Middle of the Month

I am very much aware how time passes so quickly, it is already the middle of the month, one quarter plus has gone by for 2026. My commentary on John's Gospel is coming along nicely, with revision now up to ch. 15 and I trust in the Lord by middle of next week, I probably will finish the revision and get a few copies printed for my proof readers.

Then I will have to prepare for Sunday preaching (26th April) in a village (with a big church) about 2 hours' drive from to Kota Belud. I will drive from KK before 7am and I hope to reach the church by 8.45am. This church invited me to preach in October 2023, a week after I handed in my resignation letter to a local seminary and many things had happened since. 

I was re-reading the part on John 15 about bearing fruits. Maybe as pastor as I was not the leader, I could not do much but now my time and all my efforts might just bear some fruits, and soon my 8th book will be published. Writing on John's Gospel is a most difficult task, even if the text looks easy on the surface but if you dig deeper, there is much to expound and much to comment upon. No wonder the disciples in the apostles' time pleaded with John to write a gospel late into the first century, as they felt John knew much more than the three Gospels published in the middle of the first century AD to mid-60s AD, most likely before the destruction of Herod's Temple or the Second Temple in 70AD by the Romans. John's Gospel could be the last NT book to be written in middle of 90s AD just after the book of Revelation. John, the apostle was already in his early 80s by then.

The middle of the month of April tells me that in two and a half months' time, we would have reached the middle of the year and once the second half of the year comes, it speeds on to year's end. I have not accepted any Christmas invitations yet, as I want to keep my options open towards the end of the year. I may stay on a bit longer after the writer's residence scholarship in November as I had long planned to write something on the book of Revelation. If I have another half a year near a good library, I think I could accomplish much, God willing. We will see once we hit the 2nd half of the year as I plan to get this commentary done by June 2026 and have it published before my 62th year of my life.