Isaiah 6:8-10 "Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying: Who shall I send? Who will go for Us? I said: Here I am. Send me. And He replied: Go! Say to these people: keep listening, but do not understand; keep looking, but do not perceive. Dull the minds of these people; deafen their ears and blind their eyes; otherwise they might see with their eyes and hear with their ears, understand with their minds, turn back, and be healed." I am quoting this verse because it reminded me of what I want to accomplish in my writing. I was inspired to type a blog post tonight because I just finished another book by my favorite author, Ted Dekker...and I couldn't help but tell God, "Lord - now that is how I want to tell people your message. I want to help people feel what You are all about through the writing, as seemingly effortless as Dekker." I enjoy reading almost any story with good working action, and old Ted does not disappoint. But I am amazed at how he weaves a fictional tale and yet still helps you visualize how Jesus takes hold of the character's heart. I want to capture that feeling, and pass it on. Which brings me back to Mr. Isaiah. If you haven't ever read the book of Isaiah, I recommend it. Yes, it can get quite heady at times, but it really helps one understand just how magnificent God is - and makes you really glad He is on our side if you are a believer. And he also has that amazing ability to help the reader feel God's power taking hold over him - which if you get to read the verses just previous to this, you learn the ability was given to him by God. When you read, don't you want to feel good about what you read? I absolutely love when an author's words help me achieve a greater understanding of something than I had before. But then, if you read the verses above, God still doesn't want us to have all the answers, does He? This is something I have had to improve upon as I have taken on the endeavor of writing Christian suspense thrillers. I think I am getting better at it, by the way. But when writing suspense, you don't want to answer all the readers' questions. You want to make them think. I have actually gotten in a better habit of answering reader's questions on this blog than anything else. I will keep the thrills coming, I assure you, and the curve balls. But I am learning how to get the readers to 'keep looking, but do not understand.' If you like to write, and if you like to share your thoughts, but haven't really voiced the thoughts you may think God has placed on your heart, let it out. Let the evangelical blogger within you out. Let the world know that God loves all the people. As hard as it is for me to say, He even loves the ISIS terrorists, too. If they would only open their hearts and listen, instead of be controlled by their radical ideology. Perhaps if more of us attempt to reach out, who knows? Yes, I just typed that. Does that mean I want us to open the borders to all refugees? No - not without a solid safety check in place. If we were a truly Christian nation and our leaders wanted to pray about how to do just that, than that would be a good start. I am not present within the walls of our top government officials to know whether they pray or not (other than just invocations), but in my experience one can usually tell a man of faith and prayer without ever hearing the man pray aloud...I cannot say I have that perception of any of our current most influential government leaders. As I said, I was inspired tonight. I just felt like sharing my thoughts. I will continue to try to positively effect my little section of the world, one reader at a time. I will attempt to do that through what I know and believe about Jesus my Savior. I would love to hear some of the other readers out there and their thoughts on the matter. In the meantime- Here I am, Lord...send me.