The Push for 5,000

~ Bob Hayton

I have a special mark approaching for my blog. In October, it will be 5 years of blogging. But sooner than that, I will hit the 5,000 approved comments mark.

I’ve run the full gamut of comments over the years. I’ve seen many helped, and several ticked off. I have had hundreds of people share that my story has blessed them and that they find my blog helpful. I’m grateful that sharing my thoughts like this has been a blessing for so many. I’ve also had my share of critics and debates. In the early days of my blogs, we’d run up 50 comments plus and dozens of pages of interaction on some of my posts. Occasionally I’ve had to delete some over-the-top comments, as well, and I won’t even mention all the spam (none of the deleted comments count toward the 5,000, by the way).

I appreciate those who’ve read my blog over the years, and am thankful for all this interaction. I’ve even been blessed to be able to consider many of you as my blogging friends — and meet some of you in person.

In honor of the 5,000 mark soon approaching, I thought I’d do a push for some comments and give out a prize to the person with comment #5,000. I won’t tell you how far away from the 5,000 mark I am, but it is easily attainable by comments to this post, or some of the other recent posts. I would imagine we could hit it today or tomorrow.

The prize will be your choice of one of three books I have available to give away. To enter, just leave a comment on this or any post. If your comment is #5,000 you win. Please until this contest is over, limit yourself to one comment per post with a max of 3 comments per person — to be fair to everyone. To save the expense to me, I’m going to limit the contest to residents of the U.S.A., although I must say I’ve been blessed to have faithful readers beyond the borders of America.

Here are the three books which the winner can choose from. Click on the picture for more details. Thanks again for making this blog successful, and for taking the time to drop comments. I always appreciate the interaction.

18 thoughts on “The Push for 5,000”

    1. Martin,

      Sorry your comment ended up in the Spam bin, so I’m glad I checked it. I’ll definitely check your site out. Thanks for the link too. I’ll add your site to my reciprocal links as well.

      Blessings in Christ,

      Bob

      PS We’re edging closer to #5,000 but still not there yet….

  2. OK… so I’m posting this to try to win… but I still appreciate Bob’s blog nonetheless 😉

  3. Hi Bob!
    Forgive me for not looking at your previous posts to find out the answer to this question, please. Have you ever read Safely Home by Tom Eldredge? I received my copy from http://www.visionforum.com, and I thought it was very profound in it’s explanation as to why parents should homeschool. Very opposite the views of the church and Bible college we both went to. 🙂

    Quite honestly, my time is very limited, but what I have read from your blog, I have enjoyed. I freely admit that you’re way over my head on some issues, and I don’t really have the time to delve deeper and educate myself at this point. But I do appreciate your point of view, and maybe someday I can sit and digest all I’ve read. Many kind regards, Jenny

  4. Thanks Jeff, you’re not a winner yet.

    Jenny, Did we go to FHBC around the same time? Anyway, I haven’t read that book yet. I do think they were too harsh on homeschooling. But I also don’t think homeschooling is the only way, either. We have our oldest (and next year it will be our two oldest) in a public charter school, that teaches classical education.

    Personally, I believe there are pros and cons to every schooling model and nothing is right for every family. I feel in many ways being cloistered off from the rest of the world, like I was in my schooling, didn’t help my evangelism and ability to interact with people.

    I linked to a good article on this subject before on my blog, if you’re interested.

    Thanks for the recommendation, though. And no worries, don’t feel like you have to read everything I write. It’s not all worth reading!

    Blessings in Christ,

    Bob

    2. Bob,

      I was there from 1992 until early 2009. I was done with college and married by the time you came for school, although I don’t remember what year that was…

      Anyway, I skimmed through the article you recommended. I am 100% for every parent chosing the educational method of his child, but I can tell you that I’ve taken alot of heat for my choice. One reason among many that I’m attending a different church…

      One area that greatly concerns me is the sexuality of public school children. I have a friend who quit homeschooling two years ago and even her youngest daughter can give you all the details of hereto/homo sex. They were taught how to put condoms on, using a life-size model. This little girl has been sexually harassed by three boys since 1st grade and the school seems unable to stop it. All of this comes from an excellent school system, the same one I attended years ago.

      My point is, do you really want your sweet daughters exposed to all this? Their innocence is so precious. You’d want to kill the boy who grabbed your child and demanded oral sex in the bathroom. All of this is happening in elememtary schools, let alone high schools. Even in conservative Valparaiso, Indiana.

      Anyway, I’m sure you’ll pray about your choices, but these incidents have happened recently to people I know and love, so understandably, I am very disturbed about them. I don’t want them to happen to your family as well.

      Warmly, Jenny

      1. Jenny,

        I thank you for your concern. That is a strong consideration every parent must weigh carefully. So far, the school my children attends is not likely to have that happen. But it could. We are watching how things develop. They teach a virtue every month, and are very serious about education. In a different place I can’t guarantee which school we’d go to. When my wife has more free time with older children rather than 3 soon to be 4 under age 5, she may use her elementary education degree in a home setting or at another Christian school.

        I can’t remember the Terrys but my memory is so bad. I was at school from 1997-2002. My wife was Carolyn Barnard 1998-2002.

        Thanks again,

        In Christ,

        Bob

  8. It’s getting close, everyone can comment on another post if they want another chance at winning…. Thanks for making this fun for everyone.

    Note: I have to run to a men’s Bible Study this morning but I’ll log on when I get back to update everyone if we have a winner.

  9. UPDATE: We have a winner! Elise Schafer (leaving her first comment on my blog), who also follows me on Twitter, left comment #5,000 just now on my Dead Sea Scrolls post.

    Thanks everyone for making this fun, and for following my blog. There will be other book giveaways in the future, don’t worry.

    In Christ,

    Bob

  11. It’s all about numbers for you, isn’t it Bob? Next thing you’ll be forcing people down an aisle just to meet your quota!

    seriously though, thanks for your blog. It’s been a real blessing in my life, especially when I first encountered it. At that time, I was wrestling with a lot of issues and it wasn’t easy to bring those up with those around me for fear of being labeled a heretic, compromiser, or whatev. This is truly the greatest blessing of the internet, I believe – a way to research things for yourself without people breathing down your neck or poisoning the well before you get a chance. Your blog, among others, was extremely helpful at that time.

    And of course, it still is. It’s hard to believe that was only a few years ago, I feel like I’ve come such a long way since then. In fact, I remember when you first commented on my blog and how excited I was! It’s a pleasure counting you as a friend and fellow blogger now. God bless.

    1. Thanks for the kind words, Damien. I agree on the power of the internet in that regard. It’s a joy to blog with other like minded brothers, now, too over at FC and the KJVO Debate blog (where debate is continuing to happen as always!).

      Now I can chalk your comment up as number….. 😉

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