Life is Surreal

Life can be surreal sometimes.

I spent the last two days working on a marketing plan for a book I'm writing. The proposal is in the final stage of evaluation.

I suppose that is why I am remembering something I did almost two decades ago. I hopped on a plane and headed to Chicago and Minneapolis to interview book publishers - Evangelical book publishers, that is.

The article I was writing was about Christian fiction. The question I was asking was whether or not Christian fiction would ever hit the cross-over market. Would it ever make it in the mainstream and hold its own.

I was given good interviews and stacks of galleys. One set of galleys was for the Left Behind series.

Lo and behold, Tyndale had a cross-over book in galley stage in 1995, and we didn't even know it. I packed the galleys in my suitcase, including the Left Behind galleys, and headed home.

Now, almost 20 years later, I am writing a book. That's nothing new; I've tried it a few times.

But this time, it's not fiction. It is non-fiction.

And it is Catholic.

Life can be surreal sometimes.

God prepares us for every good work. And sometimes, the preparation is in the most unusual places. Like a restaurant in Chicago, seated with Protestant publishers who hope to get exposure from your column for their up-and-coming book.

And then, God leads you down another road. He had something else in mind all along.

I'll keep you posted on the book. I'm excited. But the really important decision has already been made - the one to come home to the Catholic Church. The decision to say yes to grace and the Eucharist and the ongoing conversion that brings us into communion with Christ.

For that, I say, thanks be to God.