About

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.”—Jesus     (Matthew 7:24 NIV)

I write about the daily struggles to hear and to do—the building on the rock foundation process—to those who dream bigger dreams about being the church, the body of Christ in motion.

I’m the one on the left. The pretty one is my wife Ellen.

When you read A Curious Band of Others (and I’m glad you stopped by), I want you to think travel and conversation starter.

What do I mean?

Travel: we’re riding down an interstate (my favorite is IH-35 heading south), we’re walking the dog (could always use help there), we’re flying across the ocean (flew to the Middle East in July 2011). You choose the preferred mode of transportation. However we’re traveling, we’re doing it together.

Conversation starter: when I blog, I’m introducing the topic (later I’ll let you know how you can be the guest conversation starter). If no one comments, then I’m hogging the conversation. If you’ve been stuck in a car with the guy who talks non-stop (and I have), you know how much that sucks. I don’t want to suck but, at times, I know I will. That’s the challenge of writing several posts a week. Sometimes you hog the conversation. Sometimes you suck.

So what will we talk about?

Two simple concepts…

Love God.

Love others.

…and how to apply those two concepts to real life.

The desire is to move from good idea to practical application, from the abstract to the concrete.

We can’t talk about this without a sense of vision…

…identity

…and purpose.

A good place to read about my heart and vision is this post: Shall We Gather at the River?

So why do I write?

I’m curious. I want to know more about things material and spiritual. And I hope to gather a curious band of others to walk and talk through some ideas that, IMHO (which is probably the only shorthanded set of initials I’ll use), have a forever nature and impact connected with them.

I’m conversational. I value sermons and lectures. I’ve heard some. I’ve done some. But I learn best in the give-and-take of conversation. Without dialogue, this place can become resident to simple diatribe. If I write but don’t allow response, then I learn little to nothing. You add value to this site by your presence, your thoughts, and your comments.

More about me…

I travel the world. Africa, Australia, and Antarctica remain the only continents I’ve yet to step foot on (and I have no desire to see penguins in their natural habitat but giraffes and wallabies, sure! Okay, maybe penguins too.).

At times, people actually ask me to speak both at home and abroad.

My family and I lived in Russia from January 1995 through December 2000. And, dah, I do speak a little Russian (well enough to converse and horrific enough to confuse).

I write. Well, big duh.

I mean more than a blog.

I’ve got one novel down and a few others in the works. I’ve also been a two-time winner of of My Book Therapy’s “Make Every Word Count Flash Fiction” contest as well as a 2011 semi-finalist (speculative fiction) in the American Christian Fiction Writers Genesis contest. My novel, Dark Eyes, Deep Eyes, is available through WestBow Press, Amazon, BARNES & NOBLE, and other retail outlets.

You can follow this link to Boomer Bits and Bytes where I’ve written a few articles and this link to Engage, an online missions magazine, where I have an article about international communication and the convenience of the Internet.

Guest Blogging

If you’d like to be the conversation starter (guest blogger), email your article to me, tntarver7@gmail.com, and I’ll consider posting you here at A Curious Band of Others. Note two things. First, “I’ll consider” means exactly that—no promises or guarantees. Second, the topic needs to focus on what we talk about here (see above).

You write well.

You have the right focus.

You will guest blog.

I guarantee it.

Thanks for dropping by. Consider becoming a subscriber.—Tom