Leg Crossers –Jason and Sam

I got to meet fellow Rabbit Room writer Jason Gray in Nashville a few weeks ago, as well as hear him perform some songs. Then this past weekend got to hear him again here in southern West Virginia (thanks Matt and Mark). Gina and I (and the kids) got to spend some extended time with him and it was really special. I encourage you to check out his music. It’s good, ya’ll.

Fake Scholarship –Jason and Gina, fakers

His emphasis on weakness, brokenness and the power and completeness of God in our weakness is beautiful. His song from several years ago, Blessed Be, has been a welcome reminder of something I have needed to hear lately.

I am going through some health issues now, again (I have a medical test today, in fact, and would appreciate prayer). This idea of being perfected in weakness, of being blessed in brokenness (which is so evident in Matthew, and all of Scripture) has been a comfort to me. Jason’s music has added to the chorus of truth I need to hear now and all the time.

The Gospel is for the broken, the needy, the ones who know they need it. Not for the morally superior. Again, consider this amazing passage in Luke 18. I need that!

So, after the jump here I put Jason’s song, Blessed Be, up for you to hear. I didn’t ask him, so mum’s the word. It’s not the best audio (or video), so I put up the words. But he tells the same story on Acoustic Storytime, which is a great record.
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It is 2:13 AM (EST) as of this writing. I am back home in West Virginia, with my excellent wife, Gina, and our wonderful kids (all asleep, of course). I am, as the expression goes, a happy man.

I am just now returned from Nashville, where I was privileged to participate in the inaugural Hutchmoot (a conference of The Rabbit Room).

It was a tremendous event. I do not exaggerate when I say that these last few days exceeded my expectations in a great variety of ways.

I am too tired to get to all that at present, but the arch under which my joy grows is a deep thankfulness to my Father, who answered so many of my prayers with an unmistakeable “Yes.”

I intend to say more later. Happy Monday morning to you.

Hutchmoot, the first annual Rabbit Room conference retreat gathering summit festival event, is happening this weekend in Nashville, TN. It’s the maiden voyage and I’m thrilled to be there for the breaking of the champagne bottle against the vessel. And the hoisting of the anchor.  Also, the green-faced sea-sickness.

The last time I went to Nashville it was for a basketball tournament back when I was in shape and could contribute my customary 6 or so points and 5 or so fouls per game. It must be admitted that I sometimes had more fouls than points. But, if memory serves, I think I absolutely went off for 10 in one game in Nashville. (Points, not fouls. Although, if you could have 10 fouls, who knows?)

I look forward to the event, especially to meeting in person so many of the people I have connected with in the Rabbit Room online community. I am also really honored to be inexplicably given a chance to share on the panels. I hope to demonstrate why taking such a generous risk on someone such as myself never pays off. It’s quite possible I’ll have more fouls than points, once again.

I really look forward to the concerts by AP and the Square Pegs, the address by Walter Wangerin Jr., the book release from Jonathan Rogers, and all the planned events. But I think I’m mostly jazzed for the conversation. The talks with new friends who share some of the same passions. (I refer, of course, to physical/lazy defense in basketball.)

I’m also really happy to be traveling with some great saddle-pals. Should be fun. I have no clever/cheesy, fourth reference to basketball to wrap this up. Sorry. That would have been a real score.

I am guarded when I write in this space. And I think that’s mostly good. This is not the place for words baptized in my hot tears. This is not my private journal, or my family scrapbook.

So how to express my gratitude for my wife of ten years? How to say to God and everyone who reads here how thankful I am, how humbled I am –how astonished I am at this gift I’ve enjoyed for ten years?

Some rare, open words…and (grateful) tears that you can’t see.

Gina has been beside me in the very worst hours of my life. It was very early on in our marriage that we went through what was to us, a nightmare (a long season of great difficulty centered around my health problems). I think we both expected that it was very possible she would be a widow early in our marriage. Those were very dark days.

But there she was and here she is. She is constant.

Out of those horrible days we, like everyone, have had many other more ordinary challenges -many involving sickness, discouragement and upheaval in our families, church, home…you name it. We have not suffered like some have suffered, but we have suffered –many know about some of that and many don’t. It’s not my goal here to focus on that, but merely to acknowledge it. I sometimes think that some people (who don’t know us well) think we “have it together,” that we live a charmed life. Maybe I contribute to that by not expressing much in the way of our challenges in this place.

But out of a very rough start we feel like we, by God’s grace and mercy, weathered a terrible storm together.

We were given a hard providence, but emerged loving each other more and clinging more closely to the Gospel of Jesus Christ by which we stand.

I admire Gina for increasingly, over time, leaving less and less room for bitterness. For moving toward contentment and simplicity. For not letting evil times produce a resentment and selfishness in her heart.

I think we feel more humbled by our experience with pain. We feel less inclined to be certain of ourselves, but more certain of the promises of God. I hope that aids us in future suffering, which is pretty certain (for all of us).

So far this has been a heavy telling. Isn’t this a time for joy? Yes! But isn’t sorrow and pain often where deep joy is rooted? It is with us.

I am deeply thankful for my bride of ten years. We have had such tremendously happy times together! We have been blessed far past anything we deserved.

We have had more joy in a year of our life than many millions of people ever experience in a lifetime.

I feel like we have been given, from God, a joy in life that is rare. I believe he has answered our deep longings again and again by his good gifts.

He has been so merciful to me in the wife he provided. His grace is heaped up on me every day that I have her.

I won’t exhaust her virtues here. But she has been what I have needed. A hardworking, home-centered, beauty-adding, life-giving helper to me. God has called me to many things, and has called Gina to be beside me. She is wise, understanding, humble-hearted, content, merciful, industrious, beautiful and faithful. She really is those things. I thought about each one and say each carefully. Truthfully.

I’ll add one more, and this has actually been a great gift to us in some of the hardest times. We really love to be together. We get along well. We like each other. We laugh at each other. Gina is hilarious and fun to be around. We like a lot of the same stuff and have learned to love things we didn’t love before. I trust her and she takes care of me, even when challenging me (a very cautious, fearful person) to expand my horizons. (She has really added so much appreciation to my life in the area of food, for example.)

We both stumble in many ways and I know a lot about her sin, just as she knows about mine. Our list of failures would challenge yours, I’m sure.

But the theme of the story of my life with Gina has been the mercy and grace of God to me and to the children he has given us.

I cannot imagine how my life would be without her and am overwhelmed with gratitude to my Father –a giving, loving Father.

Many women do well, she excels them all.

Cheers, for Ten Years!

I mean enabler in a good way.

As I write, I just received word that my editor at West Virginia South, Audrey Stanton, has resigned. She has been on maternity leave and plans to spend more time with her newborn son and her other, young boy. She will continue to contribute to the magazine as a writer, but won’t be the editor any longer. I am very happy for her and am always happy to see children get that special love and attention. I would never say anything against that. But for my own, selfish purposes it’s kind of bittersweet.

Audrey was a great editor, and her acceptance and promotion of my work was a major point of encouragement in my life as a writer. She was enthusiastic about The Fledge Chronicles from my first pitch and has been at the helm for 14 months as each issue has featured one of my stories.

I will never forget that she is the person who is responsible for my first experience of publication. Unless I get amnesia, real bad.

I have mentioned her in posts here (where I tell how The Fledge Chronicles came about), here, and elsewhere.

I can’t thank Audrey enough. She has been used by God for my family’s good over the last year+, and I will certainly miss working with her (in that capacity).

She not only published my stories, but consistently expressed her enjoyment with them. She has been a big encouragement and a generally amazing person to work for/with.

So a hearty thanks to Audrey, and all the best as she treks through this next opportunity.

The interim editor is on the ball, and I do expect the magazine to continue (and, I hope, me with it).

I am terrible at the oft-used skill of taking pictures of what’s going on and then putting them on Twitter and Facebook and that kind of thing.

But today I have taken a picture of my travelling companions and shall shew it forth to thee.

I love audiobooks (if I were a teenager I would add  a LOT of exclamation points here).

I buy some, borrow some from various libraries and some I steal (one of those is not true). Here’s what’s riding shotgun with me right now. (I write this ) As if you care!

Do you like audiobooks? Whatcha listenin’ to now?

Gather the young’ns. Enjoy.

Slugs & Bugs – Tractor Tractor from Scott Brignac on Vimeo.

Buy the record here. It’s grand for the kids.

Visit the Slugs and Bugs website to find out more about the upcoming tour, and other factoids.

See the Rabbit Room post explaining stuff, by Randall. (I call him Randall because, well, we’ve never met and he has no idea about my popularity among the “my mom” demographic.)

Today is my wife’s birthday. Happy Birthday, My Dear. I love you best of all.

Have a happy day. I say “I love you,” in public, in front of my mom and the several others who feel sorry for me and read this blog.

“Our kind of love, never seems to get old. It’s better than silver and gold.”

Neil Young

You are ‘the bess.’

Here’s a painting for you that I’m sure you will love. It has roses in it.

‘

As you most likely know, my adopted home country of South Africa is very close to my heart. Since leaving there I have often dreamed of going back. It’s a lovely land in so many ways, and there are so many people I miss.

Since I have been focused on writing for a while, on working towards getting a novel published, it’s pretty natural for me to want that to happen over there as well as here in the U.S.A.

Imagine my delight to learn that South Africa, in contrast to the U.S. and the U.K., is seeing a boom in sales of books. It’s amazing that book sales are on the increase anywhere in this age of Chicken Littles crying out that the printed word is dead.

So, I guess I am writing this as a point of reference in words for an aspiration I have had for a while.

I want to see one of my novels (or more) published in South Africa.

My novel, Shadwell, is full of South African allusions.

So, now you know. You can smile with me when the day comes and say, Njabulani!

…of her old website home.

Go visit her new web home at www.ginagsmith.com. Be friendly, say hello in the comments section.

I love the new look. And I love her.

That is all you get, nosy people. Go thither, post haste.