The Quarantine Chronicles: A Call to Courage in Dispiriting Times

By Rachel Starr Thomson

For six weeks during the Covid-19 crisis of 2020, I wrote an email every day—wrestling with fear and doubt, seeking God's perspectives, and issuing a call to arms, for myself and everyone on the journey with me. In strange and unstable times, we have a kingdom that cannot be shaken and a purpose that transcends politics, plagues, and personal fears. This book collects those emails in a call to create tomorrow in the spirit of power, love, and a sound mind. — Rachel Starr Thomson

• Language: English
• Publisher: Little Dozen Press
• Release date: May 14, 2020
• ISBN: 9781927658550

Rachel Starr Thomson

Rachel Starr Thomson is in love with Jesus and convinced the gospel will change the world. Rachel is a woman of many talents and even more interests: she’s a writer, editor, indie publisher, singer, speaker, Bible study teacher, and world traveler. The author of the Seventh World Trilogy, The Oneness Cycle, and many other books, she also tours North America and other parts of the world as a speaker and spoken-word artist with 1:11 Ministries. Adventures in the Kingdom launched in 2015 as a way to bring together Rachel’s explorations, in fiction and nonfiction, of what it means to live all of life in the kingdom of God. Rachel lives in the beautiful Niagara Region of southern Ontario, just down the river from the Falls. She drinks far too much coffee and tea, daydreams of visiting Florida all winter, and hikes the Bruce Trail when she gets a few minutes. A homeschool graduate from a highly creative and entrepreneurial family, she believes we’d all be much better off if we pitched our television sets out the nearest window. LIFE AND WORK (BRIEFLY) Rachel began writing on scrap paper sometime around grade 1. Her stories revolved around jungle animals and sometimes pirates (they were actual rats . . . she doesn’t remember if the pun was intended). Back then she also illustrated her own work, a habit she left behind with the scrap paper. Rachel’s first novel, a humorous romp called Theodore Pharris Saves the Universe, was written when she was 13, followed within a year by the more serious adventure story Reap the Whirlwind. Around that time, she had a life-changing encounter with God. The next several years were spent getting to know God, developing a new love for the Scriptures, and discovering a passion for ministry through working with a local ministry with international reach, Sommer Haven Ranch International. Although Rachel was raised in a strong Christian home, where discipleship was as much a part of homeschooling as academics, these years were pivotal in making her faith her own. At age 17, Rachel started writing again, this time penning the essays that became Letters to a Samuel Generation and Heart to Heart: Meeting With God in the Lord’s Prayer. In 2001, Rachel returned to fiction, writing what would become her bestselling novel and then a bestselling series–Worlds Unseen, book 1 of The Seventh World Trilogy. A classic fantasy adventure marked by Rachel’s lyrical style, Worlds Unseen encapsulates much of what makes Rachel’s writing unique: fantasy settings with one foot in the real world; adventure stories that explore depths of spiritual truth; and a knack for opening readers’ eyes anew to the beauty of their own world–and of themselves. In 2003, Rachel began freelance editing, a side job that soon blossomed into a full-time career. Four years later, in 2007, she co-founded Soli Deo Gloria Ballet with Carolyn Currey, an arts ministry that in 2015 would be renamed as 1:11 Ministries. To a team of dancers and singers, Rachel brought the power of words, writing and delivering original narrations, spoken-word poetry, and songs for over a dozen productions. The team has ministered coast-to-coast in Canada as well as in the United States and internationally. Rachel began publishing her own work under the auspices of Little Dozen Press in 2007, but it was in 2011, with the e-book revolution in full swing, that writing became a true priority again. Since that time Rachel has published many of her older never-published titles and written two new fiction series, The Oneness Cycle and The Prophet Trilogy. Over 30 of Rachel’s novels, short stories, and nonfiction works are now available in digital editions. Many are available in paperback as well, with more released regularly. The God she fell in love with as a teenager has remained the focus of Rachel’s life, work, and speaking.

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The Quarantine Chronicles: A Call to Courage in Dispiriting Times

Published by Little Dozen Press

Crystal Beach, ON, Canada

littledozen.com

Copyright © 2020 by Rachel Starr Thomson

Visit the author at rachelstarrthomson.com.

Unless otherwise marked, all Scriptures are taken from the Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Holman CSB®, and HCSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.

Scriptures marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

All Rights Reserved. This book, or any portion thereof, may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by an information storage and retrieval system (except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review or other endorsement, or in a recommendation to be printed in a magazine, newspaper, or on the Internet) without written permission from the publisher.

Before You Begin ...

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WEEK 1

TEMPORARY RESIDENTS

Email 1: Thursday, April 2

A new thing I’m doing that concerneth you

Well, friend, we’re in a weird time.

If you’re anything like me, you are sick of hearing about it but also adjusting to a new normal. For most of us I suspect that new normal manifests as a form of displacement.

For me that’s super literal; I am not at home or even in my own country. I was with family in the US when everything amped up, and all things considered, it didn’t make a lot of sense to go travel back home.

For you the displacement may be less drastic (or more), but I suspect we all feel a little like foreigners in our own world right now. Nothing is the way it used to be. We don’t know what’s coming and we haven’t had time to acclimate. It’s rough.

And I’m like you—I want everything to go back to normal. At the same time, this Scripture is echoing in my bones:

His voice shook the earth at that time, but now He has promised, Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also heaven. This expression, Yet once more, indicates the removal of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what is not shaken might remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us hold on to grace. By it, we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire. (Hebrews 12:26-29, HCSB)

I prayed a bunch about whether I should do anything different during this crisis, and I felt like yes—I should show up for you. So I’m planning to email daily (or almost daily), Mon-Sat, every day for the next six weeks.

These won’t mainly be sales emails, although they will mention books and link to them. Their purpose is to offer perspective and encouragement and maybe some light diversion too. I’m affectionally calling these emails the Quarantine Chronicles.

(Also, they mostly won’t be this long.)

They will be daily because hey, everything is disrupted right now, and wouldn’t it be nice to sit down reliably over coffee every morning and talk about things that matter?

And finally:

Shortly after all this began two weeks ago, I sat down and wrote a 40-page meditation on the book of 1 Peter, which speaks directly to displaced people like us. To the temporary residents, it starts out.

I published it digitally the same afternoon I finished it. You can get it here.

It’s free, or give what you want. (Just leave the price set at 0 or else put it whatever amount you want before you hit Buy This.) And please, feel free to share.

I’m grateful for, and a little awed by, the kingdom that cannot be shaken. In this season, I hope that more than anything, we’ll grasp the opportunity to reestablish our lives more firmly on this foundation of grace.

Blessings,

Rachel

Email 2: Friday, April 3

Set your hope completely

So yesterday morning I read a Scripture that shook me up. It’s