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Topic: Breaking the Rules (08/16/04)
TITLE: Someone in the Storm By Holly Payne 08/21/04 |
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Slowly, a stillness settled into my soul, and like the writer I am, I sought to find something in the storm – something to convey His absolute majesty and supernatural authority.
“How can someone see something like this and believe there is no God?” I asked my mother as we watched bolt after bolt crease the blackened sky. “Humans have never been able to create something so powerful.”
She agreed.
The storm raged on, picking up wind and gusting rain in sheets outside, and I was captivated.
The job of every Christian writer is to capture moments like this one and freeze them in time, with crystal clarity and painstaking detail. After all, the God we serve is Truth. He is Light and Living Water, illuminating the darkness and refreshing those who thirst.
If we are called to write, and not just well, but giving it our all for the sake of honoring Christ, we must be willing to convey His Truth through our gift of words, even when it is scary or painful. Non-fiction or make-believe, poetry or prose, the underlying theme of every written piece must be Truth. It must be the sign pointing plainly toward the Savior, leading those who read ever closer to His heart. To convey the depth of His commitment to love us, we will have to use discernment. Things are not always black and white, but it is our privilege to listen to Him and choose how to show others the way. But always, we must be faithful to the Truth of His saving message, even when it means stepping outside the accepted boundaries or breaking certain rules, like never starting a story with, “It was a dark and stormy night.”
Why should I write it differently when all I am stating is the truth? Only in the darkness of a storm can His light shine the most magnificently, and only in moments of fear can His peace be the most soothing.
As I sought something in the storm, what I found was not a what at all. Instead, it was Who. God was there, and He was smiling. I am positive He doesn’t mind me telling it the way it was, stormy night and all.