A look at year number two

Yesterday was the second anniversary of this Substack, and it is (and I am) beginning to grow like I wanted those things to.

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

On my site home page I refer to Matthew 13:

The same day went Jesus out of the house, and sat by the sea side.

And great multitudes were gathered together unto him, so that he went into a ship, and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore.

And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow;

And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up:

Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth:

And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.

And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them:

But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold.

Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.

And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?

He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.

For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.

Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.

And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:

For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.

But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.

For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.

Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower.

When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side.

But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it;

Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended.

He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.

But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

As I mark two years, it’s time for a reminder. My whole purpose in writing this Substack is to:

• Snatch back that which seems to have fallen by the wayside, the idea of limited and Constitutional government;

• Move the stones of wickedness and remind people occasionally that there is One who is greater than themselves and who is the rock we should build their lives on, and;

• Clear away the choking thorns of modern, worldly trends and “stuff” to concentrate on what is right and true.

As I see it, limited government with a basis of Judeo-Christian values is the most fertile soil for a revival, one where people will see the things of this world grow strangely dim, as the hymn says.

Put another way, I want America to bless God as much as He has blessed us.

And I think I’m seeing a slight bit of success on this front, using my God-given talents. (I held back on saying “talent on loan from God” as someone else made that line famous.) In year one, I was hoping to get to 100 free subscribers and start to have paid subscribers. I made it a little over halfway, but decided to begin with paid subscribers nonetheless as a way of supporting my efforts.

I’ll be honest with you, my readers: I don’t need to live off Substack subscriptions. As I note straightaway on the “about” page: “I am an architect who became a part-time writer by chance and a paid one by necessity.” With that “necessity” long since past, I have a living which allows for a middle-class lifestyle for my family, and that’s good enough for me. The bills get paid with our jobs and my side hustles, like The Patriot Post.

When I first started doing paid subscriptions, I would occasionally put articles behind a paywall, at least for a few days. But I stopped with that, and just decided that what paid Substack subscribers do for me is signal their support and allow me to give someone else a paid subscription. (They really don’t get a bonus aside from that because I’m out to share information.) Since I just picked up another paid subscription recently (thank you!) I think I’m a bit closer to breaking even with the subscriptions I pay for.

In this past year, though, I made it to 100 new subscriptions a couple weeks ago - just for the year. (In real numbers, I crossed the 100 line back on March 20, so the trend is accelerating.) And the follower count that matched my subscription total last year of 55 has now ballooned to over 400, with over 100 coming in the last month. (Subscriptions are now over 170 and counting…) And I see a lot of them come from recommendations, particularly from

Don Surber

. Yeah, that cantankerous West Virginian has a lot of supporters and a few have spilled my way. Thank you, sir.

The most interesting thing is now I have subscribers in 37 states, and ten countries. (One is from Russia. Intriguing.)

I also get a few recommendations (and good comments) from two of my best Substack friends,

Frederick R Smith

and

David Wolosik

. If you haven’t already, check them out because they seem to have a similar aim for their sites.

But it seems that following back when people follow me is a pretty good growth strategy. It also doesn’t hurt to write something with hundreds of views.

With that, I’m going to start another year - Good Lord willing and the creek don’t rise - of articles. Some stuff I can think of will be more of the “50 year plan” revival pieces that got lost in the shuffle when my side hustles became overly burdensome and time-consuming as well as the 2023-24 Delaware Accountability Project grading legislators in the First State. (Sadly, most of them flunk.) I’ll also be coming back to my look at the major 2024 races in Delaware once the filing deadline passes next month.

But most of my writing will just come from the heart and from inspiration I get. Luckily I have a pretty good supply of each.

Thanks for reading.

In the meantime, though, you can Buy Me a Coffee, since I have a page there now. You can also like and restack this piece so others can enjoy it.