Upcoming Series

The artists at AMG, publisher of my upcoming Bible study series, have nearly completed the four covers of the books I'm slated to launch in March. AMG is calling our new venture the "Coffee Cup Bible Series." The four books in the initial offering are Java with the Judges, Mocha on the Mount, Espresso with Esther and Solomon Latte (Song of Songs). What do you think of the cover?

And does AMG have me pegged, or what? What they didn't know when they came up with the series theme/title is that every morning before I rise, my husband brings to my bedside a steaming cup of java. My preference: Belgian Hazelnut Cafe served boiling hot.

I have grown to so depend on this little luxury (vice?), that Gary has promised "if anything should ever happen" to him, he'll leave me a trust fund to finance the continuation of sunrise coffee delivery. What a guy!

All it takes is that one cup. I don't go in for lots of caffeine--just a lone mugful in the morning. But oh, do I ever miss it when I travel and have to rise and get my own.

Pitiful, isn't it?

I had begun to question the soundness of my dependency when (to my great joy) I discovered that I was actually sound as an eardrum. Only last week a fellow prof at Dallas Seminary, Greek scholar Dr. Dan Wallace, pointed me to an important theological article titled Coffee as a Means of Grace. The footnotes offer even more insight than the prose itself, which is saying something.

If you have been, to this point, unfamiliar with the biblical reasons for imbibing in the bean-based brew, check out the article. One warning, though: If, like me, you may be nursing a cracked rib or two, you might want to hold off for a better time. Otherwise, you could hurt yourself.

Bonus: If you really want to hurt yourself, you can read another piece by the same author titled Toward an Evangelical Theology of Cussing. Our pastor sent us this link after what I can only imagine must have been a fascinating leaders' meeting at which it got discussed. Again, be sure to read the footnotes.

Hear, hear!