The only thing harder than beginning is beginning again. And trying to get someone to eat at a fondue restaurant a second time. That’s very hard in its own unique way.

The truth is that as scary as the blank page might be, the harder thing to deal with is the one you’ve already drawn on.

That page is covered with marks and mistakes.

There is history there.

There are scribbles and lines and cross outs.

You understand that. You woke up in a career that didn’t feel like it had anything to do with your major in college. You woke up in a dating relationship that should have ended a long time ago. You woke up in some part of your life that you wish was some how different.

The problem is, when you wake up one day and realize it’s time to begin again, what do you do first?

That’s what Jenny and I have asked ourselves over and over again this last month. (I’ve been suggesting queso at each turn. I feel like queso fixes a lot of things. That’s also my second melted cheese reference in case you’re playing along at home.)

I wish I had a complicated answer. I wish this was going to be a first day post like none other in which I spouted so many tweetable, Newsies-style statements that we brought down Twitter. I wish the idea I was about to share was so surprising that people made it into beautiful images on Pinterest that had kittens in them and people standing triumphantly over mountain vistas.

It is not.

Here is the simple truth about starting over:

Starting over is impossible without friends.

I don’t know if this is the first time you’ve read something from me or the 100th, but the most important thing I can say is simply, “Thank you.”

You tweeted us. You signed up for the  newsletter. You said “heyyyy” on Facebook.

And you were ready before we were. You knew that something fun is going to happen, that the best concerts always have encores, that tomorrow always starts the day after today.

There are new stories to tell.

There are new adventures to have.

There are new mountains to climb.

New places to go in the middle of the day that are outside of this house. You’re kind of cramping my style. Mondays are when I work on the laundry, can’t you go to the library or some hipster coffee shop?

Jenny made me add that last one in.

But today is a second chapter.

And every second chapter is born from the end of the first.

Jenny and I are ready.

Are you?

P.S. Stuff Christians Like is a work in progress. We’re trying to figure out what to do with the 2 million words of content and will definitely be leaning on you guys for some ideas.