ALA - Inspiring and Inspired

 ALA - Inspiring and Inspired

I attended the American Library Association Conference last week.  It was, as I hoped it would be, amazing.  One of the things that is so inspiring about a conference where 15,000 librarians converge from all different types of libraries is the energy present even when nothing in particular is happening.  I arrived a bit crispy from my life as the Assistant Director of a mid-sized urban library to find thousands of like-minded individuals that felt where I was because they were there too.

As the weekend progressed, it became clear why this is my calling and always has been.  I love people.  I love helping people.  I love learning and I love helping people learn what they didn't know before we met.  In conversations and presentations I was refreshed and invigorated.  My ministry (because that is what it is) was reenergized.  Just when I thought it couldn't be any better than it was - I found the Tyndale folks in the exhibit hall.

Full disclosure -- I used to write the Christian Fiction column for Library Journal when there was such a thing.  I wrote it for five years.  In that time, I met the most wonderful people.  Publishers, authors, marketers, and yes, Christians from all walks of life.  Through the column, I was called to deepen my own study of the Word of God.  How can one appropriately review books with a Christian worldview without understanding what that view is?  It changed my life.  But, back to the conference...

Prior to arriving in Philly, I had been getting glimmers of Christian Fiction here and there.  I reminisced fondly about the days that I used to write the column and ruminated about starting a blog again "some day."  Well, friends, that day is today.  I had a wonderful conversation with the Tyndale folks in the ALA exhibit hall.  They remembered me and had the kindest things to say about our time together back in the "hayday."  God, I heard you.  This was the sign I needed.  Note bene: I've always had my hand in and lurked - but received such strong signs that I made a decision to begin writing about these stories again.

As Francine Rivers said when I interviewed her: "We live in a fallen world."  This was way before the current administration, or even the one in 2016.  In these dark times, we need inspiration.  We need hope.  We need stories that tell us that even in our darkest days, there is something to give us a reason to make it to tomorrow.  I hope that you will come on this journey with me.  I can't promise anything, but perhaps your life will be changed in small ways the way mine was, and you too can find the hope and inspiration that stories can bring in this dark and fallen world.

Until next time...