Top 10: My Favorite

Yesterday I posted the top 10 traffic generating posts of the year.  Today I am going to *attempt* show you my top ten favorite posts.  These posts have meaning to me, far more than simple stats on a blog.  These are the posts from my heart.  Some touched yours or someone else’s heart.  Some did not generate much traffic but that is ok.

This was very difficult to whittle down to 10, and if I come back to it tomorrow it might look quite different as there are a number of other posts I could have put in here.  Post’s like “Passionate and Frustrated” and “Do you Know your wife?” could have been on this list, but since they are on the most read list, I left them out.  The title of this could have been “self deprecating posts.”  Most of theses posts show the human me, the fallen me , the forgiven me.  And the readers appreciate the honesty.  In my “about me” I state that my goal to is to show you that you are not alone in your struggles in the Chrsitian walk.  Judging from this list, I am keeping to my goal. Enjoy.

#10 I Have Nothing to Offer. This is a post aimed at myself.  I occasionally struggle with feeling inferior.  I still feel like I am unworthy.  I still struggle with feeling like I have nothing to offer.  It turns out that I was not the only one.  A handful of people confided in me the same thing.

#9 Lead Your Wife With Dignity.  A post about leading your wife without sarcasm, anger, but with love.  I admit my failings in this area, which  some men, appreciated…ahem..

#8 Daddy What Do You Want To Be When You Grow Up? A simple post meant to encourage myself.  Even though I feel like a failure sometimes  there are moments when I realize I am not doing such a bad job. A few readers also emailed me their similar stories.

#7 Ice Cream & Family Devotions.  This one resonated with a number of the readers.  I received some emails thanking me for showing them that I was also not good at family devotions…hey…anyway. When we are asked to give an account of how we led our families, Jesus is not going to judge us that our children did not sit still for biblical instruction, but he will judge us if we simply do not do it.

#6 Ensure Your Arrows Will Fly Straight.  This one takes a look at Psalm 127: “Like arrows in the hands of a warrior
are children born in one’s youth.”  In it I ask a question… How can a warrior be sure that his arrows are ready to be released, that they will hit the intended target?

#5 When Was the Last Time You Encouraged Your Wife? My readers seem to like it when I reveal a little bit of my human side.  I am not just One Christian Dad, the writer/blogger.  I am also Ryan the tired, the sinful, the irritable, the  insensitive, the man, who would dare to say to his wife,  “You were home all day…what exactly did you do today?” This post was aimed at myself, but it resonated with ALOT of men.

#4 A Post By A Former, Lukewarm, Sunday Christian.  A common theme in my blog is prayer.  Usually my posts on prayer generate little interest. However when I tell people how sinful I am first, they continue to read.  Do not expect great things to happen in your life, or your kids’ lives, or your spouse’s life or for renewal in the Church, or for anything if you are not fervent in prayer!

#3 I Want To Be Free From the Sexual Liberation.  I was bad spiritual head for the first 7 years of my marriage.  I have a passion to see men be men.  To be leaders.  But men cannot be leaders if they live in sin, especially of they are under the sinful oppression of addiction. Before any spiritual growth can happen, addiction needs to be dealt with.  All addictions are damaging to spiritual well-being, however the most damaging addiction in the church is sexual addiction. This post was written because of the number of men who confided in me their secret sexual addictions.  After this post, even more men emailed me to thank me and let me know that they had began addressing their addictions.  My goal with this blog is to see men be the leaders they are called to be and this post proved to me that many men do in fact want to live a life of Godliness.  Soli Deo Gloria.

#2 Do You Suffer? I know what it is like to endure suffering.  I have sailed through some rough seas, where at times the storm was so dark that I could not see my faithful God guiding me, testing me, carrying me. This was the first of my open and honest posts, revealing a sinful man behind the facade of the One Christian Dad logo, yet pointing to a faithful God.  This is one of my favorite posts.  Not because it is profound or well written.  Not because everyone stood and cheered.  In fact it only has 29 views.  But the person it helped knows why.

#1 A Song My Dad Wrote Because I am sentimental and miss my dad, even if he was not the most godly man for most of his life.  Surprisingly I received numerous comments and emails thanking me for posting this.