Exciting …
I begin today with my final revision for the print edition of Beyond Pretend. Finally settled in enough to pursue some things that have been on the back burner.
The revision really involves reformatting for PDF and paperback. I completed my best revision as far as written expression for the Kindle and ePub editions. Also I am changing the layout from landscape to portrait.
VERY EXCITING FOR ME!!!
I have asked the new president of Judson University – Dr. Gene C. Crume, Jr. – to write the foreword in this soon-to-be “hot off the presses” release. And he has happily accepted. Dr. Crume – Gene to most of you – has provided very positive feedback to me concerning the book. And, yes, he actually read it.
EXCERPT from Beyond Pretend: A Sheep’s Guide to the Universe!
Sentimentality doesn’t save …
Rhetoric is fooling others. Sentimentality is fooling yourself (William Butler Yeats).
Sentimentality may cause us to reflect, possibly even cause us to brilliantly and powerfully express our feelings, but only Jesus saves. It’s the “math of the path” – only one, only one name, only one truth, only one way. God isn’t swayed by our poetic gestures no matter how compelling because he has already demonstrated to us the full measure of his love in sending Jesus his Son.
When I began this book about two years ago, I came across the lyrics to “Time Never Ends” which was written by Hart, Weir and Haynes. The following lyrics are from the revised version played by The Grateful Dead in 2004.
———
Stepping through the midnight sun, To a life that never ends,
Snowflakes fall, winter comes, Time to make amends,
God of wind, God of time, I give my heart to thee,
Take me to a better place, Let my soul fly free, Let my soul fly free
Beyond the moon, beyond the stars, A wizard guiding me,
Beyond the moon, beyond the stars, Beyond the galaxy,
A secret place, a gentle space, A land beyond pretend
…
God of dreams, of life supreme, Come to me tonight,
Guide me to a better place, Beyond this starry night,
Take me to a better place, On golden spirit wings
…
Where gods and angels sing, Where gods and angels sing.
———
How beautiful, how sad and how tragic as we offer words of reconciliation but still refuse God’s offer of life through Jesus Christ.
One day you will die and find yourself on the threshold of eternity. You will step through “the midnight sun,” but there will be no time then to make amends, no sentimentality to sway the vote. If only you had preferred God’s song of salvation over the poetic illusion of another lost soul.
