It is commonplace in the video game industry for developers to issue a “Road Map” for the upcoming year.  This road map is a statement of what is planned over the next twelve months: what games will be released, what upgrades are being worked on, what new games are being developed, etc. Its primary purpose is to build excitement amongst customers and investors. However, it also provides these same people a means to hold the developer accountable for the promises that have been made.

In the same manner, as 2023 looms ahead, I am renewing my commitment to Half Air and I wanted to share my plans in my own Road Map, partly to build renewed interest in my blog, but more importantly to hold myself accountable. By putting my plans in writing and sharing them with you, I am more likely to take them seriously and follow through.

WHERE HAVE I BEEN

First of all, I would like to explain what has been happening with Half Air over the past few years.  If you follow the blog (or used to when there was something to follow), you know it has been rather quiet this past year.  Two years ago, Half Air shifted from written articles to primarily a podcast format with “Half Air On Air.” However, even that was lacking in 2022, with my wife Deb and I only recording one episode. 

The reason for this was simple.  I gave priority to many of my other interests.   Most of my writing time was spent creating content for my solo roleplaying blog Tev’s Next Idea. While that site is still part of the Half Air brand, that content is dedicated to a very specific hobby and may not be of interest to many of the readers of the formal Half Air site.  Other things that captured my interest this past year were a video project I did with my wife, video games, and doing more reading. Apart from my leisure time, work has been a bit more hectic this year and we have had a lot of home projects that have demanded my time and attention. The end result was that I had to drop something from my schedule and that was Half Air.

WHY RETURN NOW

But as the year comes to an end, I am finding myself wanting to put more of my time into developing Half Air proper. Why the change?  There are a couple of reasons.  The first is financial.  Every year I pay for a hosting service to keep the website up and running. Recently, I’ve been wondering if it was worth it to keep paying for something I wasn’t using to its fullest (Tev’s Next Idea is hosted on a free server). However, I didn’t want everything I’d already created to just vanish. So, if I am paying for hosting, I should be a good steward of that money and start using the site wisely.

However, the main reason I feel drawn to blogging again is a renewed sense of calling. In a few days, Deb and I will be wrapping up a year-long read-through of the Bible. [1] I will write more about that in a future article, but for now, what’s important is that it reminded me of God’s desire for us to grow in faith and share what we have learned.

Several times over the past few months I have prayed that God would lead me to someone open to the Gospel (and make it painfully obvious to me) or present an opportunity to disciple someone. This is something I have struggled with in the past.  I don’t feel very confident speaking face-to-face with someone, especially when I might need to respond to a statement or answer a question I am unprepared for. In fact, I only need one hand to count the number of times I have witnessed to someone in person.

Where I do feel comfortable is the written word. I prefer having time to think about what I want to say, research anything that is unfamiliar or needs clarifying, and have an opportunity to correct any mistakes before sharing with the intended recipient. In fact, my best experiences of witnessing to others were email exchanges I had with a couple of readers of one of my earliest websites.  Each reader sent me an email that questioned or challenged something I wrote. In each case, I responded humbly and continued the conversation over several more emails. I have no idea if either accepted Christ into their life, but what could have turned into an argumentative exchange of words instead became a positive exchange of ideas that was appreciated by my correspondents and prompted me to study scripture more in order to give competent, cohesive answers.

I desire to reach people for God with the Gospel. I have thoughts I want to share. I’m more comfortable writing a prepared piece than speaking off the cuff. So, it makes sense that what I need to be doing is re-focusing my attention on blogging and Half Air!

WHERE AM I GOING

So here is my plan moving forward.

• My goal is to post once a month, with a focus on more purposeful, faith-based articles than what I have written in the past. This doesn’t mean I won’t post additional content if I have it, but one article should be easy to accomplish without feeling the need to sacrifice other things in my life that are important. Also, I’m not holding to a specific post day. Articles will post when they are ready.

• Deb and I will begin podcasting again. As with the articles, our goal is one episode of “Half Air On Air” a month instead of the previous every-other-week schedule. Again, this gives us a comfortable amount of time to come up with topics, record episodes, and edit within our personal schedules. Like the articles, there will be no specific day of the month for uploading. Just whenever the episode is ready.

• I am currently working on a short video that explains what the title of my blog means.  It is basically a video version of the first article I ever wrote for the site. In addition to being an introduction to Half Air, I hope it might also be helpful in offering a picture of how God’s presence is entwined in everyone’s life.

So that’s it. Not a very exciting article, I know. But I felt it was important to write for two reasons beyond just giving you an idea of what to expect. First, I wanted to let you know what’s been happening with the site. And second, it’s a promise to myself and a way to hold myself accountable. I know there will be obstacles trying to keep me from meeting these goals, simple as they seem.  In fact, I already know what some of those obstacles are: my other interests. Those interests are not necessarily bad (in fact, I try to sprinkle some of my faith into the stories I post on Tev’s Next Idea) and I’m not planning on abandoning them. But living out our faith (which includes sharing it with others) is one of a Christian’s highest callings (Matt. 22:36-40; Matt. 28:19; 2 Cor. 5:18) and I want to make that more of a priority this year. Therefore, I will trust Jesus when he tells me that as I focus on using my talents to share about the Kingdom of God, he will also allow me to enjoy other things that are important to me.

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

(Matt 6:33)

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Footnotes:

[1] The Bible reading plan Deb and I followed was Tara-Leigh Cobble’s The Bible Recap, which leads the reader through scripture chronologically and offers a short daily podcast that discusses the day’s reading.  While this plan can be started anytime, beginning on January 1^st makes it easier as the podcast episodes are released starting on that day. I would highly recommend this plan and you can find all the information on how to start here.