rest...

i have received emails inquiring about my lack of posting recently. there are several answers to the question, so i thought i would answer them all at once.

#1- i have a 10 week old baby boy....enough said

#2 - this summer i took a class that required over 1,500 pages of reading in addition to a lengthy position paper that has consumed the bulk of any free time i have had since may.

#3 - i had to finish another writing assignment for a lifeway publication

#4 - i have degenerative disc disease. i had surgery in 1999, and from time to time have flare ups. for the first couple of weeks of july i was in bed due to a major flare up in the form of a herniated disc that was/is rubbing against nerve endings in my spine that cause burning and numbness in my leg. i start 12 weeks of physical therapy tomorrow. i would appreciate your prayers that the lord would see fit to heal me totally so that i may return to a "normal" lifestyle, despite my undeservingness.

i appreciate all of the emails and other contacts i regularly receive because of this blog. what began as an attempt to cure a bout with insomnia has become a regular part of my life. though i rarely (if ever) have any original thoughts, i am amazed that so many people read this blog. since july of last year, this blog has been visited over 7,500 times and from all across the globe. (some of these were surely lost travelers on the information superhighway!) it is a humble reminder to me that if i am to speak with confidence, to speak the truths of god's word. i am sure i may have failed at times, but i pray that my intentions are always to honor the lord with the content of this blog.

my final year of seminary begins one week from today. i will be taking the rest of this week off in order to just rest and continue to recover from this back injury. lord willing, i am also being ordained in two weeks (assuming that i pass my ordination council this week!), so i need to study and prepare for that as well.

that said, i do intend to begin posting regularly soon. in 2005 (starting in june) i posted only 24 times. last year, 36 times. already this year i am over 50. i have no number that i am shooting for, but it has been a good exercise for ordering my thoughts and thinking through certain issues. thank you for thinking through them with me. please continue to send feedback. i get quite a bit through email, but please feel free to leave a comment on the blog itself.

since i will be taking an intentional break from posting for the next week, i wanted to leave you with some links of blogs that i have found to be very informative without feeling like i am doing homework.

justin taylor

desiring god

al mohler

enjoy these sites, and i hope that you will return here in a week or so. in the meantime, i ask that you pray for my back, as well that colossians 1:9-10 would be true in my life as i strive to be a better follower of christ, and a better husband, father, pastor, teacher, writer, and friend.

in christ alone,
stephen