600 words at a time.
That is how I have been encountering God. I write 600 new words every day. I fill about 2.5 pages of a notebook on the next book I am writing. It isn’t many words. Most days, it takes all day to get there. Some days I am even scribbling out that last ten or 100 words as I fall asleep at night.
I write in the in-between spaces of fatherhood. I take my son to the park and scribble out 250 or so words. He naps, and I write a blog post and get some research done for the next 350 words. Of course, God blows my mind in my research, and I spend the next nap time continuing to research. I have almost started carrying Strong’s concordance with me everywhere. It is kind of a big book too. It probably looks awkward when I use it in the mall play area or at the park, but I have to get those 600 words out of my head and onto the paper.
Now, I am not just writing new content. I am editing. Editing sucks. Bless those of you who edit manuscripts. It is literally some of the worst work I can imagine. I will always appreciate the work you do to polish my written sculptures because I am simply not capable of bringing the inner beauty out in the way you do. Because editing is the worst I have to give it my first fruits. So I wake up most mornings an hour or more before my son wakes up and the day begins to press on me, and we (God and I) edit, 600 words at a time. It is an initiative we will start. Hopefully, it can be a new way to encounter God, editing (sigh, seeking God might be the only way I ever get editing done). If I can pull it off my book will go to a real editor just before Thanksgiving, 12 weeks from now. Monday you will get to see the first 600 words of the book. Maybe you can help me edit and we can encounter God together.
My writing isn’t the whole point of this post though. The point is to ask you how you encounter God? I encounter Him most often through study and writing. There is no correct way to encounter God. What are some of your common ways to seek God? Comment below, tweet back or post on Facebook and maybe we can grow together.