So Long And Thanks For All The Fish…

Over the past few weeks I have been weighing up whether or not to keep blogging. The decision has been made, and this blog will be retired. I cannot convey you how much I will miss the community of biblioblogs (and of course some who I will not miss a single iota). It has been a decision I have wrestled with over these past few weeks (maybe months). Time is a big factor and an increasing desire to undertake my ministry vocation with integrity (see Peterson’s Under the Unpredictable Plant for an explanation). Having a young family also means my time away from work is limited. They are of far greater importance than anything else I do.

However, ultimately, as my good friend Simon Clemow reminded me recently the GREAT BISHOP, said in his “Mark For Everyone” Commentary of Mark Mark 9:38-50, “The second thing, within that [that being that discipleship is difficult, and demands sacrifice], is that sometimes what we are asked to give up is not something that is sinful in and of itself…We should be prepared to reject something which is good and God-given – as hands, feet, eyes and [blogging] are! – but which, at the moment at least, is leading us down the wrong path.” (p.127-128). therefore I might best describe this as an act of obedience and personal in nature. You may not agree with it, but I do ask you try to understand and respect it.

A word of thanks to a few people:

Chris Tilling & Jim West – They make a lovely couple and both gave me very good advice in the beginning. Jim Has been especially kind and gracious to me over the course of the past 6 months and although many atatck him, they do so because they fail to understand him.

Brian Fulthorp – He has become a good friend and is a someone who is living faithfully as Minister of God’s Word. We have had some good chats, thank you Brian.

There are other bloggers out there that I appreciate and respect, Bitsy, Mike Aubrey and Jason have all provided a wonderful forum for discussion. Ben Myers is the smartest and best articulated blogger I know. He is passionately ‘of Christ’ and another Aussie voice. To you all, Thank you.

Finally, to Dr Ben Witherington III who was generous enough to provide me with an endorsement – Thank you!

In Douglas Adam’s great book, The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, as the Dolphins prepared to depart Earth just before it was demolished to make way for a hyperspatial express route, they sang, “So long and thanks for all the fish!” Therefore, in that vein, I bid you farewell, “So long and thanks for all the comments, interaction, and time spent reading my thoughts on a range of issues relating to Scripture, Ministry and the People of God”.