Well, tonight marks my 2000th post on TBTB. Not 200, mind you – but 2000! I would never have thought that things would have continued this long. For those of you who may not have been here from the beginning, this journey started on my 58th birthday, thirteen years ago.
You see, I had been asked about writing a book and to be perfectly transparent with you, I really didn’t think that I had enough to material to write something relevant. I was considering a volume on using the Bible as a primer on career transition. I think the Bible is the greatest book ever written. It is a wonderful leadership manual – in fact, it contains the best material I use when teaching leadership to C-suite executives and their teams. But I am just as passionate, if not more so, on writing a book that would highlight characters from the Bible who went through career transition – and what God was teaching them along the way.
I think something like that would be incredibly helpful for people who are changing jobs or don’t know what God is calling them to do. Think about Peter and many of the other apostles – fisherman who became “fishers of men.” How about Amos – fig picker to prophet, chosen to deliver a message to Israel! What did God see in these men? What did they have to learn until they received their ultimate divine assignment? And Paul – persecutor of the Christians to becoming the apostle to the Gentiles! Anyway, I have dreamt of writing that book for several decades now. Nobody else has done it, either!
I even had it planned out that it should be twelve lessons and each week would center on a challenge that people face during the transition process – things such as tolerance, patience, perseverance, diligence, honesty, etc. As some of you know, my first doctorate was in the field of career transition and I, along with my ministry partners, did career transition work from a scriptural perspective for many years.
Anyway, I worried about the details of writing a book. I’m more of an idea guy – what we call a design phase person and I’m not so good at the execution phase of a project such as this. So I decided to start with something easier – Transitions by The Book. Writing an occasional article about seeking God in our daily lives. I used our family as the backbone of the project because we live our lives expecting miracles. The name even came to me in my sleep one night – I couldn’t believe that somebody hadn’t already snatched it up… but we have it now!
So I started on a whim – on my 58th birthday. Little did I realize that a fire had been lit in me. I wrote every night for the next 49 days. Then, a Jewish friend of mine reminded me about the Year of Jubilee – a time when every 50th year, the Jewish people took a year off when land returned to its original owner, the fields were fallow and all sorts of things reset. As tired as I was, it didn’t take much to convince me that I needed a day of Jubilee! It was my first day off… Then, I continued and eventually settled on taking weekends off. Finally, much later, I went to my current format – writing two nights a week for delivery to your inbox on Monday and Friday mornings. We also started posting to FaceBook and LinkedIn. It’s been that way for a number of years now.
I kind of chuckle when I think about the 50,000 – 75,000 words I worried about putting together for a book. Now, there are close to 2,000,000 words out there in 2000 posts – as of tonight, that is. And you know what? I have no intention of quitting until I feel the nudge from God to move on to something else. Who knows? Maybe I will eventually write that book!
But for now, I hope that you will join me in celebrating more than thirteen years of work on TBTB. Not only my effort, but those people behind the scenes who have helped me with technology, web design, ideas or my family I go through life with. They have been the catalyst for many of the events depicted in these posts throughout the years. In fact, Janet never has to tell her friends what is new in our lives – I have probably already written about it!
Clearly, I wanted to use a verse tonight that highlights “2000.” The most notable story in the Bible on this topic has to do with a man who was possessed by an evil spirit. He was unpredictable and people thought he was mad. We pick up the story in Mark 5:9-13, when Jesus addresses the evil spirit. We are told, “Then Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” “My name is Legion,” he replied, “for we are many.” And he begged Jesus again and again not to send them out of the area. A large herd of pigs was feeding on the nearby hillside. The demons begged Jesus, “Send us among the pigs; allow us to go into them.” He gave them permission, and the evil spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd, about two thousand in number, rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned.”
Two thousand pigs were filled with evil spirits. No wonder the man had been unpredictable and mad! My encouragement this evening is that we will always seek God and fill our hearts and minds with things above. My prayer is that God will always continue to guard us from Satan and his legions of fallen angels. Have a great day in the Lord, grace and peace…