Thanks for sharing.. just passing here..

– from “I’m Free” by the Who

The phrase “God, you are mind boggling and awesome all at once” is an excellent way to describe the everlasting Creator. A God who is so incredible that there are no words in our vocabulary to adequately describe it. He established the most far-flung galaxies and has assigned a specific role to each sub-atomic particle. He formed every living thing and even the tiniest cell declares his handiwork.

His ways truly are past finding out. Dead religion cannot deliver anyone and a powerless form of godliness only deceives its practicioners. People will often disappoint us, offer erroneous advice, pass judgments on situations of which they have only a partial understanding, and what not. People will let us down as we have all come short of the glory of God. But God is everlasting and desires each of us to know him personally.

And when we have that personal relationship with him, it doesn’t matter what the rest of the world thinks. I have absolute peace and contentment today in the midst of an ambience that’s filled with chaos because of such a personal relationship that began in 1983. When we put aside the campaigns of others and learn of Jesus, we see the true nature of God. He is mind bogglingly awesome.

I’m still uncertain as to whether or not this comment should be offered up. I don’t want to complicate any situations that I have no insight concerning. Nonetheless, here it goes. Thanks for speaking from your heart.

I don’t think you should limit yourself to just one. When it comes to dreams, God is the biggest tent-pole we have, and we are meant to dream big, no matter how foolish it appears to outsiders. A metaphor that helps me, and perhaps it may be applicable to you, is Noah and the building of the ark. Big dreams can take a long time. And dreaming big is kinda like ark-building. Noah was given specific measurements and the actual building of the ark took years and years and years, and every day people would look at the work he was doing and not get it. They would scoff at him, make fun. They didn’t see the big picture. But God did. So when those waters came, all of the haters drowned (to be blunt), but Noah and his family were spared. He put in the daily work to make God’s dream for him a reality.

To bring the lens down even more, I think it’s the same thing with writing. Especially novels and screenplays. Each day we’re spending an inordinate amount of time on something outsiders do not get. At all. We’re building our arks and people don’t understand. Hell, sometimes we don’t even understand. But we do it anyways. Because eventually, when the waters come, we’ll be ready.

It sounds like you’re in a stage of preparation. For us storytellers, that can take much longer than most other professions. It’s hard when you hit your late twenties and you’re still preparing, still working on your craft, and people you graduated highschool or college with are getting married and getting mortgages.

But if you’re like me, and you do happen to find yourself in one of those moods or states where you are burnt out, or in the throes of despair, you still possess that fire in your soul to create. To dream. To write. That doesn’t go away. Sometimes the flame grows weak, but winds come that fan the flames. And the good thing about this fire, is that even at its coldest, if we are honest with ourselves, it still exists. It’s something God placed there. And it burns eternal. Sometimes we just have to pay attention and take care of the bellows.

I think it’s totally acceptable to have room in your heart for both cities, even though presently you feel like the path branches. Forgive me for mixing metaphors, but perhaps those branches are part of the same trunk. And although you may have to choose one path now, maybe that path will eventually cross over into the other. And vice versa.