Good morning, various readers! Today’s post is designed to talk about the changes to this blog – beginning today. Everything, always, in my world is “a work in progress” – so I am constantly tinkering with this space in an effort to communicate more effectively.

Over the years I have tried to reflect on what it means to be a faithful, grateful, authentic child of God. That core understanding has not changed, but the central focus of our life together (as Derek & Rebekah, Inc.) certainly has. So I believe it is time to rebrand the page, redesign the format, and reimagine how I plan to engage with this world in this new context.

And the new context is huge – HUGE – and the ramifications are beginning to seep into our consciousness enough to begin to become clear. Rebekah and I have done this thing – having thought it all through and prayed about it and taken classes and discussed it all with experts – and now, just now, the extent of it is coming into focus.

No regrets, just overwhelm. And so, in a word, it is time to Re-set. This is a life observed.

I’m only just warming up with the “R”-words!

The R-words are nothing new, of course. We had only been in Wake Forest two weeks when one of WFPC’s Christian Education leaders asked my permission to use a newspaper article I had written about ideas such as Re-imagination, Recalibration, Redemption, Resurrection, Renewal, Reconciliation, Refocus.

But today I like “Re-set.”

As a technophobe I enjoy desperately limited skills when it comes to problem solving vis-à-vis my computer, the Internet, the television, our phones, and – nowadays – even the dishwasher, the stovetop, and the oven. When in doubt, my history of limited success tells me, turn the whole thing off and wait ten seconds before turning it on again. Kind of a re-boot if you want to sound all techie.

So I’m thinking these few months immediately following Rebekah’s retirement are like pretty much the same thing. Here’s the plan:

• Turn it all off.
• Leave it all off for a while.
• Then throw the power switch and see what happens.

A Life Observed:

I don’t know if any of you have noticed over 1.2 million views, but my writing in this blog space is – essentially – little more than a personal journal.

However, because I am a professional journalist I try to present my reporting and commentary in a way that both engages interest and respects the truth.

Moving forward, then, readers can expect more observation, more objectivity, and more of what writing teachers describe as, “don’t tell me when you can show me.”

Agenda:

I have no agenda in this blog other than that of being an authentic witness to the experience of living well.

It is my prayer that anyone who consumes my writing also consumes enough light, hope, grace, encouragement, and promise to give them sustenance for their own journey.

Because we are all on this journey together. Peace – DEREK