We had an interesting week traveling to South Bend, Indiana, to meet our publisher and his team at Ave Maria Press. The campus of Notre Dame is a remarkably beautiful place, and late spring is a perfect time to see it. Our meetings were quite exciting as we began to see our book project take shape.
In three weeks time we will deliver a complete manuscript to them, and that’s when the editing process begins. Editing continues throughout the summer. In the fall we will be working with the creative team on what the book looks like and some other special features (which I’ll be telling you about when they are more developed). The whole process should be complete by the first of the year. The book will be printed and distributed early in 2013. The whole journey should be as interesting as this past week has been.
How often in life do you find yourself on a new path headed toward an unknown destination? Sure, much of our ordinary time is filled with remarkably similar daily patterns, schedules and routines. But there are seasons and cycles of life where everything changes for awhile and we are off to a new place. That can be a fun and exciting experience, like our book project. Those who are graduating this spring are experiencing that too, and so are all this spring’s newly weds. If you have a baby, or you’re expecting, you know what I’m talking about.
On the other hand, the new path we suddenly find our self on, might be a sad one instead. People who have lost a loved one are on a new path. If you’re sick or suffering, that’s a different path headed to a different place.
Sometimes the new path is challenging. You know that if you’re in treatment or recovery. If you’ve got a new job, or are looking for one, if you’ve just moved or celebrated some significant birthday, if you’ve just come to faith or moved to a new church family, you know what I mean.
Life keeps serving up new beginnings; we keep finding ourselves on new paths headed to unknown destinations, places we’ve never been before. That’s because God wants us to keep growing and he wants to use all our experiences to shape our character. The Bible says:
And we know that in all things
God works for the good of those who love him,
Who have been called according to his purpose.
Romans 8:28
All things…think about it: all things. God stays the same through the ages, but we don’t, we can’t. Everything around us keeps changing and he uses all of it for our good.
