Inaugural Book Signing

Tonight at my church I will be having my first book signing. I expect it to be rather awkward. The whole idea seems to be a bit egotistical and/or self-serving and yet it is what many have been asking for. I delight in their excitement on my behalf but it still feels a bit weird, like, "Whew hoo! Look at me, look what I did!" The truth is, if people knew where I came from so to speak, it is nothing but evidence of the wonder working power of God to use a chipped and cracked vessel for His honor. Thank you Lord; I am nearly undone when I think about it all.

And then of course there are the obligatory joy stealers to borrow a phrase from Max Lucado. There was some flap after the first Sunday we allowed people to pick up their books. A scant handful of people were annoyed about "selling" MY book in the church. What is interesting and again typical, is that I personally had told the staff when asked before all this went down that we would not be selling my book on Sunday morning. I didn't want a circus environment distracting from what we do. But after the books came in people wanted to know why they couldn't just get their books when they came to church. Some people come quite a ways and having it available on Sunday when they are there anyway would be convenient. So with the blessing of the leadership we decided to make it easy for people; it just made sense and besides while we do restrict such activities we have also made exceptions in the past. Let's see, what's the adage? Damned if you do, damned if you don't?

My first reaction was to forget the whole Book thing and collapse to the vocal, and usually, invisible minority. But as I pondered it and sought counsel about it, I thought, you know, that would be no different than mimicking the high school that tells the Valedictorian that she cannot pray at her graduation or mention God in her speech because "someone" protested saying they would be offended.

Why do we always buckle to the 2 or 3 voices that have one opinion when there are thousands more that have no problem? Personally, I think it past time to stop catering to the minority hang ups while trampling on the desires of the majority.

Never-the-less, instead of pure joy, now there's awkwardness. Sigh... Maranatha!