The Land of Ozz

There has been a lot of change in my life in recent years. In some ways this blog has reflected how my life has changed. The biggest change can been seen in the overall theme and frequency of my posts. I have just realized that I have now posted more topics in the Faith category than in any other category on this blog. Over 25% percent of the posts are posted in the Faith category. I have been blogging less recently and have changed my focus to blog more on Faith related issues.

That said, the traffic has increased even though I blog less. My wife’s jaw almost hit the floor when I told her that there are now nearly 30,000 visitors to this site per month as of May. That is a huge increase relative to where this site came from. That much traffic comes with a huge responsibility.

This conversation with my wife prompted me to review this blog where a majority of the visitors are coming landing. Further review of the logs shows that the most popular non-visit hits are on the RSS feed used exclusively to bring in iTunes users who want to hear my readings of The Living Bible. The site has averaged well over six thousand hits per month on this RSS feed alone.

What does all of this mean? What should I do with this information?

I tend to be much more of a blog reader than a blog writer these days. I notice that many bloggers seem to cleave to the I want to be a reporter when I grow up style of blogging. They hang on the hottest MSM topics and hope to be the one who exposes the mistakes of the MSM media or some government official. Some are good at it. I have tried it and it is not for me. Even more bloggers just air out their feelings to the world for what seems to be no particular reason. I have been know to do that once in a while, but I am moving away from that practice.

I now have a better defined reason for what I am doing. I have a purpose. I have posted an image in the upper right of the page that states “As for me and blog we will serve the Lord!” I am not taking that little phrase lightly. That is my intention and purpose for this blog moving forward. I will continue to share some Bible reading as well as the reading schedule. I will also continue to provide my living testimony as to how God is blessing me and my family. I will do my best to built up the name of Jesus to let all who read know what God did for us by sending his son Jesus Christ.

I plan to continue to drop in some personal experiences and some fun from time to time. But, the primary purpose of this blog will be to serve the Lord. I have been particularly moved by what God has said to me recently through sermons and my personal study of the scriptures used as the foundation for these messages. I have heard messages on faith from just about every direction I have turned lately. The term faith has really taken on new meaning for me and my wife in the past year. We are experiencing God in ways that we never knew possible and God continues to bless us in ways that we could have never have dreamed up. There are three particular areas of ministry where God has blessed us as we have become more involved. One is the parenting ministry that we participate in. Another area where God has blessed us is in our learning and sharing what the Bible has to say about God’s laws of faith. The third area that we have been blessed is through this little Internet ministry.

God has blessed us through the parenting ministry in several ways. We have been able to share some great Biblical parenting materials with other young couples while getting a review on the material for our own family. The recent Growing Kids God’s Way and Preparation for Parenting classes that we held at our home were such a great success. I can say with confidence that these classes were a success because of the positive surveys that we received as well as the desire shown by many parents to take other programs offered through this awesome ministry build by Gary and Anne Marie Ezzo. Some members of the classes have expressed an interest in leading classes for other families. Some of the couples from the GKGW class are attending the Reflections of Moral Innocence class that we started in August. We also plan to offer another Prep class in the fall that we already have some folks asking about.

God has also blessed us in our search for a clearer understanding of His principles of Faith. I have enjoyed the past year in particular as I have used the same Bible reading schedule that I post on this blog. I started the posts of the schedule after the first of the year when I was several months into it myself. Sherry and I both use the same schedule as our minimum daily reading which almost daily provides for some great couch-time discussions when the day has been otherwise uneventful. Our journey in seeking a more personal relationship with God and striving to operate in the principles laid out in the Bible have come back to us many times over in health, finances, and relationships. We have begun to share our testimony of God’s work in our life by simply sharing the principles that we have learned on the subject of faith and speaking words of life. We are calling our new Bible study “Words of Life”. We started this past week by joining on Tuesday night with others in sharing directly from God’s word what we have heard and understood. This small group offers encouragement and accountability for daily Bible reading. I can only imagine what God is going to do with us in the future. It seems the more seed we see sown in this area the more we see God’s blessings in our lives and the lives.

The third area that I mentioned above where we have been blessed is right here on this web site. I called it a “little Internet ministry” because that is really how I see it now. We (my wife and I) have been given a unique opportunity to share with families who are struggling with sick children the way have struggled. They find Caden’s Page and then email us asking for advice. Most just need encouragement to continue to do what they are already doing as loving parents. Showing some concern and empathy from a perspective of having been there can do wonders for some. This site has opened up some great dialogs with other parents who landed here by way of searching for something related to their own child’s health concerns. I have also seen traffic increase as a result of my posting on faith related subjects. The odd thing is that many folks end up hear on as a result of searching for things having nothing to do with faith but yet my traffic increases when I post in the faith category. That little sign of more traffic with less posts along with the one I am about to share tells me to keep working on this “little Internet ministry”.

Here’s what happened. I was laying in bed one night a few months ago praying. Sherry had been asleep for a while. I was asking God to help me see where I should go. It was at that precise moment that the monitor lite up in the corner of the room from its sleep/hibernation mode. This had never happened before and has not happened since that night. We almost always leave that computer and monitor on so it was not like the computer came on from an off state, but there was no one within six feet of that computer when this happened. And it happened at the exact moment that I was praying for God to give me some guidance. What exactly that means I am not sure, but I will assure you that I am not about to stop working in the area of computers and Internet anytime soon. I took that event pretty seriously even though I have not shared it with anyone other than God and my wife before today.

I believe that God has clearly shown me that these three areas are where we are doing what God wants. I plan to continue to share the blessings from those areas with the readers of this web site. I will do my best to stay on the positive side of things. I will also do my best to encourage readers and give guidance on where they can go on the Internet to find what I believe to be useful information on these subjects. A list of recommended sites will be much shorter than a list of where not to go. Staying on recommendations will keep me from having to say anything negative about the bloggers who get caught up in tearing down Christian brothers or boasting about how superior their teachings are based on specific religious IC, ISM, IAN, or IST theologies. I am convinced that there is no best religious theology or doctrine. I have been through the gamut of religions in my short 39 years and I can tell you that there is no such thing as a perfect religion. Having a personal relationship with God based on his Word beginning with the belief that God sent his son Jesus to die on a cross to be raised from the dead after three days as payment for your sins and mine is what is most important. There is nothing religious about that.

There are plenty of Christian folks out here on the Internet trying to dazzle you with fancy words and phrases that you will never find in the Bible. These are very smart people and many have the best intentions in the world, but they will lead you astray. The problem is that they get to caught up in believing what another man has told them rather than listening to what God says to them through His word.

The purpose driving this blog moving forward will be to show more of Jesus Christ in what is posted. I realize and wish that more Christian bloggers would realize that they may be the only example of Christ a person gets on the Internet. I believe I have already started fulfilling this purpose and will continue to do so. I believe that the population of Internet users is largely composed of non-Christians. The Internet is not a place to try and hold other Christians accountable for actions that are believed to be wrong. I have fallen into the trap of trying to correct others, but I believe that setting an example is much more important.

I invite you to continue with me on my ongoing spiritual journey by visiting again soon. May God bless you and your family.

This entry was posted on Monday, September 4th, 2006 at 3:22 pm and is filed under Faith, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.