A (Premature) Year in Review

My blog began back on June 26th, 2009. Now, nearly seventeen years later, I am happy to be posting my 1000th article. The last year has been, from a work perspective, quite rough. Managing my store has been a difficult affair since hiring and training competent employees is growing ever harder as the work force changes. I had changed to a larger store two years prior as well, which brings with it its own challenges.

But by God’s grace we are managing, though not without more than a little turbulence. To put it honestly, and as I approach my 50th birthday this autumn, I am tired. The spirit is willing, but I can’t help but notice that the flesh is beginning to grow weak. I work out regularly to make sure I am in my prime for both work and family, but stress is very real, and I would appreciate people’s prayers in maintaining my workload effectively without suffering burnout.

My teaching at New Hope Bible Church is going well. We have a very small body of people, but it is intimate, friendly, and deeply refreshing for my family. We have at least one wayward congregant that I am very worried about. He is walking a worldly path and shunning fellowship, so I pray that we can lift him up, so that the Holy Spirit may work in him and lead him in the way the Lord wishes him to go. I am teaching James right now, and it's extremely rewarding going back through the book again, seeing things that I missed while I was expounding it on my blog. My fellow teacher, Jim Gruba, is leading us through 2 Corinthians, and it is always a pleasure when it is his turn to teach and I can be fed the word of God.

My family is growing up, which truly surprises me daily. When I began back in 2009, it was six weeks before my twin girls were born, our first children. Now they are on the verge of being seventeen. My son is nearly fifteen, and my littlest will be ten in January. She likes it that way because she can enjoy both Christmas and her birthday within one week of each other; yes, I have groomed my children into loving Christmas almost as much as I do. As of this writing our family Bible study has us going through the book of Genesis, and you had better believe that I am teaching it as a literal, factual, historical narrative, which it is.

My writing has taken some turns. I have set aside working on Canticles of Andurun book 11 for the time being and am doing a little superhero-esque type fiction. Maybe with a hint of supernatural horror as an undertone. Books one through five of Andurun have been self-published, and books six through ten are written and just require that dreaded proofreading. I am not fond of proofreading…

As I debate which book to enter next in terms of expositional material, I reflect back on my blog itself. I regret the absence in excess of six years I took off, but looking back I realize they were a necessary absence. I was being made ready to get back to work more diligently, in a more organized manner, and with (I pray the Lord) a little better spiritual maturity to address Scriptural topics that glorify God and honor His written word. I was even privy to help with some Bible study for a few months with one of our congregants; time spent that I pray was as fruitful for them as it was for my own understanding.

I have not the vaguest notion how long my blog will continue. But I know this: as long as the Lord permits, it is my greatest pleasure to continue sharing the word with anyone willing to listen and engage, for our mutual edification. This last year has been difficult, that is true. I even considered if continuing my blog was feasible as I sought to balance work, home life, my fantasy/fiction writing, and Bible studies. 

I pray the Lord for the opportunity to continue my spiritual walk as He leads me through the pitfalls I’m experiencing at work and how to effectually balance my time outside of managing my store to continue this ministry. Gillian has been helpful in some recent material I’ve written per conversations she and I have had about its contents, and she has been kind enough to select the last couple of verses of the month. Maybe one day I’ll get her to collaborate with me on a post. Here’s looking forward to another year, and whatever it is the Lord deems to bring us between now and then. God bless!