Happy Birthday and an Update

Happy birthday……to me! Well, sort of. Happy birthday to this blog, anyway. I started this blog 3 years ago – post #1 was published on May 22, 2019, and it’s been a busy 3 years! I am a bit of a data nerd, so here are some brief data points that I found interesting, and maybe you’ll find them likewise. There’s an equal chance you’ll skim over them, but oh well. It’s my blog, and I’ll fill it with data points if I want to. (If you’re familiar with my annual reading data post, shared in venues other than this, don’t expect what follows to be similar to that. I don’t have comparable data points or quantities on these posts.)

That initial post, published 1,099 days ago, was the first of 159, inclusive of this one. 26 of those have been part of my “Recent Reads” feature; at just 16.5%, that’s a little lower than I had estimated. Scripture has been the main topic 62 times (39%), and I’ve referenced the Psalms, including 46 different specific ones, in at least 24 different posts. (The qualifier is in there because I didn’t start off tagging posts in quite the same way I do now.) I also drastically over-estimated how often I would be thinking about church history; it’s been the main topic just twice, and I really should go back and recategorize those two. 

Most blogs have some kind of readership stat, and I suppose if I dug deeply enough, I could probably track some down. However, I’m not going to do that. I didn’t start writing, or sharing those writings publicly, with the purpose of attracting readers. That’s not to say I don’t appreciate you as readers; I am genuinely and truly thankful for each of you who find what I have to say worthwhile enough to read, and especially each of you who provide feedback, whether directly on the post or by other means. Your words of encouragement have often arrived at exactly the time that I needed them most, and I thank you for those. That wasn’t my primary purpose for any of this though. So I really don’t know how many individuals subscribe, open the automated email on any given week, or continue on to read the entire post. I don’t know how many people see it on Facebook, or click through to the main page from there. I could probably identify that information, but I’ve chosen not to; I just don’t think those kinds of numbers should be my focus, however attractive I may find the concept. If you enjoy my writing, please do subscribe. Each post will be sent automatically to your email, and it’s the best way to ensure you don’t miss a post. (Although it does occasionally get sent to the spam folder.) If you know anyone who may also enjoy this kind of post, I’d love it if you would forward it on to them. No pressure though; if you choose otherwise, I will literally never know.

Personally, a LOT has gone on since Day One. I’ve moved houses, transitioned from part-time to full-time work, reshuffled responsibilities at home, and stepped away – temporarily, I hope – from a number of things I was doing at church. I’ve developed new skills (mostly in Excel as part of my job, but other ones too), met new people, and learned new things. We as a society have survived 2+ years of a global pandemic, and have found countless new things about which to argue. Both of my grandmothers passed away, I’ve had difficult things to think through and walk through, and have seen my friends and family persevere in the midst of suffering as well. 

So what’s next? I don’t really know, actually. This whole blog began out of a conviction that I needed to use my God-given gifts appropriately, and nothing has changed in that regard. As long as I’m being obedient to that calling, the rest of it doesn’t matter. However, I don’t know that I have a whole lot left to say, and I do know that I’m tired. So in the near term, what comes next is a break. After writing at least one post a week for the last three years, it’s time to hit pause for a bit. I’m giving myself the month of June to rest, to just read and think instead of evaluating everything I encounter for its usefulness as a post, to sit on my front porch and enjoy the sunset, to engage with my kids and coworkers and just be. I very recently renewed my web hosting agreement for another 3-year term, and I love getting my money’s worth almost as much as I love looking at miscellaneous data points, so as far as I know now, it will absolutely be a true pause and not a full stop. Look for more posts, or at the very least a further update, in the beginning of July. Until then, enjoy your summer, and go read something. I recommend the Psalms.