Quite a January: Steps in a Good Direction

I am writing this post a few days earlier than planned, and I won't be pushing this on all the social network channels. But I have had PLENTY of time to work because I have been iced in work. We had an unexpected winter storm spring on us- we dismissed school early, got a lot of people out- but ended up having students, parents, staff, and a few stranded motorists stay overnight at our school.

It has been quite an experience! We opened the lunchroom and served hamburgers, snacks, popped popcorn, candy... almost like an old times youth group lock-in... except there are too many who have been stranded or trying to find shelter.

It is 4:28 AM and waiting on the sun to come up and see if the roads will improve at all.


So what has been up this month?

Had a great consistency on exercise and Bible reading. I started a few days early- so yesterday was actually 31 days of Bible readings and workouts in a row.

I am doing the McCheyne Bible Reading Plan and reading notes from D.A. Carson as well.

I am very appreciative that the Lord has blessed the readings.

There is NO DOUBT that the Word is living and active! And it seems like there has been a personal message and consistent theme in each day.

I have been using a google doc to collect notes and thoughts and hope to use the notes for a 2015 Devotional series. I am also sharing the document with my children and hope it ends up being something they would be glad to have even years from now.

BLOG WRITING:

I have made a lot of changes in how I am blogging. This site http://www.jayopsis.com/ continues to be the MAIN artery of original content, but I tend to use this a personal journaling and chunks of foundational ideas.

I have also developed 4 WordPress sites that allow some organization to my varied topics:

http://jayopsis.wordpress.com/ is called "The Best of Jayopsis" and is a way to pull the most read posts into one site

http://jayopsisfootball.wordpress.com/ is a Football only site and does contain old and NEW content

http://jayopsisdevos.wordpress.com/ is a brand new site where I plan to publish devotional series that will last for an entire year

http://bearbryantmemories.wordpress.com/ is a site I put together that pulls the Coach Bryant series into one place

I have been blown away at the amount of traffic at each site.

The football site has had almost 7,000 views in less than 3 months. It has also allowed me to link up with a network of football coaches from across the nation.

The football gets the most traffic- but I love writing the devotional site and I am very excited about what this will look like as the content grows.

Of course, I WILL NEVER abandon the original jayopsis blog. I am fast approaching 60,000 views for this site that I have stayed fairly consistent with since 2004.

GOALS FOR 2014

I  usually pick a theme for a year and then set monthly goals.

The goal this year is ZEAL 2014 and I will have to explain it in a later post. I'd like to wait until later with, hopefully, a good report.

But Jan is usually a goal for FITNESS and I did well on that.

February is typically a FAST. Last year was a facebook fast... and I am thinking a little bit about a caffeine fast for this Feb- though I am not looking forward to a 28 day headache.

But- time to close. I always feel like I am a very blessed person and I have to always be grateful to the Lord!