Jesus was coming close to Jerusalem. He was already near the bottom of the Mount of Olives. The whole group of followers was happy. They were very excited and praised God. They thanked God for all the powerful things they had seen. They said,

“‘Welcome! God bless the king who comes in the name of the Lord.’ Peace in heaven and glory to God!”

Some of the Pharisees said to Jesus, “Teacher, tell your followers not to say these things.”

But Jesus answered, “I tell you, if my followers didn’t say them, these stones would shout them.” – Luke 19:37-40

First, thanks so much for the myriad of helpful responses – comments posted here, facebook comments, emails, texts, and phone conversations. The level of interest, the encouragement, the honesty, the suggestions – all these things were, are, invaluable.

One problem with crowd-sourcing is that by offering everyone a stake in the decision-making process I am necessarily guaranteeing a result that’s incongruent with some of your ideas. But – and this is important – real consensus is only achievable via listening and compromise; that truth is a reality our society is in desperate need of understanding. So, “you’re welcome”!

There are many snippets of wisdom I’d like to share from your comments, and I had intended to quote from several, but – instead – I’ll simply recommend taking a few moments to peruse the comments under my previous post.

Drum Roll…

My decision is to anchor this blog – going forward – in two posts per week.  The new header/title/site-identity will help get that message across: “Derek Maul, Monday and Friday.”

That said, I may well throw in the occasional extra column in response to breaking news.

Additionally, while church and family will always inspire me, I plan to make sure my writing is more accessible for those of you who may not need to see quite so many pictures of my grandchildren or Wake Forest Presbyterian Church!

My choice of subtitle – “faith-based commentary for people who think” – is calculated to keep me on track, and also to invite readers to consider our world from a framework rooted in faith. I believe in the sovereignty of God, while at the same time understanding that God gives us the freedom to make our own decisions. I am convinced that the context of faith in God is the critical component of purposeful, productive, redemptive, living. Writing from the perspective of faith, then, is – for me – essential.

Layout:

I have admittedly played around with the style, format, and layout over the past few weeks, possibly annoying and confusing readers. As of today, I have settled on something I hope will achieve what I’m looking for. The new format will “go live” just a few moments before this post.

Bottom line:

My bottom line here has not changed from when I first started. I want to communicate, clearly, a sense of the adventure that my life has become in response to following Jesus. And in so doing I want to encourage those of you who are reading to accept God’s invitation too.

Seriously, folks, it’s like Jesus said (and my friend George reminded me): if I don’t say these things, the stones along the side of the road will likely start to cry out…

Until Monday, then – DEREK