Today, after a rather insomniatic night, I was pondering about all of the writing I have to do before the Feast of Tabernacles. Given the uncertainties of computer usage (and printing) in Khun Yuam, I have decided to type and print all of my notes (and those notes for the translators) beforehand. This involves a lot of typing and planning and printing and bringing a lot of paper with me to the Feast of Tabernacles (as well as organizing it all). I thought, to give some idea of what a massive project it was, that it would be worthwhile to provide some details. Since all of these will be forthcoming blog entries, I figure I am not spoiling too much by giving some hints in advance.

First, I have an offertory message on Trumpets. Since I am not content with quoting the same few scriptures that everyone else seems to for offertories, I have come up with a different offertory message than I gave for Pentecost [1], which itself was different than the usual offertory message one hears. And, truth be told, I have an entirely different offertory planned for Atonement, and then for the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles, and then for the eighth day, but those are three more (thankfully short) among many messages that I have to write. Like I said, I’m pretty swamped with writing right now.

Besides the offertory messages for the next four Feasts, I wanted to explain some reasons why we fast on the Day of Atonement (I have three specific reasons in mind, some of which, at least in their explanation, may contain information that longtime members have not thought of in the context of Atonement). That means yet another message to write that I have to finish this week, though. I also was instructed to write a backup message for Trumpets in case the vagaries of travel in Thailand make it impossible for Achan Leon to return from Bangkok to Chiang Mai tomorrow as he plans. I have done that, though I plan on giving it on the afternoon of the First Day of the Feast of Tabernacles at Khun Yuam. Thankfully two of the many messages I have to write are done. Besides this I still need to write my opening message for the Feast of Tabernacles on the first night, my messages for both of the Eighth Day messages, and about three or four Bible studies on top of that.

On the down side, it means that I will be writing a lot in a hurry the next two weeks, and printing enough to start my own Church of God publishing company. At least I’ve had the subjects in my mind enough that most of the messages have either fairly specific themes or Bible passages at this point. I just have to buckle down and get them written. All of these messages have a very quick deadline, meaning it is unlikely that I will be getting to any personal writing until I am in Khun Yuam (and if I have to use the squishy keyboard extension on my laptop or pay for a cybercafe [2]), I am not going to want to do much personal writing then anyway. However, it does mean that thanks to my massive amount of speaking engagements that I will soon have a book’s worth of sermon and offertory messages that I have given within the past few months. It just gives me one more reason to find a book agent. For, as Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 12:12: “Of making books there is no end.” Indeed, that has been the case for me for a long time. Of course, I’ll still do my best to blog at my usual level these next couple of weeks–just be aware that my time will be even more fragmented than usual thanks to all of the sermon-writing.

[1] https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2011/06/12/three-times-a-year/

[2] https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2011/09/14/an-explanation-of-the-recent-drop-in-posts/