4;18 PM Cliff Raad has just informed me that earlier today, we wired $22,550 to our publisher in Beijing for the printing of An Anchor for the Soul in Chinese . People from all across America contributed to the project. We hope to announce soon a way in which you can make continuing contributions so that even more copies (at $1 apiece) can be printed in the future. Special thanks to everyone who made a gift to the China Book Fund.

8:52 AM Winter has returned with a vengeance to northeast Mississippi. The temp dropped 30 degrees overnight. We're under a Winter Storm Watch for Saturday with a high probability of sleet, snow and ice. "Sleet and snow Saturday morning . . . Significant ice accumulations are possible across the watch area." That's one difference from the Midwest. In Chicago we often got 6-9 inches of snow overnight but rarely had much ice. Here we don't get much snow, and if we do it doesn't stay very long. But because of the moisture from the Gulf, we sometimes get a lot of ice.

7:49 AM If you're interested in China and don't have time to read a lot of information, sign up for ZG Briefs , a free weekly email that summarizes the latest China news from a variety of sources. Best way I know to keep up with what's happening in the world's largest nation.

7:42 AM I always knew Steve Boisse was a cool dude. Now I have the proof. He has his own weblog .

You can reach the author at   ray@keepbelieving.com . Click  here  to sign up for the free weekly email sermon.