Take Thesis, for example.* Over the course of a few months with Thesis, you may have hundreds of posts which make use of Thesis-specific features such as post thumbnails, post images (via the multimedia box), search engine optimization, or more.

But the moment you switch to another theme, your posts are going to appear bland: no images, no search engine optimization, etc.

Perhaps I’m cynical, but there may be a good number of people who have resisted switching to another theme just to avoid the hassle of rebuilding all of their image or search engine goodness.

So what can be done?

First, WordPress features need to be used & explored as much as possible. For instance, WordPress recently gained a post thumbnail feature. Themes should therefore begin supporting that feature as soon as possible, as well as providing a means of converting the theme’s propriety thumbnails over to WordPress’ system.

Second, theme authors should build features in such a way that switching to a different theme suddenly doesn’t leave a bunch of posts broken or incomplete. As an example, we’ll use post images. Thesis uses a custom interface on top of the custom fields interface to define post images — images which are used as post mastheads and which are also downsized to be used as post thumbnails.

As an alternative, we should keep in mind that users already have the ability to add images to post content. All that is needed is some styling of an image marked as being a feature (perhaps via a class), and users will be left with a great looking, feature-filled theme which they can safely move away from, knowing their images are still going to work.

Should a theme provide features that users are going to use often (such as post thumbnails, shortcodes, etc.), then that theme’s documentation should make it clear that if the user ever selects a different theme, the content added via those proprietary means will break. And a simple conversion — perhaps just from the proprietary theme to the WordPress default theme — for the various features should be provided.

That level of transparency & care will be a highlight of any theme’s support, but it pales in comparison to building into your theme portability/compatibility.

Your users will love you for it.

Of course, all of this goes along with what I said previously regarding theme/plugin standardization.

* Thesis is, for the most part, a great theme. It does, however, illustrate this point quite well.

On the simple side, a search engine optimization plugin would add a meta box to the WordPress “Add New Post” screen. This box, which is basically a pretty GUI for custom fields, would allow users to add search engine treats such as a description, keywords, and sometimes even a post title specifically for the title tag.

The actual custom fields being saved into your post’s meta, though, may go by varying names. Again, on the simple side, a plugin might save a search engine description for a post into a custom field with a key (name) of “description.” The keywords would be saved into “keywords,” title into “title,” and so on.

But what we see in the wild among search engine plugins or themes with optimization features build in is diversity. The simple names may be used for some (or even many), but what of addons which use propriety naming schemes?

Let’s use the fictional Theme X as an example. You start your blog with it, you post for years, and you eventually amass a library of thousands of posts, all with search engine data saved using Theme X’s custom field naming schema: x_description, x_title, x_keywords, et al.

But then something awesome happens, and a search engine plugin named Plugin Y is released which promises to take your site into the next level of Search Engine Nirvana. You believe the hype to be justified, and you install the plugin.

After a few weeks, though, you start to notice that your older posts don’t seem to be performing as well in the search engines. After some investigation, you notice that your descriptions, keywords, and titles entered using Theme X’s system are no longer being used. Instead, Plugin Y forces its values, and of course any post published prior to installing Plugin Y would have nothing to output.

So what do you do? Some may start the tedious task of manually reentering the data using Plugin Y’s meta box. Others may look for a bit of database code to convert the old custom field keys to the new ones used by Plugin Y (actually, this is pretty easy to do).

But really, this situation shouldn’t have to come up in the first place. Users shouldn’t be expected to have to play Compatibility Warden between plugins & themes, especially on something as simple, not to mention important, as search engine optimization.

So what I would like to suggest to the WordPress community — and if you like this idea, run with it! — is to establish some open standards for plugin & theme authors, starting with custom field naming conventions for search engine meta.

Everyone’s job would be easier if every developer used “description” for description fields, and developers would no longer find it necessary to either build in compatibility with other themes or plugins (which could be a neverending task as others are developed & popularized).

Compatibility, efficiency… and most importantly no surprises for users who switch from one system to another.

Perhaps most famous, though, is the period of history which is itself called the Reformation, during which a variety of men stood against the Roman Catholic Church by declaring such things as salvation by grace through faith alone.

This process has not ceased.

Churches today are just as they have always been: Filled with generally well-intentioned folks who, rather than applying the time-tested, God-blessed activity of the Bereans, accept what their church leaders tell them without much questioning at all.

Yet all the while, anyone from without their gathering is fair game for criticism & rebuke, especially if such a person’s home church bears a label even slightly different than theirs.

We need to start testing things. We need to stoke the fires of reformation, purging what is wrong from the church so that what is right may shine ever brighter.

Are you saying you know how to make a church perfect?

No, but I wish I could say that. I wish I knew what it would look like to live in true orthodoxy & orthopraxis. But I don’t.

What I intend to offer here are different areas of reformation which I believe need to occur. Some of them may not apply to your church; perhaps you’ve already embraced the right beliefs or practices, and if that’s the case, keep it up!

There’s always room for reformation toward biblical correctness, and I trust that together we can progress toward that goal.

I’m sure you’re familiar with the account, but just in case: “Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor; ⁹and he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” ¹⁰Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! for it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him’” (Matthew 4:8–10, NRSV).

The primary purpose of that brief passage is clear, and Jesus states it about as succinctly as anyone could: “Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.” Keep that in mind.

One of the incidental details, though, may be easy to miss to someone reading quickly.

Satan offers Jesus all of the world’s kingdoms.

You cannot offer someone something if you do not have claim to what you’re offering. Well, while I may get away with selling you some oceanfront buffalo ranch property, that sort of scam would never work against one who is all-knowing.

So it’s notable that when Satan lays claim to all the world’s kingdoms, Jesus does not rebuke him. There is no correction of that matter. There is no, “And besides, you can’t make that offer anyway.”

Satan lays claim to the world’s kingdoms. From Babylon to the United States, the kingdoms belong to the Old Serpent.

And lest we make the claim that all this changed with the crucifixion, the resurrection, or even Pentecost, Paul makes sure we don’t forget that Satan is “the god of this world” (2 Corinthians 4:4).

Now, given that, what sense does it make for Christians to support, join, or otherwise endorse the militaries of these kingdoms of flesh & blood? Are we not instead citizens of a kingdom not of this world (John 18:36)? Do we not boldly bow before another throne (Ricky Skaggs, “The Joshua Generation”)? Can you “serve only” God while serving a flesh & blood king, president, or parliament?

Why then would we as Christians voluntarily submit to the service of nations whose values & principles are contrary to our true kingdom’s?

Why serve in an army where weapons are used to kill? Your kingdom carries the promise that weapons of war would be recycled into instruments of agriculture.

Of sustainability.

Of peace.

Why serve for a kingdom where conflicts are resolved through war? Your kingdom promises blessing upon the peacemaker.

Upon those who would be willing to forgive seventy times seven times.

Upon those who would not bear grudges.

And who would turn the other cheek.

I contend that not only should a Christian not join the armed forces of this world’s kingdoms, but that to do so is an insult to your Christian heritage.

I am not so naive as to think I won’t catch some flak for this, but I had to put this out there. “Christian America” is held as sacred by some

We’re assailed from all sides with explanations,

that we have free will, that we are subject to fate or predestination, or that our actions are the mere results of a nearly infinite chain of chemical & physical reactions,

that we ought to live for others or that we ought to look out for Number 1 first,

that our existence is intentional, that we’re the result of past lives reincarnated, or that we’re simply the result of an ancient biologic chain,

that we exist… or not.

Every single point — no matter how small — of each of those positions could be debated at length, and may very well be until we’re extinct… or until we gain preternatural knowledge in an afterlife state (even the end of the debates is debatable!).

All of that is just one of the many reasons why I believe the study of God to be so important. When we can understand Him (well, as best as we are intended based upon revelation), most other questions can be answered in short order.

So if one day you wake to find yourself in an existential quandary full of loathing and self-doubt and wracked with the pain and isolation of your pitiful meaningless existence, at least you can take a small bit of comfort in knowing that somewhere out there in this crazy old mixed-up universe of ours there is a God who brings sense to confusion and order to chaos yet still can pay attention to a lowly, undeserving creaturely speck known as man.

Each and every one of us.

With the series wrapped up, undoubtedly many theories regarding just what on Earth (if they were even on Earth ;) was going on with Jack, Kate, Sawyer, and their ragtag band of merry men. Previous to last night’s finale, the writers of “Lost” said in a retrospective special that they wanted to make a show that challenged viewers to think and forced them to engage with the events of the show because everything wouldn’t simply be handed to them.

I’m glad they said that. They want us to think about what has happened, and with the finale out there now, I want to offer up a few thoughts. Stop reading now if you do not want any spoilers. They start now…

So the finale finished up, and as it turns out, for the past season, the “flash sideways” which we have been seeing haven’t been an alternate reality or a different dimension at all… it has been some sort of afterlife. Not Heaven, not Hell, not even Purgatory, but an afterlife formed apparently by the group consciousness of the survivors of the plane wreck… and a few others who weren’t on the plane but got to take part anyway.

What does that mean? It means that for the entire last season, about half of the show has been pointless — the events were already set & done, and we were simply waiting for the big reveal that “Oh, hey, guys, welcome to the church. By the way, you’re dead.”

And I’d perhaps be okay with that if in so revealing that reality they better explained the other half of this past season (the events taking place on the island), but that didn’t happen. Instead, the “we’re all dead” realization seemed way too contrived and served as a mechanism simply for getting all of the principal cast together for an emotional reunion. Couples reunited. Characters we haven’t seen in ages are back. And so on.

But where were Michael & Walt? Where was Mr. Eko? What about Ethan? I don’t recall Richard or Lapidus being present either, and while I don’t recall Miles being at the church, he was at least present in the afterlife as Sawyer’s partner.

The argument that the church scene was only for survivors of the Oceanic crash doesn’t work either. Juliet, Desmond, and others being present there throws that theory out of whack.

And how did Hurley die? Last time we see him on the island, he was endowed with the duty to protect the island, presumably as an immortal (or as “immortal” as Jacob was, at least). The man in black died & Jack was mortally wounded while the “light” was out; Hurley, however, survived that whole ordeal and should have been able to live indefinitely until some killed him or the “light” was once again uncorked.

But Hurley was present in the afterlife. So how did he die? Why is there now a presumably large part of island history that we aren’t privy to, despite it involving one of our main characters?

Or perhaps the atom bomb explosion at the end of last season killed everyone. Perhaps the island scenes of this past season were the true “flash sideways” scenes and that the afterlife scenes were the only part that was “real.”

Then again, perhaps everyone died after Locke prevented the numbers from being entered into the hatch computer years ago. Perhaps Desmond’s activation of the failsafe device killed everyone. It seems as though immediately after that, Desmond started getting weird flashes of memory or knowledge he shouldn’t otherwise have… which is about what happened to everyone else in the final season. Perhaps Desmond’s unique physiology (resistance to electromagnetic radiation, for example) somehow let him to better realize their situation, years ahead of everyone else.

And if not, then I must have missed the explanation for how Desmond wound up naked in the woods with prescient knowledge of various circumstances. Whatever the case here, I’m pretty certain that the entire series was actually about Desmond. Everyone else just happened to get involved incidentally. Even the all important Jacob didn’t really seem to do anything than to provide important exposition at various points.

But everyone, including Jacob, was already dead according to my Desmond theory, so Jacob really didn’t provide anything that ultimately amounted to a hill of beans… Jack’s father’s exposition at the close of the series provided a bigger bombshell than Jacob ever spoke of.

Frankly, I was hoping that once we realized that the coffin was empty, the camera would pan around to see Jack’s father who was, like Locke previously, now the smoke monster. Now that would have made for an interesting ending.

As it is, the series ended with a two and a half hour long episode that wasn’t really any different from any other episode in the last season. The only reason the episode was so long anyway was to cram in as many “we got our memory back” moments as possible — ultimately turning the episode into one of those emotional flashback episodes that so many series end on. (Thank goodness that the “Star Trek” writers of the various series actually ended series with strongly written, interesting episodes that didn’t use the flashback cop-out!)

And I think that’s what bugs me most about last night’s finale. A show that has constantly challenged its viewers to think, to second guess what we see on screen, ends with an emotional character reunion that ignores pretty much every question which the show has asked and failed to answer.

Even the climax of the episode — the final confrontation between Jack & Locke — felt hollow and disappointing. While there was enough drama in the scene to feel like a climactic scene, that drama paled in comparison to, for example, the atom bomb scene between Sawyer, Juliet, and Jack. Then the episode dragged on for another forty-five minutes, further into answer-free character reunion territory. Only now there was nothing to drive the remainder of the plot, no more challenge, no more conflict. (Unless you count the challenge of providing much needed exposition or revelation, but the writers didn’t seem to want to touch that much last night.)

I seem to recall an interview or soundbyte wherein the writers said that every time they heard a fan theory regarding what was going on, they intentionally tried to not use it. People have been theorizing that everyone was dead since season one. Turns out they were right.

Too bad.

I will say I was glad to see that Vincent the dog didn’t show up in the “afterlife,” thereby avoiding a pet peeve of mine!

I do not want to work where I work for the rest of my life.

It’s not that the job is a bad one or even that I’m bad at it. Like all jobs it has its ups & downs, but my issue is revelational more than it is the usual American dream “this job sucks” stuff.

I have a hard time reconciling a belief in the Book of Revelation with my own life — not to mention plenty of other passages scattered throughout the Scriptures. The economies of the world’s kingdoms are spoken of in glowing terms, yet I work for one of the world’s largest retailers?

That incongruity bothers me.

And it’s proving difficult to pursue those things which matter most to me in what little time I do have. I do confess, though, that a lot of my problem lies in poor time management.

Compound that with an inability to let go of various things so that I may live simply, and I’m left with a rather cluttered life that’s all too centered on the material things with which I’ve surrounded myself.

The words in the writings of Shane Claiborne’s writings are piercing, and he repeatedly calls to mind the attitude of the early church… or rather, what it means to be a Christian.

And I’m left wondering why it is I find it so hard to not continue in my life of spoil while there are those in my community who know of little else than a life of want.

Yet I find myself so numb to what actually matters.

I know there are others out there who are as fed up with the so-called American dream as I am… and I sincerely hope you’re doing better at overcoming it than I am.

To my shame, I can’t even tell where to begin.

As a grand experiment, I signed up for a VPS with dreams of tweaking it — pimping it out, as the kids are saying — to suit my fancy.

After several days of fussing with Ubuntu, Apache, PHP, and MySQL, I finally (finally!) got to the point of being able to install WordPress. Lo & behold, it worked!

But not without grief. Managing file permissions was a nightmare, basic security measures that work on shared hosting seemed to block way too much, and getting e-mail functions to work? That wasn’t happening.

So that’s why I haven’t been blogging for the past few days. I’ve been stressing over hosting issues. I’ve decided to stay with my current host Dreamhost (although now I’m experimenting with their flavor of private servers; I’ll keep you posted).

In the process, though, I noticed just how much I had accumulated throughout the hosting account. It’s almost ridiculous how many obsoleted blogs I had sitting around — thousands of posts in the ether, unable to be accessed.

That’s all rectified. Most (not all, yet) of my blogging experience is now available right here at KingdomGeek: over 1,000 posts dating back to 2005! (Hurray, I’m an established blogger again!…)

That said, I recognize that many of those old posts require much attention — broken images, broken features provided by since abandoned plugins, broken character encoding, and even duplicated posts afflict the archives of this ol’ blog.

Oh, and many of those old posts may contain material which today I would totally disagree with. That happens over the course of five years, you know?

So welcome back to KingdomGeek, and I do hope you’ll pardon the dust.

And because I am sore, I realize just how much of a sedentary lifestyle I lead. Sure, my job requires me to be on my feet for most of the ten hours I’m there, and many nights require a lot of physical labor, depending on the work load.

But on “my” time, I don’t do a great deal of what could be called “physical” labor.

I say that heavily to my shame because one of the very first things God does to man is to put him in the garden so that he may tend to and keep it.

That purpose has never been rescinded. Even when man was expelled from the garden in Eden (the garden wasn’t Eden; the garden was in Eden), God makes it clear that man was still to tend to the earth — if not, then the curses leveled against man wouldn’t seem all that bad at all.

Today, I finally started to step into that curse so that I may redeem my portion of the garden.

And I’m sore.

Perhaps I could have saved myself a lot of work by using our electric hedge trimmer, but why bother with that when a manual trimmer works just as well? (“Simplify, simplify.” — Henry David Thoreau)

And perhaps we could have driven to Walmart to buy the aforementioned trimmer, but we instead chose to walk. I don’t think I’ve walked that much all at once in at least a couple of years.

At least, that’s the impression I’m getting from my legs’ protests.

But Alicia & I made quite a bit of progress in our front yard today. We cleaned out one of our flower beds so that we can finally do something with it. We trimmed back some vines that were looking like they’d take over our porch if left to themselves. And I managed to get rid of one of our rogue rose bushes.

I’m sore, but I feel good.

I feel as though today was a turning point for me, at least insofar as my responsibility to the earth goes. I’ve been talking about wanting to do something with our yard for years; today, that faith has begun to show signs of life!

Earlier, before the yard project got underway, I ordered a composting bin. I’m excited to know that we’ll be able to do something productive with our food scraps; although, we do have several heaps of yard waste — vines, twigs, weeds, and so forth — that will likely be used to get our compost started.

It’s been fifteen or more years since I’ve handled rich, hot soil from a compost bin. If you’ve never felt it, then I simply point out that you are missing out on something amazing, not even taking into account the awesomeness of getting superb soil out of a bin formerly filled with food and nature’s scraps!

Tending to your part of the garden… Just one of the many virtuous things we Christians should claim, and when we do so, we follow the example of our Father, the primordial Planter of all that grows.