I choose the title “No One Knows” for this post because I truly look back on this past year and I could have never predicted what has happened.
Life is like that. We are rarely in control as much as we think we are.
Some would wonder about my approach to my subject matter. I am a “left-leaning” Christian raised in the Disciples of Christ Church and a long-time member of the United Methodist Church.*
Yet I chose to blog on Matt Chandler, one of the better-known conservative pastors in America today. Two words which describe him are “evangelical” and Baptist. A phrase that could describe him is he is a “gospel-centered preacher.”
A pastor’s interpretation of Scripture is not a stumbling block to me. I study their ideas and make an effort to understand them even though I might not agree one hundred percent. I like to think I have an “open mind.” I have enjoyed his book The Explicit Gospel, especially his focus on the idea of a transformed heart that is produced by Scripture.
Some would wonder why I did a “do-over.” I began blogging on Explicit in March 2025 only to get into the book and realize I was doing half-hearted work. In short, I was going through the motions, not devoting enough time to my analysis and discussion of Chandler’s thought. What did I do? On October 31, 2025 I began again, replacing every blog post with a new, improved post. I got personal with my comments through these times, telling of the demands of having to care for my 95 year old Mom who suffered from dementia.
Some would wonder why I have not posted since October 15. The reason for that is simple. I have not felt much like writing since the death of my Mom. She was a great part of my life until her death of September 27th and her funeral on October 3rd. I write she “was” a great part of my life but that is not accurate. She still is. I think about her every day, sometimes too much of my thinking reflects on the unpleasant parts of helping her in the last years and months of her life. I think this is called grief.
But it is time to return to writing. I have enjoyed it in the past, and maybe some would say it is “good therapy” to study a pastor’s work and reflect on his approach to Scripture, faith and God our Father. I think the discipline of writing is good for me and as time goes by, maybe I will see great benefit. At least I hope so.
Control. I have not had much of that, yet I have seen God at work in a lot of the things that have happened this past year. I reflect on what has been and I see that His guiding hand was much more providental than mine could ever be.
I accept His help and I acknowledge His blessings through these trying times.
*If anyone reads this blog, when my church chose whether to be United Methodist or Global Methodist in the “great Methodist schism,” my church chose Global Methodist. Some church members left over the homosexual issue but I chose to stay. My congregation is conservative on this but I felt that it was more of a doctrinal concern and would not really be an active problem for my church.
