Saturday, October 21, 2006

Just a quick word to say a woefully insufficient, blown-mind "Thank You!" to everyone who's been so kind to lend a hand since Wednesday's pitch.

Much as I'm never keen to impinge on your collective goodness, the response never ceases to stun, awe and humble me, so please, please always remember that, and know that it pushes me to create an even better product. That isn't terribly hard, of course; as you can see, these pages need all the improvement in the world.

I'm spending the weekend doing my darndest to get back to anyone and everyone who threw some coins in the case and my fellows of the debt-saddled, twenty-something Ramen-eating contingent who were good enough to send lots of love and kind words... because that's basically all we have; our alma maters have eaten up the rest.

In case you didn't realize it, there's a lot of needless bitterness and anger out there these days, both in the church and in the world, and each warm word and kind gesture serves as a balm against the wound, and it's the only way any of us actually begin accomplishing something, not to mention doing justice to all we've been given by those who came before. So for that most precious of gifts, thank you.

Being what they are, your scribe's chronic disorganization and the realities of the news cycle might mean that I won't be able to get back to acknowledging everything, so just in case (or even if it just takes me three weeks to trudge through it all), just know how much it all means and... well... there are no words that can truly express that. Just so you know, I beat myself up for everything I can't get to. And that makes my GQ (guilt quotient) quite high.

Possibly the greatest message of all arrived the other day from a reader for whom reading Whispers is "like watching Dynasty!!"

How reassuring it is to know that one's being faithful to his beat. As always, you can thank the cast of characters for the never-ending supply of priceless material.

That said, on with the show.

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