Wednesday, August 26, 2020

A GATHERING

   A GATHERING OF OUTCASTS, my new book of short stories will soon be released. If you are interested, I would like to send you one of the stories without cost to you. Send me the email address you would like to use, and I will send you the story. 



Sincerely, 


David Young

daveswatch@gmail.com


A GATHERING OF OUTCASTS


MC900382613[1]                     David Young     18203-WDAN-AW.PNG

                                              daveswatch@gmail.com

                                                            613 Terrace St.

                                                             Carson City, NV 89703

                                                                                       775-301-066



 A GATHERING OF OUTCASTS, my new book of short stories will soon be released. If you are interested, I would like to send you one of the stories without cost to you. Send me the email address you would like to use, and I will send you the story. 



Sincerely, 


David Young

daveswatch@gmail.com


Saturday, July 4, 2020

METAPHORS FOR CHRISTIAN WRITERS







As writers we deal with words, and most of us love them.

*Every poet looks for…

Words that cry, words that sting

Words that shine, words that ring

Words that fly, words that sing,

Words that say the many splendored thing.

The biblical languages are filled with vivid metaphors to help us understand deep and crucial truths. Three of them come to mind that apply wonderfully to us as Christian Writers. They are Angel, Apostle, and Deacon.

ANGEL

ἄγγελος

“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: ‘The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstand”
Revelation 2:1

The word angel means messenger. And while it is certainly applied to heavenly beings like in John 1 where Jesus told Nathaniel he would see the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man. But it doesn't always refer to heavenly beings. When Jesus quoted Malachi saying "I will send my messenger before you." He used the word angelos, but John the Baptist fulfilled that prophecy. In Revelation 2 and 3 when Jesus addressed the angels of the churches, I suspect He was telling John to take His words to the messengers or preachers in the churches.
As a writer you too are an angel. You have a message from God for the hearts of your readers.

Apostle

ἀπόστολος

“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,”
Ephesians 1:1

Apostle is another important metaphor for you. The word Apostle is used for more than the 12 chosen by Jesus at the beginning of His ministry. Of course Paul calls himself an apostle. He also calls Barnabas and Silas apostles. Hebrews 3:1 calls Jesus our apostle and high priest. In Romans 16 Paul greeted Andronicus and Junia who were well known among the apostles.

The word means sent out. In John 1:6 the verb form of apostle is used to say, “There was a man sent from God.” You have also been commissioned by God to write. There is an urgency to your mission.

Deacon

διάκονος

“For those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and also great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.”
1 Timothy 3:13

The word deacon was one of the primary words used for a servant in the Roman world. The church applied the word to those who minister to the needs of others.

In Romans 16:1 Paul wrote the church about a lady named Phoebe.
“I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant of the church at Cenchreae.”
Here the word translated, “servant,” is the word deaconos-deacon. Without slipping off into the question as to whether the term was used formally here, let me point out that you are called to address human needs.

*From Worth A Thousand Pictures, from the book, Take Me To The Garden

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Tuesday, June 16, 2020

WE ARE ALL GULLIBLE AT DIFFERENT POINTS











I have recently been enthralled by some of the writing of Rachel Held Evans. She has written some powerful things illuminated by thrilling stories. It may not surprise you that I do not agree with her in some points. But I do recognize her as a fellow believer in Christ.

In honest disclosure, at the beginning of her book Inspired she gave a long list of theologians who had influenced her thinking. I had only heard of one of them. I looked up each one, but I would not dare describe their positions without having read a single book by those I didn't know. It was interesting to me that her list began with some pretty far out Old Testament scholars, and proceeded to some really sound New Testament scholars climaxing with N.T. Wright whose books I have read and love.

I have read two of Rachel Held Evans's books, Looking For Sunday, and Inspired. Especially in Inspired, Rachel (if you will grant me the privilege of calling her by her given name here) tells marvelous stories. She is one of the best storytellers I have ever read. Her portrayal of the gospel as story is accurate and illuminating. Even when I didn't agree with Rachel's point, I was captivated by her stories. But her main arguments for her doubts were close to tantrums that God did things and others believed things of which she didn't approve. I have to admit that I also hold some of her criticisms. And I recognize that she tried to balance criticism with love. But she presents things like authorship of Leviticus or Colossians as well as statements about the dates of certain books of the Bible as unquestioned facts. She admirably makes fun of her doubts, but I would have been happier had she pointed out that some of the arguments for those things don't make sense. But I come from a different perspective. And I recognize that there are people who have been taught those things and believe them to whom she speaks more clearly than I ever could.

C.S. Lewis often dabbled with things in fiction that he would never have said in nonfiction. He was surrounded by people who were not believers. To them he was pointing out that even if things you believe are true, God is still God.

While Rachel undoubtedly adopted theological, moral and social notions that I believe are wrong and harmful, I believe she was also aware that she addressed a culture that has embraced them.

While I admit that I may be wrong in my convictions, I wish she had more doubts about her doubts.

If Rachel were still with us and writing, she might think my convictions are as gullible as I think her doubts are. From an earthly point of view it is a tragedy that she died so young. But she is in the presence of our Lord. I will be there before long. From the perspective of history and eternity we will all stand before God in the blink of an eye. At that point I doubt if we will care about the answers to these issues. Until then, I will seek to broaden my perspective while writing what I am convinced is true. I do wish I could tell stories as thrilling as she did. I pray that God will improve my ability with everything I write.

http://thinkinginthespirit.blogspot.com/
http://theanchorofthesoul.blogspot.com/
http://watchinginprayer.blogspot.com/
http://writingprayerfully.blogspot.com/

Website
http://daveswatch.com/

YouTube
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Amazon Author's Page
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Sunday, April 19, 2020

DEVELOPING THE SOUL OF A WRITER

DEVELOPING THE SOUL OF A WRITER


While this quarantine is difficult for people all over the world, it is not quite as hard on writers. I do not simply mean that people need our reading material to fill the time. Writers need solitude to write. While many of us have had to learn to write in the midst of the hubbub, it always helps to be alone. This doesn't mean that we are not going stir crazy like everyone else. But this is an opportunity of which we must take advantage. Since most writers support ourselves with day jobs, you may find that you have more time to write than ever before. That is true even if you're having trouble paying the rent.

This is also an important time for a Christian to develop the character and the depth of your soul as a writer. I actually began this nearly a year before the pandemic broke out. The quarantine is a good opportunity to continue what I have begun. I am memorizing the Bible like never before. I do not memorize to have important things to quote in my writing or to impress my friends at church. I memorize Scripture so that God will plant His mind, His insights, His character in me. The mind of Christ is essential for growing as a writer.

I am going through the New Testament taking an entire week with each chapter. I read the whole chapter every day for a week. Each day I memorize a portion of that chapter, usually getting the entire chapter memorized in a week. I start by reading over the first verse of the chapter until I can say it. Next, I read over the second verse until I can say it. Then I go back and read both verses together and go on to the third verse. If I am working on 1 John, two or maybe three verses will be all I need to memorize each day. If I am trying to memorize a chapter, say early in Luke, with over 60 verses, I need to memorize more each day, and I often take a little more than a week to memorize it. After I have memorized a chapter, I review it every day for two weeks. This way I am working on three chapters of Scripture all the time. To review the passages, I use the same process as my memorization. I read the first verse in the passage over until I can say it. Usually the second day I have to memorize it all over again. I go on from there to the next and then the next. I often stumble over verses I have been reviewing for weeks. If I think I am in some kind of competition, I will be discouraged. But this is between me and God, and I trust Him to be working in my life as I spend the time with Him.

I do not have a photographic memory. I could not begin to quote verses that I memorized 6 months ago without reviewing them again. But in the process of memorizing and especially reviewing, God's Spirit works on my heart. He uses His word to plant Himself in me. Although I am writing something that tends to consume my time and thoughts, I am convinced that Scripture memory is my most crucial task in these days.

http://thinkinginthespirit.blogspot.com/
http://theanchorofthesoul.blogspot.com/
http://watchinginprayer.blogspot.com/
http://writingprayerfully.blogspot.com/

Website
http://daveswatch.com/

YouTube
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Amazon Author's Page
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Tuesday, January 28, 2020

SAYING A BLESSING




I remember my father saying the blessing at every meal as I was growing up. That memory continues to bless me everyday of my life. It was not unlike the blessing of Jesus over the loaves and fish.

"And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing over them. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd."
Luke 9:16

This is a beautiful picture that is worth considering separate from the rest of the event of which it is a crucial part. The One who created all things made the bread and fish nourishing. He had already put His blessing on it. But it would only have fed one boy. Jesus looked toward His Heavenly Father, and by His power He blessed the meal so it would feed a multitude. Luke said there were about five thousand men there. How many women and children might have been there? That could easily have been a multitude of twenty or thirty thousand souls.

I would like to do something like that with my writing. As I write, I pray with all my heart that God will put more of His grace in my words than I know to write. And I also pray for a blessing like Jesus prayed for, that God will multiply it to touch the lives of multitudes of people.

http://thinkinginthespirit.blogspot.com/
http://theanchorofthesoul.blogspot.com/
http://watchinginprayer.blogspot.com/
http://writingprayerfully.blogspot.com/

Website
http://daveswatch.com/

YouTube
https://goo.gl/PyzU

Amazon Author's Page
https://www.amazon.com/David-Young/e/B008C7VLAQ/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1