Paul’s New Book

About an hour ago I wrote the last word of the last sentence of the last chapter of my new book. It is called The Gospel in Ten Words and it is ten revelations of God’s grace that describe the normal life of every believer (loved, forgiven, accepted, holy, righteous, new, etc.). Here is a work-in-progress picture of the cover and a synopsis…

What’s happening now?

As we speak, acres of rainforest are being decimated to make the paper that will be needed to bring this book to print. Ones and zeros are being harvested from the Internet in preparation for the related e-book. Book reviewers are cancelling holiday plans and bookstores and erecting new shelves in anticipation of its imminent release.

Ha!

What’s happening now is I’m packing to go on a short break to Christchurch, the town of my birth. I have been wanting to return to Christchurch ever since last year’s earthquake destroyed something like 70 percent of the inner city’s buildings. I am also looking forward to catching up with friends at the Grace and Glory Conference, and meeting new friends.

When will the book be released?

At present, individual chapters are being read by a group of friends. (My thanks to those of you who have already provided feedback. As for the rest of you, get a wriggle on!) At the same time the whole thing is being meticulously proofread by a professional editor.

So when will the book come out? I honestly don’t know. I’m impatient to birth this baby but I don’t want to push people. (Dear reading friends, please ignore what I just said.) It’ll be done when it’s done. But one way you can stay abreast of the news is to make sure you are an E2R subscriber. I’ll post announcements here.

One last thing

One of my chapter-readers, Peter Wilson of the UK, dropped a bombshell on me last weekend. When he saw the title of the book he said, “Are you aware that ‘the ten words’ is another name for the Ten Commandments?” I was not aware.

Oh fudge, I thought. I’ve written a gospel book people will think is based on the Ten Commandments. That’s hardly a good look for a preacher of grace!

I wondered if I had made a dreadful mistake with the title but Peter disagreed. “It could be a good thing. I think it’s really exciting and not a coincidence.”

Peter’s right. God knows I love lists and I’m pretty sure He was the one who gave me the idea for the book and the title. So what if people associated “ten words” with the law? No, I choose to trust that this is a God-thing.

Then that night, a confirmation. Camilla and I were watching an episode of The West Wing and President Bartlett was on a quest for a sound bite. “I need ten words,” he said over and over. “Josh, have you got the ten words? Who’s got ten words?” Not nine, not eleven, but ten words. It’s like my favorite president was saying, “You picked a great title!”

So the title stays. It’s The Gospel in Ten Words – not nine, not eleven, but ten – and you’re going to love it. I know so because I pinched everything in it from the Holy Spirit.

By the way, Peter kindly suggested a neat hook for the book:

“We’ve had the 10 words of the law; now receive the 10 words of grace.”

Nice one Peter.