This Should Have Been the First Post

    I lived in Random House for three semesters, but it wasn’t the well-known publishing company.

    A very loose-knit string of acquaintances ended up together in on-campus housing at Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa in the fall of 1974.  I don’t even know how the process of pulling a group of people together for the house began.  Nor do I remember who asked me or how I found out about it.  All I know is that a dozen or so sophomores through seniors ended up in a house on North Campus.  We had a group meeting at the beginning, and someone suggested “Random House” for our name.

    Those three semesters in two different houses have set the tone for my life.  Even though I believe in a God of purpose and pattern, it’s more like He weaves  random strands together, eventually, into some meaning rather than stamping out a pattern force-fit upon us. 

    The random strands of my life include the boring, the average, the exciting, and the unusual.  Perhaps my affinity with randomness influences my preference for variegated yarn.  It’s an adventure to see how the colors come together in the knitting.  Chance and choice make for intriguing results.

    I suppose that is why I named this blog “Randomly Speaking.”  I didn’t know what I would be writing about, only that it would weave random strands of my experience into some sort of current commentary.  It’s a good excuse, anyway, for writing randomly.