From Blog to Book
In May of 2012, I began writing daily devotionals beginning in Genesis. The goal was to read through the Bible in one year and to gain personal benefit from each day’s reading. Each devotional contained an assigned daily reading of about 85 verses, a selected passage usually of one to three verses, my reflections on the passage, and my challenge from that passage, how that passage calls me to act and think as a response to the teaching.
It was an exhilarating experience for me to get up each day during the months that followed and to read, think, and write seeking not only to profit from my study but to encourage others to do the same. I never enjoyed any Bible reading or study more.
On January 1, 2013, I began posting the daily devotionals on this blog site. On December 31, 2013, the goal was completed. In 2014, I began transferring the daily blogs into a MS Word document and re-editing them for possible publication as a book. That process took until July of this year.
In October, Metokos Press founder, Dr. Don Clements accepted the work for publication. I did not expect this to go so smoothly but editor Mrs. Susan Smith got to work and did a thorough review, cleaning up punctuation and putting the work into proper format for e-book publication. Ms. Susannah Clements designed the very attractive cover and submitted the work to Amazon for publication as a Kindle book. Here is the link.
To say that I am deeply grateful to God for His grace to bring this to fruition is no overstatement. My thanks go to many friends (especially from Christ Church in Katy, TX, Grace Church in Roanoke, VA and the Roanoke Valley Christian Writers Group), family members (notably our daughter, Paula who has talent, training, and employment as a writer), Mrs. Stella Davison, who suggested that I write a devotional book as my first major writing project (you have to know Stella to appreciate the force of her suggestions), Dr. Jerry White, former International President of the Navigators and successful writer himself, who almost 30 years ago encouraged me to write, and my beloved wife, Mary, who was by my side each day as I wrote believing that I could do, checking for typos and various kinds of errors and offering gracious criticism as needed. Thank you all so much!
I just downloaded the book into Mary’s Kindle. How does it look? It looks great. I hope you will check it out, buy a copy, and write a review on Amazon. Most of all I hope you will set a goal to read through the Bible, however long it takes. Know God in truth and walk in the light of His truth.
Soli Deo Gloria!