Sword in the Fire

I've been following Jeff Goins online for some time now, and I have learned a lot.   I love to write, and even though I am a published author and blogger I have never thought of myself as a writer--until I read Jeff.   I was fortunate enough to review Jeff's new book You Are a Writer , and am thankful.  It is full of inspirational gems and practical advice.  As a blogger, who has been frustrated by lack of traction and readership, and an author looking for greater visibility and promotion for material that I believe is truly life changing; I can't wait to put into practice Jeff's advice.   Here are some inspirational gems, I found laying on the surface of the page: "Everything is practice"  "The secret to mastering any discipline: As you conquer one, you'll find it easier to tackle another."  "Multi-tasking is a myth.  You can either create or react.  But you can't do both.  Choose wisely."  "..dang...

Have you ever taken a seemingly insignificant topic, idea, or person, and delved into that subject learning all the interactions and facets connected to it?   Several years ago a friend lent me the book Cod , which did exactly as described above.   The author took this ubiquitous fish and explored it in the history of Western peoples, and lo and behold, not only did you learn about this fish, but the whole of history began to open with connections and causes you never grasped in high school Western Civ.   Theology works in similar ways.   Taking a small tangential subject and exploring how others have wrestled with one issue opens up the way that person thinks about God, Christ, Sin, Salvation and the Church.   When all research is done and the topic is laid bare on the table, you end up with much more than you expected.   Adam Harwood did this with The Spiritual Condition of Infants: A Biblical-Historical Survey and Systematic Proposa...