A Good Story

The most dreaded affliction for a writer. Writer's block.

I've had it for awhile now. I've been writing, of course, when you want to be a writer you can not under any circumstances stop writing, but where as sometimes words seem to flow from my fingertips and align themselves wonderfully on the screen, lately it's been a struggle to write every word. Even these words.

It's hard to write when you are constantly under the direction of changing hormones. I feel as a woman at this time in my life that I am sometimes rushing along the swirling rapids of inspiration and eagerness to tell a story, and other times I am fighting to stay afloat in the murkiest of quicksands.

Yet I am always thinking about writing. I am always reading. It may sound odd, but as I sit here I can hear the distant voices of wonderful characters yet to be discovered resounding silently in my mind. I think of the heroes and heroines that will grace the pages of future stories, and I yearn to know them. I desire to my deepest depths to be able to put their story down in a way that makes them real, tangent, inspiring.

That's probably the most frustrating part. I've come far enough to know what I want to write. I want to write about compelling, interesting, admirable people in an exciting and inspiring way. I want to describe things so clearly and succinctly that the words are refreshing and inspiring to read. I want the story turns to come from no where, and take the reader on a wonderful roller coaster ride of emotions, making an unforgettable impact.

If I can't write like that, then why write?

Fortunately, the best Writer of all is a personal friend. I'm looking forward to his further mentorship.

A Song Sung By a Hat

Isn't God amazing, that He can speak through the most unlikely sources? Take for instance this quote from a secular book I'm in the midst of reading. It struck me so deeply I had to stop and share it. Talk about a timely message for believers in this age! If you haven't read the book, it may seem confusing, this is a song... sung by a hat... oh, just read it.

"The houses that, like pillars four
had once held up our school,
Now turned upon each other
and, divided, sought to rule.
And for awhile it seemed the school
must meet an early end,
What with dueling and with fighting
and the clash of friend on friend
And at last there came a morning
when old Slytherin departed
and though the fighting then died out
He left us quite downhearted.
And never since the founders four
were whittled down to three
Have the Houses been united
as they once were meant to be.
And now the Sorting hat is here
and you all know the score:
I sort you into Houses
because that is what I'm for,
But this year I'll go further,
Listen closely to my song;
Though condemned I am to split you
Still I worry that it's wrong,
Though I must fulfill my duty
And must quarter every year
Still I wonder whether sorting
may not bring the end I fear.
Oh, know the perils, read the signs,
The warning history shows,
For our Hogwarts is in danger
From external, deadly foes
And we must unite inside her
Or we'll crumble from within,
I have told you, I have warned you....
Let the Sorting now begin."

- The Sorting Hat, "Harry and the Order of the Phoenix" by J.K. Rowling

"A house divided against itself cannot stand." - Matthew 12:25

Hiding Out in Life

I wonder if I'm the only one who ever feels like hiding out.

Perhaps it has to do with personality. When you are a person who is always in search of answers, always thinking deeply, sometimes causing waves around you.... well, it's just good to put a blanket over your head for awhile.

That's when I am glad for my home. My family. My responsibilities that can seem so mundane at times, suddenly seem a comfort. No one will challenge my methods of washing the dishes or doing the laundry, and my children provide a captive audience when I read to them or play with them. My husband almost always agrees with my philosophical ramblings. It's good to be married to your best friend.

In general, I'm glad for the privilege of being a wife and mom. I'm thrilled for the freedom to be able to completely focus on these tasks. I'm awed and grateful for the wonderful people that God put me with.

Life can be uncomplicated and sweet. We all need these moments to give us strength for the trials, which inevitably are many.

How has God given you rest from the journey today? Be thankful to Him for His wisdom, His grace. He is so good to us.

How Can We Sing Your Songs?

How can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a foreign land? -Psalm 137:4

Worship.

What is the goal of worship? What gives our worship wings to soar above this life? What drags worship into the bog and makes it stagnant and paralyzed?

I'm going to make a bold statement that might surprise some. I'm in the bog.

Oh, I don't mean me personally. Not at this moment, at least. I am happy to be growing in the Lord and learning to have a heart of worship. He is so sweet! Whether it be a word of Scripture, a great book, a beautiful song, or a precious part of his creation, God has definitely been teaching me to worship him.

I'm talking about a part of the Body of Christ that I have been a part of for quite a few years. And as strange as this may sound in this culture of loneliness, if my brothers and sisters in Christ are in the bog, than so am I. I will be until God lifts us out, cleans us off, and raises our helpless body to the sky to soar on wings like eagles, for truly he is the only one who can stir our hearts to worship him.

But how He will do that I'm at a loss to imagine. Things have gone on for so long without being addressed that there is a festering wound. We've lost precious time and even some parts of our body. If I thought for one moment that man was in charge, my faith would falter.

But men aren't in charge. Christ is. And Christ cared so much for this body that he went and gave up his own just so we could know peace. Just so we could worship in freedom and joyful abandon. So I wait with expectant hope. God will act. Just wait and see. He won't let his beloved one die. Even if we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we'll make it.

We'll worship again.

I will praise you, O LORD, with all my heart; before the gods I will sing your praise. I will bow down toward your holy temple and will praise your name for your love and faithfulness, for you have exalted above all things your name and your word.

When I called, you answered me. You made me bold and stouthearted. May all the kings of the earth praise you, O LORD, when they hear the words of your mouth. May they sing of the ways of the LORD, for the glory of the LORD is great.

Though the Lord is on high, he looks upon the lowly, but the proud he knows from afar. Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life; you stretch out your hand against the anger of my foes, with your right hand you save me, The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me; your love, O LORD, endures forever -

Do not abandon the work of your hands.

-Psalm 138

The Problem of Legalism

It's a hard road to travel.

I know this well, because I've been made to live according to the many laws of legalism before. And I've watched people strain to carry heavy burdens that they don't realize are unnecessary, and are actually keeping them back from the joy of living in Christ.

I close my eyes this evening and remember. I remember being told things that scared me into submission, made me doubt the goodness and love of God, and caused me to feel hopeless and worthless in the eyes of an angry and vengeful Creator. I was made to believe that God wouldn't love me or bless me if I read another version of the Bible besides the King James, if I went to a movie, if I listened to anything except classical or traditional hymn-type music (which really bothered me as my spirit seemed to respond to something completely different as well,) if I spent time with unbelievers, if I drank even a sip of an alcoholic beverage... the list goes on and on.

Fortunately, to balance the problems with the school I attended, I had teachable, Bible believing parents that were willing to look past the traditions and laws that seemed to be considered on equal footing with Scripture. They didn't take us out of the situation, because there weren't any alternatives, but they did teach us to think biblically, and not accept man-breathed words as God's.

I used to be angry about my educational upbringing. I used to think about the people that had tried to teach me those things and feel that I had been cheated by them. But I'm realizing that they didn't do it out of spite or to ruin my life. They taught it because it was taught to them, and they never thought to think about it biblically, they only lived in fear of the promised consequences. Can I really blame them?

And even more than that, I have seen how God used this for incredible good in my life and the lives of my sisters. It is wonderful and freeing to realize that God is so much more than I was told. That no matter how deeply I question, He has always proved Himself worthy of my absolute worship. And would I have questioned if I had not been subject to legalism? I doubt it.

Now I am left with scars that I have realized have been beneficial. God wants us to use the trials we face to bring comfort to others in the same boat. I look around at some of my fellow sojourners and see their tears, their fatigue in carrying the heavy load of the sad result of "adding to the Gospel." I am compassionate. I am also excited, because I know that they only need challenge their own heart and question their own experiences and knowledge against the Scripture and God will reveal Himself!

Jesus spent a good part of His ministry on this earth calling legalists out. Putting them on the spot. Trying to get them to think deeply about why they believe what they believe. He knows that there is freedom in His love, not restriction. There is joy in living in Him, not fear. And to say that He is unable to read our hearts and must therefore judge us by our actions is severely limiting a limitless God. And it leads to heartache.

Why not call in to question some of those traditions and teachings that you've never received a concise biblical mandate for? What about those laws of your denomination or church that just don't seem to have any basis in reality? What if God thinks it's okay to challenge those in your own heart, and find out if they are really important enough to carry around with you for the rest of your life?

Don't be afraid. I've done it, as have others. We've lived to tell the story, and I've never been happier or more secure in my relationship with my awesome Savior. He grows sweeter each day, as the old song puts so succinctly!

To sum it all up in four words that hang on my kitchen wall: Sin divides; Grace unites.

More On Harry Potter

I am still in the midst of the Harry Potter books. I would like to add some of my observances to what I have already generally stated concerning this series of books and movies in another recent post. I will point out some of the many Christian parallels I have noted as well as offer some practical advice about introducing a child to Harry Potter. Be warned, if you don't like to know the story before you read it, I have included some general facts about the series to point out the parallels previously mentioned, but nothing too specific and nothing from the later books, which I haven't even read yet.

I opened to the first page and began to read. Almost immediately I was surprised by the content, which is refreshingly well written. First of all, I was not shocked by dark spells and magic that spoke of the true aspects of sorcery and witchcraft. In fact, I was hard pressed to find anything (portrayed in a positive light) that Christians have been so hard on Harry for. I was also surprised at what I did find. A boy who has been given a special gift of powers by the parents he never knew. A mother sacrificing her life for her baby boy, thus rendering him immune to the evil of the Satan figure, Voldemort, who was trying to kill him. Immediately I thought of Jesus as I considered Lily Potter. Harry had been granted life because of what his mother gave up. Love defeated evil.

Harry, imprisoned within a family that has treated him horribly, made to believe he was nothing, suddenly receives an invitation. An invitation to be part of a community he didn't even know existed. The community of his parents, the community of magic. With nothing else to look forward to, and sudden hope that life is not meant to be what Harry has so far experienced, he readily accepts the help he needs to get to Hogwarts School. I thought of the Holy Spirit, aiding a new believer as they set up their life that will be centered on Christ.

Harry quickly realizes that his problems aren't over, even as the believer's struggle continues after conversion. His frequent rule breaking and childish behavior also make it quite clear that Harry still has a long way to go in his journey. As do we. Believers who think they have arrived are incredibly disillusioned.

But Harry is not expelled by the head of Hogwarts, Dumbledore, even when the dark forces within and without cry for his removal. He is punished, frequently, yet lovingly by the teachers and by Dumbledore. He forms friendships with Ron and Hermoine, and together they grow in knowledge and develop emotionally.

But the dark forces continue to get stronger. Those who would have the world free of such a positive example as Harry Potter seek to destroy him. Harry realizes that within him a war rages, the war between good and evil. He is troubled that it does not come easily to choose right over wrong, and that temptation for evil sometimes overcomes him. But aided by his friends, his protectors, and his teachers, and most often by Dumbledore himself, Harry continues to strain toward good, and fight the evil that would threaten them all. He continues himself to increase in power as he does so.

This is as far as I have come in the series. I am excited to find out what happens! And I challenge Christians not to fear Harry Potter. It is unfortunate that J.K. Rowling used some of the vernacular she did to describe the world Harry lives in, but it really is not what the story is about.

Some practical advice when considering Harry Potter's involvement in your own family. Children reading the books ideally should not be any younger than the characters themselves (the first one starting at the age of 11, the last one, 17.) As the children become teenagers and enter adolescence, their experiences become more intense and at times scary. Parents should keep a dialog going as a child moves through the series, pointing out the parallels to the Bible and discussing the occasional questionable material.

All in all, Harry is a useful addition to a believer's library, if handled correctly. And if you can't bring yourself to read him, don't make any judgments. God can be found in the most unexpected places, and our ways are not His ways. I truly believe that if we limit ourselves and our children to literature that only portrays simple and easy themes, we set ourselves up to be unprepared to face the world we live in, the faith we cling to, and the realities of good and evil.

Give the famous Harry Potter a chance. You might be surprised what you find!

Big Fish

Big Fish has seen better days.

We got Big Fish about four years ago, when my husband Pete decided that it would be wildly beneficial to Hannah to have pet fish. I wasn't convinced that her life would be changed so completely that it was worth the effort of taking care of them.

"I'll take care of them," he promised. "I'll clean the tank, feed them, and find out how to keep them alive."

Well, he does clean the tank every couple of months, I'll give him that.

Anyway, I usually do not give Big Fish or his friends (Mommy fish, Hannah fish and Noah fish) any thought further than to sprinkle their flakes over the water in the morning or add some water when enough evaporation has occured to make it sound like a waterfall in the playroom.

Until yesterday. I had no idea it was possible to feel compassion for a nasty old goldfish.

I was talking to Pete on my cell phone before I headed home from the writer's conference.

"Big Fish isn't doing so well." he informed me. "I think he's dead."

I allowed a small moment of silence in honor of the departed. "Don't flush him yet." I told Pete. "Sometimes he just checks out for awhile and then returns to normal."

When I got home, Hannah asked me to check on Big Fish, who had been forgotten during the ride home. I looked at him. He was motionless on the bottom of the aquarium. Lacy transparent fins floated aimlessly with the motion of the water. He appeared to be dead.

Then I noticed the rock. It had fallen over, pinning Big Fish to the wall and floor of the tank. He couldn't move.

That's when compassion hit me. The poor fish had been stuck all afternoon. No way of escape. As Pete set him free, I watched him swim away, suddenly weightless and free. There would have been no way for Big Fish to move a rock that was four or five times his size and weight. For Pete to right the fallen rock was effortless. Big Fish could live again.

Aren't we the same way? Burdened under a load of sin and consequences that we have no ability to move ourselves? Destined to a life pinned to the ground by a rock? Isn't it wonderful that we have a Savior named Jesus, who is fully capable of moving the rock?

Two differences. Big Fish had no way to ask us for help. If he had, he wouldn't have needed to sit under that rock an entire afternoon. We can talk to God. He'll hear.

The other difference? Big Fish didn't recover from his ordeal. We're watching him die at the bottom of the tank, barely able to take a breath, or whatever it is that fish do to obtain oxygen.

When Christ, the Way, the Truth and the Life, sets you free, you are free indeed.

The Church Office Pilot Part 2

The Church Office Pilot Part 1

Funny!

When God Says "Walk"

There are times when you just know God is speaking.

I heard Him clearly yesterday. I had the wonderful priviledge of attending my first writer's conference, American Christian Writers in Dayton, Ohio. I have been debating for quite a while whether to go to a conference. I had a few fears that were holding me back. Through the encouragement of her own experience, my friend Tanya was the one who convinced me to take the plunge.

I have known for quite awhile that God wanted me to learn to write well. That He wanted me to pursue the possibility of being a professional writer. But I don't think it registered in my mind until yesterday how far down that path I've actually come. When you get so busy doing something and you enjoy the journey so much, sometimes you look up, dumbfounded at the distance from the beginning.

At the conference I was able to meet with author Bob Hostetler, who has written quite a few books with Josh McDowell and quite a few of his own. It was so helpful to me to have his advice on my writing. He gave me some great ideas for presenting my work.

I guess more than anything, it was just great to be with other people who have the same passion that I do. Writers are not a common breed. It can sometimes feel that I am alone in a crowd. But for eight hours or so, I was in a room filled with people just like me. We prayed together. We shared our dreams and passions. We encouraged one another. And strangers became instant friends.

I haven't explained what God was saying as He spoke to me through the events of my experience with ACW. He seems to be directing me to take my writing to the next level. To act like an author. To get busy and send query letters with abandon. To relinquish some of the other things I have been doing and focus on this. To invest in the job I've been given to do.

Hello, my name is Miranda K Shisler. I'm a published author.

And God is very, very good.