Chapters 48 through 51 — The Twelfth Window

Good evening and happy Divine Mercy Sunday!  Hope you’ve been well.  Had some personal stuff happen but I’ve recovered and I’m back to comment on the next several chapters of The Twelfth Window.

Diving in… Lisa is savoring her new level of relationship with Michael.  I can say that this bit is part autobiographical and part to represent that each relationship that one has with Christ is unique to him or her.   The beach is back, I used it as a setting for Lisa to explain herself to Kim… again the bridge between the earthly and the eternal.  It’s not an accident that I am advocating abstinence in Chapter 48,  by the way.   But what was an accident was the writing of this chapter and my later discovery of ancient Jewish wedding/marriage customs.   The last paragraph in Chapter 48 is also semi-autobiographical–I still have the bag of shells in my house today.

Chapter 49 contains inspiration from John 16:17-18 where Jesus’ disciples are troubled when He tells them that he must go away for a while.  This short chapter ends with the word “immortality” on purpose, to hint that Michael’s going away and immortality might somehow be interconnected.

Chapter 50 was easy to write.  All I had to do was remember the last day of school for seniors at my school.  We really did have a tradition of emptying our lockers onto the floor and walking out from under the authority of the school forever.   I wanted to parallel it with the people of ancient Israel wanting to get out, forever, from under the authority of Rome.   Chapter 50 contains references to John 13:33-34 (when Michael tells Lisa that she can’t go with him where he’s going but she will have plenty of company around) and Job 33:14.   All these Scripture references to St. John, it’s no wonder I thanked him in the credits!  Anwyay, also to be found in Chapter 50 are John 13:36-37, Luke 18:31-34, John 14: 2-5, John 7:32-36, John 16:16-18 and John 22.   Look ’em up and you’ll see what I mean.

Chapter 51 shows the spiritual side of anticipation of a completion of Michael and Lisa’s relationship.  It used to freak me out that I was even writing The Twelfth Window but after the Lord showed me Jeremiah 31:32, Hosea 2:1-23 and Mark 12:25, I felt better.  Anyway, Christians of some traditions will understand what Lucius says on page 194.  In two simple words–Marian devotion.  I am trying to say that it is approved of by God because Mary leads to Jesus… but that is just one aspect of the whole story.

The Twelfth Window is available on www.amazon.com, www.authorhouse.com, www.12thwindow.com and elsewhere.   I dare you to Google it !

(Side note:  please pick up a copy of Terraforming by Gould, Black & Brown on iTunes… Phil Gould of the group has written a lot of songs that helped inspire my writing, so it’s only fitting that I give him a blurb here.)

–J.M. Norwood

Chapters 28 through 35… halfway point reached!

Before I begin, I figure I help line Hallmark’s pockets by reminding my readers that next Sunday May 11th is Mothers Day (US). 

If you would like to purchase a copy of The Twelfth Window, as I am sure you are wondering, it can be purchased many places online including www.authorhouse.com, www.amazon.com, www.barnesandnoble.com; www.12thwindow.com lists all the major places online that it can be found.

Shout outs to:  everyone at Black Christian Book Promotion, my new publicist Heather Dyer, Kim and Becky Laney from www.yabookscentral.com, and Phil Gould from the original lineup of Level 42.

Now, the Bible verses referred to in this post will be Matthew 26:53, Psalm 13, Isaiah 63:17, and John 11:21-37.  Please do not think that I am some sort of Biblical scholar.  I think I am fairly familiar with Scripture, but not in the I-have-a-degree-in-theology sort of way.  If you have made it this far into the blog, then it should be obvious that I had some Help in writing The Twelfth Window!

In The Twelfth Window, the increased tension in the story between Lisa and her friends, including Michael, kicks in at this point.  I was trying to show that once you go down that slippery path in the Wrong Direction, defiance becomes increasingly easier.  That goes for the individual as it seems to me that it did for the House of Israel.  In chapter 29, Lisa’s reaction to the news about the fight in the hallway shows her vanity.  In hindsight, this is common; we want God to fight our battles for us.  Michael’s parting words to Monty Ray after the fight were my way of saying that God honors our free will.  This hardens the hearts of many, methinks. 

Chapter 30 is my way of reimagining Matthew 26:53, both in the context of Scripture and in the context of the storyline of The Twelfth Window.  OK, and also in the context of the fall of Lucifer. 

By Chapter 31, Lisa has spiritually hit rock-bottom.  Even when we hit rock-bottom in defiance and sin, as I am trying to show, God does not decimate us.  Just as He did not decimate the House of Israel.  Lisa’s friends serve as the surrounding nations of ancient Israel, doing a little armchair quarterbacking as I am sure that the peoples of other religions may have done. 

Chapter 33 shows that despite all of the bad that had been going on in the world, despite Israel’s sins, God stuck by His Plan of salvation.  There’s a little of Hebrews in there, now that I think of it.  Hebrews 2:9 and Hebrews 2:16.

Chapter 34 gave me a chance to show that Dormey is starting to get an inkling of who is best buddy really is.  Just as the old prophets had an inkling of Who the Christ would be.  I wanted to show that death saddens God more than it does us, because He is the only One Who knows the real cause and origin of it.  I also wanted to show that God is also supreme over science, and that no matter how advanced science gets, it will never be able to solve the mystery of death.

Chapter 35 is simply portraying that the algebra textbook represents Scripture, Dormey represents the prophets handing it repeatedly to Israel, and Monty Ray represents the enemy, who kicks it away.  If you read the chapter, the meanings fall neatly into place.  Truth be told, this was one of my favorite chapters to write.

My godmother asked me if Monty Ray represents the Devil, or what?  Well, he represents (what is) evil in the world, while Uriusa (mentioned in a couple of places in the story) represents the Devil. 

I give you permission to congratulate yourself because you are now more than halfway through The Twelfth Window !   😉

–JM Norwood