Shoot a cow.

That's a fun saying I picked up from Ruth, whom I can hardly wait to see in two weeks. She said it whenever things went wrong, and I thought, "I like it! It sounds Texan!"

The good news is that I have only one course left to publish. Everything that needs to be printed in Charlotte has been printed, and the things to be printed in California are in the works.

The bad news is sometimes these books fight me every update. I've read through and edited every subdocument, and have skimmed through the master document, fixing the settings and layout. Then as I skim through for a final check before exporting the PDF, I discover an error--a blank paragraph, a missing letter on a prominent heading or something. So I open the subdocument, fix it, and update the master document. Then I begin to scroll through again and realize that the update caused at least one graphic to disappear. I re-update hoping that will bring it back. It does; but now a cross-reference that was working fine the last 10 updates now points to the wrong place, and I know from experience that there's nothing to be done but get rid of the reference and do a hand-typed substitute. Then of course, I have to update again and make sure nothing has messed up this time...

I'm sure there's a spiritual application to this. And it probably has to do with the sanctification process of humans, how we can grow so much in the Lord and still never arrive at a pure heart in this life...always finding corrupted fibers that are so intertwined in our making that there is no scrutinizing how far their effects go.

Pandora just played "The Old Rugged Cross" for me. How appropriate to my train of thought, the compulsion to die daily...
with which I am well content, for as surely as this course will be published, I will be found sincere and blameless for the day of Christ, having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God (Philippians 1:11).