What's Tony Thinking

Thank You!

I converted this site to the current format and blog last December. I want to thank all you readers who have joined me.

How many of there are you? I get a monthly report from Google Analytics. For May there were 1,300+ separate visitors and 2,700+ sessions. That may not be the highest month, but pretty close. The most-read post in May was “Cussing In Church.”

I  especially appreciate those of you who use the various share functions (beneath each blog title) to include others. Shout-out there to Nina Kohl who suggested adding that function.

Special thanks to Dennis Kenny and a member of his staff, John Tonge. Dennis and partner, Diane, and their firm Illuminage built and hosted my first website way back in 2004. Last year I was leaning toward calling it a day as I doing less speaking and consulting, but Dennis urged conversion to a Word Press blog. It has worked out well.

Why do I do it . . . all these “posts”? I ask myself that every now and then! Partly, I have written something like a column, whether in a church newsletter or newspaper, all of my adult life. It’s a habit, one that I enjoy. We all need ways to express ourselves. This is one of mine.

As for many who like to write, I sort out my own thoughts and feelings as I do. Writing helps me to make sense of life, when the darn thing is so often confusing.

And, of course, I hope that you readers get something out of it, whether insight, inspiration or the occasional provocation. Sometimes I write with pastors and other church leaders in mind, but I try to mix it up, with some church/ faith things, some on politics and culture, and others of a more personal nature.

I do apologize for the typos. And a thank you to reader and friend, Jim Gorman, for alerting me to some of the more egregious ones. I do proof these things, but it’s easy to miss things (at least for me).

We’re at the family cabin at Wallowa Lake just now. Doing a fair bit of back and forth this month to Seattle to make all the family birthday events.

Here at the cabin we are especially enjoying the lilacs. At 4,500 feet and in the shadow of the mountains, lilacs bloom much later than either Seattle or even the Wallowa Valley. Most of them were planted by my grandmother, Mary Booth. Probably in the 40’s. If you look carefully at this photo, you’ll see three lilacs, one foreground, one middle, one in the distance.

For a number of years the lilacs didn’t get a lot of attention. And they had stopped blooming. But in recent years we’ve pruned, cleaned out and fertilized them. Et voila, lilacs in bloom.

Sometimes our efforts (yours and mine) do amount to something! Keep the faith. And again, thanks for reading!