I’m freezing.

Specifically, I’m freezing at the Westfield Mall in St. Louis. In the lower parking garage, no less, and it’s cold. It’s rainy, the temperature is something like 54 degrees or lower, and I not only put on a t-shirt (under my typical T-shirt), but I also slapped on a jacket to boot. I’m sitting here, in the bone-chilling, mind-numbing cold. Waiting.

I have three hours to go.

And THEN, my friends, at 4:00pm sharp, the gates of the Greater St. Louis Annual Book Fair will open, and I, along with the vast horde of other fanatical, waiting book hunters, will sprint in to find… Books.

But what, you ask, am I looking for in this bibiloforest before me?

First on the list: paperback novels. over the years I have compiled a very long list of novels I’d like to read one day. It was easy. Visit Amazon.com while you’re a receptionist with nothing else to do. Find a novel you enjoyed and click on the various links of what other people (who also liked the novel) purchased, and down the rabbit hole you go.

Before you know it, you’re looking at a list of 40 novels that are on your wishlist. Give and take a few years & books sales, and perhaps you’ve pared it down to 30. Find a few on eBay at a reasonable price, and you’re at 25. Now, to find THOSE 25, you either have to be mighty lucky when you browse a sale or used book store, or you have to plunk down full price at a fancy bookstore (the words make me wince just typing them, “full price,” oy…)

So that’s the first thing I look for – science fiction, mystery and a few horror novels (note: when I say “horror” I am NOT referring to occult novels. You can have a perfectly good horror novel without mucking it up with occultist influences. See James Rollins’ “Subterranean” or Douglas Preston / Lincoln Child’s “The Relic” for examples.)

Secondly, I’m also looking for books on psychology and self-help, with an eye out for those pertaining to the brain, the subconscious mind, or other fun subjects. I have a short list of books along these topics that I’d love to read, so hopefully finding them won’t be too much trouble. (But again, at a book fair, it’s always hit and miss…)

Does it sound strange? A grown man sitting for hours in the cold to get a handful of books? I’m not alone. As I look around me, there are at least 50 other people in tow. And that’s not including the empty lawn chairs set up in line for “parkers” who probably plunked them down at the stroke of midnight. It’s like we’re a variation of the Star Wars fanatics, just a bit more literate. (Ba-dum bump!! Just kidding, of course… I’ve found most Star Wars fans to be heavily educated (at least in the Star Wars universe), so calling them illiterate is like saying I can feel circulation in my blue hands right now… It just ain’t true…)

Wow… My MP3 player just went silent as I’m typing this. I’ve had it for two weeks, and haven’t changed the AA battery yet. (And that’s pretty good, considering it runs for 35-40 hours on one battery….) I was going to write a review for it, and since I have the time I might as well hack that out, too.

But I’ll conclude the Book Fair Blog with this: you know how I’ve written in the past about the favor of God, and how He will bless or reward us according to our expectant faith and belief? Well, I tested this theory again today, with glowing results.

As I drove here, I asked for God to show me His favor today and to allow me to find a mind-blowing, inexplicably fantastic parking spot. I know… it’s a ballsy prayer, but that’s how I’m learning to pray – with great big balls. Bold Balls, I call ‘em.

But enough about my Balls of Prayer.

As I pull into the underground parking garage (where I’m freezing said Balls off right now…), I come to a stop – I can either turn left or right. I feel a pull (a nudge, a hunch) to turn to the left, so I do… And end up in a dead-end. It’s as close as I can get to the book fair area, but a dead-end nonetheless.

As I pull forward and begin to turn around, however, I suddenly realize that the car at the end actually ISN’T the last car in the row, but it was simply hiding THE LAST PARKING SPACE behind it.

Ta-daaaa……

Bam. The Favor of God, manifest yet again in my life. I gotta tell ya, living out an expectant faith in a living God makes for good living indeed. If you haven’t tried it yet, Jump In. You won’t regret it.