Who woulda thunk it. Exactly one decade ago, I posted for the first time on this blog. It started as something of an experiment. I needed somewhere to go to think about and process my father’s death, and as a writer, I do my most careful thinking through the written word. I had never blogged before, and didn’t know how long I would want or even be able to keep it up — would it all peter out in a few weeks? A year?

Well, ten years and over 1,600 posts later, I’m still here. These days, I figure that’s gotta count for something. And at the moment, I’m not planning to go anywhere.

(Insert legal boilerplate here: “subject to change without notice.”)

. . .

A lot has happened in the last ten years. Heck, a lot has happened in the last year alone: the coronavirus pandemic has wrought havoc on all our lives, routines, and expectations. The virus took my mother from my family by surprise, and personally, changed the whole landscape of my vocation. Life often feels unpredictable, chaotic.

Yet there have been blessings among the curses. Overall, I still feel a deep sense of gratitude for the privilege of being able to continue to do what I do: teach, whether in seminary or at church. I am what educators like to call a “lifelong learner.” I finished my formal education long ago. But I have to keep learning and studying to keep teaching, and I am blessed and formed by what I learn.

So on this occasion, let me pause to say thank you to you, my readers. You are the lifeblood of any blog. If not for you, I would have no reason to continue to put in the hours to keep it all going. If anything you have read here has pointed you toward God, has helped you know and worship his holiness, love, and grace, then it’s all been worth it.

Will I still be doing this ten years hence? Who knows if I’ll still be lucid enough? These days, my wife and I joke that between the two of us, we may have one whole brain… Besides, I barely know what’s going to happen next month.

So I’ll just finish writing the rest of this week’s posts. And then the next week’s. And the next’s.

Then we’ll see.