There are certain things we expect to happen with online posts. They’re not exactly rules but there are certain norms that tend to be true, all other things being equal. Blogging consistently over time will build an audience. Using post tags and filling out the description forms using key words is good for SEO. Social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter are useful resources to connect you and your blog to audience members. Inbound and outbound links are good for SEO and connect you to the larger online/ blogging community. These are generally true most of the time.
Every now and then unexpected things happen. Call it a fluke, a glitch in the algorithm, or maybe you believe in luck. For some reason Google picked up on a pic of my wife and I at Cumberland Falls a few years ago and put it near the top of the image search for that term. My blog post that was a year or two old got thousands of hits in a day or two. Then it was over. For reasons I will never understand an LOL aggregator linked to an image of my new push mower. One of the most popular images I ever shared online features a Poulan Pro push mower sitting on my front lawn. Continue reading
The Gospel of Self, How Jesus Joined the GOP is written by Terry Heaton and details his role at CBN and The 700 Club. Before we used terms like fake news and every single person had a voice via social media, the Christian Broadcast Network entered a new frontier of sorts by not only reporting the news but by shaping the way people thought. CBN in general, and Pat Robertson’s 700 Club in particular, played a profound role in shifting the Republican Party to the right back in the 1980’s. While Robertson was in front of the camera Terry Heaton was behind the scenes and very much involved in making the things Robertson talked about a reality. Heaton believes today’s Christian Right is the end result of work they did together back then. 
I don’t know how many tributes have been written, published, posted or tweeted this week about Billy Graham. I am not writing because I think there needs to be another one; sometimes the writing process is how we work through things. But in the process of thinking about it, maybe I can share with you some things to think about as well. 
Every now and then I post a book review (expect one during the next few days) that has a disclaimer at the bottom. That disclaimer explains that I received the book free of charge in exchange for publishing a fair and honest review. It doesn’t have to be a positive review but I choose to receive books based on title and description that I expect to enjoy or learn something from. I’m not trying to brag; I’m here to extend you the same offer. 
I saw a blog post for the 25th anniversary of Bible Gateway yesterday and gave them a shout out. I’m celebrating an anniversary of sorts myself this month. In January 1993 I announced a call to preach. I’m not sure of the exact date and taking a look at a January ’93 calendar didn’t help. That doesn’t really matter though. 25 years ago I told our church family that God was calling me into ministry and I was ready to answer that call. So here’s a brief recap of what God has done in my life since then. 
The Master’s Table will soon celebrate 10 years. How many websites from 25 years ago are still around today? That was 1993, there was barely in internet 25 years ago. Browsers like Netscape Navigator have come and gone since then and some early web successes, like Napster and MySpace, soared in popularity and faded away slowly. Whatever happened to AOL?
The Bible has a lot to say about about water. The message of scripture is framed in many different ways in order that as many people as possible understand. Everything from kings and their armies to a woman sweeping the floor is used to illustrate what the Kingdom of God is like. Jesus told parables about sowing seeds, harvesting grain, searching for pearls, buying oil for lamps, all things that regular people could understand. It should come as no surprise then that water is used in the Old and New Testaments because every living thing needs water. But I want to focus more specifically on the things people do in or on the water. 
Many Christians celebrate Epiphany on the Sunday after January 6th. Sometimes my mind makes connections between things that others may have thought unrelated. Maybe we all do that, working in what some describe as thought webs, but I’m about to submit one such thought for your consideration.
The Master's Table 