I didn’t plan on it. Honestly. I know it’s been a while since I’ve been around here, my favorite little writing corner with you, and I have some catching up to do. Soon, I hope.

It’s just that I found myself needing to stay focused on a few things this summer. For one, that second book is coming out. Pre-orders will be mailed out on Monday, the publisher told me yesterday, and very soon it will be available for purchase. I’ve also been wrapped up in what feels like my greatest challenge yet. 

Harder even than becoming a writer at…let’s see, it seems I’m getting worse at math. But that’s a good thing. How old am I…?  I published my first book after 50. You can do the math on the second.

Even harder than starting ballet classes at 17, and, later, leaving theatre to become a dancer, of all things.

What’s been more challenging than either of those? Well, read on…

Saturday morning, here in Milwaukee, predicted rain had postponed the Air Show at the Lake Front (thank goodness…it was so loud, we’d duck outside and inside our house.) Fannie, the big red dog, took it okay, but Mary, the sassy cat, went into hiding.

Tour de France was on TV downstairs as I headed upstairs. “Going up to study for your calling?” Todd asked before I reached the steps. And just then, the feeling returned that I’d had in the car yesterday morning on my way to the study—a warm glow of a feeling.

I’ve been teaching this summer. Five weeks with the five unlikely women in Jesus’ genealogy listed in the gospel of Matthew, Chapter 1. I’m a most unlikely woman to be teaching a Bible study.

Driving to the study yesterday, I had a moment when I wondered, had I really been called to do this? It’s a great privilege to open up the Bible with others, and to hear from God. It’s right up there with giving birth to my son. Both are miracles. And what I’ve discovered (recovering perfectionist, performer, pleaser that I am) is freedom. My job is to study, write, grow, then let go. Decrease. So Christ’s Spirit can flow and increase.

My mind, heart and manilla folder were full of all I’d come to learn about Bathsheba, who is mentioned as “Uriah’s wife” in the list, maybe so we don’t forget David murdered Uriah to take Bathsheba as his wife (one of eight.)

Some don’t believe that a woman like Tamar, a Canaanite, who disguised herself as a prostitute and seduced her father-in-law Judah to get a son out of him even belongs in the list. Or the second woman in our study, Rahab, another Canaanite and a real prostitute.  

You might say that David was unlikely, too—adulterer, murderer that he was. But isn’t that the point?

The unlikely fit right in with Jesus’ ministry, which, at that time, was still ten centuries down the road from our story. He said himself that he came for “those who need a physician,” not for those who are already “righteous”. 

Isn’t Matthew showing us that the story behind Jesus’ lineage, the deceivers and cunning, the afflicted and inflicted, the weak-willed, misunderstood and lesser known—is still true today?

This is where the study rests directly on us, with Grace.

God answered David and he received His mercy. Read Psalm 51. It didn’t come without consequences or pain, for either him or Bathsheba, or God, the Father. The genealogy of Christ leads us to His own Son, who was forsaken for us, so we, too, can be in the family—a long, long line of us unlikely sorts, who come to understand our own brokenness, our need for a Savior. 

We are a part of an amazing lineage of grace. Chosen. Called. Called maybe to do your first Bible study in the second act of your life (or is this the third?)

Circling back to where I started, on my way upstairs this morning, I picked up the biggest book I’ve ever owned. So big, in fact, that when our postal carrier delivered it, Todd yelled, “Honey! What did you order now?! Poor Evan!” (Our postman.)

I apologized.

Evan said, “That’s okay.”

We love Evan. Fannie especially. He brings treats.

So, this morning, with that huge book in my arms, I walked back into the kitchen and said, “Sweetie, look!”

“What?” He turned his head from the TV to me.

“You can’t say I don’t take my new calling seriously!”

He shook his head and cracked a smile.

It honestly feels like God was preparing me for this new challenge my whole life. And as the title of my new book suggests, I’m just along for the ride!

Thank you for reading.

Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Psalm 51:10