Well, my writing sabbatical is officially over. I've posted a summary of how I think things went over at BDWHITE.com. Also, there is a new chapter of Elixir published already, to let you enjoy at least some of my efforts.

We're really getting close to the end now. I have an estimated 4 or 5 more chapters to go, and that's it!

Today is the day! The beginning of my Writing Sabbatical. So, I've done some preparations for anyone else who would like to participate, or if you just want to keep up with how it's all going for me. So, check it out:

• The forum is set up and ready for anyone who wants to join in the the writing fun over at the {art of language} forums.
• You can keep up with how things are going with me via my writer's journal.
• Also, I'll be posting smaller updates on my identi.ca microblag.
• And, everyone is welcome to come and chat and post writings and fun stuff in the #bdwhite irc channel on freenode.

I'm really hoping this will be a fun time, and anyone who wants to is welcome to participate. Any writing style, any subject! All you need to do is go and register for an account on BDWHITE.com, which will let you post your work in the forums and participate in the discussions.

So, for this next week, most of the action is going to be going on over at BDWHITE.com, so if there haven't been any updates here, go and check out what's going on over there. Thanks! And hopefully I'll have something to show for the work by the end of the week!

Thanks for all the kind words from everyone regarding the sermon. It went pretty well yesterday. Everyone was very kind and said many complimentary things about it. The best surprise was that my friend, Becky, came to hear me speak, even though she had just driven across the country and had gotten into town very late the night before. Thank you, Becky! :-)

I've posted the sermon. You can check it out in the BDWHITE.com sermons section.

I've been working on this sermon for what feels like weeks. Kind of because I have been. Except that I took all last week off.

I knew from the beginning, when St. Mark's asked me to preach, that I would have to talk about my time in Japan. St. Mark's and Praise were the two churches that did the most to sponsor me...and I had a lot of personal support from family friends at St. Mark's who sent me letters and email and care packages while in Japan. When I requested children's books, they came through in epic form. I think I had over 100 by the time they were done...and I really only needed 10 or so. :)

So, yeah...St. Mark's needs to hear what they helped with.

The problem is, I find it difficult to really talk about my time in Japan. Not because it was bad, or that I don't want to talk about it--more because I don't really have any epic, life-changing stories that one comes to expect from missionary experiences.

So how do I write a sermon about my time in Japan, when I don't really have a lot to say? I gave a talk about the generalities of Japanese Christianity to my parents' Sunday School class just after returning. And that went well. People seemed really interested in it. But that won't really work for a sermon.

A couple of weeks ago, I preached at St. Paul's in Boise City, and I did a kind of "rough draft" missions sermon for them that I hoped I could adjust and reuse for this occasion. Unfortunately, I was never very happy with how that sermon came out. And it didn't go over all that well at St. Paul's. Again, it didn't go over badly...I just don't think people really understood it, or they didn't feel like it was a pressing issue in their lives. That...and I just had a hard time figuring out what I was trying to say.

And that's the problem I'm having. I want to say something. I've been asked to say something. I just don't know what that something is. But this is part of the job--when there is no time to wait for creativity to just flow, and you just have to force it. And very few things hurt worse than forcing your own creativity.

Truly awesome:

Because I am a fan of the classics, after all.

Well, I'll be driving back to Tulsa today. I'm preaching at my home church on Sunday (St. Mark's UMC). After that comes the writing sabbatical. I'll still be posting here on the Daily, but most of the writing action will be taking place over at BDWHITE.com. The mircoblag will of course be getting regular updates as well.

Also, I'm guessing I'm going to have cell phone service again once I'm back in Tulsa (been without it out here in Boise City for the better part of a month now). So, if you've been just dying to give me a call (and I know you have!), you'll have your chance for about a week and a half starting tomorrow!

An example to go with my blog post below:

Absolute Certainty Video (link to YouTube video)

Nothing I say will ever express my experience of who God is sufficiently for this man to understand it. His "experience" of God is so vastly different from mine, we will simply talk past each other ad naseum and accomplish no real communication in the process.

Believe it or not, I do believe that a faith language can be created between us, though--for faith is God's gift to give. It would just take a very, very long, compassionate time.

A snippet from the big announcement over at BDWHITE.com:

Starting Monday, July 28 (a week from today), I will be going on a "writing sabbatical" for 5 days, or in other words, one work week. I will be writing for at least 8 hours per day. What will I be writing on, you ask? Elixir, of course! My goal will be to hopefully finish up the rough draft of the entire book during that period of time. I don't know if this is a realistic goal or not, but we shall see!

In order to make things more fun for people, and to help give myself some encouragement (and motivation) along the way, I will be posting regular updates of my progress here, on my identi.ca feed, and I will even post some snippets of the actual writing in the {art of language} forums. I will be checking comments and emails regularly, so if there's something you'd like to see in Elixir, or if you have some critique for the snippets in the forums, feel free to speak out!

Also, I'm going to challenge other BDWHITE.com readers to take a sabbatical of your own. You may not be able to do a week like me, but how about a day, or even a couple of hours? If you register for an account here at BDWHITE.com, you can even post your own snippets in the forum!

It all starts next Monday, July 28!