Somebody once said it’s not a good filing system we need but a good retrieval system. Exactly right. To that end, I made a few tweaks to the look and layout of This New Life. It’s not a major architectural renovation but a few additions and relocations. Even if nobody else but me benefits from the adjustments, I’ll still be a happy blogger.

First, I added a category called “Bible & Theology” for all posts to which that label pertains. Moreover, I listed and linked every post in this new category on a page in the “Resources” section, logically grouped into a few subcategories. Posts tend to get lost in the chronological blog feed, so this new catalog makes it easier to retrieve items I may wish to return to later.

Second, I removed the “Studies” section and made it a page in the “Resources” section instead. That seemed like the logical thing to do to prevent the menu bar from getting too cluttered. Studies are multi-post series in the “Bible & Theology” category, gathered together for the sake of convenience. I have several study series in the works, including: literary devices in the Bible; the book of Ecclesiastes; an in-depth look at the crucifixion of Christ; and the archaeology of biblical Shiloh. They’re all fascinating subjects to me, but I need to make more progress on my dissertation before pulling them together. Not only that, I’m helping to build a website for our newly consolidated church, which takes priority at the moment.

Third, I re-ordered and re-worded a few things here and there—trying to make them clearer and more user friendly—and added a new weekly song to the sidebar. I also had my graphic artist, Maureen Logan, tweak the logo to create a cross in the middle of it. The leaf speaks of life, and the cross speaks of Jesus’ redeeming death—yielding the message of “this new life” in Christ. Maureen also designed the new logo for our church, which is meeting in Dech Chapel at the seminary these days and will be introduced to the community in a few months. She’s also supplying my home office/future podcast studio with some cool and meaningful artwork. (Thanks, Maureen!)

Finally, I’m working now on a “Speaking” tab, where organizations that may be interested in retaining my services will be able find venue experience, endorsement blurbs, and booking information at a glance. Hopefully, that page will be up in a few weeks.

As always, thanks for reading This New Life. Thanks also for keeping in touch. Your helpful feedback is always welcome.

Be blessed!

Image Credits: Maureen Logan; digitalready.co; deviantart.com; goliablemarketing.com.