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Tag: jesus

  • Solo Flight?

    Solo Flight?

    I just watched this incredible video by Alex Kendrick, telling how God led him and his church to create the Christian film Flywheel and others like it. How the movies all appeared in theaters, much to his surprise, and even won awards. He tells how he was never alone but always working with God and prompted by God. Just as I feel I am.

    But even more amazing is that when he hit a wall and prayed, he no more than said “Amen” but someone knocked on his door or his phone rang or a neighbor walked over and by God’s grace provided the answer. And what was given was in proportion to what he asked. Every time!

    Real miracles happened right there in front of him. And of course being human, the very next time a need arose it shook him like the Israelites were shaken in the desert, with manna in their bellies and miracle water in their cups. He was in despair all over again, just as we all are. How quickly we forget God’s grace, even when we’re in the midst of it.

    I was struck by the fact that he was never alone. I feel utterly alone. Everything around me says quit writing. My family wants my attention. It takes too much space, too much quiet that rarely exists. Put the computer down!

    And I would, I really would, except these stories won’t leave me. How many times have I written here about characters wanting to be heard? And after watching Kendrick I feel like there’s even more to it. There’s a story to be told.

    God’s story.

    You know, He’s always playing the long game, and the place we are right now is a journey to someplace else. It stretches from Eden, from Joseph and his years in an Egyptian jail through years of captivity and the Exodus, through the prophets of retribution and the salvation of Christ. And beyond that point to a world that still tells the story of Mary anointing Jesus’ feet with expensive oil.

    The long game includes Constantine, the rise of the Church in Rome, to the Reformation and the Dissenters who made their way to the New World either by force of imprisonment or flight of mercy. It includes the rise of the United States and its place as protector of the free world, as a model of freedom.

    Some would ask if this is the end of the United States, to be struck down and divided up into kingdoms of varying faiths and feuds. The vision given to George Washington says otherwise, but the proof is in God’s hand.

    There is a plan, an end-game. Probably long after I’m gone. I have no idea if my little writings will be a tiny note on the pages of history or perhaps will die with me. If this is a solo journey, then that would be the case, wouldn’t it? I honestly don’t mind either way, except that I am driven to get this story and these people out of my head.

    God please provide the time, the space, the encouragement, and yes the help. Let me know I’m not alone in this. Amen.

  • The Part I Journey

    The Part I Journey

    Even with the help of AI lending a bit of Asimov grittiness to my text, this has been quite a research project. Who knew there was so much of today in the actions of the 1600s? Having attended a Lutheran church I’ve been aware of the Reformation, but the English Civil War and Cromwell and especially the Quakers…that was all new to me.

    I continue to add more layers even as I move forward to Part II. For example I only realized yesterday while talking with my daughter about tea and coffee that it was Oliver Cromwell and his Puritan ideals that brought us coffee. It was favored by the Jews, whom he protected (as Lord Protector), and also of interest to him—and not just because Puritans disliked beer being distributed to one and all (you couldn’t drink the water because it could kill you, so yes even the kids had weak beer or cider to drink). Cromwell suffered for years from malaria and gout and all kinds of fevers or agues. He saw coffee as a health drink, and it gave him a boost of energy. So I wrote coffee into the end of Part I.

    I also did not know until I looked it up that coffeehouses came into fashion around 1650 and had become salons where ideas were exchanged by the time of Cromwell’s death. So Part II begins in a coffee house. We’re also about to learn why the Brits drink tea! I love a good narrative that gives you all kinds of information bites along the way.

    Another thing I’ve wanted to write about regarding my Part I journey is that to get into the mindset of these young Spirit-filled activists, I decided to surround myself with a kind of “Quaker quiet.” And by that I don’t mean utter silence because I don’t function that way. I had heard a song by Sounds Like Reign some months ago, so I was drawn back there. I discovered on their YouTube channel and Notes from Home vlog a family that was part of a whole network of homeschoolers and YouTubers living a minimalist life. And although Bracken’s well-appointed workshop and equally awesome sound studio aren’t exactly “minimalist” in some aspects, it is a non-commercial life, plugged into God, not man. And that is where I sort of existed while the characters flowed from my keyboard into a noisy and disruptive world.

    And speaking of Disruptive, the Quakers were called to be just that. In our modern parlance we would think of people yelling, jumping, screaming, holding up signs not just to point out the wrongs of that society, but also pointing TO what was right. And in God’s good timing I happened upon Brackin’s recommendation to follow another homeschooling family, who produce the Jordan Michael Tuesday Show for their YouTube channel. Jordan does not wear plain garb, but he and his family give of their tremendous energy to teach Biblical truths through entertaining parables. So yes, Jordan Michael Tuesday is woven into my story even if there is little humor in it. There is disruption and a dogged hold on what is true and a tired perseverance even when it seems like people aren’t watching.

    And to that point, in this echo chamber with no followers even amongst my own family (at this writing), I remember that I am the follower of God’s voice and God’s leading. Maybe the time for this story to be made known will be after I’m gone. And if that is the case my job is to get it all out there and share the message God has planted within it.

    So there you go. Part I finished, two more to go. We shall see how George Whitehead and his compatriots bravely met with kings and appeared before Parliament, seeking relief for God’s people. What he could not know in the 1650s is what greater good will come of his efforts a century later in the form of the American Bill of Rights, and ultimately in the entire concept of liberty we espouse today 400 years later. This is inspiration for the rest of us to continue laboring at tasks that seem pointless or vain. We don’t know where God is taking this, but we trust and labor on.