There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens - Ecclesiastes 3:1
- I blog here, daily, as well as over at blogger
STATISTICAL REPORT: I'm excited to announce that during February (and for the first time since I started my experiment in blogging) my posts generated well over 10,000 hits. That's an average, per day, somewhere north of 350.
I'm not using any of those elaborate metrics that determine numbers such as length of visit, unique visitors, "bounce" etc. However, the information I do pay attention to suggests that around 200 regular readers check in pretty-much every day and - best guess - somewhere in the vicinity of 1,000 different people have looked in 1-10 times during the past month.
On the book front, Reaching Toward Easter spent most of the month at the top of The Upper Room's online bookstore best-seller list. It also topped out at # 6 under "Easter" at Amazon.com. With Lent just under way, there could well be some more interest as word gets out.
As to sales, I have absolutely no idea how those positions translate. My experience with royalty reports varies between disappointing and dismal, so I'm not even going to speculate!
- "If you're OK with dad, then I trust you..."
IMAGE #2 IS A BLACK CAT: Tuesday morning I took the ever awesome Darth Maul for his annual check-up at the Valrico Animal Clinic. I'll post something about our pets every once in a while, and today Darth demonstrated - again - why he is the coolest cat in the universe.
No, he was not happy. His carefully constructed life of non-activity was seriously violated along with his dignity. Regardless, Darth limited his objections to talking back, purring with subtext, and glaring in response to the violations. But he is completely confident that I - and anyone I allow near him - have only his best interests at heart and he submits without question.
That, ladies and gentlemen, is a testimony to trust.
- Really? Spring? Are we serious?
IMAGE the THIRD: Spring. Seriously, do we have to do this now? I'm still waiting for a little winter down here in Florida and it's just not happening.
I wake up early, I take Scout for a walk well before light. I expect a little bit of a chill.... But no, not anywhere close. So there I am, walking a dog in the dark and wearing a t-shirt because it's over 70-degrees.
But it really is Spring. This African Iris - or whatever (I always get my flower info wrong) - is blooming happily and ready to get on with 2012. So I guess that's what I need to do too. Sigh. I don't have to like it, do I?
- Work to be done - I have to face it
NUMBER FOUR: OK, I admit it, the garden around our house is a mess. I promise to post a flattering photograph when I finally knuckle down and launch "Garden 2012, the Adventure Continues." But, don't hold your breath. There are some elements to 2012 that I really don't want to concede to, quite yet.
But you know what? Yes, there's going to be some serious pain and heartache this year. But there's life too, irrepressible - it's all over the place. New life:
- How about baby David, and all the growing he's going to be up to?
- How about his awesome parents, Naomi and Craig?
- How about our son Andrew, enjoying life in Italy with so much promise and an even more fabulous future beginning to emerge?
- How about another new book release in July, a busy summer sharing the Good News, and everything else God has in mind for my 2012?
- And how about the phenomenal ministry here at First Presbyterian Church of Brandon?
- Embracing the Sacred Rhythm
So, yes, 2012 is going to bloom, one way or another. Ready or not. It is the way of life, and the way of eternity, and God's good balance. There's a Sacred Rhythm at work. More on this tomorrow.
There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
What do workers gain from their toil? I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart... Ecclesiastes 3:1-11a
- DEREK
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