Last year was huge. Part turmoil. Part grief. Part adventure.
It was my third year in the blogging world and my second year as a full-time homeschool dad; directing, teaching and ministering to my kids, leading them to where God has led me. Helping them to see their own call. Enabling them to step up and out, to encounter the One who chooses to walk with us and longs for us to respond in kind.
The year also brought grief. The death of my father, not long after the death of another valued family member, meant that the long-held hope of a healthier relationship, an apology or acknowledgement of wrongs, was no longer a possibility. This said, the eight-hour road trip to visit him, his coherence and words on that day are things to be thankful for.
Still, the subtle sadness lingers. C.S Lewis wrote, ‘grief is a process, not a state of mind. We all experience it differently.’ (A Grief Observed) I’m learning to agree with him. My own grief comes in waves. It overshadows the day, like skies that are drenched in clouds, but the land remains untouched by rain. The promise of it lingers, but disappears before it can deliver.
I don’t write this blog for a living, so I have no real need to “obsess” over stats. However, the retailer manager in me does find them interesting and encouraging to note. In all, there were 42 articles less than 2014 and 77 less than 2013. This had no overall significant impact on visits or views.
The top twenty posts for 2015 are:
1. Of Relative Importance: C.S Lewis, David Low, Cartoons & Blimpophobia
4. Bonhoeffer’s Discourse On Pride, Identity, Lust & Christian Discipleship
5. The Rise of The Technocrat & The Growing Impossibility of Persuasion
6. Review: ‘The Reason’, Lacey Sturm
7. Karl Barth: God Is The One Who Loves In Freedom
8. Five Two
9. You Don’t Have To Be A Progressive, To Be For Progress
10. Viewing Christianity As An Ethic Of Universal Niceness Misses The Point
11. Lifeschooling
12. Review: Peter Harrison’s, The Territories of Science & Religion
13. Navigating Hostility: Homeschooling In The Face Of Direct Opposition
14. The Young Messiah & Risen, 2016
15. George Orwell & Karl Barth: On The Irruption Of a Third Reich Of Madness
16. Homeschooling In High Definition
17. The Denial of Christ Is More About Prejudiced Conclusions, Than Facts
18. With Fallen, Stryper Continue To Raise The Standard
19. Elshtain’s Criticism Of “The Left’s” Totalitarian Claim On Thought & The Academy.
Looking back over my posts for this year, I’m content with the work.I’m particularly excited about sharing my journey through Barth’s Dogmatics, homeschooling, theology, politics, and creating some of my art, and music.
From the music category, two works I’m grateful to have had the time to create this year are God, Do you speak morse? and Sagacity:
My hope is that this project, now entering its fourth year, will continue to be a blessing, challenge and uplift.
Thanks for reading in 2015. All the best to you and yours for 2016.
May it be to the glory of God.
– Rod.
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Rod Lampard 
Happy New Year, friend!
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May the same be for you also, sister!
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