To Arms! To Arms!

Did you know, that the English long bowman was expected to be able to fire 12 to 15 arrows a minute

and hit his target dead or close to center, or he was not considered proficient? (That’s one arrow every 4 to 5 seconds)

Or that training for archers started at the age of seven? (And I thought my schooling was rigorous)

Or that the range of a long bow fired by skilled archer was between 200 and 400 yards? (That’s between 600 and 1200 feet. In comparison, a football field is usually 360 feet in length)

How about the fact that fired at close range an arrow from a long bow could penetrate 4 inches of seasoned oak? (Go look at the thickness of any door in your house and think on that again)

Why in the world am I regaling you with all these facts? Well, in a way this is an invitation to battle, and more than that, an invitation to string your own bow and provide some much needed cover fire for myself and all the other harried bookstore staff working on this Fantasy Four Signing Tour. If they are experiencing anything like what I have this week just trying to get the books in, they have got to be weary and frustrated and pretty much ready to kick something.

It took coming home and outlining all the impasses and annoyances to Mom to make me understand that there is more going on than just the normal problems associated with getting new books into the store, but I finally got it. We are under attack. Now, I am not one to jump at shadows or to blame Satan for what is clearly a person’s own willful nature at work, but when things get this out of control and family members start questioning what is going on, then I do pause and go ‘hmmm, what am I doing that gotten the Enemy so annoyed.’’

I believe the answer is, I’m supporting authors who have the Gospel tucked in their work. Any time the Gospel goes out and people get the chance to hear it the Enemy is not pleased. I suppose I got into the mindset of ‘This is going to be fun, this is going to be a lovely fantasy book signing and that gives me an opportunity to play with decorations and long sharp metal pointy things and music in the store, and to also show that fantasy continues to do well for us as a store so we will continue to keep it in.’

In sharp contrast to that, the reality is “This is the Gospel going out into the secular fantasy realm, these are four dynamic brothers and sisters in Christ taking a message of hope and of love out to a fandom that Sunday Morning Christians tend to shun or mock. This is the net, being lowered into the vast sea of the lost, and a chance that it be so full to the breaking that those four can’t pull it back into the boat on their own.

Shhh. Don’t tell anyone, but it’s a mission’s trip in disguise.

So, I shouldn’t be surprised that everything that can go wrong has gone wrong. From our computers being ‘blind’, meaning I can’t see the titles to order them through the distributors when I look at their inventory because we are so behind on updates that our archaic computer system doesn’t recognize them, to my co workers forgetting that this is happening in less than five weeks and looking at me with glazed, blank expressions when I bring it up. I would scream, but that tends to scare customers.

So, I am asking for your prayers not only on the day of the signing, July 14^th, but right now as well. And, here are some of the targets for you to train those lovely prayer ‘arrows’ at:

COMMUNICATION

Please pray that everyone who works at the bookstore, myself included, would be able to communicate clearly with one another and the customers about this event. It’s amazing how garbled things get even with my writing them down and making sure people read the flyers. And the co-workers I have are highly intelligent, professional, and knowledgeable people. So, please pray about the clarity of communication. If we can’t get the word out, we’ve slit our own throat. Maybe the Enemy knows that.

FAVOR

I am starting my least favorite part of the signing, I’m going to be calling the newspapers and radio and talking with people letting them know that this lovely tour is coming to the area. Now, the owner is going to be doing some advertising, the organizers for the signing are doing advertising, but it’s my job to see what kind of ‘free publicity’ I can drum up. I basically talk about how wonderful the authors are, how great the books are (that’s the easy part) and then tell them about the store and the times and dates of the event and that’s where it gets sticky, because no print media wants to give free publicity. And that is what I am asking for, which leads to some interesting conversations. You’d think I’d have a thicker skin by now, but I don’t. So please pray that Christ give me favor where He wants me to have favor and that I’d have just the right thing to say to them at the right time to open up whatever door He wants opened.

Last year, I was talking to someone in the local radio media, while we wound up paying for a spot of advertising instead of getting it for free, I so impressed the woman I was talking to with Mr. Batson’s book, that she bought several copies, one for her son and the others for his friends. When I talked with her again about a different author, she told me how everyone had loved Wayne’s book. I was thrilled, and so was she. That’s the kind of ‘open door’ that I love.

STAMINA

From start to finish, I spend over 100 hours on any given signing, and that doesn’t count how many times I repeat the information or share anecdotes with interested customers or cajole shy readers into venturing out to meet the authors. I have the ‘staging’ to do which usually requires off the clock set up the day before, not to mention making or finding things (that’s fun, but it takes time), and then the break down and rearranging of the store after the signing. Then there’s the talking to the media, often time the writing of the ‘blurbs’ that air on the radio (because I’m the one that can recite the information in my sleep) and the gathering of information from publishing house reps so the owner can order the books through the publishers instead of the distributors for better discount. I do all that, on top of the regular duties I have. I am blessed to have wonderful co-workers that do whatever they can to help me. But I do get weary. So, please pray for stamina for me and for strength, my goal is to be as excited about the event when I talk to the thousandth person as I am when I talk to the first.

You know, as I’ve been typing this thing, I believe that the Lord has impressed on my heart to ask that you pray these things not only for me, but for the authors as well. They are going to need to communicate clearly with each other and their fans on this tour for it to go well. You can imagine too the logistics nightmare it could be getting four people and their gear from one event to the next with nothing getting left behind and to leave and arrive on time. And they are going to need favor, Mr. Batson’s shared some of the rejection and frustration they’ve all ready gone through just trying to get bookstores, Christian in particular, to host the signings. And they are most definitely going to need stamina

So please, cover fire for me and cover fire for them. It matters so very much. And keep checking back, I’ll start updating more about the signing and of course post pictures when I have them.