The Weekly Round-Up

What a week in Deucology land.  Let’s get right to it.

The new look seemed to go over well.  Several people commented that they liked.  I have also continued to explore the idea of going to a self-hosted blog.  I learned a great deal about it.  My friend, Jon, did this recently and has offered to share his experience with me.  (Jon, I’ve got to give you a call and talk about that.)

Here is a rundown of this week’s posts:

I Never Had “A” Salvation Experience started the week out on Sunday.  I conveyed how salvation is not just an experience in the past, but something that is present in my life every day.

First Church Year #2 on Monday continues our adventure of settling in at our new church.

January ended on Tuesday with me sharing Random Thoughts At The End Of January.

On Wednesday, I asked the question What’s Your Story?  I got some great comments from several of you.

I shared one of my favorite posts on Thursday, Wave Your Hands In The Air.

I ended the work week yesterday with My Quitter Experience.

Let me just say a word about yesterday.  Friday was one of those rare days that hasn’t happened very often.  Does the way I just said that make it double rare?  My college friends, Tony and Gretchen, kicked off the day by discovering my blog on Facebook.  They read several posts and got my traffic off to a great start.  Then it got really crazy.

I tweeted to Jon Acuff about the post, since his Quitter book inspired it.  Later, I commented on his blog and he replied.  He even asked if he could write a post about my experience, and, of course, I said yes.  That little exchange seemed to have driven about 25% of my blog traffic yesterday.  So, in a very public way, I want to thank Jon Acuff.  I met Jon once and he is someone who is truly interested in helping others achieve their dreams.

Another thing that happened this week was that there were more comments than any other weeks.  I passed 1,000 total comments.  That is something that truly makes this experience special.  I appreciate everyone who takes a few minutes to engage in the conversation.

I hope you all have a great weekend.

How was your week?  If you blog, how were things your way?

 

The Yearly Roundup

Since today is December 31, today Deuceology will present a yearly roundup, rather than a weekly one.  I ran the bottom 10 earlier in the week.  Today, here is the top 10 posts of the year.  Hopefully you will remember some of them.  Maybe a couple of them are new to you.

10.  The tenth most viewed post of the year is Church Visit #4 from just a few weeks ago.  My church visits, as a series, proved to be very popular.

9.  Number nine was Random Thoughts On My 43rd Birthday.  This surprises me because I began getting a lot more visits to my blog the month following this.

8.  The 8th most viewed blog post in 2011 for the Deuceology blog was Church Visit #1.  We are still searching and there are more to come.  There will also be a follow-up series about the first year in our new church when we find it.

7.  Lucky number seven was my non-guest post for Tamara Out Loud, For Crying @TamaraOutLoud.  I submitted a guest-post to Tamara and was not accepted.  This was my response.  It caused Tamara to worry needlessly.

6.  Number six in 2011 was Live In Your Church Today…Casey Anthony.  This may have been my most controversial post on the top 10 list.

5.  Moving into the top 5, Church Search Results.  Folks were really getting into this church search.

4.  The only post not written by me in the top 10 was Jon Stolpe’s I’m Dreaming Of A Stretched Christmas.  Jon is a great friend of the blog.

3.  The oldest post on the list is  Relentless Pursuit Of Continuous Improvement.  It is from all the way back in June.  I had no idea what I was doing.  Some say that I still don’t.

2.  Number two, just missing out on number one, was My 10 Favorite Rock/Pop Christmas Songs.  This is actually probably my least favorite on the list.

What made this next post Number 1???  Controversy?  Subject matter?  Biblical story?  Let’s just say, just like they do in advertising, that sex sells.  Number 1 out of the 237 posts that I’ve written this year is……………………….

Sister Wives, Mandrakes, And Sex And Sex And Sex And Sex

There you have it.  The top 10 posts of the year.  Here’s hoping that 2012 is a fantastic year.

Which post do you think should have been number 1?

Random Thoughts At The End Of November

Today’s post is not terribly original, but it is something that I am thinking about making a regular feature on the blog.  Check back next month to see if it makes the cut.  Now, without further adieu, some random thoughts that I had this month.

*When we read the New Testament, we find out that Jesus had brothers named James, Joses, Judas and Simon, as well as some unnamed sisters.  Do you think that whenever Joseph and Mary called them down they asked, “Kids, what would Jesus do?”

*I really wanted to turn the above into a blog post, but I just couldn’t make it work.

*I hope you didn’t find that offensive.  I worry sometimes that people find my sense of humor offensive.  Especially if it is based on something  out of the Bible.

*I read Sheldon’s In His Steps about 20 years ago.  I thought it was a fine book.  Funny, that about 100 years after it was written that the whole WWJD phenomenon happened with bracelets and T-shirts.

*I think Jesus’ brothers and sisters really loved Him.  They were so concerned about Him they wanted to take him home from His ministry.

*I would really like to submit something to Jon Acuff and guest post one Friday on SCL.  There’s just one problem.  I’m just really not funny enough.  At least I’m not when I write.  I can’t do satire.  Every time I try to write something like that all I can see are a lot of people getting really mad.

*I tried to write a couple of satiric pieces like Growing Up With Jesus and A Church For Bloggers.  I just could not make these things work.  So, I’m just going to quit trying to be intentionally funny.  I can’t do it in a blog.

*My football Vols didn’t end the season well.  I uttered indecipherable words when my Vols lost Saturday.  Some people in my family might have thought I was speaking in tongues.  I also went outside and took my frustrations out on a couple of basketballs.

*My BasketVols, however, are doing okay.  They lost twice last week, to Duke and Memphis.  However, I was proud of the effort that gave many of us who support the Big Orange.

*They lost again Monday night. I hate losing.

*One of the goals I have next year is to read the entire Chronicles of Narnia series.  I’ve never actually read any of Lewis’ fiction.  Well, that’s not entirely true.  I have read The Screwtape Letters.

*I would really hate to have an artificial hip recalled.

*I am not the biggest Barack Obama fan, but should any President of the United States have a Chia in their likeness?

*Should there be a Larry the Deuce Chia?

*It looks like I’m really going to have to hold my nose when I vote in 2012.

*In 1 Samuel 25:25, in the King James, David says he will kill “all that pisseth against the wall.” When did that word become a not-so nice word and what has brought it back into social acceptability?

*This verse and my attitude about led to a huge disagreement between my wife and me once.

*I’m looking forward to the Townsend Christmas Parade Sunday.  It’s one of the true community events in our little area.  The Shriners should be there wearing their funny hats and driving their funny cars.

*I love the Christmas season.

*Tomorrow I will begin writing Christmas posts.  I hope to have a two or three of my blogging friends do guest posts.  So, if you don’t like Christmas, you won’t like the next 25 posts I write.

Do you have a random thought from November or have anything to add to those I listed?