I wrote the first ever posts on Triablogue. Up until today I didn't realize I was listed as "unknown" on the list of bloggers.
I even came up with the name. It was a verbal mashup of my hopes for dialogue with two of my most learned friends: Rev. Richard Bledsoe and Steve Hays. So I invited them to join me for a triablogue.
Blogging was new to me back then and I knew that Steve and Rich would be good at it if they tried. Indeed, Steve became a hall-of-famer. I, on the other hand blog like I play golf: too infrequently to be any good at it. The others that Steve recruited to Triablogue have graciously kept me around despite my absenteeism. I do feel regret for not engaging more.
I met Steve while attending Westminster Seminary in California. I wouldn't claim we were close friends but I learned quickly that he was an insightful thinker and prolific writer. Steve was thoughtful and cared deeply about evangelism. When I told him I worked for a campus ministry he immediately took an interest.
After I left WTSC in 2000, Steve would send me interesting things via email and we would exchange replies. I knew he would be a great blogger.
I was stunned and saddened to read that Steve had died.
I saw him before I left CA in 2000. It was on a pier in San Diego. I was with my family and he was walking with his mother. I remember his gentle kindness with his mother and his delight in meeting my family. That has been my enduring image all of these years as I have read his work on the blog.
It might sound strange but Steve remains "present" in my thoughts like a well memorized equation of arithmetic. Maybe it is because I've read far more from Steve than I ever heard him utter. He is now "present" with Jesus and though I will miss his writing, I look forward to renewing our friendship in person.
Thanks for a wonderful tribute, Ryan!
ReplyDeleteBtw, for those who might not know, the post is from the great Ryan McReynolds himself, the founder of Triablogue.
Like McDeadpool, way cool.
DeleteI learned something today.
Lol, that's good. :-)
DeleteThanks, Ryan!
ReplyDeleteMy last message to Steve was asking who the unknown blogger is. He told me, and it's so interesting to have your perspective on this on the flip side.
ReplyDeleteHi, Ryan. Thanks for your testimony. So it was Steve, Ryan, and Rich-- all students of mine whom I recall with great fondness.
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing to consider the influence of a single person to positively shape so many lives. John Frame's circle at WSC as well as elsewhere has left so much good fruit for posterity via Steve, Ryan, and Rich (Triablogue), via Greg Welty, via James Anderson, via many others. And, in turn, each of them has influenced many others (including a nobody like me) who will go on to influence many more. All this from a single person. Thanks, Dr. Frame, for your faithfulness to the Lord.
DeleteI agree with Patrick.
DeleteHi Ryan -- without knowing any of that background at all, on several occasions I asked Steve if the name "Triablogue" was taken from John Wyclif's "Trialogus", a three-way dialog that was intended to teach basic theology to "readers unlikely to pursue academic or high-level ecclesiastical careers" (from the Introduction to the Stephen Lahey translation).
ReplyDeleteHe said it was not.
DeleteI frequent this blog but rarely comment (lurking they call it). I used to look for Steve's posts because he just seemed to treat everything so fairly and with an amazing critical-thoroughness. I really do miss him, even though I've never met him or conversed with him through email.
ReplyDeleteI'm currently reading through his memoir; I had an idea he was single since the vagaries of single-life came up in some of his posts. I wonder why he remained single -- perhaps his intellectual prowess was such that it wouldn't lend itself well to marriage? Preoccupations with his immediate family?
I know he's resting in peace with Jesus, reunited with the family he loved so much. I'll look forward to meeting him in heaven someday; we have all eternity to explore one another and develop friendships untainted by sin.
I believe the reason it switched to "Unknown" had something to do with a Blogger update. There could possibly also be profile settings involved. Either way, I'm fairly sure when I first started writing for Triablogue that one day I looked at the very first posts and all the names were showing correctly at that point.
ReplyDeleteEvery once in a while it's fun to go back to that first post and see where it all began. Good to know about the origin of the name though!
ReplyDelete