First mobile post

This is my first blog post from my mobile

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Sent using a Sony Ericsson mobile phone

Google Personal Homepage Problems!

If you are currently having problems with your Google personalized homepage, you are not alone! Many bloggers are reporting lost settings. Mine have reverted to how they were about a year ago!

It's frustrating, but hopefully with so many people affected they will find a way to bring it all back.

Blogger Recent Comments Widget

A friend recently asked me to install the code for my "Recent Comments" widget on his Blog. One of the benefits of the new Blogger layouts and feeds, meant it was relatively easy to do. I have had a Recent Comments section for some time, but I used to have to jump through some pretty clever hoops to do it, involving a separate server running helper scripts.

But now anyone can have one! To prove how easy it is, if you are on the new version of Blogger using Layouts, then all you have to do is to click the button below. Yes, that's all. And you too can have a Recent Comments section exactly the same as mine.

Enjoy.

 

Back to TrackBacks

Hmmm... using Blogger's backlinks was not as easy or as good as I had hoped. The links were not added retrospectively, and it seems hugely difficult, even for a hacker like me, to get the correct number of backlinks to occur in the footers on the main page.

I've opted to go back to TrackBacks for the post footers, but still keep backlinks enabled for those who can't or don't want to use TrackBacks.

Best of both worlds? We'll see... I don't have any more time to waste on it right now.

Switchover

Anyone reading here late last night may have noticed some strange goings on. I finally flipped the switch and changed over from my old-style Blogger "Template" to the new-shiny Blogger "Layout".

What does this mean?

Well, for me it means easier maintenance in the long term. Although I am thoroughly proficient in HTML, it's still easier and quicker to use Blogger's new Layout tools than to hack the HTML source of the page. For you it means a couple of new features, with possibly some more to follow:

First, I have decided to switch from using Trackbacks to using Backlinks. These are not new, but this seemed like a good time to give them a go. They should be more accessible, as all you need to do to add a backlink to one of my posts is to write a post on your own blog containing a link to my post; Google and Blogger will do the rest. [Apologies to everyone who already had Trackbacks to some of my posts, not sure if the backlinks will be added retrospectively. If not you could try republishing the post with the link.]

Also you can now subscribe to a comment feed for this Blog. See the link near the bottom of my side bar. Additionaly, if you so wish, you can subscribe to a feed for the comments to just one particular post. See the links at the bottom of the comments section of that post. For those who have not yet joined the RSS revolution; time to get yourself a feed-reader?

Although I've tried to check and double check as much as possible, if you do spot any problems with the new layout, please let me know.

[At the time of writing some of the sections in the sidebar are incomplete. I'm aware of that. I'll add them shortly.]

Housekeeping

I'm using the festive lull in activity here in the blogosphere to do some housekeeping on this blog.

Fellow bloggers who use Blogger to publish their blogs will know about the recent service upgrade. This has introduced some nice new features, like categories, that you may have noticed appearing at the bottom of my posts. Clicking on one of these category links takes you to a page where you can see all the posts I have written on that subject.

I have had my own category system for a while, available from my sidebar, and I am in the process of integrating the two together.

My apologies to those who subscribe to this blog via RSS; the retrospective update of posts with category labels has meant a large volume of my back catalogue being "republished" to the feed. Stick with me, it should all settle down now.

One of the other nice new features the upgrade has given is a new layout system. Since my old-style template contains a lot of customisations, it's going to take me a while to integrate these into the new system. You can see my progress over on my "sandbox" blog [play without getting hurt]. In fact if any one reading is considering a similar transition I recommend creating a new dummy blog account like this, and experimenting there first.

Once it's ready, I'll be switching over, of course there may well be teething troubles here too. If you spot anything not working or looking odd, please let me know, via the "Off the Record" box (assuming that's not the bit that's broke!) and let me know what Browser you are using, and what bit is wrong.

Thanks for your patience.

Care to coComment?

Writing your own posts is only half the fun of blogging. What turns a blog from a cold bulletin-board of information to a lively community full of interaction are the comments.

Not all these comments will be on your own site either. In fact unless you are already a well established blog with loads of regular readers, most of these comments will not be on your own blog. Keeping track of all these blog-conversations that you are involved with can be quite a challenge. For example on a moderated blog, there may be no response for a day or two and then several all at once, by which time you may have got bored and stopped checking, and so miss out on what others had to say in response.

I had thought for a while: "If only there were a way to keep track of all the posts I had commented on, that would alert me when there was any update." Well, a quick Google a couple of months ago revealed there is such a tool: coComment.

It's a free service, and if you regularly comment on blogs other than your own, I recommend you sign up.

If you want to see an example, you can take a look at what I have been commenting on. Click the button below. There is also one at the bottom of my side-bar.

I'm Feeling Lucky

No, I haven't gone superstitious! Try this out:

Go to www.google.co.uk
Type "I want to serve the purpose of God in my generation"
Hit "I'm Feeling Lucky"

Cool or what!?
I'm currently getting about 2 hits a day from this search. :-)

"For such a time as this"

Please welcome to the blogging family, Richard Bentall. You may have seen Richard's insightful comments here and on other related blogs recently. Incidentally, long insightful comments on other people's blogs is usually a good sign you need to start your own! I'm pleased to say Richard has done just that.

Richard is another fellow member of the Living Rock Nuneaton cellgroup, who has remained faithful through thick and thin for many years. His loyalty and support, not just to myself and Jacqueline, but to the group itself has been invaluable. He has a passion for worship and music, as well as the people of God. He is a Kingdom man, called "for such a time as this."

It has been a real blessing to see how God has particularly stirred him and taken hold of him of late. The word of God is alive in him and coming out with clarity and confidence, and the Spirit of God is stirring in him as he has been stepping out in the gifts - especially tongues and interpretation. In his passion for the Word and the Spirit he is a man after my own heart, and one pressing in hard after the heart of God.

His blog will be one to watch! Please give it a visit, and leave some encouragement.

Indian Bloggers Blocked

Here's a recent posting from the Blogger news feed (Blogger Buzz)

It has been widely reported that Internet users across India are being blocked from accessing a number of blog hosting sites, including Blog*Spot. We are disappointed and a bit puzzled by these reports. We are also working to understand the situation, and are looking into what we can do to help resolve it.

A big thanks to the many bloggers in India and elsewhere who are investigating, reporting, and working to restore access.

It seems that the Indian government in their wisdom have decided that blogging web addresses such as blogspot.com and typepad.com should be blocked and many Indian ISPs have complied to the demand. So if you haven't heard from any of your Indian blogging friends in a while, this is probably why.

If you are in contact with any friends thus effected by other means a simple solution seems to be to install the Google Web Accelerator. This redirects all web trafic through the Google servers, and so bypasses the blockage. [They should probably disable the prefetching option unless they are on broadband. Right click accelerator icon in System Tray. Select "Preferences". Untick "Enable Prefetching". Click "Save Preferences" button.]

I recently got Anna Sacha back into blog-land this way. Welcome back Anna!

Ephesians Every Month feeds fixed

Apologies to everyone who is still subscribed to my Ephesians Every Month rss feeds. Over the weekend I tweaked my webserver settings and managed to break them! They were down for three days, but are working again now. If this is the first you have heard of them, why not subscribe and be blessed reading through this great book every month with us.

Word Cloud

This is a "Word Cloud" of my blog. It shows the most commonly used words, the bolder the word, the more often I have used it.

It seems like a good visual way of seeing what's most important to you. "Out of the overflow of the heart the blogger writes"... or words to that effect! If you have a blog, why don't you give it a go? The site is http://www.snapshirts.com. They will also sell you a T-Shirt of your blog-cloud if you so desire!

[Many thanks to my friend Ricky for pointing this out.]

Off the record

One of the things I love about blogging is the interaction with my readers via the comments. However, I'm aware that not everyone is comfortable leaving a message that the whole world can read, even if it is done anonymously. So if you look at my sidebar you will see a new "Off the record" section where you can send me a quick note about something you don't want the rest of the world to see.

So now even if what you have to say is too obscure, too controversial, too off-topic, or if you're just too shy, or too lazy to email, there is now no excuse not to tell me what's on your mind.

...but if you have something relevant to say in response to one of my posts, I'd still prefer a comment. If I get any off the record messages that I deem should have been comments, I reserve the right to include them as such myself.

Look forward to hearing from more of you!
Chris

Theological Debate

I love it! This is what blogging is all about (IMHO); when it ceases to be just a monologue of my thoughts, and becomes a vibrant exchange between men of faith: iron sharpening iron.

I really appreciate that people feel at liberty to leave comments on my blog, and respectfully disagree, or add a different emphasis to what I have shared. It causes you to rethink your position, and either readjust if necessary, or become more convinced and better equipped to defend what you believe.

Consequently, I'm not going to post anything new today. Instead I'll just point you to where the action is:
Tongues and Pentecost (great debate!)
Chalcedon Creed (not really a debate, but fruitful exchange nevertheless)

Wise words on Blogging

I have just come across an article in the wider Christian Blogosphere by Tim Challies on the topic of Christian Blogging. He has some wise words. Here's an extract:

So as the church grapples with this new medium - with blogging and the Internet - I would urge caution that we do not equate all blogs. A blog is merely the medium. A blog is little more than an ordered list of postings or articles. These postings can have no value or they can have great value. They can do great good or they can do great harm. We should evaluate a site on the message it brings rather than the way it brings that message.

I have come across some Christians who are very sceptical of this new medium. They often dismiss it as being a waste of valuable time, or an indulgence of the ego of the blogger. But to me the question "Should Christians Blog?" completely misses the point. It's like asking if Christians should send emails, or text messages, or appear on TV or speak on the Radio. Like it or not, the medium of blogging is here, and it's not showing any signs of going away. The real question is, do we have a voice that deserves to be heard? Are we going to speak up for what we believe to be good and right and honourable and trustworthy and true, or are we content to just comment on the state of the internet from the sidelines? Do we light a candle, or curse the darkness? Remember, the word that God gives us is both bread and seed. If you regularly receive good things from the Lord, why not consider sowing it freely to whomever will receive it?

Blog Brothers

Christmas is a time for visiting relatives, so why not on the internet too? I decided to visit my web relatives by going to Google and typing related:chrishamer-hodges.blogspot.com. It was very interesting to see who Google thought my blog was most similar to.

Here are my first 10 relatives at the time of writing:

1. James Aubrey


2. Jo James


3. Jonathan Cooper


4. Erling Thu


5. Pilgrim Heart (Matthew Ling)


6. perfilip


7. 'Rooting deeper into Life' (Chris Negron)


8. Roger Aubrey


9. Planted by Water (Trevor Lloyd)


10. Kari

So of all the blogs in all the world, I'm most like James Aubrey! I guess I must still have some "cool" left in me yet! ;-) It was also interesting to find some blogs I had never heard of, never linked to, and as far as I know have never linked to me: like Kari's. I shall watch her blog with interest now to see what she has to say. I was also curious to see that Google does not list "Living Rock Church" anywhere in my relatives (it does for Matthew), but it does link me (#13) with Community Church Huddersfield. I'm intrigued.

Merry Christmas to all my Blog Brothers (and sister) and to all my faithful readers too. Every blessing.

10K

Yesterday, to mark my birthday, my statcounter hits ticked past the 10,000 mark.
Many thanks to all my blog readers, this was my present from all you guys!

One year on

It's my blogday! One year ago today I wrote my first post and entered the wonderful world of blogging.

It's no coincidence that my blogday comes so soon after Roger's. It was reading Roger's blog and the encouragement that he gave me, that prompted me to start my own blog. Now, one year on, I'm still going strong.

So what has a year of blogging done for me? The main thing I have got out of blogging is the sense of community that exists between fellow-bloggers and regular readers. I have "met" like minded people I would never have come into contact with otherwise, and felt in close contact with dear brothers I would otherwise only have had infrequent dialogue with.

Next it has been an exercise in discipline. Blogging is hard work! Nothing worthwhile is ever easy is it? I nearly gave up on a couple of occasions. You run out of things to say, and after a while you just get out of the habit. My thanks to Cerys Wood, and Roger Aubrey again who provoked me to get going again at those moments.

I have found it helpful in my own meditations in the word. When you write something down and share your thoughts with the world, it forces you to think things through much more thoroughly than when you just keep the thoughts buzzing round in your head. Also when you have "discharged" your thoughts in this way, it gives a release that allows you to move on to thinking about something else.

It has been rewarding too. All sowing produces reaping doesn't it! I love getting comments on my blog, or seeing other bloggers make reference to my posts. It's great to look at my stats too and see the number of visitors. I had 40 unique visitors yesterday — that's more than attended my first Daniel Masterclass! To be honest, it's the visitors who keep me blogging, so thank you. Special thanks to all my regulars who leave comments: Marcos, Cerys, Anna, Kev C, Joe, Roger, Matthew. It was also through my blog and Google that I got back in contact with a dear long-lost friend. That was a great moment.

So to any would be bloggers out there, or those who are just starting, here are my three top tips from 1 years experience:

1. Sowing and reaping! Yes, it works even in the blogoshere. If you want to be linked, start by linking others first. You want more comments, leave comments on other people's blogs.


2. Read like-minded blogs (An Aggregator is an invaluable tool for this). Blogging, like any communication, works best when it is not just monologue. Read what others are writing about. If you are feeling uninspired, a good way back in is to take what someone else has written and expand upon it in one of your own posts.


3. Install a stat-counter as soon as you can. It will be demoralising at first, but there is nothing like seeing your hit-count rise to keep you posting.

Feed for thought

If you subscribe to this blog via the site feed, can you please update your aggregator to point to my new feedburner feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/chrishamer-hodges. Thank you. And thanks for reading!

Sticking my oar in!

I couldn't resist! I have recently been browsing wider in the Christian blogsphere, and I came across a big debate on the gifts of the Spirit. Sadly the debate was not on "How do we best move in the spiritual gifts?" or "How should the gifts be administrated?", but the age-old "Are the gifts of the Spirit for today?" cessationist / charismatic argument.

There are still many of our brothers and sisters in the Lord who are in expressions of the church where the gifts of the Spirit do not operate, or if they do, they are ignored or suppressed. What is more, some of them actually seem to like it this way! They actually argue that the church is better off without the gifts of the Spirit, and that God never intended them to last beyond the "apostolic" age!

What I found most ironic was one site where many cessationists were patting themselves on the back for their doctrinal correctness, and bandying around the term Sola Scriptura. How sad! A term that was originally intended to restore biblical practice to the church, has now been distorted to the point where it means that God can only communicate through the scriptures! Surely, if these people want to claim "Sola Scriptura", they should base their doctrine on the gifts of the Spirit on what the scriptures actually say about the gifts, and not on their misguided notions of the implications of Sola Scriptura!

I guess the reason I stuck my oar in, and joined the debate is that I once used to attend congregations like these. I was never deliberately cessationist in my theology, but I had received no teaching on the gifts, and had no experience of their operation. I was concerned about the discrepancy between my experience and what I read in the letters and Acts, but I had no idea what to do about it. I knew people who allegedly spoke in tongues, but because in the circles I moved in at the time, it was frowned upon, they used to put their hands in front of their mouths, and all you could hear were slurping noises! The first time I properly heard someone speak in tongues, the words were coming out of my own mouth! No-one laid hands on me, no-one directed me. Just a young man earnestly praying alone in his room for God to fill him with his Spirit so he could effectively witness to his friends, who got what he asked for! I don't know if my comments have done any good, but even if they encourage one person to seek God and find out for themselves what he can do... it will have been worth it.

If you want to follow the debate, or flex your theological muscles and join in, the best place to start seems to be Adrian Warnock's blog.