Writing the book

This Ezra went up from Babylon; and he was a ready scribe in the law of Moses, which the LORD God of Israel had given: and the king granted him all his request, according to the hand of the LORD his God upon him. … For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments. — Ezra 7:6 (Spoke 15, Cycle 1)

Hi folks! I think it is going to take me a while to recover from writing the book. It’s like I can’t write informally anymore. I habitually weigh and measure every word like its going to be permanently printed in a book. So I’m hoping this blog will help loosen up my fingers. That’s why I like the verse above. I pray God will make me like Ezra.

Writing the Bible Wheel book presented two big challenges. First, I needed an introduction to the topic that would make it intuitively obvious that I myself had not “done anything” to produce the pattern. The solution came when my wife Rose was reading about the “book sealed with seven seals” (Rev 5:1) and saw a footnote that said the “book” was probably a scroll. The Lord quickened her imagination, and she saw the Bible roll up like a scroll in her minds eye. This then became the introduction to the subject. You can read it here in the online version of Chapter 1 of the Bible Wheel book.

The second and much greater challenge was my decision to attempt a complete and systematic synopsis of all Twenty-Two Spokes, covering the primary links between all Sixty-Six Books and the meanings of all Twenty-Two Hebrew Letters. And I had to do it in a way that would be accessible and useful for the average reader. Rose and I had many discussions about whether or not we would have to publish the Synopsis as a second book. The project just looked too big. We both knew there would be no end to what could be written, and neither of us new if I would be able to condense all the information into a reasonably sized and easy to read book. This problem was amplified by the fact that I didn’t even know what the primary links were in many of the Books, primarily those of the Minor Prophets. I had an overabundance of information on the top Ten Spokes (1 through 5 and 18 through 22), but felt very insecure about some of the Spokes on the bottom. I told Rose that I very well may have to write “I don’t know” for some of the Books like Obadiah, Nahum, and Zephaniah. The great and overwhelming miracle of God is that I never had to do that! Every Book of the Bible fell into place like a pre-designed puzzle piece. I will be sharing the process in this blog over the next few weeks.