Listen

It’s the hardest thing in the world to do. Listen. Just that. Just quiet our own mind and hurts and distractions and points of view and listen. Metaxu. This work of art—which bears that title—was done by an artist/scholar/professor I met at a conference in 2001 or so. Her haunting images never left me. And so when it came time to publish my Master’s thesis work as a mainstream book, I knew whose work I wanted on the cover. Dr. Erica Grimm, to whom I had not spoken in over a decade, gave me a wholehearted “yes” in under an hour. God has His own timetable for connecting the dots of our lives.

Man Turned in on Himself: Understanding Sin in 21st-Century America launched on Kindle today. Tomorrow there will be a three-day FREE download period in anticipation of the paperback release next week. If you’re inclined to know more about what it means that man—as in all of us—turn in on ourselves, and the cost we all pay as a society for our hyper-individualistic-and-now-exceedingly-anxious-apathetic-and-tech-addicted-culture, you might want to give it a read. If nothing else, may this image—Listen—stay with us as we interact with loved ones, neighbors, co-workers, and may Grace give us the courage to break through our self-erected walls and begin to heal.