Joseph F. Radosevich

I surprised myself last Thursday when I finished the first draft of a book that I've worked on for over a year. I thought I had two days left, and then I realized I had just a bit more to go to finish that draft.  I started it over a year ago. I didn't have a job, so I thought I'd be able to finish it in 3 months. Life happens, but I kept plugging away at it. That is something I learned from Thomas Kidd--he writes a great newsletter on writing and publishing. His goal is 1000 words per day. I kept at it with a specific amount I had to do each day.  The moral of they story is to keep writing and you'll get finished.  I'll post later on the topic and when I think I may be finished later. 

Here are my entries from my reading in the first quarter of the year. One of my goals this year is to read 36 books. I'm well on my way because I have been reading 50-55 pages per day.       862. Smart Baseball, Keith Law. 1/1/22 * * * * (A book about baseball and analytics. He explains how old stats like RBI are unhelpful or wrong, He describes what new statistics are and how they work. This is awesome. He's a good writer. The emphasis on data and programming makes this a book about the modern world and how statistics and analysis are changing everything.)       863. Comfort the Grieving, Paul Tautges. 1/5/22 * * (I love this series, but this book was not very good. The book Visit the Sick was much more helpful on the grieving process and Conduct Gospel-Centered Funerals was much better. This was lot of tone-deaf pastoring advice along with a long checklist of work to do with those who grieve.)       864. The Disappea...

Social media has been a part of my life since my senior year of college in 2005. I was introduced to my wife on Facebook before a friend introduced us in-person.   Social media is normal now. It was in a state of flux for a long time as we all figured it out. Now it seems to have solidified.  I don't like where it has landed.  The worst part of social media is that it is now about hype or unwelcome opinions . I feel the temptation towards both of these, and I don't like them. Hype is the way everything we post is about how we and our lives are so great. It's not true, but it sure seems true.  Unwelcome opinions  are the way everyone constantly posts their own thoughts as commands or opinions that everyone else needs to know and agree with.  Neither of these things are the way that we talk with people in real life. I try not to boast of everything that I do in my conversations with friends or acquaintances, but I feel the temptation online to do that. I...

 I have a new podcast called " TL;DR: Preaching Edition ." This is a podcast with a pastor friend, Jeremy Byrd, where we explain our sermons that week in 5 minutes or less and have a discussion behind-the-scenes about preaching.  Jeremy is pastor of Lincoln Avenue Baptist Church in Jacksonville, IL. He's a really good preacher and studies and teaches preaching. It is a fun conversation for me. I learn a lot from our discussions. It was inspired because I struggle to listen to a recorded sermon. It can be hard to find 30-50 minutes to listen to a sermon during the week, but I love to hear a relaxed description of Jeremy's sermons and what his thinking on it was. We include details that we can't include in a normal sermon, so there is value to people listening to it even if they attended.  It is the conversation that I wish more pastors would have. I would love to learn both the text and what pastors are thinking as they prepare to preach.  We are halfway through Se...

I grew up in the 90's, but there is a lot that I didn't know was happening in the 90's. So lately, I've been keeping a list of groundbreaking changes, history-making moments, and world-changing inventions of the 1990's. I plan to update the list as I find things. Roundup Ready seeds are invented. 1996. If you don't live in corn country, you likely don't realize how big of a deal Roundup Ready seeds are. They are seeds that are/were resisteant to Roundup, so farmers could spray Roundup and keep their fields weed free. I didn't realize that it was introduced when I was in elementary school. The Balkan War. Read Zlata's Diary by Zlata Filipovic The end of The Troubles in Ireland Fall of the Soviet Union

 I see lists all the time about plants to grow, but they usually don't talk about flavor. That is the number one thing I grow tomatoes for. So when I go to learn about new varieties, I want to know how they taste.  Brad Gates says that 80-90% of heirloom tomatoes don't taste good. When I told her that, Emma commented recently that all the tomatoes we grow taste great. That is because now I look hard before buying new varieties. We've grown bad varieites before. Here are my favorite tomatoes (any of them could be a favorite if grown all by themselves). Cherry tomatoes are small and perfectly round. Grape tomatoes are smaller but not perfectly round. Slicing and beefsteak are bigger. Sungold (cherry)--The best there is. Green Zebra (medium sized)--Very Tangy. German Pink (huge)--Emma loves these. Chocolate Cherry (cherry)--These might be my favorite from this year. Sunrise Bumblebee (cherry)--An interesting surprise, these are fruity. Pink Bumblebee (cherry)--These taste like...

 I realized a few things about my reading in the last year. One is to stop be pretentious about my reading. I like what I like. I should stop faking liking high-brow things. What I want to mention today, though, is that I prefer to read books a few years old. I can only read 25-35 books a year. I can't keep up with the deluge of books around me. When I realized how little time I had to read, I realized that I wanted to read quality.  Some people take that to mean reading only really old books. I can't and won't do that only (I did just read Sense and Sensibility, though). I like what I like, remember? When I read only the latest books, I realized that I often read books that weren't that great and wouldn't stand the test of time. The author would be on a podcast, and the book sounded great and timely. I would read the book and find that it wasn't a book that I would recommend to others. Books that are a few years old have the benefit of other people reading and ...

 My wife, Emma, had an article published this week at Story Warren. I'm really proud of her article. We both wrote articles the same day without telling each other. I knew instantly that her's was far better than mine. We both got our article published on sites that we love. I'm proud of her. Check it out here:  https://storywarren.com/mending-the-wood-in-small-spaces/

 Even after gardening for years, I am pretty intimidated by all the things I don't know. Some of that is flower and landscape gardening. Where do you start? There are so many types of plants, uses for them, and things that can go wrong. I'm starting with what I do know. Tyler Cowen says that a good way to learn something is to just start with one tiny part and go from there. He says you don't start learning about a country with an overview, you start by looking at the history of sculptures in that country.  I've found that is true for gardening. Every year, our vegetable garden gets bigger, I learn something new, and I find some problems.  That is how I've approached landscape gardening. I started by listening closely as an experienced gardener and landscape designer worked on the garden beds at my previous job. I memorized the names of the plants and paid attention to how and why he planted them. I started learning about the most interesting parts of it (ornamental...

 I published an article at The Gospel Coalition recently. Here it is:  https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/boring-testimony/

This is my reading so far this year. These are the entries in my reading list. I published 20 years of my reading list here . 830. The Silkworm , Robert Galbraith. 1/25/21 * * * (This is J.K. Rowling’s mystery series under a penname. I listened to this when I had 4 hours of driving and no podcasts to listen to. It was brutal and violent. The tradeoff was my temptation to brood for four hours or listen to a violent and grotesque book. I thought that brooding and depression were a worse option. I told myself that if I had nightmares, I would stop. The mystery was great. I love the characters, and I couldn’t figure out what happened or who did it. Audiobook.) 831. Who Moved My Pulpit? , Thom Rainer. 1/29/21 * * * * (This is a book about change theory in leadership. It is like a Cliff’s Notes for John Kotter’s book Leading Change , but this is focused on leading change in the church. I found some application in this to helping anyone change. I plan on picking up Kotter’s book next because ...

 We ordered most of the seeds that we need for this growing year. We don't yet know where we will live come summer, so we ordered in faith that we will grow something no matter where we go.  I heard that there were some issues with ordering seeds and that ordering early was especially important this year. Then my preferred seed companies weren't taking orders, so I went to my next favorite just to make sure. We usually order around the first of the year. This year we were behind by 3 weeks. As I thought about seed companies, I thought I'd list and describe our experience with a few. If someone is interested and wondering where to order from. Gurney's --This has been our favorite company to order from. We've ordered from them for years. The seeds are reliable and produce as described. That is what we like so much. We especially like the squash, beans, corn, and cucumbers that we order from them. Most of their seeds seem to be hybrids. That doesn't both me. I like...

I did a lot of Zoom calls before 2020, but 2020 increased that for all of us. Most in-person meetings were canceled. I even got some counseling by video several times. My background tended to be in front of a bookshelf in our house or in the studio at my old job. I saw an article that caused me to think of revamping my Zoom background. When we finally land somewhere permanently, I've been thinking of what kind of Zoom background to use rather than just anything I've got available. The author of the article talks about using the background to communicate something about yourself. Here's where I've landed: Three themes: Gardening, Apples, and Coffee. Posters on one side, a display shelf on the other. Vintage Gardening posters. I've had my eye on them for our house decor for a while. A picture of the first apple we ever grew. Something to do with coffee.  I've wanted to do something with Harry Potter for a while, so I may ask the kids to make me the Knight Bus out ...

I have a recipe for every type of brewer that I have (It's at least 5 off the top of my head). I wanted to share a recipe that I really like with my Aeropress because it was hard to find a good recipe for brewing a large cup of coffee in the Aeropress. I had to wade through comments on a messageboard to find something that sounded right. This is the second Aeropress that I have received as a gift. I wore the first one out several years ago. I've been experimenting with brewing a really good 16 oz cup of coffee for my favorite mug. It actually is best at only 14 oz. Here is what I've arrived at: Use the Aeropress the standard way over a cup, not inverted. Weigh 20 grams of whole bean coffee Grind it in between espresso and regular drip. That makes it fine, but not too fine. Boil the water. Let it sit for 30 seconds to cool down. Add the grounds to the Aeropress. Pour hot water over the grounds and stir for 30 seconds. You want some of the water to drip through into the cup s...

Psalm 23 has been working on me for over a year now, and I'm still not finished with it. I've been pondering all the ways that I could sing or pray Psalm 23. I can pray Psalm 23 as a prayer of worship--God, how incredible it is that you would care to be my shepherd.... I can pray it as a prayer of confession--Father, forgive me for calling you a bad shepherd who is not worthy of trusting..... I can  pray Psalm 23 as a prayer of thanks--Thank you for being my shepherd who cares so much for me.... I can pray it as a a prayer of asking--Father, I need you to shepherd me and my family right now.... I've been pondering a "Bad" Psalm 23, though, that I more often live with. Here is a stab at it: Bad Psalm 23 The Lord is a bad shepherd; I never have enough. He makes me lie down in hard places. He leads me into raging rapids. He depletes my soul. He ignores me on whatever paths I find myself because he doesn't care. Because I walk through the valley of the shadow of d...