This “root” change has led me too look back over the past seven years of Eternal Revolution and the projects and books I have created. I realized that my initial goal – to produce useful books and written materials, has somehow been diluted and even lost along the way.
What stated as a ministry became a business. Instead of focusing on words and the Word, I took on more projects with the hope that they would help provide for my family while I wrote. Eventually, I was spending more time marketing, making board game pieces, designing and printing t-shirts, and the bookkeeping necessary for so many irons in the fire that there was no time to do that which I set out to do.
When God called Abraham out of Ur, He told Abraham to leave family behind. Instead, Abraham took Lot and his family along too. Much of Abraham’s troubles on his journey were due to the Lot he brought with him; and a great man struggles and fruitlessness has come from my lot.
When we step back from life we call it a spiritual retreat. In battle, a retreat is a tactic to regroup and continue the fight later, limiting your losses. These past few weeks have been a retreat for me in both senses. Like Gideon, when I next charge forth I must do it with reliance on God, not what I think I need to add to the mission to make it viable.
For that reason, I have already begun to cast off the extra lot I have taken on, and this process will continue for a few more months. The T-shirts have already been marked down by 20%. Also, the book Clean of Heart by Rosemarie Scott – a wonderful program for overcoming pornography addiction – will be moving to another publisher. There will be some updates in the future as those projects shut down.
As for this blog, I realized I have made several missteps. Trying to force myself to write on a regular basis – a best practice for blogging – has led to less other writing and a quality I was not thrilled with. I also realized that there are some current events that should be addressed. Finally, while tying to leave out the Catholic aspects of my faith for the sake of reaching a more general Christian audience has left several important spiritual warfare resources out. There is a reason that Chesterton called it “The last fighting for of Christianity.”
Over the next few weeks and months, there will be more tearing down and rebuilding. The blog will be restructured after the four methods of fighting the Eternal Revolution, as written in the book I finished this spring. The website format will change as the ministry simplifies itself again. There will be some updates about sales and final chances to get products that are being discontinued, and hopefully soon new articles will be posted and books published (and re-published) to encourage and support all of us fighting the war we call the Christian life.
Pray for Revolution.
Paul Nowak is a husband and father of 7, who also happens to be a writer and author. He has written The Way of the Christian Samurai among other books.