read for the general Christian public as well. It addresses an issue sadly lacking in today’s church – the ability to evaluate truth from falsehood. So much of what we listen to, read, and watch on TV in the area of Christendom these days is dross. In the excerpts I’ve seen and the reading I’ve done regularly on Tim’s site, I am hopeful that the book will be a powerful addition to presenting people mature in Christ.Buy me and yourself an autographed copy here!Â
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A blog that caught my eye
I first read The Short Fat Kid’s commentary on the Getting Sh-t Done method of productivity. I don’t know why that caught my eye, but perhaps it’s because I need to get st-ff done. As I linked over to utilware’s blog, I was mesmerized. The simple design and delightful navigation of the site kept me there longer than I would have been otherwise. Each click brought me to a new page whose clean, graceful lines and look drew me into its content.Â
So bravo, Bill Westerman, whoever you are! I’ve now got blog envy. Great work and happy blogging!
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Don’t email or blog angrily
Michael Hyatt, grand poobah of Christian publishing giant Thomas Nelson, has a must-read article for all bloggers about thinking twice before you blog or email when you’re angry. I think it applies to a lot of misguided communication in our day. Although it’s easier to hide behind a screen or keyboard and fire verbal missiles, it’s not kind nor healthy for relationships.In brief, Hyatt’s points are:
- Cool down.
- Talk it out.
- Write a response.
- Do your homework.
- Schedule a meeting.
- Admit your mistakes.
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Why I gave up consuming “The Princes of Ireland: The Dublin Saga”
The Princes of Ireland: The Dublin Saga
by Edward Rutherfurd
It’s really good, but slow and also ponderous. The characters just weren’t compelling, and the same characters aren’t continued throughout the book, as it’s divided into historical segments. I just couldn’t justify plowing through it (I got about 250 pages into it).
See more about The Princes of Ireland: The Dublin Saga
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The Squirrel
We have a chihuahua that I can’t stand.
We have a fish that appeared over night.
There is a bird in Sam’s room that bites me.
We finally got rid of a hamster whose roll wheel kept me up at night squeaking.
The cat that stays outside is the only animal I remotely like at our house.
And I’ve always wanted a pet squirrel…
Carolyn yelled at me on Tuesday from her office to “come here quick!!!!” I jumped up and ran back there. To my horror, the cat had a baby squirrel, and was preparing it for dinner. Carolyn was just watching.”What are you doing, you sicko!?” I exclaimed and ran out the back door.
Apparently the door slamming startled the cat and allowed the squirrel to leap onto the nearest tree. It was barking/squeaking. And it was cute.
My photoset at Flickr probably tells the story best.
What happened next was a tragedy. I allowed Carolyn to talk me out of keeping it. I envisioned putting it in the chihuahua’s kennel and raising it with TLC&A (tender loving care & acorns). Carolyn didn’t think that was fair to the chihuahua. Mind you, this is the same demon (the dog, not Caro) that bit through my fingernail last month when I was trying to put her in her kennel.With regret, I placed the squirrel back on the tree, and watched it slowly climb up a ways.
As I entered the house, a surge of determination overcame. I will have the squirrel for a pet. This is nuts, I thought. I hurried back outside, to see to my dismay that the squirrel was higher than I could reach. I ran and got a ladder and placed it clumsily against the tree. The wobbly climb began.Little did I know that Squirrel Hater (previously known as my wife) was laughing her head off as I delicately climbed the ladder – and taking pictures.
I got the top run and for a brief moment, grasped the squirrel’s tail, but was unable to dislodge it from the tree without also dislodging myself. It was then that I realized that I was dangerously close to falling. I had a death hug on a pine tree. And here came SH – the photographer I live with…
Anyway, I think I’m over it today… But I still wish I had a pet squirrel. Its parents (or two larger squirrels) found it, and they were building a nest in the pine tree out back on Wednesday. Buddy (as I have now named him) could be seen watching from about 20 feet up.
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Our Story, a week in October
Many of you who know us well and have been following this gradual epic of “Our Story” may have been waiting for this particular entry. In some ways, this week in October 1994 still remains the epicenter of our relationship. It was both our worst and best week ever.
Since moving to Garland in the summer of 1992, we had truly carved out a wonderful niche for ourselves among the families, youth, and staff of First Baptist. We loved it. While every church has problems, and they always seem to be intensified at the moment you live through them, our memories of FBCG are ones of delight and gratitude. It was through that family of Christ that we experienced intensive care at a time when we most needed it.
In October 1994, I was beginning my last year of seminary. I would graduate the following May, and the church was entering a massive building project to create a Family Life Center. After much prayer and a sense of calling, I had moved into the position of Young Adult and Singles Minister at the church, becoming a peer with Kevin on staff (no more cleaning volleyball pole holes as a youth intern!).
Carolyn had been cancer-free for two years, and we were seeing the Lord do some extraordinary things in the lives of singles and young families.
Those days were not without some scares. Carolyn had had a few lumps appear since the cancer that had to be biopsied to ensure that they were not the return of Hodgkin’s Disease. All had tested benign. However, she had had a lump under her arm removed the previous week, and we were a little on edge as we waited for the results.
On Monday, Carolyn’s 1987 Nissan Sentra SE – completely dependable to this point – hiccuped, coughed, and then died. A tow to the service bay revealed that the engine was shot. $1500 estimate to replace it. We were devastated. It was just not something we had money for at all. We moped around and wondered “why” like most of us do when inexplicable and inconvenient things happen.
On Wednesday, I was studying in the library at seminary when Carolyn called me. There was a quiet hush on the line, and then I heard a familiar refrain…
“Jeff, it’s cancer.”
I drove immediately back to Garland from Fort Worth, pondering the implications and praying all the way for understanding and strength. The return of cancer certainly caused the inconvenience of a car breakdown to pale in comparison.
Upon arriving at home, on Avenue D, just a block from the church, Carolyn and I spent the afternoon together, talking, crying and seeking comfort from each other and the Lord. We also started calling family and friends. Little did we know at that point the magnitude of prayer effort that would soon be organized for us around the nation.
Sleeping on things always helps, but Thursday was surreal. I went to the church to work, and Carolyn returned to her teller job at Nation’s Bank.
Friday was rainy.. and unbelievable.I walked home from the church at lunchtime to grab a bite to eat, and upon arriving, was curious at the aroma of wood burning on the front porch. As I opened the front door, a black cloud of smoke and heat billowed out, singing the hay scarecrow hanging on the front door. Startled, I peered inside, through the smoky haze.
Seeing no flames, and not really thinking clearly (surprised?), I ran into the house to use the phone in the living room to call 9-1-1. As I blurted out that our house was on fire to the voice on the other end, she asked, “Sir, where are you now?”
“In the living room,” I replied breathlessly.
“Of the house that’s on fire?” she asked incredulously.
The realization of my stupidity dawned on me as I meekly replied, “Uh, yes.”
“Get out of the house, sir,” she ordered. “The fire department is on its way.”
Everything was such a blur for the next hour, I barely remember the sequence of events. I do distinctly remember two things:
- I ran next door and called Carolyn at work. I told her our house was on fire. She didn’t believe me, and I had to put the neighbor girl on the phone to convince her. “Omigosh,” she said, and hung up.
- I was standing in the front yard, watching the fire department arrive and prepare to enter the house when two of our church’s deacons showed up. It was drizzling, and they stood there with me, comforting and encouraging me. At this time, Carolyn arrived. She had had to go the long way since Avenue D (a major thoroughfare east-west between Garland and Dallas) was blocked by the fire trucks. As she trudged through the wet lawn to where we were standing under an umbrella, all we heard my beautiful spouse saying over and over again was some colorful expletives.
I also remember grinning sheepishly at the two deacons and then all of us bursting out laughing at the sheer unreality of it all.
It was only a few minutes later that our State Farm agent, Danny Binz, arrived with a significant check in his hand. I can’t remember if I’d called or how he found out, but he was literally there out of the blue. He was also a member of our church.”Go check into a hotel, get some dinner and then go get you some clothes,” he said. He was incredible. Rather, the Lord was.
In our moment of total shock and at the culmination of what we’ve since always referred to as “The Week From Hell,” the Lord was present and reminding us of His love and provision.
Dazedly, we checked into the La Quinta and discovered over the next week or so a very caring and kind staff who went the extra mile to allow us to feel at home. We ate out for the next week or so, and were invited into so many people’s homes for meals that we could never possibly thank them for their kindness.
That Saturday, we went to Town East Mall in Mesquite, with the money we’d been given to shop for some clothes and needed items. Since church was the next day, and all our clothes and belongings had been smoke-damaged, we had to get some “Sunday clothes.” Carolyn was rather excited about it all, but I was rather uncomfortable. I just don’t clothes shop. Period.
I remember walking into a trendy store of the time called Structure. There were life-sized posters hanging everywhere of models in Structure clothes. A salesman noticed my discomfort and asked, “May I help you?” I looked around, overwhelmed, and said simply, “Make me look like one of those guys,” pointing to one of the posters.
I was out of there in 15 minutes with a large sack of clothes. I still have the cool, tweedy sports coat I bought that day.
As treatment began in the next few weeks, we learned that it would drag on for a while. Carolyn would have intense chemotherapy this time. We had to find a new home, and were relieved to discover a nice home just around the corner from where we were. As we settled in and buckled down, we simply sought to endure for the next several months.
Our church family was incredible to us all during this time. We received cards and notes from other churches and individuals from dozens of cities over the next several weeks. We were literally upheld by the prayers of the saints during this time.
As Caro began losing her hair, she amazed me at her resilience and strength. True to our nature, we found ways to laugh and simply lean on God during all those hard days. It was His unrelenting assurance of His love for us in a thousand small and large ways that kept us looking up and looking out. He simply would not allow us to become self-consumed. It was a glorious blessing. The worst thing anyone can ever do is to focus exclusively on themselves and the “unfairness” or “wrongness” of whatever they’re enduring.
Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. (1 Peter 4.12-13)
As 1995 began, we were wondering what was next for us. We were struggling to decide if FBCG was where God wanted us for the longterm, or if He was preparing us for something else. A pastoral change at the church had left us and most of the staff reeling with the abrupt change in morale as well.
In July, the doctors (who were incredible) would inform us that there was no trace of cancer left. The treatments appeared to have been completely successful. We and hundreds of others who had joined us in our ordeal through prayer and support rejoiced and thanked the Lord.
However it was late that spring that an arbitrary encounter with someone at seminary proved to be a supremely transitional event. You just never know what the next day will bring.
To be continued…
(By the way, there is another version of this story that I wrote back in 1995 here.)
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My Life Expectancy
Ahahahahahahaha. I just took the Life Expectancy test, and it says that I’m not 39 years old! Alriiiiight! My “Real Age” is 19! So, I’m packing for a second senior trip and am considering some additional college courses. I have four years of eligibility for the college sport of my choosing. Very cool.
My life expectancy, according to the test, is 94.6. Some of you are going to have to put up with me for a looong time…Â unless the Lord has other plans.
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What’s your drink of choice?
Bryan has a great post over at his blog about his drink of choice. It happens to be mine as well. It’s uncanny how much our minds connect on this. I’ve often thought to myself while ordering that my DC would “balance” my high-calorie meal. I find myself wistully hoping that perhaps there’s a secret fat bomb in DC that will annihilate the unhealthy parts of my favorite foods.
Anyway, go read Bryan’s post and let him know you liked it!
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Blogging for personal growth
I think I’ve journaled in one way or another since junior high. It’s a good thing. I forget so much these days that it’s good to know I have a written record of my life so that I can remember that I’m as much a goob now as I was when I was 14.
I remember a particular youth group retreat with my church in which the speaker urged us to practice spiritual disciplines, including prayer, Bible study, journaling, meditation, scripture memory, and giving. For some reason, I took him seriously and as a result, I have boxes of journals and notebooks.
When I began blogging in 2005, I saw it first as a novelty and a way to perhaps communicate in a creative way with folks who know me. I never dreamed I would encounter so much personal growth from the discipline of regular writing.
Growth has come in several ways:
- Wisdom to write strategically (believe it or not, most of my posts are well-considered before I post them).
- Discipline and discernment to think before I type when I respond to commenters who are “ornery.” ;)
- Grace to admit an erroneous opinion or flawed observation when it’s pointed out to me.
- Perspective to realize that I don’t need to be offended too deeply or be too bothered by stuff going on in the blog world.
- Patience to write about sensitive issues only after I’ve spent a lot of time considering pros and cons, attempting to see all angles before voicing a strong opinion.
- My research skills have greatly improved. I know better what sources to turn to that are dependable and which are not.
- Insight… it’s amazing how much I learn about myself and those who comment on particular blog entries.
I think there’s a lot to be said for consistent, disciplined writing – whether on a blog or in a journal (I do both). The sheer effort and willpower that it requires to record your thoughts in a cohesive way is a great mental exercise.
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The state of the world
This may be one of the most interesting sites I’ve seen in a while. The state of the world… updated as it occurs. I first saw it over at hamo’s site. Imagine if we could also see issues of spirituality this way…
Poodwaddle.com
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Learning to enjoy God
I can still remember vividly when I crossed the line from enduring religion to enjoying Christ.
I was a junior at Ouachita Baptist University, and had a stellar Southern Baptist pedigree. I’d been in SBC churches with my folks forever. Somewhere over the years, I’d become a 3-time-a-weeker. I had had great Bible teachers as preachers growing up and then also while I was there at college.
However, somewhere along the way, I’d missed it. Don’t get me wrong; I was a follower of Christ and passionate about His cause. However, as I recall, this one morning in my dorm room on the third floor of Daniel South opened my eyes, or rather my heart, in a new way.
I was looking for a verse with “love” in it. I don’t remember exactly what it was, but I do remember my curiosity-turned-conviction discovery in the back of my Bible. It was the concordance. No big deal, usually. Find a word, look up the verse. That’s it; simple.
However, on this day, I began to leaf through the onion-thin skinned pages of my concordance in the love “section.” There were literally 3-4 pages referencing the word love in my concordance. The significance of that hit me like a ton of bricks.
For too long, I’d followed Christ because I knew the truth about Him and that He was a good God. I truly and deeply believed in Him and daily sought to surrender my life to Him.
However, on that day, I realized that I was deficient in allowing my life to be shaped by His love. Love. Such a short word and such a drastic life adjustment. I enjoyed arguing points of doctrine, of debating scripture and its meaning, of studying and teaching, etc. However, that simple word search led me to a humbling conclusion and profound lifetime pursuit.
I wanted to be like Christ. I wanted to be a man of love. I wanted others to see the radical, life-transforming, prison-liberating love of God through me.
I don’t know how many others have been convicted by the concordance in their Bibles, but I still remember that day. It’s part of my ongoing testimony of how God has worked in my life.
Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, on those who hope in His steadfast love, that He may deliver their soul from death and keep them alive in famine. (Psalm 33.18-19)
God’s love does indeed become a three-course meal in times of famine and hardship. You can rest in it and learn to enjoy Him – simply because of His love.
We love because He first loved us. (1 John 4.19)
When was the last time you simply enjoyed God’s love for you? How are you doing at loving Him and others?
And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3.17-19)
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Apple store coming to Little Rock?
There’s a rumor that Little Rock may be getting an Apple store! Booha!
The website ifoapplestore.com says that it will be located in the new open-air Promenade Mall on Chenal which is scheduled to open in spring 2008.
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7 Summers to Change the World…
Wow, where are these provocative videos coming from that challenge us to be strategic in the church? Check out Community of Dreams…
If you haven’t seen this video as well, check it out.
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Identify the top post at Notes and win a free iPod Nano!
Here’s how this works…
- Surf around my little blog here (go to the Archives page for an easy way to do that) and find the post that you think deserves to be known as the “Top Post at Notes from the Trail.” It needs to be one that you think others will agree is a great post.
- Submit the post at my new Squidoo lens. Make sure you follow directions and reference yourself as the submitter, otherwise, I won’t know who submitted it.
- Vote for posts that you see there.
- On December 1, 2007, we’ll see what the top post is, and I’ll cough up the iPod Nano and announce the winner.
In the meantime, if you’d like to sponsor this little contest (and help defray the cost of the iPod), I’ll mention your site and sponsorship frequently!
Click through to see the plexo
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How to stop abusing your finances
There’s a great article over at the Motley Fool about how to stop living paycheck to paycheck. In brief, the five principles that are shared:
- Evaluate your illness.
- Attack your illness.
- Cure your denial.
- Take some preventative medicine.
- Relax.
Check it out and tell me your own story about curing unhealthy financial patterns.
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About
Notes from the Trail
The Personal Blog of Jeff Noble
Info: From the misty hills of Virginia, "Notes from the Trail" seeks to encourage you on your journey. Written by a graphic designer-pastor, this blog is a blend of humor, insight, and faith discovery.
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Life Shots
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Copy this number: 6058013378446529, and then reload my Starbucks card here!Lifestream
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RT @churchplant123: If you want to be a successful new church planter, shave your head. It's the Samson principle. [journeyguy]
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For a brief second, I had just over 500 followers. After blocking spammers and businesses, I'm back under. Do you filter your followers? [journeyguy]
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New blog post: Review: Sticky Teams: Larry Osborne is pastor of North Coast Church, a megachurch, by anyone’s de... http://t.co/KKL4zZFs [journeyguy]
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A blog from the past: "The need for church planting" http://t.co/iwlT5jOh [journeyguy]
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RT @funnyoneliners: I keep a well-stocked pantry in case friends drop by. I could hide in there for days. [journeyguy]
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