Blogiversary II - the Sequel

Well, it's Anniversary #2. I suppose it's a good time to review. After all, I may just be out here flapping my gums (figuratively speaking) and shouldn't be bothering with blogging.

What might make me think that? Well, I get some interesting feedback at times. I've had far more than one person tell me, "I like what you write ... but half the time it's over my head." I'm somewhat baffled by that. I can't imagine me talking over anyone's head. But it's actually quite a few who have said it, so I have no reason to doubt it. Then there are the numbers. Right now I'm running at about 400 visitors a week. Last year I was at about 400 visitors a week. There is little variation. Reasonably good blogs are in the thousands of visitors a week. So the numbers would suggest that I'm not exactly hot in this market, so to speak. In the last year I made 385 posts. That's better than one a day -- my personal goal. In July there was a lively discussion on an entry about baptism. In January I posted about whether or not women should hold government offices and got 36 comments. I think that's a record for me. A couple of days later there was another 27 comments on a post about Homeschooling in Germany. When Dagoods started visiting I got some lively discussions, including topics like "Faith in Crisis", "Choose to Believe," and "Preferencial Hermeneutics". Always a pleasure. (Dagoods, for those of you who don't know, is a self-avowed atheist. He is always respectful and coherent and, frankly, if I'm going to have rational answers to real questions, I have to have the real questions, don't I? So I'm always open for discussion with friendly people who disagree with my views.) I got some very kind responses from people when I was out with a blood clot. And I certainly asked my fair share of questions again this year. Despite all this, the comments are few and far between most of the time. I have some very kind regulars and I'm gratified that they read this blog, but most of my regular readers, I suspect, don't comment. So I wonder if I should continue.

Then I remember why I'm here. When God called Isaiah to speak for Him (I am not suggesting that I am a prophet of God), Isaiah asked how long he would have to carry his message of doom. God told him, essentially, for the rest of his life. No one would be listening. If Isaiah was a blogger and measured his success by friendly comments, visits, and that sort of thing, he would have to classify himself as a failure. Jeremiah was promised from the beginning of his calling that no one would listen to him, either. He didn't like it (thus, "Lamentations"), but he didn't shirk his responsibility, either. The truth is that while success is measured in this world by numbers, it isn't measured that way in the Christian life. We "walk by faith, not by sight." What may look like foolishness to the world isn't to God. So what would be the normal method of determining whether or not I'm a "successful blogger" won't work for me. I have to ask myself, "Is this what God wants me to do?" Now, I checked my Bible and can't find any references to "Stan" and "keep blogging" or "don't", so I don't have it on biblical authority, but I believe that this is what God wants me to do for now ... so I will. I just have to remind myself that "Well done" doesn't necessarily refer to "everyone thinks you're grand" or anything like it. (Hey, to a piece of meat, "Well done" means you've been burned!)