Into the Fire

Passionate thoughts about the world of writing and the Power of God

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Passionate: right or wrong. Writes love stories with a passion. Raw Romantic Redemptive

  • FOR MEN ONLY: Be a Joseph

     

    As we approach our celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, I would like to encourage men today with this message from the Christmas account. 

    Men today have multiple challenges of all kinds. For example, their visual instincts are exploited by every medium known to the human race, enticing them into sexually sinful thoughts and/or ways. Books such as Everyman’s Battle break it all down for them in a working and understandable way, but many Christian men won’t read the book(s) identifying the problems of their gender, some because they’re unwilling to face their weaknesses and be required to do something about them, some because they think their reactions are all just part of being a man, and some because they feel hopeless and just can’t take one more jab of criticism from the holier than thou set.

    The requirements are stiff for a man in this world. Especially in Christianity. Because Christianity requires a guy to be a man about everything. To step up. To take responsibility for himself, his wife, his family, his place in the body of Christ. It’s a tall order, and it can be daunting.   

    The Bible tells us in more ways than one, and history bears it out as well, “There is nothing new under the sun.” The only new things are the advanced technological ways to present and exploit the same old problems.

    Well, men, if you want to usher in the new year with some fresh resolve, take a look at the earthly father of Jesus Christ, a carpenter by trade, not wealthy, a man of faith, placed in the middle of a difficult dilemma with the young woman he was pledged to marry. (If you’re some wayward wanderer in the blog kingdom, landing upon my title of this entry and certainly not expecting to find anything biblical of all things, I urge you to complete your reading anyway—you just might learn something.) As most of you know, you can find the account in the following places in the New Testament:  Matthew 1:18-25; 2:1-23; Luke 1:26-56; 2:1-51.

    Joseph had dreams and visions of angels which both challenged and amplified his faith. In the process of receiving life changing instructions through these supernatural encounters, he became an amazing man who is only discussed in these few places in the Bible. When he anticipated having to divorce his pregnant (not by him) fiancée, he thought of her, not wanting to “expose her to public disgrace”. It was after his practical consideration that the impractical took place: specific instruction of the how and who of this anointed child to come. What did Joseph do? “When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name of Jesus.”

    Through the course of time, Joseph was required by the Roman government to leave his home with his very pregnant bride and travel a considerable distance to Bethlehem for a census where this unusual child was born nearly upon arrival there, started a new life in that town, sometime later was told to leave in the night for an immediate escape to Egypt, travel back to Israel and eventually settle in a not so desirable town known as Nazareth where the family started over once again.

    Each decision that Joseph made had to be a difficult one: uprooting his family because of dreams and visions. The consummate man of faith with the family who trusted his ability to hear and obey God’s leading. This was the man God hand-picked to be the earthly father of the Lord Jesus Christ. No one has ever held a more difficult role in humanity. So much weighed upon each decision he had to make. Yet God sent messengers, dreams, and visions to guide him from his simple life as a man pledged to be married to the awesome task of being the husband to the woman who carried the Christ or Messiah. 

    Never again. Once for all. But, men, I urge you to consider the depth of faith of the man Joseph. Are you willing to listen, dream, endure visions to hear from the living God? And then are you willing to obey? Single, married, divorced—are you willing to make a new commitment to the supernatural God who desires to find men who are anxious to upgrade their spiritual lives instead of just their computers or sound systems or football channels? Are you a real man of God who knows there is so much more available to you, and you want it? Regardless of what’s required of you? Are you willing to hear and obey?

    Look at Joseph, an ordinary man of faith, selected to be an extraordinary man because of that faith and willingness to obey the God who asked him to do what some would have considered out of the question, not in their house, huh-uh, no way. What kind of man are you?

    Father, your love is endless, your desires often plainly expressed, but you also use unpredictable means to communicate at times. You are the one true God. You make ordinary things extraordinary when you enter into them and participate actively. I am so in awe of you. Help me to listen and always obey. I want all that you have for me. In the Name of Jesus, Amen. 

  • Sunday’s Offerings

     

    All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel–which means, 'God with us'."

    When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he had no union with until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

    Matthew 1:22-25 (NIV)

  • Alienation . . .

     

    Let’s say you own a business. You have a specific clientele. However, there is unlimited potential for expanding your business even though it might offend some of your current clients. Your expansion plans need not affect those clients and would clearly benefit this untapped market if you could reach them with your product. The market surveys indicate this new market is anxious to enter into purchases if you could just open up your product to include more variety of similar though not identical offerings.

     

    Overall you feel fairly secure within your chosen parameters. Although the economy has affected the quantity of product you produce, the clientele remains steady if not indulgent. Is now the time to take a chance and expand? Add on those who wait for your new and different version of product? Time to be visionary like a couple of your competitors? Of course those couple of competitors can afford to take losses more easily than you can, but, hey, how did they get to be bigger than you are anyway if not by expansion and product development?

     

    Hmm. You don’t know. Maybe it’s better to reduce product for awhile, sit on what’s safe, and hold steady. Yeah. That’s what you’ll do. Maybe in the future you’ll address that untapped new market. But maybe by then your competitors will have that market secured in their pockets. And you’ll be stuck with the same old, same old . . . and they’ve sampled everything you’ve given them over and over again. And are starting to look elsewhere.

     

    Such is the Christian book publishing industry. Or so it seems.

     

    While there is nothing wrong with establishing a clientele and putting their desires at the top of the list, it is short-sighted and unimaginative to alienate a potential market by ignoring their desires to sample an expanded product. Imprints serve a purpose when a publisher wants to delve into an untapped (for them) genre or style to serve a different audience/market.

     

    Don’t misunderstand me here. I’m all for any business choosing, refining, and specializing in whatever product they desire to produce. However, if you’re in the book business facing the joys or perils of the e-book craze, depending on how you perceive it to be or feel about it, publishers can potentially be affected by custom-publishers with POD and e-book adaptation technology. Authors who know how to use publicity can choose to use these technologies and promote their work for a possible greater gain. And those authors won’t be bound by archaic demands or to a restricted market.

     

    What do you think?

     

     

    Father, may we all follow you. You’ve ordained our steps, and it’s you who matters most. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.     

  • You should! You shouldn’t!

     

    Everyone who writes has an opinion about it. From a holy calling to a compelling desire to become a household name, writers come in a variety of sizes, shapes, colors, and cultures. From recluse to agoraphobic, writers can be an odd bunch. Serious writers talk about their characters as if they’re real because, you know, they are. Not in the flesh and blood way, but nevertheless: incredibly real. Providing we make them so.

     

    And there’s the rub, the fly in the ointment, the crimp in the plans, the clichéd fact: we do our best to make our characters real and our stories vivid or humorous or life changing or fantastic or lovely or sweet or horrifying. Our motives might vary from start to finish and from beginning to end of our writing desires and careers, but we all have some things in common and probably just as many differences.

     

    Narrowing the field a bit, let’s discuss writing novels as a Christian. We get those who specify they are simply Christians who write, others who find no shame in being tagged a Christian author who writes Christian fiction. Those who write seriously have studied the craft in order to make valiant efforts to create stories that will find homes in the hearts of many readers. Honing voices and developing styles, writers pour their lives into words on pages.

     

    Very few writers achieve a universal appeal for their work. Most of us have specific audiences which can overlap either generously or slightly with other genre readers. Invariably, someone outside our particular genre will decide to read our work. This will often backfire for us because some readers are very unforgiving in their tastes. And vocal. With their word-of-mouth assaults or their keyboard attacks, those readers tear apart our stories with no mercy. Even when they were never intended to be our audience, there’s really no way to guard against them getting a copy and ripping it to shreds if they so desire.

     

    What remains terribly disappointing is when a Christian reader of Christian fiction decides to question both the motives of the author and their very Christianity just because the reader decided to be offended by a story the reader should never have read. Recording their wrath on Amazon for all to see, readers leave the empty shells of their bullets and scoot away to another site to “express” themselves.

     

    Some Christian readers set themselves up as judges and juries for all other readers and if they don’t condone a piece of literature, they’re noisy about it. They seem to think they have the corner on motivations and morality, and if an author slides outside their rigid boundaries, condemnation awaits them. Similar situations arise from Christians who determine they have the right to judge what is excellent and what is not.

     

    As a Christian author, I know there are those who will not like my work. It’s a little too raw for some, too much romance for others, too many lost characters acting like lost characters. There’s always redemption even though not all choose it. Jesus is there. Still, my novels are not for your typical romance reader. What I need from a reader is not to have my love for the Lord questioned, my motivation criticized for including sensuality or bad behavior or anything else within the pages. My number one audience is God. He is my judge and jury, and I write for His pleasure and purpose. No one can tell me I don’t.

     

    If we don’t like a novel, we need to determine why. Are we the intended audience? Do we not like the author’s voice or style? Did we simply read a story we didn’t like? These are all legitimate, and we can give fair reviews accordingly. Attacking the author is not an option.

     

     

    Father, keep our hearts pure and our mouths guarded. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.  

  • Awards . . .

     

    Most people enjoy awards—at least most of the recipients of those awards. Unless of course it’s “Worst Dressed” or the “Rotten Tomatoes” label or some other acknowledgement of how awful something is.

     

    I continue to be surprised at the different awards, i.e. The Academy Awards, and their choices of nominations. Utterly mind boggling at times. This bewilderment occasionally extends to the various Christian Fiction awards. One prevalent difficulty in the process is the categorical assessments and divisions. Rarely enough of them—at least in the book awards.

     

    I just saw this morning where “The Tourist” is up for a Golden Globe in the Musical or Comedy Division. Um. Wow. Did those few snickers and the concluding laugh-out-loud moment qualify this light-hearted film for a comedic classification? Did I miss the whole point? In spite of those several silly moments was I supposed to assume this fun adventure qualified as comedy? Satire, maybe. But comedy?

     

    In the Christian Fiction Christy Awards, Suspense division, an Athol Dickson novel competes with the likes of Robert Liparulo. Uh, no. Not even close in genre or style. Why is this? Now I know the Christys must have a publisher nomination (with a fee) to be included. 

     

    It seems to me that if you’re going to have awards, you need enough classifications to truly compare like-products to each other. And before organizing awards I think it would be wise to define the categories with enough specifics and qualifiers so as not to end up with the apples to oranges comparisons. I know judges are gathered according to certain criteria, and standards for judging are established by the organizers, but in the end we still come away with opinions.

     

    I prefer lists I think. Of favorites. In proper categories. That speaks of where the “judge” is coming from in their reading experience. And in this situation it can truly be said, “It’s an honor just to be 'nominated'—or listed.”

     

    And you?

     

     

    Father, thank you that you are no respecter of persons. That your love and favor extend to all who desire them and even to those who don’t. Let us seek your favor above all others. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

  • In style . . .

     

    How do you define style? In my writing I use a fair amount of sentence fragments. Less commas than grammatically correct—if you stick to what you learned in English, those commas can drag a story along. I love similes if done well. And italics don’t bother me at all.

     

    Some cinematographers use panoramic shots, taking advantage of magnificent scenery. Think the newest version of “Pride and Prejudice” (with Keira Knightley). Gorgeous. Others use choppy shots infused with monochrome or black and white. Some use different colors of filters to alter mood or create tension.

     

    Style speaks as much about the creator of a piece as the piece itself. What is the author or director or painter or photographer saying with his/her expressions, colors, words, actions?

     

    I want to create a mental movie for my readers, to get them inside the skins and heads of my characters. My stories deal with the emotions and spiritual realities of people living their lives. Some are outstanding, some are very ordinary. Some undesirable, others you want to have as friends or lovers. Dialogue must be real.

     

    Style for me is the way the story is told. What does it mean for you, and how do you describe your writing style?

     

     

    Lord, you are the Creator. You share it, you author it, you contain all beauty and imagination—all that is good. Help me to honor you with what you’ve given me. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

  • Playing . . . The Tourist

     

    Okay. If you’re a film connoisseur or a polished critic of the silver screen, don’t bother seeing "The Tourist" with Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp. If you sometimes go to the movies just for the fun of it and occasionally enjoy a film where you can sit back, chomp on your overpriced popcorn, and forget about all things stressful, go enjoy "The Tourist".

     

    This film required next to nothing from Angelina Jolie (as the mysterious “Elise”) so if you’ve ever wondered if in fact she can truly act, "The Tourist" will not help you make that decision. The camera is used to focus on her face and figure, accenting her bedroom eyes with thick false eyelashes. She’s rail thin except where it counts, and her elegant clothes fit like fine calfskin gloves.

     

    Johnny Depp (as “Frank”), on the other hand, manages to entertain with perfect bumbling, adding occasional humor and perfect discomfort to his role with just enough spunk when required and a dash of suave manhood which surprises us at times. And likewise for him, the clothes make the man in certain scenes, and for once the powers that be decided to highlight his handsomeness while mocking it in the final scene.

     

    "The Tourist" begins in Paris with surveillance on Elise. When she receives a letter at her outdoor café table, we read its contents with her and watch as she sets fire to it. She eludes her watchers, and they snatch the remains of the letter resurrecting its instructions. Boarding a train to Venice, she selects Frank, the math teacher from Wisconsin, to be her companion for a time, and he seems overwhelmed by her attention but is insightful enough to know she’s up to something. The woman who requires no questions befuddles Frank as he is pulled in by her beauty.

     

    When men with guns start showing up to capture Frank, when police prove untrustworthy, and when Frank is rescued by the lovely Elise, we begin to understand the reason for all the commotion.

     

    This is not a typical American movie, and in fact it’s a remake of an old French film. It’s being compared to Hitchcock-ish suspense with twists, but it’s so not Hitchcock. It’s European fluff with magnificent Venetian canal shots and boat action. The underlying pokes at Italian law enforcement and the subtle jabs at Scotland Yard and Interpol probably do not stray too far from the original intention of the French script. However, at times they give the movie a “Pink Panther” feel and make it difficult to determine if we’re to take it seriously or only partially so.

     

    Anyway, this is not normal film fare for Johnny Depp who rarely allows himself to look so dashing and to play at romance. It’s got that touch of comedic style with the “perfect” ending, and if you like that kind of movie once in awhile, you can’t help walking out of the theater with a hint of a smile on your face.

     

     

    Lord, you know my prayers for actors. You know how deeply you’ve planted them. Please, Jesus, make yourself known to those you've given me in prayer and bring them into the Life you offer. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

  • Sunday’s Offerings

     

    Blessed is the man who fears the Lord,

     who finds great delight in his commands.

    . . .

    His heart is secure, he will have no fear;

     in the end he will look in triumph on his foes.

    He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor,

     his righteousness endures forever;

     his horn will be lifted high in honor.

     

    The wicked man will see and be vexed,

     he will gnash his teeth and waste away;

     the longings of the wicked will come to nothing.

     

    Psalm 112:1; 8-10 (NIV)

  • Thank you, CFBA!

     

    BlankAward 

    Thanks for this, Christian Fiction Blog Alliance Online Magazine. It's for my review of Rusty Whitener's A Season of Miracles, one of the best novels of 2010. If you need a Christmas gift for people of all ages, this novel is the one. 

  • Reading their words . . .

     

    Okay. We’ve decided covers can be enticing. Back cover copy might be the deciding factor. And then we mentioned reading the author’s first page or pages as a contributing factor.

     

    I confessed I rarely read an author’s words before starting a novel. Perhaps it’s because if I’m intrigued by the storyline and the cover, I’ve already made the decision to read the book. So whatever style and/or voice prevail on those inside pages, I’m going to gut it out. Thus far in my years of reading, I’ve put down two novels. One because I had a deadline to meet with a review novel that arrived late and I’d started the book I had to put down to see if I could squeeze it in—I couldn’t. I have yet to pick it up again which is odd for me. Apparently, other books took priority. The second novel I put away I also started and tried to fit in but couldn’t. I may not ever pick it up again. This is a big deal for me. I’ve finished some bad novels where I had to force myself back to them for review purposes. I gave those authors my best and tried to find something redeeming about them. Couldn’t.

     

    I think I’ve finally reached the point where, unless I’m obligated, I will not finish a book that makes me ache at the thought of getting through it. There are too many desirable books out there to read. And, after all, I need to finish a couple novels of my own. My two-year hiatus from finishing a book is over—or so I hope. I wrote seven novels, one right after the other basically. Getting two self-published came in between all that writing. I need to remember what it feels like to write The End again.

     

    So, do you read a few paragraphs, a chapter, random pages, or, gasp and heaven forbid: the ending?!

     

     

    Lord, help those of us who write for your glory to keep on doing what you have for us. Let us not grow weary. Let us not falter and become unfocused and distracted. It’s you we serve. Only you. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.