It was exactly 1 year ago today when I last wrote here on my blog. I was in Fredericksburg, VA. I would soon fly to Los Angeles and then back to Asia for one final stretch of full-time service in that great and grand country.

This time last year, I had just completed my 12^th year of living in Asia, but my passion for the country and people had persisted for over 20 years.

This time 18 months ago, I was content and even excited about living in Asia for the remainder of my professional career. My life was in Asia. My expertise and passion had been tied up in this wonderful section of the world I had already called home for most of my professional life. I had friends who felt more like family. My job was my passion. I loved being a part of a land and a people who were changing as a society in front of my very eyes.

Now I am here in Los Angeles.  As always seems to be the case in my life, [Read more…]

As I sit here, I am in yet another Asian airport. I am currently THREE hours into a delay that looks like it might last until the winter solstice. They have already canceled several flights going to my destination city. Free lunch was just served, which is another bad sign. I expect to be stuck here for a while. And, this is JUST the beginning. . . [Read more…]

Mission accomplished! 

Originally, I set out to blog for one year and try to write 100 posts within that time period.  Well, as of two weeks ago (April 12 to be exact), I crossed both.  There were actually only 98 posts up by that day, but I also wrote eight articles for other sites during the year, so I am content.

Thank you so much for going on this journey together with me!

I began this blog for several reasons, as spelled out in some of my first posts, Maniacal self-absorption, loneliness. . .  and Intentional Processing (what will this blog look like?).

As you can see from these initial articles, my original motivations for starting this blog [Read more…]

If you have not read it, this post builds upon the one I published on Wednesday. . . 6 months in. . . thoughts on this blog (and THANK YOU for reading)

To commemorate this 6 month anniversary of sorts (see last post), I thought it would be fun to let you know the most read articles that have appeared on this blog.  It’s a strange, yet cool thing to wake up in Asia and see when people have been reading and interacting with my thoughts in America and beyond, so I find this kind of thing fun to look at.

Again, THANK YOU for being a part of this blog!

This site lets me know the general locations of readers and the pages people are reading, but DOES NOT tell me who is reading, web addresses or any other specific information on people viewing my site (so don’t worry!).  The only way I know for certain who is reading is by the comments left on the blog itself and/or feedback on Facebook.

On the sidebar of this site, johngunter.com, it does have a section for my “Popular” posts.  However, this actually is telling which posts have the most comments left.  It does not indicate which have actually been read the most.

Anyway, here are the most read articles from my first 6 months of blogging. . .

1. Let me tell you about my friend, Tracey. . . and her current journey
2. Mom’s laugh and sacrificial heart
3. The best and worst of my life in Asia
4. The 5 types of people you see on LONG airplane flights
   
5. Of all the weddings. . . this one was the most special
6. My worst travel day ever!!!
7. Contentment. . . my on-going struggle
8. My most awkward 20 minutes. . . and culturally rich weddings
9. Thoughts on life in the midst of a tragic death
10. “this is it”. . . 3 pictures of contentment from my life

Contrarily, here are a few posts that very few people read, but enjoyed writing nonetheless. . .

1. Alaskan beauty and the image of God
2. An embarrassing blunder and a vital l life lesson. . .
3. Betsy’s wedding gift and sacrifice
4. Mad Men, Hemingway, and the futility of sin
5. Cherishing life through three realities from this summer. . .

I hope you have a great weekend!

As I type this, I am sitting in the corner of a local coffee/donut shop here in the area of town where I live.  It was the first of its kind here, so I have frequented it since my arrival last December.  It is here that I do a lot of paper/computer work, since I do not have a traditional office to work out of in this city.  It is also here that I have written many of the posts from this blog, so I guess it is appropriate that I write this one from this place.

Last week I crossed the 6 month mark of writing on this site.  When I began back in April, I kept reading how the 6 month mark of writing blogs is critical.  Most give up prior to this point for various and sundry reasons, mainly
people just get bored and demotivated to continue blogging.  I’m grateful to say that this is definitely not the case with me. [Read more…]