Perspectives on 2023

 Here's a bit about some of the transitions that have happened in my life this year. It's been a year of big changes. 

In my personal life, Lisa has been the most amazing change. We got married in March and she moved out to my farm. Sharing life with her is such a joy. Of course, that kind of major transition is pretty disruptive. We have had to transition her out of life where she was, and into life here. I've been able to build relationships with her wonderful family, and she with mine. It's so good. 

Under that heading, we're in the process of buying a house that will be moved to the farm. We're very excited about it. That process requires lots of logistical details like digging a basement and all the rest. So we are very much occupied with that process. 

The farm itself is a lot of fun and a lot of work. Last spring we planted a couple hundred trees, and that was a little bit like adopting a couple hundred infants. We have high hopes for them thriving and growing this coming year. Horses, fences, hay, and such are all ways of keeping busy. Throw in the big windstorm we had at the end of July. We've been cutting and clearing trees ever since, and have more to do. 

We are both working our day jobs, and that's good. We've been intentionally putting a lot of energy into my writing. As I've written before on this blog, my goal is to take the projects I've puttered with for years and get them published. Getting Death on Disappointment Mountain in print was a big step forward. This is the first book I've published that sold well enough to cover my expenses in creating it. Well, if you don't count the hours I've put into it. Thus far I'm still a volunteer writer, but that may change. 

Hopefully we can develop my writing in such a way that it can start to be a legitimate source of income within a few years. Once upon a time I thought if I could just write a book, that would be a huge life goal accomplished. And it was. But I published my first book (From Slavery To Freedom) in 2009, and it was largely a frustrating and disappointing experience. I feel like I've learned a few things since then. So I reissued that book in 2020, and published New Wineskins (a commentary on Luke's gospel) in 2019. 

In the coming year, I have several titles I plan to publish. Wait for the Lightning is a look at Genesis 1-12, and that is very close to being in print. I've been working with the cover design for that one lately. Altered Vows is a fantasy novel I've been writing for a couple decades. It's in the editing process now. I'm working on a sequel to Disappointment Mountain. And there are a few other books that are in various stages of being written: A sequel to Altered Vows, a book on Revelation, and a book called Making Change that puts into writing the class by that name that I've taught in a few different places. 

I'm looking forward to 2024. 

God is so good, and so faithful. It can be a hard world and a hard life, but God is still good. Thanks for reading this, and I hope you're as excited about the coming year as I am!

On the verge of Christmas

 Christmas is almost here. December has been mild this year. The horses aren't consuming much hay. A dusting of snow comes and goes on the ground here at the farm. We thought about spending Christmas Eve and Christmas Day up at the shack, about an hour north of Bemidji. I don't know if anyone has ever spent Christmas in that remote place. The forecast is looking like rain, though, so I don't think we'll go. 

Instead we will have a couple quiet days at home. We have one more big Christmas gathering this Saturday. Then the plan is to relax. 

One goal for those days is to get a temporary studio set up to start narrating audio books. I've had a few requests for Death on Disappointment Mountain in audio form, and I'd like to get started on that process. My early Christmas gift from Lisa was a technology package to make that process possible. Excited to get that set up and learn to use it well. 

Writing these days is a business of pushing little things forward. I've got two manuscripts complete and in the editing stages. Wait for the Lightning is a non-fiction book on Genesis 1-12. Goal is to publish that this late winter / spring. Altered Vows is a novel I've been working on since the mid-1990's. That's being read and edited, and then I'll have significant revisions to do. I had hoped to have it published this winter, but we will see how extensive the revisions are. 

Two sequels are in the stage of working on a first draft. I'm about 25K words into a sequel to Altered Vows already. And I've mostly finished an outline for a sequel to Disappointment Mountain. I'm excited about both those projects. Also I've got several concept pieces I'm outlining that will take shape during 2024. 

There's plenty of work to do; I just need to set aside time to do it. 

I find myself in kind of a strange place. I'm writing in three distinct genres. The non-fiction biblical books are totally different from the fiction books. And Disappointment Mountain is  literary fiction while Altered Vows is a medieval Christian fantasy. So very likely each of those genres will appeal to a completely different audience. That's okay, it just makes it challenging to focus in one direction. 

More important, I've been circling back to the whole reason why I'm writing lately. As a bedtime story, I finished reading Tolkien's "Leaf by Niggle" to Lisa a couple nights ago. That fun little story is such a good reminder that using our God-given gifts in a way that serves him is an important kind of stewardship. In his small way, Niggle contributed to God's new creation by using his art. In some small way, I hope to do the same thing in my writing. Or as I say it in my Amazon author bio, I want to connect people to the story of God's love for this world. 

It's that story that drives us at Christmas. We put out lights and buy gifts and prepare food because in Jesus, God shows his love for us. He makes it possible for us to love one another and to love him in return. May you know his love in a full and fresh way this Christmas!

Happy Saturday!

 Welcome to a delightful December. Minnesota is enjoying a mild fall up to this point. We haven't had any really cold weather yet, and little snow to speak of. The horses have still been picking at grass out in the pasture, and this morning for the first time I'll put out a round bale for them. 

They'll be camping out tonight (sleeping in the pasture instead of the barn) as Lisa and I will be up north for a quick overnight. We're going to visit the shack, which is what we call the old hunting cabin my dad and his buddies built back in the 50's. It's about an hour north of Bemidji, way back in the bog country. It's great territory for bears and wolves and a handful of moose and deer. The boggy trails will be frozen, so hopefully we can walk a few miles and see some grouse. Sleeping in the shack shouldn't be too chilly. There's a small woodstove, and the temperatures are supposed to stay in the 20's overnight. We'll see!

We are resisting the push toward Christmas carols and decorations just yet. We both have a sense that those things are better enjoyed mid-December and onward. And with the lack of snow, that feels right on the outside as well. 

As far as writing, I've been editing a manuscript on Genesis 1-12 that I wrote about a decade ago. When it's finished, it will be a biblical interpretation of what Genesis says about the foundations for so many things. It's a more personal reading, not quite like my book on Exodus. But a similar way of reading the Bible, letting this word speak into our lives. 

And there are still a couple novels on the burner. I've been having fun thinking about sequels to Death on Disappointment Mountain. Lots of exciting potential there. Altered Vows is with an editor right now, and hopefully I'll be able to get that one in print and available late this winter. And we are working toward audio versions of both those novels. 

So life is full and good. Hope yours is as well!

Looking back, looking ahead

 Joan was a brilliant, articulate, assertive woman. I got to know her when I was fresh out of college, and she was dying. One day I sat with her in her living room. She was attached to a tangle of IV tubes. She joked that she rattled when she walked from all the pills she had to take. As we sat together, I shared with her a few tidbits I'd been writing. It seemed a good way to pass the time, and something she might enjoy. I wasn't presumptuous enough to think my writing was really good. I guess like the little drummer boy, I didn't have much else to offer. 

Joan read my poems and paragraphs carefully. We talked about a few details, and she asked incisive questions about some of the imagery in a couple of the poems. When she finished reading, she looked hard into my soul and said, "Don't you let this rest. You keep on writing. You have a gift, and you need to let it grow. You keep on with this."

I think so often of Joan and how she spoke into my life. I've struggled all my life to figure out how to put her words into practice. I've written columns for ministry journals. I kept a blog for many years. Early on I developed collections of poetry written on the backs of envelopes and fragments of paper shopping bags. Finally God backed me into a corner and I had to finish a book about the Exodus. (From Slavery To Freedom, and you can find it here.) 

Lately I've returned with a new urgency to Joan's words. I've always had a sense that she was speaking a word from God into my life. The last few years I've focused on collecting my writings into books, and that has led to creating new books as well. Once I entered my 50s I started feeling the urgency to actually get things published. 

Last week I started thinking about 2024 and what I want to accomplish in the coming year. Seems like life never unfolds according to my agendas, but you have to have a plan or you don't get anywhere. So I outlined several titles I'd like to complete and get into print in 2024. I'm sure it won't go exactly like that, but it's a direction to move at any rate. 

And I think Joan would be pleased. 

In other news

 I've been posting a lot lately about my new novel coming out. That's been exciting, and fun, and (like so many things) a steep learning curve. But the rest of life has not slowed down either!

We've enjoyed an amazing stretch of mild weather here in Minnesota. We have just a few more days, it sounds like, of high temperatures above freezing. That's good, because there are always lots of fall projects to do. Last night one of our horses got out of the pasture, so today we'll be checking fencelines. We've opened up a new section of pasture recently and I suspect she's finding a spot there to escape. 

A big task lately is getting ready for a new house. We bought a house late this summer and plan to move it here to the farm in the spring. There's a lot to do to get ready for that move. I took an afternoon off work this week to haul in some gravel and widen the approach where the house will be coming onto our property, and to trim some small trees that are in the way. We have a bit more of that work to do. We are still cleaning up from the late July windstorm that took down so many trees here. The biggest task will be putting in a basement. Planning for that occupies a lot of our conversation time lately.

Lisa and I were able to take a weekend to go up north for deer hunting. For the second year in a row, I failed to bring home venison during rifle season. Numbers of deer are way down up north due to a series of hard winters. We saw a few deer far away. It was good to be back on the farm where I grew up, and we were able to connect with a couple good friends while we were there. We continue to have deer on our farm, according to the trail cameras we have out, but the problem is they're all coming in at night. Hopefully that might change when the weather turns colder. I'm able to bowhunt through the end of December. So venison is still a possibility. 

I'm writing a little each morning, working on the second novel in a fantasy series. As we are learning about how best to release books and publicize them, we're able to apply some of that new knowledge to this project. And some of my spare minutes during the days are full of ideas for a sequel and / or a prequel to Disappointment Mountain. I'm also making plans with a couple good friends for a winter trip into the Boundary Waters. I'm very excited about that!

So in addition to releasing a novel, there is lots happening here!

Signed copies

 There's a line in one of my favorite movies that says, "You move real slow, like molasses in wintertime." (It's from "The Outlaw Josey Wales" if you're curious.) Seems like when you want something to happen quickly, that's the way it goes. 

According to UPS, this week we'll finally be receiving a case of books. 30 copies of Death On Disappointment Mountain will show up on the doorstep, hopefully Monday or Tuesday. So if you want a signed copy, we'll be happy to send them out to you. The books are $18.95, and shipping will be whatever covers the cost of getting the book to you. If you want a signed copy, email me. I just set up a new email address, jeff@jeffkrogstad.com, to keep track of things related to writing. And if you email, we'll figure out payment possibilities like Venmo or mailing a check or whatever works for you. 

The ebook is also available on Amazon for those who like to read that way. I've had some requests for an audiobook version, and that's in the works. But it won't be available for a while yet. 

I put out an image of the cover on Facebook to a Boundary Waters interest group, and there's been tremendous positive response. Lots of people there are excited to read the book, which is very fun. 

Don't forget to order your signed copy! 

Disappointment Mountain update

 Death on Disappointment Mountain is finally available both in print and as an ebook! It's been a journey, to tell the truth, to get to this point. Apologies to those who tried to order sooner but got stopped by too many roadblocks. 

Click here to find the book (either version) through Amazon. 

I'm so excited to share this story with you. It's challenging, and fun, and very Minnesota. If you order, I'd love to hear what you think. And if you're willing, please leave a review on Amazon to help others decide if they want to buy it. Thanks!

News Flash!

 Death On Disappointment Mountain is available! You can click here and it will take you to Amazon, where the book is available for order. 

I'm excited to share this story with you. My other books are non-fiction, focused on the Christian life and growing into the Bible. This is a fiction story, and as such it deals with questions of real life through fiction. The characters face some really challenging situations, and you may or may not agree with the way they deal with things. In that way, fiction is a lot like real life. 

If you read the book, please leave a rating or a review on Amazon. That helps other readers decide if they want to take the risk to buy their own copy. And let me know what you think! You can leave a comment below, or email me via the profile link to the top right on this page. 

Here's the blurb from the back cover of the book:

When death shakes your world, who will you trust?

On a cold day in March a somber man walks into Kim Norby’s office at the McPherson Foundation. He thrusts a sealed manila envelope into her hands and says, “I’m sorry to tell you Mac is dead.” The envelope’s contents turn Kim’s world upside down. The aftershocks drive her into the wilderness in a quest to uncover the truth. She will have to dig deep into herself and her past; she will also have to decipher what place the strange man may have in her future… all while staring down the barrel of deception and treachery. 

Pins and Needles

 Remember in The Princess Bride when Inigo Montoya is waiting for the man in black to climb the Cliffs of Insanity? I've always identified with his line: "I hate waiting." 

As I write this, I'm waiting. Last post I told you about my upcoming book, Snowmelt. Since then, a few things have happened. I've changed the title from that working title to a little more descriptive Death On Disappointment Mountain. We've put together a beautiful cover that I'm really excited about. The book has gone to the printer and is cycling through the last few checks to make it available in print. Any day now I'll be posting here to let you know it's available on Amazon and other booksellers. 

I'm also working to publish Death On Disappointment Mountain as an ebook. I've been frustrated in the past trying to find a good way to publish ebooks, but I've enlisted some qualified help and I think that will be coming very soon as well. Watch here and I'll let you know when it's available in those formats!

In the meantime, I've been updating my Amazon author page. If you want to see when my new titles become available, follow me there: www.amazon.com/author/jeffkrogstad 

I'm so very excited to share Disappointment Mountain with you when it comes out. During the process of final edits and proofing, I was struck many times by just how much I enjoy these characters and this story. I can't wait to hear what you think!

Looking forward

 Exciting things are happening! 

It's always exciting when I take the time to listen to God's voice. He speaks far more than I listen, but I do try. One of the things he consistently says to me, both through others and through that still, small voice in my heart, is "Keep writing." The last few years, I can't tell you how many times I've heard that little command. 

I love writing, and all my adult life I've been working on one writing project or another. Still, it was a big step to publish the two books I have out. What a crazy journey! (If you're interested in those books, you can search for me, Jeff Krogstad, on Amazon or you can click the link to the right.) 

A couple years ago I realized I need to focus on finishing things. I want to intentionally complete projects (including books) and get them out so others can read them. So I've been dusting off a few books I had in the formative stages, and trying to get them to the point of publication. 

Here's the good news: My first published novel, Snowmelt, is going to be in print very soon! It's quite a bit different from the biblical books I've published before. I'm not giving up on that kind of writing, not at all. But I've always been a storyteller, and I'm eager to put a few longer stories out in print. Snowmelt will be the first of those. In the book, you'll find people struggling to live well, to deal with grief, and to decide what voices to listen to. It's a story I've been writing for a decade or so, on and off. Those that know me well won't be a bit surprised that lots of it happens in the Boundary Waters. I won't say a lot more about it yet, but when it comes out you'll hear about it here!

There are also several other books I've been working on. In the next few months I'll share a bit about some of those projects as well. My hope is to take projects that are in manuscript form or take stories I've been working on for years (like Snowmelt) and get those in print. 

Thanks to those of you who have encouraged me this direction! It's always a joy to hear that people are reading something I've written and that it is having an impact on them. I'm eager to get more works in print and see where the journey leads. 

If you have read either of my books that are currently in print (New Wineskins or From Slavery To Freedom) here's something you can do that would be a huge help to me. Would you go to the Amazon website where those books are listed and share a review? Doesn't have to be long or deep, but anything you have to say would be so helpful. Thanks!

Circles

 It's been an incredibly busy few months. We are at work combining two households, constantly marveling at how we have each accumulated this much stuff. Unbelievable. Work continues to be at least full-time making fish replicas for the taxidermy industry. And of course, owning land (and the animals and plants that go with it) takes up any shred of spare time we might have.

This morning I took a few minutes to look through an old photo album of the family and home where I grew up. Precious memories. My parents have been gone twenty-nine years (Mom) and twenty-three years (Dad). So it's a joy to look at some pictures that bring them back vividly in my memory. 

It strikes me this morning that my life has in many ways come full circle. I grew up deeply attached to a specific piece of land, the farm my great-grandfather bought in 1892. Starting when I was 17, I wandered for school and career. The land and all that went with it stayed like bedrock in my heart, but I became a wanderer. Every place I went I tried to re-forge that connection with the land. That lasted up until two years ago. 

Now my life, as I said, has come in many ways full circle. I am again rooted on land. This time it's the forty acres that I bought almost three years ago. I have been tending this land much as my father tended (and wrestled with) the land where I grew up. I'm struggling with tractors that don't want to work right, fighting against weeds, praying for rain, and loving the extremes of living close to the weather in Minnesota. I strive to leave it better than I found it. I bask in the joys of growing things. Daily I tend a couple of horses, worry about fences, strive to remember whether I closed that gate. I'm thinking about whether I have enough hay to get through the coming winter. Even in July, winter casts a long shadow here. Deer and pheasants are welcome company on this place, and I think about how to make it better for them as well. 

There was a simplicity to my growing up years that I am rediscovering. It's far more than just nostalgia for childhood. It includes limiting technology, avoiding debt, making do with what we have, and appreciating the good gifts and relationships we've been given. 

It is rooted in a close relationship with land, and a deep gratitude to the God who created it and who loves it even more than I do. I find myself thinking about Romans 8 so often, where Paul writes that all creation groans in bondage waiting for the sons and daughters of God to be revealed. This tending of creation is part of a sacred calling for those of us who know Jesus Christ. And even as this land was broken and abused and now is growing healthy again, I see daily that my own brokenness is being redeemed. 

My sin (oh, the bliss of this glorious thought)

My sin not in part but the whole

Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

One of the names I have used in my own mind for this land at times is "redemption acres." I'm not ready to put it up on a sign, and there are other names as well, but this place is a place of redemption. What was discarded and valueless (it was on the market for years before I bought it and the listing finally just ran out because no one wanted this place) is now becoming more and more beautiful. 

It is a parable of sorts. 

And like so many parables, I find myself in it. 

Dispelling the rumor of my abduction

Contrary to what you may have thought, I have not in fact been abducted by aliens. 

Life is really good here these days. If anything, it's a little too full for comfort. On the personal side, I got remarried in March. Lisa is amazing, and she has moved to the farm with me. She understands the adventure this place is, and the potential it has. We have spent a lot of energy and time in the last few months blending families, combining households, and enjoying being together. It's so good. So there are a bunch of kids and one grandkid (so far) that make us incredibly rich. 

On the professional side, we are both working at Lake Country Replicas these days, making fantastic fish replicas for the taxidermy industry. I've been there over two years now, and Lisa just started in March. We both continue to learn a lot, with all the joy and challenges that come with expanding our skills. 

I have a few writing projects in the works, though this is the worst time of year for me to write. Grass needs mowing, horses need riding, tractors need maintenance, and there is the ongoing battle against the forces of the wood-tick and cocklebur realms. But those writing projects are never far from my mind. 

Church-wise, we meet with a few different home groups. House churches, care groups, Life Groups, Bible studies, call them what you will. Each is a collection of people seeking Jesus and caring for each other. I do a little teaching here and there. We are blessed with rich relationships with many people who are trying to follow Jesus in their whole lives. 

And that leads to theological reflections. No surprise. For the last few years I've been asking, "Lord, what are you doing with your church?" I spent most of my professional career working for the good of the institutional church. I recognized all that time it was a flawed construction, but the best option we had for proclaiming Jesus Christ and working for the kingdom of God. The last two and a half years I've seriously questioned that assumption. I still think there's a place for "organized" churches. They may reach people who would otherwise not hear much about Jesus. But over the last thirty years, and intensely for the last three or four, I've seen God allow a massive dismantling of the institutions of western Christianity. 

Maybe that's because institutional churches, much though they wish this wasn't the case, tend to create dependence and complacency rather than making self-nurturing disciples. 

The pandemic simply speeded up a shift that had been happening all through my adult life. That shift included (as I've written about many times before) a movement away from church-going as a social expectation. We have moved away from politically empowered church organizations. What we've seen like crazy these last few years is disempowerment of churches and their socio-political influence. The good news of Jesus Christ is no less powerful or relevant. The Holy Spirit is no less potent. It is the institutional life of the church that has waned. 

That shift has certainly been allowed by God, and quite possibly caused by him. Whenever I attend a worship service in an institutional church (for simplicity, let's describe that as one that has paid staff and / or owns a building) I'm struck by how self-serving the institution has to be, just for the sake of its own survival. Some of them are doing an amazing job of serving their communities and lifting up Jesus. Others, not so much. 

So I ponder the fact that churches owning buildings and paying staff are not even on the radar of the New Testament. I can make the arguments for those things, and for a quarter century drew my salary from the institution. But I see God allowing it to self-destruct at this point in history. And I wonder, what are you up to, Lord??

When I sit in someone's living room and dig deep into the Bible and the lives of these friends, I catch a glimpse. We talk about the mission God is accomplishing in each other's lives, and we pray for each other's real-life ministries in our workplaces and extended families. I recall how Jesus said he would be present when two or three are gathered in his name. I think of all those last chapters of Paul's letters when he says, "Greet so-and-so and the church that meets in their home." It sounds and feels a lot more like New Testament Christianity. And we're not tying up 80-90% of our tithes paying for professional workers or maintenance and mortgage of a building. 

In the meantime, each of us is spurred on to serve God in our own lives, and recognize his presence and blessing in our homes and daily work. Speaking personally, life is full to overflowing and rich beyond measure. Though the wood-ticks may carry me off, thus far at least the aliens have not.