We are pretty excited about going to print with The Physically Fit Messiah, a book written by a most delightful octogenarian author, Cal Samra, the founder and editor of The Joyful Noiseletter. We have been having wonderful conversations with lots of laughter, and working with him on this book has been an absolute pleasure.
Today, Cal and I each went through the first formatted proof from the typesetter and made a list of the tweaks needed before going to print. The soft-cover book will OFFICIALLY be released to all major bookstores and as an eBook on Kindle on March 17, 2016, but we will have copies on hand in our office in January. We love this book and this author and are optimistic it will be very well received.
The cover features a very popular painting, “The Risen Christ by the Sea,” by Jack Jewell—a painting of a joyful, triumphant Risen Christ surprising his disciples at the Sea of Tiberias. Jewell, a seascape artist, painted it at the suggestion of a New York Fire Department chaplain who was the successor of the NYFD chaplain who was killed in the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center.
As I sit here typing this with television coverage of the attacks in Paris in the background, working on this book is my refuge. One does not have to be a Christian to see the beauty, love, and joy that this painting represents... and that this book offers. When we look at another person, or in this case a painting, an image, it is like looking in the mirror, reflecting back to us what we desire to be: wise, fit, peaceful, joyful, centered.