Parts of Speaking Publishing

 This one may seem like a rant (anything that starts with "I hate" is at least at that level). I am not talking about the little rubbery covers on soda cans. I am talking about cozy mysteries.  This is not a new feeling for me, but it intensified this week for a purely illogical and unconnected reason. I am in a writing group with eight other people. We meet every two weeks, or actually twice a month, and at this point everyone is writing fiction, usually novels but sometimes short stories. One member is writing what she calls a cozy mystery, or at least a beach read. It has some potential, but from a reader's standpoint so far, it's a mess, and she gives us pieces out of order, or she changes the backstory without explaining it. I won't go into the plot, as I am unsure I really understand it and she might change it by next week anyway. Generally she writes well; I think she is just struggling with this particular vision.  A cozy is defined as (by Wikipedia)  a su...

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptlqXIhkrvM

 I thought about titling this something bland such as "Reflections on October 7" but I wanted to be clear about the nature of the blog post. It is about Israel, murders, terrorism, anti-semitism, anti-Zionism, and Hamas.  This link should take you to video of the "memorializing" this morning in Tel Aviv and other Israeli cities.  https://www.facebook.com/reel/1886627422717161/?s=single_unit&__cft__[0]=AZi63azN2l94zWpx6Pw9rDV3bjDpl64vcK0l_YRw6OEmPxLm7vkUTkEiZygxa5pdtvxoPgJ8jBWb3KfM4Ep8xsJ5gEQxoUZdjjJGlG4G7oMT7iZnQ61h0MxBjHkFfq3Hc2iETybX7P1HgExQiBMgaXh5k6XyjCrHCabqYYXppeJQDQRZQ5pr&__tn__=H-R You may have seen this.  Social media is not a reliable door to the world. "It" lets you see what it thinks you want to see. Thus, I get lots and lots of videos and reels and links to pro-Israel material, and relatively little of pro-Hamas. Now, just typing the words "pro-Hamas" leads my mind in another direction. Will it bring people I don't want t...

 These two source might be helpful in determining your attitudes on Artificial Intelligence.  From Christianity Today:  https://www.christianitytoday.com/2026/10/religion-is-not-the-enemy-of-reading-new-dark-ages-marriott-review/  This one is more about literacy vs. screens.  The Habit podcast for Sept. 28 with Peter Killingley.  I have decided that I am the Wendell Berry of AI. I see not value to it in writing, only dehumanization and laziness.

I am teaching this passage tomorrow. Here are my speaking notes.  Four passages in the Gospels record this event. Otherwise, there are only a few that are repeated by all four, and those mostly around the crucifixion. The Last Supper is one, and it predicts this event. Matthew 14:13–21 , Mark 6:30–44 , Luke 9:12–17 , and John 6:1–14 . [ 1 ] Matthew 14:13-21. The four steps, took bread, blessed, broke, and distributed. Pointing toward the final feast (Rev. 19:6-9) Matthew 26:26 Luke 24: 30; 22:19; 9:1 “They knew him in the breaking of the bread.” The commonalities: Crowd of people followed him on foot while he took a boat to the location. It happened after miracles of healing. Took place later in the day. The disciples basically wanted to send them away. Jesus did not. They complain or show their lack of faith somehow. The basics of two fish and five loaves of bread. That there were more than 5000 (plus women and children) The disciples distributed it ( in an...

 O. Alan Noble is a professor at Baylor University and a writer. He maintains a Substack blog and his wide reading as an English prof is helpful. Here he is writing about distractions that violate our interiority as believers. I struggle with this in prayer and elsewhere: way, way too many onslaughts, everywhere, to what I call quietude and reflection. And I am writing this in a (not busy at all) airport at 8:45, on my way to Atlanta and then Fort Meyers, FL for the weekend. Here is a quote: And roughly the same practice is applicable for intrusive thoughts, except I don’t think it’s necessary to ask for forgiveness for thoughts that are purely random and are actually undesirable. They aren’t coming from the heart as secret desires. They are coming from the mind as worst case scenarios. So I think your task is to acknowledge and return to the present moment. The other recommendation I have on lust is the prayer I’ve included in books and written about at length years ago here . If ...