One Hundred and a Handful

image created with "I Am This Many" kit by Amy Stoffel of Scrap Orchard.

This is my 100^th blog post.  TAH-DAH!  I considered hosting a giveaway (legally called a sweepstakes) for you in celebration, but I’ve decided not to even though I LOVE giving presents.  I have determined that for me, the cons outweigh the pros.  Since I blog simply because I like to, and to keep in touch with people in my life, my motivations for hosting a giveaway would mainly be to thank readers and to increase traffic to my microscopic little blog.  THANK YOU!!!  Okay, now I've thanked my readers.  As for increasing traffic to my blog, I wonder what kind of traffic a giveaway would really bring.  My group of readers is very small, just a handful by blogging standards.  Since there is no other incentive, they must read my blog for the content (or because they love me so much).  I think I would like to keep it that way.  I love comments, but I am not interested in “drive by comments” from people who just want to sign up for a freebie and have no interest at all in me or my blog.  If my blog stays little and obscure because of that, I'm OK with it.

I also do not have the money to hire a lawyer or the time to do research to make sure a sweepstakes is legal and to minimize my liability.  The FTC, the IRS, the USPS, the ABC, the 123 and the XYZ all in some fashion regulate sweepstakes, contests, and lotteries on blogs and web sites just as they do elsewhere.  There are about a bazillion laws.   I would have to follow all the sweepstakes laws of every state and country of every participant.  There is a fine line between a sweepstakes and an illegal lottery, even if there is no money charged.  I deeply desire to glorify my Savior through my blog, so I will not take the risk of accidentally breaking the law. 

It has been my prayer that God would bless this blog and He has.  Not with huge numbers of “page views” but in the way He has connected me with people I would never have otherwise come into contact with.  I have been so encouraged by the comments and emails I have received!  It is a huge blessing to hear from someone that something I have shared has touched them and encouraged them or made them laugh.  

A true giveaway is offered to every participant, not just to one whose name is randomly selected.  God loves each of us.  There is no random drawing or luck involved in salvation.  You don't have to hope to win salvation.  You can know you have it.  It is a gift for any who choose to accept by faith.  I will keep sharing with each of you all the “Cool Beans!” stuff in my life - our stories from the mission field and our family, lessons He teaches me, etc.  I will keep praying for each of you and thanking God for you.  To paraphrase a Keith Green song “I’ll just keep doing my best, and pray that it’s blessed, and He’ll take care of the rest!”  In the meantime, I give all of you my gratitude.

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile." -- Romans 1:16

"If you declare with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." --Romans 10:9

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