Friday update- Editing on Contingency hit a little snag. I got stuck on a scene in Chapter 20. Most of it probably needs to go, but there are a couple of very important realizations that Gavin needs to help Chuck with, so I can’t drop it entirely. While I was spinning my wheels there, though, I went back and began a read-through of the whole book. That helped me stay focused on the big picture and gave me a sense that I was making some progress even though that one pesky scene was being contrary. Editing is lonely work, but I am determined to stick with this through all the revisions.

BTW- While letting that sticky scene percolate… before I dropped off to sleep last night, I had an idea. I think I’ll try it from Gavin’s POV. The edits for the rest of the book promise to be intense. It’s a little flabby. I’ll let you know next week how things have progressed!

Books read this week – Both of these were for school next year, part of Lauren’s Starting Points course. I hope to read some for myself next week.

• Know What You Believe: Connecting Faith and Truth by Paul Little. It was a great overview of theology.
• How to Read Slowly: Reading for Comprehension by James W. Sire. This was a primer on pulling a deeper meaning from all the types of literature we read, fiction, poetry, essays and so forth.

Psalm 20:1 May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble; May the name of the God of Jacob defend you

I posted Tuesday and nine o’clock or so last night, I realized Tuesday… should’ve been a Study Tip Tuesday! So… Here it is on Thursday (still starts with a ‘T’- that counts for something, right?)

The previous tip dealt with how chapter breaks sometimes interrupt the flow. Today we’ll consider the fact that occasionally the verse ends before the sentence does. In 2 Corinthians 1:3, we read “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,”. The verse ends with a comma telling us the thought isn’t complete even though it may sound that way.

If we consider verse 4 alone, it’s even more obvious that something is missing. “who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” Not only does the verse start with a lowercase letter, but reading it, we know we’re in the middle of something.

Taken all together, we get the complete thought-
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

Another example is in Ephesians 1:3-6.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.

Paul writes a sentence/paragraph that is divided into 4 verses in our Bible. Granted the sentence is packed, and the verse divisions may help us digest it, but they also may cause us to lose the interconnectedness of the ideas.

Watch for this especially in the New Testament epistles. (And especially in Ephesians!)

I read Psalm 36 this morning preparing for tomorrow’s Bible study, and verses 5-6 outline a few of God’s attributes. Mercy vast as the heavens, faithfulness beyond the clouds, righteousness like mountains and justice deep as the sea. All of these are poetic images used to convey the idea that God is limitless. He is infinite. That’s one of the simplest ways to distinguish God from the rest of us. I am constantly aware of my limitations. I get tired, irritated. I fail in my dealings with others, withholding mercy at times, crossing a line from justice to vindictiveness on other occasions. I know my righteousness doesn’t measure up to a dirt clod, much less a mountain.

Thankfully, the psalm goes one more step and includes God’s precious unfailing love, and as an outworking of that He offers shelter and provides for us, satisfying the deep longings of our souls.

Sometimes, in my quest for intimacy with God, I lose sight of His uniqueness, His God-ness, of everything that makes Him God alone. It’s good to be reminded regularly, because it is in recognizing that separate-ness of God that I begin to grasp how wondrous, how beyond description, His desire for a relationship with me truly is.

Earlier in the week, the writers’ Yahoo group to which I belong posed a question about 5 year goals, and the steps I’m taking to realize that goal. I said I wanted to be preparing for the publication of my third book. (Contingency and Indemnity on the shelves… Precedent in process.) I lined out a few steps- whip Contingency into shape, pitch it and so forth. Then one of the group owners cautioned us about listing steps we have no control over. There’s wisdom in that. I can only do what I can do, but the responses of others are out of my hand. Timing is out of my hand. I can only write these stories, the best way I know how (constantly raising the bar on that) and demonstrate that God’s Word holds the answers we so desperately need.
Happy Memorial Day! May God bless and protect all who serve to safeguard our freedoms.
Thanks be to God for the indescribable gift of His Son. Through His blood, we are free indeed!

We are traveling this weekend, so I have a to-do list and a half today. Most of it involves laundry (and its evil twin- ironing). Bleeeah. When I have days like this, I react in one of two ways. I either lock-up, overwhelmed by all that ‘must’ be done and accomplish absolutely nothing. At the end of the day, I go to bed tired, but stressed and not sleep. OR I get to work, steadily and systematically. I may not finish everything, but I’ll get a healthy chunk of it done. Tonight I can go to bed tired but satisfied- and sleep.What makes the difference? Focusing on the results vs. focusing on the process. If I get too concerned on achieving, on meeting expectations, on what I have to show at the end of the day, I get strangled by the fear of failure. (That’s another issue. Maybe I’ll post on it in the future.) I become reactive. However, if I focus on the process, the steps I can take, then optimism takes over and I become proactive.

This translates into my relationship with God, too. If I get too wrapped up in the task at hand, and the expected results, I begin to rely on my own strength to bring it to pass. However, if I focus on following Christ, then all the pressure’s off me. He’s responsible for the path and the results. I just have to take the next step.

Even if that next step is the mountain of ironing.