iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Nathan Daniel Blake @sevenstorypilgrim.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

First full day at the first annual Wild Fig Network conference. Morning sessions spent with the design community that’s been working together the last few years to get this off the ground before the full conference kicks off this afternoon.

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Nathan Daniel Blake @sevenstorypilgrim.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

Be content in tension. To walk in unknowing. To be wary of unearned certainty -- and of those who ask you to arrive there before the knowing has been earned. The tension of knowing is only resolved within community, but wisdom is owned through the struggle within ourselves.

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Nathan Daniel Blake @sevenstorypilgrim.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

We’ve become far too comfortable destroying the dignity of a person in the name of morality & orthodox theology. It feels like the whole thing is working in reverse of its intended function.

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Nathan Daniel Blake @sevenstorypilgrim.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

Neighborhoods are product of boundaries beyond our control. Community is a product of the actions we can control. My elderly neighbors yard will never be my legal responsibility, but I can CHOOSE to make it my responsibility if I choose to serve her from love instead of legality.

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Nathan Daniel Blake @sevenstorypilgrim.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

Why do we suffer? Because our brokenness leads us to desire what we do not have and to be what we were not created to be. How can we find joy when we are comparing our present to a fantasy that we’ve invented?

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Reposted by Nathan Daniel Blake

Josiah Hawthorne @josiahhawthorne.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

Southern Baptists have been saying all week that Mormons aren’t actually Christian because they deny the Trinity. I’m starting to think maybe we could say Southern Baptists aren’t actually Christian for the exact same reason.

Clint Pressley, the current president of the Southern Baptist Convention, just said, "God the Father killed his own son instead of killing you."

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Nathan Daniel Blake @sevenstorypilgrim.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

The most difficult thing to get my kids to understand (and to live out myself) is that in order to experience joy and contentment, you must paradoxically live life from a position of "what do I have that I can offer" instead of "what do others have that I want/need".

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Nathan Daniel Blake @sevenstorypilgrim.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

Ever try to follow the advice you give to your kids? I mean, it’s the right thing, but it’s literally NEVER the option I want to hear or do.

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Nathan Daniel Blake @sevenstorypilgrim.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

I’ve always preached the rule of five to my kids … that you become the average of the five people you hang around the most. Well, all my friends are publishing books, and I’m feeling like it’s time for me to get serious again about my writing.

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Nathan Daniel Blake @sevenstorypilgrim.bsky.social · 31/05/2026

Christo-fascists are not Christians, they’re co-opters. In the words of Kendrick Lamar, “You’re not colleague, you’re a colonizer.”

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Nathan Daniel Blake @sevenstorypilgrim.bsky.social · 31/05/2026

Child 4 of 6 graduates high school today. I thought my parents had it all figured out when I graduated. They were stable. Every day seems still feels like I’m walking a razor’s edge as an adult with a respected, white collar career and good paying side hustles.

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Nathan Daniel Blake @sevenstorypilgrim.bsky.social · 31/05/2026

I believe a true Biblical sexual ethic has more to do with the “why” of our sexual actions and less to do with the actions themselves. Admonitions are more about exploiting the divinity of another person to dehumanize them than it is any specific actions or practices.

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Nathan Daniel Blake @sevenstorypilgrim.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

The parish is NOT a building you can visit, no matter how ornate. The parish is the place itself. It’s the neighborhood. It’s the community. It’s the people. It’s the culture. It’s the unique context in which we practice the gospel of Jesus.

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Nathan Daniel Blake @sevenstorypilgrim.bsky.social · 29/05/2026

I’ve been struggling with my writing for over a year. I think the problem is that I keep trying to convince people inside the church to come outside again INSTEAD of giving permission to those who already exited to reintegrate into their communities & be a part of how the Spirit is already working.

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Nathan Daniel Blake @sevenstorypilgrim.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

The trend out of Pittsburgh (the Paris of Appalachia) ... NOT EVERYTHING NEEDS FRENCH FRIES ON IT! From West Virginia: Pepperoni Rolls are okay, but they're better with cheese inside (this is no longer considered a pepperoni roll by purists).

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Nathan Daniel Blake @sevenstorypilgrim.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

I’ve been on a new monastic journey for a few years now, and today I realized that I’ve been trying to live up to some monkish-ideal I’ve set up in my head. I’m going to let that go and instead just focus on being the creation the Creator intended. I feel like Merton would be proud.

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Nathan Daniel Blake @sevenstorypilgrim.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

This should be one of the first funding fixes when this nightmare is finally over.

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Nathan Daniel Blake @sevenstorypilgrim.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

I see too many protestants constantly posting these "gotcha'" style theological posts toward our Catholic and Orthodox brothers and sisters. Almost 100% of the time they look foolish to absolutely anyone who has read or studied that stream of theology.

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Nathan Daniel Blake @sevenstorypilgrim.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

I feel deeply connected & grateful to two movements in the current church -- Wild Church & The Parish Collective. I often held these as separate missions, but I don't think they're so different. They both insist on a reconnection to place and the context of the conversations already happening.

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Nathan Daniel Blake @sevenstorypilgrim.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

This is not an attempt to virtue post, but I’m beginning to believe that some of my anxiety stems from the actual amount of things I own. I don’t even know where all of it is. Thinking I might have a massive porch sale and simplify down to anything that doesn’t serve my work and vocation.

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Nathan Daniel Blake @sevenstorypilgrim.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

Define your theological makeup by creating a totem of fictional characters. I'll go first. Friar Tuck (Robin Hood) Bobby Singer (Supernatural) Qui-Gon Jinn (Star Wars) Aragorn-Strider (LOTR) Liet-Kynes (Dune)

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Nathan Daniel Blake @sevenstorypilgrim.bsky.social · 20/05/2026

The true failure of current AI as an assistant is that it seeks to affirm the user.

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Nathan Daniel Blake @sevenstorypilgrim.bsky.social · 20/05/2026

Two songs from different genres that have the same energy. Euphoria (Kendrick Lamar) -> Bitin’ List (Tyler Childers)

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Nathan Daniel Blake @sevenstorypilgrim.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

Any spiritual formation that is not rooted in love, humility, & complete sacrifice of ego by the practitioner is not formation at all, it’s spiritual abuse.

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Nathan Daniel Blake @sevenstorypilgrim.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

In case you’ve lost track, we’re talking about aliens to distract from Iran to distract from ICE raids to distract from Epstein files.

static.klipy.com

Hope McCrea: Distraction Is Key

ALT: Hope McCrea: Distraction Is Key

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Nathan Daniel Blake @sevenstorypilgrim.bsky.social · 10/05/2026

If your entire life is inwardly focused on your own happiness and your external actions are aimed at that goal, I can 💯 percent assure that you will forever live in bitter misery.

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Nathan Daniel Blake @sevenstorypilgrim.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

I often wonder what I could write if I could stop seeing the faces of all the people I care about in my mind ... the people who raised me but whose beliefs I outgrew ... when I sit down and stare at the blank page. It's hard to be a prophetic voice in the villages where you're from. Anyone else?

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Nathan Daniel Blake @sevenstorypilgrim.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

I was raised conservative Christianity. I left because I couldn't see Jesus as it was coopted by political talking points. I was welcomed by progressive Christianity. I have one foot out the door because it's being coopted by the opposite political talking points. Empire is still empire.

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Nathan Daniel Blake @sevenstorypilgrim.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

Tell me how much you make without giving me your salary. I'll start: I buy named brand cereal, but I still keep it on top of the fridge; I don't ever pick the mold off my bread, but I still store it in the microwave.

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Nathan Daniel Blake @sevenstorypilgrim.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

Though it is a large debate within myself, I often place this as my favorite movie of all time. It's almost perfect.

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Nathan Daniel Blake @sevenstorypilgrim.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

Remember how diverse our opinions used to be before social media, and we were bombarded with thousands of creators, regurgitating, the same talking points, fed to them by media personalities? That was awesome. And super interesting.

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Nathan Daniel Blake @sevenstorypilgrim.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

My humble proposal of an educational track for anyone going into ministry in a post-Christian age. Undergrad: Ecology w/ minor in Communication or Social Work Seminary: Contextual or Practical Theology (attend no seminary that works from a systematic theological framework)

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Nathan Daniel Blake @sevenstorypilgrim.bsky.social · 22/04/2026

I was taught to code switch my Appalachian ways when speaking and writing. I've largely rid myself of that nonsense. The most important code switching I do now is that when speaking to millennials, I use 😂, but when speaking to my kids I use 😭. Just trying to stay relevant and respected.

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Nathan Daniel Blake @sevenstorypilgrim.bsky.social · 20/04/2026

Why are we so captivated by the idea of escape? Specifically, why is the church so enamored with leaving this world for the next when that isn't what we were created for? There is no comfort chasing in the great commission.

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Nathan Daniel Blake @sevenstorypilgrim.bsky.social · 16/04/2026

I was raised to believe that Christian Universalism was a cop out for those who wanted to sin. Instead it’s about Christ’s victory over death being so complete that eventually everything is reconciled back to the wholeness of the source of light and life. Same ending, different heart.

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Nathan Daniel Blake @sevenstorypilgrim.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

This is why we can’t have nice things. Literally.

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Nathan Daniel Blake @sevenstorypilgrim.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

The pentagon doesn’t care what I have to say. Neither does the Papacy. That’s not the point. The contextual point is that Christian Nationalism demands we do the same thing they’re demanding of the Vatican. We are being told to shut up and fall in line. We must not. We can not. We will not.

open.substack.com

When Empire Demands the Fealty of Spiritual Leaders

Spiritual Field Notes in Response to Allegations Pentagon Officials Dressed Down Representatives of the Catholic Church for Its Public Criticisms of the War with Iran

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Nathan Daniel Blake @sevenstorypilgrim.bsky.social · 31/03/2026

Reading about Jesus being questioned by the religious leaders in Matthew 21, and all I can think about is how all of us are more like the Sadducees than the Pharisees. Are we really seeking truth, or are we defending a position handed down to us in the name of preserving power & position?

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Nathan Daniel Blake @sevenstorypilgrim.bsky.social · 30/03/2026

All the plants in my office are producing gnats flying around my monitors and desk. This is going to be a part of my testing during holy week. I can tell. Christ have mercy ... on the gnats and my mental state.

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Nathan Daniel Blake @sevenstorypilgrim.bsky.social · 25/03/2026

I keep coming back to Bluesky because my follower count keeps growing, but here's my continuing issue. How can I have over 3k followers, and still get the same level of engagement with all of you when I had 500 in my community. And it feels like this is a problem platform-wide.

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Nathan Daniel Blake @sevenstorypilgrim.bsky.social · 25/03/2026

When will we learn that the path back to God, the narrow gate to our redemption is NOT in might and power as we measure it — actions rooted in fear, ambition, & ego? We continue to pepper the name of Christ into our wars and conquests. And that, my friends, is the blasphemy of scripture. Full stop.

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Nathan Daniel Blake @sevenstorypilgrim.bsky.social · 24/03/2026

What is it like to be formed by forgotten places? What do we uniquely have to share with the world? In a world that favors a disproportionate disparity of wealth & power, those of us who have been raised by places who knew neither are poised to be called upon to teach and lead.

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Nathan Daniel Blake @sevenstorypilgrim.bsky.social · 04/02/2026

Thomas Merton said, "Our idea of God says more about ourselves than it does of him." I find that to be true in no place more than online theological discussions.

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Nathan Daniel Blake @sevenstorypilgrim.bsky.social · 03/02/2026

When a person under scrutiny insists that their deposition be a public hearing instead of being behind closed doors, it is normally not good for the accuser. The Clintons will be dragging more from the shadows than merely their own sins and want to make sure that none of it can be buried.

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Nathan Daniel Blake @sevenstorypilgrim.bsky.social · 03/02/2026

I'm alarmed by the pockets of conservative christians who shouted from roof tops that they were protecting children from an evil liberal cabal only a few years ago to now making apologies for unrepentant men in power as merely sinners in need of grace. Grace doesn't free us from consequence.

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Nathan Daniel Blake @sevenstorypilgrim.bsky.social · 02/02/2026

So many of my protestant brothers and sisters claim "sola scriptura" but only practice a monthly/quarterly nod to the Eucharist (or Lord's Supper depending on your tradition). One of the worst mistakes we made in protestantism was moving the emphasis of our gatherings from altar to pulpit.

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Nathan Daniel Blake @sevenstorypilgrim.bsky.social · 02/02/2026

Speaking from the vantage point of both a born-and-raised Appalachian as well as a writer, believing that Jelly Roll's country album is more culturally impactful or artfully crafted than Tyler Childers' project is an abomination to both rural culture and art.

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Nathan Daniel Blake @sevenstorypilgrim.bsky.social · 02/02/2026

I'm not sure if it is a green or red flag, but when times like these get hard and tumultuous, I begin to hope that the universe's cat distribution network brings me another cat. For reference, we already have six.

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