Category Archives: Bible study

Bible study, self-publishing

One More Post On Book Covers

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In a recent post I wrote about my hate affair (no love to balance it) with creating book covers. The saga continues. I received the proof copy of Acts Of Faith on Friday. To my pleasure, it was perfect. The cover was perfect. Everything was centered, the colors were good, the text was correct and nicely spaced. It was suggested that I make a tweak to it, changing the cover on the spine and changing the font on one block of text. I thought that would cause a slowdown, so I decided not to and just clicked “Publish”. That was Friday afternoon. And then I waited.

This is what I uploaded. Still waiting to hear if it works.

The wait is for a live body at Amazon to check the files. Typically this takes less than 24 hours. You get an e-mail, either it’s good and the book is published, or it is not accepted and you need to figure out what is wrong with it.

That e-mail came Saturday at 09:50 a.m., but I was outside doing yard work. I saw it when I can in around noon. And the verdict: “We checked your files and found issues you need to fix before your book can be published on KDP”, Sigh. They further said, “Resize your front cover so that the image or background on the front cover extends far enough beyond the edge. Add an extra 0.125″ (3.2 mm) along the top, bottom, and sides of your cover. This prevents manufacturing issues when the cover is trimmed.”

I was hoping to work on the Leader’s Guide for AOF that afternoon, but instead I worked on the cover. Since the proof copy was so good, I couldn’t see what was wrong with the cover. I checked my calculations of the size, which were correct. I went ahead and slightly enlarged it. But it’s more complicated than that. The front cover is a layer that sits on the background and is aligned with the edges of the background. Beneath that is an image size. At least, I think that’s how it works. Don’t ask me. I’m still an amateur with graphic arts software.

I looked the thing over, and realized everything wasn’t quite in alignment, but couldn’t tell what was wrong. I checked the size of each layer and they seemed to be correct. So I exported it to PDF, uploaded it to Amazon, checked the on-line book reviewer. It all looked good, so I clicked “Publish”, and went into waiting mode.

This morning (I’m writing this on Sunday), at 09:34 a.m., while at church and about to start our Life Group class, I received the e-mail: “We checked your files and found issues you need to fix before your book can be published on KDP” for the identical reason. One more sigh.

After Life Group, after church, after getting lunch and milk to take home, I went to The Dungeon—once again not to write, but to fix the darn cover. I decided I would invest an hour to fix it, then I’d just find a professional and hire the tweaking done.

I spent about 15 minutes checking the layers, checking all sizing, determining I didn’t know what the problem was. I thought maybe I should just use the Amazon cover building program, but found it was complicated. I searched Amazon for help, and found a way to talk with someone. I then spent a very not-so-pleasant 45 minutes on the phone with an Amazon rep. She was difficult to understand, and ultimately couldn’t help me. She sent me an e-mail of what the cover dimensions should be, which confirmed my calculations.

I had spent my hour, but decided maybe the thing to do was to try one more time, re-building the cover from scratch. I knew what I wanted, I knew the size, so it went quickly. In fifteen minutes I had all the elements in G.I.M.P. file except for the text on the spine. The first time around I created the spine text in PowerPoint and uploaded it to G.I.M.P. I wasn’t real happy with that. So, I decided to try once again to understand how to get the print tool to do what I want.

My problem was getting the text to center vertically in the text box. Horizontal centering is no problem, but I couldn’t see how to center it vertically. I had previously watched a YouTube tutorial on book spines using G.I.M.P. I watched it again, and they said nothing about vertical centering. I noticed he sized the text to the size he wanted, then pulled the limits of the box to match the text size, then aligned the box where they wanted it on the page. I looked at another tutorial, and they did the same thing. I decided I’d better do that.

I opened the text tool, changed the font type and size, selected bold and center, then typed the text and spaced it horizontally in the text box. Then I resized the box to match the text. I rotated it 90 degrees clockwise, and centered it vertically and horizontally on the background. Everything looked good. You can see the results in the illustration above.

One last task was to flatten the file into one layer before exporting the cover to a PDF. That was all done, and I uploaded it to Amazon, checked it in the previewer, and, once again, it looked good. I clicked “Publish” for the third time, and now, for the third time, I wait.

I’m simplifying it somewhat. I created the spine box and deleted what was obviously incorrect several times. I made the other tweaks of color and font, and now have them correct. At several times I had long waits, up to three minutes, while Amazon processed files. I used that time to look at the proof copy, and discovered two errors in the Table Of Contents and one error in a chapter subtitle. I made those changes and checked it in the on-line previewer. This was along with the final cover upload.

As I said, now I wait. It’s possible that an e-mail will arrive before this posts at 07:30 a.m. on Monday. If so, I’ll edit it with the verdict. I’m feeling optimistic. I understand G.I.M.P. a lot better. I understand how to work with layers much better. I feel fairly certain that the next time I go through this it will be much easier. All except choosing artistic elements that look good. Now that’s going to take a long time, if ever.

Bible study, self-publishing, Writing

Does “Acts Of Faith” Make Me Vulnerable?

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“Acts Of Faith” is now available for sale as an e-book on Amazon. The print book and e-book at other retailers will soon follow.

This week, Acts Of Faith: Examples From The Great Cloud Of Witnesses went live on Amazon as an e-book. The print book proof is supposed to arrive today. Assuming it checks out as good, I need to swap out the cover for one with a few tweaks, then I’ll hit “publish” and it will be live, too. My first published Bible study.

Although this is my thirtieth item to publish, in some ways this one is making me feel more vulnerable than all the others. It’s kind of like when I published my first (and so far only) poetry book, Daddy-Daughter Day. That was my eighteenth book to publish, and it made me feel very vulnerable at the time. I remember it as a strange feeling. I had novels and short stories and non-fiction books out there for people to buy and either like or tear apart. Why did poetry make me feel so at risk? Perhaps because I’m not trained as a poet. All I know about poetry I learned through my self-study, late in life. What if I mess it up, if my poems are garbage? Poetry is heightened language, with rules that aren’t needed in prose. All this combined resulted in my feeling vulnerable. I hesitated several months before hitting the publish button.

Although this seems a long time ago, I remember how I felt vulnerable publishing this.

Now I’m feeling the same thing with Acts Of Faith. This isn’t my first Bible study. This is actually my ninth Bible study to prepare from my own research. The other eight I’ve already taught (or co-taught) from my notes to the adult Life Group I attend. One of them, Entrusted To My Care, is being taught right now from my notes in another group. For that study I happened to make more extensive teaching notes, which I gave them to the other teacher. Four weeks in to the fourteen-week study, she says it’s going well.

So, I’m no stranger to Bible studies. Why then this feeling of ill ease?

It’s probably the same thing as with poetry. I’m an amateur in this field, a layman playing against a host of trained clergy, teachers, professors, evangelists. Look at all the Bible studies published that have become popular. They are published by those who could be called professionals. Is there room on this field for an amateur to step up and make an impact?

I didn’t take any of those other Bible studies the next step and turn them into publishable products. When I prepared Bible studies and taught them to our group that’s been together for a long time, if I made a misstatement as I taught, I could cover it over with a joke and keep right on rolling. Now, however, if I have a mistake in my book—and I would think that, as a layman, I’m more likely to make a mistake than a professional—it’s out there in print for everyone to criticize. Yes, and that makes me feel vulnerable.

But is that bad? In a recent sermon, our pastor talked about this. He said that God made Himself vulnerable when He came to earth and faced the same temptations as we do. One of pastor’s key points was, “Vulnerability deepens relationships.” He added that we need to be willing to make ourselves vulnerable. If he didn’t say it outright, he implied that being vulnerable is necessary to do effective work for the kingdom of God.

That sermon came as I was in the midst of publishing tasks for Acts Of Faith but had not yet hit the button. I had some but not all of the publishing files created. Didn’t have the covers finished. I was at the point where I could easily have decided to stop publishing it, shrinking back into my comfortable world of fiction, etc. But the idea of making myself vulnerable as a way of doing great things for the kingdom of God pushed me forward, and hit the button I did.

What’s to become of Acts Of Faith? I have a somewhat captive audience in my Life Group, and should have ten to fifteen sales there. I know of another five to ten people locally who will want a copy. That puts me a little over average for my sales. And, who knows? Perhaps this will be my breakout book.

 

Bible study, self-publishing, Writing

Closing In On “Acts Of Faith”

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Last week I put the finishing touches on Acts Of Faith: Examples From The Great Cloud Of Witnesses“. That’s not to say it’s perfect, but I think it’s in good shape. I’m pleased with it as it is. On Thursday, I think it was, I formatted the book for print, completing that in a few hours.

As reported in my last post, I set about trying to make a cover for it, and failed miserably. But fortunately I had the earlier cover for it and was able to take that, make a few modifications, and I had a more acceptable cover. People I showed it to thought it was acceptable. On Saturday I set about making the cover wrap for the print book. Here’s what I came up with, still subject to a little tweaking.

Here’s the print book cover. I’m not claiming it’s great, but I think it’s acceptable. It also starts a theme that I can use for future Bible studies if I publish them.

Yesterday I uploaded all this to Amazon for the print book. For the third straight book the files I uploaded, both book interior and the cover, met Amazon’s technical specifications and they said I could order the proof copy. I did so, and it should arrive Thursday or Friday. By that time I’ll have the print cover changed with any tweaks needed. I e-mailed the basic cover to my critique group, Scribblers and Scribes of Bella Vista, and will show them the full wrap when we meet on Wednesday.

So, yesterday I also began the work on the e-books. This is the opposite of my normal order. Usually I do the e-books, which I find easier, first, then do the harder print book. Since I’m under a tight deadline for having the print book available I didn’t want to delay that even a day, so I changed up my normal routine. I finished the Kindle version interior yesterday. The cover is, I think, all ready. Later today, after I complete a few chores and errands, I’ll upload the e-book. As soon as it’s approved I’ll publish it. That could be later today or, more likely, tomorrow. Then it will be on to the Smashwords edition.

It’s kind of exciting, but also kind of scary. I’ll write about that in a future post.

Bible study, self-publishing

I Hate Making Book Covers

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This trial cover does what I want, but looks awful.

Work progressed very well on my Bible study, Acts Of Faith. I wrote it in a little over a month in June-July this year. I found a couple of beta readers, got some comments, did several rounds of edits, and wrapped it up early this month—sandwiched in between getting Documenting America: Making The Constitution into print.

This week, on Wednesday, I called it a wrap and began working on publication files. Then Wednesday night I thought of one more thing I wanted in the Introduction. I did that Thursday morning, yesterday, and called it a wrap again. I went back to building publication files. By the end of the day I had the print edition files complete, all except for the cover.

I had done the cover on Tuesday-Wednesday. Or rather, let me say I did a cover on Tuesday-Wednesday. You can see it here. It’s awful. My thoughts as I began pulling it together were:

  • Since it’s quite possible I’ll prepare more of my Bible studies for publication, it would be nice, with this first one, to create some sort of graphical branding. I looked at a couple of printed Bible studies we have here at the house, and at some other books that are parts of series, and though the colored band with the words “A Bible Study” in the band would work, preferably across the top.
  • I thought maybe the other words on the cover, the title, subtitle, and my name could also be in bands. So I put them in the same color bands of the same style.
  • Then I played with the background color and texture and came up with something.
  • Then I thought, how about putting some of the names of those covered in the book on the cover, somewhat randomly, as if in a “cloud”. I did that, finding a font I liked. I decided to make each one a little bit more or less opaque and putting them on top of each other. I liked that effect.
Better? Perhaps, but still not good.

Then I looked at it all, and it was terrible, as you can see from image of it I put in above. Bad colors. Bad contrast of graphical images. A couple of friends whose advice I trust agreed with my assessment. Alas, I don’t know how to make it better.

I had played with a cover earlier, which I posted here. That was just a trial, to have something to show. However, it’s probably better than what I came up with this week. I like the cloud effect of the names on gray, so I clipped that out of the new cover and pasted it in the old in the space reserved for a graphic. You can see how those two work together. I think I like this a little better, but I’m still not sure it’s what I want.

A few extra touches make it look a little better, perhaps.

Sigh. I may just go with a generic black cover with white or yellow lettering, no graphic, and not worry about whether it looks good or not. Just so long as it doesn’t look awful. Or, maybe I’ll have to just find a professional and turn it over to them. I’ve contacted one, and am waiting on hearing back.

Bible study, Documenting America, goals, poetry, reading, Short Stories, Writing

September 2019 Goals

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I used to do goals posts regularly. I’ll do it this month and see what comes of it.

One thing I’ve been doing in the evening is going through old posts on this blog and adding categories to them. My son helped me set up my website in June 2011. Part of that was creating this blog. I already had a blog over at BlogSpot, titled “An Arrow Through the Air”. He did the work of porting all those posts over to this blog.

I intended, at first, to run both blogs. This one would be my writing blog; that one would be for more personal stuff. I did that for a while, but soon saw the pressures of life wouldn’t allow me to do both. So, I abandoned AATTA and concentrated on this blog. Eventually I renamed this one to be An Arrow Through The Air. The old one still exists. Every now and then I make a minor post there just to keep the account open.

A few months back I went to the back pages of this blog, I forget why. I noticed that all those posts from the old blog came over but none of them had categories. The all show up as “Uncategorized”. That’s not a major problem, but…oh, wait, I remember now. I was trying to find a post I did back in 2008 on a certain subject, went to that category, and didn’t find the post. That’s when I learned none of the categories had stayed with the posts as they ported over.

So, slowly, as I have a night in front of the TV where I can’t really do anything else, I’ve been going back through the old posts and adding categories. It’s actually a tedious job but I feel that it needs to be done. As of last night I had completed all the posts for 2008. Looks like I have two and a half years still to go.

One thing I noticed was that in 2008 I made a monthly post about my goals for the month—writing goals mostly—and then an end-of-the-month post showing how well I’d done. That was almost a journal, of sorts. It made me think I ought to do that occasionally. So, here’s my first goals post in a long time. Perhaps on Sept. 30 I’ll come back and make a post of how I did.

  1. Blog on a regular Monday and Friday schedule. I’ve done fairly well at that this year, and I’d like to continue it.
  2. Complete publishing tasks for and publish all versions of  Documenting America: Making The Constitution. I’m close. The covers are the big holdup.
  3. Complete publishing tasks for and publish all versions of  Acts Of Faith: Examples from the Great Cloud of Witnesses. I’m almost through with edits, but I can see this happening.
  4. Write a short story in my Sharon Williams Fonseca series. I have a sheet or two of notes of what I’m going to do next, if I can only find them.
  5. Critique 2-3 poems at the Absolute Write Forums. I’d like to keep my foot in poetry somehow. Maybe this is the way.
  6. Attend writers groups on the 11th and the 18th.
  7. Complete reading three items and begin two or three more. As of this morning I’m halfway through two books (each around 260-280 pages) and a third through a 60 page article. I should easily finish all these with no problem. I don’t know what I want to read next, but I’ll start searching my stacks before lone.
  8. Prepare my first newsletter for release about Oct 15. And figure out how to make it happen.

That’s enough, I think. See you all on the 30th with a report.

Bible study, Documenting America, home improvements, miscellaneous

Publishing Another Book Getting Closer

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It doesn’t look like the tree caused damage to the house, but I guess I won’t know until I get it down.

My last blog post discussed what was happening with my book Documenting America: Making The Constitution.  On Monday, after writing my blog post, I made major progress on publishing tasks. I won’t list what I did. Suffice to say by the end of the day I was further along on all three versions (Kindle, Smashwords, and print) than I expected to be.

The Monday evening happened. A short but intense thunderstorm hit, with winds of 70 mph. Power went out at 10:30 p.m. and was off for just short of 48 hours. A large tree blew over from the wooded lot next to us on the north and is resting on the house. a second, larger tree also blew over but rested against another tree that kept it from hitting the house. Neither one seems to have damaged the house, but I’m going to need a professional service to clear the trees away. So, I’m dealing with all of that and have not doing anything more on Documenting America.

It’s hard to see in this photo, but it shows the two leaning trees. Both are pretty big, at least 12 and maybe 16 inches diameter.

What I did instead was more intensive editing of my Bible study, Acts Of Faith. When the power went out, I was through Chapter 5 with the second round of edits and also with the Leader’s Guide. Reading and editing the printed manuscript was something I could do during the day, even without power. So I stretched out on the floor, the notebook between me and the glass doors to the deck, and read and marked with red pen. I set aside work on the Leader’s Guide as I need to have the Bible study published by September 15. The Leader’s Guide can follow it by a month or so.

My first view of it didn’t look so bad. This is looking up from below it. The main problem will be how to control it as you cut it out. That’s why I need a pro.

By the end of yesterday I had edited all but one chapter. I will finish it today and be ready to type. In fact, I may type those edits before I go back to Documenting America. Acts Of Faith is out with two beta readers, one of whom I’m sure will give me comments. I’m going to send one more chapter to my critique group for comments between meetings.

Then I’ll be enmeshed in dealing with trees and insurance and other aspects of Monday’s storm. I’m not sure yet what my new publishing schedule will be.

 

Bible study, Life Group lessons

It Is Time For You To Act, O Lord

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A Bible and some paper to take notes. What more could a person want?

I had planned for my blog post today to again be about Documenting America: Making The Constitution Edition. Today I made a few last edits to Chapter 5, based on comment last week by my critique group. This morning I did a run-through for typos, commas, formatting of references, etc. That done, I hereby declare the text finished. I’m now ready to begin the publishing process.

But I’m delaying that post. Yesterday in our adult Life Group at church we had an interesting discussion that I feel deserves a post. We are going through a video-based Bible study on Psalm 119. The video series is an original production of RightNow Media, to which our church has a subscription service. The presenter in this series is Matt Chandler, a pastor in the Dallas Texas area.

Yesterday we were on the 7th of 10 videos in the series, this one covering Psalm 119:121-136. In preparation for the class, I focused on vs. 121-128. I divided the statements in these verses into two categories: statement of existing conditions; and prayer to God. All verses fit well into those categories but one. Here are the statements of condition.

  • vs 121 I have done what is righteous and just.
  • vs 123 My eyes fail looking for your salvation, looking for your righteous promise.
  • vs 125 I am your servant.
  • vs 126 Your law is being broken.
  • vs 127 I love your commands more that gold, more than pure gold.
  • vs 128 I consider all your precepts right.
  • vs 128 I hate every wrong path.

And here are the prayers.

  • vs 121 Do not leave me to my oppressors.
  • vs 122 Ensure your servant’s well-being.
  • vs 122 Let not the arrogant oppress me.
  • vs 124 Deal with your servant according to your love.
  • vs 124 Teach me your decrees.
  • vs 125 Give me your discernment that I may understand your statutes.

And, that one verse that doesn’t fit in? It’s vs 126a:

Vs 126a: It is time for you to act, O Lord.

This is the verse I decided to spend more time on than the others. It’s sort of a prayer, but not exactly. It’s more of a command. A command the pray-er is making to God. The entire verse 126 is:

Vs 126: It is time for you to act, O Lord; your law is being broken.

As if God needed the pray-er to tell Him His law was being broken. As if God needed to be commanded. What audacity in David to make such a statement!

In class, we focused on what to do if we ever found ourselves making such a statement, telling God He needed to act. One class member said instead we ought to be asking God how we can join in what He is doing. “It is time for you to act, O Lord. How can I help You?” Or even, “It is time for you to act, O Lord; your law is being broken. What can I do about it?”

Now that’s a way to address God. You aren’t then telling him what’s wrong and demanding He do something. You’re acknowledging to God that you recognize the present condition in your part of the world, that the condition is because of people disobeying God, and asking how I can effectively take part in correcting the problem. I like that.

It turned out to be a good class. Lots of interaction, people focused on the scripture, many positive statements. Everyone who spoke embraced the concept of asking God how we can participate in the places we believe He needs to act. We left the class energized and, I think, excited about serving him this week.

 

Bible study, Documenting America, self-publishing, Writing

Publishing My Next Book Getting Closer

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I finished writing Documenting America: Making The Constitution Edition in mid-June. I let it sit a little, then began the editing process. The editing took a while as I didn’t go overly fast. Plus, in late June I finally decided I should write and publish my Bible study, Acts Of Faith, and so pulled off DA for a while. I meant to have it published in August. Alas, with only nine days left in the month, I think that’s unlikely to happen.

But where do I stand with it? I have completed all passes of edits. On Wednesday I ran Chapter 5 through our critique group, and have a few comments to go over and perhaps make changes. I’ll do that today. The next step will be the cover, which I’ll do myself using G.I.M.P. I already have the series theme, so all I have to do is change the title and use a new center image, which I already have picked out. I may need to load G.I.M.P. onto this computer. Doing all that is a tomorrow task.

That cover work, of course, is for the e-book cover. Before I can do the print book cover I have to format the print book so I know the thickness. The interior formatting will be the next step. I might do the e-book formattings (one for Kindle, one for Smashwords) on Sunday, or it might slip to Monday. At that point I may upload the e-book to the platforms, thus getting it published in August. Then I’ll tackle the print book formatting. That always takes longer, and I’ll have to dedicate a day or two to that. I hope I get it done before the end of the month so that I can order a proof copy.

So, when will the next Documenting America be published, you ask? With any luck and sufficient diligence on my part, before the end of August for the e-book, and before September 15 for the print book. Stay tuned. I’ll announce it here. I’m working simultaneously on the leader’s guide to AOF, so we’ll have to see how the time goes.

Bible study, Writing

Acts Of Faith, My Latest Finished Book

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It’s not too early to be thinking about a cover. I’m thinking simple, establishing a theme for what may be a series. Not sure what would go in the whit box.

I’ve talked about this several times before, but never fully. I’m talking about the Bible study I’ve been writing since finishing Documenting America: Making The Constitution Edition in mid-June. Back on June 28 I posted about my writing choices. That post indicated that I had written a couple of chapters of this study, that it felt good, and that I had decided that would be my next book to write.

The first writing of it was on June 25, 2019. This past Tuesday, July 30, I completed the first draft, coming in at 35,574 words in a little over a month. That’s pretty fast. I’m wondering if, considering how fast it came together, if it’s any good.

But it’s not as if I started from scratch on June 25th. No, I had thought about this for a long time. I’d say it was maybe two or three years ago that the idea first came to me. I re-read Hebrews Chapter 11, the faith heroes chapter, and, as always, was inspired by it. Then I read Hebrews 12:1, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses….” The idea came to me: a Bible study where a Bible example of faith and a Christian example of faith were together in each lesson.

I’m responsible for choosing the curriculum for study in our adult Life Group (a.k.a. Sunday school). I try to stay a few months ahead. I had curriculum planned out to near the end of September 2019 (this was back in late fall 2018, I think). What to do after a long, partial Easter study and a video-based Psalm 119 study? I had a couple of Bible studies in mind, things that had been brewing in the gray cells for some time, Acts Of Faith being one of them. I developed an outline, deciding it would be a viable study. So I penciled it in on our teaching schedule.

Then I thought, this would be a better study if it were in book form, not something my co-teacher and I had to develop our own notes for. So sometime early this year, maybe in January, I listed it as one of my possible writing works. As the year went on, I was more and more impressed that this was indeed what we should teach later this year, and that I should do my best to have it ready in book form if at all possible.

So, when Documenting America was done, as I posted a little more than a month ago, I shifted right to this. The writing wasn’t laborious at all. It came together easily, I’m sure in part because I had brainstormed it so much. Still, the relatively short time to write it surprised me. I wrote that I hoped to have it written by August 1, and I achieved that. I suspect maybe three or four weeks to edit, followed by two weeks to publish, and I’ll be done with it at least two weeks before we start the study, which right now is targeted for September 26th.

Preparing and teaching a Bible study is one thing. Publishing one is another. If you’re teaching in a class, discussion often takes over, and your notes go out the window. You prepared six hours for a 30 to 60 minute discussion, so you’re essentially over-prepared. At least that’s the plan. But publishing it means it has to all be out there. Make a mistake and the theologians or professional practitioners of the faith could be all over you. You have to get it right. Opinions are okay, but not mistakes.

Thus, I reached out to two ministers in our congregation about the viability of the study. Feeling like I needed more, I reached out to a retired pastor I know from an on-line writing group and got his input. The consensus was that I should proceed, that I wasn’t making any grave errors, and that possibly people would find themselves challenged by the study.

And now it’s written. It consists of seventeen chapters. If taught to a class, each would be a week’s study. If studied individually, I suspect it’s a two-week read. I originally programmed fourteen chapters. Then I thought, if this was taught around Christmastime, I needed some Christmas story chapters. So I added three of those, giving me seventeen chapters in the finished product. I know, I know, they say people nowadays don’t like studies that last that long. Six weeks, eight weeks is about all you should do. Well, I wrote what I wrote. If a teacher and class want a shorter study, they can pick and choose among the chapters.

Each chapter begins a Bible story that illustrates faith, saying how faith is shown by some act. Chapter 1 concerns Noah and the building of the ark, showing how he was acting out his faith all along. The second part of each chapter is a story of someone in the Christian era who also acted on faith. As best I could I tried to get the Bible example of faith and the Christian example of faith to make sense together. I’m not sure I always achieved that, but I think I’m close.  Noah is paired with Martin Luther. Both of these men have sort of the same story. At least, I see many similarities.

I changed the Bible story in the second chapter when I heard a sermon on the radio and thought, oh, wow, what a great story of faith that is. I never saw that before. I didn’t want to lengthen the book, however, so one pair of stories was gone. I found another Christian example of faith and shuffled some around.

What’s next? As I said, I work on editing this into final form, and I see if I can write a leader’s guide for it, trying to have both ready by the end of August. Will I get it done? We shall see. And, of course, I’ll report back here on what progress I make.

 

Bible study, books, Christianity, Documenting America, Life Group lessons, miscellaneous, Writing

Progress as Promised, On Several Fronts

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In my last post, I told about the de cluttering effort my wife and I are in. I spoke specifically about the multiple stamp collections I’m dealing with, as well as a few other de-cluttering activities.

The stock book I worked on. I still have a few stragglers to add to it (which fell out before my work commenced), plus perhaps some re-distribution.

This weekend, while de-cluttering is still high on the priority list, so is what I call simply “getting things done.” It began on Friday, where I worked in The Dungeon for a good part of the day, doing my normal writing and stock trading tasks. In the evening I finally finished putting loose stamps into that stock book I mentioned in the last post, and on Saturday I gathered all the stamps in one place, while on Saturday and Sunday I put them all in a larger box and into their designated place in the storeroom. Check one item off the to-do list.

Our newer minivan was overdue for servicing. I finally called on that on Friday afternoon, learned they had appointments on Saturday, and took an early one. I learned of a sensor that’s gone bad; it will be replaced later this week under warranty. I also took that van to a nearby body shop for an estimate on fixing the rear tailgate after the fender-bender I caused in June. Ah, me. Much money to be spend fixing that small folly.

Friday and Saturday remained productive for the whole days. Let’s see what I checked off the list.

  • Elliptical and walking for Friday and Saturday.
  • Work on Acts of Faith each day.
  • Work on Documenting America: Making The Constitution Edition each day.
  • Clean up in the front yard, along with weekend weeding and deadfall pick up in the back yard on Saturday.
  • Seeing about accommodations for a trip we will soon be taking.
  • Making a haircut appointment. (I hate using the phone for things like that and always put off making such appointments, so when I do it it feels like a major accomplishment.)
  • Helping the wife make an omelet Saturday noon.
  • Household budgeting on Friday; balancing the checkbook on Saturday; catch up on trading accounting on Saturday.
  • Dusting the high corners near the ceilings.
  • Preparing to teach Life Group on Sunday.
  • Working on organizing the stamp collections, in place for better storage or, perhaps, selling within a couple of years.
I found time each day to just sit and read in the sunroom, and nap there one day.

I could probably add a few more things to the list, but I’d be getting into minutia if I did. Suffice to say the weekend was full, productive, enjoyable, and, if you can believe it, restful. Yes, I had time to watch TV (while working on the stamps and crossword puzzles), to sit in the sunroom and read, to get full nights’ sleep, and to gather with God’s people in worship and study on Sunday.

Whether every weekend will be so enjoyable and productive remains to be seen. This one was, and I thank God for it.