Parts of Speaking Publishing

 I will post the link to the article first and then make comments: https://thedispatch.com/newsletter/dispatch-faith/easter-christianity-mary-karr-2/?utm_source=ActiveCampaign&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Water%20From%20Stone&utm_campaign=Water%20From%20Stone#comments If you cannot get to this (firewalled) I will copy it and send it to you. It was meaningful to me this Resurrection morning. 

 On April 16, my publisher and a friend and I attended the awards ceremony for the Townsend Prize.   It was one of those "I don't belong here" moments, although they assured me I did. Especially Ann Hite, one of the judges, who told me how well regarded my book, Lying In, was in the competition (although I didn't win).  I was in esteemed literary company and have the photos to prove it.   The Georgia Writers Museum and the Atlanta Writers Club were and are gracious hosts, and it was quite a celebration of writing in Georgia. I owe them  thank you notes; today would be a good day for that.  With the end of the semester and retirement pending and life in general, I am overwhelmed right now.  However, one thing I know: you cannot rest on the laurel of one recognized book. I must get back to writing; my fiction brain has been dormant, maybe comatose, for a year.  Not good.  I have ten to twelve ideas--what should I pursue? That's the bi...

  21  But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets,  22  even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all  [ f ] and on all who believe. For there is no difference;  23  for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,  24  being justified  [ g ] freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,  25  whom God set forth  as  a  [ h ] propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed,  26  to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Jesus died for many reasons, but this is one not so much understood or studied.  Righteousness is apart from the law and thr...

I was listening to a podcast (The Habit) where the host, Jonathan Rodgers, was interviewing Tish Harrison Warren and Doug McElvey about their writing on the ordinary.  We can see that word as "boring, mundane, no impact" or as "daily, particular, real."  Life is so daily; life is so ordinary. Doug McElvey said that he was raised in a "tradition" that had no tradition and that emphasized doing something big and influential and dramatic on the world stage for God. He seemed to say he had a personal crisis where he realized he didn't love--God or people. And that became his goal. I like that testimony. I am facing it now a bit.  "I Came to Love You Late" would be my spiritual biography's title.  It's actually the title of book from the '70s about Martha. I can relate.  

 Our pastor preached from Isaiah 40 this morning.  Higher critics say this was written by a different "prophet" than Isaiah because the things prophesied had already happened. Somewhat of an oxymoron.  But Isaiah 40 does have an interest rhetorical take--lots of questions, much like the end of Job. Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the  Lord , The Creator of the ends of the earth, Neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. 29  He gives power to the weak, And to  those who have  no might He increases strength. 30  Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall, 31  But those who wait on the  Lord Shall renew  their  strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.    Our pastor did a wonderful job of explicating the flow here. Even those who cannot run will be able to...

Note these last of the 50 Reasons Jesus Came to Die They are universal. There is nothing tribal about our faith. It is radically global and inclusive.   

Fifty-four years ago I made a profession faith in Christ.  I didn't know much.  I know a bit more now; I hope I love God and His people more. Some disappointment and near-cynicism plagues me, but I love Him because He first loved us.  The next list of John Piper's 50 Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die:  

  On of my favorite Christian books. Everyone should have this and read it periodically.  This is just one third of the reasons John Piper provides.  Romans 5 and Romans 8 are the basis for many of these. 

 My intentions were to write every day. I have missed a few. But I am learning, in my old age, about grace.  The young man who oversees student conduct (deals with the cheaters) spoke to my department yesterday. My attitude toward kids who cheat is "you're a big fat liar and I don't care what happens to you."  When it comes to intentionally using AI or stealing other writers' work, I still feel that way. It's the easy way out while they mess around and blow off the learning effort, and it's a character problem. But students also have trouble with plagiarism because of bad training in the past, because they resort to "less than" work out of a wrong academic mindset, and because life gets to be too much for them and they are not ready for the demands of college.  I see that.  So every student who ends up in the student conduct office is not the same person with the same reasons.  Some mercy is warranted, in some cases. And this applies to myself, e...