As summer turns to fall, I wish for you many blessings in the Lord’s work wherever you may live.
This month, I want to share with you some exciting news: after several years of thinking about it, asking some wise people for their counsel, and praying about it nearly every day, I am going to attempt to move the base of my operations to Meridian, Mississippi. I say “attempt” because I am going to allow for a trial period before I commit myself to it. During this trial, I want to find out (as best I can) if it is physically possible for me to handle the rigors of living there. If the plan proves to be do-able, I will, Lord willing, close out my residence here in Louisville and move to Meridian sometime next year.
Very soon, I plan to rent an apartment in Meridian where I can live for a week or two each month. When not in Meridian, I will be here in Louisville. Driving back and forth that often may sound crazy to you, but that is what I was doing in 2017 when I split my time between Meridian and Frankfort, Kentucky. Crazy as it sounds, I absolutely loved it. The alternation between two work environments (and even the “windshield time” driving back and forth) contributed greatly to my productivity. So that’s what I’ll do for a few months. And when the time is right, I’ll choose one path or the other: I’ll close out my apartment here and move everything to Meridian, or I’ll close out my apartment there and give up on the idea of living in that locality, having found out that it just can’t be done.
Meridian, Mississippi is my most perfect writing place. I know writers don’t always get to write in their perfect place, but Meridian is mine, and if you who support me are willing for me to write there, it would be a dream come true. My two sons and their wives have pledged their full support as I try to implement this plan.
Meridian is my “home town.” I was not born there, but it is where my family lived until I was twelve years old. The Seventh Street congregation in Meridian now consists of only a small number of Christians. Since the nearest faithful congregation is over an hour away, disbanding and worshiping elsewhere is not an option for people of their age. These Christians are going to have to hang on and do the best they can as long as any of them are left to carry on. So while I would not be moving there to be “the preacher” at Seventh Street (I am not “the preacher” at Douglass Hills in Louisville), these are people who mean a great deal to me personally. If I could live in the best place in the world for my writing and at the same time be an encouragement to folks who desperately need somebody to care about them, you have no idea how gratifying that would be. As a dear old warrior in the kingdom said to me a few months ago, “Gary, you need to be back out in the field.” I agree. I’m too young to retire from my life “on the road.” But physically, how much am I capable of doing? Meridian will help answer that question.
Most of you who support me were doing so when I had two apartments in 2017, one in Meridian and one in Frankfort. You were willing to allow me that arrangement because it was conducive to my best writing. I hope you will want to keep on supporting me. But some of you may feel it unwise to continue. If so, it will be helpful if you can let me know as soon as possible. But in any case, I hope you know how much I appreciate your supporting my work as long as you have. I thank God for you, no matter where my “writing place” may happen to be.
Gary Henry — WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com
WRITING GOALS
Pray with me that I will be given the ability to finish these works
- Walking in Christ — Book 6 in the WordPoints Daybook Series. Target: November 2025.
- Going Home — Book 7 in the WordPoints Daybook Series. Target: November 2028.
- 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.
