It takes one talented crew to keep a small magazine running.

And it takes just one terrible flu to stop the production cold.

Target: the editor. Timeline: just a week before this issue’s original press date.

No magic memories, radioactive-nosed reindeer, or any other Christmas corniness would serve up a Holiday Miracle to get me out of this mess.

In Christ, however, it wasn’t a mess. Not really.

Too often I try to guess the Author’s goals for me. But I’m likely right to discern that God knew only a flu would force me to stop and rest at this time of year.

But God! You’re being unfair. The magazine! the gift guide! the podcast! the book! the—

“Hush, son,” he may have been saying, “or it’s a sinus infection next.”

(I got that, too.)

In such moments, I face the same lesson: that I don’t “deserve” some life without delay and with endless creative productivity. All I have is what God has given me.

And all those creative ideas?

They’re to our Creator’s credit, and thus will also arrive only in his timing.

Thank God, these exciting additions are still happening for Lorehaven:

First, the gift guide. It released at Lorehaven.com earlier in December 2019. We included several exclusive t-shirts and other exclusive fantastic merch.

Second, the podcast! My friend Zackary Russell and I have begun recording episodes. Watch our website for more information. For now I can say that we’re focusing on the fantastical truth we love to explore as well as the books we review.

Third, new issues will feature some changes. We’ve already made improvements to covers and layout. In 2020, the cover stories themselves may change a little …

Fourth, next year, my first book arrives. It’s not a novel. It’s a nonfiction work, with my friends and co-authors Ted Turnau and Jared Moore. On May 4, 2020, you will finally get to read The Pop Culture Parent: Helping Kids Engage Their World for Christ.

That’s exciting. And challenging.

But whether through Lorehaven magazine, this new book, or my fiction projects, my mission remains this: to help all Christ’s people glorify him through fantastic stories.

And to do more resting this year. After all, that’s what stories do—help us rest.