Know Jack #467 The Orphan

“Therefore, for that world’s good which liveth ill.

Fix on the car thine eyes, and what thou seest,

Having returned to earth, take heed thou write.”

Dante Alighieri ~Purgatorio

Years ago, I wrote a book that I didn’t want to write. I knew it would be a financial disaster, but I wasn’t thinking about money. It was going to be easy to write. It would simply be a matter of writing down things I’d taught and spoken on for many years. Nevertheless, I didn’t want to do it. There is something inside me that compels me to write. Part of that “something” is ego. I want people to read what I write, not for praise or fame, but just to know someone was interested enough to read it.

I knew this book would be ignored, not only by the public but by friends and family as well. I had written a small book called Death by Sin and would have loved to hear crickets as a result. I thought my friends and church family would read it. Boy, was I wrong. So, when the Spirit and my editor began to nudge me toward writing Experimental Christianity, I wanted none of it.

Sadly, I resisted writing it for almost a year. I finally gave in when it became a question of faith. The final push came while I mulled the idea of writing and read, “That I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus”. Paul compared his conversion to being taken prisoner. I could not help but identify with that. I was snatched up out of the world and flung into the ministry. I welcomed it. I plunged in.

To be true to my calling and faith, I had to write the book. Call it a self-fulfilling prophecy if you like, but the book has met my expectations. Writing it was more about obedience than literary excellence or book sales. It is my only published non-fiction book. It likely will remain so, thanks to Peggy Bryant who inspired the Mann of God books. I have to give Milton and Dante an appreciative nod for that too.

I probably learned more writing Experimental Christianity than anyone ever will reading it. That’s okay with me. You see, sometimes I need to Know Jack too.