{"id":301,"date":"2020-04-02T14:56:02","date_gmt":"2020-04-02T19:56:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.arttoalston.com\/?page_id=301"},"modified":"2020-04-02T16:01:02","modified_gmt":"2020-04-02T21:01:02","slug":"viral-vitality-qa-with-art-toalston","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.arttoalston.com\/?page_id=301","title":{"rendered":"Viral Vitality Q&A with Art Toalston"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Q: What do you hope the new book, A Pandemic Proposal, Viral Vitality … Hope for the Human Sou<\/strong>l<\/em>, will accomplish?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A: First and foremost,\nI hope the book makes its way to non-Christians. For more than 20 years of my\nlife, I was not a Christian. I was an okay person, but after I turned to Christ\nin 1971 on the front porch of my aunt\u2019s house in Newton, Mississippi, the difference\nhas been night and day. Christ can impart a wholesomeness and vibrancy to our\nlives through the Holy Spirit that enhances everything we do. And in its high\nregard for the value of our souls, it has no equal in any other religious\ntradition or secular philosophy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second, I hope the\nbook makes its way to church members. We need to eradicate anything ho-hum\nabout our faith. We need to optimize our lives by tapping into its supernatural\ndimension, reflected, for instance, by the fruit of the Holy Spirit described in\nGalatians 5:22-23 as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,\nfaithfulness and self-control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And third, I hope it can\njoin with others in challenging the prevailing secular mindset in our country that\nis dismissive or ridicules the supernatural things of God. Christians are\nintelligent people who are part of an extraordinary heritage of faith through\nthe ages, and that remains viable today and in each new era of the human story.\nJust because something is supernatural doesn\u2019t make it anti-intellectual or\nnonexistent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: What are the key\nfeatures of the book?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is drawn squarely\nfrom Scripture in short stop-and-go sections for easy reading. More than 60\nScripture passages are set forth in the seven chapters of the main text; 45\nverses are recommended for further reading, study, and meditation; and more\nthan 50 passages are addressed in brief reflections by 42 pastors and laypeople\nwho were kind to add a grassroots type of perspective for the final chapter.\nThere are no quotes from luminaries, past or present, no anecdotes, no personal\nstorytelling and no sports analogies. Just the Scriptures and some insights and\nreminders about their value in a time of societal upheaval as well as the\nregular flow of life. Of course, they have value only as we ask and trust the\nHoly Spirit to apply them to our hearts and minds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q:\nWhat is the overall message of the book?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even amid the horrors\nand heavy sorrows of the COVID-19 pandemic, there can be a distinct vitality in\nour souls, in our circumstances, in our relationships, in the world within our\nsphere of influence, and in how we each move into the future. It may not be a\neuphoric vitality when a prolific number of us suffer illness, and many die, in\na society gripped by fear, economic tumult, and looming infections facing\nhealthcare and law enforcement personnel and store clerks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But still, just as our\nphysical bodies, when well, function as they were intended to do, so too can\nthe spirit within us. A vitality is available in Christ that can enhance our\ndaily lives, even in a time of social upheaval and widespread grief. As long as\nwe have a heartbeat and can breathe, why not venture forward with an optimized\nview of life? A coronavirus pandemic cannot alter God\u2019s creation of the human soul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: What happened to\nstir you to write the book?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My part-time job was\nsuspended and several freelance stories I had written became irrelevant when\neveryone\u2019s attention began turning to the looming COVID-19 crisis. I was at the\nY one afternoon in the pool; I can\u2019t swim but I was doing my aerobic exercise, kicking\nmy legs and moving my arms, and asking the Lord what I could do to be\nproductive. That\u2019s when and where the thought came to write a book drawing on\nthe Scripture I had memorized over the years. I wrote the first few paragraphs\nthe next day, around the middle of March.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the course of\nabout two weeks, I experienced moment after moment when it seemed that the Lord\ntook me to various Scriptures that I had copied to notecards over the years and\nhad memorized, meditated upon, and re-memorized whenever they had faded from\nmemory. And it seemed that the Lord gave me the ideas for starting each chapter\nand each section along with ideas for the flow of each chapter. It was a\nhumbling experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: Why do the Scriptures\nhave such a central place in your ebooks?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scripture\nmemorization, internalization and meditation have changed my life. I have been\nmemorizing Scripture since around 2000, stirred to do so by a speaker at\nchurch. I started with the fruit of the Spirit, Galatians 5:22-23, and have\nsince focused on several new passages a year, about 95 in all, ranging from one\nverse to multiple verses. When they have slipped from memory, I have\nre-memorized them, repeating the process numerous times, each time experiencing\nanew the Holy Spirit\u2019s illumination and rejuvenation through God\u2019s revelation. As\nvarious realizations came to mind during times of prayer, I wrote down as many\nas I could, yearning to share these gleanings with others, now through the new\nebook, A Pandemic Proposal: Viral\nVitality<\/em> \u2026 Hope for the Human Soul<\/em>,\nand two earlier ebooks, Meditation &\nMorality: Praying for a Better Way<\/em> and When\nI Meditate: Reclaiming a Key Facet of Prayer<\/em>. While new birth began an\nextraordinary transformation of my life when I trusted Christ in my early\ntwenties, the Holy Spirit\u2019s dynamic in Scripture continues to make my\nrelationship to God all the more wondrous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: Why did you utilize\nan ebook format?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A: It seems to be the\nonly way to fast track a substantive message. I believe this could be the first\nbook or ebook from a faith perspective addressing the COVID-19 pandemic, to say\nto non-Christians and to church folks that there can be hope and even a vibrant\nfaith in the midst of a crisis. Major publishers in New York can release a book\non any given topic within a few weeks. Sadly, it doesn\u2019t seem there is a rapid\nresponse capability in Christian publishing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the way, if someone\nhas an important message but no way to get it out, doing an ebook is not overly\ndifficult. I used eBookIt.com. They have an easy-to-follow checklist for each\nstep of the process. They can provide a book cover. They\u2019ll place it at Amazon,\niTunes and other platforms. They\u2019re responsive, quick and competent. And they can\ndo all this for around $300. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: How are you letting\npeople know about the ebook?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Social media is a\nchallenge. I\u2019m on Facebook – @atoalston \u2013 as well as Instagram and Twitter –\n@arttoalston. But I haven\u2019t spent a lot of time on social media over the years.\nFor me, the priority has been spending time with God through the Scriptures,\nseeking to be a good husband, full-time work as senior editor of Baptist Press\nand doing ministry at the nursing home in Alabama where my wife\u2019s parents were.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s\nkind of odd, I think if I would have chosen to devote time to social media over\nthe years, I wouldn’t have a message, or a life, with any depth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Q: What do you hope the new book, A Pandemic Proposal, Viral Vitality … Hope for the Human Soul, will accomplish? A: First and foremost, I hope the book makes its way to non-Christians. For more than 20 years of my life, I was not a Christian. I was an okay person, but after I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-301","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arttoalston.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/301","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arttoalston.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arttoalston.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arttoalston.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arttoalston.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=301"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.arttoalston.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/301\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":329,"href":"https:\/\/www.arttoalston.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/301\/revisions\/329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arttoalston.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}