A funny thing happened after I "retired" — God kept sending people to this site and this podcast.

I posted that I was done on Oct. 1, and more people downloaded Ikthuscast in October than they had during September. I presume He was trying to tell me something.

New episodes of Ikthus are on the way. Watch this space. Spread the word (and The Word)!

I don't know what happened, really. I just woke up one morning, realized I hadn't done a podcast for a while, and my brain said, "That's OK, you're done for now."

I suppose I could write about the press of daily stuff — what B.W. Richardson refers to as "the quotidian' — but it's not that. Something inside just shifted and I didn't want to do podcasts. Nothing personal, I just had a "been there, done that" moment, and I don't have anything more to toss out.

Thanks for listening and God bless!

I've been doing some musing of late about how to reboot my various creative efforts to improve the quality and consistency. The problem is not in your set. I hope to be completing the muse process in the very near future and bear some fruit.

Thank you for your patience, and feel free to browse to make sure you've sampled the entire 82-episode set of 15-minute doses of Jesus, starting from Day One.

Meanwhile, please stand by.

The problem is not in your set. We will resume regular podcasting once we resolve the problem. Thank you for your patience.

The folks at Liberated Syndication say Ikthuscast blasted through its old record in June, with about a 40-50% increase in downloads from May. It's not a massive audience, but folks seem to keep coming back to see what's new. I feel blessed at the chance to share these terrific artists with you, and I hope you're enjoying these twice-weekly doses of Jesus!

I plan to keep bringing you the tunes as long as talented independent musicians keep praisin' the Lord and making their stuff available for podcasters like me. Thanks for listening and God bless!

As we close in on the end of our first year exploring independent Christian music together, it's interesting to see which shows are downloaded the most often (or maybe I should see which are downloaded the least so I know what to avoid!). I have to admit I don't see a pattern that makes one show more popular than another — or do I? Some of the same names pop up two or three times.

But FYI — and for your listening enjoyment between Monday and Thursday and Monday — here are the five most-downloaded Ikthuscasts as of this week:

Ikthuscast 24: Al Stravinsky, April Start, 38 Acres, Air 5 (PMN Top 4 of 2007 through August)

Ikthuscast 39: Sean Patrick, Ben Vega, Merry Ellen, Lynn Breaux, Jim Goodrich

Ikthuscast 5: Covenant, Sweet Crystal, Tara Leigh Cobble, Miss Behavin'

Ikthuscast 44: Air 5, Bill Tucker, Susan Bailey, Country Drive, 38 Acres (New Year's Eve)

Ikthuscast 27: Air 5, Jilleen, Paul Lisney, Susan Bailey

Coming up tomorrow in #67: A Breath of Fresh Air, Jimmie Bratcher, Recent Rainfall and Ryan Lamb!

It was a long hard winter in Northeast Wisconsin — although actually they got more snow in southern Wisconsin. Now, those folks really had a hard time! But now it's time to take care of all that green stuff that's starting to grow outside.

But I'd like to get back on schedule bringing you the very cool songs by the talented musicians who are featured on "Ikthuscast." Stay tuned and keep subscribed!

He is risen! And here's a great illustration of how the same words can send completely different messages.

I'm feeling better and ready to jump back into the routine — watch for a new show Thursday featuring the music of Johnny Proctor, Jimmie Bratcher, Sarah Bauer and a youngish man named w.p. bluhm.

I don't know how many folks might come based on this little podcast, but I thought you should know Saturday's Jimmie Bratcher concert at Celebration Church in Green Bay was postponed. The massive snowstorm last weekend forced cancellation of services, and they'd been counting on the Sunday service to promote ticket sales. I'll let you know when it's rescheduled.

I'm feeling better and hope to be back behind the mic soon! Thanks for your prayers.

So here I was, looking forward to doing a couple more Ikthuscasts this weekend and working along doing my thing, which got me home late Thursday night.

It seems I have a touch of stomach flu or something, and I didn't notice how queasy it was making me until I lost consciousness and landed with a thud on the bathroom floor. After a few minutes, I heard shouting in the distance, and as I became more aware again, I realized it was Red yelling at the 911 operator that launching the ambulance was more important than telling the operator what my birthday is. She's very practical that way. She had heard the crash, pushed her way into the bathroom and found me lying completely unresponsive with my head bent over the side of the tub. The poor thing thought I'd had a stroke, which runs in my family.

I'll spare you the gruesome details, but the bottom line seems to be that I had gotten myself dehydrated, and several hours and a couple of saline bags later, I came home for a long wintry weekend of convalescing. The experience has sapped some of my ambition for podcast-producing, so I hope you'll forgive a slight delay. Tank you berry much.

A good way to get a little praise and wisdom into your daily routine is to spend each month negotiating through Psalms and Proverbs. I start with the chapter corresponding to the date and read every 30th Psalm, then the corresponding chapter in Proverbs. For example, today I'll read Psalms 9, 39, 69, 99 and 129 along with Proverbs 9, which includes the gem in verse 10 (NIV):

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

I've heard that the word for "fear" translates better as "awe," which makes more sense to me, since our God is indeed an awesome god.

OK, it's hard to get tanned and rested when you wake up Sunday morning and it's 13 below zero, but the vocal chords are rested, the cats have received enough attention, and I'm preparing for a return to the airwaves — err, to the podwaves — as February arrives.

In addition to playing with the kitten, I have been ramping up a venture that involves the ubiquitous Brian Wilson Richardson, whose novel The Imaginary Bomb was the subject of my first podcasting venture the summer before last. The I-Bomb is finally available in print form, and as editor and publisher I heartily recommend you consider parting with a modest amount of money so you can hold this little effort in your own hands. The goal is to publish four different books this year, and this is the first.

Watch for a resumption of podding behavior the morning after the Super Bowl, which proceeds, alas, without my beloved green-and-gold.

Cross-posted to Uncle Warren's Attic

For a variety of reasons, I'm temporarily suspending my podcast activities, but I assure you the passion remains and I don't intend for this to be a lengthy break. I apologize to anyone who looks forward to these little bursts of creativity.

In the meantime, enjoy the upcoming NFC Championship Game at Lambeau Field. Go, Pack, Go!

Whaddaya mean it's Thursday? Oh my goodness!

I took a couple of days off from work this week and, well, sort of lost track of the time. Now, that's what I call an effective vacation! However, it meant waking up Thursday morning and discovering - it's Thursday! And what's Thursday? Lemme see ... lemme see ... something about a podcast ... yeah ... a healthy dose of Jesus twice a week, Monday and -- oops!

I ask a thousand pardons and ask you to watch this space for a new podcast -- maybe even before Friday gets here. Sorry, friends!

Hi folks,

Not to worry, I took a break and we'll be back on schedule Monday with some familiar voices and a new friend or two. Thanks for your patience!

UW

I just found this while exploring an old floppy disk of stuff I wrote a long time ago ...

Good Friday
As I left the church
thinking about His precious gift,
A drop of rain
touched my cheek
where a tear would go.

I'm going to be away from the microphone for about a week and a half. I plan to have some new wrinkles when I return ... sorry about the interruption in service, but, well, I'm going to be away from the microphone, which is an important part of making the show. Watch (listen?) for Ikthuscast again around Monday, Sept. 24.

Yes, you're right - there's no Monday Ikthuscast this week. Don't be alarmed, the show will be right back, probably even this Thursday. As Proverbs 16:9 reminds us, "In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps." He just had me taking other steps this weekend, so my plans changed. Watch for Michael Popenhagen, Jessica Smith-Wright, Matt Brady and a newcomer named Benjamin in upcoming 'casts.

Here's your chance to catch up on shows you missed!

UPDATE: OK, Monday pretty much for sure. Thanks for your patience. Oh, and Benjamin's not exactly a newcomer to the "biz."

The band Sweet Crystal, whose song "Soldiers of the Crown" appeared in Ikthuscast 5, goes back quite a few years, as you'll see in this slideshow, and their Web site proclaims their first performance in 12 years - coming up July 22.

My Podcast Alley feed! {pca-1a19cbd2c640ac4fb71938ef22abd633}

Response to Ikthuscast #1 has been lovely, especially among old friends from New Jersey who remember the "little stone chapel in the woods" where a coffeehouse named Ikthus provided a place to go in the late '60s, early '70s.

Reid sent a copy of the old ads for Ikthus, and he pulled one more name for Shiloh/Lazarus out of the memory hole, one that made me slap my forehead and say "Doh! Of course": "Thanks! I've recalled the marvelous music of 'Blue Sky Investment'/'Shiloh'/'Lazarus' several time over the years and wondered what happened to them. Thanks for blessing me with this music."

Linda adds, "Some of my happiest high school memories are from those Friday evenings at Ikthus, what a wonderful place of freedom that was.  I went on a canoe trip with the Ikthus group in the Adirondacks sophomore year, and it was really special, too."

The best part of the launch has been the nice notes and words of encouragement - thank you thank you thank you! And "tune back in" Monday for #2.

Because Jesus called us to be "fishers of men," the fish became one of the first symbols of Christianity. Ikthus is the Greek word for fish, and its individual letters can also be seen as describing the Savior:

i -- iesus

k -- kristos

th -- theos (Greek for "God")

us -- uios (Green for "son")

ikthus -- Jesus Christ, son of God

It's said that early Christians recognized each other like this: One person would, seemingly idly, trace a curve on the ground, and the other would then draw a second curve, completing the drawing of the fish.

Ikthuscast debuts Thursday, May 31, and will be posted Mondays and Thursdays after that. If you like what you hear, please tell people about the show!

Much spiritual hemming and hawing has taken place over the past 30 days - what do I need to get started? am I really ready to do this? is this a duplication of other podcasts? is it really God's will that I jump into this? - but the bottom line is I've been procrastinating. Enough.

Ikthuscast debuts Thursday, May 31, 2007, and will appear on this spot of the Internet Mondays and Thursdays from that time onward, Lord willing and the creek don't rise.

Psalm 100 in its old-fashioned translation begins, “Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the Earth.� That’s been changed in more modern versions to “Shout for joy to the Lord,� but I still like “Make a joyful noise.�

The psalm continues: “Serve the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.� And that’s the main purpose of this new little podcast.

Hi, folks, I’m Uncle Warren Bluhm ... and welcome to Ikthuscast.

For 15-20 minutes at a time - probably once or twice a week - I'll be bringing you the best of independent Christian music, much of it found at the Podsafe Music Network, and more. I'm still working on what I mean by "more," so you'll have to come back and find out with me.

I'm making this up as I go along, so I'm open to suggestions. Send me a note at wpbluhm@netnet.net and we'll grow this little show together. When will the first episode be up? Soon! (Lord willing and the creek don't rise.)