500!  A couple of days ago, I posted my 500th blog article.  Since I lived twice in Indianapolis, I thought I would commemorate by including a picture from the Indy 500 race.

In late 2014 I decided I would write a couple of blog posts.  The origins of Wesley’s Horse came from days working for the Church of the Nazarene Global Ministry Center.  The name came to me via Bryon McLaughlin, who thought it would be great.  Bryon came up with the title; the backstory is that John Wesley wrote many sermons while riding his horse.  It was the technology of his generation.  He accomplished more because he used his horse and time to make a difference for God.  When I moved from Kansas City to Detroit, the denomination let the name wesleyshorse lapse, and I bought the rights to use the term.  Instead of a website that it was in those days, I have primarily used it as a blog.  It is still a website, and I hope that this year, to add a few other features to the website.

I have committed this year to post regularly: it is one of my retirement goals.  I have written posts based on sermons and devotional thoughts.  I have shared my testimony in some fashion dozens of times.  I have written about friendship, honored some mentors, and mused on leadership, organization, and getting things done.  I have started writing my thoughts on retirement and other observations as I have traveled the road of life.  I wrote a series of blogs on my sabbatical journey to Papua New Guinea and Fiji.  I have chronicled my wife’s journey with cancer and reported on places I have visited, from Lake Tahoe and Milwaukee to Australia, Russia, and many other places.  I shared some areas that interested me in my previous position as I visited churches across central and southeast Indiana.  I wrote about John Wooden, an all-American basketball player at Purude University and a hall-of-fame college basketball coach from Martinsville, IN.  I enjoyed tracing the Maumee river from my childhood town of Fort Wayne to Northwest Ohio. I chronicled the hymn writer who live in Morristown Indiana and wrote, ‘Then I Met Jesus” as well as the alma mater where I went to college.

I did not start the blog because I thought I was more thoughtful or more insightful than others; I wrote because I longed to connect God’s grace and ordinary people living faithful lives in ways that impact their families and friends.  By writing, I have honed my thoughts, and the writing process has made me think more clearly about faith, grace, forgiveness, and much more.

Some observations from the past nine years:

  • You can learn from anyone. Standing and greeting people as they came and left the church building, some of the most exciting things I learned were from small children.  Never miss an opportunity to learn something, and do not set a limit on which person will be today’s teacher.
  • Most things in life are challenging.  Thomas Edison said, “Success is ten percent inspiration and ninety percent perspiration.” Most endeavors in life involve work: relationships, jobs, marriage, family, friendship, and hobbies.  Work is not a bad word. It is a significant building block of life.
  • Don’t take yourself too seriously. Those who learn to laugh at themselves will never run out of material.
  • Paying attention never disappoints. This is where you will make pleasant and essential discoveries.
  • Persistence is vital. You must push past the desire to give up. Often perseverance is the key ingredient.  Talent and ability are essential, but hanging in there ultimately wins the day.  I have come close several times to say I have nothing more to say to discover I have another thought.
  • I have been blessed beyond measure. Writing this blog has been a journal to record the grace of God I have witnessed in my life and how He helped me from the earliest days, even when I was unaware of His presence.  He has been there all along, including our recent time with Susanne’s cancer journey and into our new phase of life.  The people, places, and circumstances have been a mixture of good, bad, and mundane.  Yet through it all, God has been faithful!

Thank you for being my friend.  You have been both a help and a blessing.  I plan to keep looking for things to report and enjoy.

Thank you for being a friend

2 Thoughts to “Five Hundred Blog Posts”

  1. Susanne Blake

    Keep on writing I enjoy the blog so much.

  2. Janice Thomas

    Pastor Blake, along your journey, I don’t believe you know what a blessing you have been so many, including Terry and I. Some of our best memories in life are from our trip to Russia with you and Susanne and the years you were our pastor at Westside. You and Susanne our loved and we hope you have many more years sharing on Wesley’s Horse.

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