My New Writing Project

I finally realized, after a series of events and situations, that God wants me to get serious about condensing and putting down on paper a thought, or a principle from Scripture which I fully believe God has called me to put down into a book. I've been researching, taking notes, writing articles and rough drafts....I even completed and entire manuscript last year which I thought was what God wanted from me, but I now understand that he was leading me in a different direction to a different audience. I was really swimming in the dark. Floundering in a mass of ideas and information and had NO idea of where to take it.

Last week, as I sat in the waiting room during the slew of pre-surgical tests that I was undergoing all day, I typed frantically on my NEO, (which is a small, portable, battery operated word processor...packed with benefits and limitations). And as I wrote, the ideas coming faster than my fingers could process them, I prayed. "Lord, I know what you want me to say, but I'm not sure to whom you want to say it...and I don't know in what form it should come."

He answered me clearly.

"If you had to choose two books which you've read that you most admired for their readability, passion, and ability to convey their point which would they be?"

Well,....
They would be A Praying Life by Paul E Miller and Forgotten God by Francis Chan.
They are really easy to read...you are engrossed from the moment you pick them up. The authors are both passionate and honest about their own adventures and struggles with their topics...You want to read it quickly and then read it again slowly to chew on all of the thoughts...

"Well...."
said God.
"You do that too."

I cannot hope to compete in the same arena as either of these two men...but I am grateful to them for providing me with a model or a framework which I might follow... What they have accomplished, is my goal.

So I began in earnest.
I put away the old manuscript...did not even look at it for ideas or good portions to cut out of it.

This is a new work...based on an ancient idea. An idea that existed before Time began.

I've been working on it very seriously for about a week now... although I have far to go, I am fairly pleased with what I've done thus far. I have a good outline and table of contents...and have completed about three chapters. I've gotten my notes all in order and have cut and pasted them into the appropriate chapters so when I go to work on that chapter, all my ideas are there waiting for me.

Next time I will tell you a "funny story" about how God had to take away the laptop, which I critically need in order to complete this, in order to get me to work on it seriously.