This is how life goes

More than half a year has passed since my first day on the job as publisher at Barclay Press. In that time, we've shipped roughly 10,000 items—books, study guides, CDs. We've shared 23 newsletters (this is 24). We're in the middle of two book projects with half a dozen more in the works. We've partnered with EFM in producing Easter Offering materials. We've helped Tilikum Center for Retreats develop an application process for the Christian Writers Cabin they're building. We've replaced three sets of fluorescent tubes, addressed a plumbing problem in the upstairs bathroom, had the carpets cleaned, and saved a failing hard drive. We've taken out the trash on Tuesday nights and brought in the empty trash cans on Wednesday mornings.

This is how life goes. We do what needs to be done, try not to drop any details, and take what time's left over to think about what might come next.

So what comes next?

Well, it won't be long before we're mailing out orders of Illuminate for Fall 2016, a study on Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther. The quarterly includes writing from Bruce Butler, Priscilla Hochhalter, Judith Shoemaker, Nancy Thomas, and Catherine Trzeciak. After that, we'll send out Fruit of the Vine.

In the meantime, we're building an online imprint, which will remain separate from the work we do here at Barclay Press. We hope to have more than a thousand readers and 30 contributors by the end of this summer.

We're also dreaming.

About what God is doing and where God is leading. About how we might plant seeds today—little, tiny seeds—that might one day break into bloom. About what we can do that might make a difference in the world.

Eric Muhr