As April turns to May, I pray that you are being blessed in the work you are doing so diligently in the Lord.
Having undergone cataract surgery on both of my eyes in the past few weeks, I am thankful for a good outcome so far. I will still have to wear glasses for distance vision, but without glasses, it has been a great joy to see clearly when I am reading and writing. Since these two activities occupy most of my waking hours, I am thrilled to have such clear vision restored to me. The process has reminded me that it has only been in modern times that eyes grown “dim with age” could be fixed. When our brothers and sisters in biblical times began to lose their vision, there was no remedy for that, so I’ve been giving thanks for the improvement I’ve experienced. To God be the glory!
With three medical situations now out of the way (cataract surgery plus two hospital stays, one for diverticulitis and the other for a kidney stone), I am back to writing new pages for Walking in Christ. Anytime I return to the writing desk after being sidelined for a while, I’m always reminded how much I enjoy the work God enables me to do. Barring any more medical issues, I hope to make some good progress on the book during the rest of this year.
Since January, I’ve been doing something that means a great deal to me personally (even though you may think I’m crazy). I’ve begun going back through the books I’ve already written, making an effort to “finalize” those pages. I don’t have any particular timetable; I’ll just do a few as I have time. As I look at each page, I am asking myself, “Gary, are you ready to meet the Lord with this page?” None of these pages will ever be perfect, obviously, but I want there to be nothing in them that I’m ashamed of. As I finish finalizing these pages, I am mentally “letting go” of them, saying, “No more changes. What I have written, I have written.” A writer should never be content with work that he’d be embarrassed to see again on judgment day, so while I’m still able, I’m asking if what I’ve written is truly the best that I can do — and before I die, I hope to publish “final editions” of the books that are currently in print.
A few weeks ago, I asked Google’s Gemini 2.5 “Deep Research” AI for an analysis of Obeying the Gospel in relation to my body of work as a whole. When it served up 13 pages of analysis (plus 6 pages of reference notes), I was pleasantly surprised by two things. First, the AI “understood” exactly what it is that I’m trying to do in my writing (with a good deal more subtlety and precision than many human beings understand it), and second, when it critiqued my work from the perspective of the wider religious world, I was gratified to see that I have made some things clear enough that even an AI robot can see where I am at odds with the denominational world. As I read the report, I found myself saying, “Yes, this is exactly what mainstream theologians would find objectionable if they knew as much about my writing as Google does.” If I believe these things privately, I am not ashamed to be identified with them publicly. Frankly, the feedback in this report is encouraging to me. If nothing had been found in my writing that contradicts Protestant evangelical theology, that would mean one of two things: either (1) Google’s AI is not smart enough to know the difference, or (2) I have not been writing plainly enough for Google to figure out where I stand. I’m glad it is not the latter. And I hope that you’re glad, too.
Thanks, as always, for your support and encouragement. Your prayers are the lifeline that keeps me “keeping on.”
Gary Henry – WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com
WRITING GOALS
Pray with me that I will be given the ability to finish these works by January 1, 2040
- Walking in Christ — Book 6 in the WordPoints Daybook Series. Target: November 2026.
- Going Home — Book 7 in the WordPoints Daybook Series. Target: November 2029.
- Seeking God in the Psalms — a 52-lesson study — theme for each week, studies for Monday-Friday.
- Ecclesiastes — a full-scale commentary on the text of Ecclesiastes.
- Encountering Christ — what the Scriptures teach about Jesus Christ . . . and why we should believe it.
