The WordPress Statistics page told me that my blog passed 10,000 views this week. I am stunned. I know that in the digital world news sites can receive 10,000 views in minutes and large churches can see weekend attendance at that number, but I am just a small church pastor/church planter in a small corner of the small Garden State, ministering in a period of declension of Christianity; thinking the Bible, theology and ministry from a reformed confessional Anglican corner. And that certainly makes me a minority within a minority. So 10,000 as a number is just beyond my comprehension.

I started this blog when I returned from sabbatical in late October 2009 as a way to record what I had learned while I was away in study. Four years later almost to the week I walked away from the Episcopal Church and I am now a pastor/church planter in CANA East, a missionary diocese in the Anglican Communion.

Writing a blog is so different from writing on paper. When you write a thesis, an article or a book you are guaranteed to have at least several pairs of eyes to look it over to correct your errors and critique your content. Proofreaders and Editors are a writer’s best friends. They make us read much better than we think. But a blog is totally unfiltered and rides much more closely to the wind with facts and reasoning. The unfiltered nature of a blog challenges and terrifies me. It is also clear that a blog receives more views when you write controversially rather than ordinarily. The combination of the two is a recipe for disaster as a Christian witness. The gospel of Jesus Christ of whom I am a minister is so important and so profound in its application. The eternal destiny of men and women is at stake. I am always conscious of the tremendous privilege and responsibility I hold to present the truth clearly and responsibly. When I have faltered, I ask your pardon.

I thought to finish with a bit of autobiography, not as if this blog ever contains anything personal, right? Some have asked me when and where the picture was taken on the upper right of the homepage. My wife Barbara took the photograph when we last were in England and had a visit to Down House, Charles Darwin’s home. If you know anything of Darwin you’ll know he was one of the 19th century’s most famous invalids and in the last generation of gentlemen-scientists. He did all his experiments, his thinking and his writing at his home and rarely traveled up to London. To help his thinking he had a path made so he could walk and ponder. He named it “The Sandwalk.” So while we were there we had a turn. I used to take long walks with my grandfather and in copying him as a small boy I always clasp my hands now behind my back. Barbara stepped back and touched the button on her iPhone.

We have walked and pondered together for 10,00o steps. Thank you, Dear Reader, for coming along and for your patience with me. Here’s to the next 10,000.

And just to cap 10,000 views here is a favorite song of mine and fun YouTube video to mark the milestone. The Proclaimers sing their 1988 hit, “I’m Gonna Be” (500 Miles) and the cast of Dr. Who singing and dancing along. If you’re Scottish you know the song. If you’re not Scottish, you should.