My Next Book Title

 An evangelical senior citizen in the Bible Belt rethinks everything she ever thought and learned about women and the Bible. 

Not women in the Bible, although that's a subset. 

Chapters: Lying. Violence. Marriage. Motherhood. Leadership. Submission. Bodies.  Expectations.  Character. Aging.  Career. Caregiving. Service. Ministry.

I was listening to a podcast tonight on Viral Jesus. (Interesting podcast, odd name.) Kat Armas in an astounding interview, spoke of Tabitha/Dorcas in Acts 9. She is dead, Peter arrives, is prevailed upon to do something, and "the widows stood around him, crying and showing him the robes and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was still with them."

What we know of Dorcas/Tabitha is "In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (in Greek her name is Dorcas); she was always doing good and helping the poor." A woman is a disciple, she has a reputation for service, her absence meant a hole in the community, and God saw fit to revive her and let her live a while longer. I think Dorcas would be my catalyst in this book. She lived an embodied life, something I think we are missing a great deal of these days. We can get someone else to do our dirty work; we can pay someone else to get their hands dirty. What we do with our hands is prized service. 

We think a lot about eternity. At the same time, we live now, and it is all we have from an earthly standing. The now, to be and serve.