In My Absence

I am honored once more to return to The Center for Theological Studies (CTS), a blog that I cherish, a blog that I love and always desire to spend more time writing for than the demands of work life and family life will allow. At any rate, praise the Lord for His goodness, and thank God I have this small time tonight to return to CTS to update my readership.

I have been away from my blog for some time, but I've had a lot to keep me occupied (both good and bad, unfortunately). My mother died in 2009 from a three-year battle with breast cancer, lung cancer, and brain cancer (the brain cancer took her), and I have been heartbroken in a sense ever since. Despite such a mammoth loss in my life, I've had to soldier on and look to the Lord for comfort, for peace of mind, for my hope. Believers should always look to the Lord for these things, but it's amazing just how much greater the effort you must make to do this when you feel such immense grief that you'd rather walk the floor than sleep at night.

Atop of this, I have had to leave seminary for reasons due to my grandmother's declining health. She has a muscular disease called polymyelitis that progresses and diminishes capacity. The doctors are doing all they can for her (she's having to take chemotherapy medication to slow down the progression of the disease), but she cannot be home alone. At the same time the Lord was calling me to return home to my family, I had suffered a tough year of unemployment due to one lost job after another. That had an impact on my financial abilities, that and the fact that my mother's home just would not sell. It still hasn't sold, though there is a renter and hope that I will eventually be able to move forward from it.

Well, it's been a rough 8 years (mom died 8 years ago on February 3rd), but the Lord has truly been faithful. But I have been away for a long while and realize that, as my journey has taken me to different places, the same can be said of you, my readership. I want you to know that in my absence, the Lord has continued to draw me closer to Him, that I've never stopped loving Him, that I've not abandoned Him, neglected my salvation, or given up on my faith, and that I love His Word as much as I ever did (if not more). I've been in the blogosphere covering mobile technology, but I have also been working as a theological commentary writer. Yep, I've been writing commentary to build a site that I've been hired for. The Christian Bible site is where I put down my commentary on Scripture often.

I wanted to write this to provide some links to recent content that I've published on the Web so that you would know that I'm still writing (vigorously, even). The links below will take you to two lengthy articles that I've written that are published in my name that will provide as much commentary as I could've provided here in my long absence. Take a look and feel free to write back if you have any comments or questions or just want to say "hello."

Here are the links:

http://www.bible-knowledge.com/true-wisdom/

http://www.bible-knowledge.com/sabbath-rule-today/

Yes, I realize the Sabbath rule post is bound to be controversial in some respects, but I think it was fitting to make the statements that are made there. I look forward to hearing from you. If you haven't visited the site in a while and have a journey with the Lord of your own that has provided some unique experiences, feel free to let me know in the comments below. You can find me writing over at Bible Knowledge on a regular basis, and I'd love to read a response or two from those of you who keep me in your prayers and think of me often. The Center for Theological Studies is always in my heart and mind, even when I'm away.

I love you all. May the Lord bless you and keep you, make His face to shine upon, be gracious to you, and give you peace.