Lesson #1: Obstacles Shape Character Growth
Two years ago, when I started this project, I didn’t know the first thing about showing a character develop as the story progressed. Over time, however, after my third complete rewrite of the 83,000-word manuscript, I found myself realizing what makes a character interesting. It’s their believability and their growth as a person.
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Is love a feeling or an action?
I used to argue wholeheartedly that love was purely an action. I based my argument on my rudimentary understanding of what love looked like from Biblical characters. I would point out that Jesus’ love was found in his actions, but this isn’t completely true. Jesus’ love is not purely actions like I had previously thought, assuming the heart behind them was unimportant. I never considered that it could be the case that Jesus’ love is found at a deeper level, and that the actions of love that he performed are actually a result of the feelings and desires of His heart. I recently heard a song that, prior to listening to, I was incredibly eager to hear because I knew the artist. Upon hearing the actual song, though, I was very unpleasantly surprised. I’ll just say that the content of the song was extremely worldly.
We always like it when someone can get down on our level, and relate to us where we are in our understanding on a specific topic. When we are young children, it is helpful for an adult to get down on their knees and get at our eye level when they explain something to us.
I have to admit something. This question haunts me: Who is Jesus? Sure, we can revert back to our Sunday School lineage and spout out answers from off the top of our head, such as: Son of God, Savior, Messiah, and any other term you learned to call Jesus when asked this question in a small group setting. Now, before you get upset with me and write me off as another hedonist trying to show you my holy ways, give me the chance to explain myself.
IntroductionHow do you define a living thing? Does it move? Does it think? Does it respire? In essence, does the subject have what we would consider to be living qualities? These are questions we must ask ourselves when deciding on whether something is living or not, and through observations and logical reasoning we can come to conclusions about life.
I see her sit, upon the grit,
whilst no one is around. Deep down she knows, straight to her toes, she’s lost, not yet been found. It was in a flea-infested and dim-lit basement in Jacksonville, Alabama where I sat down to write Five Flaming Arrows. I had no external motivators, no one telling me to “Just do it” or “Hey, it’s been awhile since you sat down to write… so write!” All I had was an internal desire to write something amazing; to write something that honored God and actually helped people whom I had counseled.
So the other night I had an interesting dream. It was the kind of dream that feels completely real. I guess that’s why it was so terrifying.
This is one of the most uncomfortable articles I have ever written. I came across this passage in Corinthians chapter five the other day, and while I have read through the New Testament numerous times, it only stood out to me this time as bizarre. Perhaps it’s the more sympathetic personality within me coming to the surface, or the loads of coffee I’ve been drinking, but either way I found it to be extremely alarming. I will give you the passage in the English Standard Version (ESV) first, then we will discuss its context and implications.
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