A Grace Reminder

A person I’ve gotten to know over the past year, through a men’s Bible study, contacted me about putting together an audio book. He enjoys audio while walking and retains more by hearing and listening to books. My first book, Simply Grace: Everyday Glimpses of God, was published in January 2019 and he offered to help me generate my book into an audio format.

My friend, Chad, has a marketing business along with nice recording equipment, so he has the technical aspect covered. As an avid podcast and audio book listener, he also has the placement and distribution avenues covered. I know little about either of these areas, so his knowledge is a gift. But the time it takes out of his schedule to record the book and the time it takes to edit, are incalculable gifts.

As we began recording, Chad said to read expressively, maybe even to the point of sounding “over the top.” He also said, don’t worry about mistakes while reading, just read the sentence or section again and he will edit out my flub-ups.

It’s a bit humbling to read my own book and realize how much I mess up. It’s weird not to remember certain things that I wrote in the book. It has also reminded me of places that the editor changed, most of which made the book better and a couple places where I feel I lost my voice.

I’ve come to appreciate Chad. As I’m reading, there will be this quiet voice saying, “Let’s read that again…” or “Why don’t you start again at…” or “Let’s take a break, think you need a rest.” When we finish recording for the day he’ll say, “That sounded good.” or “I really liked the part…”

Wouldn’t it be nice if there was this calm voice guiding our life? When we mess up, they would remind us – hey, why don’t you do that over?  When we say the wrong thing to someone – hey, let’s try that one again. When we are tired or stressed – hey, looks like you need a break? When we mess up – hey, you’re going to need to fix that. Or just an encouraging word – hey, you’re doing great. When the audio book is published, it will sound nearly flawless. Listeners won’t be aware of all my mistakes, editing will wipe my slate clean.

All of this sounds an awful like grace. Being selfless with others. Listen for the still, small voice speaking into our lives. Regardless of the number of times we screw up, we get a re-do. Thanks, Chad, for a grace reminder.

(FYI – my new book will be coming out this fall, Mighty Winds and Gentle Whispers: The Purpose and Power of the Holy Spirit.)

One thought on “A Grace Reminder

  1. It is a true honor to help my friend, as he helped me thru rough waters while my wife suffered desperately with covid in March. The same calm voice Bruce might be hearing is what I heard over 2 weeks, sometimes wondering if I’d ever see my her again. There are so many places I fall down in life… and grace is one of them. Now I am more prepared to see grace; to feel grace; and deliver grace, because my friend has shown me a true path to grace. I look forward to you all getting the chance to hear Bruce share his heartfelt book on grace to you thru audio. I feel like books reach deeper when read by the author. Again, it’s an honor to reciprocate the grace I received, with the time I get to hang out with you.

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