Discovering Our Gifts

"God has given each of us the ability to do certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out when you have faith that God is speaking through you. If your gift is that of serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, do a good job of teaching. If your gift is to encourage others, do it! If you have money, share it generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly. " Romans 12: 4-6  

I Look Forward to Change

I have encountered people at different times and places that seem to be threatened even by considering the thought of change. Does anyone really like change? I actually do. I look forward to change. Whether it’s welcoming a new season, especially after a long cold winter, or settling into a new house. We’ve just recently purchased my wife’s parent’s house after her Dad passed away last year and Mom moved to a retirement village in Omaha. I enjoy the excitement that newness brings, even though you may have to play the waiting game for awhile.

Like nearly every author, I have spent years practicing the gift I believe God has given me. I have hoped and prayed for opportunities to share this gift with others. He has made a way, first by allowing me to become an English teacher. Then after retirement allowing me to write feature stories and articles for a newspaper, have a syndicated column called “Echoes,” and facilitate the Southwest Iowa Writers Guild and publish our column known as “The Write Stuff.”

For the longest time I could only imagine having a book published. My first journey into the publishing world was through self-publishing. About two years ago I published a story about those who have dealt with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, such as my wife who was diagnosed with the disease at age sixteen. The book, entitled, “Balloons for Breakfast,” was well received by friends, family and some doctors who treat the disease. However, I never felt I had the necessary platform with which to launch the book to a greater audience.

I am now learning how and working on a platform from which to launch my book, “Walkout,” a religious novel, currently undergoing “conceptual editing” and cover design by Tate Publishing.

I am hopeful that the book will be seen as inspirational and encouraging. It took a major dose of holy discontent with the way I saw things going in some churches before I had the courage to sit down and share my thoughts on paper.

Like I said previously, I generally like change, but not all change is easy. I was raised in a Christian home, but it eventually became apparent that there was more talk than action. As Debbie King, a supporter of the Mission Catalyst program told me, “The cruise ship is comfortable, but the Yamaha Wave Runner is more in line with God’s calling on my life.” What she is referring to is how I also perceive God’s call on my life. A cruise ship is unable to make course changes as quick as a wave runner, which maneuvers quickly and easily. Attempting to connect with people in the real world requires taking risks at times, sacrifice, tough skin and making course corrections. Some quickly. But it’s exactly where God has called me to be.

I love riding the waves with the Holy Spirit’s leading and partnering with God to see lives change. That is why I have accepted the challenge of writing my novel “Walkout” which will be released within the next few months. It is a story of how God uses those who listen to His voice to tell the love story of grace, mercy, redeeming love, and passion for His children. The story was written for those who have watched the stars of the religious world fall and who need to be reminded to keep their eyes focused on the cross.

God has a plan for those of us who write

“For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you," declares the LORD.  Jeremiah 29: 11-14

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart." Jeremiah 1: 5

"In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps." Proverbs 16:9

"Watch and be utterly amazed.  For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told."  Habakkuk 1: 5

I've been watching and hoping, and now I AM utterly amazed that God is allowing my writing to possibly get off of the back burner and out of my backyard.

Writers of Living Letters

One of my desires, based on what I believe is a gift God has given me, has always been to have a writing ministry and business. II Corinthians 3:2-3 tells us that we are to be, "a letter of Christ." In other words, each of our lives should be able to be read like a letter that says we are Christians who manifest the Gospel truths through our words and deeds. If the Gospel has transformed your life, what greater testimonial can you have than speaking for and serving the Lord? God wants to make each of us a "writer of living letters."

A good part of my inspiration for writing and living

Sierra at 14 with Esther dog

Sierra doing what she loves

Melissa

Sierra is now 19 and has just completed her first year of college. The following picture is pretty much what we all look like now.

2010 prom picture

Reading and Writing

If you are taking the time to read this, I’d like to talk to you for a moment about something I know a lot about—reading and writing.

I began reading about four and writing (at least my grandmother said it was writing) about seven. As I near seven decades of life, I realize that a large amount of my enjoyable reading was done between the ages of four and fourteen. During those ten years I read for the sake of enjoyment. I didn’t read for the purpose of learning, although I found in years to come I had learned a lot. I didn’t read to prepare myself for a career, although I found that the ability to read helped me make a better living. And I didn’t read because someone told me to. I read for the same reason people like to open presents. Each new book was like a package stuffed full of things I had never experienced before.

            Those who love to read are the ones who understand the basic difference between reading and watching most of what is on TV. Reading makes the mind and imagination do some interesting work or play, while most TV simply doesn’t. The secret to the enjoyment can be found in a statement made by Harriet in Louise Fitzhugh’s “Harriet the Spy.” As Harriet sits down to read she says, “How I love to read. The whole world gets bigger…”

          As I continue to share my thoughts with those who have chosen to read my blogs, my world seems to grow even bigger, or perhaps the world is now smaller than I realized. Thanks for caring enough to be part of my world.

My First Blog

Why are my knees knocking and my stomach doing flip flops?
Okay, so my author friend said, "Blogging is a low risk, low cost way to build your audience while you are developing your work, and then promote your finished book to that same audience."
Alright. I'll give it a try. Here goes.

As I begin this new adventure in cyberspace, something tells me a writer should never be anxious for the reader to care about his work. He should just do his best and place the result out there. However, in some instances a writer will feel that he has been given the inspiration to pen what he has and has shared it via the Spirit's leading. I have written a religious novel, Walkout, and I believe it is that kind of writing. The idea for the novel laid on the back burner of my heart for several years before I felt the Holy Spirit turn up the flame.

The manuscript is currently going through editing phases at Tate Publishing. When the book is released, I want the message in Walkout to pull at your heart strings so powerfully that mediocre Christian discipleship will never again be an acceptable way of life.

Let me set the stage for what you will read by saying that the story is dedicated to all of those who feel they are being called to walk in clear, uncompromising discernment; and to those who have watched the stars of the religious world fall and struggled with becoming critical--keep your focus on the cross!

Walkout takes Christian writer, Saul Keener, who has received the E-Book Publishing Association's Christian Writer of the Year Award, and makes him a major character in his own story. The story draws the reader in as it deals with religious hypocrisy and bigotry, and then shows how God works on hearts and minds to bring about change.

"I will lead the blind by ways they have not known; along unfamiliar paths I will guide them. I will turn their darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them." (Isaiah 42:16-17)

Please visit my new web site: http://www.allenstark.com/ . I would like to hear from you.