Encouraging stats: First, an interesting statistic. So far this month (and it’s only Oct 25) my blog has generated around 4,500 hits. That works out to around 250 regular readers at 3-5 visits per week, and then 500-1,000 hits from folk with the potential to tune in on a more regular basis.

I understand that I’ve received a real boost from the birth of our grandson, David Henry, but I’m confident I have a shot at encouraging some of those visitors to come back as regulars.

So, if you are one of those infrequent readers, then please accept this invitation to look in on a daily basis. I post here 5-7 times each week, so it’s always worth a quick check-in to see if the headline may grab your interest. You – and this applies to everyone who stops by – are very important to my future as a writer.

The big idea: My purpose is to write in a way that communicates the passion I have for normal, run of the mill, everyday living. My essential point is that each one of us has been designed, by our Creator, with the potential to enjoy each day at a level that few of us ever engage. The concept of “abundant life”, or “more and better life”, is neither pie-in-the-sky nor limited to the fortunate few who have access to resources much of the world can’t imagine.

In fact, I’ve come to believe that most of the material goods that so many of us spend the majority of our lives chasing after (often to the exclusion of healthy relationships) have exactly the opposite effect than that advertised by those who hawk them.

My theory (it’s something I spend a considerable amount of time discussing in my June 2012 book): People are hungry for satisfaction. Our consumer culture promises happiness if we just purchase the “correct” toys. So we go into debt in order to purchase said toys. Then – when we find out we’re not really satisfied – instead of redirecting we purchase more. But what we don’t realize (or are unwilling to realize) is that we’re investing in the wrong stuff.

But it’s like standing in the wrong line at the grocery store. We’ve already committed so much time to the one we’re in that we’re fearful of starting over. So we stay exactly where we are, watching shopper after shopper go through the other line, out into the parking lot, and on home. But we don’t want to let go of all that valuable time we’ve already invested….

Here’s the thing: What we consider a valuable investment is less than negligible in the grand scheme of eternity. Ten years… twenty years… forty years – or even an entire lifetime dedicated to drinking from a well destined to never satisfy – is simply a blip in eternity.

If it’s life that you’re after, the satisfaction of matching your unique design with the intentions of the Designer and the needs of this world, then it’s time to re-think your bottom line. Drinking from the wrong well? So stop it already! Just take one, deep, draft of living water and it won’t matter how much time you wasted in the wrong direction…

Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty.

Or, as the classic folk song asked, “When will we ever learn? When will we ever learn?”

It’s a good question – DEREK