The other week, I thought I was on vacation.

I wasn’t.

Class was done and I was down to my normal hospital schedule rather than the extra shifts I had been doing.  The relief felt like, but wasn’t, vacation. The more I’ve thought about it, the more I’ve realized I need to take some days off at several things.

So I’ll be taking a break at 300 for the rest of the year. (Except for the Sunday prayers and a Christmas post that’s already written).

When I come back on January 1, I’ll be starting the 16th year of writing here at 300wordsaday.com. That’s around 3915 posts, and 1.175 million words.

(My precision says, “there were repeats in there, and Rich Dixon has been writing once a week for three years and Paul Merrill has been writing once a month for many years.” Whatever.)

During that time, I spent 8 years as a pastor and then 7 years as a pastor. We’ve been through weddings and a grandbaby and deaths of all kinds. Some in your life, some in mine. We’ve lost some readers that I knew primarily through writing (Connie and Susan and Jim and Steve come to mind.)

We’ve had posts turn into books. We’ve had sermons turn into posts. We’ve experimented with videos. I’ve tried other things. We’ve thought through a bunch.

But through all the experiences, I keep coming back to the idea (if not the precise counting) of 300 words a day five days a week and a Sunday prayer. And talking about God in non-churchy language.

I’m incredibly grateful for all of you on the other side of these posts. Thanks for listening.

See you next year.

Jon