I don’t know if this is a celebratory post or a venue to offer my condolences. This marks my 998th blog post. I intended to share the news of No. 1,000 on its actual anniversary date but it coincides with our Prayer, Care, Share segment Saturday and I didn’t think it would be appropriate.

As the numbers started ticking up I couldn’t help but reflect on the last almost seven years of blogging. {My Lord, has it been that long?} I’ve shared a lot of words over that time — well over a half million. {I didn’t count them but 1,000 times an average of 500. I think the math is still good.} That’s a lot of hot air coming from the free-wheeling neurons!

I use the word share because, even from day one, the goal wasn’t to push my views but involve you — readers and followers — in the intimacies of my life. My goal was and is to share my thoughts {as crazy as they sometimes are}, to share my faith walk {the soul of the  blog},  to share my accomplishments and defeats {the heart of the blog}.

Throughout our time together I’ve tried to not only entertain and inform you, but involve  you by weaving words that resonate with you. I’ve had no agenda.

I guess the formula has worked. With each little tweak I found new audiences tuning in.

On day 1, I wrote, “I have no idea what I will write about. I have thousands of ideas collected over the years, but sharing those ideas with strangers (who I hope will soon become friends!) is the challenge. That’s where you come in. I need feedback. I need suggestions.”

You have met the challenge. You’ve offered valuable feedback and suggestions over the years — well over 3,000 comments from around the world. You responded favorably to my reflections about my life with Karen and life after her death. I saw the follower numbers steadily increase as we embarked on our Wednesday Writing exercise that resulted in publication of Heaven Shining Through. Joining Five Minute Friday introduced me — and you — to an amazing group of talented writers. Over the years about a third of my posts were part of the five minute writing exercise. I  am so thankful I was welcomed into the group! This year’s tweak to include a week-long menu of topics — Sunday Sermonette … Words for the Week … Readin’ Riting’ and ‘Rithmetic … Midweek Mirth … Life and Love … Five Minute Friday … Prayer, Care, Share — forced a daily presence. My entrance in the book publishing field opened new doors and opportunities to expand through an increased presence on social media. There are now three published books — Heaven Shining Through, the novella that kicked it off; My Name Is Sam … and Heaven Is Still Shining Through, the novel inspired by the novella; and Wisdom From a Father … One Dad’s Thoughts on Life, a non-fiction work based on this blog.

To show you how this little venture has taken off, I had a scant 114 visitors in those first three months of posting and most of them were family and close friends. Last year, there were  5,179 visitors from 66 countries. Thus far in not quite half a year, I’ve had 3,315 visits. I now have 856 followers here, 578 Twitter followers and 419 Facebook friends on my personal page and 95 on my Facebook author page.

In my intro, I  noted I had thousands of random, rambling thoughts. Well, you have about 1,ooo already … and there are more in there, so, thank you for your past support and here’s to the next milestone! Keep your comments and suggestions coming!

THOUGHT TO REMEMBER: Mama always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get. — Forrest Gump

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