Taking a breather.
Grace-filled reflections on Grace Upon Grace in 2024.
It has been another eventful year for this blog, one that has resulted in significant subscriber growth and engagement, for which I am truly and thoroughly grateful. To date, 2024 has witnessed over 200 new subscribers to Grace Upon Grace, which is easily the biggest and steadiest development of new readers since I began writing. Indeed, I can easily say that this has been the most rewarding year of writing online since I started publishing posts back in 2013. (Yes, the archive stretches back that far!) Your interactions with my posts and notes have been such a fun pastime with which to keep up, not to mention the flurry of emails I’ve received with words of support or encouragement. I am sincerely filled with joy that the Lord has given me the opportunity to speak grace into so many people’s lives, both those within my local congregation and those online, many of whom I may never meet in person.
It is both exciting and humbling to know that you’ve found some semblance of enrichment and enjoyment in the resources I publish and share since that has always been my prevailing objective. I have never looked at this outlet as an avenue to make anything for myself or out of myself. Rather, I’ve always considered Grace Upon Grace to be an extension of my pastoral ministry and life of faith, providing an outlet to think, write, and develop my theology alongside many of you who are doing the same. If you were to chart my writing as it has developed through the years, you would likely see some seismic shifts both in tone and in quality (hopefully, for the better!). My approach to putting together long-form essays or brief blogs is much different than it used to be, and I’m grateful for that, honestly. Even still, the through-line that has stayed persistent from the beginning is the grace of God as seen and known in the person of Jesus. He is the only reason I do what I do and write what I write.
I wish I could tell you all about the pieces I’ve drafted and almost published over the years, ones that might have pulled my writing in other directions. More often than not, those unpublished articles were knee-jerk reactions that might have ousted me as a prisoner of the moment. This is just to say that I’m thankful for God’s grace and the company of good friends who have challenged me to think twice or even thrice before publishing. You won’t read much in the way of political or sports-related commentary (although I did write this). I’ve been known to pepper a few movie and television essays here and there — and, for a time, I was really peeved about the decadence of Star Wars. I still am, I just don’t talk about it anymore. But for the most part, I want to just give you Jesus. After all, he’s the only thing you really need. He is the only one who can actually give you what most deeply crave.
But since I’ve already buried the lede this far, I should let you know that I am going to take a much-needed break from regular writing and podcasting from now till the New Year. For the whole month of December, I won’t be posting anything besides my weekly sermons, which go live on Wednesdays. I will still be sharing a few notes here and there, so make sure you are following me over there, too. I have several essays and podcasts already scheduled that I am eager for you to read or listen to once the New Year gets underway. As always, if you ever have a topic or passage of Scripture you’d like me to cover, feel free to let me know, and I’ll try to work that into the rotation. In the meantime, be sure to peruse the archives or listen to a previous sermon or two to tide you over. Once again, I am grateful to you, and I pray that God keeps you and blesses you with his inexhaustible grace in all the days ahead.
Grace and peace to you, my friends.
Enjoy your sabbatical!