You haven't blogged since Feed the 5th...is everything OK?

I wish I had $1 for every email, text, or conversation in which I got this question. I'm grateful folks miss the action. Friends have prevailed upon me to say something here about why I haven't blogged since Nov 23.

1. Everything is OK, nothing is wrong. It is normal for bloggers who run single author blogs (no co-authors), especially those with "running blogs" instead of the kind of blog with weekly or bi-monthly articles, to simply take a break from blogging for 1-2 months. While my lack of communication about taking a break may be unusual, simply setting aside the blog for a couple of months certainly isn't.

2. I got bored with blogging the way I have been, which led to less and less posts from my heart, and more and more announcement type posts. That in turn led to the blog losing it's effectiveness and purpose. And like ministries at NEHBC or things in my personal life, when something loses it's effectiveness or purpose, it's time to "shut 'er down". (Don't be afraid to end something that is no longer effective--letting things suffer on endlessly is rarely the right thing to do.) I felt like my blog got to that point. So, I'm trying to decide what to do: quit blogging altogether, change the way it's done--IE: bring on co-authors, change what I blog about, change the nature of the blog, simply take a break to see if my passion for it returns, etc.

3. As for why Nicole quit blogging...she hasn't! Those that know her aren't surprised she hasn't blogged in a while. She'll blog as she really wants to post something, after thinking through it long and hard, and when she has time. Her success in blogging (her readership has grown to the 400-500 different people range and has led to an invitation to speak to minister's wives at a conference in Louisiana in April) would cause most to feel pressure to keep producing. Not so with Nicole--she is unfazed. Nicole has a personal system she doesn't verbalize to people and she sticks to it hard and fast. Her "system" is the reason she can effectively be my wife and help-mate, mother to our four children, manage our household, write NEHBC's children's Sunday School curriculum, manage NEHBC's sermon pod casts, minister one-on-one to various church members, family members, and friends, and maintain her sanity and joy through it all. So, she has not quit blogging...she'll post as she wants.

Thanks for checking in. Nicole and I love you very much and want God's best for you! We hope you and yours have a very Merry Christmas celebrating our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.