This blog will document my long journey to becoming a writer. I have friends who were born with pen in hand knowing they were born to write. Writing never entered my mind as a career choice. If it had, I would have paid attention in English class. Circumstance pushed me down the road until I became a reluctant writer.
After decades of resisting, I’ve concluded it’s time to shed that reluctance. I am adorning myself with a new attitude and a new website devoted to my calling. From this day forward, I will write prayerfully and cheerfully with thanksgiving to my father in heaven.
Throughout the years I have pondered famous quotes about writing that softened my reluctance.
“If you want to change the world, pick up your pen and write”—widely attributed to Martin Luther. Luther’s writings, especially his 95 Theses, changed religious thought, literacy, and political power across Europe.
“The pen is mightier than the sword.” A famous line in Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s Richelieu; also called The Conspiracy. In the play, Cardinal Richelieu responded to his co-conspirator, who believed the sword was mighty, saying, “Beneath the rule of men entirely great, The pen is mightier than the sword.” Throughout history the power of ideas and communication has proved superior to violence.
Of all the ways God could have made himself known to us, he chose a book. Jesus is called the word who was with God and was God (John 1:1). He walked among humanity for a brief thirty-three years, with a short three year ministry. We are left with eye witness accounts and the letters written by his disciples that became a book with the power to transform human lives.
God satisfied Paul’s desire to preach the gospel where Christ was not known above and beyond what he could ask or think with the written word. Thirteen of Paul’s letters to the churches are in the New Testament. His written words went farther than his feet could travel. Those words continue speaking to us today.
I have also cast many fleeces before God, challenging him to prove that I have a calling, not a delusion. He never failed to meet the challenge. I will tell you about those challenges in this blog.
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