21 Aug DNA: Mine, ours, Jesus

Ancestry DNA

                  I’ve been studying my DNA lately. I used Ancentry.com to determine my heritage (a mix of Scottish, Germanic and English, no surprises there). On our recent visit to Scotland, we visited Closeburn Castle, the ancestral home of the Kirkpatrick clan, built in the 1100s. Fun fact: it was a wedding present to Ivan the Kirkpatrick by the Bruce family, his wife’s maiden name. Eventually they dropped the ‘The’ in the “namenclature”. No telling and no history to know that any of our Kirkpatrick clan originated there, but it got me thinking about family.

                  Here’s a photo of a section of my office bookcase dedicated to my heritage. Feel free to blow this photo up and investigate. If you have any questions, just reply to this email. As you can see, I have an affinity to the West, cowboys, reading, and my grandparents.

                  Author Inside Look:  I build characters in detail before they ever appear in the pages of my book. I decide their history, faults, mannerisms, fears, secrets and appearance in a notebook. Then I use all that over the life of the book as the character develops. I first had to create and learn that technique for The Resurrection of Johnny Roe, a story heaped full of secrets and clues to the characters as the action, intrigue and romance evolves.

                  I get a kick out of creating characters with all the faults and strengths of people I know, including me.

Apart from my Scottish roots and my NW Pennsylvania birth and upbringing, I have another family heritage. I’m a descendant of Abraham, of Biblical renown. I became a Christian in 1993, so I’m part of God’s family. This manifests in a local family (my church), a global family (Christ’s church), and an eternal heritage (a room reserved for me in Heaven). I bet if Ancentry.com had more sophisticated algorithms, they’d find a little of Jesus DNA in me (the Holy Spirit)!

Book Reviews

Surprised by Joy, C.S. Lewis

                  I so wanted to love this book. But alas. Subtitled, The Shape of My Early Life, I enjoyed the beginning when Lewis explained how as a young boy, he wrote fantasy fiction about different worlds (like a juvenile Narnia). I used to act out movies in my room alone when I was a kid, so we had that fantasyland thing in common. But his approach to God (and the joy he brings) was hyper-intellectual. And the book was littered with writers and language references I knew nothing about, especially Lewis’ propensity for BIG words and foreign language phrases. Okay, it was written 75 years ago, and I know we communicated differently then. I never understood or was moved by Lewis’ interpretation of God—and no mention, not once, of Jesus. I was disappointed that philosophy and intellect drove his surprise, instead of a transformational and loving encounter with the living God.

Sycamore Row, John Grisham

                  I’ve always been a big Grisham fan, although a few of the recent books of his I’ve read, it seemed like when he hit 375 pages—his goal—the story wrapped up too conveniently. But in Row he reinvents the epic character and location that cemented his legacy as a first-rate storyteller, as he brings back attorney Jake Brigance of his first legal thriller, A Time to Kill. A brand-new case for Jake as the richest man in the Ford County, a white business guru, leaves his entire fortune to his black housekeeper. While Grisham keeps you guessing and throws a myriad of plot twists at Jake, I wouldn’t really call this one a ‘thriller.’ But it was a fast-paced story, and when this one hit page 375, I didn’t want it to end. Welcome back, Mr. Grisham.

What I’m Reading now…

                  Toxic Empathy, Ally Beth Stuckey

                  Shrewd Samaritan, Bruce Wydick

                  Long Range, C.J. Box

                  Lumberjack Jesus, Bruce Kirkpatrick (Our men’s group is using this as a Bible study; it’s fun to reread and relearn about my faith journey).

                  Lectio365, by 24/7 Prayer, an app for daily Bible study. Love it.

AI Update

                  I wrote a bit about artificial intelligence (AI) in the last newsletter. I admitted I didn’t know much about it. So I signed up for a daily email newsletter that’s educating me.