Not the Sunday just passed, nor the two before that, but I think if was the one before that. July 8th, I guess. I was in the sanctuary of the church, now called the Worship Center. I sat alone as my wife was ill and couldn’t come to church that day. After teaching the first lesson in a new series in Life Group, which went fairly well, I thought. It was then on to the sanctuary.
The music was good, mostly the typical modern songs that struggle to speak to me. But it was good. The time came for Pastor Mark’s sermon. He’s in a sermon series titled “Please Disturb”, the idea being that we should invite God in to disturb the things we really don’t want disturbed, such as our prayer life, our future, our story (yesterday’s topic). It’s been a good series.
That particular Sunday, as the pastor was speaking, my mind was also thinking about my writing, and the many things I want to write for the Christian market. I searched in my Bible and found a sheet of paper to write on. I pulled out my pen and, as the pastor continued to speak, I began listing things I’ve written for this market and things I want to write. I started with non-fiction books, all of which are somewhere in the future. I listed five, though I believe the last time I went through this exercise I had six. Not sure which one I’ve forgotten.
I then went on to Bible studies and small group studies. I had seven listed that I’ve already taught. I have notes on them, but they are not even close to being in publishable form. Then there’s two I’ve actually started some research and organization on; then added four more that I know I want to develop, teach, and write. That’s twelve all together; some which are developed and taught, some not.
I then listed the Church history novels I’ve written, am writing, and plan to write. That’s nine works in a series. Add all of those up and they come to 26 works. Of these: two are published; one is a work-in-progress; one has a couple of chapters written before being set aside for a time; six have been fully developed but not written; two have some research started; and fourteen are plans or dreams.
All this I wrote while Pastor Mark was preaching about inviting God to disturb us. I actually felt that I was able to hear what Mark was saying, and understand it. My notes took no more than ten minutes to write. They were then out of my head. The rest of the sermon wasn’t multi-tasking; it was solely devoted to the sermon.
Maybe. Also on this piece of paper, written below the list of works I want to write, is a note that says “conflict for AoJ”. This is my work-in-progress, Adam of Jerusalem. I’m about to enter the middle of the novel. I know what I want with the ending; I knew what the beginning needed to be; but the middle was a mystery to me. I had one event planned, but I needed a whole lot more. What would I fill the middle with?
On this sheet of paper are five conflicts, five events that can all be written to lead to where I intend to go with the ending. I don’t know when I wrote these. Was it during the same sermon, or was it another time? I’m not sure.
But, as I look at those notes, it seems to be a good plan. Each of the five events can link together, and can flesh out this middle portion of the book.
Yesterday, in church, during the sermon, I found this sheet of paper. I took a minute to read it, then tucked it back into my Bible. I didn’t have to do anything more on it. I listened to the sermon without feeling the need to multi-task. I think I’m going to leave this in my Bible. It will be there whenever I need it during church, allowing me to concentrate on the sermon without feeling the need to multi-task.
