The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Write in a book all the words that I have spoken to you. – Jeremiah 30:1-2

This week, and for the first time in possibly months, I have found some time to work on my new book. I can’t say that I have my momentum back yet, but at least I am writing again.

What I’m looking for is a thread, or a through-line that can carry me forward, rather than simply noting a series of interesting – or memorable – events.

Maybe, and I am thinking out loud here, there are a few inviolable ideas that hold everything together over time and that essentially define my life? The word providence immediately comes to mind, and then love, and purpose… I guess the question becomes, “if everything material is taken away – say in a hurricane or a flood or a fire or a war – then what is left?”

I would, or I guess I should, say “What remains is everything that is of any importance.”

It may be interesting that I grew up in the south of England, or that I took an epic tour of Europe and the Middle East when I was 19, or that Rebekah and I have lived in some wonderful places, or that we have moved into this remarkable old house… But that is not what makes this story work! The story is God’s faithfulness to us through it all, the story is our response to and participation in the work of providence, the story is what has been happening – in and through that partnership – in the way of renewal, reconciliation, restoration and resurrection; it is a story of grace and light and hope and healing and promise and mercy.

So I guess the first thing I have to do is to take the 450 pages I have so far, the 110,000 words, and sift though it all once more looking through that lens. It is, after all, my chapter in the Greatest Story Ever Told.

And if any one of you end up reading it all when I am done, what I want you to come away with is hope and promise too – DEREK