State of the Blog... Sorta

Well, here I go again. It's been a while. I'm sorry for not keeping things up here as regularly as I'd like, but I suppose that's the average blogger's consistent refrain. Things have been good over here. I'm enjoying some break time from school and classes, though ministry responsibilities continue (and thank God for that!). In the absence of a required reading syllabus I've been doing some leisure reading, which has been really great. I've been reading Rick Holland's Uneclipsing the Son, which has just been fantastic. (Your soul needs you to read this book, and at $6, you can't go wrong!) I also just finished John Piper's Think, which was a great complement to the thoughts that led to my Light and Heat series.

Getting Out

On top of some leisure reading, my wife and I have been enjoying some of the extra time that I've been blessed with. At the beginning of June we drove over to Anaheim to watch C. C. Sabathia and the Yankees beat the Angels 3-2, which was great fun. A few weeks later we trekked down to San Diego to experience Sea World, something that I've wanted to do since coming out here. We had a great time, especially because we got to meet up with another family from our Bible study who, in the providence of God, happened to be going that same day. The blessings of fellowship and likemindedness are hardly overstated. The next weekend we enjoyed some of the Pacific Ocean down in Malibu, driving along the coast on the way down and through the canyons on the way back. We had a fun time on the 4th of July with some friends and fireworks. And most recently we drove up to Sequoia National Park, enjoying a wonderful Bed and Breakfast, the Log House Lodge, some whitewater rafting, hiking, and, of course, the huge trees. All that to say, enjoying life has kept me away from blogging as faithfully as I'd like.

The Cripplegate

But it hasn't kept me away entirely. Much of my blogging efforts over the past month have not been extinguished, but redirected. As I mentioned about five weeks ago, I have the privilege of blogging alongside some wonderful men and dear brothers at The Cripplegate. They let me post there every Friday, and I am certainly blessed by each of their contributions day by day. If you're not reading The Cripplegate, you should be!

Where We're Headed

If you've stumbled over here from The Cripplegate, I do want to welcome you, and thank you for visiting. I'm not quite sure yet what my schedule or frequency of posts will be going forward. I do indeed intend to continue posting, but dividing my interests between here and The Cripplegate will prove challenging, especially when school rolls back around. I'll be sure to update everyone when I'm sure how I want to move forward. I have a series of posts in the works about God's sovereignty over evil and what the best way of speaking about that is. I hope you'll stay tuned for that.

But in the meantime, I hope you'll browse what I've already written over these past two years. On the sidebar on the right-hand side of this page, you'll find "Past Series for Our Benefit," which are series I've done on topics like the doctrine of regeneration, repentance, and faithfulness in ministry. Above those are "Past Posts for Our Benefit," which are stand-alone posts that I've singled out as either foundational to the blog or as most popular. You can also scroll down along that right side and browse the blog by category.

Hope you're benefited!

When I set out to seek your benefit -- the benefit of my neighbor -- I cannot do that unless I am seeking to benefit you with God Himself. And I cannot benefit you with God if I am not presenting Him to you accurately. And I cannot accurately present a supremely beautiful, consummately enjoyable, all-glorious, all-satisfying God to you without myself rejoicing in Him, marveling in His glory, and being satisfied in Him. And those things are my greatest benefit. I cannot benefit you without seeking first my own benefit in Christ Himself. And so, this overwhelming desire to be a benefit to you, which overflows into this blog, becomes my benefit as well.
- Why Our Benefit? -