Like Birthing a Baby

[James Jackson]

Okay, I am pretty sure I just lost half of my audience. Every mother is saying to herself-- "What does HE know about birthing a baby?" Well, truth is, not much. But I do understand the expectation and the joy. I understand (second hand, admittedly) about the pain of the labor. And, I understand the excitement of sharing your newborn with the rest of the world. I remember my first day back to work after my sons were born. I don't remember getting much work done, but I do remember lots and lots of conversations with people, sharing of pictures, and pats on the back. I also remember just a hint of anxiety the first time I showed the baby pictures. What if everyone thinks my baby is funny looking? What if (oh! the horror!) they all say, "Oh, he looks just like you!"?
As my boys have grown up, I also think of the anxiety the first day we sent them off to school. Will the other kids like them? Will they make friends? Will teachers like having them in their classes? And then, when we saw them grinning from ear to ear as they got off the bus, I remember the huge sigh of relief as I thought to myself "they did all right. We may actually be able to pull this thing off."

So, with those thoughts in mind, I can tell you that the first few months of my new job as editor of Life Truths has had a lot in common with giving birth to a new baby. As you know, we have completely redesigned Life Truths, from the ground up, to be a resource from parents, for parents, about how the truth of God's word makes us better parents.

It has taken nine months. We started work on the Fall, 2009 issue back in September.

It has been hard work. Lots of meetings, field testing, designs, re-designs, edits, re-edits. Probably not on par with quick shallow breaths and pushing, but still, it has been labor intensive.

And today, we announce the birth. We just got the first issue back from the printer. And truly, we think it's a beautiful baby. We think it teaches God's word in a fresh, relevant way that people will respond to. We think it speaks to parents. We think it speaks to Gen X-ers. But none of that matters if we didn't think it spoke the truth of God's word. And we think it does.

In a few weeks, we will begin shipping the newly designed Life Truths to thousands of churches around the country. And the same questions I asked as I watched my boys head off to their first day of school will be what keeps me and my team up at night: Will people like it? Will teachers like having it in their classes? We hope they do.

If you haven't had a chance to preview the new Life Truths yet, check it out at www.lifeway.com/lifetruths And if you are part of a Sunday School class that is looking for a new curriculum, we hope you will give Life Truths a chance.

Because we are pretty proud of our new baby!

[Michael Stover]

Hooray!! It looks fabulous and I cannot wait to start using it!!

[Kevin Garrett]

GREAT look! Love the substance, too. This is going to be a wonderful resource for parents in our churches.