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The Top Ten Articles on this Blog in 2024

kevingdrendel1 Comment

I have written and posted fewer articles this year than any year since the first full year of this blog (2013). In fact, I posted only one more article in 2023 than I did in 2013. I have focused more on my work, operating a legal clinic, involvement in the nonprofit, Administer Justice, locally and nationally, and I have been distracted by personal circumstances in my life that have made 2023 difficult for me.

Though I have published only 52 articles this year (not counting this one), more than 29,500 people viewed articles on the blog this year. In 2022, I posted 73 articles to 30,614 viewers, and I posted 107 articles for 30,751 viewers in 2021. Thus, people have continued to visit Navigating By Faith in similar numbers though I published less than half the number of articles in 2023 as I did in 2021.

Though I had one third fewer views in 2020 (20,084), a foursome of article I wrote in 2020 led the way in most viewed articles this year. 2020, of course, was the dreadful year of COVID. COVID gave us all the time and cause to reflect.

The most viewed articles on NBF in 2023 reflect what was going through my head in 2020. The two most read articles in 2023 came out of my daily Bible reading in 2023. One article, which has become the most read article ever on NBF, was inspired by politics, conspiracy theories, Donald Trump, and the Evangelical preoccupation with end times eschatology. The other, which is the most read article in 2023, was simply inspired by Scripture.  

Perhaps, the popularity of The Redemption of Korah: the Sons of Korah (with 3645 views) is a positive reflection on where we are now compared to 2020.  It is a story of the great theme of redemption that permeates the Bible from beginning to end. It is a story of hope and of God’s loving kindness and our appropriate response in gratitude for the faithfulness of God and His mercy, which new every morning.

The article, Who Were the Sons of Issachar? And What Might They Mean for Us Today?, dominated the blog when I wrote it in 2020. It quickly became the most read article, outpacing every other article written since I started NBF in 2012. It continued as the top article in 2021 and 2022, but it comes in second (which 3014 views) in 2023.

I wrote this article in my angst and internal conflict over the enthusiastic support Evangelicals were giving Donald Trump (including good friends of mine) in the months leading up to the last presidential election. My friends were sending me “inside” information, podcasts, and “prophetic words” celebrating the inevitability of a Trump reelection.

I grew up spiritually in Charismatic circles. Though I saw some things there that trouble me, like a sometimes hyper focus on spiritual gifts and what I would now label errant theologies (like the prosperity Gospel), I am keenly aware of Paul’s admonition not to despise prophecy.

When my best friend from 40 years ago cautioned me lovingly to “understand the times” like the sons of Issachar, I was even more troubled. I dug into the passage in 1 Chronicles where men from every tribe of Israel risked their livres to join David in the wilderness as he hid from paranoid King Saul, including “the sons of Issachar who understood the times and knew what Israel should do”.

Did I misperceive what God is doing in the world today through Donald Trump? Was I on the verge of being left behind in my reticence to be uncritical of him? Had I grown insensitive to the Holy Spirit? Was I living in apostasy? Was I fooling myself to be so critical of the “Christian” support for Trump?

When my very good friend seemed to suggest that I was missing the boat, I took it to heart. “Understanding the times” has been become a Christian buzzword for being in tune with the Holy Spirit in the assessment of culture, politics, and what is happening in society. Writing is my way of working through what I believe God is saying to me, and this article, more even than most, is “prophetic” in that way. I can only pray and remain open and humble with hope that God is working in and through me in my writing.

The next two most read articles in 2023 also grew out of the solitude and reflection that characterized 2020. They relate to the last article to the extent that Evangelical flirtation with the power and influence promised by Donald Trump threatened (and did, I believe) damage the credibility of Evangelicals in the world.

What is an Evangelical if not a proclaimer of the Gospel? My criticism of enthusiastic Evangelical support for Donald Trump was carried by my concern for our witness for Christ to a wayward world he came to save. Our uncritical support of the brash, uncaring, pompous, and insensitive blusterer in Chief focused my mind and heart on how we should present ourselves to the world and seek lost sheep as Jesus did.

God Meets Us Where We Are (with 2126 views) comes out of reflection on my own past where God found me on a journey for truth and meaning. I was not so jaded by the world (and Christians in the world) that God was unable to use them to propel me along the path to Him. For this reason, I believe we must ever be sensitive enough to “where people are” and meet them “there.

In this vein, Paul became a Jew to the Jews, and he became a Greek to the Greeks. He quoted pagan poets and philosophers to pagans. If we divorce ourselves from the world in which we live, we lose our connection to people and our ability to connect with them. Just as God “met me” where I was in my early 20’s, He is “there” meeting people where they are today, and He invites us to join Him.

Fourth on the list (with 952 views) is Apologetics: What It Means for Our Speech to Be Seasoned with Salt. I don’t think I need to explain the obvious connection to how we conduct ourselves in the world – not the least of which is our speech! How we say things is as important as what we say. “Let your speech always be gracious.” (Eph. 4:6)

Fifth on the list of most read articles (with 557 views) is a throwback to a favorite subject: CS Lewis on the “True Myth”. I am a longtime Lewis fan, and I have long contemplated his conception of the “true myth” (which really comes from Tolkien). For Lewis, who was steeped in ancient myths, the redemption story in the Bible is the true “myth” as to which all other mythic stories in the world are only shadowy echoes.

Tuning In To God’s Frequency (497 views) and The Message in the Earliest Creeds in the New Testament (463 views) are the oldest articles in the top ten most read articles for 2023. Both were written in 2016. Tuning into God’s Frequency is an exercise in fleshing out how nature (in the form of a tuning fork) resonates a lesson in how we relate to God: we must “tune” ourselves to God’s frequency God to know Him. (It doesn’t work the other way around.)

The Message in the Earliest Creeds lays to rest a trope that was popular once in the academic world: that the message of the resurrection of Jesus arose as legend in the second or even third centuries. The academics who developed this thesis, claimed that early followers of Jesus didn’t claim that he rose from the dead; the resurrection idea developed generations later. Sadly (for them), modern scholars can point to many creeds throughout the New Testament that date back to the generation followers of Jesus who knew him, and they all focus on one thing: resurrection.

The article, Is Saul Among the Prophets? On Prophecy and a Heart for God (333 views), continues the theme of modern prophecy in light of the Old Testament. Saul was not known for his piety, or his ability to prophecy. Thus, the rhetorical saying developed in ancient Israel, “Is Saul among the prophets?” No, Saul was not a prophet, but he did prophecy (twice), and the instruction I see in that is what I develop in this article.

The ninth most read article in 2023 (312 views) is the only one written in 2023: Joe Rogan Interviews Stephen Meyer on Intelligent Design. Joe Rogan, who seems to be flirting reticently with Christianity, interviewed Stephen C. Meyer, who wrote the best book I read this year, Return of the God Hypothesis”, in one of the most intriguing and poignant discussions I encountered all year.

Is God a Hard Taskmaster? (with 301 views) rounds out the ten most read articles on Navigating By Faith in 2023. It deals with God’s character and our relationship to Him in the gifts each one of us has been given by God. How we use those gifts (and whether we use them at all) is a measure of our relationship to God.

I am amazed that so many people are reading Navigating By Faith, even though my article output has waned. I enter 2024 with some uncertainty and the loss of motivation that accompanies interruption and uncertainty. I hope to return to some stability in the coming year and to find my balance again.

I have found it increasingly difficult to write as I have in the past. I look forward to finding new motivation and inspiration to allow me to pull on threads that I continue to see in my daily Scripture reading and meditation as I try to live intentionally in this modern world.

I am thankful for the people who read, comment on, and share articles that I have written. I would like to think that I would write them whether anyone reads them or not. I began writing out of obedience to God (and to respect the abilities God has given me), but I realize I do not write in a vacuum. I am ever thinking about who might be reading what I write, and I endeavor to be true to what God has laid on my heart as I seek and explore the truth of God’s world the best that I can.

If anything I write resonates with you, please like what you read, share it, and leave your comments. If what I write doesn’t resonate or seems off to you, please feel free to comment also. I am certain that I don’t always get it right, and I don’t always communicate as well as I would like. Your comment challenge me to rethink sometimes and do communicate better.

Finally, I pray that God’s light will shine ever brighter in this dark world in 2024 and that I can be a vessel of that light. God equates Himself with one thing, and only one thing in Scripture, and that is love. Faith and hope are great, but the greatest of all is love. May we all learn to love God and to love our neighbors more in 2024!

Top Ten Articles on Navigating By Faith in 2022

If you want to retrace my steps this past year, jump in and read on.

kevingdrendel1 Comment

I have been blogging now for a decade. When I started, I felt like I had learned some things I had learned on my journey, especially from many years ago, that I needed to work out in writing. I also wanted to work out new things I was learning through the process of writing.

I felt called to write, but I ignored what seemed like God’s gentle, but steady voice for some time before I relented and committed myself on the path forward. I explored blog tools and sites, and I created Navigating by Faith late in 2013.

I have written 1035 articles since that time. Article views have grown from a meager 728 readers and 1028 views in 2013 to a very modest 22,608 readers and 30,751 views in 2021. In 2022, I finish with 21,716 readers and 30,198 views. Readership picked up through COVID, but it has plateaued.

The numbers ultimately are not of primary importance. The content is the key. The content reflects my own journey – where I have been, where I am, and where I am going. I try not to make it about me, though.

I have worked out some of the threads of thought that were first mined in my college days, and I have gone on to explore new threads of thought as I have applied myself to learning new things and exploring many tangents. From the beginning, I have tried to by guided by that same “voice” that prompted me to write. I have tried to go where it leads.

Following are the top ten articles in 2022 as determined by the number of views. I have added one additional article at the end because the theme it emphasizes in that total. If you want to retrace my steps this past year, jump in and read on.

Continue reading “Top Ten Articles on Navigating By Faith in 2022” →

The Top Ten Articles on Navigating By Faith in 2021

The top three articles were all written in 2020 as the world hunkered down against COVID.

kevingdrendelLeave a comment

When I set out to begin writing in 2012, I did it because I believed the Holy Spirit was prompting me to use the gifts God gave me and to be diligent in using them. This was the blog I set up in response to that prompting. I didn’t focus on the number of people who followed or read the blog. I was simply being obedient.

Each year since then, though, I have taken stock of the number of readers and the articles that are being read on this site: Navigating By Faith. The numbers have not always increased each year over the previous year, but they have trended up since 2012.

In the 2nd year, I topped 1000. By 2018, I topped 10,000. The blog wasn’t viral, but it was being read. In 2019, I was plateaued at just over 10,000 article views, with slightly fewer views in 2019 than the year before.

The last two years have seen jumps in readership by approximately 10,000 each year: a total of 20,084 in 2020 and 30,749 in 2021. I attribute the big jump last year to COVID. Everyone was hunkering down; they had more time; and they were reading more. I am not sure why the additional jump this year.

Maybe we have been more reflective as a society as we have come face to face with a deadly pandemic and have had more time to reflect? Maybe I hit on some topics that are particularly poignant in the current flux of issues bombarding the Church in the United States.

I began writing two blogs in 2012: one aimed at the general seeker; and this one aimed more specifically at Christ seekers/followers. Over time, I fund myself most focusing on the latter audience. I don’t think I have posted more than one article on the first blog in over a year.

In 2021, three articles account for the 10,000 increase over last year, and each one seems fitting for “the times” we have been experiencing.

The first one,

Who Were the Sons of Issachar? And What Might They Mean for Us Today?,

(written in September 2020) seems to have struck a nerve.

The article It has 6606 views which is over 4000 more than the next most read article. It was the product of my own angst about the evangelical support for Donald Trump, questioning my own increasingly critical posture, and digging deep into Scripture for answers. Could I have been wrong about him? Why are so many Christians defending him?

Because it went “viral” (relatively speaking) on my blog, I wrote a summary of just that one article. It was written before the presidential election and the January 6th confirmation, but it continues to be the most read article on the blog on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis. You can read my retrospective of the article for the back story and my current assessment of the article.

The second most read article in 2021, with 1669 views, is:

God Meets Us Where We Are.

It is a kind of response to the existential angst of the Christ seeker/follower. It runs along the vein of Psalm 139. We can’t go anywhere that God is not with us. We don’t have to climb up to Him because He “climbs down” to us and meets us right where we are.

The third most read article tackles Critical Race Theory from a Christian Perspective (1226 views).

It summarizes the position of Monique Duson, who gravitated from CRT follower to CRT critic. She now sees CRT as a religion-like worldview that is heretical to and competes with Christian faith. That this article garnered much more attention than other articles I wrote about CRT is ironic.

I am not reflexively against CRT. I believe it has been coopted by people with anti-religious, even Marxist views of the world, but CRT isn’t (in itself) threatening to faith. What troubles me more than CRT is the effort the Church puts into beating up the CRT boogeyman while ignoring the underlying issues of racial injustice and racial disparity that continue to exist.

The top three articles were all written in 2020 as the world hunkered down against COVID. As the world hunkered down, racial tensions and angst rose up. Thus, I think, the reason why these articles got the most attention is easy to understand.

Those three articles, alone, account for over 10,000 views. They exceed al the views of the other articles that fill out the top ten combined. I will address each one and make some comments as I go.

Continue reading “The Top Ten Articles on Navigating By Faith in 2021” →

The Top 10 Navigating by Faith Blog Posts in 2020

Who would have imagined what was in store for 2020 on January 1?

kevingdrendel4 Comments

I summarize the year in review on the Navigating by Faith blog about this time every year by doing a top ten rundown of the most read articles. I will do the usual thing, though this has been, undoubtedly, an unusual year.

I appreciate the readers and those who left comments along the way. I hope I have provided some food for thought for those who have joined me on my journey of faith, some inspiration, some encouragement and maybe a challenge to consider things from different angles.

Who would have imagined what was in store for 2020 on January 1? The year began like any other, full of hope, renewed commitments and anticipation for better things ahead.

I renewed my commitment, for the second year, to read through the Bible from beginning to end. This time I would read it chronologically (using a plan in the YouVersion app). Those daily readings became the inspiration for many things I wrote in 2020, but current events commanded the most attention from readers of the Navigating by Faith blog.

Rumblings began to be heard sometime toward the end of January and into February coming from the east. They were things we had heard before: a new virus of uncertain origin. We’ve heard scary rumors of flu, Ebola and other viruses in the past, so I didn’t suspect this one would be different.

Neither did Donald Trump, apparently, to the consternation of a growing cry of the usual voices demanding that he “do something”. Trump shrugged them off. Many people, I believe, did the same because everything in the last four years had become a new reason to criticize Trump. Even people who don’t care for Trump were getting tired of it.

Patriotic cries of freedom mixed with knowing voices of concern and criticism of Trump’s nonchalance intensified as the northwest was hit with the first waves of the corona virus (now known as COVID 19). Governors began to step into the leadership vacuum with mixed reactions.

On March 16, 2020, the world where I live (Illinois) shut down in the midst of increasing confusion, warnings, consternation and angst. This was something new. Something that had not occurred in my lifetime.

Freedom, anger, fear and unbelief clashed as the pandemic hit our shores and spread. For many months, though, it seemed like more of a story from a distant shore…. unless you knew someone. Now at years end, most of us know someone who has had COVID, and many of us know people who have died from it.

In March, though, people struggled to come to grips with a government-ordered “lockdown”. Some people were incredulous. Others panicked. Some horded toilet paper. Others scoffed and protested.

Still reeling from the impact of a global pandemic, the world exploded in May when another black person died at the hands of police. The video of a white officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, ignoring pleas from onlookers to relent, triggered a national reaction of anger and protest.

The impact of those two things, the pandemic and racial unrest, can be seen in the articles and readership in 2020. Posts relating to current events make up four of the top five most-read articles and 60% of the top ten articles.

Readership also soared as the world shutdown. The blog generated more views in March 2020 than any month since 2012 when the blog began. Readership in every month (but one) since then has exceeded the readership in March. Five months set new records, with the most views occurring in November.

My friend who owns a record store says that 2020 will be up 10% over last year despite two and half months of being closed. I think the reason is the same as the reason for increase in readership of this blog: more people are spending more time at home reading and listening to music

The time we have been “given” is not necessarily a bad thing. We have an opportunity to reset priorities and refocus our lives on God, family and the important things in life.

When the world is safe to open back up, we will cherish people and community, live music and corporate worship. We need each other. We are meant for relationship with each other and our Creator. We will appreciate them all the more.

In the meantime, we wait for the New Year to bring long, cold months of isolation and longing. The spring thaw and summer warmth may never be more anticipated or welcome. I will continue to write, seeking God in the midst of our times. In the meantime, I look back over a year like no other in my lifetime.

Continue reading “The Top 10 Navigating by Faith Blog Posts in 2020” →

The Top 10 Blog Posts on Navigating By Faith in 2019

Thank you, everyone who visited in 2019, and I hope you have a wonderful, faith-filled 2020.

kevingdrendelLeave a comment

I started writing Navigating by Faith at the end of 2012 after a stretch of some gentle nagging in my heart and mind. I believed then that writing is what God wanted me to do, so I set out to write.

By the statistics, I haven’t taken the Internet by storm. At just over 10,000 views the last two years, I haven’t gotten close to the views some people get on a single post or video, and this year is the first in which I had fewer views than the year before. Pretty humble numbers.

While I look at the numbers (who doesn’t), I don’t write for the numbers. It wasn’t my motivation in the beginning, and I am reminded often that I write simply because I feel God has prompted me to write. I don’t really know the reason. I trust God will do what He will with it. I’m not sure it is for me to know.

I struggle at times to write. I don’t feel particularly insightful much of the time. When I do have some nuanced ideas coursing through my mind, the act of getting those ideas through a keyboard out onto a screen often seems to result in the dissipation of them. I find the subtlest and most poignant ideas sometimes elude me as I try to capture them in print. Almost inevitably, the ideas I begin with morph as I try to get them out.

I try to listen to the Holy Spirit and be inspired and guided by Him. For this reason, I don’t often plan what I write. Almost never. My writing is an extension of the things I am reading, thinking about and very often praying about as I meditate on God and what He seems to be saying in my inner being.

As I look back at my first blog post (In the Beginning Was the Word), I am reminded the guiding principal that has been with me since the beginning is the idea that God’s word does not return to Him empty; it will accomplish that which He purposes, and it will succeed in the thing for which He sent it (from Isaiah 55:10-11).  I am not sure how often I am able to channel the Holy Spirit when I write, but my hope is that I sometimes do.

To the extent that I have been able to speak God’s word (not scripture, but prophetic utterance), I have done what I believe God has given for me to do. The rest is up to Him.

I find it easier to write “intellectual” pieces (rather than inspirational or creative pieces). I find it much more difficult to be creative. In fact, it’s downright work. Trying to string together a series of blog posts on one difficult subject is also work.

If anyone has read my blog over time and has any insight into which types of writings seem to be most effective for me, or resonate most with you as a reader, I would appreciate the insight. Constructive criticism is welcome.

With that said, here are the ten most viewed blog posts for 2019 at Navigating by Faith in descending order:

It’s interesting to me that the oldest blog article on the top ten list for 2019 was also the most viewed in 2019. The writing of the old hymn, It is well with My Soul, is a true story that obviously resonates. In a chaotic and troubled world, I guess we need to know that God can be our rock that protects us from the wind and waves.

I am not surprised that an article on Donald Trump is in the top ten (second in fact). I don’t relish writing about him (or about politics for that matter). As Christians, I believe we are to respect the authorities in place, but we shouldn’t idolize them. No one has divided the world, the United States and the Church like Donald Trump.

I spend a lot of my time on the intellectual bases of faith. At least four top ten articles fall in this category. At number 3, an article on the earliest creeds tracks the great work of Gary Habermas that shows how the first followers of Jesus began to spread the word that Jesus rose from the dead right from the beginning. Habermas shows in this way that the resurrection isn’t a legendary development that arose generations after Jesus died. The resurrection was communicated as if it were a fact from the beginning.

Two of the apologetic articles are on the same subject: the Ebla Tablets. These tablets are Sumerian writings that date to the 3rd Century BCE and confirm many people, places and things found in the biblical writings. The contribution of archaeology in proving the reliability of Scripture as historical writings can’t be overstated.

Meanwhile, reflections on the death of Stephen Hawking, inspired by the words of John Lennox, who knew him, also has an apologetic bent to it. I continue to find it intriguing that nonbelievers and believers are counted among the smartest people in the world. It tells us that faith makes sense even to some of the smartest people, but faith is accessible to anyone.

Three of the top ten blog posts in 2019 were also in the top five blog posts for each of the last four years: It Is Well with My Soul: The Story; the Ebla Tablets Confirm Biblical Accounts; and C.S. Lewis on Individualism, Equality and the Church. They also stand as the top three blog posts of the blog going back to the beginning.

In fact, all of the top ten but two from the beginning are in the top ten for 2019. The exceptions are The Hobby Case Summarized (most views of which remain from the year it was published) and A Message in a Manger (maybe because I didn’t repost it in 2019 as I have in most years). They were ousted by Reflections on the Influence if Stephen Hawking and The Ebla Tablets Revisited in the 2019 top ten.

The top ten blog posts over the life of Navigating by Faith are as follows:

Thank you, everyone who has read this post looking back at 2019 and over the life of Navigating By Faith, and thank you everyone who has visited the blog, read the articles and posted comments. I appreciate the feedback. I hope you got something out of what I have done. Have a wonderful, faith-filled 2020.