Surely does not seem like it. I can vividly remember, as if it were last week, my eyes bugging out as I read Phil's completely-unexpected invitation to join him in this new team blog he was thinking of. I literally did not reply for a day or two as I recall, because I feared he'd written the wrong Dan. I wanted to be able to cherish the illusion a bit longer.
But I did answer, we did start the blog, and here we are. A lot has changed. Maybe I should do a post Over There about that. But one nice spill-off is that Pyro resulted in more visitors hitherward. So I get to inflict my eclectic variousness on a wider array of innocent souls... which is nice.
I forget my daily traffic before. It was no higher than the low hundreds, I'm sure. Now the weekday average is more like 800 visits, give or take. It doesn't make me a big dog, but that's okay. My dear wife calls me a "semi-famous blogger," and I'm plenty grateful for that.
The difference I usually design between the two blogs was best captured by a commenter — I wish I'd saved it! He said that Pyro was like listening to a pastor teach, while BibChr is like hanging around with a pastor, and just hearing about what's interesting to him from day to day.
Anyway, if the ride's been half as good for 51%+ of my readers as it has been for me, it's a "win" all around. Either way, I am continually grateful to God for His blessing, to Phil for the opportunity, and to you for reading.
Posts
23 comments:
Thanks Dave!
I like seeing the balance of your formal teaching blog (Pyros) and the casual setting here where we get to know you in a more personal way. I want to add that I am grateful for your faithful work and dedication in posting multiple times per week. That takes a lot of perserverance...especially when you have to deal with derails (I plead guilty) and trolls. I must admit that I was quite surprised to see you had to delete a comment on this post.
I've been blessed by your writing, Dan. Also, my Fridays wouldn't be the same without your weekly ecclesia of hithering and thithering!
Thanks for your missional work!
~8^)
I have been blessed, encouraged, instructed and helped by your blog. I love the H&T blog on Fridays. Thanks! And keep posting!
Congratulations on your milestone. I love your writing style and the ferocity with which you express yourself when necessary. I didn't know you were a pastor too. I can see you in that role, and also in the role of sheep-dog; sometimes nipping at an errant hoof and other times tearing into predators lurking at the fringe of the flock. I look forward to reading the next 500, so get busy.
BibChr is to Pyro as serious of amuse bouches is to a gourmet meal.
Happy 500th Post Day, brother. I think it was one of your infamous "yoot" posts (the one with the gun that seemed to be pointed right at me) that made me read, think seriously, marvel that I was thinking seriously over something I'd read on a blog, then think "Hunh, I wonder if he writes anywhere else?" Little did I know... :)
"I look forward to reading the next 500, so get busy."
And you also have the greatest, most eclectic bunch of commenters, too. Double WIN!
What's great about your personal website is that we get to know you on an intimate level. Most of us don't even get to know our own pastors as well we know you from your blog. It only serves to make your sermons at Pyro all the more powerful and personal.
The commenter you quoted summed it up neatly, but beyond that... though I try to thank you when you've said something in particular that encouraged or convicted or inspired me, I'm sure I don't do it enough.
Thanks, brother.
I can't tell you how many times there's been something bothering me, a niggling thought that I haven't been able to form coherently, and then you write about it - forcefully and cogently - and nail it.
How you do it, while writing a book and (ahem) holding down a job, and being a family man boggles the mind.
And, you know, you've drawn in the next generation too... it's not just me that looks forward to H&T in this house.
Julie
All I can say is that there'd better be a 501st post on Thursday, so you don't leave us hanging. No resting on your laurels for you, sir!
Congrats Dan and thanks.
I love your writing style with the mix of humour, sarcasm, logic and good theology.
And don't tell the others 'over there' but you're my favourite, so it's fitting that you're the loquaciousest!!!
keep up the good work.
Both blogs are proof that excellence begets excellence.
Does it count as a page hit when you read a blog on Google Reader?
Thank you all for your kind comments. Well, except Jon. (Did you ever see this from the early days, btw?)
Cathy M's particularly tickles and motivates me. Rachael, I agree with you about my commenters; and you're one of them! I'm blessed and grateful.
I love knowing that the Grasshoppers (and other similars, including my young boys) follow and enjoy HT.
HT is something. The meta's are often smallish and slow-forming... but boy oh boy, let me be a little LATE on it, and my Inbox starts rattling!
Dan,
I'm kind of a lurker, not participating much in the conversation. But, I'm going to pay you a massive and sincere compliment. You have a serious gift for succinctly and clearly expressing your thoughts. When I've read one of your posts, I know exactly what you meant to say in one reading. Why? Becuase you said it and you said it clearly. What all this really means, is that you truly understand what you're saying. Keep up the great work. Your work has blessed me and clearly many others.
Tim
P.S. I'm not a relative and I have never met Dan
Thanks, stranger; that's very kind, and very encouraging.
(c:
And all this time I thought Dan was so wishy-washy, always beating around the bush, minding his tone, not wanting to offend anyone, and never getting to the point.
I mean, what does he really think about the sign gifts or a literal millennium? Who knows? It's so unclear.
You know I am a fan. But what I have always wondered about is how did Phil hear about you? Where did he read your work? Will you ever tell the story?
BTW, glad he found you and Frank.
1. Dan, in response to NewManNogg's comment, you should have said, "I'm Daniel J. Phillips and I approve this message"!! :D
2. I read that WSJ article yesterday. Interesting how the two sexes can say the exactly same thing but interpret it differently when they are on the receiving end. I also like Dan's "hamburger" and "summer squash" analogy, but don't look now--with all the vegan rage nowadays, one just may find a hamburger patty made with summer squash.... :)
Oh, and silly me--I should have left the "summer squash" comment for the other post!! (Maybe you can do the cut-and-paste for me, Dan.) Sorry. :P
Susan - LOL!
I'd say more "blush at" than "approve" though.
"Will-try-to-live-up-to"?
Wow, 500 posts! I don't know how many of them I've read, but all the ones I did read were worth reading.
Thanks for posting them all!
It's been a hectic week, and I feel badly for not noticing this post sooner.
Thank you for all the effort you put in here and there. I love both blogs -- but I love this one more. It's a blessing as well as a joy.
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