July 24: I’m Taking a Brief Break

A couple of weeks ago, my wife and I headed a few miles south to Berea, Kentucky, to hike the Pinnacles. The trail we took was a 1.2 mile trail that ended almost 600 feet higher than it started. The view at the top was worth the hike!

But to get to that view, Kim and I had to navigate some areas of the trail that were a bit daunting. The following picture is just one of the places where we had to make sure our footing was secure as we climbed the trail on roots and rocks.

To reach the top and feel the joy of completing this trail while enjoying the breathtaking views, Kim and I took periodic breaks. We stopped along the trail, leaned against a tree, and let our heart calm down a bit before proceeding.

When I started my ambitious project of writing a substantive devotional article every single day this year, I was at my previous church where I had learned to make the most of my schedule. Our boys had left home so there was more time to write. At one point, I had written and scheduled two months of articles so I was way ahead of the game.

But then I was called as pastor of White Hall Baptist Church in Richmond, Kentucky. Our days were filled with packing, and frequent visits to a dumpster and thrift stores to give things away. We prepped the house for showings and eventually moved to Kentucky. For most of that time, I either had no time or mental energy to write articles. So, I began losing my two month advantage.

Now, as I’m filling my new role, I’m realizing that I don’t have nearly as much time as I previously had – at least I’m not scheduling my days the same as I did. I no longer have a two month advantage – I’m writing each article a day ahead of time. And this is on top of the many other things I’m doing in my new pastoral role.

So …

I’m giving my online daily devotional articles a bit of break. I’m going to stop on the trail, lean against a tree, and catch my breath as I engage in all of the other activities of pastoring White Hall BC.

I anticipate that my break will only be a week or two. In the meantime, I will continue to send out the daily e-mail with the Thru-the-Bible-in-a-Year reading for the day.

Thank each of you for your feedback and for joining me on this journey.

Finally, here is some of the data for my website to show that the Lord is using my sub-par writings for His glory.

First, here is the traffic my website has received for the past few years. As you can see, 2025 is on par to be the busiest year yet. There have already been 33,118 views so far this year and we are only a little more than halfway through the year.

The next screenshot is the number of subscribers to the site. There are currently 568 subscribers. Those are individuals that either get an e-mail or are notified when I add new content. If they read my article in their inbox and do not go to my website, their number does not count for the views citied above. So the readership is larger than the 33K figure so far this year.

As you can see, I’m blessed to have folks who read my websites content. That motivates me to want to do my best. But because of the craziness of my current schedule, I feel that I need to take a brief break. I anticipate that my break will last a week or two. I’ll be back to writing shortly.

Thanks for understanding! And thanks for reading!