Category: Big Ideas are Intimidating if You Look at Them With a Small Perspective

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What do Freezing Temperatures and God’s Love Have in Common?

I’m guessing most of the people reading this at the end of January have recently been dealing with some very cold weather, along with some snow/ice. This past weekend there was an enormous storm that dropped snow, ice, or rain in something ridiculous like 40 states.

I’ll be honest with you, I was disappointed as the forecasted amount of snow kept dropping. At one point we were supposed to get 21 inches of it. As the models kept updating though, eventually we were projected to get less than half that.

Well, when you live in an area that’s not accustomed to more than a few inches of snow, and then you see warnings about nearly two feet of it, things start to get a little crazy. The snow wouldn’t be so bad, but then forecasts started talking about some ice mixing in. Cue the panic. Power outages mixed with some of the coldest temperatures in several years spells trouble.

I started making preparations here at home. I have electric heat, so my worst-case scenario was to lose power during the season’s coldest temperatures. I have a few batteries I use for power tools, and I charged them all up so I could use them to power lights or recharge phones. I have some firewood we could use in the fireplace, but not nearly enough to keep the whole house warm for any significant length of time. If we lost power, we’d lose heat, and that would probably mean we’d have pipes freeze and we’d lose water, too. We bought some bottled water to have on hand.

I started thinking about how I’d try to make the most of the fireplace. I came up with a plan to hang up blankets over the entryways of the room where our fireplace is, sort of enclosing it so the heat from the fireplace would mostly stay in the room rather than being dispersed throughout the house. We could use a lot less wood if we moved everybody into that single room and all slept there.

We have a big blanket that I had in mind for this; it’s probably big enough for a King- or Queen-sized bed, and it’s heavy enough to keep a lot of heat in. It’s not a little rinky-dink blanket, and it’s thicker than a curtain. As I started thinking about turning this blanket more or less into a giant curtain to help box in our living room, I’m not sure why, but I thought of the temple veil mentioned in the Gospels.

The temple veil was a big, thick curtain (probably multiple inches thick) that was used to separate the innermost sanctuary of the temple, the “Holy of Holies,” or the Earthly dwelling place of God’s presence, from the rest of the temple that was otherwise accessible to men. The veil was meant to illustrate the fact that sin separates humanity from the Lord’s presence.

In the New Testament, the veil is most famous for what happened immediately after Christ’s death. His passing was such a momentous event that it literally rocked the world and caused supernatural phenomena. Matthew 27:50-52 says And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks splitand the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life.

There’s no way I’d be strong enough to rip the blanket I was preparing to use, and it’s much smaller and thinner than the temple veil. The fact that the temple veil was torn apart from top to bottom, which could have been as much as 60 feet tall, is amazing! It’s symbolic of the idea that Jesus’ death provided a way to overcome the sin-caused separation. Because of Christ’s sacrifice, no longer are believers separated from the Lord’s presence. Only God could have torn the veil apart so completely while illustrating the symbolism so richly.

Well thankfully we still have electricity and we haven’t had to MacGyver any emergency heating arrangements. Even so, this exercise helped serve as a reminder of just how significant and powerful Christ’s death on the cross was for us.

I hope you’re all safe and warm, that you’re dug out of any frozen precipitation you may have received, and that you’re living confidently in light of what Christ’s done for you. God bless!

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Is Anybody Even Listening to What I Say?

Very few people know this about me (or remember it), but I had an odd way of trying to make extra money once upon a time. After college I moved back in with Mom and Dad and my main job was working in construction while I paid back student loans. The money was good, but the job usually only went until about 3 pm and I had some extra time and energy as a young 20-something, so I went looking for a side hustle. Oddly enough, there was a brief chapter in my life where I was a telemarketer.

Now you have to understand, I hate when telemarketers call me, so it was an interesting development. This was more than 20 years ago; back then it wasn’t robo-calls, it was actual pick-up-the-phone-and-call-someone stuff. I got a huge list of phone numbers, broken down by Eastern, Central, Mountain, and Pacific time zones. I didn’t have names, just phone numbers. To provide privacy to our home phone number, the system was set up so I’d call and log into it, and then I’d be able to dial other phone numbers from there.

I had a script to use for pitching the product. Truth be told, I don’t even remember what I was trying to sell, or who I worked for. I called so many phone numbers. Hardly anybody answered. It would be some ridiculous ratio like, call 10 numbers to get someone who picks up, but only one in 10 people you talk to would even listen to your whole pitch, so you’d have to make like, a hundred calls before you even get a glimmer of hope. (And that’s probably being generous.) Between all those calls and tying up Mom and Dad’s phone line, it didn’t take me long to figure out that this wasn’t worth the effort for me. I quit without ever making a sale.

Not to discourage anybody, but it can kinda feel like that sometimes with spreading the Gospel. You can have tons of conversations, you can scatter that seed far and wide, and you can live your life in a way that people know there’s something different about you, but sometimes you wonder if you’re making a difference for the Kingdom of Christ.

For those of you who may feel this way, I’d like to point you to the parable of the sower, found in the books of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. As Jesus explained the parable to them, He explained that some people who heard the Gospel received it with gladness but then rejected it at the first sign of trouble, or how others had the Good News choked out by worry or wealth. Finally though, He talked about the good soil. Matthew 13:23 says “But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”

This is very heartening news! Although there will be varying degrees of fruitfulness, this verse is saying that all Christians will be fruitful to some degree. Nobody’s wasting their time. Don’t quit spreading the Good News. You might not be there when someone “crosses the threshold,” but your efforts can be part of the collective body of work that it takes to get them to that threshold. Think of a tree branch that snaps under the weight of snow in a snowstorm. On their own, each individual snowflake doesn’t do much, but at the direction of the Holy Spirit, the collective weight of all of them brings them to the point where something big happens.

So keep spreading the news with gladness wherever you are and in whatever role you find yourself. You’ll only find out the full story of your impact in Heaven.

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Two Guys Who Were Each Literally One in a Million

Ever feel like you’re the only one in your circle who trusts what God’s doing?

Sometimes even other Christians’ faith seems to wilt in the face of apparent obstacles. It can be tough to believe you should pursue something God’s called you to do, especially when your senses are telling you to go the other way.

That’s exactly what Caleb and Joshua came up against as they neared the promised land. After God led them out of Egypt, but before entering into the land God had arranged for them to take possession of, He told Moses to take 12 men, one from each tribe, and send them in pairs to spy out the land to see what it was like.

They did just that. Five of the six pairs came back and lamented about how difficult it would be to conquer the land. The people were too strong, the cities were too fortified, etc. They lamented about how futile it would be to try to take the land by force. The last pair, Caleb and Joshua, were excited. “God promised us this land; whoever or whatever obstacles lay in front of us are inconsequential. We only need to move when He says to move, and He’ll take care of the rest to fulfill His promise to us!”

Despite the enthusiasm of these two, the people of Israel decided things were so bleak, they should reject the leader God had given them (Moses), appoint for themselves a new leader, and head back to Egypt! The people even started talking about stoning Caleb and Joshua! (Numbers 14:10) At that point the Lord stepped in. Exasperated with the Israelites, He spoke with Moses about their faithlessness and declared His intent to ensure no Israelite who was age 20 or older would live long enough to enter the promised land. The only two exceptions would be Caleb and Joshua, who believed God and advocated for His path.

There were roughly two million Israelites at this point. Out of those two million, there were only two who had the faith and focus on God to please Him. When you average it out, these two men of faith were literally one in a million.

Popular sentiment does not guarantee alignment with God’s will. There will likely be times when, even among other Christians, you’re in the minority about believing God’s promises or pursuing what He’s called you to do. When you’re the only one God’s given a particular assignment to, don’t be surprised when nobody else understands it. If you’re consistently in God’s word and you’re regularly in prayer, He’ll lead you in the direction He wants you to go. Follow God’s lead even if nobody else sees it.

Lord, it can be hard to step out in faith, especially when it doesn’t make sense. Thanks for this example of two men who believed in your power and promise, and help me to recognize when You’re moving me toward something You want me to do. In those times, give me clarity of vision and boldness of heart. Amen.

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A Missed Opportunity is a Lost Opportunity

Ever hear of a sloppy, unrehearsed presentation trouncing a very polished one?

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve written about the urgency of our situation as Christ-followers. We’re not recommended…we’re commanded…to go out and make disciples of all nations. That can be tough. What’s that look like?

The most important thing is that we try. Making an honest attempt equates to obedience here, and obedience is one of the things God wants from us. Although a well-rehearsed, logical presentation of the Gospel is something to work toward, lack of a prepared version is not a good excuse for skipping the attempt. No matter how prepared you are for the pitch, you’re not the one who gets to decide if it penetrates the heart:

It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. –John 6:63

God can use a fumbling and bumbling version of a Gospel presentation just as much as He can use a highly stylized, well-practiced delivery. Jesus is pretty particular in reminding us about this. Later in the same chapter, Peter started speaking a little pretentiously, and implied that he and the “true disciples” had somehow acquired superior insight, and as a result of this insight, had decided to believe. Jesus was quick to correct him about who did the choosing:

Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.

 Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?” He spoke of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for it was he who would betray Him, being one of the twelve. –John 6:69-70

God expects us to obey, but He doesn’t expect us to be rock stars at evangelism. Picture a dad playing with his young kids and a ball. “Throw Daddy the ball!” All the kiddo has to do is get it close, and Daddy will make the catch and complete the play. Same thing here. Just obey, and get it close. If it’s part of His plan, God will take it from there.

This leads to an important point. Not everyone who hears the Gospel will respond to it, especially the first time they hear it. That means there needs to be more presentations of the Gospel than there are acceptances. That’s where you come in. You don’t have to be successful, you just need to be obedient. Obedience is your responsibility; outcome is God’s responsibility. He won’t be disappointed in you for obeying what He told you to do.

I understand it’s a scary thing, and we’ve been conditioned not to talk about God in the workplace. Let’s start small and you can grow from there. If you’re not going to go out and tell people about God, use the times He brings people to you. The next time a solicitor knocks on your door, guess what? They’re not going to complain to HR about you discussing God with them. They came to you. They’re on your turf. Just because they have something to offer you doesn’t mean it’s a one-way street. I guarantee what you have to offer them is far more valuable than what they’re offering you. Don’t pretend you’re not home.

Not sure what structure to follow? There are a ton out there, and some methods lend themselves to different personalities or levels of memorization. As long as you’re covering these three areas, you’re sharing the Gospel. 1. Why we must be saved. 2. How Jesus can save us. 3. What we must do to be saved.

Try learning about some of these quick methods, with longer descriptions (and additional methods) available at https://dudedisciple.com/methods-of-evangelism/:

  1. The Pray and Say – More people than you’d think are open to having you pray for them. Try articulating the Gospel during a prayer with them.
  2. The Roman Road – Using five different verses in the book of Romans, you walk folks through the need for Jesus. Think you can memorize five verses?
  3. The 1-minute Gospel – Some people reject the Bible because it’s the Bible. No Bible verses required for this one.
  4. The Billy Graham Method – It worked for millions of people, and is pretty simple.
  5. The Five-Finger Method – Five fingers help you remember five points to make.

Ultimately, you’re the best judge of the method you should use…these are just some ideas to get you started and work with complete strangers. You’re welcome to use these, or any other method, on strangers, people you know casually, or people who are very important to you.

I encourage you to check out the link. We (Christians) are here for a reason, and the enemy doesn’t want you to follow through on it. Remind yourself that you don’t have to present the Gospel perfectly, you just need to present it, and it gives the Holy Spirit an opportunity to do some big stuff in a person’s life.

Lord, help me remember what’s truly important in this life and to be willing to follow through with what You’ve called me to do. When the time comes, give me the words to say, and may You be glorified through me. Amen.

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Dude, Living Out Your Calling Can Be HARD!

Let’s get real for a little bit here. Sometimes trying to follow God’s calling…is hard!

Back during the Covid years, I felt like God called me to do something really audacious. Despite never having published anything professionally, or not having written fiction stories since elementary school, I felt like God was calling me to write a series of fictional Christian novels.

Truth be told, it was kind of a miraculous experience to be a part of. When it comes to big, bold ideas, I’m actually pretty organized. I started spreadsheets to lay out this monstrous storyline, and the ideas just kept coming. Ideas would kind of fester for a bit, then evolve into something a little smoother. More details would come to mind, and they’d work really well. I took all kinds of notes for each of the stories that would eventually be part of the series. Things have changed a bit since the original nascent ideas, but overall the plots started coming together. It’s one of those times where it was perfectly evident only God could allow all the ideas to fall into place.

Eventually I figured I needed to have seven distinct stories, though some of the stories were multi-volume, so it came out to be 10 different books. I tried starting at the beginning of the series, and I worked on that for awhile. Then I tried dabbling in the second story for a bit, but the one I really wanted to get to work on was the fifth story. I’d be focused on the first or second story, but I kept getting more and more ideas about the fifth one. They’ve all got to get written, so I got started on the one I was excited about. That’s still the one I’m most pumped about, and it’s the one where I’ve made the most progress.

But fast forward a few years, and how are things going? Well, to be honest, things have kind of stalled. I’m still excited about the idea of getting these stories written out, but I don’t seem to have the time or energy to focus on them. Covid faded into the background, and normal life, along with all its distractions and energy sucks, returned. As the kids started becoming teenagers, my time and mental energy started getting siphoned off into other things.

I can’t dismiss the importance of this effort, though. Of all the things I feel like God’s called me to do in my life, I feel like this is the biggest, grandest, boldest thing yet He’s challenged me with. Years from now, after I’m gone, whatever legacy I leave behind, I feel like this project is supposed to be a part of it. I am still highly enthusiastic about working on this series, but it’s as though God said “look, I want you to stay pumped about this, but I’m going to put it on ice for now. The timing’s just not right. Maintain your motivation, because I’m coming back to this later.”

So what do I do? Generally the longer things sit, the tougher they are to get going again. This whole thing could die on the vine, if I let it. The choice is really up to me. Fortunately I’ve been blessed with much faith. I don’t know what God’s eventual plan for this project is, but it’s helpful for me to think about how things have changed since Christ rose again. In the Old Testament, it was only a select few that the Holy Spirit rested on; now it’s every single Christ-follower. We all have access to the same off-the-charts empowerment that Moses, Gideon, Samson, Elijah, Elisha, Jeremiah, David, and other famous Biblical characters had. How can I doubt that if the Lord chooses, He’ll equip me to figuratively move mountains for the sake of achieving what He wants me to achieve? The task for now? Prevent my attitude from becoming the weak link in getting this done (which may not be for a period of many years from now).

In the meantime, here are some Bible verses to help me stay focused and motivated, even when progress is painfully slow.

But as for you, be strong and do not give up, for your work will be rewarded. -2 Chronicles 15:7

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. –Galatians 6:9

So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. – Isaiah 41:10

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. – Jeremiah 21:11

Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” –Matthew 19:26

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. – Romans 8:28

Are you in the same boat I am? Motivation can be hard to maintain. Don’t give up; the world is waiting for you to become the person you were born to be.

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The Difference Between Good and Great

As an enlisted troop in the Air Force, I picked up on some of the nuances of performance appraisals from a friendly Captain. I’m not sure how much things have changed since then, but at the time, it seemed customary to not say anything bad about the person being evaluated.

How do you distinguish between a troop that’s outstanding and a troop that’s sub-par? According to this Captain, it was all in the nuance.

“If you’ve got a troop who’s absolutely amazing, can do no wrong, and you think should be promoted immediately, you say things like ‘they walk on water,’ or ‘they stand head and shoulders above the rest.’ If, on the other hand, you’ve got somebody who still needs to do some learning, you talk about how much ‘potential’ they have.”

I protested a bit. “But isn’t ‘potential’ a good thing?”

“It is, but it means it’s not yet realized. ‘Potential’ refers to untapped talent that has yet to be harnessed.”

I was thankful for this little glimpse into the art of politely distinguishing between the skill levels of subordinates, and in a way, I believe it applies to Christ-followers today. You see, at the moment of salvation, the Holy Spirit imparts spiritual gifts to Believers. He calls us to use those gifts for His glory, but He doesn’t often compel us to use them. Empowered by the Holy Spirit, our potential as Christians is absolutely through the roof, and we each individually decide how much we want to allow God to have His way in our lives. The more the better, as we’ll see when we get that final performance appraisal from the Lord.

(As far as I know, Simon Peter is the only guy other than Jesus who could have a performance appraisal claiming a literal ability to “walk on water,” at least for a little while.)

It’s not possible for us to be “too” good at using those spiritual gifts. Don’t worry, God will put a cap on what He wants out of our employment of those gifts. It’s the minimum ability we should be focused on. Our goal? By the time we take our last breath, we should have no remaining untapped potential to use our spiritual gifts.

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Warning: Audacity in Progress

In the past I’ve shared about how God laid on my heart the task of writing a series of fictional Christian books.

To give you some context about how audacious that is for me, consider this. Far and away, the largest writing endeavor I’ve ever undertaken is this blog. None of its entries are very long. This entry is a little over 1,000 words. The longest document I’ve ever written was for a college course, with a requirement of 10,000 words, I think. What makes me believe, despite having no writing classes other than basic English courses in college, I can write a series of 10 books, each with 50,000-80,000 words, totaling over 600,000? With “Piece of Cake” at one end of the spectrum and “Impossible” at the other end, I’m a lot closer to “Impossible” than “Cake.”

It’s very important to remember: those God calls, He equips.

Well that’s a wonderful little platitude, but how are things going, really? The idea for this project first took root during COVID lockdowns. It’s been four years. Where are we on this?

To be honest with you, it’s tough. I’ve never written a book before, let alone ten of them. I laid out a plan for what the different books would cover, then started at the beginning with the first book in the series. When I got bored with that story I’d jump to a different one, then another. What I found was this method diluted my efforts too much; I made headway, but it didn’t feel like it was getting traction. With my hectic schedule, I don’t have big chunks of time to work on stuff like this, so I only get maybe an hour and a half or two hours to work on it, sometimes once a week. Although I’m trying to surpass a half million words, this method’s not going to allow me to make big leaps forward.

I started focusing my efforts on a group of three specific books, rather than dabbling in ten books. Over time I started adding 1,000 words, 1,250, sometimes even 1,500 words at a shot. I’d mess around with the table of contents, re-sequence parts of the story to make it flow better and make more sense. A new idea would hit at inopportune times, and I’d write it down on my hand or email myself from work. The goal is still to get over 600,000 words, and I still have hundreds of thousands of words to write, but you know what I’ve learned so far?

This insurmountable goal is looking more achievable.

The progress isn’t as fast as I’d like, since I do have other responsibilities (a family, a full time job, a blog, my daily/weekly routines, a house, yard, and vehicles to take care of, etc.). In fact, the majority of my writing happens during my kids’ extracurricular activities. I drive them somewhere, and rather than come home after dropping them off, I stay there and write until it’s time to pick them up. Considering the sporadic chunks of time I have to work on this project, I’m pleased I haven’t given up on it. Persistence in small bites translates into small chunks of progress, but those chunks have begun banding together to result in some solid headway on that group of three books. With a combined target of 200,000 words for the three, I’ve written almost 125,000 words. That’s over 60% of the goal.

I’ve written another 50,000 words across the other seven books in the series. That totals almost 175,000 words. There’s still tons of work to be done, don’t get me wrong, but 175,000 out of a projected goal of 630,000 words is pretty encouraging. Don’t look now, but by remaining determined to follow through, I’ve gone more than a quarter of the way toward this unreachable goal.

Yes, of course, there will be an obscene amount of work to be done besides the writing. Finding plot holes, missing chunks of story, editing for clarity or typos, finding a professional editor and going through all the associated back-and-forth, finding an illustrator, a publisher, maybe being involved in marketing, these are all things demanding lots of attention. At the early stages of this effort, though, everything hinges on having a story to work with. The other steps can’t happen until the stories come together on paper. For someone whose longest writing was 10,000 prior to this, 175,000 is downright phenomenal.

I share this with you not because I want to wow you or try to make you think I’m cool for trying something new, but to show you, as I’m walking through this right now, that when God challenges you with a massive undertaking or insurmountable goal, the sooner you get started, the sooner your efforts will add up to something He can use. The Lord’s commissioning of this project assures its eventual success, provided I actually follow through and complete it. If I don’t, He’ll achieve His aims some other way, but this is the invitation God extended to me, offering to let me play a part in His grander story. Whatever success comes of it should be credited to the Lord, not me.

I don’t know what God’s going to do with these books once they’re done, but I have to maintain the attitude He’s going to use them either in revival or in causing unsaved readers to start asking important questions. Getting where God’s leading sometimes takes small, persistent actions over a long period of time. It’s sometimes frustratingly slow, and sometimes victory means you haven’t yet thrown in the towel, but the following Bible verse helps spur me on:

And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. Galatians 6:9

Is there something in your life God’s called you to do, and you need to be reminded not to give up? Hang in there. Don’t quit. If God called you to do it, it’s entirely possible someone down the road will either join or return to God’s Kingdom because of something you had a hand in.

Don’t give up. Someone’s counting on you.

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We’ll Never Know the Cost of Saying No

I’ve written previously about God placing certain ideas or desires on people’s hearts. It’s usually manifested as a sort of supernatural notion, it’s an unexplainable sense of “I can’t explain it, but I’m supposed to do this thing.” Anything from “I’m supposed to stop and talk to that stranger” to “I’m supposed to give that person some money” to “I think God wants me to start a new business,” or any number of other possibilities. I’ve referred to it in the past as “God’s nudge.”

I can remember one time as a kid, I received one of these nudges. It was probably my first one. I can’t remember what it was, but I clearly remember that I ignored it. Whatever I felt like I was being prompted to do, I thought “No, that doesn’t make sense. Why would I do that? That’s ridiculous.” I wish I could remember what it was, but whatever it ended up being, the action that was supposed to be taken…didn’t get taken (at least by me).

I’ve also written before that God doesn’t need us to be a part of fulfilling His plan, but He invites us to be a part of it. This is one case where I refused the invitation. As a result, I missed out on something, and this side of Heaven I won’t ever know what it was. It may have been something limited to that day, right then and there, or it might have been on a grander scale, setting back a lifestyle of “saying yes to God” (and the corresponding level of positively impacting the world) by a period of years. I essentially told the Holy Spirit to buzz off. As you might imagine, that has its downsides; I couldn’t tell you how long it was after that before I received the next nudge.

This probably isn’t a commonly discussed concept, but every Christ-follower has a certain number of these nudges they’ll receive between the time they accept Christ and the time He calls them home. It’s not a one-size-fits-all approach, I imagine there’s quite a bit of variation from believer to believer. Like me, I’m sure many people have declined to accept a nudge at least once. It’s impossible to know what we’re forfeiting by not taking part. Here’s how I see it though. One of your goals as a believer, from here on out, should be to respond positively to 100% of the remaining “nudges” you get from God. I don’t have any idea how many that means; you could be shooting for one out of one, 50 out of 50, or 1021 out of 1021. The goal is 100%.

Think of that 100% fraction, whatever the size of the denominator, as being “full.” Then, looking through that lens, see if the two parts in the second half of this verse hit you any differently:

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. –John 10:10

Instead of “full,” many translations say “abundantly.” Not only does Christ come so we can have life, but so that we can have it abundantly. I believe the abundance, the fullness, discussed here goes hand-in-hand with those nudges and our response to them.

I started this blog as a result of a nudge God gave me. I’ll be the first to admit not every post is great. Some of them are just plain mediocre. As I look back over time, though, I see how God can use simple persistence and faithfulness in a fallen human to build something bigger than I once thought I would. I started posting in the Fall of 2018. It’s now been a little over five years, and this is my 300th post.

I don’t have a massive readership. Most of the people that subscribe are family, friends, or friends of family. I can tell you this, though. People from all over the world somehow stumble across the blog. I don’t see any details about who they are, all I see is that someone from country X clicked on post Y. The part about that that’s really cool for me, as an introvert who gets drained talking to people, is that I’m advancing ideas that come from God, not only to people I’ll never meet in person, but it’s happening while I’m sleeping, while I’m at work, while I’m on vacation, and when my thoughts are far away from blogging. When God gives a nudge, don’t worry about outcome. Worry about obedience. Obedience is your responsibility, and outcome is God’s responsibility. There are now 300 different posts that God can lead people to, and He can bring them to just the right one, exactly when they need to find it.

Probably in the early part of next month, I’ll fill you in on some of the insights about the blog’s readership for the year 2023. My intent is not to brag, but to show how a guy with no particularly relevant credentials, demonstrating only faithful obedience to God’s calling using the talents God’s entrusted to him, creates opportunities to reach and encourage people that he would have never had a chance of influencing before. I want to help give you the confidence to follow the nudges YOU receive. God has invited me to take part in His story, and it’s humbling to start to see how, years later, He uses my acceptance of His invitation to enable me to live my own life more abundantly. My intent is to show you for the sake of encouraging you, too, to accept His invitation. He doesn’t need us on the journey, but He wants us to come along. What better way to live our lives than in a way that brings Him glory?

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The Show Must Go On, But It’s Up to You

If you follow my posts, you probably think to yourself every once in awhile “this guy talks a good game, but what does life look like for him when things get tough?” It’s time for a little bit of transparency. I’m human and I have failings, and it’s often difficult to worship God by pursuing His calling. The whole intent behind writing this blog is to push readers to use more of the potential God’s empowered them with. Here’s an update on what that looks like for me.

I’ve shared in the past that I feel led to write some Christian fiction books. The original plan was seven books that are each 40,000 to 50,000 words. From there it expanded so that a few of those seven stories had multiple volumes, leading to a goal of 10 books that are an average of 50,000 each. That’s a total of half a million words.

As I’ve shared before, this is an odd calling for me. I have a blog, but I don’t come from a writing background. I think I wrote a 10,000-word paper for a college class one time. My academic studies have mostly been science-focused, so venturing into creative writing (especially a creative writing endeavor of this magnitude) is wading into deep waters for me.

Truth be told, I’m pumped about this opportunity. My soul feels settled now that I feel like I know the purpose and manner by which I should honor my Savior. There are a lot of difficulties associated with a project like this, though. I had seven stories floating around in my head, and my imagination kept splitting its focus and bouncing between them. Where should I start? I’d sputter through some writing, but there were so many possible storylines that I couldn’t keep track of them all. Ideas kept coming and coming, and it was all I could do to write down all the ideas.

Taking a linear approach, I started with book number one, dabbled in book number two when I needed to think about something different, and put down some notes for books five and six as I went. I made some decent headway on books one and two, but the ideas kept rolling in for book five (which grew to three volumes), so I got more and more excited about that one. In the interest of focusing my efforts, I eventually stopped working on most of the other stuff and zeroed in on the book five trilogy.

The hardest part for me isn’t the enormous nature of the project. I’ve written down a lot of words. To date, I have over 135,000 words in draft for the different stories. For me the hardest part is how slow the progress is. I’ve got a full-time job, plus a family and all their extracurricular activities. I usually sleep less than six hours a night, I get home about 10 hours after I leave for work. I exercise, I write a blog, I do yardwork, and I pay credit card bills. I need to fill out another form for something? Now it’s time to do taxes. Since starting the series, I’ve twice been notified that my job would be ending and I need to look for a new one. There’s not much time (or sometimes, mental energy) to devote to writing. In fact, over the past year, the bulk of the writing I’ve done is when I take one of my kids to youth group one night out of the week. I find a quiet place in the church to write for a couple of hours while I wait for the event to be over. That usually results in 1,000 to 1,300 words a week. That’s not real fast when you consider the end goal (which, by the way, has been revised upwards to over 650,000 words after finding out just how much text it takes to tell the story you want to tell).

The frustration for me is finally having a clear vision of what God wants me to put effort into, but not being able to execute as quickly as I’d like. It’s aggravating to look at a lot of the junk that comes out of Hollywood and think “I have stories in my head that a Christian movie production company could make and Christian families would probably love, but I can’t write them down and revise them fast enough.”

And yet, despite that aggravation, it’s nice to trust that I’m working on God’s schedule. Ever meet someone that’s really eager to do something, or take on the world all at once? I guess God’s got to slow me down to meet His timing. I don’t know if that’s what He’s doing, but I have to trust that as long as I’m putting earnest effort into it, I’m going to make the progress He wants me to make.

I would love to be able to make a living off writing, but it looks like it’ll be a long time before that comes to pass. In fact, it might not ever be the case. I just know that I have to keep pressing on. Not only is this the task God laid before me, but I’ve now written too much for this to be something I give up on (I can’t just toss 135,000 words in the trash and not look back).

I share this with you not because I’m looking for pity. I’m letting you in on it because I want to be up front and honest with you. The jobs God gives you will not be easy. They’re going to cost you. Sometimes it’s a battle to even keep going. You’ll very likely ask yourself “should I give up?” I urge you not to. There’s no way for any of us to know what our obedience can set in motion, and we have a tendency to think too small about the possibilities. For example, there’s no guarantee that this is how things will play out, but what if there’s a major Christian revival that’s still to come, yet it won’t happen until one or more of the books I’m working on gets out there to shift people’s perspective? That view ought to keep me going. If God handed me a project to work on, I have to assume it’s an important one, right? It’s my responsibility to keep chipping away at it, no matter how long it takes. One of my favorite TobyMac song lyrics is “if I can’t walk, then I’m crawlin’.” If crawlin’ is the best I can do right now, then that’s what I’m going to do, but I’ll be looking forward to a time when I can stand up and walk or break out into a run.

I want this post to encourage you. Don’t quit. The Lord knows exactly what each of us is capable of, but we, His followers, are the weak link in this chain. When you receive a seemingly impossible assignment from Him, you’ve got to trust that not only is it achievable, you’re also going to have what you need at the time you need it. Don’t let a lack of resolve be the reason you don’t get across the finish line. If the Lord led you to do something, it’s got to be important either for other Christians or for unsaved souls. Please don’t let us down.

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This is Just One Story, but Maybe it Will Help You in Your Story

You might be trying to figure out what God’s calling for your life looks like. Unfortunately I can’t tell you what it is, but I’d encourage you to be persistent in asking Him during your prayer time. In the meantime, I can tell you how I arrived at what I believe my calling to be, and maybe that will help you in some way.

I don’t really know how else to say this…my brain’s wired a little differently than most people I meet. I’m an odd duck. When I was in…I think it was first grade…my teacher had us do some kind of activity where we followed her instructions in folding paper. My version ended up looking very different than everyone else’s. Wondering why, my teacher went back and took a hard look at what I did. Upon closer inspection, she found that I had followed her instructions, but not the way she intended. Without trying to be a troublemaker, when she said “fold the piece of paper in half,” most kids folded it from top to bottom, while I folded it side to side.

Fast forward to high school, and the nontraditional route continued. I did athletic things without being an athlete. I never tried out for the baseball, basketball, football, or soccer teams. Instead, I played in the woods. I got certified as a lifeguard at 15 years old. A little older and I was dangling from ropes out of trees or off buildings. In college I went cross-country skiing, kayaking, and kneeboarding; after college I got certified in skydiving and scuba diving. Not only are they activities that aren’t all that common, they’re things that people just don’t normally choose to pursue. (I may have missed the boat on bungee jumping; I was willing to do it when I was younger, but now I’m afraid it may be too physically jarring. I’m willing to give cave diving (exploring underwater caves) a try, though.) It sounds like I’m an adrenaline junkie, but sometimes people need to double check to see if I’m still awake. A strange contradiction.

At the same time, I have a mind that’s oriented around technical things and the way things are organized, yet I can still be creative and think way outside the box. I’m not amazing at any one thing, but I’m pretty good at a lot of different things. I have low empathy, can come across as cold, and tend to gravitate more toward logic than feelings. This is pretty bizarre, because there isn’t a whole lot that’s logical about jumping out of an airplane or off a cliff for entertainment. Another contradiction. If Spock, Bear Grylls, and Elon Musk ran really hard toward each other and smashed together, you get me.

For some reason, about 20 years into my career, I started getting interested in the different classifications of personalities. The first characterization method I took a close look at is called the Enneagram. It classifies people into one of nine personality types, and my type is what’s called Type One…the Reformer. In short, Type Ones are driven to improve things that they perceive will enhance the greater good. It was pretty interesting, and a lot of things made sense. “Wow, this author gets me!”

Then I checked out a more well-known categorization type, Myers-Briggs. The Myers-Briggs construct has 16 distinct types of personalities. No single personality type shows up in huge percentages in the general population, but it turns out that mine is one of the rarer types, with only about 2% of the population falling into this category. The “Architect” type, or INTJs, are highly logical, creative, and analytical. Those three characteristics are not a common combination.

A little stunned that descriptions of INTJs fit me very well, I started poking around a little bit. It’s not often that someone’s accurately described how my personality is geared, so I felt like I had to take this newfound knowledge and use it to help make some kind of a decision. I had a sense that I was supposed to do more to follow God’s lead, but I didn’t know where, what that looked like, or how that would unfold. I wanted to know what other people like me were gifted at doing. Introverted, very focused, and often highly intelligent. What do other people who are INTJs do?

I scrolled through search results. There were lots of famous INTJs whose field I had no interest or entry into. Dwight Eisenhower, Hillary Clinton, Bobby Fischer, Bill Belichick, Nikola Tesla, Sherlock Holmes, Lex Luthor…all of them INTJs.

As I pondered how to break into a life of criminal mastermind-ery or famous consulting detective-ness, I somewhere came across something that just kind of jumped out at me. It turns out that C.S. Lewis, the Christian author, was thought to be an INTJ.

Of course I know who C.S. Lewis is, but I’m not super familiar with his works. I haven’t read anything of his other than the Chronicles of Narnia, and that was forever ago. Rather shamelessly, and at the risk of sounding like a copycat, it didn’t take me long to decide “I have to write fiction books with built-in Christian themes. I’ll shoot for seven of them and they all need to be about the length of the Narnia books.”

I don’t know why I decided that, but the idea just kind of took root. I can whine about how culture is taking bad turns, or I can do something to try to influence it. As I considered it more and more, the idea just seemed like it was something that I was tailor made to do, despite not having taken any creative writing classes. I have nothing published. My biggest writing project aside from that group of books is this blog, and that’s very different from what this challenge will entail. Still, it was honestly a relief, as though God were saying “okay, you’ve been persistent in asking, and now I’m going to give you a goal you can throw your energy into.” For me, there’s peace in finally knowing.

It’s funny how God treats people differently, depending on what they can handle. For many, if you tell them what they’ll have to go through before they get to the other side of something big, they’ll be overwhelmed. One of the hallmarks of an INTJ is a certain level of confidence that allows them to take risks. My initial goal of seven books of 40,000 to 50,000 words has now grown to 10 books of the same length. I have to plan as though I’m composing half a million words’ worth of stories. I’m the guy that used to label every line of a 500-word essay with the running total. I’m not looking at this goal and saying “piece of cake,” but I’m also not shying away from it. My confidence isn’t so much in me…it’s in the One that assigned me the job. I feel like this is the task He’s given me, and I know He’ll give me what I need to make it happen. I’m grateful to have found this challenge.

As far as progress on the project, I’ve bounced around between the different books, focusing on one, then taking a break from that one for awhile to work on a different one. Some I don’t even know much of the plot line, some I’ve made notes for, and others have tens of thousands of words drafted. To date, across all 10 books, I’ve got 80,000+ words in draft. I’ve still got a long way to go, but if I hadn’t started yet, I’d be 80,000+ words behind where I am right now.

Again, I don’t know what your calling is, but I tell you this story in the hopes that it will somehow encourage you. Be persistent in asking God to reveal what He’d have you do. The world is growing darker and darker, and Christ’s light is needed more and more. It’s not your job to have all the answers. All you need to focus on is doing what God wants you to do, not on what comes after that. Obedience is your responsibility, and outcome is God’s responsibility. Do what you’re supposed to do, and He’ll handle the rest.