Tuesday February 2, 2010

As we begin the 6^th and final season of Lost, I wanted to stop and look back. It is hard to believe but this TV show has had a positive impact on my life. While I admit I do not agree with all the values and story lines, I must say it is an engaging, thought provoking, and well written show. I love how the creators balance the sci-fi mystery, the relationships, literature, music, comedy, and drama. They do it well and for the most part they do it consistently. It is the type of show (and for me they are few and far between) that gets me engaged to watch and then go talk with others about it. Now with that ground work laid, I want to get to the bigger impact it has had in my life.

I had heard about Lost in it’s first season but it was on at a bad time for me. I heard about it from co-workers and it seemed interesting. The the fall of 2005 I caught a special on the show and then the (now standard) catch you up clip show. I decided to watch. Season 2 started and I was hooked. I used Christmas money and bought season 1 on DVD and was caught up by the time season 2 started back up. But just watching was not enough. I wanted to talk with others and know more.

I had an iPod but used it only for music and audiobooks. I subscribed to my first podcast, The Transmission. Ryan and Jen Ozawa. This couple live in Hawaii and gave good coverage of the episodes, insights to the literature (both books and music) used in the show, along with filming reports from “The Island.” They helped open up Hawaii to me. I began learning more about Hawaii, listening to Hawaiian music, subscribing to a Hawaii Info Podcast (808Talk) and desiring to go (someday) to visit. But sadly Ryan & Jen decided to take a (thankfully short) break from podcasting to focus on family (which I wholly supported). But they gave recommendations for other Lost podcasts. (They are thankfully back and even doing podcasting after Lost finishes with Popspotting.) That is how I found The Weekly Lost Podcast by Cliff & Stephanie Ravenscraft.

Cliff & Steph were excited and loved to talk about the episodes. But more than that they loved to involve others. They had live shows where everyone could listen, chat via text, and call in and talk. We came together as a small community and got to know each other. I started to get to know people from all over the country and all over the world. They started a forum and friendships that started because of Lost continued on to other areas. We had a blast. Cliff & Steph expanded to full time podcasting (GSPN) and added many shows. The community grew and I was blessed to help by being an administrator. I help register people for the forum, greet them, keep out spammers, and make sure things go smoothly. It got me talking with people via the community via forum, Twitter, and Facebook.

I call into podcasts and share my thoughts. I talk weekly with people all over the world. I connect with people and feel more free to share. I will share about my thoughts, believes and even more about Christ. God uses amazing things to build up His people and His Church.

So I would like to say thank-you to the creators, producers, staff, and actors of Lost. Because of your show I have grown a lot. I have so many new good friends. To all my “Imaginary” 😀 friends out there I so glad to know you. So I challenge you to “Join the community” and to “Stay Lost” (not spiritually though 😀 ).