It's so funny to me that I'm reading this just after having posted a FB status update that says, "It's one of those nights where I can't sleep so I'm catching up on some blog reading."

Literally, it's one of those seasons where I've bought into the lie that if I just work harder and longer, I am sure to get everything done. This includes depriving myself of sleep because I can't stop thinking of things I need to get done. The thinking and worrying because a deceptive trap to make myself think I'm being productive. In reality, I'm just burning the candle at both ends.

Thanks for the encouragement to rest!

Your argument in this post reminds me of an article I read last year about the currency of books -- that they engage the imagination and require focus in a way not much else in the world does these days. Great read, which you can access here.

I, too, think the ability to focus and sustain attention to a long-form story or idea is essential to the life of a civilization. If we cannot do that anymore, we will become a short-sighted people, unable to hold the weight of world-sized matters ... and then we will find ourselves intensely vulnerable. I haven't studied history as much as I ought to have, but I can't help but wonder if this is what happened to the fall of the Roman Empire.

More than the socio-political perspective you've offered here, I take from this post the simple invitation to read again. I don't read as many books these days as I used to, and I used to devour them pell-mell. I can feel the lack of them in my life. I can feel the lack of them in my soul. Thanks, Michael, for the reminder this gave to me of how much I love to engage the long form.

Wow. You are totally a man after my husband's heart. He loves bags! Actually, we both do. On our honeymoon in Paris, we decided to buy each other bags as honeymoon gifts. (I know, we're geeks like that.)

He has that Eagle Creek series, too, and I think you've given me a great new idea for an anniversary gift with this Knomo bag. It's beautiful! And I loved learning how you pack away different categories of items. Thanks for sharing, Michael!

I'm just sitting here amazed that this is really happening. Two years ago, you were working on a book and dreaming of it being published. You were sending out sample chapters to readers who wanted to read it. (I know -- I was one of them.)

And here it is, two years later, and you've taken a picture of the first page of the actual book you can hold in your hands. Zondervan published it!

That amazes me. Congratulations, Jon. God's done, is doing, and will continue to do amazing things through you.

Thanks, Clover!