CHANGES, continued: Here we go with big tweak number two. Notice I wrote “tweak” and not “twerk.” Big diff. Today I’m launching the new name of this blog: Life, Gratitude, Faith, & Passion. Ta-dah!

One of my “expert” friends over in social media took me aside and pointed out that, while my stats are “fairly decent,” my message is not reaching (and will not reach) the people it needs to reach so long as it sits under an obtuse heading.

• “What do you mean by ‘obtuse,'” I said, defensively. I knew exactly what he meant.
• “I mean difficult to figure out,” he said, kindly. (What obtuse really means is “annoyingly insensitive or slow to understand.”)
• “Oh.”
• He went on: “I only know what The Life-Charged Life (the blog’s old name) means because you explained it to me; kind of.”
• “Point?”
• “Point being fewer people are going to read your excellent posts if they can’t get past the title. Other point being The Life-Charged Life was bad SEO. Search engines won’t pick up on what people aren’t looking for.”

SEO: So I did some checking. High ranking blogs have titles sporting words people are actually interested in. One example is “Single Dad Laughing.” Each word is a search magnet. The guy’s an excellent writer, yes, but his blog name is better than golden.

So I brainstormed a while and came up with a few great ideas… ideas that were, it turns out, already taken. Then I came up with some other great ideas; but they won’t work either, because they don’t say anything about faith, about my passion for life, about my “life rocks!” enthusiasm, or about my constant gratitude.

“Life Rocks!” is already taken.

RECALIBRATE! I honestly believe our culture needs to recalibrate value. What people think they’re looking for, well, they’re really not. What people say they value, well, so much of it turns out to be worthless; so much piled up, reeking, falseness.

So I want this page to be a kind of recalibration portal; a place where visitors fully engage life, gratitude, faith, and passion.

• LIFE that is rich, deep, loaded with meaning, anchored in eternity;
• GRATITUDE that recognizes the light, is thankful that we are God’s own children, that celebrates the beauty of creation;
• FAITH, as both guiding principle and invitation to adventure;
• PASSION for life that rocks, passion for people who inspire, passion for beauty that heals, passion for the stories that connect us.

I guess I found a new name for this blog.

Life, Gratitude, Faith, & Passion. It’s a message that renews itself every day – DEREK