In 2012 I took a class at Western Seminary in Holland, Michigan titled Writing as an Act of Faith.  Little did I know that four years later I would have my own blog with an archive of more than 560 posts. Nor did I realize that writing three blogs a week would make me a disciplined writer with a point of view all my own. Nor did I imagine that the blog would regularly be visited by readers from 86 countries as far-flung as Brazil, India, Australia, France, and Ghana.

Many of you are “followers” who receive e-mail notifications of postings and rarely if ever visit the actual blog itself. So, once a year, I encourage you to visit livingasapprentices.com and check out the Pages in the menu bar at the top of the home page.  For example, I recently updated the Page Book Recommendations with my 13th book recommend-ation: Jodi Picoult’s newest novel small great things.

The Page The Best of Living as Apprentices contains links to several posts that I view as most representative of the point of view of this blog. These posts are from the last four years, so if you are a new reader, you can get a glimpse of posts written in past years.

The What’s Next Page describes new blog series.  For example, you can learn about the 5-part Advent, 2016 series on Mondays, beginning November 27.  In January, 2017, I will begin an  series of occasional posts based on Jim Wallis’ Ten Commitments of Resistance in the Trump Era. Wallis, the editor of the powerful social justice journal Sojourners, helps Christians deal positively with the feelings of fear, anger and loss raised by the election of Donald Trump. No matter what side of the political spectrum you are on, these commitments are important; they speak to values that all Christians should stand behind. I hope to bring my perspective as a Christ-follower trying to live like Jesus to the commitments Wallis suggests.

Finally, if you are in the mood for browsing, look for the Categories List  in the right hand margin of the home page which is an index of the more than 20 topics this blog covers. Of course, the majority of posts are in the Living as Apprentices category. Here you will find posts on becoming and living like Jesus. You can find everything from devotionals (Going Deeper with God) to turning your hurts and wounds into a lifetime of service and empathy to others  (Becoming a Wounded Healer) to my adventures with my Compassion-sponsored children (Compassion International) to dealing with illness (Who Am I When my Body fails Me?) to pertinent and delightful quotes from current and classic writers (Quotes).

On a personal note, December marks the end of my first year of living with a treatable but incurable blood cancer (myeloma). For the rest of my life I will receive chemotherapy injections at least every other week; my condition is “stable.” I know that the perspective of an incurable disease has sharpened my view of living (and dying) as “an apprentice of Jesus” and my calling as a writer.  Thank you for being with me on this journey.