Once the intent of a book or blog post or some other communication, has been established and your passion for the subject is ignited and God’s spirit has filled your sails, set your course and stay with it. Jesus set His eyes as a flint towards Jerusalem, in much the same way that a book embarked on, is a mission that must have a destination.En route to the cross, Jesus healed people and we are often inclined to see that as the defining feature of His life. Yet He never once diverted from His course, to become a man of wonders. He did as many miracles and healings as was necessary to achieve His surpassing purpose and that gave credence to His defining work at the cross.
En-route to our own Jerusalem, we also have a journey to walk that will be interspersed with relevant experiences that will complement the greater story and provide it with rich fabric. God will lead you to people, places and events that will help to give the story credence. However, no experience will exist for its own sake, nor will such events be ends in themselves – they must become part of the journey to your destination and be shared as relevant moments along the way.
As a Toastmaster I was taught: Tell the audience where you are going, take them there and then tell them where they came from. The whole story must confirm and validate the passion and inspiration that was the raison d’être for which the book or post was birthed in the first place. Then it must deliberately and progressively lead the audience towards a clear objective. Once there it should confirm that they have arrived.
Accordingly, the prologue, introduction, opening chapters and back cover, should provide a clear indication of where you are going. Then you must fulfill your promise, a marketing term, by taking the audience there and thereby fulfilling the expectations first aroused in them.
It is for this reason that I believe content (the experience or story) to be more relevant than style – anybody can learn style, but only you can write your own story and that is the story God wants you to tell, despite its other imperfections.
God wrote stories through ordinary people in a style that was, in many respects, very down-to-earth, unpolished and potentially style-less. He delivered truth using everyday imagery and stammering lips. However, where they sowed or watered, God added the increase, layering in that third dimension that separates ordinary text from great literature, to leave us with the greatest literary work in human history - an exquisitely balanced, multi-dimensional and sophisticated work, far beyond the scope of its individual contributors.
Therein lies a vital consideration of your journey. God will lead you, by pillars of fire (inspiration) and cloud (introspection). He also always leads progressively to a determined destination. He always advances, never regresses. He has clear waypoints along the way, places of learning and instruction, but He never leads us one way to arrive somewhere else.
As we walk our journeys, we would do well to always realize that it is God who orders our footsteps. We are merely the pens of a ready writer and no matter what we write, we will still have a limited impact unless we allow ourselves to become channels for His heart. If we want to bring the works of our hands, we must take our chances, but if we want to express His heart He will add the increase.
To that end, I will share my own secret. I am merely a scribe. I get my inspiration in my times alone with God and through the people he brings across my path. I claim nothing for myself - Indeed, I would never have written a word had He not led me to write, but, as Paul said in a different context, whatever I received from God I faithfully delivered through my writings - so that God made be glorified through the profound tapestry that has weaved through countless faithful hearts across history.
(c) Peter Eleazar @ http://www.4u2live.net/
Image source: http://farm1.static.flickr.com
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