As soon as I put Paul on the airplane, I began immediately with another project that has been on the back burner far too long. Together with Gordon Clifford, of Christian Mission Press, I have been working on a series of small books that can be used as personal devotions, guides for home Bible studies, or Sunday school quarterlies. The first four books were to be based on the life and teachings of Christ using the parables and events of the Gospels. I had finished the three previous books but lacked the fourth one to have one full year’s worth of studies completed.
The idea is to put the material out in two, possibly three formats. The first one is the small book, about fifty five to sixty pages long and printed in a size similar to the typical Bible. This makes for the ease of carrying the book with the Bible and is also an economical format, as the cover is simply a folded poster board stock. But with the completion of the fourth book, the next step will be to combine the four small books into one larger study guide that can be used for an entire year. The combined and somewhat expanded book will should contain about two hundred and fifty pages. Then the final format would be a digital edition of year long study guide. That way the user would print up pages as needed and would avoid shipping costs.
This book was one of my slated projects for this trip down to Colombia. But for my first three months here, I was extremely busy with visitors who were here to help with different aspects of the ministry. Since none of them speaks Spanish, I needed to accompany them at all times to translate. They were here at my invitation and to help with the work, so I dedicated my first three months in Colombia to making the most of those visitors. With Paul’s departure, I was free to work on other projects, and this one took top priority.
I began writing the very afternoon that Paul left to return to the United States. From that day forward I begin work about 7:30 in the morning, after breakfast and showering and getting ready for my day. I normally work all morning with one mid-morning break for coffee. I stop for about a fifteen minute lunch break and then am back at the keyboard for the afternoon, with one mid-afternoon break for coffee. I generally work till about six when I stop for supper and to watch the news. After the news is off, I generally head back to my work at writing. I will write until about nine, when I begin to get ready for bed.
After slightly more than two weeks of work, I have now finished up the fourth book in the series. This will conclude the studies in the life and teachings of Christ. The next series of books will be from the book of Acts in the New Testament and will deal with the life of the early church and the missionary ministry of Paul. But this book is nearly finished. I have given it to some of the Colombian leaders to read and critique. After that is done, I will do one final revision and then it will be sent off to Gordon Clifford for publication. We hope and trust that it will be a benefit for the spiritual growth of many young Christians in Colombia and around Latin America.