I was looking through my pictures from 2025 and noticed a theme: there were highs and lows and God in the middle.
Sometimes I only see the highs. Sometimes only the lows. But when I look carefully, I can see God in the middle of them all.
And THAT makes all the difference.
For instance…
One of my highs was traveling to India to speak at some Bible college graduations. The students were so thankful that our team would come all the way from the US to see them graduate. I told them the story of the boy who walked a long way to gather some special shells from a remote beach. When he gave the shells as a gift, the recipient said, “They’re beautiful! But that was such a long walk.” The boy replied, “Long walk part of gift.”
Then on my last day in India, I got violently sick. I flew home sick, stayed home sick, and spent six weeks recovering from being sick. As I lay in my bed wondering if it was all worth it, I thought of what I had told those precious students: “Long walk part of gift.”
It gave me the perspective I needed on both the highs and the lows of that trip: God was in the middle of it all.
A second high last year was touring for six weeks with our Italian Puppet Opera in the U.S. and Canada. We performed for more than 1,500 people in 38 performances. It was exciting to share the message of Christ and the craft of Italian puppetry with audiences here in North America.
But two weeks before the tour, I was pulling out my hair. One of the producers who had committed to setting up more than a dozen shows for us had still only set up one. Two days before the team arrived from Italy, he had still only set up one. And two weeks after they arrived, he had still only set up one!
I felt like we were twiddling our thumbs! We had expanded the tour from two weeks to six weeks at his request to accommodate all the additional shows he wanted us to do. I called as many venues as I could think of to try to fill those days, but it was now so last minute that everyone, it seemed, said no. So I filled those weeks with shows at my farmhouse and shows at our small-town library.
The producer eventually came through by the end of our tour and booked us at several prestigious events. But my puppeteers said their favorite shows were the ones in our little town in the middle of the cornfields. It was then that I could see God was in the middle of it all.
A third high last year was getting an offer from some film producers to make a multi-million dollar movie of my St. Nicholas story, something I’ve wanted to do for 30 years. The talks progressed to the point where they sent me a contract and invited me to meet them for lunch and go over the details.
As I was flying to meet them, I was torn. Something felt off, but I wanted to follow it through. I knew they weren’t scammers; they were friends of a friend, and they had made a legitimate offer. But I just didn’t feel this was a good fit for our show.
I prayed for a clear answer… and I got it!
We had just started our appetizers when the conversation took a sharp turn south. In an instant, we ALL knew this wasn’t a good fit. One of the producers abruptly extended his hand, shook mine, and said, “The deal’s off. Enjoy your lunch.”
I hadn’t even touched my lunch. When they left, I asked the server to box it up, ordered a coffee, and sat in stunned silence, trying to calm myself down after what had just happened.
When the server brought my coffee, I pulled out my wallet to pay for it. She had seen our conversation. She just looked at me and said, “It’s on me, honey.”
I burst into tears. It was just one small act of kindness, but that meant so much. I remembered my prayer that God would give me a clear answer… and He did! Regardless of the highs or lows that I felt, I saw God was in the middle of it all.
Praise God! He can take our highs and lows and make level ground. And isn’t that what God said would happen in the days before His coming:
“Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for Him. Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth. And all people will see God’s salvation.” (Luke 3:4-6, AMP)
As we head into the new year, I pray God will make your paths straight, your rough ways smooth, and you would see God’s salvation… in the middle of it all.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Love,
Eric Elder writes for page, stage & screen to glorify God’s name so Christ may be seen! Use this link to subscribe or unsubscribe.
Last week I had an email from a subscriber that touched my heart in a special way.
She wrote:
I have always enjoyed reading your newsletter. You have a way of explaining your faith journey by your simplicity. Your way of explaining the message is not heavy, not over anyone’s head. Just there. Where we as the reader can understand it in layman’s terms. I know, for myself, the “Ah moment”, or as you put it ”God-incidences “, are clearly presented and well received. Thank you.
It touched my heart because 30 years ago, I felt God calling me to quit my job in Corporate America to start sharing my faith online, full-time.
It was a crazy move to many. The Internet was still in its baby crib, and one of my close relatives was furious at me for quitting my job for THIS.
“But not everybody’s ON the Internet!” she said.
I replied, “I’ll start with the 30 million that are on it and work my way from there!”
This year, 30 years later, there are 6 billion people connected to the Internet, 75% of the world’s population.
I’m still trying to make a dent. (Later I’ll share how you can help me keep going, if you’d like.)
But after 30 years, I still get notes like the one above from people who are moved by my way of sharing my faith online.
And 30 years later, my ministry is still “in the black,” which in accounting terms is very good, meaning my assets still outweigh my liabilities. (I would be “in the red” if they didn’t!)
I’m surprised, honestly, because when I quit my secular job 30 years ago, I had a wife, three kids, and $1,500 in the bank. I’ve since had three more kids and still have about $1,500 in the bank. Hallelujah!
That’s thanks to many of you who have helped us stay afloat for the last 30 years.
I feel like the customer in this cartoon.
There’s a creek by my house called “Money Creek.” I’m told it’s called Money Creek because there’s a bank on each side. :)
Every time I drive over that creek, I turn my palms upward and say, “Thank You, Lord, for the money You’ve given, and I pray for more to keep on going. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”
I could have more than $1,500 in the bank today. But I just keep my hands open, trusting that as I pour out the money He gives into the people and projects that are on my heart, He will fill them with more.
I’m so thankful to God and all those who have helped me for 30 years. And I’m praying for more to keep on going.
If you’ve been touched by this ministry in some way over the past year (or past 30!) would you consider a year-end gift to help me keep going?
I’d love it. God would love it. And readers like the one above would love it.
I only ask for cheerful gifts. My ministry is always freely available, with no obligation. But if you’d LIKE to give, I’d love your support.
“Let each one give as they decide in their hearts, with gladness, not sorrow or obligation. For God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:7).
Last week, I wrote about three “God-incidences” that happened to me on recent flights. This week, I want to write about one more.
It happened the week before Christmas.
I was flying to New York to see a Broadway show. I had pulled out a script to read on the flight of a new show I’ll be working on this coming year. I was going through the script page by page, making notes on my phone about parts that made me laugh, made me cry, or maybe needed some attention.
Halfway through the flight, the guy sitting across the aisle from me asked what I was reading. I told him it was a script that a friend and I were working on for an upcoming movie project.
He was curious because he was a cinematographer, on his way to New York to meet his team and see some locations for a new movie he’s filming!
He said it was unusual to see someone reading an actual paper script these days. I told him it was, but that I really wanted to read it through “the old-fashioned way.” There’s something about reading a script on paper that just makes it more real.
As we were talking, the woman sitting next to him jumped into the conversation. She said, “Sorry to jump in, but I was overhearing that you both work on movies. A film crew was just filming a show at my mom’s house in New Jersey for three weeks, so I know all the things that you guys are talking about!”
The “film crew” that was at her house wasn’t just any film crew. It was a crew headed by one of the hottest writers and producers in the U.S. right now. I tried hard not to “fangirl” and ask her a million questions. The three of us chatted away for the rest of our flight.
The cinematographer said how unusual it was that we were all sitting there in that row on that plane.
The woman commented, “And I wasn’t supposed to be on this flight.”
The cinematographer said, “I wasn’t either.”
I added, “And neither was I!”
“Serendipity!” said the cinematographer.
“Or something more,” I thought.
I looked at the script in my hands. I had printed it out just before my trip to read on the plane, and it was that script that drew the guy’s attention, then drew the woman into the conversation.
The cinematographer had been so intrigued by the script, and by the show as I described it. He had already asked for my contact information so we could stay in touch.
I looked at the script in my hands again. I asked the cinematographer, “Would you like to read the script?” He said, “I’d love to.” I asked, “Would you like to have this paper copy?” He said, “I’d love it!”
I took out a pen, wrote his name on it, wrote “Merry Christmas!” then signed it. Beneath my signature, I wrote, “Serendipity?!?” Then I handed it to him.
Suddenly, I was “unscripted.” Just like this whole trip. Or was it?
I don’t know what will happen with the cinematographer, or the woman who had one of the hottest producers in the U.S. in her house, or with my own movie project. But what I sensed was God’s peace. God’s timing. God’s hand, moving in my life, and in each of theirs.
Sometimes those “little nudges” (“go to New York,” “take this flight,” “print out the script,” “read it on the plane”) are more than just hunches. Sometimes they’re setups for “God-incidences,” moments when we can see God at work in our lives.
This doesn’t just happen to me. It happens to others. It’s probably happened to you.
When I got home from my trip, I read a story in the Bible where it happened to a man named Simeon. I was reading the end of the Christmas story in Luke chapter 2 where, eight days after Jesus’ birth, Joseph and Mary took Him to the temple in Jerusalem to be dedicated to the Lord.
The moment they walked into the temple, an elderly man named Simeon walked into the temple, too. God had previously promised him that one day, in his lifetime, he would see the Messiah with his own eyes.
And that day, the Bible says Simeon had been “moved by the Spirit” to go to the temple. He entered it at the very same moment as Joseph and Mary. When he saw baby Jesus, he knew this was “the One.” He said,
“Now I can die content, for Your promise to me has been fulfilled. With my own eyes I have seen Your Word, the Savior you sent into the world” (Luke 2:29-31, TPT).
Like Simeon in the Bible, I felt God’s peace. I felt His presence. I felt I was in the right place at the right time.
I’ll leave the rest in His hands.
Love,
Eric Elder writes for page, stage & screen to glorify God’s name so Christ may be seen! Use this link to subscribe or unsubscribe.
I was reading further in the Christmas story this week in the Bible and was struck by the frustration Mary and Joseph may have had while traveling to Bethlehem for the census. To them, I imagine it was especially aggravating, having to report to the city of their heritage being so close to the time of giving birth.
But to God, there was a reason. A prophecy had been made 700 years earlier predicting this very event: a baby would be born in Bethlehem who would become a ruler over Israel.
“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times” (Micah 5:2).
This trip wasn’t a “coincidence.” It was a “God-incidence.”
I’ve been on three flights recently where I was just minding my own business, doing what I felt was on my heart to do. But along the way, God turned three “coincidences” into “God-incidences.”
On the first trip, I sat next to a man who saw the title of a book I was reading about “fearless living.” Before we even left the tarmac, he began sharing with me his fear of dying that was precipitated by the way he was living. He was a Christian, but doing things that were clearly, to him, immoral, threatening his sense of salvation.
He asked what I thought of dying, and I shared with him some of my own moral failings that had shaken me and eventually led me to put my faith in Jesus for everything in my life. I shared that if I was relying on my goodness, I’d never make it into heaven. But I was relying on my Jesus, and that made all the difference in the world.
I told him, “We aren’t Christians because of how good we’ve been. We’re Christians because we’re sinners in need a Savior, so we’ve put our faith in Jesus Christ.”
It was like a light went on in his head. He realized God wanted him to make better choices not because of where he would go when he died, but so he could better live the life God wanted him to live right here and now. Immediately he felt lighter, freer. He knew what he needed to do, both in the situations he was facing and in trusting Jesus to forgive him of his sins and carry him through it all.
He thanked me profusely and said he felt God was speaking to him through our conversation. And I thanked God profusely, for I hadn’t set out to have some kind of significant conversation. Yet God used that “coincidence” as a “God-incidence” in both our lives.
For the second story, I was flying home from that same trip and had pulled out my Bible to read. I was circling and underlining words and phrases and writing notes in the margins about what I felt God was saying to me.
About half an hour into the trip, the woman sitting next to me turned and asked, “Are you a pastor?” I said I was, and she said, “I’ve got a question for you.”
She proceeded to tell me how she had just bought three different versions of the Bible and was trying to read them, but she kept getting stuck in the first few chapters. She couldn’t get anything out of them, but she really wanted to. She wanted to know what to do to make it more meaningful. It wasn’t just a question on her heart because I was sitting next to her. It was THE question on her heart, and God had put me next to her!
I told her what I do, which is just what I shared with you. I told her I read to understand what the passage was saying at the time it was written, but also to ask God to speak to me about my life, today, here and now. Then I just keep reading until something speaks to me.
I pointed out some of the things God was speaking to me about on the plane, and showed her some of the things I had written in the margins.
She was fascinated. She was excited. She told me she was so glad she sat by me because she couldn’t wait to get back and start reading again.
For the third story, I was flying to another city, with my Bible and journal on my tray. I hadn’t even opened them when the woman sitting next to me asked, “Are you a pastor?” I told her I was and she began pouring out her heart.
She was involved in a situation that had hurt her terribly. She was spending all her time and considerable money trying to get an apology from someone. She wasn’t going to get anything back that she had lost. She wasn’t going to change what had happened already, or what might happen again.
I sensed that, to paraphrase G.K. Chesterton, she didn’t want to be compensated because she had been wronged. She wanted to be healed because she had been hurt.
She asked what I thought she should do. I told her I couldn’t advise her what to do, but I told her what I sensed. I asked if she had other things she felt God might be wanting her to do with her time and energy. She said there were, and she shared those things. They sounded so much more productive! I told her what I thought. She said, “That’s just what my pastor said, too.” (Whether she was happy with that answer or not, I don’t know! But I do know she had heard it at least twice now. I had to trust God could use it however He chose.)
Three times people had reached out to me, each asking for pastoral wisdom. I had to thank God each time, as I was just going on my way. I hadn’t initiated any of these conversations. But when asked, I was willing and happy to engage about their questions. What seemed like “coincidences” felt very much like “God-incidences,” especially with three in a row like that!
Which brings us back to Mary and Joseph and their trip to Bethlehem. Why, oh why, did they have to travel when Mary was about to give birth? And why did it have to be in a stable, where the only place to lay their baby was in a manger?
Why? The rest of the Christmas story answers that question, with God using shepherds to confirm to Mary and Joseph that they were in the exact place at the exact time that God had in mind for them. An angel had appeared to the shepherds, saying:
“Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.“When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen Him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told” (Luke 2:11-12, 15-20).
Don’t miss the “God-incidences” in your life. Do like the shepherds did on that very first Christmas, “glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen.”
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a Great Light!
Love,
Eric Elder writes for page, stage & screen to glorify God’s name so Christ may be seen! Use this link to subscribe or unsubscribe.
Join me this Thursday night for cookies and cocoa! It’s Christmastime, and I’d love to host you as my guest for an online party!
I’ll be live online from 7-8:30 PM CST, this Thursday, December 18th on Zoom. Just send me a note if you’d like to join and I’ll send you the link. Since we’ll be online, I’ll have to ask you to bring your own cookies and cocoa!
Here’s what I’m hoping for our 90 minutes together...
I’d like to share a life and ministry update with you, including 3 recent stories of “divine encounters” that left me shaking my head in praise to Jesus.
I’d like to give you time to make new friends and maybe reconnect with old ones.
I’d like to enjoy cookies and cocoa and share some Christmas cheer!
If you’d like an inspirational night with friends old and new (plus cookies and cocoa!), I hope you’ll join the fun.
Again, just send me a note if you’d like to join and I’ll send you the link.
Love,
Eric Elder writes for page, stage & screen to glorify God’s name so Christ may be seen! Use this link to subscribe or unsubscribe.
I was reading the Christmas story this week in the Bible, and I was surprised at my reaction to the opening words. In Luke, chapter 1, an angel appears to Zechariah, telling him that he and his wife Elizabeth are going to give birth to a son named John.
This was good news, as they had been barren for years. Yet my immediate thought was:
“Yeah, great. And one day, John’s going to get his head chopped off by a crazy king.”
“What?!?” I thought. “What happened in my heart that made me jump to the end of the story, where the king’s wife asks to be given the head of John the Baptist on a platter?”
Somehow I skipped the entirety of John’s fruitful and productive life. I went straight to the ending. Why did I skip over all the good stuff? I knew exactly why.
I’ve recently gone through my own “bad ending.” I was in a relationship that began so beautifully, yet ended so abruptly after only a few short months. My head was reeling, as if someone had brought it out on a platter, too. What began as good news soon filled me with tremendous grief and disappointment, so much so that I considered giving up on ministry completely.
I must not have heard from God, I thought. I must have messed up somehow that caused my dream world to burst. And I am now looking back on the relationship through the lens of its ending, leaving me with feelings of pain, shame, and despair.
So I understood why I responded to Zechariah’s “good news” that the angel had brought him. Remembering how the story ended, I filtered it through the lens of the ending only, as if the ending was the most important part.
But John’s story is more than its ending! As I kept reading the Christmas story, I saw a much fuller view of the “good news” the angel had given to Zechariah even before his son John was born. The angel said:
“Don’t be afraid, Zechariah! God is showing grace to you. For I have come to tell you that your prayer for a child has been answered. Your wife, Elizabeth, will bear you a son and you are to name him John.
“His birth will bring you much joy and gladness. Many will rejoice because of him. He will be one of the great ones in the sight of God. He will drink no wine or strong drink, but he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even while still in his mother’s womb.
“And he will persuade many in Israel to convert and turn back to the Lord their God.
“He will go before the Lord as a forerunner, with the same power and anointing as Elijah the prophet.
“He will be instrumental in turning the hearts of the fathers in tenderness back to their children and the hearts of the disobedient back to the wisdom of their righteous fathers.
“And he will prepare a united people who are ready for the Lord’s appearing.”
Luke 1:13-17, TPT
Now that’s a life well-lived! And John did do all of those things, even up to his final breath, when he was beheaded because of his warning to the king to turn away from his adulterous and incestuous relationship with his brother’s ex-wife.
And then there’s this: listen to what Jesus had to say about John’s life:
“Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist…” (Matthew 11:11a).
Now that’s the RIGHT perspective! My initial reaction to the passage was skewed by the pain of what I had recently been through myself. I had jumped to the end and skipped all the good stuff in between. My lens was askew.
I thought again about my relationship that ended. I thought of the joys and blessings that have come from it, despite its ending… and some blessings even because of its ending.
I thought again:
Maybe the ending isn’t the most important part.
I prayed: “Lord, help me to have Your perspective on the people and events in my life. Help me to not skew my memories through a lens that’s distorted. Help me to have a clear view of the whole story, especially the parts that are most important to You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”
Here’s John’s story in a nutshell, as foretold by the angel… the parts that matter most of all:
“His birth will bring you much joy and gladness. Many will rejoice because of him. He will be one of the great ones in the sight of God.”
May God give us all His perspective on the people and events in our lives.
Love,
P.S. And if you’d like to listen to some beautiful Christmas music, here are two full albums of piano music recorded by my sister, Marilyn Byrnes. Just use the links below or search any streaming music service for “Marilyn Byrnes, Christmas.” Enjoy!
My brother Craig is a rocket scientist—a real rocket scientist! He’s worked on missions you may have heard about in the news: the James Webb Space Telescope, the LCROSS lunar mission to look for water on the moon, or the launch of the Milstar military communication satellites. Cool stuff!
But what’s NOT COOL is that he had to keep certain things “TOP SECRET.” While that’s essential for protecting our country and the people involved, if not done right, it can lead to isolation, loneliness and despair.
Craig’s not alone in this. Doctors, lawyers, pastors, teachers, counselors and sometimes just close friends or family have to keep secrets for good reasons. As Proverbs says:
“A gossip betrays a confidence, but a trustworthy person keeps a secret” (Proverbs 11:13).
So it’s not wrong to keep secrets when needed. But it can be difficult… and sometimes even tragic. As Psalms says:
“When I kept silent, my bones wasted away” (Psalm 32:3a).
A few weeks ago, Craig shared with me about a time of despair he went through starting ten years ago… despair so deep he contemplated giving up on life itself.
I’m thankful to say he’s now 100% back to Craig, the brother I know. He’s laughing, playing games, talking, interacting. Life is good.I can’t imagine if he had given up.
But what got him through? And what can help you through when you feel like giving up?
That’s what we talk about in our conversation below. In it, Craig shares what he did wrong, what he did right, and what you can do to help you through, too. I hope you’ll watch or read the whole conversation!
If there’s one takeaway I want you to know today, know this:
There is hope! There is another side! Keep pressing on, even if you feel like giving up!
Love,
Here’s the link to watch our whole conversation, or read the transcript below the video.
TRANSCRIPT (not word-for-word, but cleaned up for clarity and flow)
Eric: This is Eric Elder and I’m with my brother, Craig Elder. This is a rare opportunity to get together in our yard here in Illinois. He’s normally from California—been there for a long time—and it’s nice that he’s here this weekend. We’re just talking about pressing on when you feel like giving up.
And I wonder if he could say a prayer to open us. We’re going to talk about dealing with secrets, and he’s in a unique role dealing with secrets in his life. We’ll start with a prayer. This is one of his favorite scriptures.
Craig: Dear Lord, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight, oh Lord, my rock and my redeemer. That’s Psalm 19. It starts out with “The heavens declare the glory of God,” and “the heavens display the work of his hands.” And in aerospace that means a lot to me. It always motivated me to follow my passion for space—everything space.
Eric: And Craig is a literal rocket scientist. So my brother is a rocket scientist and he’s been doing this for how many years?
Craig: I had 43 years of aerospace. I recently retired after 43 years. It’s good to have all my days be Saturdays from here on out—except for Sundays. Sundays are still Sundays. But all those weekdays, it’s kind of nice. I’ll come back to this point—that there is a reason to keep going on, because when you get to the point where all your days are Saturdays and Sundays, and then you look forward to an afterlife full of endless weekends and joy, you don’t want to miss out on that.
Eric: I know. And tell people what you did and what role secrets played in your life.
Craig: Over the course of my career I had various levels of government security clearances that required me not only to keep my mouth shut but also to actively protect secrets. I wasn’t alone in that. There are medical doctors who need confidentiality, or lawyers—attorney-client privilege—pastors, police officers, teachers. But my role as a government contractor meant that to do my job correctly, I had to absolutely not talk about certain things. Absolutely not leave a social media footprint. Don’t give the bad guys anything to go off of.
If not done correctly, that lifestyle can lead to loneliness and despair, and it can quickly spiral down.
About 10 years ago, I went through a real period of despair and fatigue. To give some context: in 2015 I had 30 years in building spacecraft—flying things like the James Webb Space Telescope, the LCROSS lunar impactor, and the Milstar nuclear-hardened, World-War-III-surviving communication satellites that kept all of our subs and bombers connected back to the United States. It had to survive a near nuclear burst of an anti-satellite weapon and come back with secure communication. My equipment had to come back within 10 seconds. We had to have the warfighters back in communication within a minute. All of this is unclassified now. But those satellites are still up there. They will far outlive me.
After many of those projects, I was asked to change companies to run a project that was six months behind schedule and had an insufficient budget. Some of my friends were retiring and would get 80% of their pension in cash at age 55. I was 54. I was approached by customers to run this program. After talking with my wife—and not talking with the financial advisors I should have—I said, “I’ll pass on the 80% pension at 55 and hold out for 100% at 65. I’ll work the 10 years.”
Four months before my 55th birthday, I switched companies. In the first two months, we recovered that six months of schedule and held a design review. Everyone was pleased. But there was a lot of churn and chaos at this company. In the 10 months I was there, I had five different bosses. One boss would be replaced, then we changed from one management structure to another. That construct lasted about a month.
Then one Monday morning, of the three contracts our company had, two were halted because of government funding restrictions. Keep in mind, I couldn’t talk to other employees about what we were doing. These were smart people asking good questions they needed for their jobs, but I couldn’t tell them. If I told one thing to one person, someone else might figure out what we were doing, and that would be very bad for America. People can be compromised.
Security clearances require not just no arrests—your finances are reviewed, your psychological profiles, your polygraphs every two years or more. They want to know if anyone in your circle could be blackmailed by anything. And I couldn’t divulge anything that people put on their security clearances that I had to approve.
Another issue was that I found myself working really long hours. There were only a handful of us who could open the secure vault. I lived near the factory, so I’d go in every morning at 5:30, fully dressed for the day. And in the evenings, people needed to work late, so I’d close up at midnight. They would’ve worked longer, but I said, “I can’t. I have to get up at 5:30 to open.”
In my isolation I became fatigued, and that spirals when you’re dealing with unsolvable problems. We were over-budget and understaffed. We didn’t have the right people cleared. I was getting fatigued. My wife is a teacher and had school-related problems. I got to a point where I absolutely felt I didn’t have time for friends. I barely had time for family. I was fatigued and started feeling despair. And I couldn’t talk to anyone, because if I talked to a counselor it would show up on my security records, and I didn’t want the hassle of explaining why I was talking to a psychiatrist.
I also knew I had given up that 80% pension bonus. I could have stepped away from it all and had enough to retire, had I stayed four months longer. And now I didn’t have that opportunity. I’d have to work 10 years in this unsustainable position. There was a lot of regret. A lot of regret about my decisions and my future. I didn’t see any value for life because I felt I had made bad decisions and couldn’t talk to anybody.
Sorry for so much context, but it gets to these points: What did I do wrong, and what did I do right? Because here I am on the other side. I’m wonderfully retired. I’ve got a wonderful family with a granddaughter and another on the way. They make life worth living. I’ve got great relationships with my kids, my wife, my friends who rallied around me in spite of myself. I thoroughly enjoy my life at this stage. I had no idea what I would have been throwing away when I was at my low.
Eric: We weren’t able to talk about this during the time. We saw the change in your personality and your silence. You were unable to talk.
Craig: We have a joke: with each program you’re briefed into, you become stupider at cocktail parties because people come up to you and say, “Hey, what’s the real story about aliens?” You can’t give any hint.
Eric: And so we’re watching you, not knowing how to help. It’s hard on the people around you. It’s hard on you. So I’m really curious—what you felt you did wrong and what you did right.
Craig: What I did wrong: first, I buried it. There’s a new Marvel movie out called Thunderbolts. A character has a dark side and says, “It’s hopeless. Why do we go on?” The young Russian girl says, “Shut up. Do what we do: bury it. Bury it deeper.” That was one thing I did wrong.
Another thing I did wrong was dwelling on past mistakes—thinking my career had been perfect until I changed companies. “I should have pushed back. I should have delayed. I should have…” That was wasted time. Dwelling on regret was a catalyst for the spiral down.
The third thing I did wrong was contemplating giving up. The biggest waste of time in my life was trying to figure out how to kill myself so my family could collect insurance money and be set. As an engineer I processed it, and there was no good way that wouldn’t impact my family. And if I searched online, that would trigger security flags and a polygraph: “Are you having suicidal thoughts?” And I’d bury it deeper.
What I did right was figuring out how to bury what needed to be buried without betraying the trust of the secrets I had to keep.
Eric: This weekend you shared some of these things I hadn’t heard before. You’re opening up here, and that’s why I asked if you’d share it—because people struggle with hope in very dark places. I didn’t realize the depth of what you went through. And I’m so sorry you were there. I’m so glad you’re here on the other side—100% back to Craig, the brother I know. You’re laughing, playing games, talking, interacting. Life is good. I can’t imagine if you had given that up. And I’m hopeful for people watching—including those who can’t see what’s on the other side. All they see is darkness.
Craig: Absolutely. Some people are dealing with the darkness of a terminal diagnosis. You see the darkness, but you need faith that something better is out there.
Eric: Let me affirm that keeping secrets is not wrong. Proverbs 11:13 says, “A gossip betrays a confidence, but a trustworthy person keeps a secret.” A teacher, pastor, spouse, police officer—there are times to keep a secret. But how you deal with what you also bury along with it matters. Psalm 32 says, “When I kept silent, my bones wasted away.” Silence can feel crushing. And Ecclesiastes says there’s a time to be silent and a time to speak. When I asked you this morning if you’d film this, I took a risk. Your trained muscle memory was, “I can neither confirm nor deny.” But you’re able to speak about hope, health, healing, and what helped you. So I think that’s huge. I’ll save the last verse for the end of the show. But yeah—how did you get out? What did you do?
Craig: Right. This sounds hokey, but I started going back to my company Bible study. Every Wednesday morning before work, a number of believers would meet for a Bible study. Just hearing God’s Word and seeing it in the faces and lives of my colleagues—many of whom worked in the closed area also, but on other projects—helped me. I couldn’t go in their vault, they couldn’t go in mine, but we could kind of knowingly wink. We had that shared experience of keeping secrets. I didn’t know what they were working on; I wanted plausible deniability. I didn’t want to know what they were working on because if I knew, I’d have to get breathed in, and then I’d become stupider at cocktail parties. I’d rather not know.
So just going back to God. Honestly, as I look back, I didn’t think of it much at the time as “God.” I just thought, “I’ve got to get away. I’m going to go meet with Howie and Lance and the guys at my old company for breakfast.” It was almost taboo showing up at another company. But it got me re-grounded and helped stop the spiral. It really did, those weeks.
I ended up, in talking with them, realizing that I could go back to work in my old job. I didn’t need the money. I didn’t want a salary increase. I didn’t want a new boss. I didn’t want a new title. Just get me into a safe space. But that wouldn’t have happened had God not called me—or had I not gone back to Bible study and kept those connections.
The second thing I did right was I just spent time with a friend. He was the dad of one of my son’s friends. We had a lot in common, but we weren’t super close. But he was willing to spend every Tuesday night with me. Usually Mondays were hell, Tuesdays were more hell, and by Tuesday night I was not looking forward to the rest of the week. But Serge knew I was going through some tough times. When a movie came out that our wives would never want to see—it was a blood-and-guts action movie—I wanted to see it, he wanted to see it. Tuesday nights were discount movie nights in our LA theater. So we established Tuesday as a dad date night.
Our wives would see a trailer and say, “Nope. Tuesday night—dad date. I’m not coming.” So Serge and I would go see it. We saw some stinkers over the years, but if there wasn’t a movie going on, Serge was willing to just get together and watch a hockey game, Disney Plus, or Hulu. We had some common science fiction background. Just spending time with him—not even talking about words or anything necessarily—helped. We’d go for a 20-minute hockey period not saying a word, and yet just being in the presence of someone else helped me through.
So I encourage you: it doesn’t have to be a good friend. It doesn’t have to be someone who knows your deepest, darkest secrets. Sometimes that’s better. I know some people in therapy or counseling have their therapist fill that role, but it doesn’t have to be a paid professional. Just somebody willing to sit with you. And to have a friend, you need to be a friend. Sometimes that person is going through something and they need you there, and you lean on each other.
How long have I done this with him? This has been five years now.
The last thing is: don’t bury your despair. Don’t bury the secrets. Don’t bury your badness. Bury your ego. That should be the first thing you bury. And take advantage of the resources. If someone is offering you a hand, take it. There are so many resources tailored for you. I was honestly blind to them. But now in hindsight, the company had a classified psychiatrist who was used to dealing with polygraphs. It was advertised on page three of the small print: “If you’re having problems, contact help.” But I was unaware of it—and maybe my pride kept me from seeking it. I thought, “I can do it. I’m going to buck up and do it. All the Cold Warriors before me, those rocket scientists in the ’50s, ’60s, ’70s—they had to do it. They did it. I can do it.” But it was hard. Many of them didn’t survive. And there’s too much good to live for.
So there are resources out there. Bury your ego. That’s half the battle. If you can reach out for help, you don’t even have to reach that far—there are people reaching to you.
Eric: At church I went through Celebrate Recovery. You can bury the secrets you have to keep, but you don’t have to bury the feelings.
Craig: You don’t have to bury the “I’m feeling really stressed.” You can talk to someone about the stress you’re feeling. Moms and dads don’t have to provide the details of what they’re burying, but they need to deal with it. So definitely take advantage of the help that’s reaching out to you.
Eric: That leads into this verse that I want to close with. And if you have some other thoughts, great. But we’ll close and pray if you don’t. Galatians 6:2: “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”
Just like Serge was there—you didn’t even have to say anything. He knew you needed help. He was local, he was right there, and he was willing to sit next to you. I see this all the time when someone dies and people say, “I don’t want to go. I don’t want to bother them. I don’t know what to say.” Just go sit in their driveway. You don’t have to say a word. In fact, it’s better if you don’t. Don’t open your mouth. Just go there.
Craig: You’ve got two ears and one mouth for a reason.
Eric: Say, “I just want to sit with you.” You don’t have to solve their problem. You can’t solve their problem. But you can sit with them, and that’s huge.
So carry each other’s burdens and reach out for help. Share the burden, but not necessarily the details—share them with trusted people. And trust that God can walk you through. There are a lot of people who have gone before us—believers who trusted in God—and they came through. Jonah and the whale—pick a Bible hero. They went through a crucible and then they delivered Israel or did whatever they did. Paul was beaten numerous times, and he kept getting up and doing it again.
Somehow we have this faith in God, hope in God, and there is always hope. I am convinced of this: there is always hope. The best is yet to come. And it’s not necessarily in the form you want. I planted some trees in the yard. They were these little sticks, and the company sent me the wrong trees. I thought I planted hazelnuts. Five years later, the first fruit comes—and it’s a peach. I wasn’t expecting peaches. But this year we had so many peaches that we couldn’t eat them all. We were calling people to come eat peaches. It was fruitful, but not in the way I expected or planted.
So there’s hope. It may not show up in the way you expect or plant, but I can promise you—not because it’s my promise, but because the Word of God tells you—that there is hope. Keep pressing on for the prize set before you. That’s what Jesus did. He pressed on through all the trials for the prize set before Him, and now He is seated at the right hand of God. That is for each of us. Your story encourages me; I pray it encourages those watching.
Any final thoughts, Craig, before we pray?
Craig: Yeah. You are stronger than you think you are—but why push it? Many hands make light work. Don’t go it alone. Many hearts can turn a lonely trial into an incredible journey.
Eric: I love that. Would you close us in prayer? I’m so thankful. I’ll start: Thank you, God, for Craig, for bringing him through these trials and deep dark times, and for the things he shared this weekend and here on camera. Lord, I pray it would help others like it has helped me already this weekend. I pray, too, that You would continue to bless him from here on out and let him know the best is still yet to come. Amen.
Craig: And praying for everybody out there who has secrets that God needs them to keep—their friends, family, nation need them to keep those secrets—but they don’t need them to come at the price of despair. Amen.
Eric: Love that. Thanks, Craig, for being my friend, my brother, and for sharing this today.
Eric Elder writes for page, stage & screen to glorify God’s name so Christ may be seen! Use this link to subscribe or unsubscribe.
Do you ever have days where you don’t know what’s next? Where something big in your life has come to an end, and you can’t see what’s around the corner?
Those are the “Saturdays” that I want to talk about today… like the Saturday between Good Friday and Easter Sunday. For the disciples, that had to be one of the lowest points in their lives. All their hopes and dreams had seemingly come crashing to a violent end. They had no idea what was ahead.
How do you navigate those Saturdays?
That’s what I talked about recently with my friend Kay Helm. Kay helped me a few years ago when I was trying to get back on track with the funding for my ministry. I had reached the end of what I could do, and Kay helped me create a plan to move forward.
What I didn’t know was that Kay had some of those “Saturdays” in her personal life as well, such as the day her husband left and all she could do was lay face-down on her kitchen floor and cry out to God.
Maybe you’ve had days like that? Maybe you’re going through one right now and you have no idea what’s next.
What did Kay do? She did what I’ve done, and what I’d encourage you to do. She reached out to Jesus. Kay said:
“I didn’t want surface Jesus. I wanted the miraculous, inexplicable, all-powerful-God Jesus.”
That kind of prayer is an invitation for God to do the miraculous. And the answer may not be like anything you’ve ever expected or experienced. Kay continued:
“God doesn’t operate from a template. He never changes, but He always invites us to walk with Him.”
It makes me think of the Israelites in the desert when they ran out of food. God’s next step was to provide manna from heaven, something they’d never seen before. “Manna” literally means “What is it?” Something they had never known before became their bread from that point on… for forty more years.
But then the manna ended. It just stopped showing up one day. What were they going to do?
It turned out that God had something else in mind. He had brought them to the end of that season and into a new one, into a land flowing with milk and honey, a land where just one bunch of grapes was so heavy that it took two men to carry it on a pole between them! (see Numbers 13:23).
What lay ahead was beyond anything they could have ever imagined. As I talked with Kay, I thought about my own situation:
“What if the manna stops because God has a new kind of provision ahead?”
And that thought helps give me strength to press on. God is always inviting me to take hold of His hand and walk it out with Him.
As the Bible says:
“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith…” (Hebrews 12:2).
The same God who saved you by sending His Son to earth will keep on saving you as you walk out your faith in Him. Take hold of His hand today!
I hope you’ll watch my whole conversation with Kay. Here’s the link:
I’ve been asking my friends how they keep pressing on when they might feel like giving up. Why? Because I need the encouragement to keep pressing on when I feel like giving up! Maybe you do, too?
If so, I hope you’ll listen in on my conversation with my neighbor and friend, Cammie Quinn.
After working with a high-profile publishing house for three years on a novel that felt like it took a lifetime to write, she got a rejection letter at the end of the whole process. It was just three sentences, which she summed up like this:
“In this world of so many people trying to get books published, yours was just not extraordinary enough.”
But that wasn’t the worst. That came the same week when she got a lab report back from her doctor. Her eye had a cancerous tumor. They would have to take it out. Cammie says:
“I felt like I lost my health and my dream in the same week.”
Her fears magnified when she thought of her husband and two young kids. “Is the cancer going to spread? Am I going to die from it?”
That night, she walked out to pray in a field near her house. “I was just broken,” she said. “I was asking God ‘Why?’ I thought You wanted me to be a writer. I’ve thought this my whole life from childhood. I don’t understand. And now, I might even die from this cancer. I was thinking, ‘Where are You, Lord?’
“All of a sudden, this meteor came across the sky. It was a big one that just lobbed over. It was as if God had drawn his finger across the sky and said, ‘I’m here. Just trust me.’ It affected me so deeply. When things like this happen, you can say it was a coincidence. You can try to explain it away. But to the person it happens to, they know deep down. They know it’s God speaking. It just changes you, and you can never really completely explain it to somebody else because it’s so personal.”
Cammie felt God’s peace. She pressed on. She said:
“I started praying that God would allow me to see Him better with one eye than I did with two.”
She also asked God what He wanted her to write about and began writing articles for newspapers and newsletters, as well as co-authoring a book with her pastor.
Last year, after fifteen more years of pouring her heart and soul into a new novel, she was able to finish AND publish it for the world to read. It’s called Follow the Wind Home, an epic Civil War novel about grief and loss and moving on when you find yourself loving too much.
And THIS year (THIS weekend!), she’s publishing her second book called Going Home, a collection of real and fictional short stories about small-town life in Central Illinois written especially for those in the autumn of their lives.
If you’ve ever faced disappointment or felt like your dreams have been derailed, I want to encourage you to take some tips from Cammie. Watch our whole podcast episode and/or read or listen to her novel and short stories. You’ll be glad you did! As Cammie says:
“It’s not about making a big splash on the bestseller list—it’s about being faithful with the talent God gave you. I don’t know what He’s going to do with that book. I have to stay humble. Whatever He decides to do, it’s up to Him. But having seen His promises afar off, like those who are mentioned in Hebrews 11:13, I think He gives us glimpses to keep us going.”
I recently sat down with my friend Cathy Vincent to talk about listening to God. Cathy wrote a book of her experiences with God called Never-Ending God Stories, so I wanted to hear how she listens to God. She said three things:
1) Surrender Your Day Cathy starts her mornings with a simple prayer:
“Every morning before I even get out of bed, I say, ‘God, I love You and I just want to serve You today. My day is Yours. Do whatever You want with it.’”
I do the same — asking God to lead and guide me opens my heart to notice His presence, even in the smallest moments.
2) Be Thankful at Night Every night, Cathy writes down three things for which she’s thankful:
“I always write in my journal three things for which I’m thankful.”
This practice helps her focus on God’s goodness instead of life’s problems — which we’ll always have.
3) Ask One Question She also asks God one question before going to sleep:
“I ask Him one question. Sometimes it’s answered that night. Sometimes it’s answered later, but it’s like Jesus said, ‘You have not because you ask not,’ so I just ask Him what I want to know.’”
The truth is, God has a vested interest in your life and how you live it! He wants you to know His will even more than you want to know it. So ask!
Life Lessons from Faithful Practice These three practices — morning surrender, nightly gratitude, and asking one question — have created for Cathy a rhythm of intimacy with God. As Cathy said,
“With every problem, there’s a promise and a provision — if we just keep our eyes on Jesus.”
I’d love for you to listen in on the rest of our conversation. I’ve posted it below. Just click the link to enjoy this conversation with Cathy, and to start your own conversations with God.
And if you’d like a copy of her book filled with never-ending God stories from her life, you can get it in paperback, ebook, or audiobook at this link:
It sounds backward, doesn’t it? Surrendering to win? In most areas of life, surrender means defeat. But when we surrender to God, we win!
When we finally stop trying to control everything—our jobs, our relationships, our pain—and put it into God’s hands, that’s when we can find peace, strength, and wisdom like we may have never found before.
As the Bible says:
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths” (Proverbs 3:5-6)
I recently talked to my friend, Kirk Billiter, about surrender. I met Kirk and his wife Rebecca while we were each leading various “care groups” at our church. We had the opportunity to walk with many people who were hurting, whether from divorce, addiction, cancer, or veterans’ issues.
But just because we were helping others didn’t mean we weren’t hurting ourselves. As Kirk said,
“In that setting, we found so many people who came forward and talked to us personally, ministering to us while we were trying to minister to them. That was such a help at the time, because we were having our own struggles.
“My wife and I were both suffering—she had just lost her parents in 2017 and 2018, and then in 2020 I lost mine. Then there was the loss of a job, starting another job, and losing that within eight months. It all compounded. But during that time, I found purpose again. Much of that time was spent writing—doing a lot of personal writing—as well as creating through my art.”
From his experiences, Kirk says:
“You can’t go around something like grief or divorce or suffering—you have to go through it. And in order to go through it, you have to feel the pain. We do anything we can to avoid that pain, but the whole idea of surrendering is one that I continue to come back to.
Surrender, in a worldly sense, is the worst thing you can do. You don’t surrender to anything. Surrendering would be losing. But in this case, you’re surrendering to God’s call on your life, allowing Him to heal you from whatever you’re dealing with. To do that, you have to surrender your heart and soul to that calling and to God’s plan for your life.”
Maybe you’ve found yourself struggling to hold things together? Maybe today’s the day to loosen your grip, to let God take over?
Letting go doesn’t mean losing. Letting go means you might finally find what you were looking for all along. As Jesus said,
“For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it” (Matthew 16:25).
I hope you’ll watch our whole conversation about surrendering to God in practical ways. I believe it will give hope to keep pressing on… even when you may feel like giving up.
Lord, thank You for giving us the ultimate example of what it means to raise the white flag of surrender, not to give up, but to give in to our Father’s plan for our lives. Lord, help us to surrender today, to give up control so that You can take the reins of our lives. Guide us, direct us, fill us with Your wisdom. We’re coming to You, running to You, and kneeling before You… putting our whole faith and trust in You. Please walk us through this next season of our lives in a way that thoroughly honors and glorifies and magnifies You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Have a great week!
Love,
Eric Elder writes for page, stage & screen to glorify God’s name so Christ may be seen! Use this link to subscribe or unsubscribe.
I travelled to India recently and stood on the top of some mountains in the Himalayas. During the day, I could see snowcapped peaks all around me. But at nighttime, when the clouds rolled in, I could only see what was directly in front of me. The peaks that had been so clear the day before were now completely invisible.
Sometimes my life is like that. Even though I KNOW there are mountaintops all around me, and even though I may be STANDING on top of one, my vision is limited to what I can see directly ahead.
And it’s in those times, when the clouds are SO IMMERSIVE, that I tend to falter in my faith. I lose sight of what’s next. Even though I’m convinced deep down of the mountains around me, not being able to see them STIFLES me from moving forward.
That’s where people like Nicki Green come in! Nicki has been a long-time friend who has been able to see my mountaintops on my cloudy days, and to remind me of them when I need help pressing on… even though I feel like giving up.
I sat down with Nicki to ask how she’s able to do this for me and for others. We talked about:
the value of speaking into each other’s lives when all we see are clouds,
the value of giving ourself space to NOT make important decisions on those cloudy days,
and the value of knowing we STILL have options, even when we feel there’s no way forward.
As Nicki says:
“One of the greatest gifts we can give someone is to see their mountain on a cloudy day.”
In this way, we can:
“…encourage one another and build each other up…” (1 Thessalonians 5:11a).
I hope you’ll watch the whole conversation—then forward it to a friend who might be going through their own cloudy day!
I hate pain! Maybe you do, too? But I’ve learned that pain has a purpose. Without pain, we wouldn’t know that something is amiss.
I recently sat down with my good friend and doctor, Eric Farinas, to talk about finding purpose in pain. Eric has walked me through heart surgery, diabetes, COVID, grief, and relationship upheaval. I always love his calming presence, his careful listening, and his help in finding a way forward.
I used to dread getting a bad report from my doctor (and sometimes I still do!) But as Eric says:
“You can’t work on it if you don’t have a diagnosis.”
He adds, “Even bad news can be relieving—at least now we know what we’re facing.”
While pain can be difficult, it’s not without purpose. As Paul said in Romans 5:3-5:
“We rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.”
If you need hope today, I encourage you to watch our conversation! I believe it will give you peace and a new perspective on whatever you’re facing.
It’s hard to ask for help. But it’s also hard to suffer in silence. I want to encourage you today to let your friends into your struggles… and to be a friend in the midst of theirs.
I’ve heard it said, “If you don’t make time for friends, you won’t have any.”Now’s the time to reach out to a friend. And now’s the time to be a friend. The dividends will pay off for a lifetime.
One of my good friends, Brian Osmond, sat down and talked with me about “Letting Friends In” on this week’s episode of my new podcast series, Pressing On… When You Feel Like Giving Up.
I’ve leaned on Brian more times than I can count, and he on me. You can watch our conversation here:
I ran into Brian when I was moving my family and belongings to a new town. Brian asked if I had anyone to help me move, and I said I had help on the packing end, but not on the unpacking end. He showed up with his two sons and helped us carry beds and couches and dressers from the truck to the house on one of the windiest days I’ve experienced.
The move was hard not only physically, but also emotionally, as it was precipitated by some deeply broken relationships. Brian and his sons were just doing what they could, reaching out to help, and I desperately needed the help. I didn’t know him well, but I swallowed my pride and let him in, also sharing what had happened to precipitate our move.
I didn’t want to burden anyone, but it turned out he was glad to help. I learned that just because I don’t want to do something doesn’t mean others don’t want to do that thing, too. In fact, Brian and his boys were happy to do it, connecting with us and serving in this way.
How many times have I carried burdens (including beds and couches and dressers) all by myself, not wanting to burden others, not realizing that others would often be happy to help—overjoyed, even!—if I would just reach out and let them in?
And how many times have I not reached out to help others, thinking I had so little to offer that it couldn’t possibly help? As another friend has told me:
“We need so little, but we need that little so much.”
Maybe you have a need this week. Maybe you’re trying to “move your whole house on your own,” when God has others who would be glad to help. And maybe God has others who could use a helping hand from you.
I hope you’ll watch today’s podcast and be encouraged to let others into your struggles, and to reach out to others in theirs. As the Bible says:
“Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2).
I’m starting a new series this week called Pressing On… When You Feel Like Giving Up.
Today’s message is on “Keeping Your Eyes on the Prize.”
I’ve faced many setbacks in life: job loss, miscarriages, deaths of family and friends, sickness and surgery, broken relationships, and unmet expectations. Each setback has threatened to take me out… out of my life, out of my ministry, and sometimes out of my will to go on.
But each setback has also been a setup for some of my greatest ministry! God can turn our greatest miseries into our greatest ministries.
We all face losses all the time… whether in our jobs, our relationships, our health, our finances or hundreds of other “little” losses we experience along the way.
Thankfully, God also provides what we need in the face of those losses, whether it’s a friend, a family member, a counselor, or a special Word spoken directly from Him.
God wants us to press on. He’s given each of us special works to do. As the Bible says:
“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10).
My hope with this series is that it will help you carry on with the work God has called YOU to do. I’ll share ways that God has helped get me back on my feet… and more than that, to keep you moving forward, with purpose in spite of pain. And sometimes His purpose is revealed in our pain!
God really can turn our greatest tests into our greatest testimonies.
In this series, I’ll be interviewing people who have helped me through difficult times.
I’m starting today with an interview with a long-time friend, Al Lowry, who has come alongside me as a friend, a partner in ministry, and a member of my board of directors. You can watch our conversation here.
Al hails from Michigan, then ended up in Orange County, California, after riding his bike across the country when he was 21. He stopped when he hit the Pacific Ocean. Soon after he went to a startup church called Saddleback, came to Christ, and volunteered to help lead worship in their earliest days.
Al joins me today to talk about keeping our eyes on the real prize. This may be the most helpful video you watch all day!
We’re back! My son Bo and I have just finished a whirlwind summer. I’ve been touring the Midwest and Canada with an Italian puppet opera, and Bo has been working at a special needs camp in Texas.
We chatted on our porch this weekend about being salt and light, as Bo has been making sourdough bread lately but keeps forgetting to add the salt! A pinch of salt makes a world of difference.
There’s a story about a young man who was hired to be an usher at a big theater. He was supposed to attend a special training session before working his first shift, but he said he didn’t need it. The man who hired him said, “But what if there’s a fire and you don’t know what to do?” The young man replied, “Oh, don’t worry about me, I’ll find a way out.”
The young man missed the point! He was hired to help others find their way!
God cares deeply about your walk with Him. But He also wants you to share that joy with others. The Bible says:
“He has called you out of darkness to experience His marvelous light, and now He claims you as His very own. He did this so that you would broadcast His glorious wonders throughout the world. For at one time you were not God’s people, but now you are. At one time you knew nothing of God’s mercy, because you hadn’t received it yet, but now you are drenched with it!”(1 Peter 2:9-10).
Let me encourage you today in two things:
Lean into your relationship with Jesus like never before. Listen to Bo’s worship song at the end of our video and let God “remind you of your love for Him.”
Lean into sharing about your walk with Jesus with others. You can be the salt and light they need to experience the full life that God has in mind for them, too.
Keep pointing people to Jesus! We ALL need Him… more and more each day.
TONIGHT AND TOMORROW NIGHT you can LIVESTREAM our Italian puppet shows, straight from my farmhouse in Chenoa, Illinois!
The livestream begins at 7 PM Central Time both nights on YouTube. You can watch BOTH shows LIVE OR LATER (for 7 days) by simply making a donation at the link below. We’ll send you a link to watch both shows for one donation of $10 per person or $30 per device (and invite others to watch with you!) Here’s the link to donate:
SATURDAY, August 2nd at 7 PM Central:“Saint Nicholas: An Italian Puppet Opera”
SUNDAY, August 3rd at 7 PM Central:“The Grand Duel of Orlando and Rinaldo”
I’m so thankful to host these talented Italian Puppeteers at my home,Girolamo Botta and Alessandra Guadagna of Pupi Italici, who will perform with their hand-carved, hand-painted, and hand-costumed puppets.
I’m also glad to join them by playing the piano during their Saint Nicholas show—the backstory of the real-life Santa Claus. And it’s fun to watch the sword fighting and comedy of their traditional Italian show called The Grand Duel Between Orlando & Rinaldo.
Both shows are in Italian, but we’ll share the storylines in English, with pre-show and post show talks about the puppets and questions and answers. Join us!
Ever since I became a Christian, I’ve dreamed of reaching everyone in the world with the life-changing message of Jesus Christ. He has done SO MUCH for me, I just want to share Him with everyone I know.
This weekend, I’m hosting an event at my farmhouse in Chenoa, Illinois, to reach as many as possible in my local sphere of influence. Maybe you?
We all need a little Jesus (a LOT of Jesus), and I’d love for you to come see a special story of faith in the form of a LIVE Italian Puppet Opera!
I’ve invited puppeteers Girolamo Botta and Alessandra Guadagna of Pupi Italici from Italy to perform 2 shows over 4 nights, featuring a couple dozen puppets—each one hand-carved, hand-painted, hand-costumed, and hand-maneuvered.
I’ll be playing piano to accompany them as they bring to life the story of Saint Nicholas and his great faith in Christ—the backstory of the real-life Santa Claus—plus a traditional Italian show called The Grand Duel Between Orlando & Rinaldo.
Now you can watch it LIVE at my home! I hope you’ll join us for these unique spettacoli (“shows” in Italian!). Here are the details:
Eric’s Farm 25615 East 3000 North Road Chenoa, Illinois
$10 donation at the show, $30 per family Outdoor shows – bring your lawn chairs!
Thu, Jul 31, 7 PM – St. Nicholas: The Extraordinary Journey of His Life
Fri, Aug 1, 7 PM – The Grand Duel Between Orlando & Rinaldo
Sat, Aug 2, 7 PM – St. Nicholas: The Extraordinary Journey of His Life
Sun, Aug 3, 7 PM – The Grand Duel Between Orlando & Rinaldo
Come if you can! Tell your friends! And if you can’t come, pray with us that many would see, many would hear, and many would put their faith in the Lord.
When Mr. Rogers was trying to decide between going into the ministry or going into children’s television, he realized he could do both! He went to seminary and got a degree, but he also started working at a television station, using puppets as his pulpits!
I’m now doing the same thing, getting ready to launch our North American tour of an Italian Puppet Opera to tell the true story of Saint Nicholas and his great faith in Jesus Christ. My Italian puppeteers have just arrived in the US this week, and we’re launching our tour this weekend, right here at the Chenoa Public Library! If you’re in the Illinois area, come see us!
We’ll also be touring the next 5 weeks around Central Illinois, Chicago, Milwaukee, and Toronto. If you’d like to host us at your church, in your community center, or at your local home or theater, PLEASE let us know! We want to reach as many as we can with the HOPE of Jesus Christ.
Here are a few shots and a video of our team at work this week.
Eric, Girolamo, Alessandra, and Diletta at the Chenoa Public Library
Girolamo setting up the puppet booth for rehearsals in my living room.
Eric, Girolamo, and Alessandra
Girolamo and Eric painting and building the puppet theater. Link to watch 40-second video: https://youtu.be/7wvGWEfWGcU
Here’s the listing of our first 2 shows at the Chenoa Library at 230 S Green St, Chenoa, IL 61726:
Saturday, July 19 | 1-3 PM — “Saint Nicholas: The Extraordinary Journey of His Life”
Tuesday, July 22 | 7–9 PM — “The Great Duel Between Orlando and Rinaldo”
Bring your friends and family — we’d love to see you! Entry is free, donations are welcomed!
I’m traveling this week, but I was able to catch up with my son Bo this weekend on FaceTime for our “Breakfast on the Beach.”
He’s writing a new song, and he sang a bit of it for me. It’s beautiful. The lyrics go like this:
Someday I will see Your face When I am remade It will be beautiful
If Your shadow says it’s so Then I already know I can hardly wait
It reminds me of the verse in the Bible:
“For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face” (1 Corinthians 13:12).
Here’s a snippet you can watch of him singing it for me, from a long way away!
I love this idea that NOT ONLY will we see JESUS face-to-face, but we will ALSO SEE those who have gone before us into heaven, like my beloved Lana, who have put their faith in Him.
You see, I’m traveling right now in part to celebrate our wedding anniversary from many, many years ago. Since Lana’s gone to heaven, I’ve continued to take trips on our anniversary. It’ a great way to me to reclaim a day that could otherwise be filled with unbearable grief. These trips continue to turn my grief into joy.
And because Jesus has been raised from the dead, I am confident that Lana will raised from the dead, too, just as will I be.
If you need hope today that Jesus can raise YOU from the dead, listen closely to the words of the Apostle Paul, written to the believers in the city of Corinth nearly 2,000 years ago:
“But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised.For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for THIS LIFE we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. (1 Corinthians 15:12-19).
Take heart, Jesus WAS raised to new life, and we can be too, when we put our faith in Him.
“Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord WILL BE saved” (Romans 10:13).
Have a great week! Love,
Eric Elder writes for page, stage & screen to glorify God’s name so Christ may be seen! Use this link to subscribe or unsubscribe.
A year ago, just before I got up to speak at an event, a friend handed me a pocket-sized figurine of Jesus. My friend said, “Everybody needs a little Jesus!”
I thought, “Oh, that’s cute.” I stuck it in my pocket and went onstage.
The next day, my world sort of blew up—things happened that affected me deeply, even up to today. I realized it wasn’t just cute. It’s true! We all need a little Jesus.
Actually, we need a lot of Jesus. All the time! The truth is:
“Everyone, everywhere, at all times, has needs.”
I pray as you celebrate the conclusion of this Holy Week that it will be the beginning of a new season in your life… a season where you rely on Jesus, fully, every day, every hour, every moment.
None of us are immune from life’s troubles. As Jesus said:
“In this world you will have trouble.”
But He said MORE than that. Here’s His full quote, in context:
“I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33).
And THAT changes EVERYTHING! In Him we can have peace. We can have forgiveness. We can have wholeness. We can be made new, cleansed, restored, washed whiter than snow. We can become fully alive as He is fully alive.
If you need more encouragement today, I hope you’ll watch this podcast my son Bo and I recorded this weekend. It’s full of breaths of fresh air, plus some personal challenges, as you walk forward into your new season ahead.
And if you’d like a “Little Jesus,” I’m glad to share! Just send me a note with your name and mailing address, and I’ll put one in the mail. No strings attached, just glad to send you one!
Love,
Eric Elder writes for page, stage & screen to glorify God’s name so Christ may be seen! Use this link to subscribe or unsubscribe.
I’m heading overseas on Easter Sunday to speak to the graduates of a Bible program. I’m looking forward to sharing their delight as they celebrate this milestone. In preparing my talk—in which I want to encourage them in their calling—I recalled a quote often attributed to Mark Twain:
The two most important days of your life are the day you were born and the day you find out why.
I’ve thought about that quote in the context of my own birth and calling. I share more about this in my podcast this week with my son Bo.
During our chat, Bo mentioned the THIRD most important day in your life: TODAY! And he’s right!
So, I’ve modified my talk to share the THREE most important days in your life: the day you were born, the day you find out why, and TODAY!
Every day is a gift from God. Every day God gives us reasons to live. Every day, we can wake up and say, “Thank You, Lord, for the gift of today. Help me to use it in a special way.”
I pray for YOUR day ahead, that God will speak to you about how you can use it to glorify and enjoy Him.
He is so glad you were born. He is so glad you are here. And He is so glad to walk you through THIS day, TODAY.
You can watch the rest of our podcast at this link.
And if you need encouragement that YOU were born for a purpose, here are three Bible verses I’d love for you to read and even commit to memory. They can bring life to your soul.
As God said to Jeremiah:
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations” (Jeremiah 1:5).
As Paul said to the Ephesians:
“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10).
And as David sang in the Psalms:
“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb… all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” (Psalms 139:13-16).
Before I go, I wanted to show you a painting I made this week, capturing an image of my puppet carver friend from Italy, Girolamo Botta, with one of his “babies,” as he calls them. This one is Rinaldo. You can click the link or the picture to watch how I painted it. :)
There’s a story in Luke 24 where two disciples of Jesus are walking on the road to Emmaus after Jesus’ death. They didn’t know He had risen. A man walks up and starts talking to them and explaining the scriptures to them.
When they reach their destination, they ask him to stay. In verse 30, it says:
“Joining them at the table for supper, Jesus took bread and blessed it, broke it, and gave it to them. All at once, their eyes were opened and they realized it was Jesus.”
And then—just like that—He vanished! But knowing He was with them changed everything.
This week I had a similar experience. I was at a restaurant out of town having dinner with a friend. I had had a disappointing lunch meeting earlier in the day, but at dinner that night with my friend, I heard a song come on the sound system in the restaurant. It was a song that God had used to speak to me before, called “Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You.”
Just hearing that melody put a smile on my face, and I knew God was smiling down at me, too, regardless of whatever was going on in my life. I knew He was there.
Knowing Jesus is with you changes everything! He didn’t give me any instructions. He didn’t tell me what to do next. He just told me He was there. I went on to enjoy the rest of the night and the rest of this week.
I was chatting with my son Bo as we had our weekly “Breakfast on the Beach.” Bo said:
“That’s good stuff. There’s not a peace in the world that compares to just knowing Jesus is with you. It’s the best feeling—when you can actually feel His presence. And I love that you took that moment. You could’ve missed it—just kept talking with your friend and not heard the song. But every moment is a moment that you can meet with the Lord.”
I’d love for you to hear the rest of our conversation! You can listen in at this link:
Also, we talk about Bo’s LATEST piano album—released just this weekend—called For Your Glory, Part 2. It features 8 of Bo’s original songs for God’s glory and your enjoyment. I hope you’ll listen on ANY streaming platform.
And lastly, I shared my testimony this week at a local Celebrate Recovery group. If you haven’t heard my story, or haven’t heard it lately, this one focuses in particular on how God has helped me deal with unhealthy attractions. You can click this link to listen.
God has given you unique gifts, and He wants you to use them—whether it’s through music, art, or simple acts of love! 🎨🎶
In our latest podcast, my son Bo and I talk about embracing creativity with “less fear.”
We also talk about his new worship song (out now!) called Purify. Here’s a link to listen to his song. Let us know what you think! (He’d really love your feedback… but be gentle, he says!… it’s his first worship song he’s released to the world.)
Here’s the link to watch our full podcast. You can also read the highlights in the text below the video. https://youtu.be/6QSEcW2hs0Y
And here’s the Bible passage we were talking about today… if you read nothing else, read this!
Jesus said, “Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag,[a] each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more. But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.” (Matthew 25:14-18).
But if you want to read more, here’s a summary of our chat. But I suggest watching the whole podcast just for fun! Enjoy our “Breakfast on the Beach”… with us and Jesus! (And if you like it, like and subscribe so you’ll get more!)
Discovering Your Unique Talents God has placed talents and gifts inside each of us. When we recognize them and put them into action, not only are we blessed, but so are those around us. For Bo, that means writing and releasing worship songs. For me, it has meant leaning into painting in a way I never expected. Bo recently released his first vocal and piano song, Purify, and we’d love for you to listen and let him know what you think. Honest feedback is welcome—but be kind! It’s a learning process, just as it is for anyone stepping out in faith with their gifts.
The Joy of Creating This past year, I’ve rekindled my love for painting. It started with an art retreat where I learned about “priming the pump” in creativity—pouring into your gifts to generate more from them. It’s been a joyful experience, one that has surprised me with how freely I’ve been able to create. I used to worry about perfection, but now I’m embracing the process, enjoying the act of painting itself rather than stressing over every detail.
Fear Less, Create More One thing I’ve been learning is to be fearless—or at least to fear less. Fear of making mistakes can hold us back from using our gifts. But as I’ve taken more risks in painting, I’ve realized that even the imperfections contribute to something beautiful. That same principle applies to life, to faith, and to stepping out in our callings.
The Call to Missions In a few weeks, I’ll be heading to India to speak at a graduation for students who have undergone intense Bible training. My encouragement to them will be the same encouragement I offer you: be who God created you to be and share what He has placed in your heart. Personal experience with God’s Word brings it to life in a way that simply repeating scripture never could.
Imperfection Can Be Powerful As I’ve embraced painting in a looser, more impressionistic style, I’ve realized how this applies to sharing our faith. Trying too hard to be perfect can actually highlight imperfections. But when we embrace the beauty of imperfection, we create something more authentic and impactful.
Your Gifts Are Meant to Be Used Jesus told the parable of the talents—where servants were given different amounts of money and expected to invest them. We each have talents and gifts, and God calls us to use them for His glory. For me, those gifts include playing piano, reading the Bible, teaching, and creating art. What are your five gifts? What has God placed in your hands?
Aligning Your Gifts with God’s Plan It’s simple: 1) Look at your gifts. 2) Look at God’s plan. 3) Use your gifts to fulfill God’s plan. Whether you’re an artist, musician, teacher, or something else entirely, your talents have a purpose in God’s plan.
Small Acts, Big Impact We often think ministry has to be something grand, but sometimes, it’s as simple as sharing what you love. Playing music, creating art, mentoring someone—these small acts, when done with God’s love, can have a ripple effect beyond what we imagine.
Micro and Macro Evangelism There are two ways we share our faith: micro and macro. Micro evangelism happens in one-on-one relationships, while macro evangelism reaches larger groups. Both are important. Even Bo, who writes original worship music, also plays well-known worship songs, joining with others in corporate worship. Sharing faith can happen both personally and publicly.
Take the First Step What has God put in you? What can you offer today? It doesn’t have to be perfect; it just has to be faithful. Like priming a pump, when you pour into your gifts, you create the suction needed for more to flow. Step out, fear less, and trust that God will use what He’s placed in you to bless others.
Your Life is a Canvas Whether through music, painting, or simply spending time with others, you have something valuable to share. Don’t let fear hold you back. Embrace your talents, align them with God’s plan, and watch how He uses them to impact the world.
Eric Elder writes for page, stage & screen to glorify God’s name so Christ may be seen! Use this link to subscribe or unsubscribe.
(Fan art “for appreciation only,” painted by Eric Elder)
I have a confession to make. I cry every time I watch When Calls the Heart. If you’ve seen it, you understand. If you haven’t, I can explain.
In every episode, there’s at least one moment where I am deeply moved… deeply touched… way down in my heart. It’s not just the scene or the drama. It’s the Holy Spirit, speaking into those places in my heart where I need a touch, a healing, or a new perspective on similar situations I’ve faced in my life.
Last week, I cried through the whole show. I had to stop and restart the show half a dozen times to catch my breath and let God do the work He was doing down inside of me.
At the end, I stopped the show on the final shot. It was a tender moment between the two main characters, and I wanted to capture it.
I took out my painting journal and began to paint. You can see the process and my final painting here in this 1-minute clip. (I added some music from my son Bo’s upcoming piano album, For Your Glory Pt. 2.)
A couple months ago, I wrote to one of the co-creators of the show, as we’ve become friends over the years. I told him how much the episodes meant to me this season, particularly in light of some tumultuous times I’ve recently been through.
I said I wished he could script my life like he scripts the show! He wrote back and said:
“Thanks for sharing that, Eric. Although life takes us all through painful chapters, and you have had your fair share, friend, it’s always been my prayer that this is where the show and real life intersect. For it to be universally meaningful to everyone who watches in one way or another. Blessings to you.”
We’ve all been through painful chapters. Thank God we don’t go through them alone. As the Bible says,
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4).
On a happier note, I also want to share with you the latest episode of my son Bo and me having “Breakfast on the Beach.” We talk about some more beautiful piano music he’s releasing this week, plus how God spoke to me through a check I needed that morning and an upcoming trip I’m taking to Northern India to encourage the believers there.
Grab some breakfast (or whatever mealtime it is for you) and sit with us a while!
I wanted to share a picture I painted of the opera house in Italy where we premiered the “puppet opera” of our St Nicholas story at Christmastime just over a year ago.
It was a fantastic show, created by the puppeteers of Pupi Italici (Italian Puppets), and it was a fantastic opera house.
But this year, we’re doing something special… we’re bringing the show here to the US! I’ve just booked the flights and a rental van for 3 weeks to take our puppet carver and his family on tour. We’ll be doing shows from June 17-July 8 here Central Illinois at my farmhouse, then on to Chicago and Milwaukee, then head east to Boston and New Hampshire. If you live anywhere in that corridor, we’d love to see you… on the road!
We’ll nail down dates and locations soon, but for now, I’d love your prayers that with this show we would be able to bring hope and faith to many along the way.
My desire with this show and everything we create—whether through music, film, or live performances—is that people will see God’s hand at work and be drawn closer to Him. As Psalm 40:3 says, in part:
“Many will see… and put their trust in Him.”
Would you pray with us that this would be so with this show? I’d really appreciate it. Even if you just send me a note to say you said a prayer, that would encourage me and them!
If you’d like to hear a wonderful casual conversation I had this week with my son Bo, we covered a number of topics including the miracle of bringing this show to the US, seeing God at work in our lives this week, being intentional with friendships, the balance of work and rest, and trusting God for provision.
We call these chats “Breakfast on the Beach,” and you can watch them on my YouTube Channel. Here’s the link for this week’s episode:
And here’s a 1-minute behind-the-scenes look at how I painted the Italian opera house on a refrigerator magnet. One of my dear friends asked if I would paint something for her and said, “Surprise me!” Since she and her son were at the opera house in Italy with us, I decided to paint that scene. You can see them in the second balcony just to the right of center, in the white and black outfits. Haha… :) The soundtrack is from the show.
Join my son Bo and me for a heartfelt “breakfast on the beach” as we talk about faith, creativity, and trusting God in the unknown.
From a special painting inspired by Matthew 16:19 (about “whatever you bind in heaven will be bound on earth, and whatever you loose in heaven will be loosed on earth”) to an incredible answer to prayer about my St. Nicholas musical, we share stories of God’s provision and the power of stepping out in faith.
Plus, Bo plays a beautiful new worship song he wrote called “Purify”—don’t miss it!
You can watch the whole episode here…
And here’s a timelapse of me making the painting I made this week for Bo’s album cover for his new song, “Purify,” along with him playing and singing a portion of his song in the background.
By the way, I saw last night that I have 777 YouTube subscribers who watch my videos on a regular basis! Would you join them? Just watch any of the videos in this email, then click like and subscribe! You’ll get notified by YouTube whenever I upload new videos.
Love you all! Have a great week!
Eric Elder writes for page, stage & screen to glorify God’s name so Christ may be seen! Use this link to subscribe or unsubscribe.
I had the joy of sitting down with my son Bo for a special breakfast conversation—fresh from a morning swim—to talk about his new piano album, Still Seasons. What started as a simple idea turned into a beautiful collection of peaceful, reflective music. He even experimented with blending piano and guitar in a way you don’t often hear.
I call this special time “Breakfast on the Beach” based on the biblical passage when Jesus had breakfast on the beach with His disciples after His resurrection. It’s a quiet time to reflect and share with each other and the Lord about things goin on in our life. This week, that includes Bo’s special music, a special painting I’ve just finished, and talking about using our gifts—whether music, painting, writing, or everyday work—for God’s glory.
We close our time together with a prayer for each of us and for anyone who is looking for God’s peace today.
Here’s the link to watch the episode…
And here are some highlights from the transcript…
Good morning! This is Eric Elder, and I’m here with my son, Bo Elder. We’re just having breakfast on the beach—or at least, it feels like the beach since we both went for a swim this morning. We’re also listening to some of Bo’s beautiful piano music, which he just released last Thursday.
His album is called Still Seasons, and he wrote it to bring peace to troubled minds. Why did you write these songs, Bo?
Bo: I’m doing it to glorify God with my gifts—writing music. But actually, this album started with something you asked me to do. You asked if I could put my piano music to ocean waves, so I thought, “Okay, I’ll try it out.” Then, three songs came to me in one day, and I thought, “I should make an album out of this.” So I just kept adding more songs, incorporating ocean waves, rain sounds, and even crowd sounds. The project developed pretty quickly.
Eric: And it’s beautiful. We’re listening to it now, and you can listen to it on all streaming services. Just look for Bo Elder—B-O E-L-D-E-R—and Still Seasons wherever you listen to music, on Pandora, YouTube, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and Spotify.
(The album has background nature sounds in the first half, and then it repeats all of the songs without the background sounds, so you can enjoy it either way.)
Lately, I’ve been using my artistic gifts, too, in the form of painting small prayer magnets. This week I painted one for a longtime subscriber from Addis Ababa who asked me to capture Nahum 1:3 in a picture. That verse says:
“The Lord is slow to get angry, but His power is great, and He never lets the guilty go unpunished. He displays His power in the whirlwind and the storm. The billowing clouds are the dust beneath His feet.”
The contrast between God’s peace and power captivated me. An image came to mind, so I sketched it out and began to paint.
We also played a song this week during our prayer time from a friend who helped create Bo’s album cover. Ethan Bliese is also a composer of ethereal music that’s calming and peaceful. Take a listen to his album Summertide at this link.
Father, thank You for this day. I pray that each of us would take time this week to spend some time with You. Thank You for the gifts You’ve given us, even if we don’t realize how powerful they may be to ourselves and others. May the work of our hands and minds bless You, bring joy to our hearts, and serve those around us. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Hope you have a great week!
Eric Elder writes for page, stage & screen to glorify God’s name so Christ may be seen! Use this link to subscribe or unsubscribe.
I love having breakfast with friends… just to sit, chat, eat, drink, laugh, cry, and spend precious time together. It’s a great way to start my day.
And I also love spending time with Jesus…doing all of the same things! It’s ALSO a great way to start my day!
So recently I thought I’d try something new: have breakfast with you AND with Jesus at the same time!
I began a few weeks ago recording a few episodes of what I’m calling “Breakfast on the Beach.” The idea is to just have breakfast together (or coffee or lunch or dinner, whatever time and meal it may be for you when you watch it as I know this message goes all around the world).
You can watch the first episode at the link below, or read the transcript of the episode below that. It’s just an unscripted, casual time where I share stories, read the Bible, listen to music, and pray for you and me.
Today, I’m having avocado toast with poached eggs and turkey sausage. What’ll you have? I’d love for you to join me! Pull up a chair, and let’s eat!
You’ll also learn why I’m calling this “Breakfast on the Beach.” Hint: it’s scriptural!
And if you’d like to share your thoughts with me and with others, just click the “Comment” button at the end. You’ll be able to post your comments where I and others can read them. I’d love to hear from you!
Here’s the link to the episode…
And here’s the transcript…
Hi guys, good morning! This is Eric Elder, and I’m calling this “Breakfast on the Beach.” I’m not actually on the beach, and there’s snow on the ground outside here, but I’m on my porch and just having a little breakfast—two eggs, a little avocado toast, and some turkey sausage. I enjoy having friends for breakfast, I enjoy just hanging out with friends, and so I would love to just spend some time with you here, sharing a little about what’s going on with my week and encouraging you in yours.
I’m up early, and I’m going to take a bite or two because I haven’t eaten anything yet. One of the reasons I’m calling it “Breakfast on the Beach” is because Jesus had an encounter where He met His disciples on the beach as well.
If you remember, they were fishing all night. They had seen Jesus before, risen from the dead, but now they were on their own, trying to catch some fish. They couldn’t catch anything. They had been out all night, and then a man on the shore yelled to them and said, “Have you caught anything?”
They said, “No.”
And the man said, “Throw your net on the other side of the boat.”
They threw it on the other side, and all of a sudden, the net was filled with so many fish!
One of them said, “It’s the Lord!” as they had seen Jesus do this when they had first met Him. Peter, hearing it was the Lord, jumped out of the boat and ran to Jesus.
Jesus was there on the beach, cooking fish for them. He said, “Bring some of the fish that you’ve got too.” But Jesus was already there on the beach, making breakfast for them. He had breakfast prepared– even though they’d been out all night and hadn’t caught a thing.
I just love that idea of having breakfast on the beach with Jesus and how wonderful that would be.
Here’s the passage as it’s recorded in the Bible in John, chapter 21:
Later, Jesus appeared once again to a group of His disciples by Lake Galilee. It happened one day while Peter, Thomas (the twin), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, Jacob and John, and two other disciples were all together. Peter told them, “I’m going fishing.” They all replied, “We’ll go with you.” So they went out and fished through the night but caught nothing.
Then at dawn, Jesus was standing there on the shore, but the disciples didn’t realize it was Him. He called out to them, saying, “Hey guys, did you catch any fish?” “Not a thing,” they replied.
Jesus shouted to them, “Throw your net over the starboard side, and you’ll catch some.” So they did as He said, and they caught so many fish they couldn’t even pull in the net.
Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It’s the Lord!” When Peter heard him say that, he quickly wrapped his outer garment around him, and because he was athletic, he dove right into the lake to go to Jesus. The other disciples then brought the boat to shore, dragging their catch of fish. They weren’t far from land, only about 100 meters.
When they got to shore, they noticed a charcoal fire with some roasted fish and bread. Then Jesus said, “Bring some of the fish you just caught.” So Peter waded into the water and helped pull the net to shore. It was full of many large fish—exactly 153—but even with so many, the net was not torn.
“Come, let’s have some breakfast,” Jesus said to them. And not one of the disciples needed to ask who it was because every one of them knew it was the Lord.
Then Jesus came close to them and served them the bread and the fish. This was the third time Jesus appeared to His disciples after the resurrection.
I love this story because it talks about that time when their beloved Savior had left, was gone, but He said, “I will come again.” He also said, “I’ll send my Holy Spirit to be with you.” And then He even appeared to them there on the beach, served them some bread and fish, and they had a rich time.
It was not long before this that Peter was at another charcoal fire and had denied Jesus three times. This time, they’re at a different charcoal fire, and Jesus restores him three times. It’s a beautiful contrast and beautiful story of redemption for any of us.
As I eat some and have my coffee, you can also enjoy the music that’s playing in the background. This is from my son, Bo Elder’s, beautiful, new piano album called For Your Glory—featuring relaxing instrumental piano. I’d love for you to check that out too! Just look him up on any streaming service—Pandora, YouTube, Spotify, Amazon Music—wherever you listen to music. You can look for Bo Elder.
You can watch the rest of the podcast where I talk about some prayer magnets I’ve been painting and how special that has been both for me and for those who are receiving them. I’ve shared those stories in my emails a couple weeks ago, but you can hear more about the stories behind the stories in the podcast.
I pray this new podcast encourages you. I want to give you confidence and strength to go on with your day too. Here’s the link again in case you want to watch.
And if there’s anything you want me and others to pray for you, just post it in the comments! I’d love to hear from you and see how God is working in your life as well.
Thanks for spending this time with me. Enjoy the music, the sunshine, and the simple joys God gives you. May God bless you!
Eric Elder writes for page, stage & screen to glorify God’s name so Christ may be seen! Use this link to subscribe or unsubscribe.
First, I’ve been learning a song on the piano called “The Border of Life.” It’s a beautifully reflective piece about that thin veil between heaven and earth.
Second, I’ve been painting a picture of “heaven and earth” at the request of one of my long-time subscribers, Esther, to go with a Bible verse that says:
“Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 16:19).
My miniature painting features angels in heaven with watering cans pouring out water on earth to grateful farmers and umbrella-carrying city-dwellers. You can watch the 1-minute clip of my painting and playing here: https://youtube.com/shorts/AXMsZV7flxg
Third, my dear sister-in-law Linda passed away this week. We buried her body yesterday, but I can say with confidence her soul will live on.
Two years ago Linda asked me to baptize her. She wanted to honor and affirm her baptism from when she was young, and express again her deep faith in Christ. I was happy and honored to do it.
It was a sweet memory to recall her baptism while at her funeral. What seems so permanent all around us is really just so temporary. As Teilhard de Chardin has said:
“We are not human beings having a temporary spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a temporary human experience.”
And finally, today marks my own 38th anniversary of putting my faith in Christ. I have never looked back on that decision with anything but thankfulness, as He is worthy of following all the days of my life.
If you’ve never put your faith in Christ, I’d like to encourage you to do it today—right now—even while you’re reading this message! There’s no better time than this very moment to start your new life with Christ! The God of the universe would love to overwhelm you with His love by just reaching out to Him in faith.
And if you’ve already put your faith in Him, you can be confident that when the end comes, Jesus will welcome you, too, with WIDE OPEN ARMS… just as He has welcomed Linda and my late wife, Lana, and all who have gone before us who have also put their faith in Him. As the apostle John said:
“I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may KNOW that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:13).
Keep trusting in Him for EVERYTHING in your life. He’d love nothing more than to wrap you in His loving arms.
Father, thank You for the lives of Linda and Lana, as well as their deep faith in You. Thank You for saving me 38 years ago when I reached out to You by faith, too. And Lord, thank You for every person who is reading these words right now, whether they’ve put their faith in You already or You’re prompting them to do so now. Let no one miss this GRAND opportunity to reach out to You, take hold of You, and let You take hold of them. We thank You for all this, and heaven, too. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Last week I shared that I’ve just started painting for others. I’ve painted my whole life, but only for myself. But last fall I felt God challenging me to paint for others.
After last week’s message, one of my long-time subscribers wrote, “Can you please make one for me?” I said, “Sure!” and asked him if there was a verse he had on his mind. He said that Nahum 1:3 resonated deeply with him.
I looked it up. It says:
“The Lord is slow to get angry, but His power is great,
and He never lets the guilty go unpunished.
He displays His power in the whirlwind and the storm.
The billowing clouds are the dust beneath His feet.” (Nahum 1:3, NLT)
The contrast of God’s peace and God’s power captivated me. An image came to mind, and I began to paint.
I found that by giving expression to what I saw in my mind helped me to experience God’s peace as well. You see, my mind isn’t always peaceful. Sometimes it’s tumultuous.
Maybe you can relate?
If you’d like some peace this week, try finding a passage from the Bible that resonates deeply with you. Chew on it for a while. Think about each word, then let God speak to you.
Then try giving expression to what you’re hearing in your own creative way. Maybe it’s art. Maybe it’s music. Maybe it’s poetry. Or maybe it’s simply inviting God’s Holy Spirit to wash over you with His peace.
To help you get started, take a look at this 1-minute time-lapse I took whilepainting God is in the Whirlwind. It’s set to music from my son Bo’s new album he also just released this week called Still Seasons.
And if you’d like to hear more from Bo’s album, just search on most streaming services for “Bo Elder Still Seasons.” He wrote this album “to create songs that would soothe troubled thoughts and invoke pensive ones,” and “to serve as a backdrop to your conversations with the Lord.”
I painted three prayer magnets for a friend a few weeks ago. What’s a prayer magnet? I didn’t know either!
My friend told me that every year she gives her kids a small magnet with a verse on it to let them know what she’s praying for them for that year. Her kids then put it on their fridge as a reminder of her prayers.
I was so honored that she asked if I would paint them for her kids! Her idea was so simple, yet so impactful.
So I bought three little canvas magnets and got out my paints. It was fun to create each painting, knowing how thoughtful my friend had been in choosing each verse. As I painted, I prayed for her kids, too.
When I finished, I sent her a picture of each magnet, then carefully wrapped, packed, and shipped them off.
Unfortunately, they got lost in the mail!
We had updates for the first few days of every stop along the way. Then they stopped. A message said, “Delayed.” And for three weeks, they never moved.
We filed a request to look for them and prayed, but still nothing happened.
It made me cry. Not just because the magnets were lost, but because I had painted the magnets as a step of faith.
You see, I’ve never painted anything for anyone else before. I’ve only painted for myself. I just like to paint. I like to create. I like to see a blank canvas turn into something special.
But at an art retreat last fall, we were challenged to write down three goals for the next 90 days regarding our art. I felt God challenging me to share my artwork with others and not just keep it to myself.
I couldn’t imagine creating a painting and then giving it away, let alone selling it. My artwork feels like such a personal part of me! And yet, there was something intriguing about the idea.
What would it feel like to paint for someone else? To bring their idea to life. To share it with them or with those they love?
I wrote it down as one of my goals.
After the retreat, I shared some pictures of my paintings with a few friends. One of them asked if I could paint these three prayer magnets.
Normally, I would have said, “No.” I would have pointed them to other artists. But this time, I said, “Yes.” I wasn’t just saying yes to them. I was saying yes to God, for He was the one who was inviting me onward.
So why did I cry when the magnets were lost in the mail? Because I had stepped out in faith, stepped out of my comfort zone, and said yes to do something I had never done before. Now it was all lost.
Last week, as I was laying down for bed, I told God I could paint them again. I was willing to keep going. But I really wished the first ones could have made it. I had prayed over them, felt joy creating them, and now they were gone.
It wasn’t just the loss of the paintings but the feeling of falling flat on my face after stepping out in faith.
“If there’s any way,” I prayed to God, “could you please help those paintings get to their destination?”
The next morning, I got a text from my friend.
“Guess what arrived today!!! It looks like it went through the wringer… but I’m so excited!”
The paintings had come! Joy spread through my body. My shoulders relaxed. I exhaled with relief. All was not lost. God’s call was still good. And I knew I could go on.
What about you? What gifts has God given you that could bless others, too? As the Bible says:
“Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms” (1 Peter 4:10).
Look at your gifts and look at God’s plan. Then use your gifts to fulfill God’s plan! That’s the heartbeat of missions.
P.S. Here’s a one-minute video where you can see all three magnets and how I made them!
My daughter gave me a puzzle box for Christmas. It’s beautiful. It’s amazing. And it’s the most intricate puzzle I’ve ever had to solve. Clue after clue led me along, but I had to look for each one.
Each clue was there, but it was up to me to put them together. Finding that first clue was the hardest. I wasn’t sure if I could do this at all. But once I unlocked the first latch, I was hooked! I knew I would find the others. So I kept looking.
When the second latch clicked open, I was super excited. I’ve got this! I thought. But the next latch wasn’t so easy. There were new clues, and some of the old clues that I still needed to use.
I set aside the puzzle box for a day and picked it up again the next. I was determined. Then…
Yes! Latch three was unlocked!
But now the fourth… that final latch. It was the most complex riddle of all, with clues strewn all over my desk from my previous revelations.
I set down the box. I picked it up.
I set it down again. I picked it up again.
I went over clue after clue, trying various combinations and strategies.
Three days later, I was still stuck!
I told my son, “I can’t do it. I’m giving up. I’ll put it back together so you can try.”
“You can get it, Dad!” my son said. He was confident. He was bold. He wasn’t going to let me give up.
Sunday afternoon, I looked at the box again. I was still stumped, just like before.
I took a nap.
When I woke up, I saw an unexpected (and unrelated) email in my inbox. It was the solution to a problem for work that I had also been trying to solve. Suddenly, there was the answer I was looking for! It turned out I had already solved the problem on an earlier try; I just didn’t know it until that email arrived. Praise God!
I picked up the puzzle box again. I had a new confidence.
I could do it. My son was right. I just had to press on.
I pressed a combination of levers, which I had done many times before. All of a sudden, the latch opened. I gave the box a twist, and the prize was revealed!
I couldn’t believe it! I had been working on that puzzle box for a week, when suddenly, it was solved!
It was like those “overnight success” stories… the ones that take twenty years of hard work, when suddenly everything falls into place—a twenty-year ‘overnight success’ story!
I tell you this story for one reason: to give you HOPE, ENCOURAGEMENT, and DETERMINATION to press on with the mission God has placed on your heart.
You see, God is on a mission, and He has a mission for you, too! Believe it or not, God wants you to know His will even more than you want to know it!
If you seek Him, you will find Him—if you seek Him with all your heart (see Jeremiah 29:13-14).
This story isn’t about a puzzle box. It’s about you, jumping into God’s plan.
Keep seeking Him, keep finding Him, and keep pressing on with the mission God has placed on your heart. One day—you’ll see—that prize will be revealed!
I saw this yesterday and had to laugh. Very timely for TODAY, don’t you think? Maybe for you, too?!?
Our ministry is finishing well this year, but we could still use your help to WRAP UP some loose ends. Would you consider a donation of $25, $2,500, or $25,000 to help us finish strong? I’m serious about all 3 amounts!
Our work is grounded in gifts of ALL amounts from people all over the world. They truly sustain and propel what we do, so thank you!
And in cased you missed something this year, here’s a RECAP of things you might want to explore more for the New Year! Maybe even something that will be LIFE-CHANGING as you head into 2025?
We’ve created AUDIO versions of all of my inspirational books, which now number over 40+! You can find them all—plus paperbacks, hard covers, and instantly downloadable PDFs—on a new website we created for them called InspiringBooks.com.
We’ve taught a class and published a book called LET’S GET TECHNICAL! to help writers (and others) get the word out about their stories. (The book and video class have simple, but practical steps to help you createa website, a mailing list, a social media presence, a podcast, a Youtube channel, an audiobook, a business card, an online class, a payment system, a coaching calendar, and edit audio & video.)This is the 3rd in my series of books for writers to help you share your story with the world.
We’ve created a booklet for those in recovery from unhealthy attractions called Breaking the Power of Unhealthy Attractions. This is the fourth of my books dealing with why we have the attractions we do and what to do with them.
We’ve created a film version of our Italian Puppet Opera based on the REAL LIFE of Saint Nicholas to tell about his REAL FAITH in JESUS CHRIST! We had our premiere on the side of our house in September and launched on AMAZON PRIME VIDEO in November! You can watch the trailer here (then search Prime Video for “Saint Nicholas: An Italian Puppet Opera” to watch the whole movie.
We’ve continued creating podcasts (25 this year!) all including a song, a prayer, and a message to encourage you in your faith, and all based on the Word of God. If you missed any, here’s a playlist of all 25! And here’s a link to start back at the first episode:
By the way, we also post clips from our podcasts on social media! Here are the links if you want to subscribe to stay updated!
Okay, I think that’s enough for today! All to say, thanks so much for helping to make this all possible!
If you’d still like to make a donation of $25, $2,500, or $25,000, that will help us FINISH WELL and START STRONG IN 2025, here’s the link to donate: https://ericelder.com/donate/
I want to talk to you today about diving into the Bible. It’s a new year, but any time of the year is a good time to jump into reading the Word of God!
The Bible is the bestselling book in the world for a reason! It’s thousands of years old, it has stood the test of time, and the words in it contain life—abundant life.
It’s my favorite book in the world.
Here are a few sentences from the book of John to show why this is so life-giving to me. In these verses, two people see Jesus and start to follow Him:
They saw Jesus and they started following Him. Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?”
They said, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?”
“Come,” He replied, “and you will see.” So they went and saw where He was staying, and they spent that day with Him (John 1:38-39).
I can’t believe it! They spent that day with Jesus! I’d love to spend a day with Jesus!
But then I realized I can spend a day with Jesus… anytime I want. He’s still alive and active in the world. And whenever I read His Word and read about what He did 2,000 years ago—I see what He can still do in my life today.
I love spending time with Jesus, and I want to encourage you to do it, too. Jonathan Edwards said this beautifully:
“I go out to preach with two propositions in mind. First, everyone ought to give his life to Christ. Second, whether or not anyone gives Him his life, I will give Him mine.”
Here’s a simple way to jump into reading the Bible, whether you’ve never read it before or you’ve read it many times.
Just open up to the Book of John. It’s one of the four gospels in the New Testament of the Bible. The word “gospel” means “good news,” and these four books were written to share with us the good news of Jesus by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—four people who followed Him and told the stories of what He did while on earth.
Matthew was a Jew who wrote especially to the Jewish people.
Luke’s gospel has 24 chapters and starts with the famous Christmas story.
Johnwas perhaps the closest to Jesus during His three years of ministry and gives a very intimate view of Jesus.
If you read a chapter a day from the Book of John, you can go through all 21 chapters in 21 days! Similarly, you could read the Books of Matthew, Mark, or Luke in under a month, too—just by reading one chapter a day.
By diving into one of the gospels, you can learn more about Jesus and watch as these words impact you like they impacted me.
I was on a bus to the airport in Chicago one day when the driver gave each of the passengers a pocket-sized Book of John. I thought it was unusual, but it was a private bus company, and this driver was passionate like Jonathon Edwards.
I didn’t know him, and he couldn’t have known I was a Christian, a pastor, and had read the book of John many times. He also didn’t know that I had just lost my wife of 23 years. But what he did know was that “everyone, everywhere, at all times has needs.” And He knew that the words in the Book of John were life-giving words.
I sat on that bus for the next two hours and read the Book of John, and those words came alive for me again. They spoke of eternal life, heaven, and an abundant life here on earth.
I rediscovered that I still had a purpose, even after losing someone so significant in my life.
Here’s an excerpt from some of my reflections that day on the first chapter of John:
I’ve heard people say that Jesus is all you need. I used to think, “How can that be? I’m human, and I need all kinds of things—food, water, friendship, intimacy, health, and finances.”
But then I remembered everything I have comes from Him. As John says in chapter 1, verses 3-4: “Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made. In Him was life.”
Now, when I hear people say, “Jesus is all you need,” I get it! Everything I have does come from Jesus: my late wife, my kids, my food, my friends, my finances, my health—they ALL come from HIM! Jesus really is everything I need because EVERYTHING comes from Him.
Is there something YOU need today?
As Jesus says, “Come and see.” Come and spend a day with Jesus! He has everything you need.
If you’d like to hear more, here’s a link to watch today’s FULL PODCAST. It’s just under 10 minutes, but I share a few more stories, a song from my son Bo that he wrote this week on a verse from John, and a prayer to encourage you in your faith.
On the podcast, I also share a few more resources you might enjoy as you start your new year:
A Word with You – A 365-day devotional written by my long-time friend Al Lowry who leads you through the entire Bible in a year, one day at a time.
365 Daily Devotions with Eric Elder – A year of encouragement with daily devotionals based on one passage of scripture each day pulled from more than a dozen of my books.
And For Your Glory, my son Bo’s instrumental piano music that you can stream at anytime on Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora, YouTube, or any of your favorite streaming services! Just search for “Bo Elder: For Your Glory.”
Praying for a terrific start to your New Year! With love,
Have you ever noticed how some things can only be seen in the dark? A starry sky, a firefly’s glow, or even a glimpse into heaven after a loved one has passed “through the veil”—these beautiful moments are often hidden in the brightness of day but shine unmistakably in the stillness of night.
This thought struck me recently as I reflected on the “winter seasons” of life—those dark times when hope seems distant and the way forward uncertain. Yet, it’s in these very moments that we often grow the most gracious and loving, discovering a depth of faith and strength that can only take root in the darkness.
In today’s podcast, I share how Romans 8 reminds us that absolutely nothing—living or dead, present or future—can separate us from God’s love. I also talk about Mary’s journey to Bethlehem, enduring the darkness of her circumstances yet clinging to the promises God had spoken to her in the light. If you’re going through a dark season right now, I want to encourage you: God is with you, working behind the veil, creating room in your heart for something new and beautiful.
As a special part of this episode, my son Bo and I sing three favorite Christmas songs—O Come, All Ye Faithful, Away in a Manger, and We Wish You a Merry Christmas. I’d love for you to take a moment to listen and let these songs lift your spirit, reminding you of the Hope that came into the world that first Christmas night.
Hope has a name: His name is Jesus.
You can watch the full podcast on YouTube at this link, where I share stories of how to make the most of life’s darkest seasons. Whether you’re reflecting, journaling, or just holding on to hope, my prayer is that you’ll find light breaking through in unexpected ways this Christmas.
Today I want to talk to you about “making the call.” Sometimes you need to reach out for help. Whether you’re a self-made person or you’re just shy and don’t want to ask, there are lots of reasons why we don’t reach out to others for help. Yet I want to encourage you today: go ahead, make the call, reach out—you never know what might happen.
In fact, I had an experience just this week where I made a call that was difficult for me. That’s actually why I’m wearing this jacket. This week, I was up at the Joffrey Ballet in Chicago, one of the top-tier ballet companies in the world. A friend had said to me, “Eric, you should really get together with this other friend I have who’s at the Joffrey Ballet. You guys have some mutual interests, and I think it’d be great for you to talk.”
So I finally reached out and said, “Hey, I’m going to be in Chicago. I wonder if you’d want to get together.”
He said, “Sure!”
We spent over an hour just talking on Wednesday, sharing some of our mutual visions, plans, and thoughts. It was very exciting to be in that conversation. Who knows what might come of it? But we both love producing things, making things, and creating things. It’s great to be with others who can help you collaborate and think through your projects. I just want to encourage you to do that.
There’s a line I love from the TV show When Calls the Heart. Two characters are talking, and one says to the other:
“You’re a self-made man, Mr. Coulter, and you can be proud of that. But no one does it alone. We all need help at times.”
That can apply to any of us. We all need help at times, and I want to encourage you to make the call.
On this topic, I want to read you a chapter from a book I wrote called 365 Daily Devotions with Eric Elder. This book includes one devotion for every day of the year. It’s a compilation of over a dozen of my books, and you can read one chapter a day from each book.
The chapter I’m going to read today is called Making the Call. It’s from my book Exodus: Lessons in Freedom. This is Lesson 46: “Make the Call to All Who Are Willing and Skilled.”
You can keep reading below, or watch the podcast here, where I also share a song, “Trust in God,” and a prayer.
If God has put a vision on your heart to do something for Him, I want to encourage you today to take a step of faith. Make the call to all who are willing and skilled to help you do what God wants done.
If you’re like me, asking for help is one of the hardest parts of carrying out God’s will. But I’m encouraged by what I read in Exodus chapter 35. Here we see that Moses has come down from the mountain with a detailed vision in mind for what God wanted him to do next: to build an incredible place of worship for Him. Now it’s time for Moses to ask the people for their help, to see if they will provide the resources and labor to make it happen. How will he ask them, and how will they respond? Let’s take a look.
In Exodus 35:4–10, Moses says to the whole Israelite community:
“This is what the Lord has commanded: From what you have, take an offering for the Lord. Everyone who is willing is to bring to the Lord an offering of gold, silver, and bronze; blue, purple, and scarlet yarn; and fine linen, goat hair, ram skins dyed red, and hides of sea cows; acacia wood, olive oil for the light, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense; and onyx stones and other gems to be mounted on the ephod and breastpiece. All who are skilled among you are to come and make everything the Lord has commanded.”
He calls on all who are willing and skilled to give to the work and to get involved in the project. Now, let’s look at the response.
In Exodus 35:21–29, it says:
“Then the whole Israelite community withdrew from Moses’ presence, and everyone who was willing and whose heart moved them came and brought an offering to the Lord for the work of the tent of meeting for all its services, and for the sacred garments. All the Israelite men and women who were willing brought to the Lord freewill offerings for all the work the Lord through Moses had commanded them to do.”
In the end, God stirred the hearts of so many people that they had to be restrained from giving more. Here’s what it says in Exodus 36:6–7:
“Then Moses gave an order, and they sent this word throughout the camp: ‘No man or woman is to make anything else as an offering for the sanctuary.’ And so the people were restrained from bringing more, because what they already had was more than enough to do all the work.”
I love this. When I first read this passage, I wondered what it must feel like to see people give and get involved to such an extent that they had to be restrained from giving any more.
When I came back to this passage to teach it to others, I was in the middle of raising funds for five of us to go on a missions trip to Africa. Up to that point, I had often questioned whether we’d even be able to raise enough for one person to go, let alone five. I took encouragement from this passage and kept pressing on. In the final weeks before our trip, I found myself having to tell people not to give any more to the trip because we had already raised all that we needed for all five of us to go.
We can sometimes look at a passage like this—or even hear a story like I just told—and feel either discouraged or encouraged, wondering why it’s not happening to us or looking forward to when it will happen. My encouragement to you is to make the call. Make the call to all who are willing to help you carry out the vision God has put on your heart.
As Christians, God has entrusted us with great visions, great plans, and great ways to reach the world for Him. God wants us to step out in faith, make the call, and ask people to give and get involved in doing what God wants done.
Make the call.
I’d love to pray with you.
Father, thank You for this beautiful day, for this beautiful time together, and for this time to be encouraged by Your Word. Thank You for the words of Moses from thousands of years ago, for stories from today, and for how You’ve been working in my life and in others’ lives just this week.
Lord, thank You that Jesus is still alive, still real, and still active. Thank You that He puts us together with people who can help us accomplish Your will here on earth.
Help us to be willing to make the call. Help us to reach out to others for help, even when it’s hard. Lord, give us the courage to ask, even if the person says no, or if it’s not the right person the first, second, or third time. Keep leading us to people who are willing and skilled to contribute to the work You are doing here on earth.
Lord, we love You and thank You for everything You’ve done for us. Thank You for the past—for what You did thousands of years ago and for what You’ve done in my life over the years, like raising funds for that mission trip. Thank You for what You’re doing now, like connecting me with someone just this week who said yes to having a conversation.
Thank You for everything You’re doing in our lives. In Jesus’ name, amen.
I’d like to talk to you today about journaling. You can watch today’s podcast at the link above, including a song on the piano by my son, Bo Elder!
For me, journaling is simply writing down my conversations with God, thinking through with God what I believe He wants me to know and do. Journaling helps give me clarity in my prayers and untangle the thoughts that are sometimes knotted up in my head.
Often, I’ll write out my prayers to God, laying them before Him. Then I wait, I listen, and I write down what I think God might be saying. When I write things down, it helps me look at them more objectively. I don’t assume everything is from God, but writing helps me ask: Could this be God? Does this align with the Bible? What would my Christian friends or counselors say? Sometimes, I’ll run these thoughts by others for input.
I’ve journaled so much that eventually I created my own custom journals! I’ve made three journals filled with blank lines, plus 101 quotes on every other page for added inspiration while I’m writing. One journal has 101 Quotes on Prayer, another 101 Quotes on Love, and the third has 101 Quotes on Faith. A friend of mine and frequent partner in ministry, Greg Potzer, runs a ministry called This Day’s Thought and let me use some of his curated quotes on these topics.
These are beautiful books that I’ve used for myself and offer to others for their own use. They even make great gifts to encourage those you love in their prayer lives with God!
Here’s one of the quotes on prayer by J.C. Penney:
“I have found silence to be a powerful element in prayer. To learn to be alone with God, even in the presence of others, is something we Christians should try to do. There are innumerable times during the day when we can turn our thoughts, even for a moment, from business affairs and center them on God’s goodness, Christ’s love, and our fellow man’s needs.”
These quotes inspire me in unique ways. Some come from famous Christians, while others surprise me—like discovering J.C. Penney’s spiritual reflections. Each journal has space for your own writing alongside these quotes.
Here’s another quote on prayer, by John Ortberg:
“How hard is it for God to get your attention? Do you regularly practice turning aside in your day, taking a moment to listen to God? Because God, through the Holy Spirit, really is speaking. We know every place is filled with the presence of God. There is not an inch of space, not a moment of time, that God does not inhabit.”
One of the greatest blessings of journaling is the ability to look back and remember things I might have forgotten. My mom got me started when I was very young. She said, “Just write anything—like the price of eggs or what’s on TV.”
One of my first journal entries back in grade school says, “I made a wooden puppet today.” Decades later, I’ve produced an entire puppet show that premiered in Italy last Christmas and is now on Amazon Prime Video. It’s called St. Nicholas: An Italian Puppet Opera. That simple journal entry about making puppets as a child turned out to be a seed for something much larger! You can watch the trailer on Youtube at this link:
I’ve also had unexpected connections through journaling. Recently, a friend introduced me to someone who leads a ballet company in Chicago. He and I discovered that we both studied at the same college in Salzburg, Austria, but in different years, and had both seen the same ballet in Vienna featuring Rudolf Nureyev. When I checked my journal to see if that was really who I saw in Vienna, I found an entry confirming the performance. It’s amazing how these connections emerge, even from entries long-ago.
But most often, I use journaling to process my thoughts with God. This morning, I felt God encouraging me to share my own story more boldly. I wrote, “Help me get my stories out there more broadly.” Then I asked, “God, was that You speaking to me, or was that me speaking to You?” Haha! I laugh with Him sometimes as I feel it could be both of us speaking at the same time, but in different context! Journaling helps me get my thoughts more sync with God’s.
Before I wrap up, I’d like to invite you to listen to my son Bo Elder’s new piano album, For Your Glory. On my podcast today, he plays a song he wrote called Abba. His flowing, meditative style is perfect for quiet time with God, even while you’re journaling or praying! You can watch him on today’s podcast or listen to his album on any music streaming service such as Spotify, YouTube, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Pandora, and more!
Here’s the link again to today’s podcast:
Will you pray with me?
Father, we love You and trust You with our lives. I pray for everyone watching right now, wherever they are, that You would encourage, strengthen, and lift them up. Help them hear Your voice, especially those who want to start journaling or have been journaling for years. For anyone who hasn’t yet trusted in Jesus, I pray they do so today, finding abundant life in You. And for those already walking with You, I pray their faith becomes vibrant and rich again. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
And don’t forget, you can find all three journals at InspiringBooks.com, and find the links to watch the Saint Nicholas puppet opera on Prime Video at ItalianPuppets.com.
Did you know that Santa Claus was a real man who lived back in the third and fourth centuries? His name was Nicholas, and he was a great believer in Jesus Christ.You might think there’s some competition between Santa and Jesus, but actually, Saint Nicholas loved Jesus with all his heart. The word saint simply means believer, so he was “The Believer Nicholas” or “Saint Nicholas.”The Dutch took on that name and called him Sinterklaas. When they came to America, it was anglicized to Santa Claus. So, Santa Claus comes from Sinterklaas, which comes from Saint Nicholas, which meant the believer Nicholas—a real man who lived back in the third and fourth centuries!
In fact, people still celebrate a day called Saint Nicholas Day on December 6th, which is the day he passed through the veil from this earth into heaven—on December 6, 343 AD. So, when you think of Santa Claus, you don’t have to think of some mythological character! You can think of a real man who would have not cared if you remembered his name, but that you remembered name of the one he worshiped: Jesus Christ.
This was such a compelling storyline that my late wife, Lana, thought we ought to make a Hollywood movie about the real-life story of Saint Nicholas. We began to research and found fascinating things about the real man Nicholas, whom you can read about from the Council of Nicaea all those years ago. You can know that this was a man who lived and who died for Jesus Christ.
We wrote a book about it just before Lana passed away called St. Nicholas the Believer: A New Story for Christmas Based on the Old Story of St. Nicholas. It’s been translated into Spanish and Italian. We’ve also turned it into a ballet called One Life: A Christmas Story Ballet, which you can watch on YouTube. It’s a beautiful telling of his story, with some wonderful music, including a couple of songs I wrote and others from contemporary Christian artists. You can watch it at this link: https://youtu.be/R2DNi2hgx6Y
We’ve also turned the story into a musical, and that’s what I want to read from for you today (below). It’s called His Name Was Nicholas. This is a musical you can perform sometime in your community or church, maybe next year! You can get the full script and score at inspiringbooks.com.
And most recently, we’ve turned the story into an Italian puppet opera! For the first time this Christmas, you can watch it on Prime Video on Amazon. Here’s the link to watch here in the US: http://amazon.com/dp/B0DMKPRS4G or search for “Saint Nicholas” or “Eric Elder” or “puppet opera,” and you should be able to pull up this beautiful telling of the story by four wonderful storytellers and 17 incredible hand-carved puppets. The show is under an hour and brings to life this real man who became a legend.
Now, I’d love to share with you a passage from His Name Was Nicholas.
This is a scene where Nicholas is traveling with three young children who are taking him on a tour of the Holy Land, where he has just arrived. The first place he wants to go to is Bethlehem. We pick up the story here.
All three of the children running ahead to their destination. It’s a narrow but well-worn route to the cave, having had thousands of pilgrims traversing it over the years. After a short time on the path, Nicholas stops and lets out a laugh. The children stop to look at him.
Nicholas says, “I was just thinking of the wise men who came up to Bethlehem to see Jesus. They may have come up this very same path. How regal they must have looked, riding their camels and bringing their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.”
Sammy says, “I’ve ridden a camel.”
Nicholas says, “Well, for a moment there, I pictured myself riding a camel too, just like one of those kings. But then I stepped in some sheep dung. The smell reminded me I’m not riding a camel, and I’m certainly not royalty!”
Then little Ruthie, thinking, says, “But smelling like sheep dung might make you more like the shepherds who saw Jesus that night he was born. And they got there first.”
Nicholas says, “You’re absolutely right, Ruthie.”
Ruthie smiles at her insight, but then her face becomes thoughtful again. She says, “Maybe we should bring a gift with us too, like the wise men did.”
The thought overtakes her, as if she’s truly concerned that she has nothing to give to honor Jesus. She looks around, then spots some golden flowers on the hillside. Ruthie points and says, “Look!” She leaves the path, picks four small flowers, then returns and hands one to each of them.
Ruthie continues, “They look like gold to me.” She smiles from ear to ear, and Nicholas can’t help but smile with her.
Nicholas says, “They certainly do, Ruthie. There’s always something you can give, isn’t there? Whether gold from a mine or golden flowers from a hillside, everything we have comes from God anyway, doesn’t it?”
They continue walking as Nicholas looks at his flower and begins to sing the song, There’s Always Something You Can Give:
There’s always something you can give,
Look around and you will see,
Whether gold or golden flowers
That live on the hills beneath your feet.
Even though, we know all things
Come from above,
Still, there’s no greater show of our heart,
Than to give in love.
I’d love to pray for you as we enter into this holiday season—that your heart would be filled with love, not only for Jesus but for those around you as well.
We’ve just come through Thanksgiving, and there is a wonderful quote I read that says, “A real Thanksgiving is celebrated in real thanksgiving.” If we can celebrate with real thanksgiving—real gratitude in our hearts to Jesus—that’s the best expression of love we can give to Him, and it’s the best expression of love we can give to others too.
Love covers a multitude of sins, and I know I’ve been forgiven so much that I want to express that love to others too, so they can know my love for them and God’s love for them.
Let’s pray:
Lord, we come to you with open, grateful, and tender hearts. In any place where we’ve built up calluses or walls, Lord, help us to tear those down. Help us to be tender, loving, kind, and compassionate again this Christmas.
Help us to be tender and openhearted to You and to others. Show us what we can give. If we feel called to give a gift, help us know what to give—whether it’s gold from a store or gold from a flower on a hillside.
I pray that we’d give from a heart of love. Lord, awaken us with ideas for expressing our love, whether it’s through a prayer, a call, a card, or something simple we already have. Help us treat others as your children and give with true love, respect, and thanksgiving in our hearts.
We love you and thank you for all you’ve done. In Jesus’s name, Amen.
Again, if you want a copy of the book (or five or ten to give as gifts!), it’s a wonderful present for others. It’s called St. Nicholas the Believer: A New Story for Christmas Based on the Old Story of St. Nicholas by Eric and Lana Elder. You can find it on Amazon at this link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1931760403/ or at InspiringBooks.com.
I’ve included all the links I mentioned below. Have a great holiday season!
Wow! I just found out that Prime Video is going to carry our new movie “Saint Nicholas: An Italian Puppet Opera” that we filmed last year in Italy! It’s available worldwide STARTING TODAY! Hallelujah!
If you’re looking for a spirit-filled movie to watch over the holidays, I hope you’ll watch and give it a 5-star review afterward to “prime” the pump so others find it! Just search for “Eric Elder” or “Saint Nicholas” or “puppet opera” on PRIME VIDEO! Send me a screen shot if you find it!
Why is this SO exciting? Because Amazon Prime Video is the 2nd largest streaming platform in the world with over 200 million subscribers, and they normally accept movies only if they have been released in theaters or been on network TV or won an award at a major film festival. So for them to accept ours is HUGE!
I’m SO thankful that more people can find the HOPE OF CHRIST through this film, as everything in the show points to Jesus.
Have you ever felt God speak to you in a way so personal that it couldn’t be a coincidence? It happened to me this week in the most unexpected place: a grocery store late at night. I was tired, running on empty after a long day, and just trying to finish my shopping. As I walked through the aisles, God showed me small glimpses of His presence—speaking in little ways that encouraged me that He was with me.
As if that wasn’t enough, I desired more affirmation of His presence. Within a minute, I heard the song “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” playing over the store’s radio. It wasn’t just a random tune—it was a song that God has used to powerfully speak to me in the past, reminding me of His joy and love. Hearing it again at that moment felt like a gentle, divine confirmation: “I’m here. I see you. I rejoice over you.”
In this week’s YouTube podcast, I share more about this faith-building experience, including a chapter from my book My Stories of Faith, where I first encountered God speaking to me through this very song. If you’ve ever wondered if God speaks in personal ways, I believe this story will encourage you to look for His voice in your own life.
But that’s not all. This week, I’m also thrilled to introduce my son, Bo Elder, and his upcoming album For Your Glory. Bo’s music is filled with heartfelt, meditative piano pieces that flow with peace and inspiration. During the podcast, he performs “Precious Is Your Name,” a beautiful track from the album. It’s the kind of music that soothes the soul and draws you closer to God.
Bo’s album will be available starting Tuesday on all streaming platforms, including Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora, Amazon Music, and YouTube. I hope you’ll take time to listen, let the melodies wash over you, and experience God’s presence through his art.
I also invite you to watch TODAY’S PODCAST on YouTube! Along with the story and Bo’s music, I share a prayer for God to reveal Himself to you in personal, unmistakable ways. Whether you’re having a great day, a tough day, or an ordinary day, God is walking with you, rejoicing over you with singing.
Click the link below to watch the podcast, and don’t forget to mark your calendars for Tuesday when Bo’s album releases. I pray these stories and songs will bless you, lift your faith, and remind you that God is always near.
I’m excited to share with you about my latest book on writing called Let’s Get Technical!
If you’ve ever had a message on your heart and wondered how to get it out into the world, this resource was made for you. Maybe you’ve already decided to share your story, but you’re stuck on the “how” part. You’re not alone! So many people ask me questions about writing, publishing, and building an online presence, and I’ve packed my answers into this easy-to-follow guide.
Over the years, I’ve created hundreds of websites, built mailing lists that reach tens of thousands, and launched podcasts, YouTube channels, and audiobooks. It’s been a journey of trial and error, and now I want to make the process simpler for you. In Let’s Get Technical, you’ll find practical steps for creating a website, growing a social media presence, setting up a podcast, and even using AI to enhance your work.
Here are the topics I cover:
How to build a website (using Web.com/GoDaddy/WordPress)
How to build a mailing list (using Campaign Monitor/aWeber)
How to build a social media presence (using Facebook/Instagram/LinkedIn)
How to create a podcast (using Spotify/Apple Podcasts/YouTube)
How to create a YouTube channel (using YouTube)
How to create an audiobook (using Spotify/Audible)
How to edit audio (using Audacity/GarageBand)
How to edit video (using iMovie/Davinci Resolve)
How to create business cards, bookmarks or postcards (using VistaPrint)
How to setup a live online class (using Zoom)
How to setup a payment system (using PayPal/Venmo/Square)
How to setup a coaching calendar (using Calendly)
BONUS. How to create an AI audiobook (using Google Play Books/ElevenLabs)
But this book isn’t just about the technical side of things—it’s about the heart behind it all. I share personal stories of how God has used these tools to help me reach people with a message of hope and encouragement.
One of my favorite chapters dives into building a social media presence—not just for marketing, but for creating real, meaningful connections. For me, social media has been a lifeline during some of life’s most challenging moments. After my wife Lana passed away, I found comfort in the community of friends who rallied around me through simple comments and heartfelt messages. Social media isn’t just about algorithms or likes; it’s about relationships and living life together, even in the digital space.
I share more about this idea of loving others online in today’s podcast.
If you’ve ever dreamed of writing a book, starting a podcast, or creating a YouTube channel but felt overwhelmed by the technical details, this book is here to help. Whether you’re just getting started or you’ve already published a project, this book will give you the tools and encouragement you need to keep moving forward. It’s a step of faith to put your story out there, and I want to help you take that step.
You can get a copy of Let’s Get Technical today at inspiringbooks.com. It’s affordable, straightforward, and packed with insights I’ve gathered from over two decades of sharing my message online. Let’s work together to share the gifts, lessons, and encouragement God has placed in your life with the world around you.
“Eric Elder is my ‘go-to-person’ for all things technical. Eric has the ‘know-how.’” Tim Wilkins
“Thanks for helping me with my writing. You give me the confidence to do the hard things.” Crystal Balas
“Eric has been a blessing to our ministry in so many ways…his technical expertise and assistance have meant everything!” Greg Potzer
“Eric has played a crucial role in getting my novel published. He has been the all-important bridge between my unpublished manuscript and my published dream-come-true.” Cammie Quinn
“I learned so much from this course, and I look forward to implementing these new skills (with help from my own notes from the course, and the accompanying book) in the future.” Donna Brooks-Mason
“Eric’s a great communicator… he makes hard things easy to understand. I deeply trust Eric’s expertise.”Kirk Billiter
You can get a copy of ALL 3 of my books on writing from inspiringbooks.com.
In today’s podcast, I share some thoughts on the Golden Rule from my book Jesus: Lessons in Love. The Golden Rule is Jesus’ words from the Bible as recorded in the book of Matthew:
"So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets" (Matthew 7:12).
This sounds simple enough, but one of the twists is that we don’t all give and receive love in the same way. Jesus loved people in many ways, sometimes offering forgiveness, sometimes healing, sometimes speaking someone’s name.
There’s a lot we can learn from "the greatest lover in the world." In this book, I take a look at the various ways that Jesus loved people so we can love people better, too.
I also play a very cathartic song written by Tchaikovsky that may be helpful if you’re going through a loss or grief or need some quiet time with God.
You can watch the 11-minute podcast at the link below, or read the text from my book below the video.
One year ago this weekend, I was headed to the African country of Swaziland (now known as Etswani). Eighty of us from the U.S. were on a missions trip to work side-by-side with the people of Swaziland to plant thousands of vegetable gardens near their homes.
On the trip, I met a man who helped me see what it takes to live a life of sacrificial love. He was a pastor who had worked with this organization for over a year, helping to plant gardens throughout the country with dozens of teams that had come over to help.
One day, I was looking at a map of Swaziland with him. The map showed which areas of the country had already been planted, and which areas still needed to be planted. We were planting in one of the last areas remaining in the country, but I noticed there was still one more area yet to be planted. I asked him about it, and he said that the one remaining area was the village where he lived.
I couldn’t believe it. I turned and looked at him and said, “You’ve been bringing teams over here, helping people plant all over the country, but you haven’t brought a team to help you plant in your own village yet?”
He replied, “We have a saying here in Swaziland:
‘We would rather starve than let our guests go hungry.’
He went on to explain: he wanted to make sure that all of the other areas were served first, then he would bring a team to his own area. I about burst into tears on the spot. It still makes my eyes water just thinking about it.
There’s a verse of scripture in the middle of Matthew chapter 7 that people refer to as “The Golden Rule.” (And it’s not, “He who has the gold makes the rules”!) Jesus included these words in his sermon on the mount, saying that they sum up the teachings that God had given up to that point:
“So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 7:12).
Do to others what you would have them do to you. It seems like such a simple thing…and sometimes it is. If a storeowner gives you too much change at the store, you can hand back the extra change, because that’s what you would want a customer to do if they came into your store. Or if you notice someone who needs money for a worthy project, you might give it to them because you know that if you needed money for a worthy project, you’d want them to help you.
But sometimes it’s a much harder thing to do. Sometimes, as in the case of this pastor from Swaziland, allowing others to go ahead of you can literally mean death for someone you love.
How can anyone live that kind of life? How can anyone have that much love for others, that they would let someone in their own family perish so that someone else might live?
How? God gave us the ultimate example of just such a love when He allowed His own Son, Jesus, to die in our place. When Jesus called us to “do to others what you would have them do to you,” He was calling us to do something that He Himself would soon be doing to the fullest extent, giving of His own life so that we could live.
Last time I mentioned that God wants us to be willing to live for others. This time, the call is to be willing to die for them, too. Jesus calls us to be willing to do both. When our hearts are at that point of willingness, we’ll know that we have achieved the greatest love possible.
We’ll have a love like that of Christ Himself who said, and then later exemplified for us, these words:
“Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).
Prayer: Father, help me to do for others as I would have them do for me. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
You can get a copy of this book in paperback, audiobook, or downloadable PDF from inspiring books.com
In today’s podcast episode, I dive into the topic of temptation and share insights from my first book,What God Says About Sx*. It took me seven years to write this book, not because it’s long, but because I wanted to get it right. I wanted to explain, simply and clearly, what God says about sx*, and how these teachings can help protect us from unnecessary pain.
In the episode, I also talk about finding a “way of escape” when you’re tempted. Just like a video game where every level has a hidden exit, God has provided a way out of every temptation we face. He knows what we’re going through—Jesus himself was tempted in every way, just like we are, and yet He didn’t sin. That’s why He can guide us through our challenges.
Remember:
And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it” (1 Corinthians 10:13).
I also share a powerful real-life story about a friend who prayed for a way out of temptation and saw God answer in an unexpected way. It’s a reminder that no matter how hard it feels, there’s always an escape route if we look for it.
If you or someone you know could use some encouragement in this area, I’d love for you to check out this episode. (I’ve also included the text from this chapter of the book below the podcast.) Plus, you’ll hear a song I wrote called Blessed Are You from my piano album Clear My Mind.
I used to love to play a computer game called Dark Castle. The purpose was to try to escape from a castle in which you were trapped. Each room in the castle had a different challenge. Sometimes you had to throw rocks at bats, jump across moving stones, or duck out of the way of flying objects.
In each room there was something special to help you through it: a bag of rocks to throw, a special keystroke to help you jump higher, or a jet pack to help you fly. I would look around each room until I found the way of escape. When I found it, I would take it and move on to the next room. Eventually, I made it to the end. I defeated the enemy, escaped from the castle and was finally free.
God has promised that whenever we face a temptation, He has provided a way of escape. We may not always see it right away, or even want to see it, but it’s always there. The Bible says:
“No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it” (1 Corinthians 10:13).
A friend of mine was traveling in another country when he was tempted to go into an area of a town that was known for all kinds of illicit activity. He said he just wanted to see what it was like. As he got onto the subway, he said a short prayer, asking God to provide a way out if God didn’t want him to do this.
When the train stopped at his destination, he stepped onto the platform and was soon surrounded by a group of people who asked him to come with them. Although he had trouble understanding their language, he could tell they must be Christians and that they were inviting him to their church. Remembering his prayer, he decided to go with them instead of going to where he had originally planned. Amazingly, when he got to their church, they baptized him. They gave him a cup of hot tea and another subway ticket to get back home—which he promptly used for that purpose!
Of course, it would have been easier if my friend had simply not gotten on the train when he first thought about heading into sin. But the fact that God still answered his prayer and provided him yet another way out, is a demonstration of the lengths to which God will go to lead us out of temptation.
Jesus knew how real and significant our temptations would be. He knew that it was so important that He included it in His model prayer that He taught to His disciples to pray, which we now call the Lord’s Prayer. It says, in part:
“And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one” (Matthew 6:13).
The Apostle Paul felt that resisting temptation was so important that he wrote to the people living in Corinth:
“Flee from sx*ual immorality.” (1 Corinthians 6:18a).
Joseph felt that fleeing from temptation was so important that when temptation came to him, he ran the other way! Take a look at what Joseph did when Potiphar’s wife tried to seduce him:
“She caught him by his cloak and said, ‘Come to bed with me!’ But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house.” (Genesis 39:12).
Joseph got thrown into jail for running away, but jail was nothing compared to the price he would have paid if he had stayed! In the end, God honored Joseph’s obedience and made him second in command over all of Egypt.
When we’re tempted, God always provides a way of escape—even if it’s just to turn and run—and He wants us to take it every time.
*This excerpt is from my book What God Says About Sx*. (I’ve written the word like this in this email so it will make it through filters into your inbox!) You can get a copy of this book or my piano book from inspiringbooks.com.
Today, I’m sharing my favorite book of all the books I’ve written, called Fifty Shades of Grace: Love Changes Everything. It’s my favorite because it tells the story of how I fell in love with my late wife, Lana, how I fell in love with God, and how God helped change my desires and attractions through each of those love stories.
I wrote this book under the pen name Nicholas Deere, as the stories I share in it are so personal, so intimate, I wasn’t sure I would ever publish it at all. But as I shared the first few chapters with a couple of friends, they felt it would be helpful for many. In the end, this book has become my favorite among all the books I’ve written.
If you need hope that God can change something in your life that may seem unchangeable, I hope you’ll check it out. Please know, though, that it is a love story. Some readers may find it more sensual than they are used to reading, as the goal is to show how our passions and desires can and do change.
Jesus is, after all, in the life-changing business. He can do anything, absolutely anything. Remember:
"And that is what some of you WERE. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God" (1 Corinthians 6:11).
I’ve included the introduction from the book below, plus a link to today’s podcast, where I read from the book and share a song and a prayer. The song is a love song I wrote for my late wife, Lana, called My Lana from my piano album Clear My Mind.
"Unspoken Memories"
Introduction to Fifty Shades of Grace by Nicholas J. Deere
Some memories are too precious to be spoken out loud; doing so might shatter the special place they hold in our hearts. But some memories are too precious not to be spoken out loud, when doing so might bring hope and healing to the hearts of those who hear them.
Memories are powerful things. They can stick with you for life, like this one shared by a character named Mr. Bernstein in the movie Citizen Kane. A reporter had asked Mr. Bernstein how Charles Kane could have possibly remembered a fleeting moment with a girl from so many years earlier. Mr. Bernstein replied:
“You’re pretty young, Mr. Thompson. A fellow will remember a lot of things you wouldn’t think he’d remember. You take me. One day, back in 1896, I was crossing over to Jersey on the ferry, and as we pulled out, there was another ferry pulling in, and on it there was a girl waiting to get off. A white dress she had on. She was carrying a white parasol. I only saw her for one second. She didn’t see me at all, but I’ll bet a month hasn’t gone by since that I haven’t thought of that girl.”
You probably have memories like these. I know I do. This book is full of them.
I’ve never shared most of these memories with anyone, and I’m hesitant to share them with you now. It’s not because I don’t want you to know about them (well, there’s a little bit of that), but it’s because they are so personal to me, so intimate, that I’m afraid by sharing them they might somehow shatter.
I’m afraid to share them because I would hate to have someone take them lightly or laugh at them (although some of them are light and laughable). I’m afraid to share them because of what someone might think of me. I wonder if they would still love me the same if they really knew some of my innermost thoughts. I’m afraid to share them because some of them are truly embarrassing—I can’t believe I thought and did some of the things I share in this book.
At the same time, I believe that some of these memories could be very helpful (extremely helpful, in fact), especially for anyone who has pondered any of the thoughts and feelings that I share here. I remember walking through “the stacks” in the graduate library at the University of Illinois when I was a freshman. As an underclassman, I had to get special permission to go into those rows upon rows of books housed in room after room of that massive library. But I had a mission. I wanted (I needed) to find out what other people thought about some of the things I was grappling with in my mind.
There was no Internet back then; nowhere to quickly look up the topics that were burning on my heart. I was excited to find that at least a few books were listed in the card catalog on these subjects. But after getting permission to enter the stacks, I was disappointed to find that the books on these topics took up a mere five or six inches of shelf space out of the hundreds of shelves that filled that one room. I thumbed through each of those books, but found them to be clinical and dry, doing little to help me with my practical questions.
I wish I had held this book in my hands back then. I think I would have been amazed to find that someone else had the same thoughts and experiences I was having. I would have loved to learn from them as much as I could, whether I agreed with their conclusions or not. I just wished someone would have shared their thoughts and memories with me.
So after all these years of gathering and storing these precious memories in my mind, I’d like to pull them out and share them with you. My hope is that you’ll be able to benefit from them in a special way.
Before you dive into this book, however, I want to give you a fair warning. This is a love story. If you’re not interested in reading about passion and romance, heartbreak and sex (or staying up late to find out what’s next), then this isn’t the book for you.
If, on the other hand, you’d like to explore and experience a life lived in love, with all of its glorious, unpredictable and multi-faceted dimensions, then read on. It’s for you that I’ve shared these “unspoken memories.”
Nicholas J. Deere
P.S. The memories I share in this book are all true;
Just the names have been changed (including mine, too).
When choosing a pen name I even mulled over
Names like Laurel or Mary (or Debbie Macomber?),
’Cause who wants to read romance that’s been penned by a guy? But if Shakespeare could do it… (then I guess so can I!).
The technologies and links in this book were accurate as of the date of publication but are ever-changing. However, the concepts and principles remain the same!
Hopefully you’ll enjoy this glimpse into the technical world of “today” even if, in a few years, this book is relegated to a quaint remembrance of “the way things were.”
In any case, enjoy!
Preface: Let’s Get Technical!
I’d like to share with you how I’ve been able to reach the world online with my message… which is really God’s message: God loves you and has a purpose for your life.
I came to Christ on February 9th, 1987, and ever since, I’ve wanted to tell the world about Him! I did what I could while working a secular job, sharing my message with anyone who would listen.
Then on February 14th, 1995, I felt God calling me to quit my secular job and go into full-time work for Him. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know where to start.
But I did know how to create a website. I had been working in the Advanced Technology Group of a For- tune 10 corporation for nine years, researching everything from virtual reality to speech recognition, from tablets you could write on to maps that could tell you the nearest Chinese restaurant. Basically, everything a smart phone can do today!
It was a dream job for me, meeting researchers in their labs around the country at places like Apple, IBM, NASA, and MIT. I would come back from those visits and share what I learned with my colleagues to see how we might use these upcoming technologies in our business.
My final project before I went into full-time ministry was to create my company’s first website using the brand-new (at the time) HTML markup language.
It was exciting stuff, and my visionary eyes lit up with possibilities!
That’s when God called me into full-time ministry, to use all these gifts and talents that I had developed for Him.
As I told a reporter from USA Today, when asked why I quit my corporate job to go into an internet ministry, I said:
“I have a message I want to get out, and the Internet was made for delivering messages!”
I’ve been doing this now for over 30 years, and if you have a message you want to get out to the world, I’d love to help!
I’ve built more than 100 websites. I’ve created mailing lists that have grown from 1,000 to 40,000 subscribers. I’ve built a social media presence to reach 5,000 people. I’ve created multiple podcasts and YouTube channels, audiobooks, and online classes.
I love using all the tools and technologies at our disposal to reach as many people as possible with the message that God has put on my heart.
And I’d love to share how I did it with you. By the end of each chapter, you’ll have practical steps and tools to get you started on each of these things as well. I hope by the end you’ll have the confidence to move forward, knowing that you really can do this!
Ready to start?!? Let’s get technical! (Cue Olivia Newton-John’s dance music and let’s go!)
(Here’s a live demo of the things talked about in this chapter.)
Your website is your home base. You can put anything on a website that you want to share… like your message, audio, videos, and links to your books or products or courses. It’s your one-stop for everything related to you.
Choose a domain name
The first step in building a website is choosing your domain name. A domain is like your own kingdom. It’s your address where people can find you.
If you choose a free or low-cost website builder, you can pick a domain name that is attached to the company you use, such as WordPress or GoDaddy or Blogspot. If so, then your domain could look like this (these are examples, not functional sites):
ericelder.wordpress.com
ericelder.godaddy.com
ericelder.blogspot.com
Then you can tell everyone they can find you at your domain name, and they’ll be able to read all about you!
For just a little more money, though, and not much at that, you can get your own custom address that’s shorter just about you and easy to remember, such as these (these ARE functional sites):
There are thousands of accredited domain registrars around the world, each with their own pricing and plans. I pay from $15-25 a year for a each domain name I’ve registered, so the price is relatively inexpensive.
Finding the right domain name can be an art! Many are taken, but many are still available! If you live in the US, you can buy a domain that ends with .COM (most common for companies and easy to remember) or .ORG (for non-profit organizations). You can also buy domains with other extensions like .NET, .ONLINE, .SPACE or .ME.
Country Codes can also be attached to domain names, like amazon.co.uk for Amazon in the United Kingdom, or amazon.it for Amazon in Italy.
If your preferred domain name is taken, you can add an adjective to make it more meaningful. For instance, for my online bookstore, books.com was taken, so I added an adjective to make it inspiringbooks.com.
Even better! I created that website to cover the range of books that I’ve written, as they all have some element of inspiration.
Go ahead and take a look! Go to web.com for instance and search for a domain you’d like. If it’s taken, they’ll suggest others. All the registrars use the same database of names, so you should get similar results at each one. But before you actually buy a domain name, let’s look at what you’ll do with it next.
By the way, when trying to decide between domains, you can check to see which term you’d like is the most popular as far as of what people are already searching for. Just go to trends.google.com and type in a word or phrase. There you can compare different words to see which words or phrases have historically had more people searching for them! I also use these trends when trying to think of names for books or podcasts or courses.
Choose a hosting company
A hosting company is where your website will live. It can be a different company than where you register your domain. Most registrars can also host your website for you for free or for a fee, but you can host your website anywhere. For instance, at one company, I pay about $10 a month for hosting my websites. Prices can range from $2-50 a month, depending on who is hosting your website and what you want to do with it.
I currently use web.com for both my domain registrations and my hosting, although their pricing is changing, as companies often do, so it all really depends on your needs and your budget. (Update January, 2026: I currently use WordPress.com to register all of my domain names for a low rate of $13 per year).
Choose how you’ll create your website
Many hosting companies have their own tools to help you create your websites, and most also offer the ability to use WordPress to create your site, a popular website creation software. I use WordPress for most of my sites, but only because I’m familiar with it and many people use it, not necessarily because it’s the best or easiest. You may want to use your hosting company’s tools instead! But for demonstration, I’ll show you how I use WordPress here. The same principles apply to most website creation tools.
Choose your theme
First, choose your theme. A theme is the “look and feel” of your website, whether bright and bold or simple and elegant. You can usually change your theme at anytime, but pick something initially that catches your attention and start creating.
Create a page
Add a new page to your website by clicking on “Pages,” then “Add New.” Add a title for the page at the top, then start typing your text and adding other content like pictures, videos, and links.
Create another page!
Next, create another page or two to get a feel for how it’s done and how it looks. View the pages in a browser and see how how they look and feel.
Arrange your menus
Once you’ve created a few pages, you’ll see that they will probably appear automatically on the “Menu” of your website. Some themes automatically add every page to the menus while other themes only add pages that you individually specify to be on the menu.
Menu items can be rearranged by clicking on “Appearance,” then “Menus.” Menus can also be nested one inside another, for submenus that display when the main menu item is selected.
To rearrange menu items, you can drag and drop them in the order you’d like, or nest them within other menu items. My flagship website at theranch.org has hundreds of pages, posts, images, and videos. I’ve nested each set of these pages within just a few main menu options. I simply designate every page as either a option or a “Child” menu option underneath a “Parent” menu.
There might also be several menus on your site: one along the top, one along the bottom, or one along the side. You can choose which items appear on each menu.
Add a link
If you want to insert a link into the text on your page, highlight that portion of text and click “insert link” or click the icon that looks like a chain link.
Then type in or copy and paste the link that you’d like the person to reach when they click on it. I’ll often go to a webpage in my browser and copy and paste the entire link from the address bar, including the https:// prefix, such as https://theranch.org. that page’s link from the address bar. If you’re new to shortcuts for copying and pasting, you can highlight some text and hold down the “Command” and “C” keys on a Mac or the “Control” and “C” keys on Windows to copy anything. Then to paste, hold down the “Command” and “V” keys on a Mac or the “Control” and “V” keys on Windows.
Once you paste in the link, the words on your page will now be clickable. To test your link, view your page by selecting the “View” option and click the link!
Add an image
To add an image, put your cursor at the location where you want the image to display. Click “Insert Image” or the “+” icon to upload an image from your computer or choose an image from one you’ve already uploaded.
After choosing your image, you can click on the image to add more features, like adding a link to the image if someone clicks on it, or add a caption below it, or change the dimensions to be small, medium, large, or customized on your page.
Add a video
You can add a video the same way you add an image. Put your cursor where you want to insert the image, then upload a video or paste in a link to a video that already exists on another website, such as YouTube. I like this second option if my storage space is limited on my website hosting company. Instead of uploading the video to my website, I’ll upload it to my YouTube channel (covered in a later chapter), then I’ll link to that video from my web page.
For instance, on WordPress I can choose “Insert Video from Link” or “Insert Video from YouTube,” then copy and paste the link in that field when prompted. The video will appear as if it’s embedded on my web page, even though it’s actually stored and streaming from YouTube.
Add a post
If you want to write a series of articles that are sorted on your website by the date you posted them or by a category you choose for them, you can create a “Post” instead of a “Page.”
Choose “Posts,” then “Add New Post.” Enter a title for your post, then write your content, including links or images or videos just as for a page. But now your post will appear in a list of posts, sorted by date or category or however you’d like. Posts can also be sent to others automatically on your mailing list if you choose to set up this option.
Add a sign-up form
Most themes include a “Contact Form.” To insert one onto a page, choose “Insert Contact Form” and start from the default that is presented to you. Your website visitors can fill out this form and submit it to you.
Some forms have an option to “require” an answer by checking a box next to that question, such as requiring a visitor’s email address and first name. Other fields may be optional, such as a phone number. You can choose whether a field is required or optional.
You can also add short text boxes for answers, longer-form text boxes for people to write lengthier responses, radio buttons (which lets people choose one and only one from several options), or check boxes (which lets people choose as many options as they’d like from several options).
Include your email address on the form where you want these responses to be sent (it doesn’t have to be displayed to the visitor or to spammers who just search the web looking for email addresses). This is one of the beauties of using forms if you don’t want to share your email address publicly. When a visitor fills out your form and submits it, their responses will be sent directly to your email.
Add a payment button
If you’re selling something or asking for donations, you can also create a button that visitors can use to send you money (covered in a later chapter on payment systems).
You can add a payment link or HTML code that your payment system will provide to you on any of your pages or menus. I have a page on ericelder.com that gives people several options to make a donation.
Once you’ve added several pages with your content, see how it all looks on multiple devices: desktops, laptops, phones, or tablets. Some themes automatically adapt to different sizes of displays and orientations (try turning your phone or tablet sideways to see how it may change the way your website displays).
If you like what you see, great! If not, move things around on your page or try a different theme or two to see how they compare.
It can take time to adjust everything, but this is where you can make it shine! Get it just the way you like, or at least GETMO (Good Enough To Move On), and click “Publish.”
Submit to search engines
Some web hosting companies will automatically submit your site to search engines once it’s published so that it appears whenever someone types something that exists on your website that’s of interest to them.
If your site is not listed automatically on search engines, you can go to your favorite search engines where you want your site to be listed and submit the main page yourself. For instance, to submit a site to Google, go to:
The search engine will then “crawl” through your entire site, indexing all of the text, links, images, videos, and so on. Search engines will do this type of crawling on a regular basis to see if anything has been added, changed, or removed. It may be done daily, weekly or periodically depending on the amount of information on your site and how frequently it changes.
Once your site has been submitted and crawled, do a search on that search engine for something that you know is on your website and see if it displays. It may take time before your site appears high on the results page. But once you see your site is listed, you’re done! Everything is now set for people to start finding you and your message on your website!
Chapter 2. How to build a mailing list
A website is great for people to come and visit, but a mailing list is a way to take your message to the people!
In this chapter, I’ll talk about mailing lists, specifically about a list of email addresses of those you want to reach with your message. There’s a time and place for physical mailing lists, but this chapter is about electronic mailing lists.
I used to send out a paper newsletter every three months to several hundred friends, family, and supporters. In that newsletter, I included a message of encouragement for their faith, updates about my ministry and life, and an appeal for funding for our ministry.
Each newsletter generated about $300 in donations. But guess what it cost for all the paper, envelopes, ink, and stamps to send out those quarterly mailings? About $300!
As email began to grow in popularity (remember, the internet was in its infancy when I began my internet ministry), I switched over completely to sending email newsletters instead.
The problem with sending dozens or hundreds of emails, though, is that you can only send to about 40 email addresses at a time. Some email service providers block your emails if you try to send more than that simultaneously. If the number is under 40, you can use the “Carbon Copy” (“CC”) field and include everyone’s email addresses there. Or you can use the “Blind Carbon Copy” (“BCC”) field to hide each person’s email address from everyone else’s on the list. (The terms CC and BCC were from the days when people would place a sheet of physical carbon paper between two or more sheets of paper in a typewriter to create an exact copy of the original while typing out their letters.)
If you want to send 40 or 50 or 100 or more emails at a time (depending on your email provider limits), you’ll want to use a mailing list company that is dedicated to sending out emails in bulk.
Here are a few mailing list services I’ve used over the years:
Many of these companies let you start for free while your mailing list is (relatively) small. (I say relatively because anytime you can reach anyone with your message, that’s great!) For instance, Mailchimp’s free plan includes up to 500 contacts and 1,000 sends per month, with a daily send limit of 500.
At the time of this writing, I’m using Campaign Monitor and paying $190/month, at their discounted non-profit rate, to send an email four times a month to 17,000 subscribers, which adds up to nearly 70,000 emails a month (or nearly 800,000 per year!).
I have a friend who is currently using aWeber and pays $112/month to reach 13,000 subscribers, five days a week, which is 260,000 emails a month (or 3.12 million per year!).
So you can start for free, but you can plan on paying more over time as your mailing list grows. Hopefully, the benefit to you and/or your readers will outweigh the cost, so don’t be afraid of the cost… growth is good!
You’ll notice I’m reaching way more people now than when I was doing a physical mailing, and much more frequently, for less than the cost of sending my paper newsletter by paper mail—and now almost half of my subscribers are in countries all over the world!
Gutenberg would have been jealous of us!
Building your list
I started my list first by sending paper newsletters to as many of my friends, family, and others who I thought might be interested in hearing about what I was doing. I gave them the option to let me know if they didn’t want to be on my list. If I didn’t hear back from them, I kept sending them my newsletter.
People don’t usually mind being contacted once. But they do appreciate permission to be contacted repeatedly.
When I switched over to email, I did the same thing. I continued to send my updates to those who were already on my paper mailing list, and from time to time added new people I thought might be interested in hearing from me, too.
I also added a sign-up form on my website for people who visited after finding it from a search engine or a friend. As more people started signing up for updates, I grew my list to about 1,200 subscribers.
A major boost came when I partnered with a man I met at an Internet Evangelism Conference, which was hosted by the Billy Graham Training Center. I sat by this man one day at lunch at the conference, and he told me he had an online ministry of sending out a daily Christian quotation, five days a week, to about 1,000 people. When he heard I had some tech skills, he asked if I might help him, and I did!
His list grew exponentially as his readers loved getting these short, daily, “seeds of inspiration” for their Christian walk. My new friend, Greg Potzer, started advertising on Google for $100 a month, and his signups shot up dramatically every time he did so. People were searching for the type of content he was offering, and they subscribed when they found it.
At one point, Greg added a Sunday sermon from guest pastors to his weekly offerings. I was also writing and sending weekly messages by that time to my list when he decided to feature my messages every week in his mailings.
Now, instead of reaching a few thousand of my own people, I was reaching tens of thousands of people through his list! Over time, we merged our lists and grew it to about 40,000 subscribers. We were shooting for 100,000 as our next goal, but about that time, social media began to rise, and email subscriptions slowed.
We began adding these new ways to connect with people, but the shift also fragmented our approach. Still, we have found that email is the most reliable way to reach those who really want our content. By the way, natural attrition eats away at any mailing list. About 20% of subscribers fall off of mailing lists automatically each year because of changing email addresses, changing jobs, or technical glitches or accidental spam triggers. So any growth has to outpace attrition to keep a list growing over time. It’s hard work! But this is reality, as it is in anything worth doing.
We’ve since gone back to having our own mailing lists for our different purposes and ministries, but we had a much larger start than we would have had on our own. There may be some partnering you can do to grow your list!
For our lists, we’ve mostly collected addresses organically, sending to people we personally know or letting them sign up on their own, whether through a search engine or on a paper sign-up sheet when we give talks or hand out business cards.
You can also buy mailing lists for your target demographic, which could be good for certain uses, but we simply haven’t done it for economic reasons as much as any other. Apart from occasional advertising on Google or on other mailing lists, we have stuck to word of mouth or search engines. You might find a better approach for your lists!
Now, let’s get technical!
Now, let’s look at how to set up your mailing list. I’ll use my current company, Campaign Monitor, as an example. (Update January, 2026: I now use WordPress.com’s free mailing list option.)
If you already have a list of email addresses to start with, you can add them one by one or upload the entire list all at once.
For me, I go to campaignmonitor.com, login, then go to “Lists & Subscribers,” then “Create a List.” I’ll give the list a name, such as “Let’s Get Technical,” then I’ll create a list only of those people who are interested in a class like this.
Then I select “Continue to Import,” and I can start typing in the subscribers, one by one such as:
john@xyz.com
talitha@abc.org
spencer@lmn.net
If I want to include more information with each subscriber, I can use a comma between those pieces of information, like this:
john@xyz.com, John Cooper, Louisville, KY
talitha@abc.org, Talitha Abbed, Cairo, Egypt
spencer@lmn.net, Spencer Stout, London, UK
When finished, I hit “Next” and I’m prompted to name each “field” that I’ve just included using those commas, and I name them “email,” “full name,” “city” or “state/country.” You can add any fields and name them as you’d like.
Then I click “Save and Continue” and I’ve got my list started!
I usually enter some test emails before adding real subscriber addresses, then I send myself some tests messages.
To create a message email, I go to “Campaigns” and then “Create a Campaign.” I give my campaign a name, such as “Book Announcement.” From there, I select “Design Email” to choose a layout or theme for my email. I pick one and start writing my content and adding links and pictures of videos, just as I do when creating a webpage.
Then I send my message to my test mailing list, which you’ll remember I called “Let’s Get Technical.”
Once my test looks good, I know I’m ready!
I add my real subscribers, either one subscriber at a time, or I can choose to upload a list, which is a simple text file or spreadsheet containing several dozen or hundreds or thousands of subscribers and their information, separated by commas or by cells in a spreadsheet.
Now, each time I want to send a message to that group of subscribers, I just create a new “Campaign,” write my heading and content, and send it to the “Let’s Get Technical” list that I’ve created!
Add a sign-up form to your website
For every mailing list you create, your mailing list company will give you a link or some HTML code that you can add to your website to make it easy for website visitors to sign up. Copy and paste this link or code and that’ll make it easy for people to get on your list by themselves!
If you have multiple lists, your mailing list company will give you a link or code where people can choose to sign up for multiple lists as well. Also, having a mailing list company and these links allows people to easily change or remove themselves from your list by clicking a link, rather than having to bother you with all of those requests.
So start with CC or BCC if you want, then grow to a free or eventually paid mailing list service over time. Than have fun reaching more and more people with your message!
Chapter 3. How to build a social media presence
“Facebook saved my life.” That’s what my friend said to me as we were talking a few months ago on the anniversary of his son’s death. My friend was down and spiraling further downward.
So he posted about it on Facebook. He told me that as the reactions and comments started pouring in, he felt strengthened again. We were at a worship service that night, and he had a huge smile on his face as he told me the story. “I mean it, Facebook literally saved my life today.”
I told him I agreed. I got on Facebook in the beginning at the request of my daughter who was going off to college, and she thought it would be a good way for me to keep up with her life there. It was great seeing her posts and pictures, then I began uploading my own.
I discovered friends I hadn’t kept up with in years. And I learned much more about people that I thought I knew well, but only on Facebook did I see some of their hurts and pains and particular proclivities that I had never seen in person!
I began sharing parts of my life, too, that some of them had never seen before either: including my faith.
When I think about building up a social media presence, I think first and foremost about building up my community… those people I’m walking through and want to walk through life with. For me, it’s not a platform to sell things, or to convince people of things, but to live life together.
When my wife Lana passed away after 23 years of marriage, there were days I wanted to reach out to someone, but I didn’t know who to call. I didn’t want to bother anyone in particular. And I didn’t want to necessarily even have a conversation about it. I just wanted to express what was on my heart. Doing so felt cathartic.
As I mentally scanned through a list of my friends that I could call, I didn’t have it in me to do it. I needed someone to “be there” on the other end of the line, someone who could share my burden.
Those are the times I would turn to Facebook. I would share some of my deep emotions, whether “I’m having a bad day” or “I’m missing her” or “I keep crying, and I know it’s supposed to be good for healing, but still it hurts.”
Then, like my friend who had lost his son, people began sharing their comments and reactions. “Same,” they’d say, for they had lost a friend in Lana, too. “We’re here for you.” “We’re with you.” “You’re not alone in this.”
Just typing those words again now brings tears to my eyes, just as it did then.
What a blessing to have a community to share our burdens, our grief, our loneliness, our pain. What a gift. What a way to lift our spirits. What a way to “be the body of Christ” for one another.
Years later, when I traveled to Italy, I shared my pictures. I shared my videos. I shared my stories. I went live on Facebook from various locations. And people followed me all along my way! “We’ll never get to Italy,” they said, “so it’s nice to see it through your eyes. We feel like we’re there with you.”
People might complain about social media. But for me, it really is social media. It’s a big part of my social life! I check it daily to see what people are up to and to share what’s up with me. I live and work at home, so it’s nice for me to have another way to connect with people through the week. It’s life-giving to me! And, when I share my own ups and downs and how God is walking with me through them, it can be life-giving to others, too.
Now, when I make new friends, we connect on social media. When I’m out speaking, I’ll share my contact information. When I write a book, or do a podcast, or send out a message to thousands, I’ll include a few links where I can stay in touch with people who want to stay in touch with me.
For me, it’s not marketing to people, although it can have that effect. It’s not selling something to someone, although it can sometimes turn into that. Social media is a community. Where friendship happen. And on the deepest level, where love takes place.
Real-life evangelism involves walking through life together with others, celebrating joys and sharing hardships, and sometimes “one beggar showing another beggar where they found food.”
There are lots of ways to build a social media presence! There are lots of tools and techniques to help you sell your product or service or idea to others. But for me, there’s nothing like an organic approach. It fits my style, my personality, my heart, and my own needs for social and spiritual encouragement.
With that in mind, let’s get technical! Here’s how I’ve built my own social media presence… through love!
Be real
Rick Warren has said that people clap for your successes, but they connect with your failures. It can be easy to share only your joys and high points on social media. But when you share your struggles, too, you can connect even deeper.
I shared one day on Facebook about something God was teaching me about divorce. I had never been divorced, but I watched several of my friends go through them. I thought I was being kind when I told one of them that I was still praying that she and her husband would be reconciled. She replied, “You can pray that, Eric, but what I really need is prayer that I would be able to love him, even if we never do reconcile.” That gave me a whole different perspective, and a whole new sensitivity to the topic.
I shared this insight on Facebook, and one of my childhood friends was so touched, he asked if we could get together. We went out for dinner at a local restaurant where I began to share with him, at his request, more stories about how God had been working in my life. That one Facebook post opened the door to a much larger conversation with a friend I hadn’t connected with in years.
And to underscore Rick Warren’s point, at the end of this conversation, it wasn’t the high points that my friend was touched by as much as when I told him about one of my own failings in my own family life. He said he had the same thing happen, and it was his best takeaway from our hours long conversation.
I’ve found the same as I’ve addressed other topics, inviting input and feedback along the way. Not trying to just “sell” my idea or product, but to be real about my life and what’s working and not working for me, and they share about their lives.
Rather than creating a highlight reel of your life, be real with your life!
Post pictures (not just text or links)
Facebook (and other social media platforms) give extra credit to photos… photos of food, people, scenery… anything.
A picture os not only worth a thousand words, but it makes for a higher ranking on social media algorithms, too. If you just post text, it can get buried and skipped over. If you just post links, it doesn’t get as high a rating from your friends or from the algorithms. To get the most bang for the buck, the most attention, post a picture. Tag someone in it. Add a location. Add a hashtag, like #howtowriteabook! By adding these extra details, your post will get extra credit with the algorithms. The platform will reward you by putting your post in front of more people.
I’ve learned that if I include a link anywhere in my post, that link is automatically turned into my “picture” that accompanies the post. While that’s good because it adds a picture, it doesn’t actually work as well as if I had shared a picture directly. Why? Because a link takes people off of the social media site, and because of that, the algorithm gives you a lower ranking, showing it to fewer people. They want people to stay on their site!
So even when the main goal of my post is to share a link, I try to upload a picture first, maybe even a picture of whatever I’m sharing. By doing this, the picture is highlighted, rather than the link. Sometimes I’ll include the link in my post, but other times I’ll include the link in the comments. My post gets more views, and the link is still there for those who want to click it.
Upload videos directly (not just links to videos)
If you want to share a video, upload it directly to each platform, not just a link to the video on some other platform. This is for the same reason as when posting links… the platform wants you to stay on their platform. So I usually try to upload a video directly to Facebook or Instagram or LinkedIn or TikTok if I can. If I can’t and really do want people to watch the whole thing on YouTube, I’ll upload a picture from the video first, or a short clip from the video, then include the link to the longer version. This seems to get more traction for my post than if I had just shared the link to the video. Plus, people can grasp quickly what I’m sharing, rather than having to decide if they want to click over to watch the video when they don’t even know what it’s about.
Tell stories
One way to tell people about what’s important to you is to tell them what you want them to do, like “Go watch The Chosen!” But there’s another way, and that’s through storytelling. Here’s one of my most popular posts, which struck me as odd at the time, but which somehow resonated with people.
“I was taking care of my daughter’s snail this month while she was out of town. I thought it was doing fine until it stopped moving. For several days. After ten days, I was going to pull it’s bubble maker and tell her I was sorry, I had killed it. But the night before, I was was watching an episode of The Chosen where Jesus prayed for a little girl who had died and brought her back to life. I thought it was unlikely to happen in this case, but I really felt bad for this little snail. I prayed that God would raise it back to life. The next morning, I saw the little snail, clinging to the top of the bubble maker, with fresh bubbles flowing over it! It was alive! I couldn’t believe it. I fell to my knees and praised God, not knowing if this was my prayers, or if the snail had just been resting those previous days. But what I do know is I had been inspired to pray, and I prayed. And now the snail’s alive. Praise God!”
That one story got more reactions than most of my posts for the whole year. People commented about how it gave them faith to pray for situations in their own lives. Some people asked me to turn it into a children’s book. Some people told me about their experiences watching The Chosen. And the more people that commented and reacted, the more frequently the post was displayed to others who then also commented and reacted.
How did a show impact you? Share it! How did a message touch you? Share it! How did a Bible passage speak to you this morning? Share it! Not just a link to a show or a message or a Bible passage (which you can still post, possibly along with a picture related to it). If it spoke to you, then it might speak to others. Sometimes it’s okay to just share a simple “thought for the day.” But many times, people are wanting to hear how that thought impacted you.
Ask questions
One of my friends gets interactions on almost every post he makes. I couldn’t figure out why until I realized he was often asking others what they thought about an idea. He would share his thoughts, but then he would ask for their input… a key to being “social”!
One of the questions I’ve posted online has been simple but still surprising every time: “How can I pray for you today?” I don’t do this to win social media points. But I do this when I really have some time and want to pray for those who are needing prayer in their lives.
I was at an all-day prayer retreat one day, and our group was praying about everything that came to our minds. We then decided to go to social media and ask people what was on their minds and offered to pray for them as well. We had set aside the whole day to pray, so we were glad for the responses. And people starting pouring out their prayer requests. The more people who posted, the more people saw the post, and those people then added their prayers. The prayers came in all day long, and we prayed all day long.
This wasn’t a trick. It was a natural outgrowth of what we were already doing and wanted to keep doing for others, just as we knew we would want others to do for us. Can the golden rule be as simple as that? It can!
Like and respond to others
For me, social media is not a one way street, although others sometimes use it that way. Being social means liking and commenting on other’s posts at time, too. Get to know people. Care for people. Love people! What a great way to meet new people and enjoy lifetime friendships! If you use it this way, I believe everyone will be happier, including the algorithms. :)
Create Reels, #hashtags, and change profile and background pix
Trends tend to rise and fall. Reels, short videos, adding music, adding hashtags can all help or detract, depending on the platform and period in history.
Take time to experiment, see what others are doing, give it a shot for yourself!
By the way, whenever I change my profile or background picture, social media seems to think that’s a big deal. So if I have a really big announcement, and a picture of me or an event I want to highlight, I feature it on my profile or background picture.
Adding features like @feature or @highlight or @followers can also boost a post, but like all boosts, if you boost all the time, people don’t know what you think is really important. Sometimes save the big stuff for the big stuff!
The moral of the story
Social media can be a horrible, ugly place. But it can also be a place of life, of life lived well and in community.
There’s a story about a traveler who was about to move from one village to another. As he walked on the road between the two, he met an old man.
The traveler asked the man what the people were like in the village ahead. The old man asked, “What were the people like where you came from?”
The traveler said, “They were awful, rude people. I had no friends; people were trying to cheat me and insult me at every turn. I was miserable.”
The old man said, “I’m sorry, the people in this village are just like those people. You will not be happy here, either.” The traveler nodded and continued on.
Later that day, another traveler approached the same old man and asked, “What kinds of people live in this village? I’m leaving my old village, and I’m looking for a new home.”
The old man asked, “What were the people like where you came from?”
The traveler said, “They were wonderful people. I had many good friends, business was strong, and it was a most hospitable village. I wish I didn’t have to leave.”
The old man said, “You’ll find the people just like that here, too.”
What’s the moral of the story as it relates to social media? I’ll let you work that one out for yourself. :)
Remember: “If you don’t make time for friends, you won’t have any.”
Chapter 4. How to create a podcast
When I talk about podcasting, I’m talking about using audio or video to get your message to as many people as possible. The beauty of this method of sharing your message is that there are so many ways to do it!
One of the easiest ways is to go live on Facebook and share whatever’s on your heart for as long as you’d like. Your Facebook friends and family will be alerted that you’re going live, and they can click and watch you as you talk in real time, or you can save your video for 30 days or permanently so they can go back and watch anytime.
These options weren’t available back when the iPod first came out and people were still listening to recorded radio-style programs on their music players. Even though the iPod has since come and gone, the word “podcasting” is still used to share your message via audio. And now video. And now live!
Here are a few ways you can use podcasts.
Where are your people?
Your first goal is to determine where your people are currently listening to their music and messages. If they’re on Spotify, go for Spotify. If they’re on YouTube, go for YouTube. If they’re on Apple podcasts, go to Apple podcasts. Or if they’re on Facebook, as I said earlier, go to Facebook!
Spotify has a nice way to upload podcasts that they will then distribute to all the other podcasting services, such as Apple or Amazon.
One of the podcasts I upload to Spotify this way is called “Using Your Gifts with Eric Elder and Friends.” In this video podcast, I use zoom to interview my friends who are using their gifts in cool ways for the kingdom. I record and edit the videos (covered in later chapters), then upload the podcast to Spotify.
You can find it by searching for “Eric Elder.” I have another podcast called “Harry Potter: Lessons in Friendship,” where I talk to two other hosts about each of the Harry Potter books and what makes the friendships in the book work, what breaks them, and how all of us can make our friendships better. Again, this is a zoom recording, which I later edit and upload. Just search for “Eric Elder and Harry Potter” to find it.
A current limitation on Spotify’s distribution is that while I can upload and offer video podcasts on Spotify, they only distribute the audio portion to the other services. Alternately, I could upload all of my videos directly to Apple or Amazon or any of the other podcasting platforms, including YouTube.
Recording the podcast
For these interview-style podcasts, I don’t have special equipment. I simply use the microphone that’s built into my laptop, then I hit “record” on zoom to save the video to my computer.
I edit the video by trimming off the front and back ends of the podcast at least, and sometimes trim out some of the video within the podcast. Sometimes I’ll add some intro and outro music and a graphic at the beginning or end of each episode using a few tools that I’ve downloaded for free, such as Audacity for audio or iMovie or DaVinci Resolve Final Cut. More about those in later chapters!
I also sometimes simply record a video or audio on my phone, using the free camera app or the audio recording app. You could buy a USB microphone to plug into your system, but that’s usually more than I need for these interviews.
Now, for another podcast I do, usually a series that I upload to YouTube, it’s just me at a microphone sitting by my piano, which also has a microphone. Since I’m often singing and playing the piano on these episodes, these external microphones help to create a very listenable experience.
With all of my podcasts, I usually run the audio portions through a website at auphonic.com to level out the volume throughout my entire podcast, whether it’s variations in people’s voices, or between music and speaking. This is an extra touch that’s not necessary, but I’ve found it can bring everything up to an even level so listeners don’t have to turn their volume up and down throughout the podcast to hear better.
Defining your podcast
It’s easy to start a podcast. It’s also easy to stop a podcast after only seven or eight or fifteen episodes because it can turn out to be more work to think of content, create, edit, and upload it! Knowing this going in it’s best to have not only an idea of what you’d like to talk about, but to plan out at least 30 topics on that subject that you’d like to discuss over 30 episodes. If you can make it to 30, you’ll have better luck continuing beyond that!
Your podcast could be interviews, monologues, a Bible study, a book discussion, or whatever message you’re wanting to get out. But up front, make a list of not only the subject but 30 topics you’d like to discuss.
Go ahead and brainstorm them just like you were brainstorming the chapters of a book. Each topic will become an episode. If you shoot for 30, you could go for 50 or 100 or 300. But if you shoot for five or ten, you might give up after only a handful.
You can also think in terms of seasons or years. Maybe you have 10-12 episodes one season, and 10-12 the next, and 10-12 the next. This can help you break down the process into manageable chunks, but still give you enough momentum to keep going after a season break.
Recording your podcast example
Here’s a sample of how I record using Zoom.
Zoom is a free download that allows you to have an online video meeting with one or more people. You could also use Teams or Skype to do the same.
When I open Zoom, I have an option to record the meeting using the “Record” button. If it doesn’t appear on your screen, you might have to click the three dots to open an extended menu. Click Record, then click either “onto this computer” or “onto the cloud.” I use “onto this computer” as my cloud storage is limited. (Your situation may be the reverse, as you have more storage in the cloud!)
Tip for musicians: One option I use when recording music at my piano is to turn on “original sound for musicians.” This uses a better quality audio tool to preserve all the music that I’m playing. For normal meetings, I don’t turn on this option, as the normal mode filters out background noise, making it better for normal speech.
When my meeting is over, I simply turn off the recording by pressing the square “Stop” button. Or I simply end the meeting and the recording stops as well. Important: keep Zoom open after stopping the recording or ending the meeting so the recording has time to save to your computer or the cloud. This may take from a few seconds to up to a minute or two.
Now you can access your recording and upload it as is, or do some trimming or editing using the tools I mentioned in the chapter on editing audio and video. That’s also where you can spice things up and add intro and outro music, graphics, text, and more to your podcast.
Next, I create a podcast, adding a title, description, and some cover art.
Then I create an episode, adding an episode title, description, and other information, such as a season number and episode number. Perhaps start with season “1” and have 10-12 episodes in that season, then the next year call it season “2” and have 10-12 episodes in that season. For my current podcast, I have planned out 25 episodes for the year, so I call it season 1 and number each episode accordingly.
Finally, upload the audio or video file that you’ve created and edited. You’ll have a chance to preview your podcast before publishing it live. Choose a publication date, whether it’s the day you upload it or a date in the past that it first aired elsewhere or a date in the future when you want it to become available. I have a friend who does a daily devotional. He can queue up several podcasts to be released each day, whether it’s going to be days, weeks, or months in the future.
Hit save and watch your podcast go live when you’ve chosen it to go live!
Distributing your podcast
Pick the platforms where you want to send your podcast. You can choose from the options Spotify partners with such as Apple Podcasts or Amazon Podcasts. You’ll want a title and description for your podcast, plus keywords and episode titles. Numbering your podcasts in the title isn’t necessary as the number will appear automatically next to each podcast.
Monetizing your podcast
Oftentimes you can just offer your podcast for free to anyone who wants to listen. But there are some options to monetize your podcast, such as charging a subscription fee, such as $2 or $7 or $10 a month.
As a podcast listener, I have never paid to listen to a podcast, so I wasn’t too surprised when I didn’t have any takers when I tried offer a podcast for a monthly fee. But just because I don’t pay and I couldn’t find takers to pay doesn’t mean you can’t (or at least try!)
You can also make money by offering a “tip jar” for listeners to help you out, buy you a coffee, or buy some merch that goes with your podcast. Spotify and others offer this kind of “donation” option as well as a flat-rate fee.
A friend of mine makes money on his podcasts by finding sponsors. He has certain products he likes to use, so he contacts them directly and asks if they’d like to sponsor an episode or series. He’s been able to make $500 a month on sponsorships, and he gives the product or company a plug somewhere within his podcast, whether at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end.
And finally, if your podcast gains popularity, the platform itself might start sending you a portion of their listener fees or ad revenue. I have a friend whose YouTube podcast has become so popular, she makes enough income to support missions projects globally.
The truth is, someone’s going to pay for you to do your podcast, whether it’s you or others. So if you can find a balance that’s a blessing to everyone, that’s a win-win all around!
Sharing your link with the world!
Once your podcast is set up and running, share it with the world!
Send texts, emails, make social media posts, using the seven-touch rule to let people know about your show at least seven times in possibly seven different ways. (My advertising and teaching friends tell me it usually takes seven attempts to get someone to take action on something you’re promoting or teaching.)
You can also post your podcast link on your website or on your business cards (which is covered in a later chapter).
Next, we’ll talk about one of the most specific and popular ways to post your messages online: through a YouTube channel.
Chapter 5. How to create a YouTube channel
Why create a YouTube channel? For starters, YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world, only after Google (which also happens to own YouTube).
More so, YouTube is the go-to platform for all things video. If you have a message to share, and you can turn it into a video, try YouTube!
How to create a “channel”
YouTube lets anyone upload videos for free. If you’ve ever watched a video on YouTube, you’re just a step away from creating your own YouTube channel. YouTube uses your existing email address to track the videos you watch, so that becomes your YouTube account by default.
To create a channel, simply open YouTube in your browser or in the YouTube app, then click on your account profile—usually the picture of you or an icon of a default person in the upper right of your browser.
Next click “Create a channel.”
You can now begin customizing your channel by adding a display name, a handle (which begins with the @ sign, such as @ericelder), a description, and links to your website or sites. For me, my YouTube channel is at youtube.com/@ericelder.
Upload a video
Next, upload a video! Click the “Create” button or the + sign in the upper right corner, then click “Upload videos.” You can drag and drop or select a video or several videos from your device.
While your video is uploading, you can choose a title, a description, and set various settings, such as adding the video to a particular playlist (create a new playlist by clicking “new playlist” if you don’t have one) and add the video to it. You can also choose whether you want the video to be “public,” “unlisted,” “private,” or schedule a date when it will go public.
Once your video has uploaded, you can edit the video using YouTube’s editing tool, such as trimming off the beginning, end, or even segments within the video.
Once posted, you can copy and paste the link to your video and share it with others!
The more videos you add, the more likely your YouTube channel will grow, both organically (because you have more content), and algorithmically (because YouTube rewards users who upload lots of videos by increasing their rank and showing them to more people).
Invite others to watch
YouTube rewards creators who promote their channels and gets lots and lots of subscribers. They make their money by keeping people watching on their platform! So if you get more people watching your channel, it makes YouTube very, very happy! And you get your message out to more people! That’s a win-win! There are incentives for every level you hit in terms of subscribers.
For instance, when you get 1,000 subscribers, you can begin to share in the profits that YouTube makes on ads that are displayed on your videos (before 1,000 subscribers, YouTube keeps all the profits). So there’s a big incentive to get to 1,000. As of today, I have 692 subscribers after several few years of posting over 200 videos. So don’t be discouraged if you don’t hit those levels right away. Then again, do all you can to bring people to your site and you could reach those levels much more quickly than me.
The main thing for me is to get my message out to as many people as can benefit from it. So by creating and uploading videos, I trust that God will use those messages to reach the people He wants to reach. Can God do it without your help? Sure! But can He also use you and your wisdom and the wisdom of others to reach others? Of course. So I still try to do all I can to reach people, and I trust God to do all I can’t.
“Subscribe and hit the bell”
It can feel awkward promoting yourself or your own channel. But sometimes people just need to know what to do to help you reach more people. So when telling others about your channel, encourage them also to “subscribe and hit the bell.” When someone subscribes to your channel, your videos will appear on their YouTube homepage. When someone hits the bell, that will send them a notification whenever you post new videos, rather than simply appearing on their homepage.
Creating playlists and podcasts
You can group your videos together by creating a playlist or a podcast. They’re really similar things, just known by different terms.
Click “Create,” then “New playlist.” Give your playlist a name and add some videos to it that you’ve uploaded!
In my case, I have a playlist for all the videos in this book from when I taught it as a zoom class. The playlist is called “Let’s Get Technical.” I also have a playlist called “Using Your Gifts” where I’ve put all my video interviews that I’ve done with friends who are using their gifts in cool ways. I also have a playlist of music videos I’ve created featuring piano music of my own or my sister’s, Marilyn Byrnes, called “Mesmerizing Music Videos.”
To create a podcast, simply choose “Create,” then “New podcast,” and start adding videos to your podcast. I’ve created a podcast of my videos based on the Harry Potter books called “Harry Potter: Lessons in Friendship.”
Tips for growing your channel
Here are a few tips from my friends and the developers at Youtube to grow your channel:
Post on a regular schedule, such as the same time and same day of the week or month.
Create both shorts (under 60 second clips) and longer segments from your podcast for highlights, then include links to the full episodes in the description. My “shorts” sometimes get hundreds of views while my full-length videos (20-60 minutes) sometimes get under a hundred views. The short clips help get my message out, but also help to promote my longer clips if people are interested.
Add music to your video. Music helps the listener and can also attract people who like the music you play. Note that if you use music that you don’t own, it can send royalties to the owner of the music every time someone watches your podcast… but you can’t monetize that episode for yourself.
Customize your “chicklet,” that initial graphic that people see when deciding which video to watch. Attention-grabbing text or headlines or a carefully selected shot from your podcast can help with those clicks. When uploading your podcast, you can also upload a custom graphic, or you can let YouTube choose a still image from your video. If you don’t like the one YouTube chooses, you can ask it to generate a couple more, and choose the one you like best.
For titles, use verbiage with an “itch” that needs to be scratched. Humans are curious and gravitate towards questions, controversy, or something interesting or unresolved so they can try to resolve it.
Go live with your podcast, either directly through YouTube’s live features or from within Zoom if doing interviews. Going live notifies people that something is happening right now if they’ll click on it, so it can bring more viewers who are curious.
We live in a crazy age that we can reach people in countries all over the world instantaneously. Make use of it! For God and for good.
Chapter 6. How to create an audiobook
If you’ve written a book, it’s a fairly simple next step to create an audio version for those who like to listen to your content. And many people do! It’s nice to be able to listen to a book while driving, working out, doing yard work, or other times when picking up a book is either inconvenient or impossible.
Historically, when selling my own books, about 80% of my readers have bought paperbacks, 15% eBooks, and 5% audiobooks. But those numbers are changing as more and more people are listening.
And if you don’t have an audiobook, it’s like leaving money on the table… and missing out on reaching people who might benefit from your content. So here’s your guide to creating an audiobook.
By the way, I’ve included a BONUS chapter at the end of this book to use AI—artificial intelligence— to help you create your audiobook in your own voice or someone else’s. So if after reading this chapter, you’d like a little assistance, check out the BONUS chapter at the end!
Where to put your audiobooks?
I’ve put my audiobooks on several platforms:
I put them on Amazon, using ACX.com (owned by Amazon), which feeds content to listeners who use Audible (also owned by Amazon).
I put them on Spotify, using findawayvoices.com (owned by Spotify) to upload the audiobooks and distribute them to several other platforms, including ACX if you want.
I put them on my own website (owned by me!) at inspiringbooks.com. So when I upload the audio files to my own website, I can offer it for sale directly to my readers as a download and keep nearly all the proceeds, minus the online payment fees (covered in a later chapter on payment systems).
The fourth platform I’ll describe more in the BONUS chapter, as I’ve used Google Books to create and distribute “auto-narrated” books from my typed versions of my books.
Creating your audiobook for Audible
Creating an audiobook on ACX.com is very similar to creating a paperback or ebook on KDP (Amazon’s print and ebook website). First, create a free account on ACX.com. Then “Claim your title” if you already have a paperback or ebook on Amazon.
For this example, I’ll be creating an audiobook for my book called My Stories of Faith.
I simply click “Claim my title” then search for my book. Once I see it, I claim it! All the information about the book (title, keywords, descriptions, etc.) is pulled from my previously uploaded book so I don’t have to retype. Plus, the audiobook will then be linked to the other versions of the book so readers can choose whichever format they like when they find it on Amazon.
Recording your audio
I already own some nice microphones for recording my piano music so I use those (AKG Perception 200), but they are much higher end than is necessary for audiobooks. You can use software to enhance your voice and add special effects to make it sound more rich.
A simple USB microphone can work just fine for recording an audiobook. There are hundreds of such mics, but here’s one that’s currently good for a good price: the FIFINE USB Computer Microphone for $30 from Amazon.
For software, I use GarageBand, which is free on my Mac and for any Apple app stores (desktop, laptop, tablet, phone). I also use Audacity from time to time, which is free for both Macs or Windows computers from audacityteam.org.
To record, I simply open GarageBand, select my input as “mic or line,” then create a new project. I’ll usually test speaking into the microphone to see how close or far from the mic I should be, see if I should turn up or down the volume on the input device (either on the microphone itself or in the audio input setting in software). I want to keep my voice in the green, seldom in the yellow, and never in the red, or it will begin to break up or crackle if the input level is too loud.
When I’m ready, I press the “record” button and start reading a chapter! I’ll usually record one chapter at a time. If I make a mistake or stumble over words, I’ll just keep recording and start that sentence or paragraph again, waiting till I finish my chapter to stop the recording and do my edits.
After recording
After I record my audio, I usually “filter” my voice a bit to enhance it. For me, I often use “Male Narrator,” which deepens my vocals and reduces background shooshing sounds.
I also like to use an external website when I’m all finished to level out my entire audio file (if my voice drops too quiet or raises too high, Auphonic can level everything out so listeners don’t have to strain to hear me or be overwhelmed by a sudden increase in volume).
I record each chapter in one file, so when I’m done recording, I’ll have one file per chapter, plus a file for an intro or conclusion, and a simple recording stating the title, the author, and the narrator, like this:
“You’re listening to My Stories of Faith, written and narrated by Eric Elder.”
I’ll also record one sentence at the very end of the book, usually as the last sentence of the last chapter, that says, “Thanks for listening to My Stories of Faith, written and narrated by Eric Elder. You’ve reached the end.”
The statement “You’ve reached the end,” or some other wording that says “the end” is required by Spotify and ACX to let listeners know there’s no more!
I’ll share more about recording and editing your audio in the next chapter, “How to edit your audio.”
Creating your audiobook for Spotify
When you’re finished recording all your chapters, you can create a free account on findawayvoices.com, which is owned by Spotify and used for their audiobook services.
Findawayvoices can also send your audiobook to other platforms, such as Audible, which is convenient, but currently costs a 20% cut to Spotify from your profits on Audible for this option. So it’s up to you if it’s worth it to upload it yourself to ACX for Audible customers, or just have Spotify send it to Audible for you.
Creating your audiobook for your own website
If you’re the main person pointing people to your books anyway, you can keep more control and keep more of the revenue by simply uploading the audio files to your own website and eliminate those in the middle! Those in the middle are great when they’re also helping you find readers for your book, but if you’re doing all the work anyway, you can do this yourself, too!
Just upload your files to your website, for instance using the “Media Upload” link inside WordPress. Then create a page that is private except to those who have the link.
Next, create a payment button, such as from PayPal or Venmo, which I’ll cover in a later chapter. Then when people pay for their audiobook, you can either display a confirmation page that has a link to your audiobook or you can send them an email yourself that includes the link.
We’ll look at editing audio next.
Chapter 7. How to edit audio
I love editing! Why? Because I can present my best possible self to those I’m trying to reach!
It’s not that I try to make things look like they’re real when they’re not. It’s that I like taking what I’ve already got and making it as pleasant and listenable as I can for my audience.
I’ve learned from experience, listening to my own recording and the recordings of others that bad audio discourages listening, whether I’ve stuttered, coughed, stumbled over words, or had odd background noises. But with a little editing, I’ve been able to clean up those messes and make something presentable!
Recording in Garageband
I often use GarageBand on my Mac for recording and editing, which is available for free on Apple devices. I’ve also used Audacity, which is also a free download and works on both Mac and Windows computers.
For the example in this book, I’m going to use a simple USB microphone that I mentioned in the last chapter, called a FIFINE USB Computer Microphone for about $30 from Amazon.
The microphone comes with a USB cable that I can plug directly into my computer. I also use an adapter to convert the larger size USB 3 to the smaller USB-C which my computer uses.
When I plug in the cable and adapter, an option pops up on my MacBook asking if I’d like to use this new microphone. I select “Use.” Then I can test it by opening GarageBand and recording something.
When I open GarageBand, it asks me which project I’d like to open, so I choose an “empty project.”
Next it asks what type of track I’d like to create, and I choose “Mic or line,” then select the input microphone from those available, in this case, my USB microphone.
A new track is created, and I can see a little green bar showing me the sound that is coming into that track. When I talk into the mic, I can see the green bar rise and fall with the amount of sound coming into the system. The microphone I’m using has a dial on it so I can adjust the input volume. I test it by talking into the mic in the same way I plan to record, and adjusting the volume as I test to try to keep the green bar near the top of the green or sometimes yellow range, but never hitting the red range. If it hits the red, it’s too loud and will “clip” the sound, making the sound crackle or pop at those points, and there’s no easy way to fix that after recording. So it’s always better to record with the volume staying in the green and yellow range.
Next I can press the red “record” button and start talking, doing a test of just a few words or phrases, then pressing the record button again to stop recording. Then I press “play” to listen to the sound.
If I like it, I’m ready to record! If I notice something that needs to be changed, such as being too close or too far from the mic, or hearing pops when I say words with the letters “p” or “t” or “ch.” Some adjustments may include adjusting my distance from the mic, or adjusting the volume dial, or by using a circular nylon “popper stopper” between my mouth and my mic.
I bought a popper stopper online for cheap, but you can make one yourself by putting a nylon stocking over an embroidery hoop! (I’ve done that, too!) By speaking through the nylon, with the mic on the other side, it cuts down on the amount of breath that gets through to the mic.
Trimming audio
If I like what I hear, I sometimes simply trim out the silence or dead space from the beginning and end of the audio and I’m done!
To trim out a segment in GarageBand, I make sure the recording is selected (in this case, the recording will have a white bar at top and bright blue for the track). I move the playhead (the vertical line that shows where the track is currently being played) to where I want to make the trim by grabbing the top of the playhead and dragging it to where I want, or by tapping in the timeline area above the recorded segment. I make the cut in the audio by using the Edit menu and selecting “Split regions at playhead.” I also use the shortcut that is shown next to that option, which is to press the “Command” and “t” keys at the same time.
Once split, I can select the entire clip to be removed by tapping on the white bar at the top and deleting it with the delete key. I do the same to cut out the silence at the end, using the same sequence: I tap to put the playhead where I want the split, I press “Command” and “t” together, and I tap on and delete the extraneous segment. If nothing splits when you take that action, you might need to be sure to select the track again that you want to split.
When cutting off the beginning and end, I usually leave about one second of silence at the beginning, and several seconds of silence at the end. This makes for a smooth listening experience when listening to one track after another.
I then listen to the whole segment again using the “play” button. If I like what I hear, I’m ready to export the track to a file by selecting “Share,” then “Export song to disk.” I name the file and choose the filetype, such as MP3, and click “Export.”
Then I’ll find the file on the computer, open it, and play it back to see how it sounds.
Recording in Audacity
Here’s an example doing the same thing in Audacity, a free software program that works on both Macs and Windows available for download from audacityteam.org by going to their website and clicking “Download.”
To record in Audacity, open the app and click the “AudioSetup” button to make sure your microphone is connected and recognized. In my case, I’ll choose my USB microphone from the “Recording device” menu. I also check to make sure my “Playback device” is selected properly so I can hear the playback, for instance, “MacBook Speakers.”
Now I do a test recording by pressing the red “Record” button.
As I record, I’ll see a green bar showing how loud or soft my input is. I adjust the input level if needed on my microphone or in the software so my recording stays in the green or yellow range, but never the red. I then press “Play” to listen to my recording.
If I like it, I just trim off the silence at the beginning by clicking directly in the track where I want the split to start, then dragging my cursor to the left across the region all the way to the beginning which I want to split off. That section will then be highlighted, and I press the “Delete” to delete that section. In Audacity, the entire recording will shift to the left to automatically close the gap created by the deleted section. I do the same to trim off the end.
Then I press the “Play” button to see how it sounds. If I like it, I save it by choosing the “File” menu, then “Export audio.” I give the file a name and press “Export.”
Adjusting volume
If I find the volume is too loud or too quiet in my exported file, I can adjust the volume for the whole track, or adjust it section by section within the recording.
To adjust an entire track in GarageBand, I can slide the volume slider, which is to the left of the track, to the right or left while playing the track. I aim for the top of the green bar, no higher than the yellow, and never touching the red.
In Audacity, I adjust the same way, using the slider that shows up as green when playing back the audio, and stay within the green and yellow, never red.
Another option in both of these programs to automatically increase the volume of the entire track to the maximize the volume is called “Normalization.” I’ll sometimes just use this setting when exporting a file to save the file with the fullest volume possible. Here’s how.
In Audacity, I select the “Effects” menu, then “Volume and normalization,” then “Loudness” and click “Preview” to hear how it sounds. If I like it, I click “Apply.”
In GarageBand, I choose “Settings,” “Advanced,” then I check the box for “Auto Normalize” to export at full volume.
One final step I like to take with all of my audio is to run it through a different type of “normalizer” on a website auphonic.com. I use this especially for interviews where two speakers are using different microphones or have different speaking volumes. By uploading my exported audio file from GarageBand or Audacity to auphonic.com, I then click “New Production.” I choose various settings here, such as creating a “mono” file from a stereo file, especially for just people talking, and I can click boxes to filter out background noises or hums. Auphonic especially helps me to level out the volume of each speaker to be at the same level. For my podcasts that include live music, this produces a nicely leveled out track for both my speaking and my singing or playing. I also save my files with music as “stereo” files if I’ve used two or more mics to record.
If you’d rather have more control and adjust the volume manually within each track, such as where you notice just a few spots that are too quiet or too loud, you can adjust those spots on your own using the “Mix” menu, then “Show Automation” in GarageBand.
Once you turn on the “automation,” you can click anywhere on the yellow volume line that now appears on the track to make a “dot.” Click another spot to make another dot. Then select and drag the dot or section where you want to raise or lower the volume. I use this technique especially for my music when I want to increase or decrease the volume for the best possible effect.
Adding effects
Finally, you can add special effects to your track to give your recordings some extra “punch.” GarageBand and Audacity include several default effects, such as “Male Narrator” or “Female Pop Diva.” You can experiment with these different effects to see how you like them. If the defaults are good, you’re done and you can export your file! If they need some additional tweaking, you can go to the “Track Controls” or “EQ Settings” and adjust the dials to make your voice sound more “present” or “distant,” reduce irritating tones, or bring out the best of your voice.
When you’re happy with the sound of your entire track, export and save the file!
Chapter 8. How to edit video
Let’s take a look at editing a video.
First, we’ll explore iMovie for Apple devices, which is available for free. Second, we’ll look at DaVinci Resolve, which is a more advanced, professional-grade video editing software that works on both Apple and Windows devices, and is also free.
Either way, the concepts are similar whatever software you use, so I’ll share how I edit videos in DaVinci Resolve.
Editing with iMovie
Let’s start with iMovie. For those of you with Android devices, you can do a quick search for “iMovie alternatives” to find similar apps for Windows or Android devices.
I’ll start by using iMovie on my iPhone. To begin, I’ll open iMovie on my iPhone. When I open the app, there’s an option to start a new project and select either “Magic Movie” for a quick automatic edit or “Movie” to create one from scratch. I’ll chose “Movie” so I have more control.
Then I open a new project and select a video from my gallery. This is a 40-minute video of my testimony and a song that I shared at a recovery group meeting.
I can trim off the beginning and the end of the video by swiping to the desired points, tapping on the video, and selecting “Split” to cut the unwanted sections. I simply tap on the sections I’ve just cut off and click “Delete” to delete them.
Adding titles
Next, I’ll add a title to the video.
I tap on the video timeline, select the “Title” option (the “T” icon), and choose “Reveal style.”
Then I tap the text box, edit the title to say what I’d like, such as “Eric’s Testimony,” and adjusted its position on the screen by dragging it with my finger.
The title automatically fades in and out, which adds a nice touch to the video.
Adding music and adjusting volume
iMovie allows you to add background music, which can enhance the mood of your video. Here’s how I do it.
I tap the “Gear” icon to add a theme soundtrack and also select fade-in and fade-out effects.
To control the volume, I tap on the video and adjust the volume slider to increase the level of my voice.
Then I can add background music by tapping the “+” button, selecting a track, and adjusting the volume so it doesn’t overpower my voice.
Adding photos and transitions
I can also add photos for additional punch.
I click the “+” button and choose a photo from my library.
iMovie will automatically add a transition between the photo and the video. I can tap on the transition icon (which looks like a bowtie), then I can change to different effects like “Slide” or “Wipe.”
Finalizing and sharing
Once the editing is done, I click “Done” at the top of the screen, and iMovie allows me to rename the project and export the video by tapping on the “Share” icon, either saving the video to my files or sharing it directly via email or social media.
Editing with DaVinci Resolve
For more advanced projects, I use DaVinci Resolve. It’s a powerful, high-end video editing software available for both Apple and Windows devices. While the learning curve is steeper compared to iMovie, it offers incredible precision for professional work.
I’ve used DaVinci Resolve to edit feature-length films like ballets and musicals and puppet operas! But I also use it for simpler projects like YouTube videos.
You can download DaVinci Resolve from blackmagicdesign.com. Click on “Products” and search for DaVinci Resolve and click “Download.”
To edit a video, open Resolve and click “New Project.”
Name your project. For this example, I’ll name it “Eric’s Testimony.”
Click the “Edit” icon at the bottom of the screen, then drag and drop a video file into the “Master Clip”section. When prompted, choose whether to match the project’s frame rate to the frame rate of the video, and your filename will appear. Drag it down to the timeline to begin trimming and cutting the video.
To trim the video, scroll through the timeline using the red slider bar. You can zoom in or out with the plus and minus buttons.
Then use the razor blade tool to cut sections of the video. For instance, if I want to cut out the introduction, I find the location where I start speaking, select the razor blade icon, and click on the video to make a split. Then I right click on the part I want to delete and click my “Delete” key. To delete and also shift the video to the left to close the gap that’s been created at the same time, I click the “Shift” key and the “Delete” key. This is called a “Ripple Delete.”
I can continue cutting out segments of the video using the razor blade tool to trim off the end, and to trim out stumbles or stammers or long silences.
Adding titles and effects
To add a title, I place the cursor where I want the title, such as at the beginning of the video.
Then I click the “Effects” button, click on “Titles,”and choose the title style (for instance, a scrolling title).
I drag the title to the timeline above the video, then edit the text of the title in the “Inspector” panel on the right. I can position the title to the left, right, or center, and adjust its size and scroll speed.
Adjusting audio levels
To adjust the audio track, I simply tap on the segment of the video I want to adjust, hover over the audio bar (below the video bar), and drag the volume line up or down.
If I find my voice is too loud or soft throughout the video, I’ll usually use an external tool like Auphonic at auphonic.com to normalize the audio levels and remove background noise.
Saving the video
To save the video, I export it using the “Deliver” tab (the icon that looks like a rocket ship). I’ll usually choose YouTube for the format, as I like its defaults, then I name the file and select where to save it.
I click “Add to render queue,” then click “Render All” to finalize the video.
Uploading to YouTube
Once the video is ready, I’ll usually upload it to YouTube, which we looked at in an earlier chapter. I’ll review again here how I upload it.
First, I go to YouTube Studio by visiting youtube.com, then, if I’m not already signed in, I’ll click “Sign in.”
I can then click the “Create” button at the top right corner, and then select “Upload a Video.” From there, I drag and drop the video I just exported from DaVinci Resolve onto the upload window, give it a title, write a description, and choose how and when I want to share it: publicly, privately, or unlisted.
Watch some examples
DaVinci Resolve has allowed me to create pro-length and quality movies, allowing me to mix camera angles, adjust color quality, add graphics, blur backgrounds—everything necessary for a high-end production.
If you go to my YouTube channel you can see hundreds of videos I’ve created just like this! They’re organized into music, messages, podcasts, and shows I’ve produced. I’ve taken my movies to local movie theaters and held screenings for my family and friends. It’s so cool to see a movie you’ve created on the big screen! But it’s also just as cool to share a link to it on YouTube and know that viewers all around the world can watch with just a click. If you’d like to see my YouTube channel and all the videos I’ve created, just visit: youtube.com/@ericelder.
Chapter 9. How to create business cards
I love creating print products to promote my outreaches, whether books or music or musicals.
I’ve used Vistaprint to print business cards, bookmarks, postcards, notecards, flyers, banners, and display stands. I love their quality and their price. They’re fast and efficient, and they even have mailing services so I can upload a mailing list and have them print and mail my cards to others.
Let’s look at several types of products and how to create them.
Creating business cards
For example, I have a business card that says, “This is your ticket,” and it’s shaped like an actual ticket. It directs people to my website, ericelder.com, where they can access my books, videos, music, and more. It’s a fun, memorable way to leave my information with people. On the back, it shares additional resources like my flagship website theranch.org, where people can find inspiring faith stories.
Here’s how I create them.
First, I go to VistaPrint at vistaprint.com and browse their designs or upload my own.
I’ll choose one of their templates and customize from there. I can choose a paper type, like standard, deluxe, or even plastic, choose the types of corners I’d like, whether rounded or square, and choose the finish, whether matte, glossy, or raised foil. I can also upload my own logo, artwork, or images that align with my branding.
Currently, you can print as few as 100 cards for about $18. The more you order, the lower the cost per card, for example 1,000 cards for less than $50. Depending on the price you pay, you can have your cards printed and shipped within a week.
I can continue filling out the information I want from the template, such as my name, organization, phone number, website, and email address, then adjust the layout as needed. If I want more text or images, I can click onto the template, then change the fonts and colors, then preview the card before finalizing.
I can also add text or graphics to the back of the cards for an extra fee. Some people prefer blank backs so they can write personal notes, while others opt for more information or artwork. Also keep in mind that glossy finishes can add punch, but they can be harder to write on.
First, I go to VistaPrint at vistaprint.com and browse their designs or upload my own.
I’ll choose one of their templates and customize from there. I can choose a paper type, like standard, deluxe, or even plastic, choose the types of corners I’d like, whether rounded or square, and choose the finish, whether matte, glossy, or raised foil. I can also upload my own logo, artwork, or images that align with my branding.
Currently, you can print as few as 100 cards for about $18. The more you order, the lower the cost per card, for example 1,000 cards for less than $50. Depending on the price you pay, you can have your cards printed and shipped within a week.
I can continue filling out the information I want from the template, such as my name, organization, phone number, website, and email address, then adjust the layout as needed. If I want more text or images, I can click onto the template, then change the fonts and colors, then preview the card before finalizing.
I can also add text or graphics to the back of the cards for an extra fee. Some people prefer blank backs so they can write personal notes, while others opt for more information or artwork. Also keep in mind that glossy finishes can add punch, but they can be harder to write on.
Mock-up cards for books
Now that we’ve looked at one example, the others are variations of the same process, but for different purposes. For instance, I have sometimes created mock-up cards for my books—cards featuring the front and back of my book’s cover. They’re the same as a business card, but they look like my book! Instead of lugging around cases of my books, I can hand out these mock-up cards with my book’s cover, tagline, and a link where people can buy them. This is a convenient way to share your book and keep the conversation going.
Bookmarks
Another great idea for authors is to create bookmarks featuring their books. One of my writing students created a beautiful bookmark that features her book’s cover on one side and the book’s description on the other. It’s a practical and affordable promotional tool, perfect for slipping into a book when you hand a copy to someone, or for promoting your book when you don’t have a copy. This keeps your book’s cover and title in front of readers as they enjoy your book, plus it’s another marketing tool that they can then use to share about your book with others.
Postcards
I’ve sent out Christmas postcards for years, featuring a picture or two on the front and a brief update on the back. In recent years, I’ve used VistaPrint’s mailing service as well, so I can upload my entire spreadsheet of names and addresses, and VistaPrint does the mailing for me.
I’ll still have VistaPrint ship a few dozens postcards directly to my house so I can first write a personal note on the back and send them out myself. I’ve really loved using their mailing list feature so I can reach as many people as possible with these cards. I care about every person I mail my cards to, but sometimes the process of hand printing, addressing, and mailing out my cards doesn’t get done until February or March! This speeds things along and still helps me share updates with those I care about. People tell me they put the cards on their fridge or other places where they remember to pray for us, which I really appreciate!
I recently printed and shipped 185 postcards for an event for $150—less than a dollar each! The current price of a postcard stamp alone is $.56, and a first class letter is $.73. For about $.25 more, I can have all the cards printed and shipped, too, by using a service like this!
Flyers
I’ve also used VistaPrint to create flyers for my ministry, from 8.5”x11” newsletters to 11”x17” double-sided, glossy fold-outs to raise money to make a movie. While I often use email to send out this kind of information and links where people can watch videos, sometimes I like to be able to hand someone a flyer or newsletter so they’ll have it when they get home and be reminded about my project. I’ll also print extras and ask if people would like five or ten to take with them to share with others. It’s a great way to use word-of-mouth to share about your activities.
QR Codes
VistaPrint also offers free QR codes for anything you’d like to link to. I’ve included these codes on cards and flyers, such as links to my website with all my books listed for sale, called inspiringbooks.com, or links to my donation pages or video trailers about my current or upcoming movies.
To generate a QR code, I click on the “QR Code” option, then I enter a URL, such as https://inspiringbooks.com. I can customize the look and feel of the QR code to change corner styles, the size of the dot sizes, or add text to it so people will know where they’re going when they click, such as “Scan the barcode to visit inspiringbooks.com.”
Once designed, I can add the QR code to any of my printed materials.
Endless possibilities
The list seems endless of possibilities of things you can print.
I’ve printed banners as large as 8’x3’ to display the name of my upcoming musical His Name Was Nicholas on a horse-drawn wagon for a Christmas parade carrying singers from the production. Some of the cast also walked alongside the wagon handing out cards to invite people to the show.
One of the items I really love is a table-top stand featuring the book cover of my Christmas book called St. Nicholas: The Believer. This display rolls up into a little container, then can be unrolled and displayed on my table of books where I offer and sign copies of my books after my shows based on it.
Get creative! Enjoy the process! And share your message in multiple ways. Every touch helps people connect more with you and the message you’re trying to share.
Chapter 10. How to set up a live online class
I’ve taught more than a hundred classes online using Zoom. I’ve found it to be a great way to interact with a group on a topic I’m trying to share, wherever the participants may live, anywhere in the world!
I’ve also used other group chat technologies like Skype and Teams, but when Zoom came along, I fell in love with its features and for me, ease of use.
Here’s how to do it.
Create a Zoom account
First, if you don’t have a Zoom account, go to zoom.us to create a free one. Enter your email and other information, and you’re ready to go! Your participants don’t have to set up a zoom account to join your meeting. You simply send them a link to your meeting and they can use the Zoom app to connect with you.
Scheduling a Meeting
Once logged into Zoom, look for the option to “Schedule” a meeting.
Give your meeting a name, choose a date and time, and choose whether your meeting will repeat or take place just once. If you want, you can just press “Save,” and you’re set!
But let’s take a look at some of the options you get when you press “Options.”
Here is where you can have Zoom generate a Meeting ID automatically or use your personal meeting ID. I like to have Zoom generate an ID for me automatically, as I don’t like giving out my personal meeting ID, which is more like my phone number and anyone could join any meeting I’m having if they have my personal ID.
I also set up a passcode to access the meeting. I usually choose a simple passcode related to the meeting, like “writers” or “me.”
I usually uncheck the “Waiting Room” option for most of my meetings so users don’t have to wait to enter my room. They can enter the room even if I’m not there and chat with the other participants beforehand.
For a class setting like I used for this “Let’s Get Technical” class, I’ll turn on the “Video” option for the host (me) and for the participants so their video appears automatically. I also check the box that lets people connect their audio via “Telephone and Computer Audio.”
There’s still one more “Advanced” tab that I check that says “Allow participants to join anytime.” If I have a large group or a special event like a wedding, I’ll choose to “Mute” participants upon their entry so their voices can’t be heard accidentally when they enter the room. I also often check the box that says “Automatically record meeting” so I don’t forget to record it once I get going. I like to record my classes for students who can’t attend live, or to turn the class into an online course, like I’m doing with this one.
For repeating meetings, like a 12-week class, I’ll use the same link every time to make it easier on myself and my students.
When I’m done with these options, I’ll press “Save,” then copy the invitation link and send it out! I press “Close” to go back to the home screen.
When it’s time to start my meeting, I open my Zoom app (or go to zoom.us in my browser), then look for my “Meetings.”
When I find the meeting that I scheduled, I click “Start.”
Interacting
Now comes the fun part!
Once in a meeting, there are multiple ways to participate. I like to start by choosing how I want to view the attendees. I usually select “View,” then “Gallery” if I want to see all faces at once, or if I’m on a smaller device, this option lets me swipe left or right to see more participants that can’t fit on one screen.
If I want to highlight whoever is speaking, I can choose “View,” then “Speaker,” and Zoom will switch to the current speaker when it detects their voice.
I can share my screen or invite others to share their screen with the group by hovering over the Zoom window and choosing the green “Share” button. I select the default window to share everything on my screen, or I select a particular window or app from those that are open on my device. Then I click the blue “Share” button.
If I haven’t set the option beforehand to record the meeting, I can begin recording by clicking the three dots, the “More” button, and choosing to record the meeting to my computer or to the cloud. I usually record wherever I have the most storage space available.
There’s a chat room on the side if you click the “Chat” button where you can type text or links or other material, or where anyone can have a private conversation with anyone else in the room. Sometimes I use this feature to have people ask questions when they think of them, and I can look over their questions and answer when I get a moment.
Breakout rooms
One feature I especially like for small group discussion is called “Breakout Rooms.” These allow you to split up a larger group into smaller groups for more personal discussions.
Look for the three dots, the “More” button, and choose “Breakout Rooms.” Then choose how many groups you want based on how many people are in your meeting, such as three groups of four people in each group based on a meeting with twelve people. Zoom can randomly assign people to each group, or you can rearrange people into specific groups on the next screen.
When ready to break out, click “Open All Rooms” and each person will be asked to click “Join” to enter their breakout group. Now the group members can chat on their own within their rooms.
As the host, you can click “Join” to become part of any group that has been created. You can also “Move” people or yourself from one group to another.
When the time’s up for the breakout groups, click “Close Rooms” and all the participants will be given an option to return to the main meeting, either at the time they click the option, or automatically after 60 seconds.
I often use this option in the middle of a meeting, after sharing some information with the whole group at the beginning, then breaking into smaller groups, then coming back together again at the end to share what was learned in the small groups.
Go live!
One final option I’d like to highlight is the ability to go live with your Zoom meeting on Facebook or YouTube! Click the three dots, the “More” button, and choose where you’d like to send the live stream.
I use this option for sharing group events, or for interviews when I want others to watch the interview live. For interviews, I set up a Zoom meeting with the person I want to interview, then click “Record on the computer,” then click “More” to go live on Facebook or YouTube. This is a great way to do an interview, save and record it, and share it live, all at the same time!
Saving your recording
If you’ve recorded your meeting, you’ll be able to save it after you end the meeting. When you press “End Meeting,” you’ll see a screen that says it is saving your meeting. Don’t close Zoom until this process is done, which could take a few minutes. When the processing is done, a window will display showing you the file that has been saved. You can use this file to share it with others as is, or use your video editing software to edit, and then later share your recording.
If you’d like a more detailed, fast-paced, and fun video about how to use Zoom, you can watch one I recorded on my YouTube channel called “How to Zoom” at youtube.com/@ericelder.
Chapter 11. How to set up a payment system
Setting up payment systems might seem tricky, but there are free ways to do it. Services like PayPal, Venmo, and Square take a percentage of the sale, but the initial setup is free. For example, if you have a PayPal business account, they typically charge around 3.49% per transaction plus a fixed fee—around 50 cents.
If you’re selling goods and services, setting up a business account is essential. With a personal account, you might pay slightly less, and with a nonprofit account, the fees are reduced even further. Personally, I pay about 30 cents plus 2.3% as a nonprofit.
You can set up payment buttons, links, QR codes, or simply provide your email address for people to send money directly to your PayPal account. When using PayPal and Venmo, users can also pay via major credit or debit cards. I set up all my payment buttons on PayPal, then allow users to choose how they want to pay.
How I use PayPal
You can see examples of PayPal buttons on my website at ericelder.com, as I have a Donate tab for donations to my ministry. When they click the PayPal link, they see a prompt that says:
“Thank you for helping us share the good news of Christ. Please type in how much you want to give.”
When someone makes a donation, they also have the option to cover the PayPal fees by adding that fee to their donation. This feature has been beneficial since it’s been added, as many donors choose to cover the fees, which helps especially for larger donations.
Additionally, donors can check a box to make their donation a monthly donation, ensuring a steady stream of support for my ministry. This is just one example of how you can structure payment options for your services or products.
Setting up a PayPal account
If you don’t have a PayPal account yet, it’s straightforward to set one up. Visit PayPal.com and select “Sign Up.” You’ll have the option to create either a personal or business account—both are free, but a business account is recommended for selling products.
If you already have a personal PayPal account, you can easily upgrade it to a business account. Just remember that you can’t link two PayPal accounts to the same bank account.
When setting up your account, you’ll be asked for your banking information, including your routing and account numbers, which can be found on your checks. PayPal will verify your account by making small deposits or withdrawals (under $1), which you will need to confirm.
Creating a payment link
Here are the steps to set up a payment link for people to make a payment. For me, I’m creating donation links rather than sales links, so I navigate to the “Sales” section and select “Donations.” This is where I manage my donation buttons. The current link for this section is at paypal.com/donate/buttons/manage.
I click on “Get a Link” to create a simple fundraising link. I enter my project name and can add a logo or an image related to my cause.
Next I type a message I’d like to display to potential donors, such as “Make a $15 donation, and I’ll send you a paperback of my latest book about recovery.”
I can then specify some example donation amounts, whether a single amount, such as $15, or multiple amounts, such as, $10, $15, $20, or “Other.” This allows donors options if they’d like more of their donation to go to the ministry.
I also tick the boxes to allow the donor to make their donation recurring, to collect the donor’s address for end of year tax statements, and to allow the donor to include a note to me with their donation.
Then I click “Publish” to create a link. I can copy and paste this link into an email or onto a webpage, or there’s an option to use some HTML code to insert a button directly onto your webpage.
I can also have PayPal generate a QR code for my donation link by clicking on “Get a QR code.” PayPal will generate a QR code that you can download to use on your website or printed material. Anyone can scan this QR code with their phone, which will take them directly to the donation page.
Setting up a Venmo account
Venmo is actually owned by PayPal, so creating a Venmo account follows similar steps! Some people prefer one over the other, so I offer both. You can get started by going to venmo.com and setting up a free account. As with PayPal, Venmo takes a percentage of the payment to run their business.
Setting up a Square account
I use PayPal and Venmo to offer links for people to make donations in emails or on my website, but I use Square to accept donations when I’m selling books or other products in person.
For example, during a book launch, I’ll use Square to take credit card payments in person, as I can swipe, tap, or type in someone’s credit card information. It’s a nice way to receive payments when people don’t have cash or I don’t have change.
You can sign up for a free Square account at squareup.com.
Square offers several options for processing payments, including a free magstripe reader that connects to your device with an adapter. For newer devices without headphone jacks, Square provides Bluetooth readers for a small, one-time fee.
On Square, I can simply type in an amount and receive a payment, or I can set up my products and prices and inventory ahead of an event.
When I do my live shows, I can give access to my Square account to any of my volunteers to receive payments, and they can use their own phone, tablet or laptop to login and take payments.
All of my books and products are pre-defined within Square, as I’ve set them up beforehand with pictures of each item and default prices. This way, my volunteers simply tap the picture of an item someone is buying, and the price pops up. The volunteer can change the quantity or continue adding products for a final total.
When the final total appears on the screen, the person making the payment can simply tap or swipe their credit or debit card and sign the screen. They can then enter their email address for a receipt. If the person has used a Square reader before with that same credit or debit card, an email will be automatically sent to them using their previously stored card information, even if they’ve never done business with you before.
Square also lets you sell products from a web store based on the products and prices you’ve entered. I’ve used this for selling products that I don’t normally sell on Amazon, such a show-specific shirts, sweatshirts, and ornaments. You can see a sample of my Square online store at this link:
Now that we’ve covered payment links in general, I want to show you one more option, and that’s creating a subscription plan on PayPal.
I create this option similar to creating a regular button, but I set a start and an end date for recurring payments.
For example, if I offer a monthly class on Zoom, I can create a button with a fixed price of $97 per month for three months. This spreads out the payments for the payor, and I don’t have to send out reminders for people to pay each month.
Three options
I like to offer three options for things like classes because people do really like to have choices and deals!
For instance, if I offer a three-month class, I’ll offer one option at one price for all three months, another option for a payment plan of three payments spread over three months, and an option to pay for just one session over all of those months. And I’ve had people choose each of those three options! It allows people to take classes and pay for them at budgets and timeframes that make sense for them.
I hear from expert marketers that three options also gives people a better feeling about their payment as they have a choice in how and when they pay. It’s not only convenient, but it gives a better payment experience, both practically and perceptively.
Chapter 12. How to set up a coaching calendar
As people find out about your expertise, they’ll want to talk to you. Setting up a coaching calendar can make this process as easy and painless as possible, and make you money!
If you’re like me, you may not like asking people to pay for your expertise. But allowing people to pay to meet with you can make them feel better about taking your time, and make you feel better about giving it. With a coaching calendar, all the transactional steps can be handled for you without your input.
The steps involve setting up your account on a service like Calendly, then creating a publicly available calendar. By adding a payment page to the calendar, this makes makes it easy for people to pay you without having to personally ask them for money. By letting the technology handle these transactions, you can focus on your expertise, rather than having to be a secretary and a sales person!
Set up Calendly
One product that does this well is called Calendly. Just go to calendly.com and sign up using your name and email address and other info needed.
The free option lets you create one calendar. I pay $120 a year to set up multiple calendars that people can book: one for a 1-hour session, one for a 30-minute session, one for a 15-minute session, and one for a free chat, which I use for catching up with friends or meeting with potential clients without charge.
Define your office hours
Choose the days and times that you’re usually available. You can block out specific days later by using your own calendar on your phone or computer.
Connect your calendar
You can connect your Calendly calendar to your personal calendar, such as iCloud calendar on your phone. This way, whenever you add an event to your personal calendar, your Calendly calendar will block out those dates and times so people cannot book you when you’re already busy.
Add a payment option
Calendly offers a payment option for an extra fee, but there’s a workaround if you want to simply send people directly to your PayPal or Venmo or other payment system.
Remember to enter all your events!
The biggest thing I had to remember when I started was to make sure I entered my events, and blocked off plenty of time before and after those events so I wasn’t too tightly booked.
I’ve learned a rhythm over time so I can be flexible with people wanting to chat with me, and not feel I’m too constricted by their appointments. It’s been a great win-win for me and for those who want to tap into my skills.
An example
On my website and on my business cards, I let people know they can book appointments with me at ericelder.com. On that page, they can click on a link that says, “Book a Time with Eric.” When they click it, currently they’ll see options for different lengths of appointments and prices: a one-hour session for a suggested donation of $65, a 30-minute session for $35, or a 15-minute session for $25.
I’ve priced these sessions to give price breaks for longer bookings, but I’m happy to accommodate shorter sessions depending on their need and their budget. After they select a date and time from my calendar that works for them, they enter their name, email address, and any specifics they want to discuss during our meeting. The confirmation page then guides them to make their payment.
After they book a date and time, both they and I receive an email with a Zoom link for our upcoming meeting. This process eliminates the hassle of scheduling and talking about payments! I love it! I just need to keep my calendar up-to-date, which I do on my phone using my normal calendar app. Calendly has an option to connect my calendar with my public calendar, and people visiting my site only see the days and hours that I’m available (but nothing else on my personal calendar).
I’ve also set up a second calendar for chatting with friends and family, making it easy for them to find a date and time that works for them from my available dates and times. I can use these for personal conversations or sometimes for introductory chats with new clients, but without a payment option.
Setting up your Calendly account
To set up your calendly account, go to calendly.com.
You can choose a free account with one calendar or a paid account with more calendars and options. I currently pay about $10 per month, paid annually.
One of the first things I do is to set up my availability. I can choose my normal “office hours,” such as between 9-5 each day, with a few options for evening and weekend sessions for those who can’t do my normal hours. I don’t feel confined to these hours, as I can also block out dates or times either in Calendly, or as I do, in my own calendar on my phone, which is synced with Calendly. But I like to specify some general days and times each week that I’m generally available.
I then customize when I want the meeting to start, such as only at the top of each hour, or every 10 or 20 or 30 minutes throughout the day. This allows people to fit meetings in when they’re able to meet, not just at the top of every hour.
Once I set my availability, I set up my booking page. This is the page people will see when they want to book a meeting with me.
For example, I created a link for my normal “Office Hours” that shows people when I’m available. You can see this link at calendly.com/eric-elder.
Then I customize the booking form to ask for specific information from my invitees. The default includes their name and email address, but I also add a question asking, “What topics would you like to discuss?”
To collect payments for your sessions, Calendly offers integrated payment options for a higher paid subscription. I found a bit of a workaround, where I’ve created a PayPal button that links directly to my payment page. Then I include that link on the confirmation page of the Calendly screen with a note that says “Click here to make a Payment.” Although it’s not as polished as the integrated payment solution, it serves my needs!
I then customize what information is included in the confirmation emails, such as a cancellation policy—making it clear that cancellations must be made at least 24 hours in advance to receive a refund.
I also set up email reminders for my invitees, having automatic reminders sent 24 hours before our meeting. This helps to prevent people accidentally missing appointments.
Once I finish setting up a meeting, I “Clone” it to create similar meetings, but with different durations and payments. For instance, I’ve created three different calendars for one-hour, half-hour, and fifteen-minute sessions by simply cloning the original event and adjusting the duration and pricing for the meetings.
Connecting your calendars
Calendly allows you to connect to different calendar systems such as iCloud and Google Calendar. This feature makes it easier for me to keep just one calendar up-to-date on my phone, and I can tell what I’m doing on any day and time, but the public has access only to my publicly available times.
Connecting your calendar with Calendly will depend on which calendar you’re using already, and there are good tutorials and help screens to walk you through this process.
The note I will make here is to ensure when booking things on your personal calendar that you want blocked off on your public calendar, put those personal events on the right calendar! I have a calendar on my phone that I share with my family, another that has birthdays, and now one that I share with Calendly. It can take some mental acumen to remember on which calendar I’ve put different things, but after a few weeks, I was quickly on my way to booking sessions properly, and not showing myself as available when I was already booked personally for something else.
BONUS: How to create an AI audiobook
I’m adding this chapter at the end because while creating this book, a few companies have released AI (Artificial Intelligence) products to help people create audiobooks using their own or other people’s voices. I’ll talk here about two of those products.
The first is Google Play Books, which allows you to upload your ebook and have it automatically translated into an audiobook for free. Google Play is a platform where you can play games, read books, and access ebooks. While I don’t use it much personally, I do have some of my books available there.
Recently, they’ve been offering the ability to upload your own ebooks and choose from various voices for the narration. They have five American male voices, five American female voices, and options for British, Spanish, and other languages. I’ve uploaded several of my books and found a few voices that I like, both in English and in Spanish.
To create an auto-narrated book, you have to first upload an ebook containing your text and making that available for sale. Once you’ve done this, a button will appear to “create an auto-narrated book.”
First I click on “Add a Book” and select the option to sell an ebook. When it asks for a book ID, I enter an ISBN for this book that I already own for this book. If I didn’t have an ID yet, I could let Google create one for me.
I then proceed to fill in the title, subtitle, and description. Next, I enter the publisher name and other relevant information, including the format of the book and the page count.
Now, I’ll select the genre. For this book, I’m choosing Christian Men’s Issues and Christian Self-Help.
Next, I add my name as the author, and I copy and paste my bio from previous books.
I then upload the .EPUB file for my book, which I previously created using Pages on my Mac by choosing File, Export as EPUB. I also upload a cover I’ve prepared for the book according to the requested dimensions.
I set a price and “Publish” the book! It can take a few hours or a day or two for the book to appear as published. Once it’s published, I log in again to my Google Play account, look for the EPUB version of my book in my account, then click “Create an auto-narrated book.”
The screens are similar to creating the EPUB version, with much of the information already filled in. If you already have the book divided into chapters and chapter titles, that makes this process very easy, as you can see the text of each chapter attached to that chapter title. You can also rename the chapter titles, and edit the text at any point.
I usually edit the first line of the book to specify that this is an audiobook, typing something like: “You’re listening to Breaking the Power of Unhealthy Attractions, written by Eric Elder.”
In the final chapter, I’ll include a line that says, “Thanks for listening to Breaking the Power of Unhealthy Attractions, written by Eric Elder. You’ve reached the end.”
As I mentioned in my chapter on creating audiobooks, opening and closing lines like these are required by audiobook platforms like Spotify.
Next, I can choose an English speaking voice for the book, such as Matt or Mike. I also have Spanish translations of some of my books, so I choose from the Spanish male voices for those books. This is one of the beauties of auto-narration, as I would not be able to pronounce the Spanish words as well as the Spanish auto-narrators!
Once I’ve made the changes to my text and chosen a voice, I can click “Save” to save my book, then continue through the screens to set a price for my book. I like to set the prices for all my books so I earn at least $5 in royalties per sale. In this case, I’ve chosen $10 as the selling price, as Google keeps a percentage for their service, and I get the remainder.
Once I’ve clicked “Publish,” I just wait a few hours or days for the book to appear on their website. I can also then download a copy of the entire book, separated into different files for each chapter, and upload them for use on my own website or to another distributor like Spotify.
Using ElevenLabs
The second I’d like to show you is from a startup company called ElevenLabs found at elevenlabs.io. The benefit of this option is you can upload your own voice samples and have your books narrated using your own voice!
I used this technique for a short recording I created of my late wife Lana reading Psalm 20 from the Bible. I had wished I had had her record it for me as it was a special one for us, but I didn’t do it while she was alive. So I took a recording of her reading another Psalm, Psalm 119, and I uploaded it to ElevenLabs. At the time, you could use samples from other people’s voices, but now they restrict use for only your own voice, as verified by a text sentence they ask you to read when you register with their service. But at that time, this worked!
I uploaded her reading of Psalm 119, then typed in the text of Psalm 20. Within 30 seconds, I heard Lana reading Psalm 20 in her own voice! It really was her own voice, just rearranging the sounds to speak a different passage. I loved it so much, I recorded a piano track of the song “My Heart Will Go On” from Titanic to go along with it. It came out beautifully!
For myself, I wanted to test reading my new book using a recording I had done of another book a few years earlier called Fifty Shades of Grace, written under my pen name Nicholas Deere. I had five hours of myself reading that entire book, which I uploaded to ElevenLabs. They like to have at least three hours to create a good vocal model of your voice. Then I waited a few days for their computers to process my voice and create a new voice model that could read any other text.
I then uploaded an EPUB of my newer book, Breaking the Power of Unhealthy Attractions. I ran the new book through their process with my voice model, and the result was uncannily just like myself!
The settings allow for alternate pronunciations in case words or names are mispronounced, plus a plethora of options to provide different readings to make your voice sound more dynamic or more smooth. I began by testing the settings one paragraph at a time, regenerating the paragraph if I didn’t like a particular sentence or phrase. Once I was pleased with the results I was getting, I pressed the Convert button to do the entire book, which took about five minutes to convert 100,000 characters! I then had the option to download my MP3 files or other formats to keep for my own use or for uploading to platforms that accept AI voices.
Once finished and saved, I uploaded the files to my website to offer as the official audiobook for that newer book.
The cost was about $22 a month for 100,000 characters (that’s characters, including spaces, not words), plus an extra cost for every block of characters over that. My book was just 82,000 characters, so it was doable and cost-effective for that project. But to convert all of my books would cost several thousand dollars. So for now, I’m using the free auto-narrated voices from Google Play Books for the rest of my books.
Note about platforms
Not every audiobook platform allows the use of AI voices, such as Audible from Amazon. This is likely because they are working on their own auto-narration option that they will debut in the future. (Update January, 2026: Amazon now offers some test authors an “auto-narrate” option to transform their ebook into an audiobook automatically. This feature will likely roll out to all users on KDP at some point.)
But for now, several platforms, such as Google Books and Spotify allow and encourage AI narrations. These companies still have certain requirements to meet, such as sound quality and using only auto-narrated products. But that will change soon, I’m sure!
This is still the wild west for AI technology, so have fun experimenting and perhaps even selling your new audiobooks… whether you record them in our own voice or use a voice model of yourself or of someone else!
For me, the main thing is reaching the world with your message! And this is just one more wonderful way to do that.
Conclusion: The best time to plant a tree
Now you have about a million new ideas and practical ways to reach the world with your message. The question is, which one do you want to try FIRST!
It might seem daunting, but skim back through this book and pick one. Really, just pick one and start there! The only bad choice is to not start anywhere at all.
Do you know when is the best time to plant a tree? Twenty years ago! Do you know when is the second best time to plant a tree? Today!
I have a lot of trees in my yard—about 80. I’ve planted about 70 of them myself; the rest were here before I was born. I heard this advice about planting trees a long time ago, so I began planting a tree or two every year.
Looking at the trees I planted twenty years ago brings me such joy. I didn’t have to plant a tree back then, and it didn’t seem like that big of a deal. But now I’m so glad I did. I’m still enjoying apples from an apple tree I planted with my mom when I was in high school, and my kids made a couple apple pies with the apples from that same tree! My mom’s been gone since 1990, but the tree we planted together is still going strong.
As with many things in life, the seeds we plant today can bring a harvest in the years to come. That’s why I’m encouraging you to pick a place to start with any of these techniques, and start planting!
I’ve also lost many trees over the years, and I never know which one will produce the most fruit, the most shade, or the most fragrance. So I also like to plant several new trees to see which ones will flourish.
I have a friend who people say has the “Midas touch,” meaning everything seems to turn to gold for him like in the story of Midas from mythology. But my friend says, “No, not really, but I do touch a lot of projects!” And some of his projects do turn into gold!
So, plant some trees today! Take one of these ideas for a spin! See what bears fruit, if not right away, maybe someday down the road.
I appreciate you coming on this journey with me. I’m excited to see where it leads. I’d love to hear how it goes! If you need help or want to chat, you can connect with me anytime at: ericelder.com
You’ve been reading “Let’s Get Technical!” by Eric Elder. This book is also available in Paperback, Kindle, and Audible.
This book is part of a series of books on writing, self-publishing, and reaching the world with your book. Use these links to read them all!
Endorsements
A few words from my writing friends…
“Eric’s a great communicator… he makes hard things easy to understand. I deeply trust Eric’s expertise.” Kirk Billiter
“Eric Elder is my ‘go-to-person’ for all things technical. Eric has the ‘know-how.’” Tim Wilkins
“Thanks for helping me with my writing. You give me the confidence to do the hard things.” Crystal Balas
“Eric has been a blessing to our ministry in so many ways…his technical expertise and assistance have meant everything!” Greg Potzer
“Eric has played a crucial role in getting my novel published. He has been the all-important bridge between my unpublished manuscript and my published dream-come-true.” Cammie Quinn
“I learned so much from this course, and I look forward to implementing these new skills (with help from my own notes from the course, and the accompanying book) in the future.” Donna Brooks-Mason
More by Eric!
DEVOTIONALS
Two Weeks With God
Exodus: Lessons In Freedom
Acts: Lessons In Faith
Jesus: Lessons In Love
Ephesians: Lessons In Grace
Nehemiah: Lessons In Rebuilding
Romans: Lessons In Renewing Your Mind
Psalms: Lessons In Prayer
The Top 20 Passages In The Bible
Israel: Lessons From The Holy Land
Israel For Kids! Lessons From The Holy Land
The Inspiring Thoughts Collection
Water From My Well
365 Daily Devotions With Eric Elder
My Stories Of Faith
Living Life With A Capital “L”
HISTORICAL FICTION
St. Nicholas: The Believer (with Lana Elder)
San Nicolás: El Creyente (Spanish Edition)
San Nicola: Il Credente (Italian Edition)
MUSICAL
His Name Was Nicholas (with Lana Elder)
PIANO BOOKS
Clear My Mind
Soothe My Soul
My Favorite Classics
JOURNALS
A Personal Journal With 101 Quotes On Prayer
A Personal Journal With 101 Quotes On Faith
A Personal Journal With 101 Quotes On Love
SEXUALITY
What God Says About Sex
Fifty Shades of Grace (under pen name, Nicholas Deere)
Loving God & Loving Gays
Cómo amar a Dios y a los gays (Spanish Edition)
15 Tips For A Stronger Marriage
Breaking the Power of Unhealthy Attractions
GRIEF
Loving Thoughts (with Greg Potzer)
Making The Most Of The Darkness
WRITING & PUBLISHING
Write With Me!
Write With Me! Notebook!!!
Let’s Get Technical!
ALBUMS
Clear My Mind
Soothe My Soul
My Favorite Classics (with Eric’s children and sister)
His Name Was Nicholas EP (with Matt Ludwig)
STAGE PRODUCTIONS & FILMS
One Life (a ballet with Cynthia Dewar and Erin Morton)
Last week I talked about breaking the power of unhealthy attractions. This week, I want to talk about WHY we’re attracted to the people we’re attracted to. Specifically, I want to talk about some of my own experiences with attractions.
When I was in college, my first sexual experiences were with men. I wondered if I would ever be able to have experiences with women, get married to a woman, and have children through marital intercourse.
I found that it was possible, and I was able to have a wonderful marriage to my wife of 23 years until she passed way about 12 years ago. Together, we had six children. I know my story isn’t everyone’s story, but I also know that God CAN take our attractions and align them with our goals for our lives—and with God’s goals for us.
In 2017, I wrote a book about my attractions and highlighted literally hundreds of one-on-one conversations I’ve had with others over the years about their attractions. The book is called Loving God & Loving Gays: What’s A Christian To Do?.
Even though the title suggests that the book is focused on a specific topic, many readers who have never experienced same-sex attractions have told me that it helped them understand why they’re attracted to the people they’re attracted to—and how to manage those attractions in a healthy way.
Below, I’ve included an excerpt from my book to highlight just a few of these conversations. I hope you find them helpful. If you want to learn more, you can watch this week’s podcast at the link below, where I also share a song and a prayer. You can get the book at inspiringbooks.com
And if you wonder if change is possible—whatever you’re going through—remember that powerful word "were" in this passage from Paul’s letter to the Corinthians:
"And that is what some of you WERE. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God" (1 Corinthians 6:11).
In which I share about the complexity of attractions, where they come from, what to do with them, and the fact that they can and do change—sometimes quite significantly.
from Loving God & Loving Gays
by Eric Elder
There’s much debate about where attractions come from, whether they’re inborn or not, whether they’re shaped by circumstances or not, whether they’re chosen or not, and whether they’re changeable or not. Thankfully, I’m here to answer all your questions, definitively (he says, wryly).
I think a good starting point is to ask, “Why are we attracted to anyone we’re attracted to?”
Although this story isn’t in the Bible, I’ve heard that Adam was talking to God one day about Eve.
Adam said, “God, why did you make her so beautiful?”
God said, “I made her that way, Adam, so that you would be attracted to her.”
Adam thought for a moment, then said, “But, God, why did you make her so dumb?”
To which God replied, “I made her that way, Adam, so that she would be attracted to you.”
(It’s a joke which offends everyone equally, which my kids tell me is what makes it so funny.)
While that story about attractions isn’t in the Bible, there are plenty of others which are, stories such as Jacob’s attraction to Rachel (healthy, see Genesis 28-30), David’s attraction to Bathsheba (unhealthy, see 2 Samuel 11-12) or Amnon’s attraction to Tamar (very unhealthy, see 2 Samuel 13).
Each of these stories describes different heartfelt attractions, yet each of the stories have dramatically different endings. Why? Because of the choices the people made about what to do with the attractions they were feeling—choices which either fulfilled or destroyed God’s plans for their lives.
I’ve talked to hundreds of people in one-on-one conversations over the course of 30 years, and I’m always amazed at the responses I get when talking about people’s attractions. People have wildly different attractions for wildly different reasons.
Some people like men with beards; others like men without. Some people like women with extensive curves; others like women with daintier forms. Some people think one actor is hot; others think the same actor is not. The reasons why people are attracted to other people vary about as much as the people themselves.
An elderly friend once told me, after first meeting a man whom we both knew, that she thought he was one of the ugliest men she had ever met. Although he wasn’t repulsive by any means, some of the features of his face were out of proportion to what she was used to seeing.
She went on to tell me, however, that after several months of getting to know him, she began to see him in a totally different way. He was a truly winsome man, and he won her over. Within a few months of thinking he was one of the ugliest men she had ever met, she came to see him as one of the most attractive men she had ever met.
I see this happen all the time, whether it’s with boyfriends, girlfriends, spouses, or lovers, where a person who has had no particular attraction to someone else, somehow, suddenly finds that other person to be the sole object of their affections. I’ve seen people fall madly in love with other people who have previously not sparked even a flicker of interest in their hearts.
I’ve also seen this happen in reverse, where someone who was at one time wildly attracted to someone else, later—either suddenly or over a period of time—no longer had any attraction to that person whatsoever. The flame that had once burned so brightly had gone out completely. The person had “lost that lovin’ feelin’,” with not even a wisp of smoke left from the fire that once raged so strongly within.
What causes people’s attractions to change so dramatically like this?
Oftentimes, nothing has changed in terms of the appearance or persona of the one being adored or abhorred, but everything has changed within the mind of the person doing the adoring or abhorring.
It’s been said that the single most important sex organ in the body is the mind. After more than 30 years of hearing people’s stories about what attracts them and what doesn’t, I’m convinced that this is true.
I’ve also found something particularly insightful when talking to people with same-sex attractions, that is, attractions toward people who are the same sex as they are. People with same-sex attractions are not usually attracted to everyone of their own sex, but only to a small subset.
In talking with a man who has wrestled with same-sex attractions for many years, I asked if he was attracted to all men or only to some. He replied, “Only to some, and not to many at that.”
While he was struggling with his attractions to certain men, he realized during our conversation that he wasn’t attracted to all men, but, in fact, to only a few.
When I asked what types of men he was attracted to, he listed specific qualities and characteristics which he equated with what he longed for in a close friendship with a man. Even if he was born with an attraction to men, he certainly wasn’t born with an attraction to all men, because he simply didn’t have an attraction to all men, but only to a small subset of men.
Let me underscore this point even more. I was talking with an African-American man one day about his attractions toward men. When we started our conversation, he told me he was absolutely convinced he was born gay. Why else, he wondered, would he have had these feelings all his life?
When I asked him if he was attracted to all men, or only to some, he answered, “Only to some, for sure!”
This man then went on to tell me that there were men of a certain age above his and below his to which he was definitely not attracted. He also told me there were some types of men by which he was absolutely repulsed, because of the way they walked or talked or carried themselves, and with such men he would never consider a romantic relationship, no matter what.
Most telling of all, however, to both him and to me, was when he said that within that smaller subset of men, he was only attracted to white men. He had never, ever, not once, had an attraction to or an encounter with another African-American man.
After a few moments of taking in what he had just said, I asked, as gently as I could, “So what you’re telling me is that when God created you, He created you both gay AND racist?”
The man happened to be the head of diversity at a prestigious university. He burst out with a laugh at the irony of the truth that had just dawned upon him. The head of diversity was happy to be diverse except in the area that was most intimate to him.
Although he may not have known the why’s and wherefore’s behind the attractions he had, he realized it was wrong to attribute his attractions to God or to nature just because he didn’t know from where else they may have come.
In that moment, both this man and I could see that there was something about his attractions that were not due to the way he was wired from birth, but more likely from something else that was at play.
While there may have been something about the way he was designed from conception which played into the attractions he had, the fact that he was not attracted to all men, nor even to most men, but only to a particular subset of men with a particular subset of traits, made us both realize that there was probably more going on in his attractions than simply being “born gay.”
Do I think there are reasons why we’re attracted to certain people, some of which may have to do with the way God has wired us? Yes! Sometimes our reactions and responses to other people, and their reactions and responses to us, are indeed generated by particular features or traits that were given to us by God at birth. (And before this chapter ends, I’ll share with you some of the reasons why my particular wiring made me particularly receptive to the advances of other men.)
But I also believe that there are reasons which go beyond our initial wiring at birth that cause us to be drawn to or repelled by certain people, regardless of their gender.
Want to read the top 20 passages in the Bible? Whether you’re new to the Bible or have read it many times, sometimes it’s helpful to have someone point out the highlights, the most searched for passages in this precious book.
That’s exactly what I’ve done in my book called The Top 20 Passages in the Bible. And I’ll list all 20 passages for you here so you don’t have to wait to find out!
But what I’d love even more is to have you read through each of these passages, savoring their meaning and letting the words impact you as they’ve impacted generations, making the Bible the most quoted book in the world…and the most meaningful to me personally.
Below I’ve included a chapter from my book which also contains the most popular verse in the whole Bible: John 3:16. I’ve also included a link to today’s podcast in which I read from my book and play one of my favorite original piano songs called "Marilyn’s Theme" from my piano album Soothe My Soul.
And for your reading pleasure, here are the top 20 passages in the Bible, counting from number 20 to number 1!
Number 17
"The Gospel in a Nutshell"
from The Top 20 Passages in the Bible
by Eric Elder
Scripture Reading: John 3
If you were to look at a list of the top 100 verses in the Bible, you’d find a verse from John chapter 3 at the very top. It’s the most quoted verse in the Bible, and the most quoted verse of Jesus. Speaking of Himself, Jesus said:
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
John 3:16 contains the gospel in a nutshell, the good news of Jesus in compact form: that if anyone who wants to be free from the penalty of sin and death, they can do so by putting their faith in Jesus.
Jesus expanded on why this is such good news in the rest of John 3. He did so in the context of a conversation that took place between Himself and Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council, who came to Jesus one night to learn more from this controversial, but impressive, teacher.
Jesus told Nicodemus: “You must be born again,” to which Nicodemus responded:
“How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” (John 3:4).
Jesus answered him:
“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God” (John 3:5).
Nicodemus must have taken what Jesus said to heart, for after Jesus died on the cross, Nicodemus, along with Joseph of Arimathea, risked his life and position on the Jewish council by asking Pilate for Jesus’ body in order to give Jesus a proper burial (see John 19:38-40). May God give us all that kind of boldness in our faith!
Jesus also mentioned in his conversation with Nicodemus something significant that had happened to the Israelites about 2,500 years earlier. When the Israelites were wandering in the desert, they sinned. As a result, God sent fiery serpents to attack them, and many Israelites died from the bites. Those who were still alive repented of their sins and Moses prayed to God on their behalf. God said to Moses:
“‘Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.’ So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live” (Numbers 21:8-9).
God heard their prayers and saw their repentant hearts and provided a way for them to be saved. Referring to this story, Jesus told Nicodemus:
“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life” (John 3:14-15).
This story has become such a symbol of healing that today, the symbol of a snake wrapped around a pole is still displayed on many of our medical buildings, ambulances, and doctor’s insignias.
But it’s more than just a symbol of healing. It’s a symbol of forgiveness, a symbol of a loving God who will go to the great lengths to extend forgiveness to His people, if only they would turn from their sins and put their faith in Him.
It is in the context of this ancient story of God’s forgiveness and healing that Jesus said His most famous quote in John 3:16:
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
I bring this up because John 3:16 is not only the gospel in a nutshell, it’s the whole Bible in a nutshell! God has always been wooing His people into a relationship with Him, and offering them forgiveness if they truly desire it, so that they can come back into a relationship with Him. And that’s what God has offered to us, by sending His only Son to die for us so we can live.
God loves you, and He doesn’t want you or anyone else to be destroyed by sin. He’s willing to go to the greatest lengths possible—and He already has—to see that you will be healed, forgiven, and brought back into a new life with Him.
If you’ve already put your faith in Christ, Hallelujah! Let someone know about it who needs to hear this good news! But if you’ve never put your faith in Christ—been “born again,” to use Jesus’ words—there’s no better time than right now!
PRAYER
Father, thank You for loving me so much that You would send Your only Son to die for me so that I could live. I want to live again. I want to be born again spiritually so I can live with You forever. Forgive me for my sins, for the wrong things I’ve done. I am putting my faith in Christ right now. Fill me with Your Spirit so that I can live the life You’ve called me to live, both here on earth, and on into heaven forever. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
P.S. You can get The Top 20 Passages in the Bible in audiobook, paperback, or downloadable PDF frominspiringbooks.com. The book also includes a list of the Top 100 Verses in the Bible… great for inspiration and for Scripture memory!
One of the most important books you’ll ever hear about is the one YOU’RE going to write!
If you have a book on your heart that you’d like to get out to the world, I’m glad to help! I’ve written over 30 books and helped others do the same. I’d love to help you.
The Apostle John said:
"Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written" (John 21:25).
And that’s exactly what I’d like to do: flood the world with stories about Jesus and how He IS STILL TOUCHING LIVES TODAY… including yours.
Watch my podcast or read Chapter 1 from my book below if you need some inspiration that YOU REALLY CAN do this. I believe you can. Why? Because God loves to share His stories through the people he’s touched, whether they’re unschooled fisherman, well-educated tax collectors, or farmers or lawyers or tech geeks like me.
YOU CAN DO THIS! I’ll show you how.
By the way, I’m starting another writing class online to begin October 2nd. I’d love for you to join us! My goal with this 12-week class is to work with each person in the group, as a group, to help you get going on the next steps with writing your book, whether you’re just starting out or somehow stuck along the way. We’ll meet on Zoom every Wednesday from 12-1PM Central Time.
For years, I had a book on my heart I wanted to write. I didn’t know how to start. I didn’t know where to start. And I didn’t know how to actually write it.
But then I was challenged to write a 50,000-word novel in 30 days. Unbelievable! Impossible! Or was it?
I found out it was possible! And I did it. (Well, I only wrote 30,000 words, and it took me 40 days. But at the end of those 40 days, I had finished the first draft of a fully fleshed-out, historical novel.)
And I’ve done it many times since. I’ve written over 30 books (35 if you count foreign translations and three books of piano music).
Now, I’d like to challenge you to write that book on your heart. Why? Because I believe when you share your experiences, your strengths, and your hope, others will be strengthened and find hope, too. And we could all use a little more hope, couldn’t we?
Whether you’re writing fiction or non-fiction, thrillers or sci-fi or mysteries, I believe your writing is worth it. People will read it. And many will be blessed by it.
Do you believe it?!? I hope you do! And throughout this book, I hope to give you more and more encouragement to finally write and publish that book on your heart.
How did I do it?
I’ll tell you!
I set aside one month, just 30 days, to get my thoughts out of my head and onto my computer.
First, I wrote down 30 scenes that came into my mind. I didn’t have 30 scenes initially. But as I thought about all the things I wanted to include in my book, I thought about the day my main character lost his parents. I thought about the day he took a boat alone to the Holy Land. I thought about the night he threw a bag of coins through an open window to save a woman from destitution.
I jotted down each of these topics on one piece of paper. I kept going and going until I had over 30 topics that I might include in my book.
Then, I set aside an hour a day, more or less, to write a few paragraphs of what I knew and could remember of each of these scenes. I didn’t look them up again. I didn’t waste time going through old books and magazines and doing internet searches. I just wrote from what I remembered. This wasn’t the time for editing or making sure every detail was perfect. This was the time to get the stories out of my head and onto my computer and to jot down the key points that were important and memorable to me.
I did this each day for 40 days because I started adding chapters along the way as they came to mind or helped the story flow.
At the end of 40 days, I had a finished the first draft of a book that made me laugh and cry and inspired me all along the way.
Was it good? Or was it not so good? I didn’t know. But what I did know was that it captured the heart—the essence—of the story I wanted to tell.
And that story, birthed during my quiet time for an hour a day in November of 2009, became the basis for what eventually became my bestselling book to date— one that’s been turned into a ballet, a musical, and even an Italian “puppet opera.”
How did that journey go? And what got me writing my next book and my next and my next for 35+ books? That’s what I’ll tell you in the rest of this book.
P.S. You can get a copy of Write With Me! and the Write With Me Notebook atinspiringbooks.com
To the world you may be one person, but to one person you may be the world!
If you need encouragement in your faith, keep reading below or watch this week’s podcast as I share the opening chapter of my novella about the real-life St. Nicholas who lived in the 3rd and 4th centuries.
Nicholas was just one person–like you or like me–doing the best he could to live out his faith in Jesus Christ. And in doing so, he has become one of the most famous worldwide figures now known by many as Santa Claus (from the Dutch name for Saint Nicholas "Sinter Klaus").
Why am I sharing about St. Nicholas in September? Because I’ve just finished editing a new movie about his life that we filmed last Christmas at the gorgeous Maria Caniglia Theater in Sulmona, Italy! It’s an Italian "puppet opera," told beautifully by the wonderful storytellers of Pupi Italici.
EVEN BETTER, if you’d like to watch the full 50-minute film with me, join me THIS FRIDAY NIGHT at 7:30 PM Central Time, either ONLINE OR IN-PERSON! I’ll be hosting a private screening at my home in Central Illinois as well as streaming the film online! I’d love for you to watch along with us, whether ONLINE or IN-PERSON!
It’s a movie SO BIG, it takes up the whole side of my house! :)
Now back to today’s message! In my podcast today, I’ll be reading from the Prologue of my book on which this movie is based, plus share a song and a prayer to encourage you in your faith.
Like Nicholas, you only have one life to live. But if you live it right, one life is all you need.
Hope you’re able to watch! (Keep reading below for the "Prologue.")
Prologue from St. Nicholas: The Believer
by Eric & Lana Elder
My name is Dimitri—Dimitri Alexander. But that’s not important. What’s important is that man over there, lying on his bed. He’s—well, I suppose there’s really no better way to describe him except to say—he’s a saint. Not just because of all the good he’s done, but because he was— as a saint always is—a Believer. He believed that there was Someone in life who was greater than he was, Someone who guided him, who helped him through every one of his days.
If you were to look at him closely, lying there on his bed, it might look to you as if he was dead. And in some sense, I guess you would be right. But the truth is, he’s more alive now than he has ever been.
My friends and I have come here today to spend his last day on earth with him. Just a few minutes ago we watched as he passed from this life to the next.
I should be crying, I know. Believe me, I have been—and I will be again. But for now, I can’t help but simply be grateful that he has finally made it to his new home, a home that he has been dreaming about for many years. A home where he can finally talk to God face to face, like I’m talking to you right now.
Oh, he was a saint all right. But to me, and to so many others, he was something even more. He was—how could I put it? An inspiration. A friend. A teacher. A helper. A giver. Oh, he loved to give and give and give some more, until it seemed he had nothing left to give at all. But then he’d reach down deep and find a little more. “There’s always something you can give,” as he would often say.
He always hoped, in some small way, that he could use his life to make a difference in the world. He wanted, above all, to help people. But with so many needs all around, what could he possibly do?
He was like a man on a beach surrounded by starfish that had been washed up onto the shore. He knew that they would die if they didn’t make it back into the water.
Not knowing how to save them all, the man on the beach did what he could. He reached down, picked one up, and tossed it back into the water. Then reached down again, picked up another, and did the same.
Someone once asked the man why he bothered at all—that with so many needs all around, how could he possibly make any difference. He’d just toss another starfish into the water and say, “It made a difference to that one.” Then he’d reach down and pick up another.
You see, to the world you may be just one person, but to one person you may be the world.
In many ways, my friend was just like you and me. Each one of us has just one life to live. But if you live it right, one life is all you need. And if you live your life for God, well, you just might touch the whole world.
Did his life make any difference? I already know my answer, because I’m one of those that he reached down and picked up many, many years ago. But how about I tell you his story, and when I get to the end, I’ll let you decide if his life made a difference or not. And then maybe, by the time we’re finished, you’ll see that your life can make a difference, too.
Oh, by the way, I haven’t told you his name yet, this man who was such a great saint, such a great believer in the God who loved him, who created him, who sustained him and with whom he is now living forever.
His name is Nicholas—and this is his story.
You can get a copy of St. Nicholas: The Believer in paperback, audiobook, or downloadable PDF atinspiringbooks.com
Can a few verses from the book of Romans change your life? It was while reading the book of Romans that Saint Augustine put his faith in Christ back in the 4th century, Martin Luther in the 16th, John Wesley in the 18th century, and me in the 20th!
But you don’t have to take THEIR word for it (or mine!) You can go to the the Word of God yourself and see it change YOUR life! Then you’ll have proof of your own.
In my podcast today, I’m including some highlights from Romans and which verses changed the lives of Augustine, Luther, Wesley and me. I’ll also share the song "Worth of it All" and a prayer to encourage you in your faith. You can watch the podcast at this link or read some of the highlights below.
AND, Starting in October, I’ll be hosting a LIVE, ONLINE DISCUSSION GROUP through the book of Romans. I’ve written a study guide to go with it called Romans: Lessons in Renewing Your Mind which we’ll be using each week for 12-weeks as we read through this life-changing letter to the Romans written almost 2,000 years ago.
You can sign up for the online class at this link (plus some other classes I’ll be teaching this fall on playing the piano, writing a book, and a special book discussion group). Watch the podcast or read some highlights below, then join me for a class next month!
Lesson 8 from Romans: Lessons in Renewing Your Mind
"Bring Redeemed by Jesus" Scripture Reading: Romans 3:21-31
While it may sound simple, don’t underestimate what God can do in someone’s life through a few verses from the book of Romans.
It was while reading the book of Romans that a man named Augustine put his faith in Christ, back in 386 A.D. He was sitting in the garden of a friend, weeping as he thought about the wickedness of his life. Some children nearby were singing “Tolle, lege. Tolle, lege.” which means “Take up and read. Take up and read.” A scroll of the book of Romans was laying open next to Augustine, so he “took up and read”. The first few verses he saw, in Romans 13:13-14, described the condition of his life―and what to do about it:
“Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature” (Romans 13:13-14).
Augustine put his faith in Christ that day, and became one of the greatest theologians and leaders in the history of the church.
It was while reading the book of Romans that another man named Martin Luther put his faith in Christ, about 1,000 years after Saint Augustine. Luther was an Augustinian monk who was burdened by the weight of trying to do enough good works to get into heaven. But that burden was finally lifted when he read a verse from the book of Romans. Romans 1:17 showed him that he wouldn’t be declared righteous by his good works, but by his faith in Christ:
“For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith’” (Romans 1:17).
Martin Luther put his faith in Christ that day, and went on to lead a reformation that has impacted lives all over the world.
It was while listening to someone reading Luther’s notes on the book of Romans that John Wesley put his faith in Christ, several hundred years later. As Wesley listened to Luther’s introductory comments about Romans, Wesley’s heart was “strangely warmed,” as he described it, and he committed his life entirely to Christ. John Wesley, and his brother Charles, went on to found the Methodist movement, also contributing many of the great hymns of the faith that we still sing today.
And Paul’s words to the Romans are still affecting people today, almost 2,000 years after they were written, as it was while reading the book of Romans that I put my faith in Christ, too. As I was reading Romans 1:18-32, I realized that I was a sinner, too, and needed a Savior. Now here I am today encouraging you from what I’ve learned from the book of Romans so you can share it with others.
These are just a few of the lives that have been touched by reading just a few verses from the book of Romans! So don’t underestimate the power of a few verses from this book to change lives. If you’ve been redeemed by Jesus, tell others about it, using the Roman Road if you want as a way to help them understand the good news of Christ. And if you haven’t yet been redeemed by Jesus, I’d encourage you to keep reading the Bible so you can put your faith in Him today.
If you’re up for a challenge, I’d also encourage you to commit to memory these four simple verses from Romans: 3:23, 6:23, 5:8 and 10:9. Memorizing scripture is a great way to renew your mind, and as you keep these particular verses at the forefront of your mind, they’ll also help you as you talk with others about how they can be redeemed by Jesus, too.
Perhaps you’re reading this today and you’re like Augustine, or Luther, or Wesley, or me, and these verses that I’ve been sharing from the book of Romans have somehow sparked your thinking and moved your heart in a way that you, too want to commit your life to Christ. If so, put your faith in Him today for everything in your life. Ask Him to forgive you of your sins and invite Him to be your Lord and Savior. Do what Paul encouraged the Romans to do and you’ll be saved, too:
“That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9).
Will you pray with me?
Father, thank You for sending Jesus to redeem us from our sins. Help us to share that life-changing message with those around us. Open our eyes today to those who need to hear this message, and open their hearts to be receptive as we share it, so they can put their faith in You as well. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
You can get a copy of Eric’s book Romans: Lessons in Renewing Your Mind in paperback, audiobook, or downloadable PDF atinspiringbooks.com
I’m excited to announce a series of live, online classes I’ll be offering starting in October! I’ve been wanting to do a series like this for several years… and now’s the time to do it!
I’ll be offering 5 different classes on 5 different topics once a week for 12 weeks. These are more than just online classes where you’ll learn a few things (which you will!). These are ONLINE COMMUNITIES where you’ll get to meet others and make new friends with people who are pursuing similar goals.
The classes will be centered on 5 different topics that are dear to my heart:
Read the Bible with Me!
Play the Piano with Me!
Free Flow on the Piano (with Bo Elder)!
Write a Book with Me!
Read a Book with Me!
Here’s a paragraph about each class…
1. READ THE BIBLE WITH ME!
We’ll be going through the book of Romans, one of the most life-changing books in the whole Bible for me personally. I became a Christian in large part due to reading the book of Romans. The book has not only changed my life, but also the lives of Saint Augustine in the 4th century, Martin Luther’s in the 16th, and John Wesley’s in the 18th! We’ll be using a study guide I wrote to go with it called Romans: Lessons in Renewing Your Mind. We’ll be meeting on Tuesdays from 12-1 pm Central Time.
2. WRITE A BOOK WITH ME!
Writing can be healing, even if you never publish your work for anyone else to read! I’ve written nearly 40 books over the last 25 years, some of which will never see the light of day. :) But the process of writing each one has helped me think through difficult topics, untangle some of the knots in my mind, and put words to ideas that I’ve had no other way to express. And often I’ve published those words to help others in their journeys! I’ve led several writing classes and retreats, and the mutual encouragement we’ve all received has been phenomenal. Ultimately, I’m praying for 100 Christians to share their personal faith-stories with the world through writing. We’ll be meeting on Wednesdays from 12-1 pm Central Time.
3. PLAY THE PIANO WITH ME!
No matter what level of skill you have on the piano (or even none at all!), I’d love to teach you how to play 3 songs before Christmas: 2 Christmas songs and 1 worship song. I’ve loved playing the piano my entire life and have taught all 6 of my kids how to play. I’ve written, recorded, and streamed dozens of songs to millions of people, and even written 25 songs for a new Christmas musical we recently staged. But mostly, I just love playing the piano by myself in my living room for an audience of 1 (well, 2 if you count God AND me). I’d love to share my love of worshipping God with you in this special way. We’ll be meeting on Wednesdays from 4-5 pm Central Time.
4. FREE FLOW ON THE PIANO (WITH BO ELDER)!
Some people wish they could just sit down at the piano and express whatever’s on their heart through the keys. Well, my son Bo has been doing just that for several years now, and he’d love to share what he’s learned with you! Again, whether you already know something about the piano or you know nothing at all, Bo will give you some ways to begin expressing yourself through the keys on the piano. Bo has not only been playing since childhood, but he has also spent 2 years learning songwriting at Hillsong College, one of the top worship incubators in the world. Bo will be meeting on Wednesdays from 5-6 pm Central Time.
5. READ A BOOK WITH ME!
This last class is one of the most FUN classes for me because we’ll be reading and discussing one of my favorite books. The book is called Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and it’s the third book in the most popular book series in the world.(Can you start with the third book? Yes, you can… I did!) And before you check out and wonder why l would host a book discussion about Harry Potter, it’s because this book has some of the best examples of FRIENDSHIPS I’ve ever read: what makes them, what breaks them, and how to make them stronger. That will be our focus in this discussion, plus a few storytelling tips for other writers out there. If you (or someone you know) would like to bolster your friendships and make a few friends along the way), join us! We’ll be meeting on Fridays from 12-1 pm Central Time.
Each class is offered for a suggested donation to our ministry of $65 a month for 3 months (or a one-time donation of $195). And if you want to add a 2nd class or more (up to all 5!), it’s just $30 more per month… and that’s it! ($95 a month for 3 months or a one-time donation of $285… and you’ll get to attend any of the 5 classes!)
CLASSES START THE FIRST WEEK OF OCTOBER and run for 12 weeks. Sign up now to save your spot!
AGAIN, these classes are not just to train you on the given topics, but to give you an ONLINE COMMUNITY where you can make new friends who are pursuing similar life goals. I hope you’ll join us for a class or 2 or 3 or 4 or all 5! We’re going to have a lot of fun and a lot of rich fellowship along the way.
Sometimes we have to be overly gracious to be gracious enough. Sometimes we have to be extra kind to be kind enough. And sometimes we have to be extravagantly loving to be loving enough.
This isn’t because our grace or kindness or love aren’t enough as they are, but it’s a reminder that in order for others to feel any of those things from us, we sometimes need to go above and beyond in our expressions of them.
Today’s message is from my book Ephesians: Lessons in Grace featuring twenty inspiring devotionals based on one of the most grace-filled books in the Bible.
I’ve also included a video clip of my personal worship time this week at Asbury Seminary in Kentucky. I hope you’ll listen (and put it on repeat if you need an extra dose of the Holy Spirit in your life today!).
And if you’d like a copy of the book in paperback or PDF or audio, just visit InspiringBooks.com.
Have a great week!
Lesson 1 from Ephesians: Lessons in Grace
"Grace Begins with a Thought" Scripture Reading: Ephesians 1:1-2
Some people think that being kind and gracious is a sign of weakness, but the exact opposite is true. The measure of graciousness in your life is the true measure of your strength.
According to the 19th century British hymn-writer, Frederick W. Faber:
“Kindness has converted more sinners than zeal, eloquence, or learning.”
Being kind and gracious towards others, even when they give you no reason to be kind to them, can have a greater and longer-lasting impact on their lives than perhaps anything else you could offer them. But where does grace begin? Where can you start if you want to be more gracious in your life? The answer I’ve found is this: grace begins with a thought.
One of my favorite birthday presents was a bottle of water. What I loved so much about this present wasn’t just the water itself, but the thought behind it.
It started years earlier when I was on a business trip to New York. During a meeting, someone at the table asked if I’d like anything to drink. I didn’t want to be a bother, and I didn’t want them to have to spend anything on me, so I just said, “Sure, I’ll take some water.”
But a few minutes later, this man came back with a cold bottle of the most incredible water I had ever tasted in my life. I had no idea water could taste so good! It turned out to be a bottle of Evian mineral water, imported from the mountains of France.
When I came back from that trip, I went to the store to see if I could get some more bottles of that water. I went into sticker shock at the price. I decided I didn’t need to relive that experience bad enough to pay that much. But I must have mentioned it to my family, because when my birthday came around, my oldest son, who was still pretty young at the time, went out and bought me a few bottles of Evian water.
I asked my wife if she told him to get it for me, but she didn’t. He just thought of it himself.
I was touched. It wasn’t like I talked or dreamed about this water all the time. But here my son had made a mental note of something that was special to me, and when a special occasion arose, he went out and got it for me. It wasn’t an expensive gift as far as gifts go—even though it was expensive as far as water goes! But what made it so special was the thought that went into it.
And that’s where grace begins: with a thought.
In the book of Ephesians, the Apostle Paul opens with these words:
“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 1:1-2).
Paul wished for them to have God’s grace and peace in their lives, and he meant it! He backed up his graceful thoughts towards them by writing the letter. Perhaps the most gracious thing about this whole letter is that Paul took time to write it at all!
Here he was, bound in chains as a prisoner in Rome. But rather than focusing on himself and his own problems, he took the time to send a letter to those who needed some encouragement in their lives. That one act of kindness is still impacting lives today, as we’re still reading and learning from the words that Paul took the time to write almost 2,000 years ago!
If you want to grow in graciousness towards others, the best place to start is with a thought. Take some time to let your thoughts roam through different ways you could express grace to those around you. Pick up a pen. Pick up a phone. Pick up a bottle of water.
It doesn’t take much to be gracious, but it does take some thought. Give it some thought today. You’ll be blessed—and you’ll be a blessing—when you do.
Prayer: Father, thank You for the kindness that You’ve shown to me, and I pray that You’d help me to show it to others. Give me Your Thoughts to know how I can be a blessing to those around me today. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Do you ever find yourself wondering what to say? Or if you should say anything at all? Or, when the words come out, are they going to make sense?
Today I want to talk about how to trust God regarding when to speak, when to stay silent, and how to trust Him when you do speak that the words will be fruitful.
Today’s message is from my book Acts: Lessons in Faith featuring thirty inspiring devotionals based on the very first followers of Christ.
I’ll also play a song called "Nothing Else" as a reminder that Jesus is all we need, for everything we need comes through Him.
If you’d like a copy of the book, which also includes a small group study guide, visit InspiringBooks.com.
I pray your week ahead is FANTASTIC! I love you!
Lesson 15 from Acts: Lessons in Faith
"Faith Speaks" Scripture Reading: Acts 7
There are times when God wants you to hold your tongue. For instance, when Jesus healed two blind men, He told them sternly, “See that no one knows about this” (Matthew 9:30). And when Jesus brought Jairus’ daughter back from the dead, Jesus gave strict orders not to let anyone know about it (Mark 5:43).
But there are other times when God wants you to speak. For instance, when Jesus cast the demons out of the man named Legion, Jesus told him, “Return home and tell how much God has done for you” (Luke 8:39a). Or when Jesus healed ten men of leprosy on the road to Jerusalem, He told them, “Go, show yourselves to the priests” (Luke 17:14b).
So there are times when God wants you to hold your tongue, but there are also times when God wants you to speak. And when God calls you to speak, He wants you to be ready. The Bible says, “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have” (1 Peter 3:15).
I’d like to give you three ideas today to help you speak when God calls you to speak. I’ve pulled these ideas from the story in Acts chapter 7 where God called Stephen to speak. Stephen spoke boldly even though it was dangerous to do so. When Stephen was arrested and had to defend himself, he gave one of the boldest speeches in the Bible. Because of it, he was stoned to death, but his words were not in vain.
Here are the three things that I noticed Stephen did, and we can do, when God says to speak:
1) Don’t be afraid.
2) Pair up your words with Scripture.
3) Trust God to use His Word to transform lives.
First, don’t be afraid. Jesus had already forewarned His followers before He died that they would be arrested and flogged and persecuted. Jesus told them, “So do not be afraid of them. There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs. Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:26-28).
Although Stephen could have been afraid that day, he didn’t let it keep him from speaking.
Second, pair up your words with Scripture. Stephen might also have worried about what he was going to say to his accusers, but Jesus had already told His followers, “But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you” (Matthew 10:19-20).
God did give Stephen words to speak. His Word. When Stephen spoke, he paired up his own words with Scripture to support what he was saying. Stephen quoted from Genesis, Exodus, Deuteronomy, Amos, and Isaiah. When Stephen spoke, God spoke His Words through Stephen. This is one of the reasons it’s so important to read your Bible, study your Bible and memorize your Bible. When you know God’s Word, it helps you to infuse your words with His.
Third, trust that God will use His Word to transform lives. The Bible says that one of the men who heard Stephen speak that day was Saul, who at the time gave approval to Stephen’s death. But if you keep reading in Acts, you’ll see that Saul became a Christian himself shortly thereafter. Jesus changed Saul’s name to Paul, and Paul went on to write much of the rest of the New Testament, including the letters to the Romans, Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and more.
Even though Stephen died, God used his words that day to reach many lives, including ours over 2,000 years later! As God said, “My Word…will not return to Me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:11).
When God calls you to speak, speak. Don’t be afraid. Pair up your words with Scripture. And trust that God will use His Word to transform lives.
Prayer: Father, help us to speak when you say, “Speak.” In Jesus’ name, Amen.
When you pray, have you ever wondered if anybody’s out there? If anybody cares? If anybody can give you a little feedback on what you’re praying about?
The answer is Yes! And knowing this can make all the difference in your prayers.
Today’s message is from my book, Nehemiah: Lessons in Rebuilding, featuring fifteen inspiring devotionals based on one of the greatest building projects of all time.
I’ll also play a song I wrote about what to do when you’re trying to rebuild something in your life, and you don’t know the way forward.
And if you’d like a copy of the book (plus the sheet music for the song I’m playing!), visit InspiringBooks.com.
Love you! Have a great week!
Lesson 2 from Nehemiah: Lessons in Rebuilding
"Get Up and Pray" Nehemiah 1:4-11
There’s a scene in the middle of the classic Christmas movie It’s A Wonderful Life that I hardly noticed in all the years that I’ve watched it―until I became a Christian, that is. The message of the movie is so powerful, I missed the fact that the whole chain of events that takes place throughout the movie starts with a prayer.
When George Bailey, the character played by Jimmy Stewart, finds himself at a loss for what to do next, he prays:
“God…God…Dear Father in Heaven, I’m not a praying man, but if You’re up there and You can hear me, show me the way. I’m at the end of my rope. Show me the way, God.”
And God does.
There’s a time to weep over the losses in your life, but there’s also a time to move forward. And the best way to move forward is to get up and pray. Although you may feel like George Bailey at times, not even sure if God’s there and listening at all, I assure you, He is. God is there and God does care. Knowing that can make all the difference in your prayers.
If you think of prayer as just a time to be alone, or a time to talk to yourself and try to work things out on your own, then you may not have much incentive to pray at all. But if you truly believe that God is there, and that when you talk, He listens―and responds―then turning to prayer takes on a whole new meaning.
When the prophet Nehemiah suffered a great loss in his life, he sat down and wept, but the next thing he did was to get up and pray. Listen to the words of Nehemiah, and his prayer, as recorded in Nehemiah chapter 1:
“When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven. Then I said:
‘O LORD, God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love Him and obey His commands, let Your ear be attentive and Your eyes open to hear the prayer Your servant is praying before You day and night for Your servants, the people of Israel. I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father’s house, have committed against You. We have acted very wickedly toward You. We have not obeyed the commands, decrees and laws You gave Your servant Moses.
‘Remember the instruction You gave Your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations, but if you return to me and obey my commands, then even if your exiled people are at the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for My Name.’
‘They are Your servants and Your people, whom You redeemed by Your great strength and Your mighty hand. O Lord, let Your ear be attentive to the prayer of this Your servant and to the prayer of Your servants who delight in revering Your name. Give Your servant success today by granting him favor in the presence of this man’ ” (Nehemiah 1:4-11).
Nehemiah knew that God was there, that God was listening, and that God knew best what to do next. Nehemiah mourned, fasted, and prayed. He confessed his own sins, as well as those of his countrymen. And he reminded himself―and God―of God’s promises, asking for God’s favor as he moved forward.
I don’t know whether you’re more like George Bailey, who didn’t think of himself as a praying man, or more like Nehemiah, who prayed regularly, or somewhere in between. But I do know that whoever you are, you can pray to your Father in heaven and He will hear you―and He will respond. That prayer could very well be the one that starts the whole chain of events of the rest of your life.
Come to God today and pray, even if it’s as simple as saying, “I’m at the end of my rope. Show me the way, God.” And He will.
Prayer: Father, I’m at the end of my rope, and I don’t know what to do next. I confess my sins to you. Show me the way, Lord, and help me to know what to do next. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
What can you do when you feel stuck? Here’s an idea: PRIME THE PUMP! In today’s message, I’ll share with you some simple and practical ways to get unstuck. I’ll also share a song and a prayer to help you prime your own pump while you watch!
Today’s message is from my book, Psalms: Lessons in Prayer, featuring thirty inspiring devotionals based on the oldest prayer book in the world (the book of Psalms!).
And if you’d like a copy of the book (plus the music and Scripture Readings that go along with it), visit InspiringBooks.com.
Love you! Blessings on your week!
Lesson 15 from Psalms: Lessons in Prayer
"Priming Prayers" Psalm 100
I live on a farm that has an old hand pump on it. We seldom use it anymore, so to get the water to come out the well, you have to “prime the pump”—meaning you pour a cupful of water down inside the pipe, which moisturizes a leather ring on a cylinder, which creates the suction needed to draw out more water. Just a cupful of water can release a fairly unlimited supply of water!
Sometimes we need to do the same thing in our prayer times with God. Sometimes we’re able to come to Him with a song that’s already in our hearts; a song we’re just bursting to sing to Him. At other times we come to Him with barely a cupful of water, and we need Him to pour out a song into our hearts.
Thankfully, He can do that, too! All we need to do is to pour out a cupful of praise, thereby “priming the pump,” which then can release a fairly unlimited supply of praise in return!
Psalm 100 is one of those psalms that always seems to help me prime my pump, bringing me quickly into an atmosphere of praise. It’s a short psalm, just 5 verses long, and it takes just 30-40 seconds to read. Yet for those who take its words to heart, it can release a strong and steady stream of praise.
Listen to the words of Psalm 100, which is subtitled in the Bible as, “A psalm. For giving thanks.”
“Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.
Worship the Lord with gladness;
come before Him with joyful songs.
“Know that the Lord is God.
It is He Who made us, and we are His;
we are His people, the sheep of His pasture.
“Enter His gates with thanksgiving
and His courts with praise;
give thanks to Him and praise His name.
“For the Lord is good and His love endures forever;
His faithfulness continues through all generations.”
(Psalm 100:1-5)
Lana and I put this psalm on the cover of our “Order of Service” for the day we got married, so a copy of this psalm was handed to everyone as they entered the doors of the sanctuary. We felt it was a fitting psalm for a day when we were naturally bursting with praise—and it was! There was no need for priming the pump that day! Our hearts were already overflowing with praise!
But there have been other days that I have pulled up this psalm when my heart wasn’t naturally bursting with praise, and I’ve found there’s at least a cupful of praise in this psalm to get things going again. A few of the reasons why we can praise God, even on rainy days, are contained within the psalm itself. It begins with a shout! In my last message, I talked about shouting to God when you’re angry or upset. But in this message, I’d like to encourage you to shout out a word of praise to God, joining the rest of the earth in its praise of God as well.
Shout out the word “Hallelujah!” for instance, which simply means “Praise God!” in Hebrew (originally “Halal Yah!”). For some reason, I really love saying it in the original Hebrew! And when I do, it becomes more than just a “Woo-Hoo!” to God; it’s a “Halal Yah!” to Him, a praise to the Almighty God Who created me, Who loves me and Who gives me every breath I take. It’s a “breathy” word of praise, with no hard consonants, like p’s or k’s, to interrupt the flow. Just pure praise. Pure breath. Pure worship from my spirit to His. And in return, God has often poured out a good dose of His Spirit back into me—and a fairly unlimited supply at that!
It also helps when I say it with a smile—with gladness, as Psalm 5 says in verse 2. There’s something about saying “Halal Yah!” that just makes me smile naturally, too. It’s a “whoop-de-doo!” kind of a word to me. “Halal Yah!” It’s joyous. It’s victorious. And it brings out the true gladness that I know is down in my heart. All of this is from just the first two verses of this worshipful psalm:
“Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.
Worship the Lord with gladness;
come before Him with joyful songs.”
The next verse gives me a few reasons for praising God. They speak about how He is ours, and we are His:
“Know that the Lord is God.
It is He Who made us, and we are His;
we are His people, the sheep of His pasture.”
Now there’s a reason to praise God! He’s our God! He’s the One Who made us, and we are His. We are His people and the sheep of His pasture! He cares for us, because we belong to Him.
The next verse continues, telling us how we can come to Him, with thanksgiving and praise, knowing that He is ours and we are His:
“Enter His gates with thanksgiving
and His courts with praise;
give thanks to Him and praise His name.”
Come to Him with a thankful heart. Come to Him with praise. Then, as you enter His courts, give your thanks to Him; give your praise to His name.
Lastly, this psalm reminds me about some of God’s best attributes, as listed in the last verse: His goodness, His enduring love, and His faithfulness which continues through all generations.
“For the Lord is good and His love endures forever;
His faithfulness continues through all generations.”
I’ve been contemplating rainbows lately, and the powerful imagery they convey. They’re more than something for little kids to have on their stickers, or for big movements to have on their flags. They’re signs of God’s promises to the world He loves.
I saw a rainbow on my way home from Trinidad this week, and it came at a perfect time. Because of a delay at the airport, I missed one of my connecting flights…which meant I would miss my bus later in the day, which meant my plans for the rest of the night would change, too. As everything was getting backed up in my mind, I was tempted to get upset with the airlines and the agents and officials at customs.
I decided to praise God instead, trusting Him in the midst of it. I had done everything I could do, and I had to trust Him to do everything He could do. After running to one of my gates and watching the door close as the agent said, “We’re sorry, Mr. Elder, we’ve just filled the last seat on the plane,” I was tempted to be dejected again. Instead, I took a few moments to relax and praise God as I began the long walk to the customer service desk, where I was told I could standby for another flight on the other side of the airport, and I took another deep breath and began another long walk to get there.
When I finally arrived at that next gate, I sat down and saw, out the window in front of me, one of the most beautiful rainbows I’ve ever seen. It was coming down through the clouds and practically touched the plane that was sitting outside the window in front of me. I pointed it out to the others in the waiting area and we all looked at it in wonder.
About 45 minutes later, the rainbow was STILL there over the plane! I’ve never seen a rainbow last so long! They called my name and told me there was one more seat on the plane… THAT plane, the one that we had been looking at for so long! It was that plane that had one more seat on it; a seat with my name on it; a seat with a rainbow of God’s promise practically touching it.
Sometimes you come to God with a song of praise that’s already on your heart. Other times you need to prime the pump with a cupful of praise to get things going, changing the atmosphere in your own hearts of those all around you. Either way, always know that there’s an unlimited stream of praise ready and waiting for you to tap into at any moment. Just turn to God. Give Him a shout of praise. Give Him your best “Halal Yah!” Then let Him do the rest.
Will you pray with me?
Father, we praise You! We worship You with thanksgiving in our hearts! Halal Yah! Help us to bring forth the fullness of the praise that we know is deep within us—and even more, that we know is deep within You. Help us to pour out a song of praise from our spirit to Yours, then give us a good dose of Your Holy Ghost in return! Help us to praise You from the depths of our beings, knowing that You are good, that Your loves endures forever, and that Your faithfulness continues through all generations. In Jesus’ mighty name, Amen.
To get a copy of Psalms: Lessons in Prayer, plus the music and Scripture Readings that go along with it, visit: InspiringBooks.com!
Why does God sometimes take so long to answer prayer? The Bible tells us that one reason is that the answer could overwhelm you if you’re not ready for it yet!
Trust Him and His timing. He’s already sent His Son to answer your greatest need. There’s NOTHING He wouldn’t do for you.
I’m sharing today’s message, along with a song and a prayer, to help you do just that. This is from my book, Two Weeks with God, featuring fourteen inspiring devotionals based on my piano album, Clear My Mind.
You can watch at the link below, or read along with the text below that.
And if you’d like a copy of the book (plus the piano book to play the music yourself!), you’ll find them on my new online bookstore at InspiringBooks.com.
Hang in there. God can answer your prayers "in a moment, in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye."
Day 1 from Two Weeks with God
"Moment by Moment"
I am sometimes overwhelmed by the apparent slowness with which God answers prayer. I wonder how many deep breaths I’ll have to take before the answers come. And yet, time after time the answers have come, even if they come gradually, moment by moment.
One of the reasons God takes time to answer our prayers is recorded in the book of Exodus. God told Moses that he would bring his people into a remarkable land, but that it was currently occupied by their enemies. God said,
“But I will not drive them out in a single year, because the land would become desolate and the wild animals too numerous for you. Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land” (Exodus 23:29-30).
Because of God’s great love for us, He sometimes delays the answers to our prayers so they won’t overwhelm us when they come. As the saying goes, “Be careful what you ask for, because you just might get it!” Although we might think we could handle the answer, God knows best and we would do well to follow this advice from Proverbs:
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart; and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight” (Proverbs 3:5-6).
Don’t be discouraged if God’s answers are slow in coming. God loves you very much. He already sent His Son to die for you. There’s nothing He wouldn’t do for you. Jesus tells us that everyone who asks receives, and then He adds these touching words:
“Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask Him” (Matthew 7:7-11)!
The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. The Bible says,
“With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day” (2 Peter 3:8b).
Trust Him moment by moment, and soon you’ll see the answers to your prayers.
Let Me Pray for You
Lord, I pray for those who need to renew their trust in You today. I pray that You would show them, even this week, that You are answering their prayers moment by moment. Let them know in their hearts that there’s nothing You wouldn’t do for them, and that if they can trust You with their eternal life, they can trust You for their needs here on earth as well. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Take Time in His Word
“But I will not drive them out in a single year, because the land would become desolate and the wild animals too numerous for you. Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land” (Exodus 23:29-30).
Read Romans 8:28. In what things does God work for our good?
Read Ephesians 3:20-21. How much is God able to do for us?
Read John 3:16 and John 15:13. To what length is God willing to go for us?
Take Time in Prayer
Listen to the song Moment By Moment. Take a few minutes to bring your requests to God. Allow some time for Him to speak to you, too.
After You Pray
By the way, never underestimate what can happen in a moment. The Bible says that a woman who had been bleeding for twelve years touched Jesus’ robe and was healed from that moment (Matthew 9:22). A boy who had been tormented by demons since childhood had them cast out and was healed from that moment (Matthew 17:18). A day will come in the future when a trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised, and we will be transformed into the image of Christ in a moment, in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye (1 Corinthians 15:52, KJV and NIV). Keep trusting Him moment by moment, for in one moment you could see the answers to years of prayer!
LORD, I BELIEVE YOU ARE ANSWERING MY PRAYERS EVEN NOW.
To get a copy of Two Weeks With God, plus the music and the piano book that goes along with it, visit: InspiringBooks.com!
What if your greatest weakness is actually your greatest strength? If so, you may be overlooking one of the best ways God can use you and your life!
Take a look at my message today where I’ll share how we can easily miss some of our greatest strengths because we feel so beaten down in those areas. Yet that’s often where God has done the best work in us.
Here’s the link to watch my message, as well as a song "How He Loves," and a prayer to encourage you in your faith today. I’ve also included below the text of the chapter I’m reading today from the book Exodus: Lessons in Freedom.
If you’d like a copy of this book, including the new Downloadable PDF and Audiobook, you’ll find them on my new online bookstore at InspiringBooks.com.
May God give you extra strength today!
Lesson 1 from Exodus: Lessons in Freedom
"The Fear of Man Leads to Bondage"
Scripture Reading: Exodus 1:1-14
Could it be that your greatest weakness is actually your greatest strength?
A man came up to me after I spoke at a men’s breakfast and said, “Hi, Eric. Do you remember me?” I strained to put a name with his face, but couldn’t do it. When he told me his name, an image from high school immediately flashed across my mind.
We were both freshmen playing flag football in gym class when he got in the way of a senior. This senior knocked my friend to the ground and started pummeling him in the face with his fist. I watched my friend’s head bounce up and down on the ground with each pounding.
Why would someone pummel my friend like that? My friend was a big kid, but a nice kid. Even though he hadn’t done anything wrong, his sheer size made him appear to be a threat. The pummeling had its effect: my friend never got in this senior’s way again, and I made sure I didn’t either!
Unfortunately, my friend walked away feeling weak and beaten down when in reality, it was his sheer strength that drew the fire in the first place. When people are fearful of us, or we’re fearful of them, it often leads to bondage. Something similar happened to the Israelites. Back in the days of Moses, when the nation of Israel started to grow while they were living in Egypt, the king of Egypt saw their strength and got scared:
“Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites have become much too numerous for us. Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country” (Exodus 1:9-10).
The Israelites were immediately enslaved. For the next 400 years, they were treated as the lowest of the low in Egypt. I’m sure they felt worthless, worn-out, and weak. But in reality, it was their great strength that caused the fearful king to put them into bondage. Although they may have felt like the weakest nation on earth, do you remember what God said about them? He called them His “chosen” people, His “treasured possession,” and promised that they would become “a great nation.” (Deuteronomy 7:6 and Genesis 12:2). This was their destiny. This was their calling. A destiny and calling that the king foresaw and tried to stop.
I got spiritually pummeled a few years ago after speaking as a guest at a local church. I thought the regular pastor would be thrilled when he came back to hear that half a dozen people had put their faith in Christ that day for the very first time. Instead, I got an extremely harsh letter from him a few weeks later saying that one of those people had started going to another church (she wanted to go to a Bible study and her church didn’t have one). He blamed me for her leaving and made it clear that he wanted nothing to do with me or my ministry ever again.
For the next few days, I felt like I’d gotten the wind knocked out of me. I felt like I never wanted to speak at another church again. This man was not only an influential pastor in the community, but he was also the president of the minister’s association in town. But then God reminded me of my calling, my purpose in life, and what He said about me. I was able to shake off the fear of man and stand tall again in the calling of God. That pastor eventually invited me to speak again at his church, and I eventually became president of the minister’s association! :)
But the fear of man almost derailed me from God’s plan for my life. I began to look at other areas of my life where I felt weak to see if those areas might really be strengths instead.
Do you feel weak, pummeled, or beaten down in certain areas of your life? Could it be that some of those areas might actually be some of your greatest strengths?
Don’t let the fear of man keep you down. Ask God what He says about you, your gifts, and your calling. Listen to what He says, and He will set you free.
To get a copy of Exodus: Lessons in Freedom in audiobook, PDF, paperback, Apple Books, Kindle, or Nook, visit: InspiringBooks.com!
I’m continuing my podcast today with a message to help you stop looking down and look up! We all have those seasons that seem to come to an end, but God can take those sad endings and turn them into new beginnings.
If you need a boost in your faith, I hope you’ll watch today’s message, where I’ll share a song, a prayer, and a message from my book "Israel: Lessons from the Holy Land."
Here’s the link to watch, and I’ll include the introduction to the book below.
If you’d like a copy of the books, including the new Downloadable PDF and Audiobook, you can find them at my new online bookstore, InspiringBooks.com.
Enjoy your day! Keep looking up!
Introduction from Israel: Lessons from the Holy Land
"Turning Sad Endings Into New Beginnings"
There’s a spot in Jerusalem where you can walk inside a tomb from the time of Christ. As you walk in, you can imagine what it must have been like for those who walked into Jesus’ tomb on that first Easter morning, when the angels greeted them with these words:
“Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; He has risen, just as He said. Come and see the place where He lay” (Matthew 28:6).
To take a walk into the tomb with me and see it for yourself, take a look at the short video I’ve posted online at this link. Then read on to see why the story of what happened that first Easter morning is perhaps the most significant event that’s ever taken place in the entire history of Israel.
What I love about the Easter story is that just when it looked like all hope was lost, God showed up and showed the disciples that the death of Jesus wasn’t the end—it was just the beginning of something even better.
In a matter of days, the disciples went from thinking that their hopes and plans and dreams for the future had been dashed forever, to seeing that God had bigger hopes and plans and dreams for them than they could have ever imagined!
You can almost see their faces light up as God opens their eyes to the truth. Watch what happens as Jesus reveals Himself to two of the disciples as they walk along the road:
Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus Himself came up and walked along with them; but they were kept from recognizing Him.
He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?”
They stood still, their faces downcast. One of them, named Cleopas, asked Him, “Are you only a visitor to Jerusalem and do not know the things that have happened there in these days?”
“What things?” He asked.
“About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. The chief priests and our rulers handed Him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified Him; but we had hoped that He was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning but didn’t find His body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said He was alive. Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but Him they did not see” (Luke 24:13-24).
Take a look at the disciples’ faces when Jesus first walks up and starts talking to them. The Bible says, “They stood still, their faces downcast.” I don’t know how exactly Jesus was able to hide His true identity from them, but I do know that it’s hard to see when our faces are downcast. But look at what happens as the story continues.
He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning Himself.
As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus acted as if He were going farther. But they urged Him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So He went in to stay with them.
When He was at the table with them, He took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Him, and He disappeared from their sight. They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while He talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”
They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when He broke the bread (Luke 24:25 -35).
The disciples went from downcast to delighted, and as they did, their hearts began to burn within them. They were eager to learn everything they possibly could from this Man who was walking with them, so much so that they “urged Him strongly” to stay with them. Then, when Jesus took the bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them, their eyes were opened to the Truth. Even though Jesus disappeared in that moment, their excitement about what they felt didn’t disappear. They got up at once and ran to tell the others the good news: This wasn’t the end at all, but just the beginning of something new!
There are times when you may feel like God, or people, or life itself has pulled the rug out from under you. It may seem like all your hopes and plans and dreams are crashing down around you. You might wonder how you’ll ever be able to get back up again. But I want to encourage you to do what the disciples did as they walked along the road. They stopped looking down and they started looking up. They looked up to the One who held their life in His hands—the same One who holds your life in His hands—the One who gives each one of us “life and breath and everything else” (Acts 17:25b).
What may look like an ending to something in your life may in fact be just the beginning of something entirely new, something even bigger and better and more remarkable than you ever could have imagined. And if you think that’s just wishful thinking, just remember the Easter story, and remember the God who specializes in turning sad endings into new beginnings!
Let’s pray…
Father, thank You for the reminder that You can take the sad endings in our lives and turn them into new beginnings. Open my eyes that I may see just what you have in store for me. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
I’m launching a new podcast today called "The BEST INSPIRATIONAL BOOKS on the Planet!" Ok, I just made that up. There are lots of great books out there in the world. But the podcast is real, and the books ARE good! And I’d love to share them with you.
You see, I’ve written more than 25 books over the last 25 years, and I’ve just converted them all into Audiobooks! I’m excited to finally have my books in a format that people can listen to while they’re driving, working out or just wanting to relax.
And as I’ve been converting my books to Audiobooks, I’ve been discovering just how powerful God’s Word is. The books have aged well because God’s Word has aged well. It never gets old!
I’m starting the podcast today with a reading from Chapter 9 of my book Water from My Well. The chapter is called "Keeping Your Feet Forward and Your Knees Bent." I wrote this message to remind us all that if we position ourselves right, we can minimize–or even eliminate–the damage from obstacles that we might run into in life.
As Jesus said,"In this world you will have trouble, but take heart! I have overcome the world" (John 16:33).
The truth is we WILL have trouble! But if we walk carefully, prayerfully, and keep putting our trust in Him, we can keep going forward in God’s purposes for our lives and keep running towards that joy set before us.
I’m including the text of Chapter 9 below, but you can also watch my reading of the it in my podcast here, along with a song and a prayer to encourage you in your faith!
In the coming weeks, I’ll be reading chapters from my other other books as well. You can find all my books, including the new Audiobooks and Downloadable PDFs at InspiringBooks.com.
Love you all! I pray these messages will bless you abundantly in the days and weeks and years ahead.
Chapter 9 from Water from My Well:
"Keeping Your Feet Forward And Your Knees Bent"
A friend recently asked me, “How do you feel when you come across a boulder that’s in your way?”
How do I feel? I didn’t understand the question.
Maybe my friend meant to say, “What do you do when you come across a boulder that’s in your way?” Because I know the answer to that one. I usually try to talk to the boulder (if the boulder is in the form of a person) or to God (if the boulder is related to finances or health or a person to whom I can’t talk for some reason). I usually try to explain why I need to keep going the way I’m going, asking them to help me keep going or to move out of the way so I can get through.
But my friend said, “No, that’s not what I’m asking. I’m asking, ‘How do you feel when you come across a boulder?’”
Again, I didn’t understand the question. “Can I just go around the boulder?” I asked.
“Sure, you can go around it if you want to,” my friend said. “But that’s not what I’m asking. I’m asking, ‘How you feel when you come across one that’s in your way?’”
How do I feel? “Well,” I said, “I usually feel frustrated. Angry. Hurt. Of course, that’s how I feel. Isn’t that obvious? Isn’t that the way everyone feels?”
My friend didn’t answer, but simply said, “I think there’s something God wants to say to you. That’s why I’m asking.”
So over the next few days, I began to pray about the question: “How do I feel when I come across a boulder that’s in my way?” The answer seemed so obvious that I didn’t understand why it would even matter.
But while praying one day, I suddenly remembered something from many years ago—when I was just a kid. I was white-water rafting with my family on a river in Colorado. The guide who rented us the raft and was helping us to navigate the river gave us a helpful tip:
“If you fall out of the raft, float on your back with your feet forward and your knees bent. That way, if you run into a boulder underwater, you’ll hit it with your feet first and be able to step up over it or push off and go around it. But if your feet aren’t forward, you’re likely to run into it with your back or your side or your head and you could get hurt pretty badly. And if your knees aren’t bent, you won’t be able to step up over it or push off and go around it. So be sure to keep your feet forward and your knees bent.”
I’ve rafted and floated on many rivers since then, whether in the mountains of Nepal or on the plains here in Illinois, and I’ve always remembered that guide’s advice. It’s kept me from getting hurt several times.
So when I was praying about the boulder question, I remembered the guide’s advice. And I suddenly realized that God didhave something He wanted to say to me.
There have been times in my life when I’ve come across boulders that were in my way. Boulders that seemed to pop up out of nowhere. Boulders that threatened to derail me from the direction I was wanting to go. And my reaction has almost always been the same. I get frustrated. Angry. Hurt.
I’ve tried talking to the boulders and talking to God. But when the boulders haven’t moved, I’ve just gotten more frustrated. More angry. More hurt. Even when the boulders have moved, I’ve often felt the pain of running into the boulders long after I’ve moved on farther down the river.
My friend’s question made sense to me now. What if, I thought, instead of getting sideswiped by the boulders that I come across in life, I change my posture, knowing that there are probably going to be more boulders ahead, and keep my feet forward and my knees bent so I can step up and over them or push off and go around them? It might not change the fact that I’ll still run across some boulders—and it might still take some effort to get around them. But I might not get so frustrated when I come across them. I might not get so angry. I might not get so hurt.
I began to think through some of the boulders I had run across in the past and how this advice could have helped me during those times: when I asked a boss for a favor, and he said no; when I asked a girl if she wanted to date, and she said no; when I asked God to change a situation, and He said no. In each situation, I remember getting frustrated. Angry. Hurt. I took their answers personally when oftentimes it wasn’t personal at all, at least not at its core. In each situation, the others were just doing what they felt was right in the situation, but somehow it got personal from there.
As I thought about each of those situations from my past, I wondered, What if I had kept my feet forward and my knees bent? How would I have reacted differently? The biggest and most obvious difference was that I wouldn’t have gotten nearly as frustrated, nearly as angry or nearly as hurt. I wouldn’t have taken it all so personally. Instead, I could have stepped up and over the boulders, or pushed off and gone around them, rather than getting sideswiped, hit in the back, or knocked on the head.
I also thought about some of the boulders I’m facing now—those barriers that seem to be in my way and could potentially give me some real knocks, too, if I’m not prepared for them. I can easily see how I don’t have to take it so personally if the boulders don’t move. I can see it better from the boulders’ perspectives. A boulder, after all, isn’t necessarily at fault for being plopped down in the middle of the river. It’s just sitting there innocently, perhaps, but happens to be in my way!
And while I know very well that my guide’s advice can’t prevent me from ever experiencing frustration or anger or hurt, it does give me a way to minimize or eliminate much of the frustration or anger or hurt. The big difference is posture. Preparedness. And not letting every obstacle seem so dang personal.
I finally saw the value in my friend’s question. As boulders are popping up now, I’m trying harder to remember the advice of my Guide:
“Keep your feet forward and your knees bent.”
I can already see that I’m getting less frustrated, less angry, and less hurt when I do run across boulders that are in my way. And, to my amazement, with my feet forward and my knees bent, it’s sometimes as easy as stepping up and over them or pushing off and going around. Praise God!
I’ve been going to Celebrate Recovery for about two years now. It’s been terrific! I’d like to share with you how the program has helped me deal better with some of my hurts, habits, and hang-ups.If you’ve never heard of Celebrate Recovery, it’s a safe place to find community and freedom from the issues that are controlling your life. To find a group near you, visit celebraterecovery.com. I highly recommend it!
Without further ado, here is my Celebrate Recovery Testimony. You can read or watch it below.
Hi, my name is Eric. I’m a grateful believer in Jesus Christ, and I’m in recovery from unhealthy attractions. By that I mean that I love people, and I love connecting with people. But once in a while, I find my attractions approaching the edge of what I consider to be healthy for me or for them. At that point, I know I need to pull back and do a heart check or sometimes take more drastic measures to turn my unhealthy attractions into healthy actions.
Praise God, He’s broken the power that those unhealthy attractions have held over me, and I have not acted out on them in over 37 years, ever since I put my faith in Jesus Christ! But I still notice from time to time that my attractions can get closer to the edge than I want them to. My good friend Tim Wilkins, who encouraged me to come to Celebrate Recovery two years ago, tells a story about a man who interviewed for a job as a chauffeur to drive a Rolls Royce.
The owner of the Rolls pointed to a brick wall nearby and asked each candidate how close they could drive to the wall without scratching the car. The first candidate said, “I could drive within a foot of that wall and not damage your car.” The second said, “I could drive within six inches of that wall and not damage your car.” The third said, “I don’t know how close I could get to that wall. But if I were driving your Rolls, I’d stay as far away from it as I could!” Guess who got the job?
Even though I have not acted out on my unhealthy attractions in 37 years, I have had to learn how to stay as far away from that wall as I can, while also learning how to maintain solid friendships that meet my legitimate needs, but in legitimate ways. I know this is possible because God has promised us in 1 Corinthians 10:13: “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.”
I’d like to share with you seven highlights, seven defining moments, that have helped me since I started coming to Celebrate Recovery. The journey has been truly remarkable.
The first defining moment is symbolized by this BLUE CHIP. In Celebrate Recovery, you come forward and take a blue chip when you want to work on something in your life, whether it’s leaving something behind or starting something new. I’ve heard that some of us come to Celebrate Recovery to lose things and others to find them. For me, I have done both.
This blue chip represents losing my pride and walking forward to say, “I need help.” I had just come off one of the greatest highs of my life, having just produced, directed, and performed in a Christmas musical I had written. I had gathered over a hundred others to help me perform the show at the Streator High School Auditorium. This was in December of 2021.
I felt like I was hitting on all cylinders, using all my creative gifts to create and produce the show and ministering to people along the way as they ministered to me by helping me fulfill a lifelong dream. The show was a success, reaching about 1,500 people over the weekend with the life-changing message of Jesus Christ through a fun and touching Christmas musical.
Three days later, I got COVID. It wiped me out for the next year of my life. For the first few months, I could hardly move more than an hour a day. I went from one of the most productive times of my life to one of the least. And for my personality type and giftings, being productive is extremely important, not only for my desire to achieve results and accomplish tasks, but also for the feedback I receive and the strokes I get from doing so.
After the show, I was achieving nothing and accomplishing nothing. I was giving nothing and receiving nothing. My health was deteriorating in other areas as well. My diabetes was already getting out of control going into the show. After getting COVID, it was hard to even take a breath from moment to moment. And my interest in living at all was waning. I knew I needed help, not just physically, but spiritually, emotionally, and relationally.
One friend suggested Celebrate Recovery. Another suggested a spiritual director. And another suggested medical help. I did all three.
I called a friend to see if he’d like to come with me to Celebrate Recovery. He was struggling with his own issues, and I felt better about taking someone with me than going alone. A few weeks later, my friend got another job that prevented him from coming. My cover was blown! But I was getting so much out of the meetings that I decided to continue coming.
I didn’t take a blue chip right away. I was so overwhelmed, I didn’t know what I wanted to work on. I started jotting down things that were weighing on me. There were seven! But the one that came to the top of my list was my struggle with unhealthy attractions. I was longing for intimacy and starting to feel out of control. I had lost my wife Lana of 23 years to cancer in 2012. I had lost a couple of potential relationships since then. And I had given up on dating or any future relationship as the pain of losing those I loved was too much for me to take. Four weeks after I started coming, I decided to walk forward and take a blue chip.
It was humbling to walk to the front. Just eight months earlier, I was leading a production that involved many in the room, many who saw me as a producer, director, and pastor. It was embarrassing. I wondered what they would think. I wondered what they thought I was coming forward for. I feared for what they might fill-in-the-blanks with in their own heads. But when I picked up that blue chip, I took it home and wrote the date on it with a Sharpie. I knew this was a significant date. I knew that admitting I had a problem and getting help was going to be half the battle. And it was. From that day on, when I took this blue chip, I started my upward journey toward healing and recovery.
That leads me to my second defining moment, represented by this coin. This is a 36-YEAR COIN to recognize what God had already done in my life in setting me free from acting out on my unhealthy attractions. I heard one night that the chips were not only for one month or two months or one year or 10 years, but went up to 40 years. I asked our leader, Lynette, if she thought it would be healthy for me to take a 36-year coin sometime, as I had never celebrated that accomplishment in that way.
She said yes, that it was not prideful, but an honest recognition of a milestone in my life worth celebrating. She didn’t have a 36-year coin that night but said she would get one.
I went to Kentucky that weekend to experience a revival that was breaking out at Asbury University. I had been at that same campus 30 years earlier at a conference dealing with unhealthy attractions. At that conference, during worship, a man sitting next to me reached over, put his hand on my shoulder, and said he had a word from God for me. He asked if it was okay if he shared it. I said yes.
The question on my heart at that conference was if someday I might trip up and fall back into acting out on my unhealthy attractions. I wanted to learn all I could to prevent that from happening. When the man sitting next to me shared his word from God for me, he said, “You will never go back to what you once were. You will never, never, never, never, never go back.” It was the answer to the exact question on my heart.
He continued, “Satan doesn’t need to get you to sin to get you off track from God’s call on your life. Men will give you many opportunities. Don’t take them. Take only the ones God gives you.” In that moment, I knew what he said was true. I knew I would never go back to what I once was. Not in a prideful way, but in a confident way. His words shifted my focus from the fear of falling, to following my calling; making sure I didn’t just do good projects, but God’s projects. Those words freed me to live the life I am living now.
Now I was back at Asbury, praying about that 36-year coin I might receive. I walked into that same auditorium, and during worship, a man sitting next to me put his hand on my shoulder and said, I have a word from God for you. Is it okay if I share it? I said yes.
I was stunned. I had just told my son who had come with me the same story from 30 years earlier that I just told you. We both knew this was significant.
The man said, “There are songs on your heart God wants to bring out to share with the world.” He had no idea I had just produced this musical featuring 25 songs I had written and wanted to expand globally. I had actually been in talks already with a couple from Asbury who lead their theater department about helping me finesse my musical for a larger, worldwide audience.
When the man finished speaking, God spoke something else to my heart. He said, “I want to finish the work I began in you 30 years ago.” I knew he was talking about the remnant of my unhealthy attractions, as they were beginning to feel out of control. I knew there was still work to be done. I said, “Yes, Lord. Finish the work. Finish the work. Finish the work.” When I looked up, the man was gone.
The next Monday night, I walked forward and received my 36-year coin that Lynette had ordered for me. It was a helpful contrast to the blue chip I had taken a few weeks earlier. Remembering what God had already done in my life gave me the boost I needed to take the next steps He was calling me to do: to finish the work He had begun in me. As David says in Psalm 77: 2, 10-11: “When I was in distress, I sought the Lord… Then I thought, ‘To this I will appeal: the years when the Most High stretched out His right hand. I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember Your miracles of long ago.”
The third defining moment is represented by this NICKEL. I found it on the ground next to my car the night I had just finished doing my “Step Four” Inventory with my sponsor, Tom. It was a difficult but healing session as I listed specifics about people and situations where I had been hurt and people and situations where I had hurt others.
At one point in the conversation, I brought up that I was still struggling with some unhealthy attractions. I told Tom that even though I had not acted out on them, I had entertained them in my mind. I have never struggled with porn and for now 37 years have never struggled again with acting out. But in my head, in my fantasy life, I sometimes entertained my attractions and how they might play out.
During this downtime after getting COVID, when everything around me was so bleak, my energy was so low, and my resistance was even lower, I found myself entertaining those fantasies more and more. I was attracted to people who were not mine… and never could be mine. They were either married or the wrong age or the wrong gender. Some were movie stars and some were from long ago, including my late wife, Lana. I felt some of this was okay, to have this fantasy life from time to time. It wasn’t really hurting anyone, was it? Especially when recalling intimate memories with my wife. What could be wrong with that?
But as I talked with my sponsor and brought up each of these situations, I knew they were unhealthy. I told him I no longer wanted to live in a fantasy world. I wanted to be where my feet were, to live in reality. I wanted to be present in this life that God has given me. And even though I wasn’t doing anything wrong outwardly, I knew that I was treading on shaky ground. As James says in James 1:13-15: “When tempted, no one should say, ‘God is tempting me.’ For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.”
James knew that the battleground was in our thought life, not just our outward expression of it. And I knew from Jesus that lust in our hearts for those who are not ours is just as grievous as acting on those lusts.
Tom asked if I was ready to pray and lay those fantasies down. It seemed simple enough when he said it. But the implications were huge. My fantasy life was the only place I found that level of intimacy anywhere in my world. Without that, I would have no intimacy at all, certainly not on that level.
I said I could pray with my head, because I knew it was the right thing to do. But I also said, “I don’t know if I can give it up in my heart. The implications are too big.” I said I wanted to do it but didn’t know how. And I didn’t see anything on the other side of giving it up.
I had given up on the idea of marriage and dating five years earlier. A relationship was not on my radar, nor was it my desire. The pain of losing a relationship was just too great for me to take that risk again.
So giving up my fantasy life meant giving up on any future intimacy at all. Still, I prayed with Tom, at least with my head.
I went out to get some dinner before returning to the church that night for Wednesday worship. At dinner, I called a friend who had walked with me through some of these struggles before. I told him my dilemma, and he said he would pray for me.
When I walked back to my car to head back to the church for worship, I saw this nickel on the ground. I felt God said to pick it up and read what it said. I thought, “I know what it says: ‘In God We Trust.’ Blah, blah, blah, I know I need to trust in You. I want to, but it’s just so hard.”
Again, I felt He said to pick it up and read what it said. So I reached down and picked it up. It was a newer Jefferson nickel, and it had one word on it in large, cursive letters. The word was “Liberty.” God said, “Eric, it’s not what you’re giving up that’s important. It’s what you’re going to get when you do give it up. You’ll get liberty. You’ll get freedom. And you’ll be able to walk forward in the fullness of the life I’ve called you to live.”
That word shifted my focus from what I would lose to what I would gain, even though I didn’t know what was on the other side of that prayer of surrender.
I went to worship that night and paced back and forth during the first few songs, holding this coin in my hands. I knew if I was going to lay down these fantasies, I would have to lay down each of the specific people I had been entertaining in my mind that were unhealthy. Five names came to mind. I looked at the nickel in my hand, representing five cents. I knew what I had to do.
I walked forward during the last song, tapped the shoulder of Tom and another friend Brent who had recently been set free from some related struggles, and I asked if they would pray for me. I said, “I don’t know how I’m going to do it, but I’m going to do it.” I lay down on the floor, face down, with my arms and the nickel out in front of me. I prayed to God to help me do what I couldn’t do on my own. The guys I tapped and many others started praying for me while the worship continued around me.
When I finally stood up, I felt free. I knew I would still have a ways to go to walk it out, but I knew I was headed in the right direction. I had prayed not only with my head, but also with my heart. And for that, I was thankful.
And that leads to the remaining defining moments, represented by these four remaining coins.
One is a gold and silver EURO COIN I got when I was in Italy last spring. I was telling the guys in my Celebrate Recovery small group about my victory of laying down my fantasy life when I asked them when we would get our final chip! I’m a perfectionist and like to set goals and complete them. It frustrated me to think that I would have to keep taking chips for the rest of my life! But I knew this side of heaven, I’d always have things to work on.
That’s when I got this coin in Italy as change for something I bought. I noticed an image of da Vinci’s “Vitruvian Man” engraved on it. Some say this image epitomizes the perfect man. When I saw it, I thought of Jesus, the only true Perfect Man that ever lived. I realized that when when God looks at me, He sees Jesus, not me, because I put my faith in Him 37 years ago. Jesus had already forgiven me of my sins and washed me whiter than snow. I thought, “There IS a final chip! And I’ve already received it, all those years ago, when I put my faith in Jesus!” This doesn’t mean there’s not work still to do. But it does mean that He’ll help me finish the work! As Paul says in Philippians 1:6, “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
The fifth defining moment is represented by this 1-YEAR COIN. I had initially planned to go to Celebrate Recovery for just a few weeks to check it out with my friend. But after I started seeing the progress in my own life, I decided to keep going. Whenever I felt I could stop going, God would bring up another issue in my life that needed work. So I decided to keep going for at least 1 year. One year later, I was amazed I was still going every week, plus I had started and finished a Step Study on another day every week for several months with a smaller group of guys where some of the best breakthroughs and friendships happened. I realized recovery doesn’t happen in a moment or a day, but is a continual process of bringing our lives before Jesus. I especially loved the verse where Jesus says, in Matthew 6:34: “So don’t be anxious about tomorrow. God will take care of your tomorrow too. Live one day at a time.” It’s hard to live in my past and hard to live in my future. But I can definitely live where my feet are, taking one day at a time.
Now I can say I am truly thankful to “be where my feet are.” And I can’t help but shake my head in wonder as I think about all that God has done for me. It’s like Paul said in Ephesians 3:20-22, “Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”
I couldn’t have believed ten years ago where I am today. I couldn’t have believed it five years ago. I can still hardly believe it today.
Yet here I am. Thank You, Lord, and thank you to my friends at Celebrate Recovery, for walking me through such a huge and meaningful season of my life. Your prayer and care, meals and hugs, and friendship and love just make me want to keep coming back. I’m forever grateful.
Twenty years ago, I sat next to a man (Greg Potzer) for lunch at a conference table in Orlando. We were on a lunch break at the first ever "Internet Evangelism Conference" sponsored by the Billy Graham Training Center.
As we shared about our respective ministries, I learned that Greg had a mailing list of about 1,000 people to whom he sent a daily Christian quote. He had been collecting quotes on index cards for most of his life that had encouraged him in his walk with Christ. Now he was sharing them with others to encourage them!
When he heard that I had an Internet ministry of my own, he asked if I might be able to help him with his mailing list. He was not a techie and wanted it to grow but was getting bogged down by the process.
I said, "Sure," and we began to grow his list, and my own, in the process! We eventually grew his list to 40,000 subscribers from countries all over the world.
On Wednesday, I’ll be teaching a class online with Greg on how to build a mailing list of your own. We’d love to share what we’ve learned to help others reach the world for Christ, too!
Want to join us? You can sign up at this link for a suggested donation of just $35 to my ministry… 100% of which goes right back into helping me reach even more people for Christ. https://ericelder.com/reach-the-world-with-me/
I’m also including an interview I did with Greg a few months ago about his ministry, plus a link where you can download a free PDF of 2,500 of his favorite quotes from the last 25 years.
What does this all have to do with my title today: "Being faithful where you are"? Everything!
Greg has built an entire ministry around something he loves to do, and something he can do from anywhere he lives. He’s an avid reader, and whenever he runs across a quote that inspires him, he jots it down.
Greg has collected over 100,000 quotes, and has shared about 10,000 of those in his daily messages over the years. And in his new book (which is free as a PDF or also available at cost in paperback or hard cover), he shares 2,500 of the best of the best.
It’s a simple ministry in concept, even though rather complex at times behind the scenes. But for Greg, it’s a joy each day to wake up and choose a thought, a scripture, and an occasional "smile" to give people a Christian seed of encouragement for their day.
My question today is this: What can you do with what you have, with what you love, wherever you are, that might impact the world for Christ? I encourage you to do it! You never know who might be touched by your act of love.
And here’s a link to sign up for Greg’s daily thoughts, delivered to your email: https://thisdaysthought.org
And again, here’s a link to sign up for the class I’ll be teaching on Wednesday, March 20th, about how to build a mailing list. The class will be live on zoom from 12-2 PM CDT, and Greg will be joining me to share his thoughts, too! https://ericelder.com/reach-the-world-with-me/
I wrote an article for Billy Graham’s Decision Magazine nearly 20 years ago. It was called "Using the Gifts God Has Given You." They sent a photographer to take a picture of me at my computer using technology to reach people for Christ. I’m still doing it today!
And starting tomorrow, I’m teaching some mini-classes on zoom to help others do the same. The classes are on 12 different topics. Tomorrow’s class is "How to build a website." (You can sign up for just one class at a time … you don’t have to take all 12! Each class is a $35 donation to our ministry.)
I’ve also included the full text of the Billy Graham article below.
Using The Gifts God Has Given You by Eric Elder
for Billy Graham’s Decision Magazine, April 1, 2005
I wish I were a great evangelist. I have dreams about preaching to millions and seeing them come to Christ. But the reality is that people haven’t been knocking on my door asking me to preach in their stadiums.
But my heart, my desires and my prayers are still set in that direction. Why? Because my decision to follow Christ was so life-changing that I wish for every person on the planet to experience the same thing.
So when God tugged on my heart 10 years ago and led me to quit my secular job and go into full-time ministry, I started walking in that direction. I didn’t know exactly what He wanted me to do, but I knew that it probably would have something to do with computers. I had just finished creating a Web site for the company where I worked, so I started with what I knew.
I created my own Web site. I typed out the story of how Christ had changed my life, and I posted it on the Internet. A few days later, I got an e-mail message from a man in Athens, Greece. He read my story and asked if I would pray for him. Messages started coming in from places like Seattle; Memphis, Tennessee; and Cairo, Egypt.
Within a year, the Web site was getting more than 800 visitors a month from 72 countries. I posted more testimonies, added some music and began recording video messages to encourage people in their faith. It’s been nearly 10 years since I first posted my testimony on the Internet. Although I rarely get to preach in front of a live audience, I’ve kept walking in the direction God called me. In January more than 10,000 people from 150 countries visited the Web site.
What’s intriguing to me is that many of the people who have put their faith in Christ via my Web site have done so as a result of other people’s stories, words and videos—not just mine. A Buddhist from Malaysia put her faith in Christ after reading about another Buddhist who had done the same. A woman from Illinois was led to Christ in our chat room by a pastor’s wife who also was visiting the chat room. A man from Latvia gave his life to Christ right there in front of his computer after watching a video I had recorded of a friend sharing the Gospel in my living room.
None of these people knew much about computers, but they had a passion for sharing Christ. It wasn’t my words that won the Buddhist to Christ, or the woman in the chat room or the man from Latvia. But I feel that God has honored my desires and my prayers to reach people for Him. Through the abilities He’s given me to type, run a camcorder and create a Web site, He has allowed me to help others fulfill their passions as well.
I still wish I were a great evangelist, and I want to reach as many people as I can for Christ. Maybe you do, too. If so, look again at the gifts God’s already given you. Then set your heart, your desires and your prayers in that direction. Start walking and keep walking. God only knows how many lives could be touched as a result of your obedience to His tug on your heart.
Starting Wednesday, March 13th, I’ll be teaching a new class on zoom called "Let’s Get Technical! 12 mini-courses to help you REACH THE WORLD ONLINE with your message!"
I’ve been reaching the world online with my message for over 30 years. I’d love to help you!
We’ll meet once a week for 12 weeks on Wednesdays for 2 hours from 12-2 PM Central Time. All classes will be recorded so you can watch anytime if you can’t make it to the live classes.
Here’s what we’ll cover:
How to build a website (using Dotster/GoDaddy/WordPress)
How to build a mailing list (using Campaign Monitor/aWeber)
How to build a social media presence (using Facebook/Instagram/LinkedIn)
How to create a podcast (using Spotify/Apple Podcasts/YouTube)
How to create a YouTube channel (using YouTube)
How to create an audiobook (using Spotify/Audible)
How to edit audio (using Audacity/GarageBand/Logic)
How to edit video (using iMovie/Davinci Resolve)
How to create business cards, bookmarks or postcards (using Vistaprint)
How to setup a live online class (using Zoom)
How to setup a payment system (using PayPal/Venmo/Square)
How to setup a coaching calendar (using Calendly)
This course is for anyone, but I’m especially eager to help Christians get the message of Christ out to the world, whether through a book, an audiobook, a Bible study, a podcast, a video, a social media post, in print… whatever it takes, I’d love to help you cover the world in Christ!
Here’s what others have said:
"Eric Elder is my ‘go-to-person’ for all things technical. And because I learn best by watching, I gain a mastery of those highly technical issues that will help me promote my books, my resources, and my expertise. Eric has the ‘know-how.’" Tim Wilkins
"Thanks for helping me. You give me the confidence to do the hard things." Crystal Balas
”Eric has been a blessing to our ministry in so many ways…his technical expertise and assistance have meant everything!” Greg Potzer for This Day’s Thought
Space is limited, so sign up today! 100% of the donations we receive for this class will go directly back into our ministry so we can keep reaching more people for Christ! Thank you!
P.S. As always, you can sign up for a one-on-one zoom with me anytime to walk through any of these topics personally for a donation of $65 per hour to our ministry. Here’s a link to my calendar to schedule a one-on-one zoom! https://calendly.com/eric-elder/
Do you have a message you want to share with the world? I’d love to help! I’ve been sharing my messages online for more than 30 years… and helped dozens of others do the same. I’d love to help you!
Starting March 13th, I’ll be teaching a new class on zoom called"Let’s Get Technical! 12 mini-courses to help you REACH THE WORLD ONLINE with your message!"
You see, in addition to my passion for sharing Christ with others, I also have a passion for technology. I worked for 10 years as a researcher in Texaco’s Advanced Technology Group, looking at everything from virtual reality to speech recognition, from tablets to write on and maps to tell you the nearest Chinese restaurant. Basically, everything a smart phone can do today!
But when I started my corporate job 40 years ago, these ideas were all just glimmers in researchers’ eyes. It was a dream job for me, meeting researchers in their labs around the country at places like Apple, IBM, NASA and MIT. I would come back from those trips and share what I learned with my colleagues and how we might use these coming technologies.
My final project before I went into full-time ministry was to create Texaco’s very first website using the brand-new (at the time) HTML markup language. It was exciting stuff, and my visionary eyes lit up with the possibilities!
That’s when God called me into full-time ministry, to use all these gifts and talents for Him.That was 29 years ago, on Valentine’s Day, 1995. God called me to heal hearts and draw people back to Him.
“I have this message I want to get out, and the Internet was made for delivering messages,”
DO YOU HAVE A MESSAGE YOU want to get out, too? If so, I’d love to help! I’m starting this new class on March 16th to teach 12 mini-courses on the technologies that I use regularly to reach tens of thousands of people with the message of Christ every day.
We’ll meet once a week on Wednesdays for 2 hours for 12 weeks from 12-2 PM Central Time. All classes will be recorded so you can watch again or watch later if you can’t make it at that time.
Here’s what we’ll cover:
How to build a website (using Dotster/GoDaddy/WordPress)
How to build a mailing list (using Campaign Monitor/aWeber)
How to build a social media presence (using Facebook/Instagram/LinkedIn)
How to create a podcast (using Spotify/Apple Podcasts/YouTube)
How to create a YouTube channel (using YouTube)
How to create an audiobook (using Spotify/Audible)
How to edit audio (using Audacity/GarageBand/Logic)
How to edit video (using iMovie/Davinci Resolve)
How to create business cards, bookmarks or postcards (using Vistaprint)
How to setup a live online class (using Zoom)
How to setup a payment system (using PayPal/Venmo)
How to setup a coaching calendar (using Calendly)
Again, we’ll meet for 2 hours once a week for 12 weeks only!
Anyone is welcome to sign up for the course, but I’m especially eager to help Christians get the message of Christ out to the world, whether through a book, an audiobook, a Bible study, a podcast, a video, a social media post, in print… whatever it takes, I’d love to help you cover the world in Christ!
Space is limited, and I expect the class to fill up soon. So if you want to register, click a link below to sign up today! 100% of the donations we receive for this class will go directly back into our ministry so we can keep reaching more people for Christ! Thank you!
P.S. As always, you can sign up for a one-on-one zoom with me anytime to walk through any of these topics personally for a donation of $65 per hour to our ministry. Here’s a link to my calendar to schedule a one-on-one zoom! https://calendly.com/eric-elder/
Ready?!? Let’s get technical!!! (Cue Olivia Newton-John and start dancing!)
Have you ever wanted to read through the entire Bible in a year? You can!
Nine years ago, I encouraged my friend Al Lowry to take an impossible challenge: to read through the most important book ever written.
He did it! How? I encouraged him to do three things:
1) I encouraged him to take a "guilt-free" approach to reading the Bible.
By that, I meant to find a reading plan that would give him a few passages of scripture to read each day of the year. If he got behind, not to worry about backing up and catching up, but to just read the next passage that was suggested for that day.
This way, even if he were to miss a few days here and there, he would never "get behind." He could always start fresh with the reading for that day. And by doing so, he found by the end of the year that he had read more of the Bible than he had read at any other time in his life!
2) I encouraged him to take a few friends along with him.
By doing so, he would have others to encourage him along the way. Plus, as they talked about the Scriptures together, they would learn more from each other than from reading alone. So Al created a Facebook group and invited others to join him.
He didn’t post a comment every day. But sometimes others did. He didn’t get feedback every day. But when others did respond, they shared insights he hadn’t considered on his own.
And by reading the Bible together, he renewed old friendships, found new ones, and was encouraged to keep going day by day.
3) I encouraged him to read through the Bible again the next year, and the next, and the next…
Since Al had missed some passages the first time through, he committed to reading through it again a second time. Then he read it a third time, then a fourth, then a fifth!
This year, Al’s going through the Bible again… for the 10th time… and he’d love for you to join him! There are 3 ways to come along.
Click here to subscribe to Al’s podcast on SpotifyYou’ll hear Al’s thoughts on the daily passage, posted every day. It’s easy to listen and learn on your own while you work out, drive, or lay in bed! Let Al’s words and the soothing background music give you the gentle nudge to read the passage yourself and see what God speaks to you through it! (It’s free, too!)
Al’s book includes a short daily devotional for every passage of Scripture for 365 days. (You can use your own Bible or this version online from YouVersion to read the actual Scripture passages.)
Al has shared these insights with hundreds of people online over the years, and now you can have them all in one place: by your bed, on your desk, on your breakfast table… wherever you want to enjoy it every day!
I’m so proud of Al for taking this challenge nine years ago… and for continuing to read the Bible from cover to cover each year thereafter. I interviewed Al about his experience in the video below.
If you need a nudge to do what you might think is impossible, watch this video! Be encouraged that you CAN do it. And that it will help you in ways you can’t imagine.
LASTLY, click here to download a 2-page Bible reading plan you can use along with Al or on your own! It’s called "The Canonical Bible Reading Plan" and gives you a few chapters to read every day so you can read straight through the entire Bible in 365 days. Download it now… it’s free!
As you head into 2024, I pray you’ll take the challenge I gave to Al nine years ago. I pray God will speak to you very personally as you read His Word. These links may be the most important links you click all year!
I wanted to update you on how the premiere of our puppet opera went in Italy a few weeks ago. It was fantastic!
The Cast and Crew of "Saint Nicholas: The Extraordinary Journey of His Life" on stage after the premiere.
After the show, I spoke for a few minutes about why I wrote the book on which this book is based: to give people hope. After each sentence of my talk, the daughter of our musician translated my words into Italian. One man said afterwards that as I was speaking, he felt something happening inside of him. He said he didn’t know what it was, but it felt like "a bomb of hope"going off! He was grateful to the point of tears.
When I heard he felt that, I knew that the Holy Spirit had answered our prayers. I knew HE had shown up. And He had given this man Hope.
I also knew that when the Holy Spirit shows up, we don’t just get a tiny piece of Him, like His little toe. When the Spirit shows up, He shows up FULLY. And that’s what it felt like that night. It felt like God was FULLY PRESENT, manifest in the tears of this man–and in the hearts of many others who came to watch the show.
It was fantastic on so many levels, to see this story come to life in this gorgeous theater in the form of an Italian puppet opera. There were no curtains hiding the puppeteers, so they were just as much a part of the show as the puppets were.
Beyond bringing my story to life, the puppeteers, musician, and narrator made this a show of their own. It was in their own style, for their own people, and in their own language.
One of my favorite moments was when the narrator, who was a full-sized, real-life person, stepped in front of the scenery and sat down next to a puppet of Saint Nicholas in prison. The narrator and the puppet interacted as if they were both very real people. It was beyond magical. There was such a tenderness, such a care, and such a deep conversation between the two, that it couldn’t help but warm my heart.
I’m currently editing the video we captured during rehearsals and the performance. I can’t wait to show you the finished show! It’s a beautiful portrayal of the real life of Saint Nicholas, and the story of how he still inspires people around the world who look to him for hope.
The truth is, Nicholas looked to CHRIST for his hope. And that’s the story I want to share with you and with so many others.
Christ has given me hope beyond measure in the 36 years I’ve known Him, and He continues to give me hope, even in these last few weeks!
I know He can do the same for you. I pray as you read these words that God will drop "a bomb of hope" inside you, and that you will sense the Holy Spirit in your life–not just His little toe, but THE WHOLE OF HIM!
To those who have prayed, encouraged, and donated to bring this show to life, I want to say a hearty, sincere, and voluminous THANK YOU! Your prayers, encouragement, and support really have made a difference. We are already committing to taking the puppet opera to two more cities and big theaters in Italy next year, with a possibility of five new cities in all.
As if seeing the show itself wasn’t enough, I wanted to let you know how God spoke to me through the funding of this show. I received the last $100 donation towards the $12,000 needed–just two weeks before the curtain went up! I had been praying we would raise the full $12,000 before the curtain rose at the premiere. And after 18 months of praying, planning, and fundraising, the last $100 come in just two weeks before the show. When that happened, I knew God was sealing the deal. I knew that He had plans and purposes for this show that go beyond anything I can see. And He still does!
Between the new cities we’re adding and the film version I’m editing, I’m praying that many, many more people will have a bomb of hope go off in their hearts.
Thank you again and Happy New Year to you all! If you’d like to make a donation towards the next two cities we’re adding next year ($2,000 per city) you can make a tax-deductible donation at this link:
I was standing at the top of Grandad Bluff last weekend in La Crosse, Wisconsin. As I looked out over the plain and down to the city below, I realized I was at a point called The High View.
It struck me that I was also at that same point in my personal life: The High View!
I have been down in the valley, climbing over slippery rocks and slopes to get here. In the midst of all of those ups and downs and twists and turns I have gotten confused. I’ve sometimes wondered if I had taken the wrong turn. It’s been hard to tell which way was was up and which way was down. Sometimes I was facing one way, when I knew I needed to go the other way.
But every step in the last few months I’ve felt that I’ve been led by God. In the midst of taking those steps, however, I’ve questioned and second-guessed, over and over, if I’m even on the right path at all. I’ve wondered if I have been profoundly mistaken or profoundly correct. And except for God‘s reassurance, I’ve almost gotten sidetracked from the journey more times than I’d care to admit.
But this past weekend, standing at the top of the bluff, I had The High View. I could see the twists and turns below me that I had taken, each of which was necessary to get to this point. I could see why I would have questioned myself, and why others might have questioned me! I could see why I thought I might be on the wrong path completely.
But once attaining The High View, it all made sense.
Billy Graham describes The High View like this:
"I try not to worry about life too much because I read the last page of THE book, and it all turns out all right."
There were times along the way when God would show me The High View. It was as if He would elevate me to catch a glimpse of where I was, where I was going, and that I was on the right track.
Like Peter, stepping out of the boat and walking on water towards Jesus, I would sometimes have to call out to Him to save me. And, also like Peter, I felt the hand of Jesus reach down many times to pull me up again.
The moments I felt the most peace were the moments I completely surrendered to Jesus, those moments when I would lay back in His arms and lay my head on his shoulder, like John laid his head on His shoulder at the Passover feast. In those moments, I could trust that, even though I couldn’t see The High View, Jesus could. He’s much taller than me! He can see much further than me. And He simply sees better than me.
I’d like to say I’m going to keep The High View in mind from here on out. But I know myself. I know my doubts and fears. And I know my ability to second-guess myself.
Still, I’m praying today, as I approach the New Year, that I will do better at keeping The High View in mind. I’m praying that I will surrender more quickly, submit more fully, and trust more deeply. Not only for my sake, but for those around me. And I pray the same for you.
As you head into 2024, I pray that you will keep The High View in mind, that you will stay the course upon which God has set you, and that you will trust Him along your path, even if the way seems circuitous.
May you always keep your eyes on Jesus, the Author of your story and the Perfecter of your faith.
I’ve read the end of THE Book, and it all turns out all right. Keep trusting in Jesus, and keep The High View in mind.
God doesn’t always show us the future as a roadmap how to get there, but to confirm that He is IN IT when DO we get there.
A friend bought me a red jacket recently to wear to some upcoming Christmas events. It was out of my norm, but it made me laugh when I put it on, so I said, "Sure!"
I wore it last weekend to see a musical I’ve never seen before called Jersey Boys. It tells the backstory of the singing group Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons.
I wasn’t sure if I should wear it. I wasn’t sure if I should go. I wasn’t sure about a lot of things that night.
As soon as I walked in, the person seating me asked, "Are you a singer? An actor?"
I said, "No, but I am a producer."
She said, "Oh, I thought so, with that red jacket! Are you connected with this show?"
I said, "No, I’m just here to enjoy it." She smiled as she went on her way.
I really was looking forward to it. One of the reasons I decided to go was because God has spoken to me several times through one of the group’s songs, "You’re just too good to be true."
He spoke to me through it one night in a copy shop when I had just decided to mail out some flyers for my new ministry. He spoke to me in my car one day when I had just applied for a ministry position that I wasn’t sure I could take on. And He spoke to me when I saw Frankie Valli in person this summer, singing live on stage at the age of 89!
When I heard about the Jersey Boys musical, I knew I wanted to go. But I wasn’t sure I’d be able to.
But once the show started, and the singers started belting out song after song, I was so glad I came. I love music! I love musicals! I’ve even written and produced my shows! And this one was sweeping me off my feet.
But I was TOTALLY stunned when, half-way through the show, all four guys appeared on stage WEARING THE EXACT SAME JACKET I was wearing!
No wonder the person seating me asked if I was a singer, an actor, or somehow connected with the show! I looked like I BELONGED in it!
Then the song came on that God has used to speak to me multiple times throughout the years, starting more than 25 years ago. And He spoke to me through it again that night in a brand new way.
In that moment, I knew I was exactly where God wanted me to be. I knew I was wearing exactly what He wanted me to wear. And I knew He was answering some of the deep, deep questions on my heart that night.
You see, God doesn’t always show us the future as a roadmap how to get there, but to confirm that He is IN IT when we DO get there.
I think of the two disciples who were walking and talking for hours with Jesus along the road to Emmaus. They didn’t recognize Him until He broke bread with them and departed. THEN they said, "Weren’t our hearts burning within us while He talked with us on the road…?"
I think of Peter and John who heard Jesus call out to them while they were fishing in the morning. He said to throw their nets on the right side of the boat, and they did it, even though they didn’t know it was Jesus telling them to do it. But as soon as the fish started pouring into their nets, they ran to Him, saying, "It’s the Lord!"
And I think of my own decision to go to this show, to wear the red jacket, and to step out in faith for the other decisions on my heart that night.
God doesn’t always show us everything up front–or even most things!
But if we keep stepping out in faith, doing THE NEXT RIGHT THING He puts before us, we might just find when we get there that He was waiting for us to arrive all along.
Then we can run to Him, like Peter and John did, saying, "It’s the Lord!"
P.S. If you’d like some Christmas inspiration for yourself or those you love, now’s a good time to get some copies of my Christmas novella, "St. Nicholas: The Believer"! It’s been turned into a ballet, a musical, and in less than two weeks, a puppet opera in Italy!
I think you’ll find it a heartwarming and touching reminder of God’s love for you and of the reason we celebrate Christmas at all. Here’s the link to get your copies.
If you don’t tell your story, who will? And if you need some help telling it, let me know!I’ve got 3 ways to help you get your story out to the world…
1) Join us at our 2-day Writers Retreat THIS WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY in Central Illinois (November 1 & 2). Here’s our line-up of authors & encouragers! Click hereto learn more or sign up!
2) Get a copy of my two books I’ve written to help you! (Book 1 & Book 2) They’re inexpensive and are packed with tips to help you WRITE & SELF-PUBLISH that book on your heart.
3) Get in touch with me personally! Just book a time on my calendar, and I’ll help you go from start to finish or anywhere in between.
And remember, if you want the 2-DAY CRASH COURSE, come to the Writers Retreat THIS WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY!
P.S. I recently helped Tim Wilkins create a book out of a seminar he had been teaching for years both nationwide and globally. (I’ll be sharing more about his book in the months ahead!) He wrote some kind words of encouragement for me – and for you – this weekend. I thought I’d share them here!
Eric Elder wears more hats than anyone I know, and he wears each one with consummate professionalism. For years he has been a trusted colleague and collaborator.
In 2017, I flew to his home outside Chicago where he videotaped me teaching my 1-day conference – MORE THAN WORDS – which I have taught all across the United States and Hong Kong.
Painstakingly, but with unswerving patience, he videotaped for almost 7 hours of material over several days, then he converted the audio into text. He sent me the transcript which contained no punctuation, no paragraphs. Just a 49,000-word run-on sentence!
An encourager by nature and habit, Eric strongly urged me to “Turn this into book form. People need to read it.”
I took the document and began to create structure; with Eric’s reassurance, I wrote and moved sentences around like pieces on a chess board. Chapter titles emerged. I began to see how the book should flow.
Eric read drafts and offered suggestions along the way. He was a compassionate sounding board.
When my writing was complete, Eric – who has an eye for detail – connected with me via Zoom and formatted the manuscript right before my eyes. Writing content is one thing; making it presentable is another.
I believe Eric knows every word-processing feature and takes full advantage of them to help create a book that demands to be read.
And there’s more! Eric has the know-how to get the book finished and published online. I could not recommend Eric more passionately to any would-be authors.
Thanks, Tim! And remember, if you want a 2-DAY CRASH COURSE to write & self-publish that book on your heart, join us for our Writers Retreat this Wednesday & Thursday here in Central Illinois!
Today marks the 11th anniversary of my wife Lana’s passing from this life to the next… her "heaven day" as we like to call it.
I woke up this morning thinking about her legacy and how she lives on through us. I wrote:
Those we love never leave
when who we are
is infused with who they were.
(Eric Elder)
Here are 3 ways Lana still lives on through me and those who love her:
1). Today I’m releasing an Italian translation of a book we wrote together about the life and faith of the real St. Nicholas. It’s called San Nicola: Il Credente and was wonderfully translated by Italian native, Cristini Cusi. Lana’s ancestors are from Italy, too, so this is a fitting tribute to her heritage. Here are links to get some copies for yourself or your family or friends for Christmas!
2). In 3 weeks, we’ll be premiering the PUPPET OPERA based on the book! The book has already been turned into a ballet, a musical, and now… a puppet opera!
Here’s a 1-minute promo for the show:
MY SINCERE THANKS to those who’ve helped us raise 85% of the $12,000 to create this new show!
Kelly Albrecht, Joyce Benton, Beverley Wyman, Jane Cavanaugh, Chris & Deb Clayton, Rich & Gretchen Clemmons, Clint Clouse, Brendan & Billie Dimmig, Troy & Bonnie Dimmig, Bruce & Mary Felkins, Ashley Ferguson, Tom & Joy Foglietta, Kevin Fowler, Joe Gerstung, Elaine Goerne, Bob & Marlene Horton, Clayton & Marilyn Irmeger, Pat Kearney, Janet Kotecki, Mary LeRette, Al Lowry, Joan McGlone, Kevin & Misty Missel, Brent & Michelle Mitchell, Kevin & Joan Moody, Simon Murray, Linda Olivero, John Olivero, Mike & Jessica Pastirik, Kira & Kalycia Pfeffinger, Greg Potzer, Connie Reimer, Rita Reyes, Bob Ritter, Denny & Jane Roeschley, Kent Sanders, Michèle Sandison, Tracy Schultz, Jeanette Smith, Roger Smith, Vicky Snyder, Dan & Sarah Stayskal, Johnathon & Karis Stephens, Jennifer Thul, Dino, Lynn & Alexander Vallero, John Yates, and Rockie & Nancy Zeigler
If you’d like to donate and get your name on our list of credits, there’s still time! My goal is to have the show fully funded before the curtain rises on December 8th.
3) Starting in 2024, we’ll be working on a major motion picture also based on the book!I’m raising funds and seeking collaborators to turn the story into a movie everyone can watch year after year.
Here’s a 10-minute video where I share more about the movie, my ministry, and Lana’s impact on my life.
Here’s a link if you’d like to help us launch the movie!
Have you ever read a book that has touched your heart? A book that has helped you express the feelings inside you, as if the author knew exactly what you were going through? If so…
Have you ever thought that YOU could write such a book for OTHERS? That when you share the stories on your heart that they could give HOPE to others in the very same way?
The truth is: YOU CAN!
That’s why I love encouraging people to write their stories. Not for fame or fortune, although that’s fine. I encourage them to write their stories FOR THEIR READERS, to give them hope, to help them live their lives in a fuller way, and to give them a reason for living… even one more day.
If you have a book on your heart, I want to encourage you to write it! Do it for your readers!
2) Get a copy of two books I’ve written specifically for this purpose! Write With Me! is the ultimate guide to WRITE & SELF-PUBLISH that book on your heart. And Write With Me! NOTEBOOK!!! is a companion guide to help you write your specific book.
3) Get it touch with me personally, and I’ll help you go from the starting blocks to the finish line! Book a time on my calendar and we can chat!
Do you have a project you’ve been putting off? Maybe it’s time to start! As my new friend Ronn Baker says, "If you fail to start, you start to fail."
I met Ronn 3 MONTHS AGO at a book launch for another friend. Ronn asked if I could help him publish 2 books he had been working on for the last 10 years. I said, "Sure!" and we began the final steps to launch his books into the world.
On Friday, we were back in the very same library for HIS OWN book launch! After 10 years of writing, Ronn had just a few more steps to take to see his longtime dream come true.
Click here to watch my 10-minute interview with Ronn about what motivated him to start and his most "toast-worthy" moment.
What about you? What projects are on your heart that you’ve been putting off? What projects might be just around the corner from being launched into the world?
If it’s a book you’ve been wanting to write or finish writing, let me know! I love helping Christian writers get their stories out to the world.
Here are 3 ways I’d love to help:
1) Join us at our WRITERS RETREAT November 1st & 2nd here in Central Illinois. My writing friend Crystal Balas and I will be walking you through the steps to WRITE & SELF-PUBLISH that book on your heart. Sign up for the WRITERS RETREAT!
2) Get it touch with me like Ronn did, and I’ll give you one-on-one help to take you from the starting blocks to the finish line. Just book a time on my calendar and we can chat on zoom. Book an hour on my calendar
3) Get a copy of my books! These two books will walk you through the book writing and publishing process, step-by-step: Write With Me! The ultimate guide to WRITE & SELF-PUBLISH that book on your heart. Write With Me! NOTEBOOK!!! A companion guide to help you WRITE & SELF-PUBLISH that book on your heart.
Ready to start?!? Let me encourage you to do like Ronn did and get started! Then reach out like he did and get the help you need to finish!
Want to write a book?!? Today’s the last day to sign up for our WRITERS RETREAT at the early bird rate.
My writing friend Crystal Balas and I would love to have you join us for two days of fun, writing, and fellowship in a beautiful cabin in the woods. The retreat will be held at Starved Rock State Park on November 1st & 2nd here in Central Illinois.
In addition to the writing workshops, we’ll have time for fun and fellowship in the beauty of nature at Starved Rock State Park here in Central Illinois, featuring an optional trolley tour of the area and a guided walk on one of the trails.
Here’s our schedule. Feel free to come or go to any of the sessions… one of our BIGGEST GOALS is to help you create some SACRED SPACE on your calendar to have intimacy with God.
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 1
8:30-9 AM – Welcome & Worship
9-9:45 – “Write With Me!” – a walk-through of the writing and self-publishing process
10-10:45 – Think “Books,” Not “Book” – Choosing your first book, theme, and main stories
11-11:45 – Who Am I To Write A Book? – Gaining confidence to go ahead and write
12-1 PM – LUNCH – An optional ($18.95) box lunch in the room or an à la carte at the lodge restaurant or cafe
1-1:45 – No Scene That Doesn’t Turn – Telling your story in the most compelling way
2-2:45 – Fleshing Out Your Stories – Practical tips for writing the meat of your book
3-5 – Trolley Tour – An optional ($15) trolley tour of the State Park, the Illinois Waterway, and historic Utica
5-6:30 DINNER – À la carte at the lodge restaurant or nearby
7-7:30 Worship & Words of Encouragement
7:30-9 Success Stories – Self-published writers share their journey
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 2
8:30-9 AM – Worship & Testimonies
9-9:45 – Sharing Your Work – Tips for self-editing, sharing previews, and receiving feedback
10-10:45 – Formatting Your Book – The nuts and bolts of creating & uploading your book to sell worldwide
11-11:45 – Next Steps – Taking your writing further with communities & coaching
12-1 PM – LUNCH – À la carte at the lodge restaurant or cafe
1-1:45 – Seven Touches – Seven ways to encourage readers to buy and read your book
2-2:45 – Start Writing Your NEXT book! (The key to finishing your FIRST book!)
3-5 – Guided Hike – An optional ($10) guided hike through nature
5-6:30 DINNER – À la carte at the lodge restaurant or nearby
7-9 Worship & Wit – An entertaining evening with your fantastic writing friends, old & new!
Here’s the link again to learn more and sign up! Hope you can join us! (The price goes up after TODAY.)
P.S. Even if you CAN’T attend the retreat, you can STILL GET my new books that I’ll be using at the retreat to help you write that book on YOUR heart. Here are the links to get both!
Write With Me! The ultimate guide to WRITE & SELF-PUBLISH that book on your heart.
My friend Crystal Balas and I are hosting a 2-day Writers Retreat at Starved Rock State Park on November 1 & 2, 2023! Come join us!
If you have a book on your heart, but don’t know how to start or don’t know how to finish, we’ll show you how!
We’ve booked "a little cabin in the woods" at Starved Rock on November 1 & 2 where we’re going to write, pray, worship, and be inspired so we can all WRITE & SELF-PUBLISH those books on our hearts!
You’ll hear from other writers who have done this many times before (and some whose books are “hot off the press”!)
Eric Elder has written & self-published over 35 books and helped dozens of others do the same.
Crystal Balas is a writer, speaker, and life coach. Both have a heart for the Lord and a heart for helping others make their dreams come true!
In addition to the writing workshops, we’ll also have time for fun and fellowship in the beauty of nature at Starved Rock State Park, featuring an optional trolley tour of the area and a guided walk on one of the trails.
November is a great time to write a book, so this event will help kick off a month of writing!
Here’s our schedule:
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 1
8:30-9 AM – Welcome & Worship
9-9:45 – “Write With Me!” – a walk-through of the writing and self-publishing process
10-10:45 – Think “Books,” Not “Book” – Choosing your first book, theme, and main stories
11-11:45 – Who Am I To Write A Book? – Gaining confidence to go ahead and write
12-1 PM – LUNCH – An optional ($18.95) box lunch in the room or an à la carte at the lodge restaurant or cafe
1-1:45 – No Scene That Doesn’t Turn – Telling your story in the most compelling way
2-2:45 – Fleshing Out Your Stories – Practical tips for writing the meat of your book
3-5 – Trolley Tour – An optional ($15) trolley tour of the State Park, the Illinois Waterway, and historic Utica
5-6:30 DINNER – À la carte at the lodge restaurant or nearby
7-7:30 Worship & Words of Encouragement
7:30-9 Success Stories – Self-published writers share their journey
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 2
8:30-9 AM – Worship & Testimonies
9-9:45 – Sharing Your Work – Tips for self-editing, sharing previews, and receiving feedback
10-10:45 – Formatting Your Book – The nuts and bolts of creating & uploading your book to sell worldwide
11-11:45 – Next Steps – Taking your writing further with communities & coaching
12-1 PM – LUNCH – À la carte at the lodge restaurant or cafe
1-1:45 – Seven Touches – Seven ways to encourage readers to buy and read your book
2-2:45 – Start Writing Your NEXT book! (The key to finishing your FIRST book!)
3-5 – Guided Hike – An optional ($10) guided hike through nature
5-6:30 DINNER – À la carte at the lodge restaurant or nearby
7-9 Worship & Wit – An entertaining evening with your fantastic writing friends, old & new!
The retreat will be based on Eric’s new books:
Write With Me! The ultimate guide to WRITE & SELF-PUBLISH that book on your heart!
(Both are available now on Amazon at the links above!)
Cost
The cost of the retreat for BOTH DAYS is a suggested donation of $247 if paid by October 4th (or $297 after October 4th. You can also sign up for 1 DAY for $197).
Your donation to Eric Elder Ministries will help pay for the venue, the teaching, the rich fellowship with like-minded friends, and the course materials: Eric’s Write With Me! book and his Write With Me! NOTEBOOK!!!
(Meals, activities, transportation, and housing are not included so you can adjust those costs to your budget! Starved Rock Lodge has beautiful guest rooms and cabins available for booking at starvedrocklodge.com or you can find housing nearby on your favorite travel app!)
– Includes BOTH DAYS!
– 2 full days of teaching, worship & success stories
– Beautiful retreat setting
– Fantastic, like-minded friends
– Eric’s “Write With Me!” Book
– Eric’s “Write With Me! ” NOTEBOOK!!!
– Includes BOTH DAYS and EVERYTHING listed under “BEST DEAL”
(Sign up before October 4th using the “BEST DEAL” link and you’ll save $50! But you can still sign up after October 4th using this link. Either way, we’ll be glad to have you join us!)
– Choose EITHER DAY!
– 1 full day of teaching, worship & success stories
– Beautiful retreat setting
– Fantastic, like-minded friends
– Eric’s “Write With Me!” Book
– Eric’s “Write With Me! ” NOTEBOOK!!!
One of my personal goals is to help 100 Christians tell their stories. I’m up to 31! Want to tell yours?!?
I had a book launch two weeks ago for my new book, Write With Me! The ultimate guide to WRITE & SELF-PUBLISH that book on your heart.Fifty people came to the launch party at my farmhouse, including several who I’ve helped to tell THEIR stories.
It was WONDERFUL to hear THEIR JOY as they shared about the books on their heart that would have never come out had they not been nudged by others along the way. I was so thankful to be one of those others!
We live-streamed the event to hundreds online that night, and I’ve uploaded the video so you can watch, too. Here’s the link! (There were a lot of cicadas in attendance, too, but hopefully you can hear most of it!)
I LOVE helping people tell their stories. Why? Because I want everyone on the planet to know about the GREAT GOD we serve and how HE IS STILL ACTIVE & WORKING in people’s lives today!
Would YOU like to tell YOUR story? Are there people who could benefit from hearing what YOU’VE gone through, and how GOD has BROUGHT YOU THROUGH?
If so, I pray you’ll start writing, keep writing, and finish writing your story so others can be blessed by the words on your heart.
And if you need some help, let me know! I’ve written my best tips in my new book Write With Me! to help you do just that.
Number 1, I want to encourage you that YOU CAN DO THIS!
Number 2, I want to give you a practical plan to PULL IT OFF. And
Number 3, I want to show you, in detail, how to write & self-publish your book SO OTHERS CAN READ IT.
My goal is not just to help you write a book. My goal is to impact YOUR READERS with the life-changing message of Jesus Christ so THEIR lives can be changed FOR THE BETTER, too. For me, it’s all part of the Great Commission that Jesus gave His disciples: to make disciples who make disciples who make disciples!
If I can help YOU get YOUR STORY out to the world, I can help OTHERS grow in THEIR faith and THEY can get THEIR STORY out to the world!
SO… grab a copy of Write With Me!and you’ll learn, step by step, how to go from start to finished AND PUBLISHED! Also grab a copy of the Write With Me! NOTEBOOK!!! with MORE HELPFUL TIPS and SPACE TO WRITE your own story.
Once you’ve completed the book and notebook, you’ll have a strong first draft of your ENTIRE BOOK from start to finish!
ALSO! I’ve just announced my fall Writers Retreat here in Illinois on November 1 & 2 at Starved Rock State Park.
Here’s a link for more info… I’d love to have you join us for an inspirational, practical, and FUN Writers Retreat. We’ll be using my new books to help you write YOUR story.
I’m throwing a party at my farmhouse here in Central Illinois THIS FRIDAY NIGHT, and I’d love for you to come! PLEASE RSVP to this email by MIDNIGHT TONIGHT and I’ll send you the address and more info!
I’m launching my new book on September 1st called Write With Me! which I’ve written to help others WRITE & SELF-PUBLISH those books on their hearts.
I’ve written & self-published over 35 books myself and helped others write & self-publish over 30 more! Now, it’s time to celebrate!
Join me for a night of worship and encouragement, led by me and a few of my friends. Also included is a delicious meal and holiday decor, graciously provided by Jim & Dee Allen.
There’s no cost to come… just come!
Here’s our schedule:
– 5-6 PM Gather & Games
– 6-7 PM Food & Fellowship
– 7-8 PM Worship & Words
– 8-10 PM Bonfire & Stars (weather permitting; otherwise we’ll be inside by the piano!)
Who is this for? Anyone who wants to enjoy a night of praise and encouragement! I’ve thrown several launch parties for others over the years, but this is the first I’m throwing for myself. In addition to sharing about the book, I’ll be sharing an update on my ministry, including our upcoming "puppet opera" in Italy and my plans for a new movie.
Come! Be encouraged! And kick off Labor Day Weekend with a great cookout in the country!
If you’re interested in coming, even remotely, please reply to this note by Tuesday, August 29th. This will help us plan. The meal and the entire evening is on us!
When you reply, I’ll send you specific directions. Even if your plans change and you decide to come at the last minute, please come! I’d love to see you here.
This’ll be fun! Please reply for directions!
P.S. We’re officially launching the book on September 1st, but you can get an advance copy at this link!Write With Me!
I’m throwing a party at my farmhouse here in Central Illinois, and I’d love for you to come!
I’m launching my new book on September 1st called Write With Me! which I’ve written to help others WRITE & SELF-PUBLISH those books on their hearts.
I’ve written & self-published over 35 books myself and helped others write & self-publish over 30 more! Now, it’s time to celebrate!
Join me for a night of worship and encouragement, led by me and a few of my friends. Also included is a delicious meal and holiday decor, graciously provided by Jim & Dee Allen.
There’s no cost to come… just come!
Here’s our schedule:
– 5-6 PM Gather & Games
– 6-7 PM Food & Fellowship
– 7-8 PM Worship & Words
– 8-10 PM Bonfire & Stars (weather permitting; otherwise we’ll be inside by the piano!)
Who is this for? Anyone who wants to enjoy a night of praise and encouragement! I’ve thrown several launch parties for others over the years, but this is the first I’m throwing for myself. In addition to sharing about the book, I’ll be sharing an update on my ministry, including our upcoming "puppet opera" in Italy and my plans for a new movie.
Come! Be encouraged! And kick off Labor Day Weekend with a great cookout in the country!
If you’re interested in coming, even remotely, please reply to this note by Tuesday, August 29th. This will help us plan. The meal and the entire evening is on us!
When you reply, I’ll send you specific directions. Even if your plans change and you decide to come at the last minute, please come! I’d love to see you here.
This’ll be fun! Please reply for directions!
P.S. We’re officially launching the book on September 1st, but you can get an advance copy at this link!Write With Me!
Here’s a reminder that I’m taking a group to Italy for 10 days in December to see the premiere of my new puppet opera "San Nicola."
If you’d like to join me and a few of my family & friends, I’d love to have you come! Details below… let me know by September 1st!
(There’s one date change from my previous announcement about the trip. The premiere is now Friday, December 8th at 6:30 pm, instead of Saturday, December 9th.)
Want to marvel at the Colosseum? Stare at the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel? Throw a coin in Trevi fountain?
How about a hike to an ancient monastery? Or a traditional Italian feast at a working sheep farm?
If so, I’d love for you to come with me to Italy! I’m taking a group of from December 3-12 to see the premiere of our new Italian puppet opera: "San Nicola: lo straordinario viaggio della sua vita" (Saint Nicholas: the extraordinary journey of his life!)
The show premieres on Friday, December 8 at 6:30 pm in the historic Teatro Maria Caniglia.
If you can’t join us in person, we hope to livestream it and record it for later viewing from anywhere in the world! But I’ve love for you to come in person… here’s what we’ll be doing!
DAY 1 – Fly to Rome
Sunday, December 3 – Before you say, “I can’t afford it!” get this: round-trip tickets from Chicago to Rome for this particular week are only $570 right now! (in summertime, flights alone are $2,500!) If there’s ever a time to see Italy, this is it!
DAY 2 – Arrive in Rome
Monday, December 4 – We’ll arrive in Rome and enjoy the sights and sounds of the city, stroll by Trevi Fountain, and share a meal at a sidewalk cafe. Relax, you’re in Rome!
DAY 3 – The Sistine Chapel
Tuesday, December 5 – In the morning, we’ll tour the Vatican Museums, including the Sistine Chapel and its famous ceiling painted by Michelangelo.
& the Colosseum!
That same afternoon, we’ll tour the Roman Colossuem, including a walk through the newly-opened underground passages.
DAY 4 – To Sulmona
Wednesday, December 6 – We’ll spend the rest of our trip in the city of Sulmona, about 2-1/2 hours southeast of Rome, nestled in Italy’s snow-capped mountains. We’ll visit the puppet workshop where the show is being created.
DAY 5 – Hike to Celestine’s Cave
Thursday, December 7 – We’ll take a short ride and then a beautiful hike up a nature trail to the Cave of Celestine V, who stayed in this hermitage in the 1200’s after stepping down suddenly from his role as pope. We’ll also have a picnic lunch in nature and see the remains of the Temple of Hercules, who also hails from this region.
DAY 6 – The Premiere!
Friday, December 8, 6:30 pm – Tonight’s the night! We’ll be premiering our new Italian puppet opera in the beautiful Teatro Maria Caniglia, a 4-tiered, regal opera house built in the 1930’s. The show is called San Nicola: lo straordinario viaggio della sua vita (Saint Nicholas: the extraordinary journey of his life!)
DAY 7 – Enjoy Sulmona!
December 9 – Sleep in, enjoy some coffee and a croissant, or go window shopping. Later in the afternoon, we’ll take a walking tour of the city and a tour of the costume museum above the puppet workshop. Save room for a gelato! (Italian ice cream)
DAY 8 – Worship & Celebrations!
Sunday, December 10 – We’ll worship locally in the morning and enjoy a time of celebration with the cast & crew & friends later in the day.
DAY 9 – Anversa & Castrovalva
Monday, December 11 – We’ll take a short drive to Anversa where we’ll have lunch at a working sheep farm–with a traditional multi-course Italian meal–truly from farm to table! Then we’ll take an easy hike from Anversa to Castrovalva, two cities made famous, in part, by drawings by M. C. Escher.
DAY 10 – Return!
Tuesday, December 12 – We’ll take an early bus back to the airport in Rome for our departure. If you’re flying back to the States, you’ll likely be home that same night… with memories to last a lifetime.
The Details
This trip is á la carte… meaning you will choose and book your own flights, meals, hotels, and activities according to your wishes. I am happy to help you in your planning, but your choices are up to you.
The price is estimated to be $2,500-$2,900 per person from Chicago. Your price could vary depending on your city of departure and your choices above, but this is a good starting point. I’ll send you my itinerary and details of my plans so you can make your plans accordingly.
The estimate includes a suggested donation of $500-1,000 to our puppet opera to help offset the costs of the show and for organizing this special trip!
Flights are at their lowest prices RIGHT NOW, so please let me know as soon as possible (and definitely before September 1) if you’d like to come along! The suggested donation will secure your spot.
Reply to this note if you’re interested… even remotely! I’d love to have you come along!
Here’s a reminder that I’m taking a group to Italy for 10 days in December to see the premiere of my new puppet opera "San Nicola."
If you’d like to join me and a few of my family & friends, I’d love to have you come! Details below… let me know by September 1st!
(There’s one date change from my previous announcement about the trip. The premiere is now Friday, December 8th at 6:30 pm, instead of Saturday, December 9th.)
Want to marvel at the Colosseum? Stare at the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel? Throw a coin in Trevi fountain?
How about a hike to an ancient monastery? Or a traditional Italian feast at a working sheep farm?
If so, I’d love for you to come with me to Italy! I’m taking a group of from December 3-12 to see the premiere of our new Italian puppet opera: "San Nicola: lo straordinario viaggio della sua vita" (Saint Nicholas: the extraordinary journey of his life!)
The show premieres on Friday, December 8 at 6:30 pm in the historic Teatro Maria Caniglia.
If you can’t join us in person, we hope to livestream it and record it for later viewing from anywhere in the world! But I’ve love for you to come in person… here’s what we’ll be doing!
DAY 1 – Fly to Rome
Sunday, December 3 – Before you say, “I can’t afford it!” get this: round-trip tickets from Chicago to Rome for this particular week are only $570 right now! (in summertime, flights alone are $2,500!) If there’s ever a time to see Italy, this is it!
DAY 2 – Arrive in Rome
Monday, December 4 – We’ll arrive in Rome and enjoy the sights and sounds of the city, stroll by Trevi Fountain, and share a meal at a sidewalk cafe. Relax, you’re in Rome!
DAY 3 – The Sistine Chapel
Tuesday, December 5 – In the morning, we’ll tour the Vatican Museums, including the Sistine Chapel and its famous ceiling painted by Michelangelo.
& the Colosseum!
That same afternoon, we’ll tour the Roman Colossuem, including a walk through the newly-opened underground passages.
DAY 4 – To Sulmona
Wednesday, December 6 – We’ll spend the rest of our trip in the city of Sulmona, about 2-1/2 hours southeast of Rome, nestled in Italy’s snow-capped mountains. We’ll visit the puppet workshop where the show is being created.
DAY 5 – Hike to Celestine’s Cave
Thursday, December 7 – We’ll take a short ride and then a beautiful hike up a nature trail to the Cave of Celestine V, who stayed in this hermitage in the 1200’s after stepping down suddenly from his role as pope. We’ll also have a picnic lunch in nature and see the remains of the Temple of Hercules, who also hails from this region.
DAY 6 – The Premiere!
Friday, December 8, 6:30 pm – Tonight’s the night! We’ll be premiering our new Italian puppet opera in the beautiful Teatro Maria Caniglia, a 4-tiered, regal opera house built in the 1930’s. The show is called San Nicola: lo straordinario viaggio della sua vita (Saint Nicholas: the extraordinary journey of his life!)
DAY 7 – Enjoy Sulmona!
December 9 – Sleep in, enjoy some coffee and a croissant, or go window shopping. Later in the afternoon, we’ll take a walking tour of the city and a tour of the costume museum above the puppet workshop. Save room for a gelato! (Italian ice cream)
DAY 8 – Worship & Celebrations!
Sunday, December 10 – We’ll worship locally in the morning and enjoy a time of celebration with the cast & crew & friends later in the day.
DAY 9 – Anversa & Castrovalva
Monday, December 11 – We’ll take a short drive to Anversa where we’ll have lunch at a working sheep farm–with a traditional multi-course Italian meal–truly from farm to table! Then we’ll take an easy hike from Anversa to Castrovalva, two cities made famous, in part, by drawings by M. C. Escher.
DAY 10 – Return!
Tuesday, December 12 – We’ll take an early bus back to the airport in Rome for our departure. If you’re flying back to the States, you’ll likely be home that same night… with memories to last a lifetime.
The Details
This trip is á la carte… meaning you will choose and book your own flights, meals, hotels, and activities according to your wishes. I am happy to help you in your planning, but your choices are up to you.
The price is estimated to be $2,500-$2,900 per person from Chicago. Your price could vary depending on your city of departure and your choices above, but this is a good starting point. I’ll send you my itinerary and details of my plans so you can make your plans accordingly.
The estimate includes a suggested donation of $500-1,000 to our puppet opera to help offset the costs of the show and for organizing this special trip!
Flights are at their lowest prices RIGHT NOW, so please let me know as soon as possible (and definitely before September 1) if you’d like to come along! The suggested donation will secure your spot.
Reply to this note if you’re interested… even remotely! I’d love to have you come along!
I led worship last week… just one song. But it moved my heart. I pray it moves yours.
My friend Cammie Quinn’s asked if I would play the piano and lead the singing for one song during her book launch party for her new civil war novel Follow the Wind Home. The song was "How Great Thou Art."
It might surprise you to hear this, but I don’t normally play in public. I love playing the piano. And I love singing to God. But playing and singing—and leading others in singing in a live setting? For me, that’s rare.
But it was Cammie asking. And it was her book launch for a novel she’s been dreaming about writing and publishing since 6th grade. I had been helping her to get it published since last fall when she reached out to ask me for help getting it out of her computer and out to the world. So when she asked me to play the piano and lead one song, how could I say no?
It turned out to be one of the high points of her party, and one of the high points of the year for me personally. There’s just something about the song, about having her family and friends singing it, and about the way the Holy Spirit came into the room for those special moments. Cammie told me this morning she’s watched that song over and over this week, still amazed at what God was and is still doing.
Would you like to listen in? I’ll include the link below to our worship time, along with links to her book, her talk, and to another conversation we had in our back yard just a few weeks ago.
Take a few minutes to worship with us! He so worthy of our praise.
P.S. I read Cammie’s book on my trip to Italy this spring on some cold and rainy days when it was too dreary to go outside. I loved sitting by the fireplace in my room and letting her novel warm my heart. The book is dedicated "to those who love to much," which includes me!
I was hooked from Chapter 1 and was thankful to have a few more "cold and rainy days" to keep reading to the end! It gave me strength to move on. The book is written in the style of Willa Cather and John Steinbeck. So if you love those, you’ll love this!
Here’s the link to Cammie’s book launch party, starting with a few remarks from me and another friend, followed by her talk at about 12-1/2 minutes into the video, and ending with the hymn, "How Great Thou Art" at around the 50 minute mark.
And here’s a short clip we recorded in my backyard a few weeks ago on the day her book was published–exactly 20 years from when she lost her eye to cancer. Thank God He can redeem our days!
This book is a companion guide to my original book Write With Me! in which I describe how I’ve written and self-published 36 books (this is #37!).
You can read the chapters in Write With Me! then answer the prompts in this book to get great start on creating your own book from cover to cover!
Just start with Chapter 1 and answer the questions as best you know how. You may be surprised that within a few weeks you’ll have a complete version of your book, even if in simplified form!
My main encouragement with both of these books is to help you WRITE & SELF-PUBLISH that book on your heart, getting it out of your head and into a form that others can enjoy. If the stories on your heart have helped you, I know they’ll help others, too!
More than 30 years ago, I was given a wall hanging from a young man I met on a missions trip. Something I said had touched him deeply, and he wanted to encourage me that what I said mattered. I pray they will encourage you.
“God sends each person into this world with a special message to deliver, with a special song to sing, with a special act of love to bestow. No one else can speak your message or sing your song or offer your act of love. God has entrusted these only to you.”
A few years ago, when I was in the throes of writing one of my books, my friend Greg Potzer (of This Day’s Thought at thisdaysthought.com) sent me 21 quotes on writing and perseverance. The quotes gave me the boost I needed to keep writing. I’ve included them below in hopes they’ll give you a boost, too.
Remember, words have power. God created the whole world and everything in it with just a few words. Maybe your words go forth and touch the world, too.
I only write when I am inspired. Fortunately I am inspired at 9 o’clock every morning. William Faulkner
A poem is never finished, only abandoned. Paul Valery
Of the making of books there is no end. King Solomon (Ecclesiastes 12:12)
If it takes a lot of words to say what you have in mind, give it more thought. Dennis Roch
I have made this letter longer than usual, because I lack the time to make it short. Blaise Pascal
From my first experience of writing a screenplay, I had learned something about the process of revision. You can always make something better, and if you make it worse, you’ll know it. I had learned to have no fear of rewriting. All writers should be so lucky. John Irving
You know that I write slowly. This is chiefly because I am never satisfied until I have said as much as possible in a few words, and writing briefly takes far more time than writing at length. Carl Gauss
The story is told of an accomplished artist who was applying the finishing touches to a bronze sculpture. He kept filing, scraping, and polishing every little surface of his masterpiece. “When will it be done?” asked an observer. “Never,” came the reply. “I just keep working and working until they come and take it away.” Unknown
“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” Thomas Edison
If you knew how much work went into it, you wouldn’t call it genius. Michelangelo
I know God will not give me anything I can’t handle. I just wish that He didn’t trust me so much. Mother Teresa
All our dreams can come true – if we have the courage to pursue them. Walt Disney
If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them. Henry David Thoreau
Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind. Dr. Seuss
Quit now, you’ll never make it. If you disregard this advice, you’ll be halfway there. David Zucker
There are two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though every thing is a miracle. Albert Einstein
Most of my friends who are novelists have told me that they never know the end of their novels when they start writing them; they find it peculiar that for my novels I need to know, and I need to know not just the ending, but every significant event in the main characters’ lives. When I finally write the first sentence, I want to know everything that happens, so that I am not inventing the story as I write it; rather, I am remembering a story that has already happened. The invention is over by the time I begin. All I want to be thinking of is the language- the sentence I am writing, and the sentence that follows it. Just the language. John Irving
Do not write so that you can be understood, write so that you cannot be misunderstood. Epictetus
No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. Robert Frost
Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind. Rudyard Kipling
When you sell a man a book, you don’t sell him 12 ounces of paper and ink and glue – you sell him a whole new life. Christopher Morley
1. Write with me!
Describe the book on your heart in two or three sentences. What is it you really want to write about?
Write the “working title” of the book on your heart:
Write your name as the author:
2. The beauty of self-publishing
What is your greatest barrier to writing and publishing that book on your heart?
How might you overcome it?3. Think “books,” not “book”
If you were to write multiple books, what are a few of the topics you’d write about?
4. Which book to write FIRST?
Which of the books on your heart would you like to write FIRST? Think about what you know, what you want to know, and what people ask you about the most.
What do you already know?
It’s been said that an “expert” in a field is someone who has spent 10,000 hours working in that area. By this definition, what are there some areas in which you’ve likely spent 10,000 hours?
What do you want to know?
What other topics are you curious about that you might want to spend a book-length amount of time researching, writing, publishing, and promoting?
What topics do people ask you about the most?
What are some topics which people already come to you for advice?
5. What’s your main theme?
After people read your book, what do you want them to know, to feel, and to do? Answer each separately.
What do you want readers to KNOW?
What do you want readers to FEEL?
What do you want readers to DO?
Based on your answers, is there a good “working title” and subtitle that you could give your book?
List a few ideas here. If one title stands out above the others, write it along with your name in the “working title” box on Page 3 of this book! This might not be your final title, but that’s okay! It will at least support your main theme and keep you moving forward.
6. Which stories support your theme?
Whether fiction or non-fiction, sci-fi or mystery, the stories you want within your covers will be the meat of your book. In two or three words, which stories, remembered or imagined, come to your mind that would support your main theme?
As an example, here are a few of the stories I wanted to include in our book St. Nicholas: The Believer.
His parents died in a plague
He traveled to the Holy Land
He became Bishop of Myra
He saved three girls from devastation
He was imprisoned for his faith
He attended the Council of Nicaea
He died, and his legacy began • Start your list here. Jot down a few words for each story that supports your main theme. Don’t edit and don’t worry about the order! Just jot them down as they come to mind. We’ll sort them out later.
7. No scene that doesn’t turn
Good storytelling contains a series of turning points, those moments where a person’s inner or outer world changes from a positive value to a negative. If you can, arrange your stories in a natural way that highlights those turning points. Ideally, the highs should get higher and the lows should get lower as the book progresses.
Jot down here a few of your story ideas below that you consider to be highs (+) or lows (-). Then try diagramming as many stories as you can on the chart.
+
–
+
–
+
–
8. Now write!
Now’s the time to write!
Pick one story and give it a working title. These may or may not become your chapter titles in the end, but at least you’ll have a target to shoot for while you’re writing each story. You can rearrange, combine or split up stories later.
For now, just pick one of your stories and spend 10-15 minutes (or maybe 30-60), and write the highlights of that story as they comes to mind in just a few paragraphs or bullet points.
Don’t stop to look up the details. Don’t try to to edit while you go. Just tell the story as it comes to your mind, whether from your memory or from your imagination.
Then do this again with each of your stories, one per day (or maybe a few) until you’ve finished jotting down highlights from each of your stories.
If you have more than 30 or less than 30 stories, that’s fine! You might end up using more or less in this book, and you can save some to use in your next book. (Think “books,” not “book,” remember?!)
But if you do have 30 stories and write one per day, you’ll have a really good start on your entire book—from beginning to end—in just 30 days!
Here’s a sample of the notes I took for each chapter of a book I wrote called Living Life with a Capital L. In the end, this book had 21 chapters, plus an introduction and a conclusion.
Now it’s your turn! Pick a story… and write!
Story 1 (Write your “working title” for this story or chapter. Then write a few paragraphs of what this story is about. Repeat for each topic you’re considering including.)
______________________________
Story 2 ______________________________
Story 3 ______________________________
Story 4 ______________________________
Story 5 ______________________________
Story 6 ______________________________
Story 7 ______________________________
Story 8 ______________________________
Story 9 ______________________________
Story 10 ______________________________
Story 11 ______________________________
Story 12 ______________________________
Story 13 ______________________________
Story 14 ______________________________
Story 15 ______________________________
Story 16 ______________________________
Story 17 ______________________________
Story 18 ______________________________
Story 19 ______________________________
Story 20 ______________________________
Story 21 ______________________________
Story 22 ______________________________
Story 23 ______________________________
Story 24 ______________________________
Story 25 ______________________________
Story 26 ______________________________
Story 27 ______________________________
Story 28 ______________________________
Story 29 ______________________________
Story 30 ______________________________
9. Flesh out your stories
Once you’ve jotted down your stories, take a break for a few days or weeks. You’ve just completed a massive undertaking!
After your break, you can come back to each of these stories and flesh them out with fresh eyes.
Now is the time to do your research: to look back at your journals, to look up dates and details, and to find old pictures, articles or ticket stubs—anything that will help jog your memory to add color and flavor to your stories.
You might find that what you remember is different from what actually happened! That’s okay, too. This is the time to make those corrections. This is why you’re doing your research: to make sure you’re telling the story the best way you can to get across your point.
Note: this step will take longer… much longer! I usually take about five or six months for this step. You’re writing the actual book now. So take your time, tackling perhaps one or two stories per week, for as many weeks or months as it takes.
10. Tips for self-editing
As you flesh out each story, you can go back through and self-edit each one.
When I finish a story, I like to read it aloud to myself or have my computer read it to me. This method reveals errors that may have been overlooked with just your eyes.
What other ways can you self-edit? Write your ideas here, then do it!
11. Send it to a few trusted readers
Who are some “trusted readers” who might be willing to read your story? List them here.
These are not necessarily your “proofreaders” who point out all the errors, but rather “encouragers” who can help you know if you’re on track or not.
You don’t need many—just one or two or three—but enough to give you some honest feedback about your stories and your storytelling.
I like to send my chapters one at a time to my trusted readers. That way, I can get their feedback and make changes along the way.
Some possible “trusted readers”
12. Receiving feedback
Prepare yourself for feedback. The biggest surprise might be that people actually like your writing! Still others might not. That’s okay. Take the good with the bad. In the end, make the changes you feel good about, and in the end, be yourself!
As you receive feedback, make some notes here.
Positive responses
Tempering responses
Your own thoughts on your work (if you were to be your authentic self)
13. Getting endorsements
Starting with responses from your “trusted readers” jot down a few words or sentences you might use for endorsements of your book. You can use these when promoting your book. Then continue collecting these snippets as you share your book with others.
Endorsements might come from your editors, your early beta readers, or those who read your book after it’s published.
Ask their permission, make modifications if necessary, then include these endorsements in your both your initial and ongoing promotions.
Endorsements (list a few words or sentences and who said them)
14. Formatting your book
What books come to mind that are similar to what you envision for your own book, whether in look and feel or content? List those books here.
15. Interior design
Take note of the interior of the book you’d like to mimic. What fonts are used for the body text and headings (the size, shape, look and feel). List some possible fonts you like here (such as Times New Roman, Garamond, Sabon for body text or Arial or Helvetica for headings).
What are margins on each page, the “white space” from the text to the edge of the page? Take out your ruler and enter them here.
Top: _______
Bottom: _______
Inner: _______
Outer: _______
What elements are contained in the header and footer of each page, such as the author’s name or the book title or chapter title?
Left header: ___________________________
Right header: ___________________________
(if different)
Footer: ___________________________
What other pages are included in your sample book, whether at the beginning, the end or in section dividers of the book (such as a dedication page, an acknowledgements page, a table of contents, an epilogue, footnotes, or a list of other books available)?
Other pages: ___________________________
___________________________
___________________________
___________________________
___________________________
___________________________
16. Cover design
What do you picture on the front cover of your book, if anything? If you don’t have any ideas, describe the main theme of the book or an attention grabbing scene that might hook readers.
Sketch or describe it below!What do you picture on the back cover of your book, if anything? Consider things like a catchy description, an author photo and bio, or a bullet list of “What’s in it for me (the reader)?”
Sketch or describe it below!What do you picture on the spine of your book? This is often the book title and author’s name, and sometimes a logo or publisher’s imprint or a series number.
Sketch or describe it below!
17. Uploading your book
When uploading your book, you’ll be asked to include a description, three categories, and your pricing.
Write a few thoughts after each prompt below, then use those answers to create a complete description of your book. You can use parts of your answers on the back of your book, or use all of the answers on your book’s description on Amazon, because that description can be much longer and search engines will index every word for potential readers.
What you want readers to know, to feel, and to do
A few endorsementsA table of contents
An introduction or sample chapter
A few books and authors that are similar to yoursWhat categories are appropriate for your book? You can choose three. Consider which section in a bookstore you might find your book, such as Young Adult, Historical Fiction, Self-Help, Memoirs or Christian Living.
The more specific you can be, the more likely you’ll find readers interested specifically in your book (and the more likely you’ll rank higher in that category on Amazon than a broader category). Take a look at similar books in a bookstore or on Amazon to see what categories they use.
Then list a few categories here and choose your top three.
18. Creating your eBook & hardcover
In what formats would you like to offer your book? Paperback? Hardcover? eBook? An audiobook? A video series? Note below the different variations you’d like to create and rank their order of importance to you.
Format Importance (1-5)
Paperback _____
eBook _____
Hardcover _____
Audiobook _____
Video _____
Other _____
19. Turning your writing into speaking
When speaking about your book, perhaps at an event you or someone else organizes, what would you want to say to your audience? Fill in the blanks below to create an outline of your talk.
Main topic
Consider what you want listeners to know, to feel, and to do.
Opening words
Consider memorizing these opening words.
3 main points
What three main points would support what you want listeners to know, to feel, and to do? Consider arranging these points from least important to most important, as that will help your talk get more exciting as you build to the final point.
Point 1
Point 2
Point 3
Closing words
Consider memorizing these closing words. Remember what my childhood dance teacher said: always nail your opening and closing. People will forget about any mistakes in between!
20. Seven touches
Traditional wisdom says it takes “seven touches” before someone commits to buying a product or learning a fact or deciding to come to an event.
What seven ways, or “seven touches,” could you use to let people know about your book?
Consider these in your brainstorming: telling your story behind the story, posting reader reviews, offering to do a book reading, creating a video, giving away a few books, asking others to share about your book, and throwing a launch party.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Other ideas
21. Start writing your NEXT book!
Look back at Chapter 3 (Think “books,” not “book”), and write down which books you might like to write next.
List all of your ideas here, then rank them in terms of the topics you’d like to write about the most. If one bubbles to the top… get another Write With Me! Notebook!!!
God and I are both inviting you: Write With Me!
Topic Rank (1-5)
Endorsements
Here are a few comments from others I’ve helped with their writing or publishing. I’d love to help you!
“Eric’s help made all the difference!” Greg Potzer, Our Favorite Christian Quotations
“He was with me every step of the way.” Brent Knapton, Testimonies of Grace
“Eric gave warm fellowship, encouragement, and expertise.” Clayt Irmeger, Not to be Lived Single-Handedly
“His expertise was just what I needed.” Karen Neal, Bella Bella Cinderella
“Eric has an uncanny ability to motivate people to write.” Tim Wilkins, More Than Words
“He helped me self-publish in an easy, economical way.” Larry Booze, Say it to Stick
“His passion for writing is contagious.” Mary Felkins, This I Promise You
“He provided practical guidance with genuine interest.” Aaron Chan, book forthcoming
“Eric was the bridge to help fulfill my life-long dream.” Cammie Quinn, Follow the Wind Home
“I’ve seen him help others, and he’s now helping me.” Al Lowry, 365 Daily Bible Readings
“Without him, I would not have completed my book.” Sandy Egle, Ministering to the Least of These
“I know of no one better-equipped to guide writers.” Kent Sanders, The Faith of Elvis
“He never doubted I would bring my idea to completion.” Laurie Bliese, Will the Lights Go Out?
“He believed in my writing before I was sure myself.” Caleb Dossett, They Call Me Mr
“He helped me finally finish my 10-year project.” Jeanette Smith, book forthcoming
“Eric held my hand the whole way.” MelanEE Lisa Davidson, Loved. I. AM!
“I don’t think I could have done it without him!” Elizabeth Giger, Beyond the Front Door
“Eric gave me confidence when I had almost given up.” Steven Lomske, On the Bank of the Chippewa
You can do this! I’m glad to show you how!
I love hearing from my readers! For questions, comments or help with your book, visit: ericelder.com
More by Eric!
DEVOTIONALS
Two Weeks With God
Exodus: Lessons In Freedom
Acts: Lessons In Faith
Jesus: Lessons In Love
Ephesians: Lessons In Grace
Nehemiah: Lessons In Rebuilding:
Romans: Lessons In Renewing Your Mind
Psalms: Lessons In Prayer
The Top 20 Passages In The Bible
Israel: Lessons From The Holy Land
Israel For Kids! Lessons From The Holy Land
The Inspiring Thoughts Collection
Water From My Well
365 Daily Devotions With Eric Elder
My Stories Of Faith
Living Life With A Capital “L”
HISTORICAL FICTION
St. Nicholas: The Believer (with Lana Elder)
San Nicolás: El Creyente (Spanish Edition)
MUSICAL
His Name Was Nicholas (with Lana Elder)
PIANO BOOKS
Clear My Mind
Soothe My Soul
My Favorite Classics
JOURNALS
A Personal Journal With 101 Quotes On Prayer
A Personal Journal With 101 Quotes On Faith
A Personal Journal With 101 Quotes On Love
SEXUALITY
What God Says About Sex
Fifty Shades of Grace (under pen name, Nicholas Deere)
Loving God & Loving Gays
Cómo amar a Dios y a los gays (Spanish Edition)
15 Tips For A Stronger Marriage
GRIEF
Loving Thoughts (with Greg Potzer)
Making The Most Of The Darkness
WRITING & PUBLISHING
Write With Me!
Write With Me! Notebook!!!
Let’s Get Technical!
ALBUMS
Clear My Mind
Soothe My Soul
My Favorite Classics (with Eric’s children and sister)
His Name Was Nicholas EP (with Matt Ludwig)
STAGE PRODUCTIONS
One Life (a ballet with Cynthia Dewar and Erin Morton)
I’ve just finished writing my 50th journal. I started when I was 10 and I’ve never stopped!
My mom gave me a "5-year diary" when I was 10 and told me to write down some of the interesting things that happened during my days. She said I’d look back some day and be surprised at how things have changed (and how they’ve stayed the same!)
She said I didn’t have to write much. Just a few words each day. So I did.
My first entry was on February 5th, 1973, my sister’s birthday. I wrote: "Marilyn’s birthday. Had cake." Apparently, I took my mom’s advice about brevity!
This morning, I wrote the final entry in my current journal. "Lord, Jesus, thanks for loving me. In Your name, Amen."
It’s always an exciting day for me when I finish a journal and start another. There’s the joy of finishing one book and the freshness of starting a new one. It always feels like New Year’s Day, with a clean slate in front of me.
Have you ever thought about writing a journal? Recording your thoughts, your fears, your laughter, your tears?
I write my journals for an audience of one: me! (Well, God and me.) I don’t expect anyone else to ever read them. But I do love looking back on them from time to time, seeing what thrilled my heart, what stilled my heart, and how God has brought me through the ups and downs and "everydays" of life. Looking back gives me encouragement as I look to my future.
If you’ve never kept a journal, I encourage you to try! Just a few words a day! "Marilyn’s birthday. Had cake." It can be that simple!
Or it can be incredibly profound. For instance, my second entry in that same journal was on February 8th, 1973. I wrote: "Bob Hope special. NBC Follies. I started making my first puppet."
Today, fifty years later, I’m working on an Italian "puppet opera" that will premiere this December at a gorgeous opera house in Italy (and you can come with me to see it!) It blows my mind. Maybe yours, too?
Who knows what you might write today that will blow your mind some day in the future! If you’ve never started, why not now?
If you’ve already been journaling, how about getting a fresh start with one or two or three of the journals I’ve created for myself and for others? Each journal is filled with blank lines for you to write whatever’s on your heart, plus 101 inspirational quotes at the bottom of every other page keep you encouraged as you write.
(I love the quotes in these journals, collected over the years by my friend Greg Potzer at This Day’s Thought. In fact, I’m helping Greg put together a new book coming out later this year filled entirely with some of the best quotes he’s ever collected from the past 25 years… over 2,500!)
So… why not? Write with me!
I’d love to have you come along. Who knows what God might do along the way. :)
One of my goals this year is to make myself more available to others… including you!
I’ve always been available and have helped others, but for various reasons, people are sometimes hesitant to ask for help. They think I’m too busy, too unreachable, or wouldn’t be interested in talking to them.
The truth is, one of things I love doing most is helping others! I love helping people achieve their dreams, work through their situations, and move forward with their projects and lives.
Maybe I can help you? If so, I’m glad to help!
Here are six areas where people usually ask me for help:
1) I love helping people write & publish their books. I’ve written & published 36 of my own books and have helped dozens of other people do the same. I’d love to help you!
2) I love helping people build & grow their online presence. Whether that’s building a website, a mailing list, a social media presence, or making better use of their everyday technology, I’d love to help!
3) I love helping people get their music out to the world. I’ve recorded and published my own music on many streaming platforms and have helped dozens of others record and publish their music. I’d love to help you with yours!
4) I love helping people grow in their faith. Whether it’s practical help with spiritual disciplines such as reading the Bible, fasting, praying, or stepping out in faith, I love sharing what I’ve learned in my own faith walk and encouraging others in theirs.
5) I love helping people turn unhealthy attractions into healthy actions, helping them find valid ways to meet their valid needs rather than pursuing longings and desires they know are unhealthy for them. I’ve been set free for 36 years from acting out on my own unhealthy attractions, and I’ve helped hundreds of others find freedom, too.
6) I love helping people play beautiful piano music. In particular, I love creating my own music that gives expression to the songs on my heart, and I love playing worship music for an audience of One. Whether you’re just starting out or have been playing for years and want to become more expressive, I’d love to help!
How does this work? It’s easy!
I’ve set up an online calendar that shows my available "office hours," so you can simply look through my calendar and find a day and time that works for you. Then click "confirm" and you’ll get a zoom link where we can chat online for an hour!
I keep my calendar up to date, so you don’t have to check with me beforehand. Just click confirm and you’re booked!
I ask for a $65 suggested donation to our ministry for an hour-long one-on-one chat. I’ve found that by asking for a donation, it helps others feel more comfortable asking for help, and the donations truly help advance our work of reaching as many people as possible for Christ. It’s a win-win all around!
Here’s a comment from just one of many I’ve helped…
"Eric has assisted us so many times over the years with our various publications…his encouragement and help have made all the difference with our efforts & success!" Greg Potzer, This Day’s Thought
So, if you’d like to chat about something that’s on your heart, whether it’s:
writing & publishing a book,
building & growing your online presence,
getting your music out to the world,
learning more about growing in your faith,
turning unhealthy attractions into healthy actions,
or playing beautiful piano for an audience of One,
I’d love to help! Here’s the link to my online calendar.
Want to come with me to Italy? Want to see the premiere of our new Italian puppet opera?
Want to marvel at the Colosseum? Stare at the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel? Throw a coin in Trevi fountain?
How about a hike to an ancient monastery? Or a traditional Italian feast at a working sheep farm?
If so, I’d love for you to come with me to Italy! I’m taking a group of from December 3-12 to see the premiere of our new Italian puppet opera: "San Nicola: lo straordinario viaggio della sua vita" (Saint Nicholas: the extraordinary journey of his life!)
The show premieres on Saturday, December 9 at 6:30 pm in the historic Teatro Maria Caniglia.
If you can’t join us in person, we hope to livestream it and record it for later viewing from anywhere in the world! But I’ve love for you to come in person… here’s what we’ll be doing!
DAY 1 – Fly to Rome
Sunday, December 3 – Before you say, “I can’t afford it!” get this: round-trip tickets from Chicago to Rome for this particular week are only $570 right now! (in summertime, flights alone are $2,500!) If there’s ever a time to see Italy, this is it!
DAY 2 – Arrive in Rome
Monday, December 4 – We’ll arrive in Rome and enjoy the sights and sounds of the city, stroll by Trevi Fountain, and share a meal at a sidewalk cafe. Relax, you’re in Rome!
DAY 3 – The Sistine Chapel
Tuesday, December 5 – In the morning, we’ll tour the Vatican Museums, including the Sistine Chapel and its famous ceiling painted by Michelangelo.
& the Colosseum!
That same afternoon, we’ll tour the Roman Colossuem, including a walk through the newly-opened underground passages.
DAY 4 – To Sulmona
Wednesday, December 6 – We’ll spend the rest of our trip in the city of Sulmona, about 2-1/2 hours southeast of Rome, nestled in Italy’s snow-capped mountains. We’ll visit the puppet workshop where the show is being created.
DAY 5 – Hike to Celestine’s Cave
Thursday, December 7 – We’ll take a short ride and then a beautiful hike up a nature trail to the Cave of Celestine V, who stayed in this hermitage in the 1200’s after stepping down suddenly from his role as pope. We’ll also have a picnic lunch in nature and see the remains of the Temple of Hercules, who also hails from this region.
DAY 6 – Enjoy Sulmona!
December 8 – We’ll be preparing for the show while you sleep in, enjoy some coffee and a croissant, or go window shopping. Later in the afternoon, we’ll take a walking tour of the city and a tour of the costume museum above the puppet workshop. Save room for a gelato! (Italian ice cream)
DAY 7 – The Premiere!
Saturday, December 9, 6:30 pm – Tonight’s the night! We’ll be premiering our new Italian puppet opera in the beautiful Teatro Maria Caniglia, a 4-tiered, regal opera house built in the 1930’s. The show is called San Nicola: lo straordinario viaggio della sua vita (Saint Nicholas: the extraordinary journey of his life!)
DAY 8 – Worship & Celebrations!
Sunday, December 10 – We’ll worship locally in the morning and enjoy a time of celebration with the cast & crew & friends later in the day.
DAY 9 – Anversa & Castrovalva
Monday, December 11 – We’ll take a short drive to Anversa where we’ll have lunch at a working sheep farm–with a traditional multi-course Italian meal–truly from farm to table! Then we’ll take an easy hike from Anversa to Castrovalva, two cities made famous, in part, by drawings by M. C. Escher.
DAY 10 – Return!
Tuesday, December 12 – We’ll take an early bus back to the airport in Rome for our departure. If you’re flying back to the States, you’ll likely be home that same night… with memories to last a lifetime.
The Details
This trip is á la carte… meaning you will choose and book your own flights, meals, hotels, and activities according to your wishes. I am happy to help you in your planning, but your choices are up to you.
The price is estimated to be $2,500-$2,900 per person from Chicago. Your price could vary depending on your city of departure and your choices above, but this is a good starting point. I’ll send you my itinerary and details of my plans so you can make your plans accordingly.
The estimate includes a suggested donation of $500-1,000 to our puppet opera to help offset the costs of the show and for organizing this special trip!
Flights are at their lowest prices RIGHT NOW, so please let me know as soon as possible (and definitely before September 1) if you’d like to come along! The suggested donation will secure your spot.
Reply to this note if you’re interested… even remotely! I’d love to have you come along!
I watched one of Lana’s dreams come true this week. It made me cry, and here’s why!
I don’t often talk about Lana’s high school boyfriend. But I talked about him at her funeral, and I’d like to talk about him again today. Why?
Because I’m so proud of him, and I know Lana would say the same.
In fact, Lana and I planned to get together with him so she could tell him in person on our last trip to New York. But it didn’t work out, and she passed away before she got a chance.
So after her funeral, I reached out to share her message with him. She wanted to tell him how proud she was of him, that this is what she had dreamed for him all those years ago: to marry the woman he married and to live the life she knew he was called to live.
Even though they dated in high school and were Prom King and Queen, Lana could see where his heart was taking him… to New York, to Broadway, and to the world of singing and acting and performing on stage.
She said she felt like she wasn’t the right person to accompany him on that journey. She said she felt he needed someone who could sing and act and perform alongside him. She knew in her heart it was the right thing to do.
He went on to perform on Broadway and shared a kiss on stage with the woman who became his wife. They continued singing and acting and performing in thousands of shows, and they still perform to this day.
This week, I watched with millions of others as they performed with their four kids on one of the biggest stages in the watching world, "America’s Got Talent."
The four judges gave them four yes’s. I couldn’t help but cry. I was so proud of him, as I knew Lana would be. And I was so proud of her for that hard decision she made all those years ago.
There’s something special about seeing your dreams come true, even when those dreams are for others. Even when those dreams might mean giving up some dreams of your own.
I sent him a note after the show to tell him how great their performance was… for so many reasons. He graciously wrote back to say thanks.
If you live long enough, you realize that some dreams must die so other dreams can live.
What about you, what dreams have died in your life? What other dreams might come to life because of it?
I want to encourage you today to trust God with your dreams. Trust Him to work all things for good in the end.
That’s one of His specialties.
Sending my congrats and best wishes to Ron & Barbra Sharpe and their talented kids, Samantha, Logan, Aidan & Conner. May all your dreams come true.
You can watch their performance on AGT and the judges’ responses here:
And you can watch their performance of "A Millions Dreams" from a few years back here:
God spoke to my heart a few weeks ago when I was pulling a shirt over my head. Perhaps it will speak to you, too!
I met with a friend and her husband a few weeks ago to celebrate the launch of her new book, Azaria. I had helped her get started with it last fall, and she called me a month later to say she had finished it.
"What?!?" I said. "I can’t believe you wrote the whole thing!"
She said she had followed the tips I had given her to write it, and she was calling now to ask what to do next!
I couldn’t believe she had followed what I said and had finished writing her whole book, a 387-page memoir of her dramatic life. I was gripped by her story from cover to cover, from growing up on a farm to modeling in New York, from meeting Bill Blass to fighting bulimia, from being abused and abandoned to being found by Jesus and a man who loves to this day still.
I gladly jumped in and helped her for another 4-5 months editing, formatting, and uploading the book to Amazon. Her daughter-in-law helped design her cover. Her friends helped her proofread.
And last month she started selling her first copies… from "an idea in her head" to "published on Amazon" in just under six months!
When it was all done, we got together to celebrate with lunch and a toast. Her husband surprised me with a little birthday cake of my own, a party, and a special shirt he had made just for the occasion.
The shirt had my name stitched on it, along with the words, "Author – Advisor."
When I walked into the bathroom to put on the shirt, God spoke to my heart as I was looking in the mirror and pulling it over my head.
"Put it on and wear it," God said.
It made me cry. Why? Because I knew God was talking about more than just the shirt. He was talking about my gifting, my calling–not only to write and tell my own stories–but to help others write and tell their stories, too.
I’ve helped dozens of people do this over the years, but I’ve always seen it as something I’ve done "on the side." I’ve done it because I love doing it! I’ve done it because I love hearing other people’s stories! And I’ve done it to help even more people hear stories about what God is doing in people’s lives today.
But on that day, at that celebration of Pam’s book launch and my little birthday party, I felt God affirming that this was part of my calling, too: to make disciples who make disciples who make disciples–to use the gifts that God has given to me and to multiply those gifts so others can benefit from them, too.
"Put it on and wear it," God said. So I did. And I still am!
What about you? What is God calling you to do and saying, "Put it on and wear it"?
What is He putting on your heart that He wants you to take out into the world, to "go forth," and to do His will here on earth?
I’m amazed how God spoke to my heart! And I’m amazed that His calling is something I love do to. It’s not just His will. It’s my will, too. And whenever God’s will and our will line up… that’s a match made in heaven!
"Put it on and wear it!" I am praying this for you right now. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
P.S. If you’d like to join Pam and her husband Dennis and me for a public launch of her new book, we’ll be at the Streator Public Library in Streator, Illinois, on Wednesday, July 5th, from 11am-12noon, Central Time!
(Here’s a writing group where we talked about the things I talk about in this chapter.)
For years, I had a book on my heart I wanted to write. I didn’t know how to start. I didn’t know where to start. And I didn’t know how to actually write it.
But then I was challenged to write a 50,000-word novel in 30 days. Unbelievable! Impossible! Or was it?
I found out it was possible! And I did it. (Well, I only wrote 30,000 words, and it took me 40 days. But at the end of those 40 days, I had finished the first draft of a fully fleshed-out, historical novel.)
And I’ve done it many times since. I’ve written over 30 books (35 if you count foreign translations and three books of piano music).
Now, I’d like to challenge you to write that book on your heart. Why? Because I believe when you share your experiences, your strengths, and your hope, others will be strengthened and find hope, too. And we could all use a little more hope, couldn’t we?
Whether you’re writing fiction or non-fiction, thrillers or sci-fi or mysteries, I believe your writing is worth it. People will read it. And many will be blessed by it.
Do you believe it?!? I hope you do! And throughout this book, I hope to give you more and more encouragement to finally write and publish that book on your heart.
How did I do it?
I’ll tell you!
I set aside one month, just 30 days, to get my thoughts out of my head and onto my computer.
First, I wrote down 30 scenes that came into my mind. I didn’t have 30 scenes initially. But as I thought about all the things I wanted to include in my book, I thought about the day my main character lost his parents. I thought about the day he took a boat alone to the Holy Land. I thought about the night he threw a bag of coins through an open window to save a woman from destitution.
I jotted down each of these topics on one piece of paper. I kept going and going until I had over 30 topics that I might include in my book.
Then, I set aside an hour a day, more or less, to write a few paragraphs of what I knew and could remember of each of these scenes. I didn’t look them up again. I didn’t waste time going through old books and magazines and doing internet searches. I just wrote from what I remembered. This wasn’t the time for editing or making sure every detail was perfect. This was the time to get the stories out of my head and onto my computer and to jot down the key points that were important and memorable to me.
I did this each day for 40 days because I started adding chapters along the way as they came to mind or helped the story flow.
At the end of 40 days, I had a finished the first draft of a book that made me laugh and cry and inspired me all along the way.
Was it good? Or was it not so good? I didn’t know. But what I did know was that it captured the heart—the essence—of the story I wanted to tell.
And that story, birthed during my quiet time for an hour a day in November of 2009, became the basis for what eventually became my bestselling book to date— one that’s been turned into a ballet, a musical, and even an Italian “puppet opera.”
How did that journey go? And what got me writing my next book and my next and my next for 35+ books? That’s what I’ll tell you in the rest of this book.
P.S. Ready to write? You can also get my Write With Me! NOTEBOOK!!! to capture all your thoughts to the questions and suggestions in this book. When you finish answering the questions in the notebook, you’ll have written a strong draft of your entire book from cover to cover!
P.P.S. Want to share your message with the world? You can also get me book Let’s Get Technical to learn how to create a website, a mailing list, a social media presence, a podcast, a YouTube channel, an audiobook, a business card, an online class, a payment system, a coaching calendar, and edit audio & video!
Chapter 2: The beauty of self-publishing
I’m still shocked when I read my own bio and see that “Eric Elder has written over 35 books.” It sounds like I must be really famous, or really popular, or “someone must really believe in Eric’s writing to publish 35 of his books!”
The truth is, someone does believe in my books. I do! I’ve found a way to get my message out to others, even if no one else ever believes in me or my work.
I also know that God has called me to write, to share the messages I’ve shared, and my readers are confirming that. He believes in me and my work, and that’s why I’ve published over 35 books.
The beauty of it is, I’ve been able to do all of it for free (not counting, of course, the massive amount of time and effort it takes to write, edit, tweak, and get the book to look and feel and read just right). You might pay for others to do all of that for you, and that’s okay. But for the actual process of “publishing” your book, all it takes is knowing how to export a PDF file (a Portable Document Format file) of your words and upload it to Amazon… for free. They’ll do the rest. Within days, your book can be available for people to print and ship all over the world.
From Day 1, Book 1, you can start making money, which has never been the case until now. That’s one of the great beauties of self-publishing.
You can do it. You can be your own publisher. And you can bless others and be blessed yourself from Book 1.
How does it work?
I want to tell you this right up front because you might be hesitant to write a book because you’re not sure if anyone will read it. You’re not sure if anyone will publish it. You’re not sure what to do with it after you’ve written it. So you never start it. Or you never finish it.
I want to give you the confidence that you can publish it. You can get your book out to the world. And once you do, the sky’s the limit. There’s no longer any gatekeeper blocking your way from doing this. The only gatekeeper is you. And if you can get past that gatekeeper, in your heart and mind and emotions, you can be sure your book will be published.
I’ll go into more details later about how to do this, but let me give you a few nuggets right now about how I do this and what you can expect.
1) Export a PDF file
Once I’ve written what’s on my heart and gotten it into the shape I’d like readers to read it, I export a copy from my word processor into PDF format. That fixes all the words on the page to appear like they will appear in the print version of the book.
2) Upload that file to KDP
I upload that PDF file to a free account I’ve created on Amazon (currently at kdp.amazon.com, which is Amazon’s official website for uploading self-published books. KDP stands for “Kindle Direct Publishing,” because you can also upload your books for display on Amazon Kindle book readers).
3) Create a book cover
I create a cover for my book, either on my own computer or on a website like Canva.com, or using one of KDP’s online tools to just choose some artwork from their offerings and add my title and name. Amazon figures out the rest to match the size and shape of the book I want.
4) Order a sample copy
I look over the sample version that is displayed on the screen, and if it looks good, I submit it for review. Amazon looks over the files to make sure they’re printable, and if so, they’ll approve the book for printing within a day or two. Then I order a sample copy (a proof copy) for myself and have it shipped to me within another few days.
5) Click “Approve”!
If I like what I see, I click “approve,” and the book appears for sale on Amazon within a few hours! If I see errors or changes I want to make, I simply make my changes and upload a new copy of my interior pages and/or my cover and order another sample. I’ll sometimes do two or three or four or more samples like this until I get it just right. But once I love it, I click “approve,” and it’s live on Amazon for others to order and ship to their homes. Hallelujah!
When someone orders a book, Amazon prints it, ships it, collects the money from the customer, and deposits a royalty into my account. I can pick my own selling price to adjust how much I’ll receive per book. I usually pick a price that earns me $5 per book—which is about $4 more than most publishers will pay you per book. Amazon makes money, I make money, and the customer gets a great product within days! Everyone wins!
I can also order copies of my own books at my “author” rate, which is about $2.50 for 100 pages, $3.50 for 200 pages, and so on, plus shipping—which is cheaper than I can print that many pages on my own printer or at a copy shop!
(Here’s a demo video about how to upload your book to Amazon’s KDP. You can watch it now to get an idea of the steps or finish reading the chapter first, then come back to it when you’re ready to upload your book.)
If this sounds too easy, it is! Or if it sounds too hard, depending on your comfort level with technology, don’t worry! I’ll walk you through how to do all of this, step by step, in this book.
But I wanted to start with the end in mind right here at the beginning to assure you of this: if you can write it, you can publish it. And if you can publish it, others can read it and be blessed by your words.
And that is my end goal: that your readers will be blessed by your story as much as you have been blessed by it! I care about you and your writing because I care about the people you will reach through your writing. It is their hearts and souls that are my end goal, and I believe, God’s end goal, too. If God has put a book on your heart, that means He cares about you and those He can touch through you.
So with that end goal in mind, let’s start back at the beginning!
Let’s start by clarifying exactly what book God has put on your heart to write first. Because you may be surprised that there is more than one book inside you waiting to get out!
Chapter 3: Think “books,” not “book”
One day I met a man who had written many books. He was speaking at a retreat and had just stepped off the stage to greet the guests.
I told him what an impact his talk had on me, then I told him about a book I was writing.
“I’ve been working on it for seven years and just can’t seem to finish it,” I said.
“Eric, stop right there,” he said. “Here’s the key to finishing that book. Think books, not book.”
It was as simple as that.
He went on, “If you keep thinking about that one book, you’ll never finish it in your lifetime. Is there another book on your heart you want to write after this one?”
I thought, then said, “Yes, I would like to write about… [and I filled in the blank].”
He said, “Now you’ll be able to finish your first book.”
I want to free you up with this: you don’t have to put everything in this book. If you have one book inside you, I believe you have many more inside you, too. And if you start thinking about your next book, you’ll quickly finish your first one to get on to that next one.
He was right! I began to think of the next book I wanted to write, and suddenly I was ready and able to finish my first book.
Public speakers understand this. After giving a few talks, they know they’ll never be able to say everything they want in one message. But if they haven’t spoken for a while or think this may be their one and only chance to speak, they’ll pack everything into that one message, making it harder than it has to be on themselves and on their listeners.
When speakers have a regular outlet, they find they can more easily make one or two or three important points and leave it at that because they can say more the next time they get up to speak.
Your heart may be so full of words and stories and pictures that are bursting to get out that you’re too overwhelmed to get any of them out.
But if you’ll think books, not book, you’ll find your words flowing much more easily and naturally, not having to cram every single thought into every page or sentence.
I already know you have a book on your heart. That’s why you’re reading this book.
But what other books do you have on your heart? What other topics do you want to write about? This book is important, very important, like mine was. But so is the next one, and the next, and the next. As much as I like my first book, I feel they keep getting better because I keep learning more and more every time.
So if there are many books on your heart, the first question is: Which book do you want to write first?
Chapter 4: Which book to write FIRST?
Here’s a good place to start to help you decide which book you want to write first.
1) Write about what you KNOW
It’s much easier to write about what you know rather than to create a book from what you don’t know. I imagine there’s already a book bubbling up inside you. Whether it’s fiction or non-fiction, fantasy or sci-fi, I think you’ll find it easier to base your book in something you know rather than something you’re creating from scratch.
For me, my first book was a devotional book I wrote to go along with some songs I had written. I thought it would be helpful for my listeners to know the stories behind them—why I wrote them, how they impacted me, and how they might impact those who listened.
I had written twelve songs, so I spent a week away at a cabin and wrote twelve devotionals, plus an intro and a conclusion, so there were enough messages for two weeks of reading and praying and listening to music. I called it Two Weeks With God.
I encouraged my readers and listeners to go through my devotional book and listen to one song a day during those two weeks, spending some quiet time with God.
The messages were easy for me to write because I knew how the songs had spoken to me. I just had to come up with a consistent length for each message, some additional verses on each topic that could be helpful, and a question or two at the end of each devotional to spur their thinking about their own lives.
One song was about prayers and why it sometimes takes so long for God to answer them. Another was about following Jesus wherever He leads since He is “the Way.” Another was about clearing your mind when thoughts are overwhelming you.
At the end of my week in the woods, I had written 14 devotionals. This was in 1999, before the advent of online self-publishing. I simply printed them on my desktop printer, trimmed and stapled them to fit inside a CD case, and shipped them out to people who ordered my CD.
It was a big step for me, but it was an “easy win” because the project was big enough to feel like I’d created something of value to others but small enough to finish writing in a relatively short amount of time.
For my second book, I took a different approach. It came in answer to the question, “What do people ask you about themost?”
2) Write about what people ask you about THE MOST
Whenever I share my testimony about how God has helped me break the power of unhealthy attractions in my life, people come up to me afterward and ask how they can do it, too. They often asked the same questions over and over.
When I realized I was repeating myself in my answers, I thought, “Maybe I should write down their questions and my answers and share them in a book. Then I could give people the book and have them come back later with any additional questions, or I could offer personal help.”
That’s the book on my heart that took seven years for me to write! I called it What God Says About Sex. The topic was so huge to me and to those asking the questions that I wanted to get everything just right. I wanted to be sure my answers were biblical, sound, and full of wit and wisdom to keep the reader reading and benefitting from whatever I could share.
Writing this book took a turn when I asked God who my readers would be. He said, “Write it for your children.”
My children? I thought!
Suddenly the enormity of the task weighed heavily on me. This wasn’t just a book for people across the globe who could take or leave my words as they wished. This book was for my own precious children, the ones I cared most about in the world.
Then God spoke to my heart again: “That’s the same audience I’m trying to reach, Eric. My own precious children whom I care most about in the world.”
So what was just an idea on my heart became something heavy on my heart, and then clear on my heart. God had people He wanted to reach through this message, and what I wrote really did matter.
After several years of starting and stopping and wondering if I would ever finish writing the book, I met that man who told me to think “books,” not “book.” That freed me up, and I finally finished the book.
3) Write about what you WANT to know
For my third book, I wrote about what I wanted to know. It didn’t start as a book. It started as a personal study of the book of Exodus to learn from the life of Moses how he lead so many people through the wilderness.
I was at a crossroads in my ministry, trying to decide how to move forward with the big things God was calling me to do, but struggling with keeping up with what He had already called me to do.
How was I going to reach more people and help more people with the limited resources and abilities of just one person?
I decided to look at the life of Moses as he was called from obscurity to leading over 600,000 men, not counting all the women and children, out of Egypt and into a new land. It was an insurmountable task! But God gave him the tools and the people and the abilities to do it.
So I sat down with my Bible in hand for 40 days, determined to learn what I could from this great yet unwilling leader. I needed either a new approach or to quit my ministry, which was a real possibility.
I spent those 40 days fasting and praying and jotting down lessons from the life of Moses that I could put into practice in my life.
After three days, I knew I was to continue in ministry. And at the end of 40 days, I had a plan in hand to move forward, step by step, which I implemented over the next two years.
When I saw the fruitfulness of my efforts, I began sharing these lessons with others… in our ministers’ association, in a men’s group, and eventually in book form, called Exodus: Lessons in Freedom—How to Get Free, Stay Free, and Set Others Free.
It didn’t start as a book, but it became one as I learned from God and put into practice what He shared with me.
What about you? What book is on your heart that might fall into one or more of these categories?
1) Write about what you know.
2) Write about what people ask you about the most.
3) Write about what you want to know.
Any of these could be good starting points, to get some early wins, and to create a book that can have a significant impact on others.
Chapter 5: What’s your main theme?
My writing friend Kent Sanders asks these three questions before writing:
“After reading your book, what do you want your readers to KNOW? What do you want your readers to FEEL? And what do you want your readers to DO?”
These three questions can help you know what to include—and not include—in your book.
When I wrote my personal memoir of how I fell in love with Lana and fell in love with Christ, I had these three goals in mind.
1) What do you want your readers to KNOW?
I wanted my readers to know that change was possible through the power of Jesus Christ for any kind of unhealthy attractions in their lives.
Some people believe the struggles I’ve had cannot be overcome—ever. So it was important for me to share that they can be overcome, and not just for me, but for anyone who loves Christ and who wants His help.
2) What do you want your readers to FEEL?
I wanted readers to feel that I understood their struggles, having been through them myself, and understood what it felt like to come through on the other side.
Some people don’t feel they’ll ever see “another side” to their struggle. They’re so downtrodden that they don’t believe change is possible, and they don’t believe it’s possible for them. I wanted to boost their faith that this was for them.
3) What do you want your readers to DO?
I wanted readers to put their faith in Christ for everything in their lives, trusting that He is still in the life-changing business today.
I wanted to hold out the Hope and the Answer that I found and encourage them to put their hope in Christ, too, believing that He could not only do this, but could do anything in their lives. Nothing is impossible for Him.
What about you? After reading your book, what do you want your readers to know, to feel, and to do?
Take some time with these three questions and see how they can bring focus to your writing.
Chapter 6: Which stories support your theme?
Once you’ve narrowed your main theme and what you want your readers to know, to feel, and to do when they’re done reading your book, you can now start jotting down which stories you want to share that will help drive that theme home.
For instance, when I was writing the book back in 2009 which I described in the introduction, my wife and I wanted to tell the story of the real-life St. Nicholas who lived back in the 3rd century. We wanted to give people hope that the same God who worked in and through his life could work in and through their lives, no matter what they might be facing.
We had been talking about the idea for years. We read books about St. Nicholas. We talked to scholars who knew about him. We traveled to the Holy Land, where he lived for a time, and I eventually went to his homeland in present-day Turkey to see where he was born, lived, and ministered.
We had learned enough about his life. Now it was time to write the book.
But where to start?
We started where I’m suggesting you start… by jotting down each of the stories from his life that we wanted to include to support our main theme: encouraging readers to put their faith in Christ just like Nicholas had done.
We gave the story a working title and wrote 30 scenes we wanted to include—30 snapshots from his life that we wanted to weave into his story.
It looked like this.
Here are a few of those snapshots:
His parents died in a plague
He traveled to the Holy Land
He became Bishop of Myra
He saved three girls from devastation
He was imprisoned for his faith
He attended the Council of Nicaea
He died, and his legacy began
This became our outline for the story. Having an outline gave us a goal to shoot for, something to write about each day for 30 days.
We then spent the next 30 days fleshing out just one story a day. It usually took an hour or less just to write down a few pages or paragraphs of what each scene would include.
We knew we might need to add or delete chapters or rearrange some chapters to tell the story in a compelling way. But having the outline gave us a plan, a way to move forward.
What about you? What scenes or images come to your mind that you could include to support your main theme? Maybe you only have a few right now. That’s okay! Now’s the time to “prime the pump” to get your ideas flowing.
Start your list and jot down just a few words for each story that supports your main theme. Don’t edit, and don’t worry about the order! Just jot them down!
I’ll give you some tips for working out the order and pacing in the next chapter.
Chapter 7: No scene that doesn’t turn
I read a good book about storytelling by Robert McKee called Story. In it, he analyzes all kinds of films and shares how to tell a good story. One of the keys, he says, is to be sure there is “no scene that doesn’t turn.”
By this, he means that if a scene begins with a positive value (either in the character’s inner world or outer world), it should turn toward a negative value by the end of the scene. If a scene starts with a negative value, it should turn toward a positive. This back-and-forth is what keeps the story moving forward.
I kept this in mind as I outlined the story of the life of St. Nicholas. There were many stories I wanted to thread together, but which ones should I tell, and how should I string them together?
I started by arranging the stories in chronological order, where I knew the order, and then flip-flopping stories where I didn’t know the order, from positive to negative or negative to positive.
I began the story with his idyllic life growing up in his wealthy parents’ home on the coast of the Mediterranean. Their family were Christians who had been impacted by the Apostle Paul on one of his missionary journeys to their hometown of Patara as mentioned in the Bible in the book of Acts.
But I included a cliffhanger at the end of chapter one that threatened to upset his idyllic life. A reader had to read chapter two to find out what was about to happen.
I won’t tell you here. You can read the book! But I can say that chapter two starts out negatively with some of the worst news their city could have heard. The chapter ends on a positive note as his parents decide to take up a cause to help everyone around them. Chapter three takes another turn, as his parents are doing what was right and good, but the chapter ends on a negative note that propels the reader forward once again to find out what happens next.
Every scene turned like this throughout the book, with the positives and negatives getting higher and lower until the climax of his story. The last valley was the deepest of all: an unexpected twist that sends Nicholas into despair. It was a classic storytelling technique where it seems like “all is lost,” that biggest drop before the final high that ends the story.
I didn’t have to fabricate the stories. But I did have to line them up and tell them in a way that I had “no scene that doesn’t turn.” People have told me they couldn’t put the book down. They had to keep reading from chapter to chapter to find out what was next.
Was his life riveting? Yes! But has his story been told in other ways that were less than riveting? Also, yes! The difference between riveting and dull is understanding the basics of storytelling—a difference that keeps your readers reading to the end.
I did the same with my personal memoir of how I fell in love with my late wife, Lana, and with Christ, called Fifty Shades of Grace: Love Changes Everything (written under my pen name, Nicholas Deere). The two stories are interwoven, and each storyline is significant to the overall story and its outcome.
Once I knew the main story I wanted to tell… that “love changes everything,” I wrote down about 50 stories I wanted to tell from my relationship with Lana and God that would support that main theme. I then laid them out in a way that each scene would have a turning point in my quest to find love.
My love story with both Lana and God had a natural arc to it where the highs got higher and the lows got lower. I didn’t have to exaggerate. But I did have to tell the stories in a way that leaned into each of those turning points to keep the story moving.
An agent in New York who represents some of the biggest names on the New York Times best-selling list said she was given my book by one of her best-selling authors. The agent said, “It’s definitely a page-turner,” just like the author had told her. Success!
Once you decide on your main theme and have listed out the main stories you want to share in your book, look at each of the stories and see if they have a natural arc that will build on the idea: “no scene that doesn’t turn.”
This may not apply the same way to every genre of writing, but it can help your writing in any genre!
What is the point you’re trying to drive home with your book? And what is the point you’re trying to drive home in each scene or chapter? Make sure that point is well-told and well-crafted. The difference will ensure your readers keep reading to the end.
Diagram of your highs and lows (starting and ending values are up to you!)
Chapter 8: Now write!
Once you’ve jotted down the main stories you want to tell (your outline), now it’s time to write!
You might feel intimidated to start, but don’t be. You’ve already done much of the hard work, honestly. You’ve defined your main theme. You’ve jotted down your main stories. Now it’s just a matter of getting those stories out of your head and onto paper or screen.
Let the stories flow. Pick one a day if you’d like. Write from what you know. Don’t stop to edit. Don’t stop to look up details. Don’t stop to second-guess yourself. Just write! There will be time for all of those other things later.
Right now, the ideas are locked away inside your head. That’s a great place for them to be! But it’s not helpful to others until you bring them out into the world. Writing your thoughts is a great way to do this… like pulling strands of memories from inside you and laying them out in front of you, so you can see them clearly.
You’ll have time to tweak or change, add or delete, rework or reword later. Now’s the time to just get the thoughts down so you’ll have something to work with.
“A ship in harbor is safe,” says John Shedd, “but that’s not what ships are built for.”
If God has put a story on your heart, now’s the time to get it ready to sail! Take those thoughts out of the harbor of your mind. Get them ready to sail!
For me, it’s enough to write down just a few paragraphs… maybe 500 or 700 or 1,500 words. Let me share a story I wrote this week. It’s about 550 words. Not much, but enough to tell the story. I call it “The Missing Psalm.”
We can’t go back again… or can we? Sometimes, the answer lies ahead of us.
A few months before my sweet Lana passed away, she recorded 31 Psalms for a project we were working on. We were writing a devotional about prayer to highlight 31 of the 150 Psalms in the Bible.
I asked Lana if I could record her reading them. Then my sister and my kids and I would record some piano music to go along with each.
It wasn’t until after she passed away that I realized I had forgotten to ask her to record one of the Psalms that was most precious to me: Psalm 20. That was the Psalm I was reading when I was talking to God about marrying her. I especially loved verse 4:
“May He give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed.”
I prayed that prayer over and over, that God would give me the desire of my heart… to marry Lana.
It was a long-shot prayer. In fact, I had read this Psalm just moments after Lana told me she was happy with her single life, wasn’t ready to commit to anyone or anything, and walked away from the spot on the floor where we had been sitting and talking about our future.
That was 35 years ago.
But God eventually answered those prayers! Lana said, “Yes,” and 23 years of marriage and six kids later, I still shake my head at how God encouraged me through that Psalm so many years ago.
How could I have forgotten to ask her to record that Psalm while she was still alive?
From time to time, I’ve looked back, wishing for a do-over. Maybe you’ve felt the same about something in your life.
Well, this week, I got one!
A friend posted a recording he had made using a new AI voice tool. He fed a sample of his own voice into the system, then asked it to read back to him something new he had just written.
In all my years of studying new technologies, including voice technologies like this one, I’ve never heard anything so lifelike. It sounded just like my friend… and it was! It was just brilliantly edited and rearranged so he could say something new.
Then I thought of my wish for a do-over.
I quickly signed up for an account (for $1!) and uploaded five minutes of Lana reading another Psalm (Psalm 119… also one of my favorites). Then I typed in the text of Psalm 20.
I clicked the button, and within 30 seconds I began hearing Lana’s sweet voice again, reading to me from Psalm 20… the missing Psalm that had meant so much to me 35 years ago.
I was in tears.
Yesterday, I decided to record some piano music to go along with it: the love theme from Titanic called “My Heart Will Go On.”
Today, I’d like to share it with you.
No, we can’t go back again. But sometimes, the answer lies ahead of us, in this case, in the form of a new technology that has brought back some very precious memories.
Keep pressing on. Keep moving forward. Keep trusting in God who can always make a way… even when there seems to be no way at all.
I include this as an example because it doesn’t take much to write out one story. I spent about an hour writing, then went back through and spent another hour tweaking, adjusting a few words or ideas here and there, and adding a couple brief sentences to help the readers apply the story to their lives.
Then I asked a friend to read and edit it. With a few more changes here and there, it was ready to go.
But the initial writing, just getting the story out of my brain and onto my computer, was fairly simple. I knew the story I wanted to tell, and I told it! Just one story. Just one hour. After that, I could change it to my heart’s content.
Writing a book is overwhelming. Writing one story, then another, then another… that’s doable! Especially if you just write from your head the first time through. Don’t edit. Don’t stop to look up facts or details. I did that later to double-check if my dates and memories were correct!
Just write from your head… describe the scene as you lived it or as you envision it. Include your senses that others may not see or imagine: sights, sounds, smells, tastes, tears or smiles of joy.
Help your readers relive the story that’s in your mind. Once you get it out, you’ll be able to flesh out and fact-check your story, which we’ll look at next.
By the way, here’s a sample of the notes I took for each chapter of my book Living Life with a Capital L.
Chapter 9: Flesh out your stories
Once you’ve finished getting all your stories out of your head and onto paper or a screen, you can dive into fleshing out each chapter.
Now’s the time to re-read the essence of what you’ve written, look up facts in journals or online, and check out old pictures, receipts or ticket stubs. You may be surprised at the details you find… and what you remember right or wrong!
Then you can incorporate these ideas into your writing, one story at a time.
If I stopped to do this along the way, I would never finish a book! I would always find something else to do other than to write. I would debate myself every step of the way whether or not to include a certain tidbit or idea.
So I prefer to wait till I’ve finished writing all my stories before I flesh them out.
I’d like to share here a “fleshed-out” version of a snippet I shared in the last chapter. It’s based on the 2-3 paragraphs I quoted previously where I talked about Lana walking away from me after we had been sitting together on the floor and talking about our future.
This is from Chapter 19 of Fifty Shades of Grace, in which I used pseudonyms for myself, Nick, and for Lana, Noël. You’ll notice this version contains a lot more detail, detail which I went back later and fleshed out to give it more color, background, and insight.
The story picks up a few weeks before our conversation on the floor, about 18 months after we had broken up. I was living in Texas and she was living in Michigan. I had felt God wanted us to break up, and amazingly, both of us put our faith in Christ during our time apart. Unbeknownst to her, I felt God was calling us back together again, this time for good. I had been praying about it for three months by myself and felt I should broach the subject. But I had no idea how she would respond.
– – – – – – – – –
Chapter 19: Heart’s Desire(from Fifty Shades of Grace)
Noël couldn’t believe it! She had always loved me and had always wanted to hear this from me! She had even prayed when we broke up that one day I would come to love her like this and ask her to become a permanent part of my life. When we broke up, she trusted that God would give her someone better than me. And now He had! I was way better than the old Nick, now that I had put God first in my life. Noël was amazed—amazed at God, amazed at me, and amazed that God had answered her prayers, even her prayers from so long ago.
But Noël was also wisely cautious. After I broke up with her, she didn’t know if she could ever marry me. While she had hoped this would happen, she wanted to be sure about it all before we actually got back together. She wanted to think and pray about it, but she was definitely excited at the thought of it.
I totally understood her caution, and I totally expected and appreciated it. I couldn’t have asked for more. I was just so thankful that I was finally able to express to her all the love that had been building up inside my heart. Whatever happened, I knew God would speak to us if He really wanted us to be together.
Noël called again two days later and asked if I would come up to see her in Michigan the following weekend. She was going on a ski trip as a leader with the junior high youth group from her church, and she wanted me to come along.
I thought it was too soon. I wanted her to pray about it more before we saw each other again, so she could hear from God more clearly. But she wanted me to meet her new friends, to see what she was doing with her life, and to make sure this was really what I wanted, too. She was worried that I might have idolized her while we were apart, and she wanted to make sure I really did want to get back together again. I knew that nothing she would do that weekend would change my desires for her, so by the end of our conversation, I suggested that maybe we had better wait. Noël was hurt and disappointed.
I could tell this was really important to her—so that made it important to me. The more I thought about going to see her that weekend, the more I was able to see it through her eyes. She needed to see for herself that I was really serious about this. I had hurt her before, and I needed to do more than just talk to gain back her trust. I called her back and told her I’d love to come.
Noël said the very words that I had been thinking in my heart: “Thank you for seeing it through my eyes.” That was the confirmation I needed to go through with it, even if I felt like it was too soon.
I flew up to Michigan that weekend and fell deeper and deeper in love with Noël. She had always been cute, but that weekend she was gorgeous, both in body and in spirit.
I loved watching her as she laughed with her friends, did skits for the kids (dressing up as a dwarf with her ears poking out of her hoodie) and encouraged everyone she encountered in their faith. She was everything I had pictured and more.
On Saturday night, when we finally had a chance to talk on our own, we went upstairs in the old Victorian hotel where we were all staying. Noël and I sat down in the hallway to talk. She started telling me what she had been thinking about everything I had said.
She said that as much as she wanted to get back together with me, she felt like this was the first time in her life that she was getting to live life on her own. She liked her new life and her new independence. She was growing deeper in her faith, making great friends and loving working with the kids at the church. She said she was really sorry, but she wasn’t ready to give that all up.
I was sad—crestfallen, as much as anything. My bubble of excitement had burst, but I understood.
I felt like Jim Carey in the movie Bruce Almighty, when his character, Bruce, asked God:
“How do you make somebody love you without affecting their free will?”
“Welcome to My world, son,” God replied. “You come up with the answer for that, and we’ll talk.”
There was nothing more I could say to Noël. She thanked me for coming to see her, said goodnight and without a goodnight kiss or any indication that she ever wanted to get back together again, she stood up and walked away.
I sat on the floor and cried.
I had my Bible in my hands, so I opened it up and started reading through a few of the Psalms. When I read Psalm 20 and got to verses four and five, I cried again—but this time with joy. The Psalm said:
“May He give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed. We will shout for joy when you are victorious and will lift up our banners in the name of our God. May the LORD grant all your requests” (Psalm 20:4-5).
God had already given me more than I could possibly ask for from Him. He had forgiven me of my sins, He had given me a new life here on earth, and He had given me the promise of eternal life with Him. I knew I had already gotten way more than I deserved, so how could I ask Him for more?
But when I read those words, I was encouraged and wanted to ask Him for one more thing. While I didn’t want to sound ungrateful on the one hand or extravagant on the other, I also knew that God still had more for me on this new path of life on which He had put me.
Not knowing if Noël would ever say, “Yes,” I underlined those verses from Psalm 20 in my Bible. I told God that night that if I could ask Him for just one gift in my entire lifetime, it would be to marry Noël. I knew it may have sounded childish, but I was serious. I prayed with all my heart that night that God would give me Noël. Then all I could do was wait.
– – – – – – – – –
You’ll note that this is a longer version of the story, 1,118 words, to be exact! But you can see how the extra details fill in the gaps, add “color” and interest, and give the reader more food for thought along the way.
And by waiting to flesh out my chapter till I got all of the stories out of my head, I was able to fill in the blanks for the readers, weave the stories together in a more compelling way, and add hooks at the beginning and end of each story to keep the reader turning pages.
Speaking of hooks, you might be tempted to hit “Publish” after doing all this work to flesh out your stories. But don’t! There’s something else I want you to hit instead… which I’ll share in the next chapter. (See what I did there?)
Chapter 10: Tips for self-editing
Once you’ve fleshed out each story, you may be tempted to press “Publish”!
But let me give you another tip: Don’t hit “Publish”! Hit “Pause”!
Writing a book is a massive undertaking. Once you finish a rough draft, you might feel like you’re ready to be done, already! But before you send any previews to anyone else, take a deep breath.
1) Take a short break
Let it rest. Let your brain rest. Then come back to your writing and read it afresh.
When you do, you’ll notice things you love, things you want to change, and things that made sense when you were writing them, but now you have no idea what you were trying to say! That’s okay! Now’s the time to fix those things before others see it.
I was taking some meds one time that came with a warning not to drive or be up and active or send texts soon after taking the meds.
I had been thinking about sending a text to a friend who had invited me to a Christmas party, but I wasn’t sure if I should go or not. The next morning, my friend texted to say, “Sure, come on over, I’d love to see you!”
I thought: “Did I say that with my out loud voice?” I honestly didn’t remember sending a text, but I looked back and I did! About half hour after I had taken the meds! The text was garbled, full of mistakes, and said what I was thinking, but not what I meant to say “out loud”! Gosh!
The same can happen with your writing if you send it to others without giving it a once over to make sure you said what you thought you said.
2) Read it aloud
After giving it a rest for a day or two or a week or two or a month or two, then you can use your “out loud” voice. Literally!
One of my favorite ways to self-edit is to read my writing aloud.
I find more mistakes that way than just scanning the text with my eyes. Phrases that may look okay might not sound okay. Gaps in logic become clearer. And missing words or reversed word order becomes apparent. You can also better identify which sentences are way too long.
Sometimes I’ll even have my computer or phone read it back to me. Hearing it read by “someone else,” even an AI voice, can make it obvious when a word is skipped or mistyped. Our eyes sometimes fill in the gaps or autocorrect misspelled words in our minds, but when a computer reads it back to you, the error can be more glaring.
So just sit back and enjoy and read or listen to your book being read to you, making corrections along the way.
3) Write it for a real person
My final step in self-editing is to write it for a real person. By this, I mean having a real reader in mind that I’m actually going to send it to as soon as I finish editing the chapter or book.
This really puts on the pressure to get it right! Knowing that a real person is going to read it makes me focus and think through what that reader might think as they read it.
I find this revealing whenever I read a reply from someone who responds to one of my weekly messages. I often know the person and what they’re going through, and after I read their response, I reread what I wrote through their eyes.
It’s quite a different experience to read what I’ve written through someone else’s eyes who has been through something very similar or something very different.
I was speaking one day about how I prayed for a woman to be healed of cancer. I truly believed the person would be healed, but in the end, she died. She had an incredible spiritual experience after our prayer, but still, she died.
A woman came up to me after my talk to say she was so relieved when I got to the end and the woman with cancer had died. As I was telling the story, she was getting more and more angry. She was sure the woman was going to be healed. It turned out her husband had just died of cancer, and she was mad at God that he died. And if this woman in my story was healed and her husband wasn’t, she was going to be even more angry.
Here I thought the story would be depressing because the woman with cancer died, but the woman listening to the story was so relieved!
We never quite know how our readers will respond. But if we know who is going to read our writing, or hear our message, we can get a better idea of how it might sound to that person. Having a real reader in mind is key for making sure you’re saying what you want to say… and not saying what you’re not wanting to say.
“Do not write so that you can be understood, write so that you cannot be misunderstood.” (Epictetus)
When you write for real readers, you can be more sure you’re saying what you want to say. Then find a few trusted readers and get ready to push “Send,” which we’ll cover in the next chapter.
Chapter 11: Send it to a few trusted readers
After you flesh out each chapter and do your self-editing, it’s time to be bold and send it to a few trusted readers!
Who is a trusted reader? Someone you think might be interested in your book, willing to read your book, and able to give helpful feedback (encouragement primarily!)
I have some friends who are great “proofreaders.” They relish in finding mistakes and letting me know they found them. I don’t usually send my writing to these friends first! What I’m looking for first is what they think of the book? Is it hitting the right topics people would be interested in? Do they think it’s worth publishing for more people at all? Or does it really need some major help?
I save my “proofreaders” for the final edit. If I’m going to rearrange or delete or add entire sections or chapters, a proofreader’s help would quickly be negated by all of my changes.
Who are some friends or family members who might be interested in reading what you’ve written? They may or may not have experience in your field. But if they believe in you, that’s a great start!
Then decide how you want to send it to them. Would they like a printout? Would they like a PDF file? Would they just like a chapter at a time via email?
For me, I often just send an email with the text of one chapter in it. I send it to 2-3 people, once a week, as I finish fleshing out and self-editing my chapters. It can take several months at this rate, but this allows me to craft my chapters for real readers, and it allows the readers bite-sized pieces of my book to digest.
And the feedback they give you on those first few chapters can inform how you craft the next few chapters. Are there major missing elements? Are they lost already by Chapter 3? Is there something you need to insert or work on or fix before going through this process with the whole rest of your book? Even if you’ve written your whole book, sending a chapter at a time can be helpful for those reading it.
And, of course, you can ask them! See what works best for them. I have a friend who likes reading a whole book, not pieces and having to wait! So, I do what they prefer! But for all the reasons above, I usually offer the book piecemeal, and people are usually happy to receive it that way.
When you ask them to read it, just tell them what you’re looking for in terms of feedback. Does it make sense? Do you like it? Are there any glaring errors or omissions? Is there any extraneous information?
Keep in mind, these readers might also make good reviewers of your work when you go to market your book. I don’t usually ask this of them right away. But if they send me some gems of comments, I’ll come back to them later and ask if I can use a quote from something they’ve written to me before.
We’ll talk about receiving feedback next!
Chapter 12: Receiving feedback
Here are three rules to remember when receiving feedback:
1) Brace yourself!
People might actually like your writing!
It is, perhaps, one of the most surprising things when someone says they like what I write. Saying that probably says more about me and my insecurities than about my actual writing.
As I wrote my personal memoir, Fifty Shades of Grace, I kept thinking:
“I can never publish this. People won’t like it. People won’t want to hear these stories. I’ll be embarrassed for no reason at all. And worst of all: It probably won’t make any difference in the end.”
My fears and hesitations were over the top.
So I was totally surprised when the first two “trusted readers” I gave it to said they not only liked it, but loved it! They said they had never read anything like it and thought I should publish it far and wide. They said it was a story that needed to be told.
I truly wasn’t prepared for that response. I was only prepared for anything but that response!
I have been similarly surprised when I’ve published other works. Not because the stories were so personal, but because they were so simple.
I wrote about a little snail that I prayed for one day. My daughter had asked me to take care of it while she was out of town for several months. At one point, I thought it had died. It hadn’t moved in almost 10 days. But then I watched an episode of The Chosen where Jesus prayed for the healing of a woman who had been bleeding for years and the resurrection of a young girl who had clearly died.
I was about to pull the bubble maker on the snail’s water tank, but decided instead to pray for it to be healed or resurrected. The next day, I checked the tank and it was alive… clinging to the bubble maker, letting the refreshing bubbles wash over its shell!
I shared the story with my email subscribers and on social media, thinking it was such a simple story, and probably not very meaningful to anyone but me. I wasn’t prepared for the response! People not only liked it, they loved it, shared it, and posted comment after comment about how it inspired them to have faith for their own situations that were dead or dying.
It was such a simple story. But the impact was profound. I wasn’t prepared.
So #1, I want you to brace yourself. People might actually like… and truly love… what you have to say. Your stories are important. And if they’re important to you, don’t be surprised when you share them that others find them important to them as well.
2) Temper yourself!
According to Webster’s, to temper something means “to mix” or “to keep within limits,” specifically:
“When you temper something, you mix it with some balancing quality or substance so as to avoid anything extreme.”
Some people might not like your writing. That’s okay! You’re not called to reach everyone. But you are called to reach those God wants you to reach. And sometimes, people who don’t like what you write one day will come to like it another.
One person read the first chapter of my Fifty Shades of Grace and responded with a scathing email. She couldn’t believe I would write about such things, things that should never be discussed publicly.
But three months later, she wrote to me again. She said, “I want to tell you something about myself that I’ve never told anyone.” She confessed to me something that had happened to her at a party when she was younger. She was so embarrassed about it, she had never revealed it to anyone in her life. The event had impacted her still to this day, even though she was in her 70’s. She told me that reading my story had helped her see that she didn’t need to hold onto that memory and the trauma of it anymore. She said that because of what I shared, she finally felt comfortable sharing her own story with me. And she said she felt healing come as she did.
This is the kind of writing I pray God works through me… writing that will touch people deep in their souls. But I have to remember that sometimes people don’t want their souls touched! It can be hard to hear, hard to deal with, and hard to know what to do with what you hear.
In my book Loving God & Loving Gays, I had one trusted reader read through the entire book before I sent it to anyone else. She had read much of my work before, carefully editing and commenting as she went along. We were in lockstep on so many topics, I was shocked when one day she texted at 5 AM to let me know she had just read one of my chapters and she was emphatically not going to read any more. She was not going to endorse my book. And she was not going to read anything else I ever wrote.
I was, once again, shocked! This time for the opposite reason: someone completely hated and adamantly disagreed with what I had written.
I asked if we could meet and talk about it. She agreed. I asked if I could record the conversation, that if it upset her so much, it would probably upset others in my target audience, so I wanted to hear and work through what she had to say. She agreed to the recording.
She repeated her anger and frustration at what I had written both to me and to the recorder. I rewrote what I had written. I tried talking with her a few more times, but nothing I said or did changed her mind. Whatever happened had truly upset her to the core.
I doubted my writing. I doubted my thinking. I doubted that I should ever publish the book at all.
But then I remembered why I felt God wanted me to write the book. He wanted me to write it to help people like my friend change the way they viewed this topic. If it was an easy topic and everyone agreed with what I wrote, there would be no need to write the book! The reason I wrote it was to help people see it in a new way, having lived through decades of dealing with this issue myself.
I decided to pray. I asked God to reveal to her or reveal to me how I should proceed.
A few weeks later, I sent her one more draft of the entire book. Her response floored me. She said, “I love the book, the whole book. Especially that one chapter” — the one that she had been so upset by.
I said, “Really?”
She said, “Yes, I love it.”
I said, “But you were so upset about that chapter!”
She said, “Oh no, I wasn’t. I totally agree with you on that chapter.”
I said, “I thought you hated that chapter.”
She said, “No, I didn’t. I thought it was great! You must have misheard me.”
I was stunned. I hung up the phone, went back and listened to the recording. Yep, she definitely hated it and was never going to read anything I ever wrote again!
I asked if we could meet. We did.
I asked her one more time what she thought of that chapter. “I loved it. I totally agree with you. I’ve always have felt that way about it.”
I asked if I could play a portion of the recording back for her. I did. She was stunned.
She said, “I can’t believe I ever thought anything differently. I thought I’ve always felt this way.”
At that moment, God gave me a profound revelation: what I had prayed for about my writing had come true. With my very first beta reader, God showed me that not only could my words impact and change other people’s hearts and minds, they could change in such a way that they felt they “had always thought that way,” that they “couldn’t believe they had ever thought anything differently.”
Had I not tempered her comments with what God was doing in her heart, I might have given up on the project altogether.
As I’m writing this, just yesterday I heard from a mother and son who are reading that same book together, now five years later. They told me it was giving them both so much hope when they had all but given up. What a tragedy if I had taken that first beta reader’s response at face value and not allowed for what God was doing in her heart… and could do in other people’s hearts in the future.
3) Be yourself!
This is not to say we can’t improve. That’s why we’re asking for the feedback in the first place. If our work needs fixing, attention, or to have the brakes put on for some reason, we want people to be honest with us. Yet remember this, especially when writing very personal topics:
The best books read us. (Eric Elder!)
All of my writing is deeply personal. Whether it’s praying for a snail or telling about my intimate thoughts, my writing is filled with me. Everything I say can and possibly will be used against me! I feel that pressure regularly.
But I also feel that my thoughts are probably more common than people may admit… to themselves or to me. I want their feedback because I want to put out the best, most helpful work I can. And when I hear feedback that is repeated, or hear it and God speaks to my heart to listen, I take note and try to correct what’s wrong, address what’s needing attention or set it aside completely. Feedback is good and necessary. And I want to sift through it carefully and prayerfully.
At some point, though, I have to commit publicly to what I am writing. And at that point, the best advice I can give you is this: “Be yourself.”
After hearing the input, after making the changes, after adding or dropping or modifying what I’ve written, I have to commit to publishing my words so the public can read them.
Do I like it? Do I feel good about it? Am I willing to take the risk that others may love it, hate it or be challenged by it, whether they ever come to agree with my thoughts or not?
Again, just yesterday, someone told me they had read my book Fifty Shades of Grace. Again, my jaw dropped and my mind went into a tailspin as I tried to think what this person thought of my book. I respected their input. I wanted to know what they honestly thought. But I also cowered in fear in my heart at what I might hear. Even after seven years of hearing feedback on that book, I am still hearing it as if it’s the first time anyone has ever read it.
Because for that reader, it is.
I asked what he thought and said, “I really do want your honest opinion.” What he said spoke to my heart, and to this point.
He said, “If it were me, I would probably pull back on some of the descriptions.” But then he added, “But it’s not me. It’s not my story. It’s your story. And I don’t think you should change a thing.”
He is used to giving me honest feedback. He doesn’t mind telling me what he thinks. But his best feedback was what he told me with those words. It’s your story. Don’t change a thing.
There comes a point where we truly have to be ourselves. Where we have to write honestly what’s on our hearts, not being careless or flippant with our words, because words really do matter and are extremely important. But after taking care, after receiving feedback, after tempering the good with the bad, we need to push “publish,” trusting that what God had put on our hearts can be used mightily in His hands.
Chapter 13: Getting endorsements
Endorsements are words of encouragement from readers to recommend your book to others. You can include these quotes on your back book cover or inside your book to help nudge potential readers into reading your book!
It’s one thing to hear from a car salesman how great their cars are, but it’s another to hear from a “satisfied customer.” Your endorsements are your “satisfied customers.”
Where do you get them and how can you use them?
Here are a few starting points.
1) Use beta reader responses
When you give early copies of your books to others, they will often give you feedback you can use as reviews. Here are a few responses I got back from people who read my book Fifty Shades of Grace. I just took these short quotes from their email responses after they read my book:
“A gripping story—a page turner for sure!” R.E.
“Truthful and compelling. I wanted to cry and hold him and tell him everything would be all right (and sometimes box his little ears!)” J.T.
“It hooks you immediately.” K.S.
“Engaging, interesting—and significant.” G.P.
“Excellent! Not overly graphic, but very personal. ” D.M.
“A fascinating story—I think more than one wife will nudge her husband and say, ‘Here. Read this.’” B.B.
“I don’t think I could be so open and honest. That’s probably why it is so riveting.” J.L.
“A story that all of us can relate to.” A.L.
I didn’t ask these readers up front if they would write a review for me. I just let them read it and asked for their honest feedback. I later went through their email responses and found these short snippets that I thought would help others decide if this was a book they would want to read, too. I then went back to each of my readers and asked their permission to use the short quotes I wanted to use, in this case, with just their initials as the book was also written under my pen name.
All of them said “Yes”!
I put these quotes on the back of my book, underneath the book’s description as well as on the book’s website and on the Amazon description. I also used these quotes when I promoted my book to my email subscribers and to my family and friends on social media.
It’s one thing for me to say “I’ve written a great book!” It’s another to hear from others who have read the book and are willing to say “This is a great book! You should read it, too!”
2) Ask those you know
If you know people who are in your field and in your target audience, you can ask them if they would be willing to write an endorsement for you. I did this with my book What God Says About Sex, sending it to some people I knew who either had ministries related to this topic or to those who were in my target audience. I sometimes shortened or edited what they said to make all of the quotes read nicely together.
Here are some of their replies.
“This book is every parent’s new best friend.” Dan Mountney, Campus Pastor, Kensington Community Church
“After only a few pages, I knew I could trust this book in the hands of my daughters.” Bridgette Booth, homeschooling mother
“It’s the kind of book I could read to my son and not be ashamed.” Russell Pond, homeschooling father
“Eric Elder’s approach is as refreshing as is his testimony.” Tim Wilkins, Executive Director, Cross Ministry
“I won’t give away the surprise ending, but guarantee it will rock your boat.” Al Lowry, Founder of GIG, a music ministry at Saddleback Church
Again, I used these quotes on the back of my book, on my website and on Amazon, and in my emails to my subscribers and social media posts.
3) Use feedback from the public
After my books come out, when someone posts or emails a positive response, I continue to collect and use those quotes for the additional promotion of my book.
Your book will live forever, and people will continue commenting forever! When I go back and re-market a book, maybe to give it another boost or because it’s seasonal like my Christmas books and movies, I’ll use these public responses to “freshen up” the endorsements.
For instance, here are a few comments I received from people who watched a Christmas ballet based on my St. Nicholas book called One Life: A Christmas Story Ballet. I used these on some promotional materials for the show the following Christmas.
“Beautiful work. Love the music! I hope you can take it far and wide!” BRIAN BIRD, co-producer of Touched By An Angel and co-creator of Hallmark’s #1 original series, When Calls the Heart.
“Truly Christian, in the best sense of the word, with universal appeal.” JIM ROSENTHAL, former Communications Director for the Archbishop of Canterbury and founder of The St. Nicholas Society.
In these cases, the people happened to have titles and credentials that were significant to my project, so I used those in their bylines as well, with their permission.
It was as simple as asking, “I saw you posted this review. Would I be able to use it in promoting my project to others?” They both said “Yes”! One even wrote a dozen more snippets for me to choose from, as he knew the value of marketing.
You might feel uncomfortable asking people for endorsements, but again, you might be pleasantly surprised when you do! People are often happy to help, happy to lend their name to your project, and sometimes happy to see their own name in print! You honor them by valuing their feedback.
And it will truly help others when trying to decide if they should read your book or not.
So… ask!
Chapter 14: Formatting your book
When it’s finished, what do you want your book to look like?
Now’s the time to start finding some samples of books that are similar to what you have in mind, whether they’re lying around your house or at the library or online or at a bookstore.
What do other books look like that are similar to yours? What books have you loved that you’d like to imitate (imitation is form of flattery).
In the next few chapters I’m going to walk you through everything you need to know to format the interior and exterior of your book. Why? Because if you’re interested and motivated, you can do it all yourself! Even if you’re not interested or if you’re only interested in doing part of it yourself and asking others to do what they do best, these are still good ideas to have in mind.
For instance, when I was writing What God Says About Sex, I thought of a book format that I really loved. It was Bruce Wilkinson’s The Prayer of Jabez. Not only was it an international bestseller, but I loved the way he wrote it and the design and layout of the book. It was short and easy to read. The cover was tasteful, and the fonts and layout on the inside were welcoming.
So I took a copy off my shelf and started designing my own book in a similar way.
I measured the outer book dimensions. I measured the margins at the top and bottom and sides of several pages. I looked closely at the fonts used for the body text, the chapter headings, and the pull-out quotes that appeared occasionally. I even liked the “drop caps” at the beginning of each chapter, which are large initial letters of the first word that drop down 2-3 lines below the first few lines of text.
Then I set about learning how to apply each of these elements to my own book.
Is there a book that comes to mind when you picture your own book? For my friend Cammie Quinn, she wrote an epic Civil War novel about sheep farming in Illinois called Follow the Wind Home. The war is a backdrop for the story. The central theme is love of the land, love of home, and finding healing when we love too much.
I asked if there was a similar book in style or form that she liked. She said she loved Willa Cather’s book, O Pioneers! She said she had read it probably a hundred times.
So we took a look at the book and used that as a starting point. “Do you like the painting on the cover?” I asked. She did, so I suggested an artist who paints in that style—Mark Hill, who also happened to be in our writing group! “Do you like the font on the cover?” Not necessarily, she said, so I created a new font for her. “Do you like the size and shape and feel of the book or do you want it different in certain ways? What about the text on the interior? What about the fonts for the body and the headings? Do you want your name and title of the book at the top of every other page? How do you like the indents and margins?”
It’s surprising how many decisions go into making a book look just right! But when you break it down into each element, you can get a feel for what you like and don’t like, then pursue what you really want. I find that most authors have some idea of what they think their book will look like, even if they don’t think they do. They do! They just might not realize it yet. Most people have read enough books and have seen glimpses of their preferences, which start to emerge after looking carefully at each detail. And that’s great! It’s your book, so I love finding ways to bring it to life that convey the dreams in your head, just as your words have conveyed them.
My friend and bestselling author Debbie Macomber said before she wrote her first book that she could already see it on a bookstore shelf with her name in large letters across the top. And hundreds of bestselling books later, that’s still what I see whenever I look at a book rack at a grocery store: several books on the latest bestsellers list with her name emblazoned across the top!
So what does your book look like, feel like, talk about? What do you want your readers to know, to feel or to do? How does what you’re saying with your words translate into the book that you envision in your readers’ hands?
If you don’t have an idea, take a look at the world of books around you! Next, we’ll dive into bringing that vision to life.
Chapter 15: Interior design
Once you’ve found a sample book you’d like as a pattern for your book, you can start designing the look of the interior of your book. The interior includes everything inside the book, not the front, back or spine of the book. Everything else is in the interior, from the title page, copyright page, acknowledgments, and table of contents to the main chapters, section pages, and anything you want to include at the end: epilogue, notes, author bio or website links.
The interior can be as simple or as complex as you’d like! I have one friend who simply typed his story on a full-size screen and exported a PDF file of it just as it was. He uploaded it to Amazon to print out an 8.5”x11” paperback book just as if it came out of his printer, except with a cover and paperback binding. I have other friends who have carefully selected every font, every element, added headings and footers and page numbers and section dividers, resulting in perfectly-bound, bookstore-ready books.
I say this so you can relax! The main thing is to get your story out there, even if you post it freely online. But if you’re like me, you might also like to have your story printed like any other book you’d find on your shelf. It’s a huge accomplishment to write a book, so taking the time to polish it off is often worth any effort it takes. And it helps for marketing too. Aside from the conventional wisdom that you can’t judge a book by its cover, I’d still rather have the best-looking book I can have!
So, what are the elements to consider when designing the interior?
(Here’s a demo video you can watch that goes with this section.)
1) Choose your fonts
The font I’m using for the body of this book is called Garamond. It’s a very standard font for the main body of many books because it’s easy to read, and it has “serifs” on most letters… those “little feet” at the bottoms of the l’s and i’s and t’s, etc. Those little feet (which is what serif means in Latin) help pull the reader’s eye from left to right along each line of text.
I also like to use Times New Roman (like this) or Sabon (like this) or a similar serif font that is not too fancy but has those little feet to help the reader along.
Traditional printing rules suggested using serifs for body text and something stronger for headings, usually fonts without the little feet, or in Latin “sans serif.” Now you know some Latin, too. :)
Traditional “sans serif” fonts include Helvetica or Arial. Headings are meant to be bolder and attention-grabbing, so they don’t need the serifs to pull the reader along. For this book, I decided to use my own handwriting, which provides both boldness and personalization, because the book itself is very personal: Write With Me! I call it the “Eric Elder” font. I created the font using an online app from Calligraphr.com. (Yes, that’s spelled right!)
Try some fonts on a paragraph or two, or a heading or two, in your own book and see what you think!
BUT… don’t format your entire document in these fonts directly. There’s a better way.
2) Setup your styles
The better way is to define your preferred fonts as Styles. For instance, in this book, I’ve defined the style of the paragraphs to be called “Body” style and I’ve adjusted the settings to my liking: Garamond, 11 point, justified, with 1.1 points of spacing between lines.
Once I’ve defined a style, I apply it to the whole document. If I want to adjust the style later, I just change the definition of the “Style,” for instance to increase or decrease the font size or to switch to another font. Then when I make a change to one paragraph, I simply click “Update to Match” on the Style, and the change is applied to every paragraph in the book instantly, without having to go back and highlight and change every paragraph in the book manually.
I also create a style for “Chapter Titles,” and I define that style. If I want to change something later, I just modify the style once, and every Chapter Title in the book changes automatically.
Not only does this make changes easier, but it also helps for formatting other things, like the Table of Contents. Once I’ve applied the Chapter Title style to every chapter title in the book, I can insert a “Table of Contents” element at the beginning of the book and it will automatically create the table and page numbers from every Chapter Title because I’ve already told it what words should be considered Chapter Titles.
So you can see the value of defining styles right up front. It will make the rest of the process much easier!
I’ve recorded some tutorials for how to create these styles and posted them to my “How To” playlist on my YouTube channel at youtube.com/ericelder. Most word processing programs have this capability, and help screens and online videos can also walk you through the process.
3) Define your page size
If you’ve taken measurements of the sample book you’d like to mimic, you can adjust your document to be exactly that size. I like to save a new copy of my manuscript and work from that for the rest of the steps. Keeping the old copy helps in case I make a mistake or accidentally delete something while experimenting, but I don’t go back to that old copy any more. I make any new edits on the newly formatted copy.
I define the page size by simply changing the size of the entire document. For this book, I’ve defined the page size to be 4.375”x7.” I also like using 5.5”x8.5” 5.01”x8.71” or 6”x9.” It really depends on what you want your book to look like! Check out beforehand to see which sizes are available and most popular.
4) Set your margins
If you have an option, define your pages to be “facing pages” or “mirrored pages” so you can set your margins to be different on the left and right of your book.
You want them to be different because a book has a “gutter” in the middle when it’s opened, and you’ll need a little more margin on the inside of each page so you don’t lose words in the gutter.
For this book, in my margin setting, I chose “facing pages” and defined the inner margin to be .75” and the outer margin to be .375.” I defined my top margin to be .5” and the bottom to be .375.” How did I get these numbers? I found a book I liked, I measured its margins, and I plugged them in! Easy peasy.
5) Choose your headers and footers
Is there some text you’d like to appear on every page of your book? For instance, the title of your book and/or your name? Just tap the top area of your document and a “header” area should appear so you can type in some text.
For this book, I’ve put the title of my book on the right pages, and my name on the left. I like to do this so if someone copies a page from my book, they’ll remember where they got it, or others can tell where they got it and get a copy, too!
Most word processors will let you define a “different left and right” page. Once you type something into the left or right header, it will appear throughout your book. The same goes for footers. Just insert a field called “Page Number” at the bottom. You don’t have to number each page manually. In fact, you shouldn’t. Let the software do the work, and if you make a change in your text that changes the number of pages, the software will change the page numbers for you.
Other tidbits
To see a sample of other info you might include in your book, just look around this book or the book you’d like to emulate.
For instance, I usually include a title page on the first right-hand page of a book, with a copyright statement on the back of that page, on a left-hand page. I like to sign my books on the title page near my name!
It’s weird signing your own book, believe me! One day I met Jeanette Oke who wrote When Calls the Heart and other famous novels about the Canadian frontier. I was telling her about my St. Nicholas book, and she asked if she could have a copy for her grandkids. I pulled out a copy from my backpack and asked if she’d like me to sign it. She said, “Yes, please do!” Odd as it seemed, there I was, signing one of my books for Jeanette Oke! Crazy! And I signed it where I sign all my books… on that title page.
Books sometimes start new chapters on right-hand pages, something you can define in your styles for “New Sections.” Every time I start a new chapter, I simply insert a “Section Break” and it defaults to how I like new sections to start. Note this is different than a “Page Break,” which simply starts a new page immediately following the previous one. A Section Break includes those special instructions for making sure the page starts on the right. I don’t always do this, as you can tell from this book. I wanted it to keep this book short and sweet and didn’t want any extra blank pages.
I love layout and design as much as I love writing, so all of this is fun for me. If you do, too, great! You can dive as deep as you want into getting things just right. But if you don’t, don’t worry. You can reach out to me or others who do! There are people who will be glad to help you add all the window-dressing you want to make your book look its best.
Chapter 16: Cover design
Whether you design your cover yourself or have someone else do it, the best graphic design phrase I’ve followed over the years is this:
One dominant theme
It might be a striking image, a bold typestyle, a particular color scheme. But whatever it is, make it something that draws the eye.
I’ve created most of my own covers. It’s something I love doing, and it’s a fun challenge for me to get it “just right.” If you want to try, I’ll give you the specifics in this chapter for how to create a cover for your own book so you can upload it to Amazon or wherever you decide to print it.
And if you don’t want to try, there are some simple ways to create a cover on most publishing services. For instance, on KDP on Amazon, once you upload your interior and title information, you can simply click “Launch Cover Creator” and Amazon will give you a few templates to choose from, with the title of your book and your name already on the cover in appropriate places on the front, spine, and back.
You can then choose a different background image, change the color scheme, type over their dummy text with your own text, or upload your author photo. They make it easy!
But if you want to get more creative and build your cover from scratch, here’s how.
(Here’s a demo video you can watch that goes with this section.)
1) Determine your dimensions
When building your cover, it’s good to know up front that you’ll be creating one large graphic that will include your front cover (on the right of the graphic), your back cover (on the left of the graphic), and your spine (down the side of the book), all in one file. This cover will then wrap around the pages of your book and be trimmed to fit the size you’ve chosen.
Here’s an example of a complete cover file:
You’ll notice the “one dominant theme” on the front cover (the couple on the right), with the picture wrapping around the spine and onto the back. I like designing covers that blend from front to back to give it a continuous look. The title is in a graceful font, and the subtitle is in a different color, in yet another graceful font. I try not to go crazy combining too many fonts, but one or two that compliment each other is pleasant.
To determine your dimensions, you can simply upload your interior file to KDP and it will tell you specifically how wide and tall your graphic needs to be! They calculate the size by taking into account the width and height of the paper size you’ve chosen, in this case, 5.5”x8.5.”
So to determine the overall height of the graphic, it’s just a matter of adding a little extra (.125”) to the top and bottom of the page to account for that being “trimmed” off when they cut the paper after printing the graphic. The graphic “bleeds” off the edge of the paper like this to account for the trimming. So the height would be 8.5” + .125” for the top bleed and .125” for the bottom bleed for a total height of 8.75.” After trimming, the book will be only 8.5” tall, just like you planned for it to be.
To determine the overall width, add a little extra to the far left and far right of the image (.125”), then add enough for the width of the spine. KDP will calculate this for you, or tell you how to calculate it based on the number of pages in your book. The more pages, the thicker the spine. The fewer pages, the thinner the spine. In this case, the book is 220 pages.
For white paper on KDP, they say to multiply the page count by 0.002252.” So 220 pages x 0.002252” is .495,” or basically 1/2 an inch. So the total width of the graphic needs to be 5.5” + 5.5” + .125” + .125” + .5” = 11.75.” (Cream paper is thicker so they give you a different multiplier for that.)
So now you know the full dimensions of your graphic: 8.75” x 11.75.”
Again, they’ll do all the calculations for you! But now you know what they’re doing.
2) Design your cover
Taking your full dimensions, you can create a graphic that is that exact size. For instance, when I use Canva.com to create a graphic, I simply choose “Create A Design,” then “Custom Size,” then I enter my dimensions: 8.75”x11.75.”
From there I start adding elements and moving them around, the background image, the title text, subtitle text, back cover text, and spine text turned sideways.
KDP will also give you a design template so you can see the exact dimensions, including trim lines, spine width, and safety zones to be sure anything important doesn’t get accidentally cut off due to slight variations in printing and trimming. Here’s a sample of the design template:
The pink zone is for safety. Don’t have any important words or graphics there. The black solid line is where the book will be trimmed. The dotted lines in the middle show the spine. Make sure your spine text is rotated in a way that when the book is sitting on a table with the cover showing, the spine text is right-side-up! The yellow area is set aside for a barcode, which KDP will add to the graphic in a white box. You don’t need to create the white box or barcode; they’ll do it for you.
I’ll often import the design template into my design, then choose 50% opacity on the template so I can “see through” it and make sure my text and images are within the safety zones. Then I delete the template before saving the file.
3) Save Your graphic
When you’re done designing your graphic, you can save it in a PDF file for printing. If you’re using Canva, you can choose to download the image at high resolution for printing (300 dots per inch or higher). You can also choose between color formats (such as CMYK or RGB). Each publisher is different, so choose whichever format they prefer. KDP prefers CMYK, but can accept either.
Once you have your graphic saved, you can upload it to KDP under the option “Upload a cover you already have.”
After your interior file and cover file are uploaded, you’ll have a chance to preview your whole book online, from cover to cover! Exciting!
Chapter 17: Uploading your book
Let’s upload your book!
Now that you have your interior and cover PDF files, you can upload them to a book printing company like KDP from Amazon or Lulu or IngramSpark.
Let’s start by creating a free account on KDP. As of this writing, just go to kdp.amazon.com and click “Sign Up.”
If you already have an Amazon account for buying things, you can use that same account to upload and sell your books. If you don’t have an Amazon account, just fill out the information to create one. I use my same Amazon account for everything.
You’ll be asked for your name and contact info, your banking info for direct deposits of your royalties, and your tax info if you want Amazon to withhold certain taxes on your behalf.
Once your account is created, you’ll be able to upload your book! Just go to the “Bookshelf” and click “Create” to create a new title.
1) Paperback details
Now you can enter your title, subtitle, author’s name, description, keywords, and categories.
Some of these fields can be changed even after your book is published, like your description, keywords, and categories. But you want to get your title, subtitle, and author’s name right the first time around!
For your description, be sure to include words that your target audience might be searching for, including other titles or authors who might be similar.
Bonus Tip: For help in choosing words that people are searching for, you can go to trends.google.com and type in some words or phrases that come to mind when you think of your book. You’ll see which of those words or phrases other people are searching for, too!
Do the same for your keywords. These are the most important words you want your book to be known by. They can be individual words or phrases.
For categories, you can choose up to three. Think of these like the section of a bookstore where your book would be found, such as Christian Inspiration or Historical Fiction. You’ll want a category that is specific enough so people wandering through that “section” of the bookstore (even if only online) can find what they’re looking for. The categories you choose will also be used for determining the ranking of your book on Amazon. You could be #12 in Christian Mental Health, but #245,928 in General Christianity.
2) Paperback content
On the Content screens, you can enter your ISBN, choose your publication date, paper type, and trim size, then upload your interior and cover PDF files.
For the ISBN (International Standard Book Num er), Amazon can provide a free one or you can buy one or more from companies like bowker.com. A free one is fine and is tied specifically to Amazon, but some people like to have their own ISBN to tie it to their own identity. I’ve done both for my own books, and I often use the free ones for my clients to save them money.
For the publication date, you can leave it blank so it will go live as soon as you complete the steps, or you can choose a specific date in the future that you can announce to your target readers so they can all buy it on the same day. Choosing a specific day can help boost your rankings in terms of sales for that day, which can, if the sales are enough, help boost your book higher on the sales list and put it in front of more people. I usually leave it blank so it will go live as soon as I’m finished.
You may have already decided on your paper type and trim size when you initially formatted your book, so enter these options. You can still change these options before you publish your book, but not after you publish your book. So there’s still time to experiment and print some sample copies and see what you really like. Just don’t push “Publish” if you’re not sure yet.
Upload your interior file when prompted. Amazon will do some automatic checks to make sure your text and graphics are within the printable margins, your fonts are readable, and your layout is printable.
They’ll also check to see that your ISBN you’ve entered matches the ISBN you’ve included on the copyright page within your book. If you haven’t added it there, do it now, then save a new PDF file to upload.
Once the interior passes the checks, upload your cover file. Amazon will also check this file for any printing issues, then it will allow you to launch a Preview window so you can flip through your whole book, from cover to cover, to check the margins, fonts, and overall layout.
If Amazon sees any potential issues, they will flag them and note the page numbers so you can fix and upload a new file. If everything passes their inspection and yours, you can go on to set the rights and pricing.
3) Paperback rights and pricing
Here you can choose all countries where you want to publish your book (I choose All), the primary marketplace where you want to sell your book (I choose Amazon.com for US sales, but you might want to sell your book in your own country primarily if you’re not from the US), then choose a price for your book.
For pricing, I like to set it so I make about $5 per book, whether it’s a paperback, eBook, hardcover, or audiobook. That way I get $5 no matter what format the reader chooses. The reader get various advantages from any format, but I don’t lose or make more from any of the formats. But I do like to get about $5 per sale! For me, it just feels like the right price, both for me and for the buyer. You can choose different prices for different countries, but I just take the defaults that Amazon provides.
Note: Expanded distribution allows you to sell your book on other websites outside of Amazon. You’ll get less of a royalty, but could increase your overall sales. I like expanded distribution if your book size and territories allow for it. You may need to adjust your book size to a more common size if you want expanded distribution. If so, this option will let you know what to change.
Lastly, you can request a proof copy of your book. I definitely suggest choosing this option if you want to see it in your hands before making it available on Amazon. Don’t hit “Publish”! Just choose “Request Proof Copy.” You’ll have an option to order one or a few copies at cost plus shipping. These proof copies will also be marked as such so they’re not designed to be resold.
Order your proof copies, then wait to receive your first copy in the mail!
If you don’t like it, you can fix it. If you love it, press “Publish”! Amazon will verify all of your book info and within 72 hours, it will be live on Amazon!
Chapter 18. Creating your eBook & hardcover
About 80% of the books I sell are paperbacks, 15% eBooks, 5% audiobooks, and only a handful of hardcovers. That’s why I start by formatting the paperback first, then move on to the eBook and a hardcover, if I do one at all. Finally, I work on an audiobook, as that’s a different type of project.
Now that we’ve done our paperback, we can work on the ebook and hardcover.
Creating your eBook
Creating your eBook is fairly straightforward, unless you start adding bells and whistles. Then it gets complicated quickly, as an eBook follows different rules.
But for a normal eBook, it can be almost as simple as exporting your paperback book into an EPUB format. Most word processors will have an export function for an eBook. In Pages on a Mac, simply use “File” then “Export as EPUB.” If you use Word, you can simply save your document as a DOCX file and upload it to Amazon without any further conversion.
There are three differences you’ll want to note from a paperback to an eBook. First, you’ll want to include an auto-generated Table of Contents if you don’t already have one in your paperback. This table will be used in the eBook reader to help readers navigate by simply clicking on chapter titles.
The second difference is to create a simple front cover for your eBook. KDP recommends a graphic in .JPG format that is at least 1,000 pixels high by 625 pixels wide, with a resolution of 72 dots per inch. You won’t have a back cover or spine… just this little “chicklet” of an image for people to click on to browse or buy your eBook.
Once you export your EPUB file, you can upload it to KDP by clicking on the “Create Kindle eBook” option on your already existing paperback book. Don’t create a whole new title. When you add an eBook to your existing paperback title, many of the fields will be automatically imported and your paperback and eBook will be automatically linked on your Amazon page.
The third difference is you don’t need an ISBN at all. So you can delete that from the copyright page of your book, or if you have bought a block of ISBN’s you can use one on your eBook. But since it’s not necessary, you don’t need to use one on the eBook.
Creating your hardcover
I sell hardly any hardcovers, but you might want some for your own collection or special friends or family, or you might just want to make it available since you never know who might prefer that format. For instance, I’ve written a year-long devotional called 365 Daily Devotions with Eric Elder that people can read every day. So I’ve created a hardcover version for extra durability.
It’s easy to convert your book for the hardcover format, with a few changes.
First, you may have to change the dimensions of your book, as Amazon or other printers only do a few sizes of hardcovers. It’s easy enough to go into your word processor, choose the Document settings, and change the page size and margins to fit whatever dimensions are needed.
Second, your cover will have to be modified to accommodate wrapping the cover image around the hardcover. KDP will offer you a template for the exact size of your book, showing how much extra room is needed at the edges to wrap around your book.
Third, you’ll need a different ISBN than for your paperback. Again, you can get a free one from KDP or use one you’ve purchased, but every printed format needs a different ISBN so when people order your book they can be sure they’re getting the right printed copy. You’ll want to change the ISBN on the copyright page inside your book before exporting it as a PDF file.
And yes, I realize I used three acronyms in that last paragraph and you might feel it’s all a jumble! But when you go to upload your eBook or hardcover on Amazon, the screens will walk you through everything you need. Don’t despair… be thankful you don’t have to use Gutenberg’s printer and place every letter on every page and run ink over it! Comparatively, this is still pretty amazinglyeasy! You can do it!
Chapter 19. Turning your writing into speaking
Don’t be surprised if, as soon as you finish writing your book, God invites you to talk about it!
One of the best things writing has done for me is to help improve my speaking. By writing down my thoughts, I’m able to choose my words more carefully and tell my stories more compellingly.
After finishing the first draft of my book, Loving God & Loving Gays, my pastor heard about the book and wanted to read an advance copy. Before he was even finished with it, he invited me to lunch to talk about the book and an interview he wanted to do with me on stage at our megachurch. He said, “If your book is ready by that date, I’d like to order 300 copies to have available in our bookstore as a resource for our people.” I was stunned.
He said he wanted the interview to be extemporaneous, with a few seed questions to get started, but with enough spontaneity that it would feel fresh and unrehearsed. Keep in mind, this was the largest audience I had ever spoken to, both in person and online, on a topic where words really matter. Plus, the interview was to last just five minutes. My answers would have to be very, very concise.
I was nervous, but because I had written the book, I was prepared. I was ready for whatever kind of question he might ask in the moment.
In the end, what sounded like a casual, off-the-cuff conversation between friends was really the result of 30 years of life and ministry and nine months of crafting sentences on every aspect of the topic. I was able to condense a 230-page book into a five-minute talk that people still tell me has impacted them even five years later.
I don’t know that I would have been able to do it, certainly not as well, had I not spent so much time thinking through and writing down my thoughts beforehand.
All of this is to say that your words matter. The time you spend choosing your words and crafting your sentences matter. For me, it’s like playing a song on the piano. It takes hours and hours of work to learn a three-minute song. But that repetition, that figuring out of the notes, that detailed work to get the dynamics just right, all pay off in the end and make your playing look effortless.
As anyone who makes something look effortless knows, it’s not effortless in the preparation! Michelangelo said:
“If you knew how much work went into it, you wouldn’t call it genius.”
Having said that, there are still certain things you can do to prepare to turn your writing into speaking.
1) What do you want your audience to know, to feel, and to do?
I usually start with the same steps that I start a book, asking myself, “What do I want the listener to know? What do I want them to feel? What do I want them to do?”
I was recently asked to speak at a memorial service for a dear aunt and uncle who had passed away on separate occasions. There was a lot I could have said, but I was given exactly three minutes. Many stories flashed through my mind of my interactions with them. Too many to share in that short time. When I thought of my audience, I tried to think what would be most important for them. What could I say that others couldn’t or wouldn’t say, as there were a few different speakers?
I decided to focus on three stories that centered on three significant decisions I had made while staying with my aunt and uncle at their house… and what it meant to me for them to host me and give me a place to think clearly and hear deeply from God.
I wanted the audience to know these stories of how their lives influenced mine. I wanted them to feel closer to God as they listened to the stories. I also wanted them to consider a significant decision that might be on their hearts and to make a commitment to Him. That’s what I wanted them to know, to feel, and to do.
Then I had to come up with the thread that would tie them all together. Each story was a significant decision tied to a specific date. So as I told each story, I mentioned the decision, the date, and how my aunt and uncle played a role.
Finally, I wanted to end with a call to action: to invite them to make a commitment to something that may be on their hearts, too.
The talk went well, and one person said afterward: “I think you are at your best when you are sharing your testimony freely like that. It’s powerful.”
By “freely,” he meant extemporaneously, as if it just sprang out of my heart in that moment. In a sense, it did. I had to rely on the Holy Spirit to give me the words to speak and to witness to the importance their lives had on mine.
But my “spontaneous” three stories were actually three stories I had written about at length in a couple of my books. I condensed whole chapters into single sentences so I could fit all three stories into my tight timeframe. I was able to do it more effectively because I had already thought through those stories deeply. I had come up with words and phrases to capture the essence of the stories. Then I told them in a way that drove home what I wanted this particular audience to know, to feel, and to do.
Two other things helped me deliver that message.
2) Write and memorize your opening and closing words
My childhood dance teacher taught us to always nail the opening and closing of our numbers. She said people won’t notice if you mess up in the middle, just be sure to nail your opening and closing!
The same is true for speeches. I usually try to write out and memorize my opening and closing lines. This assures I have something to say when I stand up and something to say when I wrap up. Here’s my intro from this talk:
“My name is Eric Elder, and Rowland and Martha were my uncle and aunt. When I think of them, three pictures come to my mind.”
I also had a closing statement, a call to action, that I had also written and memorized:
“I think Rowland and Martha are providing a backdrop for each of us today, including me. If there’s a significant decision on your heart, I think we could do nothing better to honor them, and to honor God, than by making a commitment today to follow the God of Rowland and Martha and the God of Joan and Ted and Glen and their descendants.”
Then I invited people to pray a prayer of commitment with me.
I follow this same format for almost all of my talks.
I write down on one sheet of paper:
What I want people to know, to feel, and to do,
I write and memorize an intro and closing,
And I write my main three points that support my theme, often described in three pictures that come to my mind.
3) What’s in it for me?
Third, I try to remember that everyone, everywhere, at all times, has needs. I try to ask myself what the audience is asking: “What’s in it for me?”
The three stories I shared that day may have been meaningful to me as the speaker, but my goal was to also inspire those in attendance, so I tried to make it relatable to them as well. A simple way I did this was to include a few statements that might touch something going on in their lives. I didn’t memorize these for my closing, but that’s where I included them. I said:
“If there’s a significant decision that’s on your heart—whether it’s to put your faith in Christ for the first time, whether it’s about your marriage, whether it’s about your kids or your job or your future or your finances or your health—I think we could do nothing better to honor them and honor God than by making a commitment today.”
By listing several ways my words might apply to their personal situations, I was able to help answer the question: “What’s in it for me?” I also opened a door for the Holy Spirit to turn one message into hundreds of messages, speaking directly to the situations they may have been facing. I wanted my message to be more than just how wonderful my aunt and uncle were when they were alive, which was very important, but also about how their lives could still have an impact on each one of us today.
Afterward, another person came up to me and said:“Thanks so much, Eric. I wanted you to know I made a significant decision today.” Touchdown! Hallelujah!
3) Using nervous energy
The last thought about speaking that I’d like to share here has to do with the common fear of public speaking. I’m told public speaking is one of the top fears of most people, and I can see why!
I get nervous every time I have to get up to speak. Everytime. Every. Time.
One of the things I often do when I speak, almost every time, is cry. As I tell stories of how God has worked in my life, I cry. I believe it’s a sign of the Holy Spirit working through me. But I also believe it’s a release of the nervous energy that builds up inside me over several days or hours of preparation. When I get up to speak, I have to fix my words in full sentences and give them their final form, and that pressure, in front of a live audience, is immense. My brain is working overtime, the Spirit is speaking into me and through me, and my heart is full of emotion. And I cry.
And my audience cries… almost every time.
I have learned not to try to suppress it, but to lean into it. I am full of emotion, and as long as it doesn’t debilitate me, it can help me deliver a message that is full of emotion, too. Full of all the care and prayer and thought that I’ve put into it.
As Robert Frost said: “No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader.”
The same is true for speakers and listeners.
How are you wired? How might you use your nervous energy to lean into the emotions God has given you? Maybe you get overexcited and you talk fast. Maybe you get stage fright and very few words come out at all. Maybe you laugh when you’re nervous, or cry, like me. Instead of fighting those feelings, how could you lean into them and let God use them for good?
See what I did there? I just answered the question “What’s in it for me?” and made this chapter applicable to you!
You can do the same whenever you speak.
Chapter 20: Seven touches
Your book’s done and uploaded! Hooray!
Now you have two choices. You can just enjoy the victory of writing and publishing a book. Or you have to gear up for the next phase: marketing your book. If you pick option one, you’re done! But if you want to get your work into the hands of more readers, you’ll want to roll up your sleeves again.
Here’s one tried and true marketing concept that will help you as you go forward. It usually takes “seven touches” to convert a potential reader into an actual reader. By that I mean, you will want to expose potential readers to your book at least seven times, often in multiple ways, before they will commit to buying and reading your book.
People don’t just buy a Coke because they saw it once on a shelf at a store. They buy it because they saw an ad on TV, heard a jingle on the radio, saw a pop-up ad on Google, watched a sporting match with the company’s logo throughout the event, saw a truck on the highway with the logo emblazoned on the side, walked past a promotional display at the grocery store, then saw a sale price on the bottles on the shelf. Finally, they decided, “I’d like a Coke today” and put a case in their cart.
And that’s with an international product that has been advertising to you your whole life.
So how do we get our book in front of people seven times? That’s what we’ll explore next.Here are seven ways to tell the world about your story.
1) Tell the story behind the story
You’ve just spent a good chunk of your life writing your story. People want to hear about that. They’re enthralled by the process. They have seldom, if ever, met a “book writer.”
I was writing on my laptop at a local Steak & Shake when my server looked at what I was doing. “Are you a book writer?” he asked. “I’ve never met a book writer.” He was enthralled.
I chuckled at his description. I could type. I could string sentences together. I could tell a story. But somehow, in that moment, I felt like JK Rowling writing her first book in the Harry Potter series in a coffee shop in London. Can you imagine waiting on JK Rowling while she sipped coffee and worked on her forthcoming novel?
That’s what I felt like in the eyes of my server. And to much of the world, that’s what you’ll look like in the eyes of those who find out you’re a “book writer,” too.
Own it!
“Yes,” I said. “I am a book writer.”
For some reason, I liked his description even better than “author”! Being an author intimidates me. In my mind, it implies a certain lifestyle, probably more picturesque and more romantic than it actually is. If I tell people I’m an author, I sometimes feel like an imposter! But I am a book writer. That’s totally true.
So when I introduce a book to the world, I like to tell the story behind the story: why I wrote it, what it was like writing it, how it felt to have written it, why I’m thankful I took the time to tell it—and why I think they’ll enjoy reading it.
Tell the story behind your story. People want to hear it!
2) Post reader reviews
As I said earlier, it’s one thing to hear from a car salesmen how great their cars are. It’s another thing to hear it from a “satisfied customer.”
Collect reader comments all throughout your process. If someone is intrigued by the idea of your book and tells you so, write it down.
When I told people my wife and I were writing a book about the real St. Nicholas and the great faith he had in Christ, we would share a few tidbits about his life. People would say, “I’d love to read that. I didn’t know he was a real person.” Or they’d say, “I’d love to read that to my kids. I don’t want to take away the fun of Santa, but I still want to point them to Christ.”
Our book was perfect for just those scenarios. We had researched the story, we had found it compelling, and we took time to write it down for others to enjoy. That initial intrigue provided fodder for telling others why they might like to read it, too.
I also captured quotes when advance readers read chapters or the whole book. And then I captured quotes after the book came out to share those with others, too.
Pick one or two quotes and share them online! The next week, do the same! As readers continue to write, continue to post from time to time what they’re saying.
People love hearing from satisfied customers.
Bonus: ask you readers to take a picture of themselves holding your book, maybe when they pull it from the mailbox, or in a location where they’re reading it—maybe in their favorite chair or on a beach or by a fireplace. Include their pictures with their quotes for greater impact!
3) Offer a book reading
My local library loved that I had written a book about St. Nicholas. They asked if I would be willing to do a reading one day at the library to raise awareness about it. Of course I would!
It would be an easy win for me and for those who would come.
When the time came for me to do the reading, I was also introducing a new musical I had written based on the book called His Name Was Nicholas. So I created a whole 45-minute presentation. I talked about the book and why we wrote it. I talked about my high school English teacher who impacted me (and who I invited to the presentation). I talked about the upcoming musical and played some of the music from the show.
The local newspaper decided to feature the story and put me and my book on the front page. It was a 12-page paper and my friend was the editor! But it got my message in front of even more people.
The library felt the audience would be bigger if they combined it with a big open house they were having around the same time. So instead of a small reading to a few children, which is where they slotted me at first, my talk turned into a bigger event with people already wanting to come to the library.
I say all this to say you never know what kind of buzz you might create by offering a book reading to others, starting with your own local community.
4) Create a video
As much as we want people to read our books, the truth is they like to watch videos even more! You can use your phone or have a friend record you on their phone or camera talking about your book. It doesn’t have to be long, but it can be!
Share things you’ve already thought through when writing your book, such as “When the reader finishes the book, what do I want them to know, to feel, and to do?” Just talk about those things for a few minutes and post it online!
You can upload the video to your social media accounts. You can upload it to YouTube with just a few clicks. Then share those links with everyone you can!
I’ve created short clips… one or two or three minutes long, talking about my books, holding the books, reading portions from the books.
I’ve also created entire podcast series around my books. For my book My Stories of Faith, I launched it just after COVID began when people were staying at home and more than a little fearful. I simply turned on my camera in my living room and went live every night for a month, reading one story each night from my book, playing a song on my piano, and praying for those who were watching. I called it Bedtime Stories of Faith. People still talk about that series and how grateful they were for those faith boosters every night during that tumultuous time. You can still watch those videos on my YouTube channel at: youtube.com/ericelder.
I wrote the stories to share, so I wasn’t worried about selling books. I wanted people to have the information, to have the encouragement. Several people did order books as a result for themselves and for their friends.
Don’t limit your book to paper and ink. Set it free whenever you can!
5) Offer giveaways
People love free stuff. And offering a book or two online is an easy way to promote your book without looking like you’re promoting it. You’re giving something away! But it also helps people to learn about your book in a non-threatening way.
When I was promoting my St. Nicholas book and musical, I contacted a couple places that seemed like natural fits.
The first was an international health-sharing ministry I belong to that has a monthly newsletter which features a “member story” each month and how their ministry helps them. I told them about how they helped me through a rough patch in my health when I was trying to stage a ballet version of my book and was almost derailed by a medical situation, permanently. But thanks to their help, I was able to complete the project.
They set up an interview, asked for some photos of me, my book, and my upcoming event, and they slated it to appear in their November edition, right before Christmas.
It was a win-win for me and for their ministry. They got to share with all of their members how their ministry had impacted a fellow member, and I got to share about a project that was on my heart.
They offered two free books to their readers, so people could email to win them. Others could buy them if they didn’t win.
A second organization I contacted was a local radio station. I reached out to the morning show host and told him about my upcoming St. Nicholas musical and asked if he’d like to do an interview about the show and the book and the process that led up to it. He declined that offer, but said if I would just call into the morning show the next day and offer two free tickets to the show, I could talk about the show and the book and whatever I wanted for 2-3 minutes!
That was perfect! I called at the designated time, the host took my call, let me speak for 2-3 minutes, and had listeners call in for the tickets.
Call me naive, but I never realized as a kid, or even most of my adult life, that people weren’t giving free stuff away, they were wanting me to buy their stuff! The free stuff was just to get our attention long enough hear about what they were offering.
But now that I know what’s happening, I can help make it a win-win all around.
When I speak, I often pass around a sign up sheet for people to get on my newsletter list so they can get a boost in their faith anytime. Or even better, I’ll ask them to take out their phones and pull up my website so they can see it for themselves, bookmark it to visit later, and sign up for my newsletter right then.
Some people do a drawing for a free book if the audience will sign up or put their business cards in a bowl. Others hand out “idea sheets” people can take home that highlight some things they might get out of the book. Some people might not be ready to buy when you speak, but when they are ready, they’ll know how to find it!
There are so many ways to give your readers something of value both while you’re speaking to them and when they eventually read your book, which, if you’re like me, is probably your ultimate goal!
You took the time to write it. Now take the time to get it into their hands and hearts.
6) Ask others to share
I have friends who do podcasts who also happen to like my books! So from time to time, I’ll ask if they’d like to do an interview about one of the books on their show.
We chat on zoom for an hour about the book and the book writing process and whatever direction the host wants to take. They post it for their listeners, and I point people to their podcast. Again, it’s a win-win all around.
If you have friends who love, love, love your book, ask if they’ll share it on their social media along with a few thoughts on the book, and maybe why someone would want to read it. What they share doesn’t have to be long, or it can be, but even 2-3 sentences can be enough to expose your book one more time to people you know, and expose your book even further to people you don’t know!
When I was starting to record my piano music, I was talking to a musician friend who has worked with some really big name bands. At that time, when ordering CDs, you had to order 500 or 1,000 at a time. You couldn’t just print one, and there was no streaming or YouTube. My friend said, “You can probably sell 200-300 to your family or friends, but if you don’t have another way to get the word out, you’ll have a closet full of most of your CDs.”
Thankfully, that’s no longer the model! I can upload a song today and people can start listening to it immediately. But the same principle holds true for books. You might be able to sell dozens or even a few hundred books to family and friends. But if you want to reach a broader audience, though, you’ll need to enlist your current fans to share your book with their family and friends, too.
Sometimes it’s as simple as asking. So ask!
7) Throw a launch party
I saved this one for last, but I would do this one first.
I saved it for last because this can also serve as your own celebration of having written and published a book! Make it a party! And it’s all about you… and of course, your book.
You might feel uncomfortable throwing yourself a party. But please do! Let others help you plan it. You’ll find your biggest fans are also your biggest cheerleaders and happy to see you succeed at reaching this HUGE goal.
When I finished one of my books, a friend had also finished one of his so we held a joint launch party. He asked a coffee shop on campus at the college where he taught if we could do it there. They said, Yes! We invited friends and faculty and students and promoted it on social media.
I met him there on our launch night with a case of my books, and he had a case of his. We set up a book table in the hallway and made a spot to stand during our talks in the coffeeshop.
The interesting thing to me was that even though we didn’t have a big crowd, we had a big celebration in our hearts! We enjoyed being together and celebrating this milestone. We each talked a bit about why we wrote the books, then we each read a chapter aloud.
We only had 15-20 people at most, and we each sold a couple copies of our books. But what happened on social media was an entirely different thing!
We posted announcements leading up to the launch which generated tremendous coverage, then posted pictures from the event, with us and our books at the book table, which generated even more coverage! People celebrated with us from all over, sending congratulations and attaboys for our success.
Again, people were thrilled to see they had friends who were “book writers.” And in truth, it’s no small feat. It’s something definitely to be celebrated!
I’m working with two authors right now who are launching their books. They both chose local libraries as their venues, deciding on a time and date for their launches.
They’ve made a few posters to put around town and they’ve promoted it on social media. The buzz is already significant. I can’t wait to party with them and celebrate all they’ve done… and all their books will do for others out in the world.
I hope the same for you, too! So go ahead, throw a party!
Chapter 21: Start writing your NEXT book!
What?!? Yes, I mean it! What book has God put on your heart to write next?
Maybe it feels like you just gave birth to this baby, and I’m asking you right away if you want to have another! But if you jotted down a few book ideas at the beginning of this book, you may already have some ideas for your next book… or books! Now that you know the process, you can start writing the next one, and the next, and the next!
Don’t jump into it so fast that you forget to raise and nurture the baby to which you’ve just given birth! And be sure to enjoy a toast with some friends to celebrate the great accomplishment of publishing a book!
But if some new ideas have been percolating about your next book, go ahead and jot them down! Re-read this book, starting with Chapter 1.
Writing can be addictive. But what a great addiction! This is one addiction where you bless yourself and others, too.
I never knew I had more than one book in me. But I did! Thirty-six books later, you’d think I’d be out of ideas for books. But even as I write this closing chapter, I already have two or three more books in mind to write!
Want to join me… again?!? I’d love to have you! Why not? And this time, bring some friends!
God and I are both inviting you: Write With Me!
I love hearing from my readers!
For questions, comments or help with your book, visit: ericelder.com
P.S. Ready to write? In case you missed it, you can also get my Write With Me! NOTEBOOK!!!to capture all your thoughts to the questions and suggestions in this book.
When you finish the notebook, you’ll have written your entire book from cover to cover! (Tip: Get ONE NOTEBOOK for EACH BOOK you want to write. Think “books,” not “book,” remember?!?)
Endorsements
Here are a few comments from others I’ve helped with their writing or publishing. I’d love to help you!
“Eric’s help made all the difference!” Greg Potzer, Our Favorite Christian Quotations
“He was with me every step of the way.” Brent Knapton, Testimonies of Grace
“Eric gave warm fellowship, encouragement, and expertise.” Clayt Irmeger, Not to be Lived Single-Handedly
“His expertise was just what I needed.” Karen Neal, Bella Bella Cinderella
“Eric has an uncanny ability to motivate people to write.” Tim Wilkins, More Than Words
“He helped me self-publish in an easy, economical way.” Larry Booze, Say it to Stick
“His passion for writing is contagious.” Mary Felkins, This I Promise You
“He provided practical guidance with genuine interest.” Aaron Chan, book forthcoming
“Eric was the bridge to help fulfill my life-long dream.” Cammie Quinn, Follow the Wind Home
“I’ve seen him help others, and he’s now helping me.” Al Lowry, 365 Daily Bible Readings
“Without him, I would not have completed my book.” Sandy Egle, Ministering to the Least of These
“I know of no one better-equipped to guide writers.” Kent Sanders, The Faith of Elvis
“He never doubted I would bring my idea to completion.” Laurie Bliese, Will the Lights Go Out?
“He believed in my writing before I was sure myself.” Caleb Dossett, They Call Me Mr
“He helped me finally finish my 10-year project.” Jeanette Smith, book forthcoming
“Eric held my hand the whole way.” MelanEE Lisa Davidson, Loved. I. AM!
“I don’t think I could have done it without him!” Elizabeth Giger, Beyond the Front Door
“Eric gave me confidence when I had almost given up.” Steven Lomske, On the Bank of the Chippewa
You can do this! I’m glad to show you how!
More by Eric!
DEVOTIONALS
Two Weeks With God
Exodus: Lessons In Freedom
Acts: Lessons In Faith
Jesus: Lessons In Love
Ephesians: Lessons In Grace
Nehemiah: Lessons In Rebuilding:
Romans: Lessons In Renewing Your Mind
Psalms: Lessons In Prayer
The Top 20 Passages In The Bible
Israel: Lessons From The Holy Land
Israel For Kids! Lessons From The Holy Land
The Inspiring Thoughts Collection
Water From My Well
365 Daily Devotions With Eric Elder
My Stories Of Faith
Living Life With A Capital “L”
HISTORICAL FICTION
St. Nicholas: The Believer (with Lana Elder)
San Nicolás: El Creyente (Spanish Edition)
MUSICAL
His Name Was Nicholas (with Lana Elder)
PIANO BOOKS
Clear My Mind
Soothe My Soul
My Favorite Classics
JOURNALS
A Personal Journal With 101 Quotes On Prayer
A Personal Journal With 101 Quotes On Faith
A Personal Journal With 101 Quotes On Love
SEXUALITY
What God Says About Sex
Fifty Shades of Grace (under pen name, Nicholas Deere)
Loving God & Loving Gays
Cómo amar a Dios y a los gays (Spanish Edition)
15 Tips For A Stronger Marriage
GRIEF
Loving Thoughts (with Greg Potzer)
Making The Most Of The Darkness
WRITING & PUBLISHING
Write With Me!
Write With Me! Notebook!!!
ALBUMS
Clear My Mind
Soothe My Soul
My Favorite Classics (with Eric’s children and sister)
His Name Was Nicholas EP (with Matt Ludwig)
STAGE PRODUCTIONS
One Life (a ballet with Cynthia Dewar and Erin Morton)
Not with a person, but with a theater… in Italy! Want to join me?
When I went to Italy at Easter, I finally felt like my faith had become sight.
You know those times when you believe in your heart that something is right, but you’re only acting on faith until one day, something happens, and you realize what you believed was coming true?
Praise God! That’s what happened to me at Easter! I felt God’s presence so clearly when I got to meet with our passionate puppet masters Girolamo Botta and Alessandra Guadagna (pictured on the left) and see their workshop and their excitement for their craft.
Then I got to meet our gifted musician, Luca Giardino (pictured on the right) and his precious wife and daughter. I didn’t get to meet, but got to hear more about, our acclaimed actor, Cristian Zulli (pictured second from the right) who will narrate the show.
I also got to walk through the cobblestone streets and ancient architecture, drink coffee at sidewalk cafes and eat at fantastic restaurants. I hiked to a monastery on the side of a mountain and toured a costume shop where they create hundreds of outfits for a city-wide festival.
When I saw thousands of people turn out on the square for Good Friday and Easter Sunday celebrations, the deal was sealed in my heart! This was the right place, the right time, and the right people to host and premiere this unique show.
My faith became sight. There’s not a better feeling in the world.
We still hadn’t gotten confirmation to use the historic 1930’s opera house, with its red velvet seating and 4 tiers of box seats all around. That confirmation came only this week, and we have a date!
The date is:
DECEMBER 9th, 2023 at 6:30 PM!
Want to join me? I’m serious!
Right now, flights to Rome for that week are some of the cheapest of the year… about $550-600 round trip from Chicago. (During peak season, they’re in the thousands!) Then it’s a 2-1/2 hour drive or bus ride to the snow-capped mountains surrounding Sulmona.
I’m thinking of putting together a little bit of local sightseeing that week for anyone who wants to come. Maybe that’s you?
If you’re interested in coming, even if it seems remote, send me a note! I’d love to talk with you about it. I also plan to stream the show online, so even if you can’t make it, you can still enjoy this tremendous experience.
Last but not least, I could still use your help as I produce this show! I’m trying to raise the full amount needed to create the show before the curtain rises. So far, we’ve raised about 20% of the funds.
If you’d like to help bring THE HOPE OF CHRIST to thousands this Christmas, click the link below.
Three of my biggest decisions were made with the same backdrop. I think this is why.
Last week I spoke at a memorial service for my dear aunt and uncle who passed away on separate occasions.
If you have a significant decision on your heart, I pray these words will serve as a backdrop to help YOU think clearly and hear from God deeply about what He might be saying to you, too.
Here’s the link to watch (or you can read the text below):
Hi, my name is Eric Elder. Rowland and Martha were my uncle and aunt. When I think of them, three pictures come to my mind.
I was the out-of-towner. I came from Illinois for my first job after college, moved to Houston, and they and the family took me in and cared for me. The three pictures I see are all three significant decisions—three of the most significant I’ve ever made my life.
The first one I made was to put my faith in Christ.
I remember holding hands with Rowland and Martha and the missionary speaker, who I had heard that night and who happened to be staying at their home. We knelt around their coffee table as I prayed to seal that decision in my heart, and I’ve never looked back. That was February 9th, 1987.
The second significant decision I made was to marry my wife, Lana.
She was living in Michigan. I was living in Texas, and we were trying to figure out if we were ever going to commit to each other.
Rowland and Martha knew my dilemma. They offered for her to stay at their house while we pursued that path together and asked God if He wanted us together. So for six or eight months she stayed with Rowland and Martha until our wedding day, April 29th, 1989, right in this spot here.
The third significant decision was when I decided to go into full-time ministry and quit my secular job.
I was living in Illinois at the time. I flew down to Houston where my corporate office was. I was praying for a woman who was dying of cancer, asking God for a miracle in the last days of her life. I prayed till midnight. Nothing had changed, and I felt God say, “I want you to quit your job tomorrow and go into full-time ministry.”
I stayed at Rowland and Martha’s house that night. I remember being in the bed and thinking, “God, if I saw her healed—if I saw those lumps of cancer jump off her body—I’d do it in a heartbeat. But I didn’t see that, God, and I don’t know what to do.”
But God spoke to me, and two days later I quit. I’ve been doing full-time ministry since February 14th, 1995, and I’ve never looked back.
I say this to say that Rowland and Martha were a backdrop for three of my most significant decisions. I think it’s because of their calming environment, their welcoming home, their care and their prayer that allowed me to think clearly and hear from God deeply.
I think today they are providing a backdrop for each one of you here, me included.
If there’s a significant decision that’s on your heart—whether it’s to put your faith in Christ for the first time, whether it’s about your marriage, whether it’s about your kids or your job or your future, your finances, your health—I think we could do nothing better to honor them and honor God than by making a commitment today, making a decision today, to follow the God of Rowland and Martha, the God of Joan and Ted and Glen and their descendants.
If you want to make any kind of commitment in your heart, just say it with me.
“Lord Jesus, thank You for Rowland and Martha, their example, their love and care and prayer. Help us to follow You the same way they did, Lord. Let our legacy extend way beyond us, Lord, and touch the nations for You, that we could all join You at the most marvelous feast that they’re enjoying right now. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”
Parkinson’s is rough. But as my friend Dennis Jernigan says, "I have Parkinson’s. It doesn’t have me."
I talked with Dennis on Friday and thought you might like to hear our conversation. So I pressed "record" and posted it on YouTube. You can listen here:
I hope you’ll take some time to listen to his encouraging words, whatever you’re facing.
Dennis has written some of my favorite worship songs, like "You Are My All in All," "I Belong to Jesus," and "Thank You."
He’s also faced some of the same struggles I’ve faced, like dealing with unhealthy attractions, which we also talk about in our conversation.
Here are some highlights:
"When I made the first public announcement of my diagnosis, I had droves of people giving me cures and all kinds of stuff. I was at a huge church and someone came up to me afterwards and said to me, ‘We just experienced this with our parents, and what you’re about to go through is absolutely horrible.’ What do you say in that moment? ‘Thank you for scaring the cr*p out of me!’
"But it was in that moment I decided nobody gets to dictate to me how I feel. Every feeling I have is attached to a thought I think. So I put off stinking thinking and put on right thinking, even about Parkinson’s. Until God heals me one way or the other, I’m going to keep my eyes fixed on Him.
"My personal rule is: Dennis Jernigan does not get to call himself something other than what his father God calls him, so that protects my mind and heart as much as anything these days. My father defines me, not Parkinson’s, not another person."
Dennis applies this rule to things that have tempted him, too, saying his temptations don’t define him. God does. When I asked about some of his best tips for dealing with unhealthy attractions, he said:
"I set myself up for success, not for failure, so I surround myself with people who are not going to be Yes-men or Yes-women. They’re going to tell me the truth.
"Melinda (his wife) is the main truth speaker in my life. When I’m going to be with anyone, she knows exactly who I’m going to be with, where I’m going to be, and what we’re going to be doing. It’s a safety net. It’s not that she’s the guardian of my mind, but she is, in a sense, part of the team, the biggest part of the team, aside from the Lord.
"So I set myself up to succeed, and I don’t put myself in positions to be confronted even with the temptation. Temptation doesn’t define anyone, so that helps me as much as anything, realizing Jesus was tempted in every manner, just as we are, yet was without sin.
"Temptation is a a clue from the Holy Spirit saying, basically, ‘Why is the enemy after you in this area? God must have something for you.’ So rather than turning to the temptation, I turn to Father and say, ‘Father, what is it You’re trying to say to me?’ And it protects my heart and my mind."
Dennis also says his family created a "Truth Jar" for him, a jar with slips of paper on which his family has written various truths he can pull out and read whenever he needs them. He said:
"My kids all wrote out verses of Scripture for me or jokes that brought joy or a memory of some kind that spoke truth to my mind. And anytime I feel attacked by the enemy, I go to the truth jar. I pull out a slip, and it’s always just like the perfect thing I needed to hear. I put that on (the truth) in place of whatever fear or whatever lie I was being told."
If you need some encouragement today or know someone who does, I hope you’ll watch and share our conversation.
I love Dennis, and I love all the things I’ve learned from him and received from him. I’m glad to share some of those things with you!
Sometimes God shows up in the little things. And when He does… it changes everything.
I was in Italy last week for Easter. God showed up several times, but in a special way on the last day.
I was in Italy on my annual "anniversary trip," a trip I’ve taken every year to a different location since my wife passed away 10 years ago. I don’t like the idea of sitting at home on our wedding anniversary as if it’s just another "normal" day. So taking this trip helps transform a painful time into a very special time.
This year, I decided on Italy so I could spend some time with a puppet carver and his family who are creating a "puppet opera" for me of a book about St. Nicholas my wife and I had written. The trip was really special and a great encouragement to me as we were able to hang out, talk about the show, and visit some of the places that were special to them. I loved everything about it!
On the last day, since my hosts were busy that afternoon, I asked if they might suggest a restaurant I should try. They called a place around the corner from my B&B, made a reservation, and I was set.
What I wasn’t set for was how posh the place was going to be!
The maître d’ (yes, I had to look up how to spell that) showed me to my table reserved in a corner alcove. Other than feeling terribly underdressed (in my tennis shoes, jeans, and a bright blue hoodie), I had to pinch myself at the beauty of the moment.
Of particular significance, after sitting down, I saw a cloth napkin neatly folded between two knives and two forks. I rarely eat at a restaurant that has cloth napkins, and when I do, I know it’s special. And in that moment, I knew this was a special "anniversary" meal God had prepared just for me, too.
What I wasn’t prepared for was how God was about to show up!
As I was sitting there being served course after course of elegant Italian cuisine, I got a message on my phone. It was from one of my subscribers who had just watched one of my podcasts from last year. He commented how much he liked the video, so I pulled it up to see which one it was.
Not only was I wearing the same blue hoodie in the podcast that I was wearing at the moment (somewhat uncomfortably because of the beautiful setting), but also I was talking about my anniversary trip I had taken to New York 5 years ago.
As I watched myself talk about that trip, it felt like God was right there with me on this trip. That He wasn’t surprised I was wearing a bright blue hoodie, that He knew right where I was, and He knew exactly what I was feeling, right down to my thankfulness for the cloth napkin and the discomfort about what I was wearing.
And that changed everything. Knowing that God was there… right there… made all the difference in the world. I was no longer alone. I was no longer hidden away in a far corner of a distant country. I was no longer someone sitting awkwardly alone at a posh restaurant in Italy. I was known and seen… and loved.
I sat up a little straighter in my chair, and much straighter in my heart. I finished the meal with a flourish, indulging in a special Easter cake and espresso they served at the end.
The meal was special, no doubt. But what made it even more special was that God was with me, on the far side of the sea, just like He is with each one of us… anywhere… if we’ll open our hearts and eyes to see.
I cried today, watching a portrayal of running to Jesus. I hope you’ll watch and run to Him, too!
I’m in Sulmona, Italy, this week, spending some time with the puppet carver and his family who are creating a puppet opera of our St Nicholas story to premiere here this Christmas!
But today is Easter, and I was able to celebrate with them, watching a portrayal of Jesus’s mother running to Jesus after learning He had risen from the dead.
She starts at one end of the plaza dressed in black, but when she sees Jesus, she begins to run to Him. Her black cloak of mourning comes off and a green dress of new life is revealed. Doves fly, and the crowd cheers!
It was extravagant enough to make me cry.
But what made me cry even more was what it means to me…
Because He lives, I will live, too.
Because He lives, those I love will live, too.
Because He lives, He has a purpose for my life here, too.
How do I know? Thirty-six years ago, when I put my faith in Christ, He gave me a gift of faith. Faith to believe that everything He said was true. Faith to believe that He could do anything, absolutely anything. And faith to share with others so they can have new life, too.
So that’s what I want to share with you today! A little bit of my faith.
Because I know that life can be hard. Relationships can be messy. Doubt and discouragement can turn into despair and hopelessness.
But I also know that God can do the impossible. He can make a way where there is no way. And He can breathe new life into things that are dead or dying.
I believe He can breathe new life into you.
If you’ve never put your faith in Him, I hope you’ll do it today. It’s as easy as ABC (He’s already done the hard work for you!)
Accept that He died for your sins so you don’t have to.
Believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead.
Confess with your mouth that "Jesus is Lord."
When you do, you will be saved!
And if you’ve already put your faith in Him, let me remind you of what God reminded me:
Because He lives, you will live, too.
Because He lives, those you love will live, too.
Because He lives, He has a purpose for your life here, too.
And if you’d like to watch the videos of my week in Sulmona, I’ve included a few below, starting with the portrayal of "Running to Jesus."
I don’t always know what to do. But sometimes, just doing "the next right thing" is exactly what I need to do.
I lost my checkbook last week. That may not seem like a big loss, as I hardly write checks anymore.
But what IS important to me is the record book it contains of my income and expenses. I use it almost daily to keep track of funds that flow in and out of my life.
Where could I have left it? I checked my bank balance online to see the last place I might have used it. Since most transactions were online, that didn’t help.
Then Friday morning, I had to pay some bills. Not knowing what else to do, I did "the next right thing" I knew to do. I reached into the very back of my bill drawer to find another pad of blank checks, a cover, and a new blank record book to start over.
Pulling out a few old covers, I flipped through them to find one I could use. And there it was! My missing checkbook!
Now I remembered! I had been looking for a routing number the week before for an account I rarely use. After finding the number, I must have swept up my current checkbook and put it at the back of the drawer with those old ones.
Here I had finally given up on all my efforts to find my lost checkbook. I had looked in my car, my daughter’s car, and all the places around the house I might have lost it, but to no avail.
It was only Friday morning when I didn’t know what else to do and finally did the next right thing I knew to do, that I found it!
My checks were safe. My record book was restored. And my heart felt a rush of peace.
I wondered…
How many times have I not known what to do and then stopped moving forward or stopped taking ANY steps of faith because of something I had lost, something I had never found, or something I had given up on?
And how many timesmight I have found EXACTLY what I was looking for if I would have simply surrendered and done the next right thing God was presenting to me to do… to move on, to move forward or to take that next step of faith?
I’m thankful I found my checkbook. And I’m thankful I have more peace.
But I’m also wondering if there’s still much more peace ahead if I apply this to other areas of my life: trusting God for tomorrow, and doing the next right thing He presents to me today.
Maybe that same peace lies ahead of you, too?
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Are you a Harry Potter fan? Do you long for stronger friendships? Then I’ve got a podcast for you!
I’m launching a podcast on May 2nd called, "Harry Potter: Lessons in Friendship," your unofficial guide to building better friendships, based on the bestselling books!
I’ll be hosting the show along with my daughter, Makari, who’s an actor in LA, and my friend, Ezry, who starred in the premiere of our musical, His Name Was Nicholas. In each episode, we’ll be talking about the friendships found in the books, what makes them, what breaks them, and what can make our own friendships better.
We’ll be reading through all 7 books in about a year, talking about a few chapters per episode. Makari’s 28, Ezry’s 13, and I’m 59 and three-quarters! (If you’ve read the books, you know the importance of the three-quarters!)
When you subscribe, be sure to check the box that says "Opt in to receive emails from the creator."
Why? Because when you do, I’ll send you a golden card I’ve personally designed and 3D-printed, just for you! It says, "I’m reading Harry Potter… It’s like having friends :)"
You can carry this card with you, show it to your friends, or use it as a bookmark!
AND IF YOU STICK WITH US TILL THE END… I’ll send you an a gorgeous, 3D-printed, golden snitch! Even though it might take us a year to get through all 7 books, I’ve already started printing these beautiful golden snitches so they’ll be ready when you finish!
We’ll officially launch on May 2nd, but you can watch the trailer now. Then be sure to subscribe to get every episode as they release throughout the year.
Here’s the trailer! Take a look, subscribe, then grab a copy of the first book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (aka Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone). We’ll start May 2nd!
We can’t go back again… or can we? Sometimes, the answer lies ahead of us.
A few months before my sweet Lana passed away, she recorded 31 Psalms for a project we were working on. We were writing a devotional about prayer to highlight 31 of the 150 Psalms in the Bible.
I asked Lana if I could record her reading them. Then my sister and my kids and I would record some piano music to go along with each.
It wasn’t until after she passed away that I realized I had forgotten to ask her to record one of the Psalms that was most precious to me: Psalm 20. That was the Psalm I was reading when I was talking to God about marrying her. I especially loved verse 4:
"May He give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed."
I prayed that prayer over and over, that God would give me the desire of my heart… to marry Lana.
It was a long-shot prayer. In fact, I had read this Psalm just moments after Lana told me she was happy with her single life, wasn’t ready to commit to anyone or anything, and walked away from the spot on the floor where we had been sitting and talking about our future.
That was 35 years ago.
But God eventually answered those prayers! Lana said, "Yes," and 23 years of marriage and 6 kids later, I still shake my head at how God encouraged me through that Psalm so many years ago.
How could I have forgotten to ask her to record that Psalm while she was still alive?
From time to time, I’ve looked back, wishing for a do-over. Maybe you’ve felt the same about something in your life.
Well, this week, I got one!
A friend posted a recording he had made using a new AI voice tool. He fed a sample of his own voice into the system, then asked it to read back to him something new he just had written.
In all my years of studying new technologies, including voice technologies like this one, I’ve never heard anything so lifelike. It sounded just like my friend… and it was! It was just brilliantly edited and rearranged so he could say something new.
Then I thought of my wish for a do-over.
I quickly signed up for an account (for $1!) and uploaded 5 minutes of Lana reading another Psalm (Psalm 119… also one of my favorites). Then I typed in the text of Psalm 20.
I clicked the button, and within 30 seconds, I began hearing Lana’s sweet voice again, reading to me from Psalm 20… the missing Psalm that had meant so much to me 35 years ago.
I was in tears.
Yesterday, I decided to record some piano music to go along with it: the love theme from Titanic called, "My Heart Will Go On."
Today, I’d like to share it with you.
No, we can’t go back again. But sometimes, the answer lies ahead of us, in this case, in the form of a new technology that has brought back some very precious memories.
Keep pressing on. Keep moving forward. Keep trusting in God, who can always make a way… even when there seems to be no way at all.
I went to Asbury last week. I’d like to share what happened… in me.
I heard God was doing something special at Asbury University, a Christian college in central Kentucky.
A friend confirmed it and thought I should go.
I wrote someone I knew who is on staff at Asbury to see what they thought. They said:
"Eric, If you want to come, then you should come. We don’t know how long this will last… The Lord’s presence is here in a way that is not dramatic or emotionalistic, but personal and corporate, intimate and lifted up. Everyone’s experience is personal to how the Lord is working in their life. This is just a moment (or over a week now) where this has become a thin place to experience the Lord’s presence."
I asked my son if he’d like to come. He said, "Yes," so we jumped in the car for the 6-hour drive to Kentucky.
When we got there at 10 PM on Saturday night, the line into the main building was so long I didn’t think we’d get in. But I saw they were live-streaming the service into the chapel across the street… a chapel where God had spoken to me in a powerful way 30 years ago.
I asked my son if we could duck into the chapel for a bit. While waiting in a much shorter line there, I told him what God had spoken to me in that place 30 years earlier.
I was there for a conference to deal with unhealthy attractions. Christ had broken the power of those in my life 5 years earlier, but I went to the conference to support a friend and asked God for wisdom to keep me faithful to my marriage and the commitment I had made to Him 5 years earlier.
I wanted to learn all I could so I could stay on track.
During one of the worship sessions, I sat down in my pew, and a man on my left put his hand on my shoulder, saying he had a word from God for me. He said:
"You will never go back to what you once were…. you will never, never, never, never, never go back."
He added:
"Satan doesn’t need to get you to sin in order to keep you from doing God’s will. He just has to get you doing something other than God’s will for you. People will give you many opportunities. Don’t take them. Take only the ones God gives you."
I was dumbstruck. That was THE answer to THE question on my heart. It’s been 30 years since that moment at Asbury, and I’ve never gone back to what I once was.
I shared that story with my son just before we ducked into the chapel.
When we got inside, we sat down in the crowded balcony and began to worship. It was sweet and simple.
After a few songs, a man on my left put his hand on my shoulder and said he had a word from God for me. "May I share it?" he asked.
I looked at my son, then looked back at him, and said, "Yes!"
He shared with me a beautiful word about how God hears the songs on my heart and wants me to share them with others. That, now, is the main thing on my heart these days, trying to get my new musical about St. Nicholas out to the nations of the world.
When I looked over again, the man was gone.
I teared up, hardly believing that God had spoken to me in such an intimate, meaningful, and personal way, just as he had done 30 years earlier in that same spot.
About midnight, my son and I walked across the street and were able to get into the main auditorium. We worshipped for another 2 hours, until 2 AM. At that time, they asked that only students 16-25 stay in the chapel until the next day when they would open the doors again to the public.
Afterward, I asked my son, "When was the last time we worshiped for 4 hours straight?" Not in a long time. "When have we seen people standing in line for 6-7 hours to get into church?" Never!
We came home the next day, as the crowds had grown even bigger. And I’ve been worshipping in my heart, and out loud, ever since.
On Thursday night, I watched the closing chapel service online from my home back in Illinois. One of the speakers shared how he was touched by the Asbury revival 50 years ago, in 1970, when God had visited in a special way, too. He said:
“I have to tell you something that’s about to happen. You will never, ever, ever be the same. You will never think the same. You will never be satisfied again with anything less than Jesus. You’ll never again be able to live a merely selfish life, because you encountered Christ.
I’m still taking it all in, letting God speak to me, intimately and personally.
And I am convinced God is ready and willing to speak to you, intimately and personally, about the things on your heart… wherever you are.
Let Him renew you. Let Him refresh you. Let Him begin a new work in you!
Speak to God, and let Him speak to you. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
I saw a movie on Valentine’s Day this week. What I loved most about it was my date… God!
I saw that Titanic was going to be in theaters this week for its 25th anniversary. I wanted to go see it, but with who?
I asked a few friends, but no one could go. I still wanted to see it, so I decided to go alone.
It was "Movie Tuesday" at our local theater, so tickets were only $5. I opened the theater app that morning to reserve a seat and saw that tickets for this show were $10, probably because it was in 3D (and it was directed by James Cameron).
I don’t usually prefer 3D movies because of having to wear the red and blue glasses and hold my head at a certain angle the whole time.
So I didn’t book a ticket.
That’s okay, I thought. I’ll make it through Valentine’s Day without doing something that I’d really like to do.
But as the day went on, I still wanted to go. The clock was ticking and I hadn’t made a decision. At twenty till seven, I had to make a decision or I wouldn’t make it in time.
I lay down on my bed and prayed.
"E14." The thought just came to my mind.
E14? I thought.
"E14." It came again.
"E14," I said to myself. "Okay, I’ll check." I opened the theater app. The seats were filling up. I looked for row E. It was right near the front. The little boxes for the seats weren’t labeled, just the row numbers. "E" was closer than I would normally sit for a movie, let alone an IMAX movie, and especially a 3D movie! The screen would be HUGE!
I lifted my finger and dropped it in the center of row E.
Up popped the seat number: E14!
What?!? I thought? I had no idea that seat would be in that spot.
But in my heart, I knew. I knew I should go. And I knew God wanted to go with me. He chose the seat, and it was time to leave.
I clicked "buy" and up popped another screen. It was a discount for $5 off! Now the seat was $5, just as I had hoped!
I put on my shoes and coat, got in my car, and drove to the theater.
I grabbed a free, small bag of popcorn they were offering and found my seat. Front and center!
I sat down, put on my 3D glasses, and the show began.
I have never watched a more incredible show in 3D! For the next 3 hours and 15 minutes I was swept away into one of the most epic love stories on film.
I was enthralled. I laughed, I cried, I was mesmerized.
I kept thinking, "God, You’re the best date ever!" I love these seats! I love this theater! I love these snacks! And I love spending the night with you.
Even the romantic scenes brought me closer to Him, as I experienced what He experiences when two people fall in love and explore all the richness of romance He created for them.
I went home feeling more filled up and joyful than before, knowing that God was with me, and that He enjoyed the experience as much as I did.
Sometimes it’s easy to think you’re all alone. It’s easy to get down and discouraged when there’s not someone nearby "with skin on."
But the truth is, God is closer than you think. And He promises He will never leave you alone… and He won’t. You may not always feel it. You may not always sense it. But He’s right there, I assure you.
Sometimes He shows up in a special way, like He’s doing this week at Asbury Seminary in Kentucky. People are just walking into the building and sensing the presence of God in a tangible way.
And sometimes He shows up in the smallest of things, like whispering "E14" in our ears and calling us into an epic love story with Him.
What about you? How has God shown up to you this week? You may not have realized it at the time, but it’s not because He hasn’t shown up. Sometimes we just don’t connect the dots.
Ask God this week to help you connect the dots. Let Him show you that He really is closer than you think.
Then grab some popcorn, take a seat, and enjoy the show.
I had a little win a few weeks ago. I’d like to celebrate it with you and share what God did in my heart that day.
What happened? I tested my blood sugar and it was 102!
That might be normal for some people or a little high for others or it may not mean anything to you! But for me, it was a turning point in my health and gave me a new outlook on the rest of my life.
I’ve had diabetes for several years. I didn’t even know I had it until a blood test showed I did.
But over the years, it’s gotten worse. I’ve made brief progress from time to time with diet or exercise or meds, but not in ways that seemed sustainable to me.
And I still didn’t notice anything different in my body, so I wasn’t sure it was even worth the time and effort.
But last Christmas things had changed, and I noticed it in a dramatic way.
I was in production mode for three months leading up to my new musical, His Name Was Nicolas. As rehearsals went on, I realized I was having to step out and use the bathroom more and more, a sign that my blood sugar might be out of control.
By the time we reached our final rehearsals, I realized I wouldn’t be able to sit at the piano on stage and direct the show for three hours straight. There were limited bathrooms and lots of people. Breaks for me would be nonexistent.
I panicked.
For the first time in my life, I bought some Depends (adult diapers). I’d never worn them before, so I wasn’t sure how they’d work, but at least I had a backup plan in case I had an emergency.
And I did. Partway through the first show, and in front of a live audience, I couldn’t hold back any longer.
(It reminded me of a joke where an elderly man asked an elderly woman: "If I took you out for a full night of wining, dining, and dancing, what would you wear?” She replied: “Depends.”)
Well, that night, I was thankful for mine. There’s nothing quite like playing and singing a song in front of a live audience, then having to stand up and dance across the stage for the big ending, not knowing if I could depend on my Depends or not.
Praise God, I could! I finished the song and the crowd cheered.
Humbling? You bet. A wake up call? Absolutely.
After the last curtain call, I scheduled an appointment with my doctor for after the holidays.
A week later, I got Covid and was knocked down for three months fighting Covid fatigue, and it was another nine months before I even got half my energy back.
My blood sugars were out of control, sometimes peaking above 200, which for me was an all-time high.
So what changed recently? What turned it around?
In November, I happened to meet a diabetes consultant in my writers group. One day after class, I asked if we could talk.
I told him about my situation, the things I had tried, and how I had practically lost hope. I was afraid my health was in a downward spiral and might never recover.
He talked me off that ledge and gave me some simple help. He spent several hours with me, explaining what was happening in my body and what I could do to address it.
His explanation opened my eyes. I was finally able to see a path forward. (It came down to diet and exercise, something I’d heard before, but now I understood why I was doing it!)
After just a few days, my numbers started coming down. After a few weeks, they were coming down still more! And two weeks ago, I tested my blood sugar again. I was shocked to see the number that popped up on the screen: 102!
I hadn’t seen that low of a number in years. (And no, this is not a commercial for any program or pill or person.)
What I really want to share is what God did that day in my heart.
For the first time in years, I had HOPE in regards to my health. I had nearly resigned myself to continually declining health for the rest of my life, feeling like my tent posts were being removed from my body one by one until it would finally collapse.
Seeing 102 pop up gave me hope again for my physical health, and that sparked hope again for my spiritual health. I suddenly had a renewed excitement for the projects in front of me.
Sometimes, the best thing we can do for ourselves spiritually is to get better physically.
What about you? What might be taking a toll on your life spiritually because something is taking a toll on your life physically? What resolutions have you made and broken, then made and broken again, leaving you with little or no hope?
What do you need from God that could help you take your next step… a step that could lead to better health, more strength, stronger faith… a step that is doable, sustainable, and actually exciting to you?
I want to encourage you to keep taking those steps, keep asking God for help, and keep trusting that He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it.
I know there’s still a road ahead of me. But the view today is much better than it was a month ago, a year ago, or even a decade ago.
I believe I can do this. I believe I can make it. And with God’s help, I believe I will live out the fullness of days God has ordained for me.
I’m starting a new writing group this month and wondered if you’d like to join me?
We’re going to meet weekly on Zoom from 1-2 PM (CST) on Tuesdays and on the third Tuesday of the month from 7-9 PM (CST).
Would you be interested? My plan is to meet like this for 6 months to help people really make progress on writing and publishing their books. It’s a suggested donation of $95 a month or $495 for 6 months.
We start tomorrow if you can make it! I’d love to have you!
(I’m also available for one-on-one coaching if that works better for you. Here’s my calendar if you’d like to pick a day and time to chat on Zoom for 30 minutes or an hour!)
I’d like to tell you about this little snail… and the hope it gave me this week.
I’ve been taking care of this little snail for my daughter while she’s out of town. It doesn’t require much work… a little tablet of food every other day.
The snail is usually pretty active, moving around in the water of its aquarium several times a day, climbing over rocks and plants, and clinging to the walls.
But about two weeks ago, it stopped moving. It just lay there on the rocks. I talked to my daughter. She said to move it with a spoon or something to a different location. So I did.
A few days passed and still no movement.
She suggested cleaning the tank and replacing the water. I did.
A few more days. Still no movement.
After a week of this, I talked to my daughter again. I told her it hadn’t moved in a week. "I’m sorry," I said. "I could wait a few more days." But in my heart, I was ready to pull the bubble maker.
"I don’t know," she said. "It probably is dead. But I’ve thought that many times."
So we gave it a few more days.
Two days later, I looked in the tank. It was in a different position about 2 inches away from where it had been!
The next day, it was in another position! I hadn’t seen it move, but it was in a new spot on the rocks.
Then Thursday night I watched an episode of "The Chosen." It was about the healing of the woman with the issue of blood and the resurrection of Jairus’ daughter.
As I watched Jesus do these miracles, I was in tears. I had to push pause while I took it all in. Watching Jesus step into our world and do the things He did… I was overcome.
The Bible stories we read now weren’t stories in a book to the people Jesus came to. Their experiences were real, lived out in real-time, and like nothing they had ever seen before.
They had no hope.
Then Jesus showed up.
And their worlds changed.
So did mine. I was reminded that everything I’ve read in the Bible is true. It’s happened in my life. It’s happened in others’ lives. And it still happens now.
I finished the show and went to say goodnight to the snail. I decided to pray… to plead… to believe… that God would somehow raise it up again, and specifically, that the snail would start moving again and cling to the walls like it had done before.
I didn’t have much faith. It had been 10 days. But I had seen some movement. And I had just seen Jesus do miracles.
The next morning, I looked in the tank and couldn’t see the snail. It wasn’t on the rocks. It wasn’t on the plants. Where had it gone?
Then I saw it, right next to the bubble maker, clinging to the wall as fresh bubbles flowed all over its shell!
It was alive! I couldn’t believe it! And it was clinging to the wall, just as I had prayed it would do the night before.
It’s a little thing. But sometimes the little things can give us the greatest hope.
Was it a miracle? Was it a resurrection? Was it a healing? Was it just resting for 10 days and just now deciding to move again?
I don’t know. I don’t know enough about snails to know what’s normal. But what I do know is it hadn’t moved for a week, and I was ready to pull the plug.
What about you? What plug are you ready to pull? What have you given up on as having no chance at life?
What dreams have been dormant in your life? What hasn’t come to pass that you thought surely would by now?
If Jesus can raise a snail, how much more can He raise whatever’s wrong in your life? He’s done it before. He’ll do it again.
I believe. And THAT gives me much more hope for the future than anything else ever possibly could.
One of my favorite childhood memories at Christmas was finding a marionette under our tree on Christmas morning. Sometimes I would find one in the tree itself.
I loved these marionettes and would get every year for several years. They were specially made by a company in England called "Pelham Puppets," and I only ever saw them at Marshall Field’s on State Street in Chicago (about a 2-hour drive from our farm in Central Illinois).
I recently unboxed all of my childhood puppets and took the picture above.
More than 50 years later, I’m still getting the same thrill I got as a kid, but now it’s coming every week or two in the form of pictures from my new puppeteer friends in Italy who are hand carving not just one or two marionettes, but SIXTEEN for our new "puppet opera" premiering in Italy for Christmas 2023.
Here are a few pix I’ve received.
This is Nicholas…
This is Anna Maria…
And this will be Young Dimitri!
I can’t wait to see them all—and the show—when they’re done next year!
Would you like to help me bring this show to life? By donating $25, $100, or even $1,000 by the end of the year, we can put together the entire show, from the puppets and costumes to the sets and scenery.
In appreciation of your gift, I’d love to send you a "token" of appreciation that you can carry in your pocket or purse as a reminder to pray for our show, that MANY would see, MANY would hear, and MANY would put their faith in the Lord.
(If your donation is over $250, you might rather send a check to Eric Elder Ministries, 25615 E 3000 North Rd, Chenoa, IL 61726 and save the higher processing fees. But either way is great! Thank you!)
P.S. If you’d like to watch the FREE ballet version of our St. Nicholas story that we filmed in South Carolina, you can watch it online at the link below! It’s a beautiful hour and ten minutes of Christmas inspiration, filled with music, dancing, and a heartwarming story that points clearly to Jesus.
You can now watch the World Premiere of our Christmas musical ONLINE! (Recorded and edited from the stage version in 2021.)
The show is called His Name Was Nicholasand tells the inspiring and heartwarming story of the real-life St Nicholas who lived in the 3rd Century AD. (Today is actually St. Nicholas Day! The day the real-life St Nicholas passed from this life to the next in 363 AD.)
My wife Lana and I wrote the story to bring HOPE to readers and audiences worldwide. So if you need some hope TODAY, check out our new recording of the musical we staged last Christmas in Streator, Illinois. It features over 100 friends, old and new, who put together this show with 25 original songs and a story that will make you laugh, cry, and move closer to Christ this Christmas.
If you live in or near Illinois, we’ll also be showing the video recording IN-PERSON at the Eagle 6 Theater in Streator, Illinois for two showings only at 10:45 AM and 12:30 PM. I’ll be at both showings, and I’d love to see you there! The run time is 2-1/2 hours. Doors open at 10 AM for the 10:45 show and 11:45 for the 12:30 show.
And if you don’t live nearby, you can still watch the recording online, anytime during the month of December! It’s a gorgeous production full of lights, costumes, snow, and a message of hope.
All proceeds from ticket sales will go towards our NEXT production: a puppet opera we’re creating from the same story to premiere in Italy for Christmas, 2023! Know that your donations are going to help many more people around the world find THE HOPE OF CHRIST through this story.
Here’s the link to buy tickets to watch the recording either IN-PERSON or ONLINE.
We’re making a puppet show of our St. Nicholas story to premiere in Italy for Christmas, 2023!
My counterparts in Italy are already carving wood, sewing costumes, and writing the script for the show.
Here’s a shot of one of our planning meetings…
Our goal is to raise $10,000 by the end of December to cover the startup costs for the show… puppets, sets, theater rental, marketing, etc. The premiere is set for December 26, 2023 in Sulmona, Italy, with plans to record and stream the show online.
Once the show is created, it will become part of the repertoire of this traveling group who will then be able to share it with audiences all over Italy (and hopefully here in the US!) in the months and years to come.
On this Giving Tuesday, would you consider making a donation of $25-$1,000 to help us bring the show to life? We have a good start but still have a good ways to go.
As a "thank you" for your gift of any size, I’d love to send you a small "token" of our appreciation to carry with you as a reminder to pray for our show and the people who will see it. We’re praying MANY will see, MANY will hear, and MANY will put their faith in the Lord
It’s a great way to point people to Jesus, using a figure from history who loved Jesus with all his heart.
Here’s the link to donate. Be sure to include your mailing address with your gift to receive our "token" of appreciation… and a reminder to pray.
I am always blown away when I hear my sister play. And apparently I’m not alone, as her music is streamed nearly 1 MILLION TIMES EVERY WEEK on popular streaming platforms like Pandora, Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and YouTube.
Marilyn has just released her new Christmas album of pure piano, and once again it’s pure delight. I hope you’ll take a listen then add it to your playlist and let her music wash over you again and again this holiday season.
There’s something about music that can bring us peace and calm in a way that nothing else does. That’s why my ministry has helped Marilyn and others create incredible music for the last 25 years… to offer peace and calm to millions who crave it.
In the case of this album, Marilyn recorded and edited it, I produced it, a friend Gil Stober mixed and mastered it, and my daughter Makari painted the album cover. We then released it through CD Baby, who distributed it to dozens of streaming platforms.
And now, YOU can listen to it on your favorite platform. Here are a few:
“There’s Always Something You Can Give (Instrumental)”
You might notice the last song is ONE I WROTE! It’s an instrumental version of a song from my Christmas musical, His Name Was Nicholas. Marilyn played the piano, my friend Matt Ludwig created the orchestration, and another friend Olivia Bolles recorded the violin.
I LOVE how it all came together to produce a beautiful Christmas sensation.
I’m telling you all this background to encourage you to listen to the music, both for yourself AND FOR OTHERS. Why? Because every click and "like" and thumbs up says to the streaming service "we like this." Then the streaming service promotes the music to even more people.
So just by listening and liking and sharing our music, you can help bring peace and calm to many, many more people! It’s a WIN-WIN for everyone.
Here are the links again to listen…and "like" and share!
Join me this November to write a book! You never know who it might touch!
One of my best friends, Kent Sanders, just wrote a book with Elvis Presley’s brother. It’s called The Faith of Elvisand is now in bookstores everywhere.
I went to Barnes & Noble two weeks ago to see his book on the shelf for myself. (We’ve been talking about and doing writing for years, and I wanted to see the fruit of his labors at a real bookstore.)
After looking at his book for a few minutes on the shelf (among SO many other inspirational authors) I turned to my left and was surprised to see ONE OF MY OWN BOOKS, just 10 steps away!
Maybe you have a book burning inside YOU waiting to get out? If so, I’d love to come alongside you this November to help write it. Who knows who YOURS might touch!
Here’s a link where you can learn more about writing with me this November:
Sign up before November 1st! And pass this along the link to anyone you know who should write THEIR book. I’d love to flood the marketplace with books by Christians to impact the world for Christ.
By the way, here’s Kent’s kind endorsement of my writing class:
“Eric has been a friend, inspiration, and writing mentor in my life for over twenty years. Through his example and his incredible creative output, he’s motivated me to keep writing and growing. As a pastor and later as a college professor doing writing on the side, I valued Eric’s wisdom as we talked often about our mutual projects. And now as a full-time ghostwriter, podcaster, and writing coach, I value his input and wisdom even more. Anyone who’s tried to write a book knows it takes time and energy. Eric’s done it many, many times! I can’t think of anyone better equipped to help guide writers on the path to making their dreams come true.” Kent Sanders The Faith of Elvis
Someone asked me which of my books is MY FAVORITE. Hands-down, it’s a book I ALMOST never published.
I wanted to write about how Christ had changed my life, but the details were so personal, so intimate, that I didn’t know if I could ever share them with others.
But I decided to try. I began writing down the stories, using a pen name for myself and for others in the book. Somehow that freed me to truly write from my heart, without reservation.
When I finished the book, I hesitantly sent the book, chapter by chapter, to some friends. Their responses floored me! Not only did they LOVE the book, they thought I SHOULD PUBLISH IT for many to see.
Still hesitant, I sent it to nearly 100 friends, asking for their honest feedback before I actually put it out for a wider audience. Again, I was floored by their responses. (I’ve included some of their comments at the end of this email).
So I went ahead and published the book, under the pen name, just as I had written it.
I’ve recently published it as an AUDIOBOOK on Spotify, Audible, Google Play, and other audio platforms. I was listening to the book last week to test it out and it made me laugh, cry, and thankful all over again for my faith in Christ and the changes He has brought about in my life.
I’m praying that many more will read and now listen to the book and hear how God can change a life… from the inside out.
I tell you this for 2 reasons.
1) I’d love for you to read or listen to the book. It’s my favorite of the 35 books I’ve written because it’s my love story with Christ, and my love story with my late wife, Lana. (Links to read or listen are at the end of this email).
2) I’d like to encourage you to write down YOUR STORY. You may think your story is too personal to tell. But I believe God can make a way for you to share it in a way that is meaningful for others and helpful for you.
I have found that WRITING IS THERAPY for me. As I wrote Fifty Shades of Grace, I was able to capture memories that I was afraid I might otherwise forget. I was also able to work through some of the pain and grief of losing Lana by remembering her and how God used her in my healing and restoration to Him.
I’ll be writing another book this November, and I’d love for you to join me. Whether you publish it or not, I believe writing what God has done in your life can have deep impact on your life. The process alone is worth the work, and if you publish at the end, even more people can benefit!
Don’t waste your pain. Use it for good… for yourself and for others!
A friend once told me:
"Everyone has a million-dollar book inside them. They just need to tell their own story… but they have to be brutally honest."
That’s what I did with Fifty Shades of Grace. It’s my own story, under a pen name, but its brutal honesty is what gives it wings.
If you’d like to write along with me in November, I’m offering some zoom coaching to anyone who wants to come along and write their story, too. Here’s a link to learn more and sign up (before November 1st!)
For years, I had a book on my heart I wanted to write. I didn’t know how to start. I didn’t know how to organize it. I didn’t know how to actually write it.
But then I was challenged to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. That sounded unbelievable! Impossible! Or was it?
I found out it WAS possible! And I did it. (Well, I was only able to write 30,000 words, and it took me 40 days. But at the end of those 40 days, I had finished a first draft of a fully fleshed out novel.)
And I’ve done it many times since. I’ve written over 30 books (35 if you count a couple of Spanish translations and three books of sheet music).
Now, I’d like to challenge YOU to write that book on YOUR heart.
How did I do it?
I’ll tell you!
This November, I’ll be writing another book in 30 days (at least a rough draft). And I’d like to invite you to join me.
Here’s how it works…
Set aside an hour a day (or more or less) for every day in November to write a few paragraphs… just one story each day that you’d like to include in your book.
You can write the stories in order or as they come to your mind. But just write them down. Summarize. Don’t edit. Don’t look up dates or details. Not yet. Just write down each story you want to tell. 30 days. 30 stories.
You can edit, rearrange, and add details later. But for this first pass, just get the stories out of your head and onto some paper, or onto your computer, or onto your phone as voice memos. The idea is to get your story out… to think of the stories you want to tell. then to share with others what God has shared with you.
Would you like to join me?
I’ll be holding some zoom meetings during November to cheer you on, give you ideas, and answer your questions. I’ll also show you how to upload your book to Amazon when you’re done so others can read it.
YOU CAN DO THIS! And I’d love to help.
Here’s what I’m offering:
4 group teachings on zoom during November from 7-9PM CST (November 2, 9, 16 & 30)
20 "office hours" on zoom every weekday in November (with a few off for Thanksgiving) from Noon-1PM CST to talk to anyone who wants to talk (with as many as show up), ask questions, or just write for the hour
To come alongside you for 30 days in November to help you write your story. At the end of November, you’ll have a good first start on your book that you can late edit, rearrange, and add details on your own (I’ll share some contacts if you need help beyond November).
Here’s what it costs:
$150 donation to our ministry. Your donations help me continue creating opportunities like these, so thank you! (And believe me, this is a bargain… I just saw a class offering the same type of coaching for $10,000! I just want to help Christians write their stories and flood the marketplace with God-honoring books. I’d love for you to join me.)
Click this link to sign up! (before November 1st!)
By the way, here are some comments from others I’ve helped to FINALLY write their books. Listen to their joy! (and click the links to see their books on Amazon!)
“Eric has assisted us so many times over the years with our various publications… his encouragement and help have made all the difference in our efforts & success!” Greg Potzer, Our Favorite Christian Quotations
“Eric was instrumental in motivating me to write Testimonies of Grace, and his practical knowledge of the editing and publishing process were equally valuable. He was with me every step of the way, a journey I will never forget!” Brent Knapton, Testimonies of Grace
“Eric, made it possible for me to compile two books. I contributed thoughts and ideas…..a message to be shared. Eric provided his warm fellowship, ongoing encouragement, and expertise from writing many books himself. He has an inborn, God-given desire to help people. The experience turned out to be delightful.” Clayt Irmeger, Life: Not to be Lived Single-Handedly
“Eric was more than an encourager as I started the process of writing a children’s book. He guided me through virtually every step of the way. His expertise in his own writings proved to be just what was needed to see my book become a reality. He is now currently helping me complete my 2nd children’s book. Thank you, Eric!” Karen Neal, So You Know
“Eric has the uncanny ability to motivate people to write. A writer himself, Eric helped me take scattered thoughts, organize them into a suitable structure to form a book, and he did it with consummate professionalism. When I needed a nudge, he nudged. When I needed a push, he pushed. But these were always done with the goal in mind – getting my story into a book that will inspire others.” Tim Wilkins, (book underway)
“When I decided I wanted to self-publish my book, Eric gave helpful advice for how to do so in an easy, economical way. His help was much appreciated.” Dr. Larry Booze, Say it to Stick
“Eric’s passion for writing is contagious. Add in his creative ingenuity and generous heart and you have an artisan who knows how to steer the hopeful writer in the right direction.” Mary Felkins, This I Promise You
“I met Eric at church and upon learning that I had an interest in writing, he immediately offered to help me. I was early in the process of writing a novel, and I am thankful that Eric sat with me several times and let me talk about my book — which at that time, was mostly fragmented ideas. That validation was what I needed. From a place of genuine interest, he also offered practical guidance, which I very much appreciate.” Aaron Chan, (book underway)
“Eric Elder’s writing class is the one place where I’ve found practical, detailed instruction on how to self-publish a book through Amazon. For me, this is the bridge I needed to fulfill my dream of publishing a novel.” Cammie Quinn, (book underway)
“A while back, Eric encouraged me to read through the Bible in a year and keep a journal. He even invited his own readers to follow along with me. Seven years later, over 1,600 have joined my Bible reading Facebook page. Now, he’s helping me make this effort into a book. I’ve personally witnessed him help many publish and am now using his methods to do the same. Thank you for your ever encouraging heart, Eric.” Al Lowry, 2022 Daily Bible Reading
“Eric Elder has been a wonderful mentor during the process of writing and self-publishing my first book. He has a wealth of knowledge and graciously shared it with me as he literally walked with me through the formatting and publishing processes. I am very proud of my book, and I am very thankful for Eric’s support and encouragement to complete this project. Without him, I know that I would not have completed it. Thank you, Eric!!!” Sandy Egle, Ministering to the Least of These
“Eric has been a friend, inspiration, and writing mentor in my life for over twenty years. Through his example and his incredible creative output, he’s motivated me to keep writing and growing. I can’t think of anyone better equipped to help guide writers on the path to making their dreams come true.” Kent Sanders, The Faith of Elvis
“Eric Elder was instrumental in guiding me in the self-publishing of my first children’s book. He was knowledgeable, available when I had questions, and very encouraging through the whole process! The encouragement was incredible! He helped me believe in myself and never doubted I would bring my idea to completion. Thank you, Eric!” Laurie Bliese, Will the Lights Go Out?
“Eric believed my writing mattered to others before I was sure myself. He knew it could and should be shared, and he invited me into conversation about how. I’m grateful for his guidance and for the encouragement he offered after reading my first, self-published book. He walked with me the whole way.” Caleb Dossett, They Call Me Mr
“I was so impressed with how Eric took so much time out of his busy schedule to help me finally finish my 10 year work-in-progress auto-biography. He gave me words of encouragement, practical advice, his editing skills, and prayer, that were all I needed to bring my book to completion, with which I was 100% pleased.” Jeanette Smith, (book underway)
“If you are writing and find yourself stuck, call Eric! He repeatedly helped me get unstuck when I was writing my memoir. He not only helped me with the paperback version, he really held my hand when it came to the e-book (that was a monster to me!). I truly cannot recommend Eric enough for a calm voice, a clear head, and being totally competent when it comes to the whole book writing and publishing process.” MelanEE Lisa Davidson, Loved. I. Am!
“Eric was one of the first people to read a rough draft of my debut novel. His support gave me the confidence and inspiration to finally complete and publish a story I had almost given up on. We all have a story, no matter how insignificant we think it may be. As Christians we need to share our faith and experiences with others, and Eric will help you accomplish that. Let your story shine for all to see.” Steven Lomske, On the Bank of the Chippewa
Again, I really hope you’ll join me in November! Click this link to sign up!
But not just any puppet show… an Italian "Puppet Opera!"
Last fall, I came across a fantastic "puppet opera" in Italy while I was scouting locations for a movie version of our St. Nicholas story.
I thought "Wouldn’t it be great to see a puppet opera of our story?"So a few months ago, I reached out to the founder of the company, Girolamo Botta, and asked if he would be interested.
He read the story and said, "This is a dream come true!" (Girolamo is from Palermo, Italy, where puppetry and storytelling are legendary.)
Since then, we’ve been talking, texting, and zooming to plan the show. Yesterday, he placed the first order for materials to get started!
It will take 6 months to hand-carve all the puppets, hand-tailor all the costumes, hand-paint all the scenes, and create from scratch all the music to be played on traditional instruments.
We’re targeting December 26th, 2023, for our premiere show in the historic Teatro Maria Caniglia (pictured above) in Sulmona, Italy. We’re also planning to film the show to make it available to audiences worldwide.
I love that this company uses as "open" theater where audiences see the action on stage as well as the puppeteers controlling them! This provides a rich storytelling extravaganza, immersing the audience in a powerful theatrical experience.
Here’s a sample of their work…
I’d like to invite you to join us in creating this spectacular show to give audiences HOPE for years to come.
Would you pray this show would give audiences the HOPE OF CHRIST for years to come?
Would you consider making a donation to help bring this show to life? We’re praying for 100 people to support this show with gifts ranging from $25-1,000. Your name will be listed on both the theater program and the film credits.
(The new Spotify option makes it easy for people who already love listening to podcasts on that platform, and it contains the highest quality version of my podcast. WHEREVER you watch it, I hope you’ll be encouraged that God is alive and can work wonders in your life.)
Also joining me from time to time on the podcast is Judy Wray, a dear friend and woman of prayer. Judy has spoken significant words from God to me over the past 3 DECADES, and I’d love for you to hear from her, too.
Each week, we’re sharing from a new book I’ve written called Living Life with a Capital "L." The book includes the complete book of John from the Bible, plus a few words about how God has spoken to me through these stories in John. My hope is to inspire YOU to read through the book of John and hear what God has to say to YOU through these words from one of Jesus’s best friends.
1) Read the book of John! John was one of Jesus’s closest friends. John wrote a book about their time together which is recorded in the Bible under his name, "John." The reason I want you to read John’s book is because he uses the word "LIFE" dozens of times, often quoting Jesus directly, including this: "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full" (John 10:10b). Jesus wants you to have an abundant life, and He’s glad to tell you how!
2) Read my new book on John! If you need some additional inspiration while you’re reading, you can get a copy of my book on Amazon called Living Life with a Capital "L." This pocket-sized book (4"x6") is easy to carry along and read anytime. In it, I’ve included all 21 chapters of the book of John, plus a few brief thoughts of my own at the end of each chapter. The idea is to share how John has spoken to me and know that God can use it to speak to you!
3) Follow my weekly podcast! Starting this Sunday at 10 AM Central Time, I’ll be streaming a live podcast on Facebook and YouTube where I’ll share a chapter each week from the book of John and from my book. I’ll also share a song on my piano and pray for anyone who wants prayer, joined by my dear friend and amazing woman of prayer, Judy Wray. If you’d like prayer, tune into the live podcast on either Facebook or YouTube and post your prayers in the comments.
I met Jane Roe in April 2006. What she told me was so shocking, I asked if she would write it down. She did.
("Jane Roe" was famous for winning the U.S. Supreme Court case Roe versus Wade in 1973 which legalized abortion in all 50 states. Her real name was Norma McCorvey, which was revealed after the trial.)
She was speaking a few miles from my hometown, and I wanted to hear what she had to say. I was surprised to learn she didn’t actually have an abortion, because the case wasn’t decided until after her baby was born.
But I was totally shocked to hear that, in hindsight, she regretted her role in the court case she had won. She even went back to the court to ask if they would overturn their decision, but they said too much time had passed.
I talked to her after she spoke to ask more about her thoughts. I asked if I had heard correctly, that she really did want the court to overturn her case.
“Yes,” she said.
I asked if she would write it down for me.
“Of course!” she said.
She took a slip of paper from the table and wrote, “I wish R v W was overturned." Then she signed it, "Ms Norma McCorvey.”
I couldn’t believe it. Jane Roe wished Roe versus Wade was overturned.
She died about five years ago. But on Friday, her wish came true.
It was TERRIFIC, thanks! Believe it or not, it’s been six months since we performed the World Premiere of His Name Was Nicholas, the real-life story of St. Nicholas who lived back in the 3rd and 4th centuries.
It was tons of fun and we were able to encourage nearly 1,500 people in their faith who watched the show live online and in person. I’m still processing all that happened! (Unfortunately, I got COVID over Christmas, and it really knocked the wind out of my sails! My "batteries" still seem to drain faster than before, but I’m doing better and better each month, praise God! It’s been a hard few years for all of us, hasn’t it?)
I wanted to give you a mid-year update and ask 3 things.
1) If you saw the show, I’ve posted a follow-up survey that I’d love for you to answer. It will really help us going forward to know what you enjoyed and what we could do better. We’re hoping to replicate the show in as many places as possible, and your feedback will help us replicate the right things and fix the wrong things! Here’s a link to the survey: https://forms.gle/XpMwfPLippHMPNiQA
2) If you missed the show, you can still watch it online! I’ve created a "Director’s Cut" from all three live performances. You can watch it online now for just $5 using the link below. We also have a few remaining "World Premiere" sweatshirts, T-shirts, ornaments, and books you can buy for HALF-OFF! We only have a few left, so when they’re gone, they’re gone! Here’s a link to watch the show online or get a souvenir: https://ericelderministries.square.site/
3) If you know someone who might be interested in staging the show THIS CHRISTMAS, please forward this email to them! The show is a great way to USE THE TALENTS IN YOUR OWN COMMUNITY to share THE HOPE OF CHRIST WITH YOUR COMMUNITY. It’s a fun and fresh way to tell the story of Jesus through the real-life story of St. Nicholas. NOW’S THE TIME when many groups start planning their Christmas productions, so please pass along this email SOON! Thank you! Here’s a link to learn more about the show: https://hisnamewasnicholas.com
Tonight’s the opening night of my new Christmas musical, His Name Was Nicholas!As the headline of the paper says, "It’s all about hope." If you need some hope this Christmas season, I pray you’ll come see the show in person or buy a ticket to watch it online from anywhere in the world.
It’s a gorgeous production with lights, costumes, sounds, sets, and a message that is clearly about one thing: HOPE. I’ve included some links below to take you behind-the-scenes of this production that’s been in the making for over 25 years.
Take a look at these links, then get to your tickets at the link below that to see it for yourself THIS WEEKEND!
Tickets are $10, $15, or $20 to come in person depending on where you sit, and tickets to watch online are just $10 for as many people as you want to gather around one device!
When you buy a ticket to watch online, you’ll get YouTube links to all 3 shows to watch live or watch later for the next 2 weeks until Jan 1, 2022. If you can watch a YouTube video, you can watch the livestream of the show!
We’re excited to perform it for you and hope you thoroughly enjoy the story!
I’ve often thought about performing my own songs in public, but have been afraid to do so. You see, I’ve played the piano since I was very young and love doing it, but for some reason, I freeze when I do it, so I rarely do it.
Thankfully, I can record my music when no one’s around, and I’ve had over 2 million streams of my music on Pandora alone!
But a few months ago, God prompted me to play in public for a new Christmas musical I’ve just finished called, "His Name Was Nicholas." I wasn’t planning on playing, but God lined things up to where I could hardly say no!
So, I said yes and next weekend, I’ll be playing for 3 shows only at the newly renovated Streator High School auditorium, along with a small band of great musicians, while another 100+ cast and crew act and sing the heart-touching story of the real-life-St. Nicholas.
You can watch in-person or online for just $10, $15 or $20 in-person, or $10 to watch online (with as many people as you want to gather around one device!) Invite your family and friends!
To hear the backstory of why I said yes, and how God used a timid prayer of faith many years ago for something I thought I could never have, listen to this message below! Then I hope you’ll come and see the show, either in-person or online! God has a reason He wants me to play, and it involves you!
Here’s the message in a nutshell:
In this message, I encourage you to come to God with faith like a child and ask Him for what you really want.
“Heaven is full of answers to prayers for which no one ever bothered to ask.” (Billy Graham)
Sometimes we hold back from asking because we’re afraid we’re not worthy or that we’ll be disappointed or that God may not really do it. But Jesus says we can ask, and He’s already given up His life for us, so life a child coming to their father, I encourage you to come to Yours and ask.
I share three stories related to a piano that a friend encouraged me to ask God for… and how God did more than all I could have asked or imagined through that prayer.
Each story reminds me of what the Bible says about asking…
1) Ask whatever you want
“If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you” (John 15:7).
2) Believe God will work all things for good
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).
“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matthew 6:33).
3) Consider others in your asking
“Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good” (1 Corinthians 12:7).
“Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag, each according to his ability.” (Matthew 25:14-15)
“I will make you into a great nation,
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.” (Genesis 12:2)
Have a great week, and I hope you’ll watch my first-ever piano concerto! Again, you can get tickets from: hisnamewasnicholas.com
#1) I’ll be playing the piano for 3 shows only at the newly renovated Streator High School auditorium! Get your tickets now at https://hisnamewasnicholas.com(You can also get tickets to watch any or all 3 shows online from anywhere in the world for just $10!)
#2) My late wife Lana’s "Heaven Day" was Monday. The kids and I went out for dinner and a night of remembering her life and passing through the veil 9 years ago. So thankful for all she meant to me and did for us.
#3) Please pray with me and for me and our cast and crew as we get ready for the show and for those who come… that many would see, many would hear, and many would put their faith in the Lord.
Lastly, if you need hope RIGHT NOW or know someone who does, here’s a message called "THERE’S ALWAYS HOPE!" that I gave recently at a church in Paris, Illinois. In it, I share 3 things that you can share with your friends and family who may be struggling to find hope or joy or meaning in life.
1) Jesus can do anything, absolutely anything.
2) God has you here for a reason.
3) The best is yet to come.
Those aren’t just platitudes. They’re real and true words for you, right now. They’re also straight from the Bible.
1) When two blind men came to Jesus, He said: “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” “Yes, Lord,” they answered. Then He touched their eyes and said, “According to your faith will it be done to you” (Matthew 9:28-29).
2) When Paul talked about God’s love for us, he said: "For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do" (Ephesians 2:10).
3) After Paul described the hardships he faced in his own life, he said: "If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied above all men" (1 Corinthians 15:19).
If you need hope for something you’re facing right now, remember:
1) Jesus can do anything, absolutely anything.
2) God has you here for a reason.
3) The best is yet to come.
One of My Favorites from Debussy’s "Deux Arabesques"
I recently discovered a cassette tape from 1988 on which I had recorded some of my favorite piano pieces at the time.Included was a piece I still love called "Arabesque No. 1" from Debussy’s "Deux Arabesques."
The piece was so beautiful, I decided to record it again and upload it to streaming services everywhere. I also recorded a simple video as I played the piece for anyone who enjoys watching as well as listening to their piano music.
Arabesque means "meandering," and that’s exactly what this song does, weaving notes in an out through the melody. Written by Debussy over 130 years ago, this song still brings me peace and comfort today. I pray it does the same for you!
I talked to my friend Steve Barnhart recently about the emotional impact of my open heart surgery two years ago. Here’s the link if you’d like to listen in on our conversation.
(Be prepared. It’s a bit emotional! But I hope it’s helpful, especially for anyone who’s ever felt depressed, been heartbroken or struggled to find meaning in life.)
ERIC: I’m here with my friend Steve Barnhart and we are going to talk about secondary impacts of health crises in our life. He’s been through some heart issues. I’ve been through some heart issues, and so we’re just going to chat a little bit about what has transpired in our lives.
ERIC: Thanks, Steve. I had a heart attack two years ago. It came out of the blue. I wasn’t really expecting it. I didn’t have any physical symptoms leading up to it. I had done a test maybe six or eight months earlier, a heart calcification test, because my family does have a history of this. So I did it and they said, "You’re actually at a at a level that you could have a heart attack." So they did a stress test and nothing came back from that. It was all clear and seemed fine.
Six months later I got up and showered when all of a sudden I started feeling sick to my stomach and like an elephant was standing on my chest… (Click here to listen to the full interview): https://youtu.be/5hghd0BPOJ8
I spoke last week at Ax Church in La Salle, Illinois, on the topic of Counting Your Yes’s. If you need a new outlook on life, a new way of looking at your situation, I hope you’ll watch this message. In it, I share some very personal stories of thanking God for His "No’s," and the incredible value of Counting Your "Yes’s." You can read my notes below, or watch the whole message online at this link: https://youtu.be/xD-NXn3XYjU
Here are my notes…
THANKING GOD FOR HIS NO’S
I was at a church service for Christmas one morning when Christmas fell on a Sunday, and we were asked to write on a slip of paper something for which we were thankful. An elderly friend of mine was sitting next to me, and I was amazed when she shared what she had written on her paper. She had written: “I’m thankful, God, for your No’s.”
She was in her 80’s, was living alone, and had never married. As I talked to her more, I learned that someone had proposed to her when she was young, but when she asked God about it, she felt God said, No. It would have brought her wealth. Companionship. Maybe children.
He’s still alive. She still knows where he is. She still thinks about him. But she is able to say, on Christmas Day, “I’m thankful for Your No’s.”
Jesus prayed to His Father in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night before He died:
“My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from Me.”
He didn’t want to drink of it if He didn’t have to. But then He added:
“Yet I want Your will to be done, not Mine.” (Matthew 26:39)
And because He died, I can live.
“I’m thankful, God, for Your No’s.”
JOB AND PAUL’S STORY
It makes me think of Job who, after losing his oxen and donkeys and sheep and camels and servants and finally his sons and daughters, then he fell to the ground in worship saying,
“I came naked from my mother’s womb, and I will be naked when I leave. The LORD gave me what I had, and the LORD has taken it away. Praise the name of the LORD!” (Job 1:21)
I think of Paul who said,
“I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.” (Phil 4:12-13)
What was their secret? How did Paul do it? How did Job do it? How did Jesus do it? How did my 80 year old friend do it?
The answer’s just prior to Pauls words about the secret, in Philippians 4:4-9:
“Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice! Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon. Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus."
STARTING WITH THANKS
One practical way I do this is in my daily journal. For years, I’ve started with these words, “Father, thank You…” then I continue with something for which I’m truly thankful. I tell Him my needs, too, as this verse says to do. But somehow by starting with “Thank you, it helps me stop and think about something for which I’m truly thankful. And it changes me. It slows me down. It helps me reflect on what’s most important.
MONEY CREEK
There’s a creek on a road where I often drive called Money Creek. Any idea why it’s called Money Creek? Because there’s a bank on each side. Whenever I drive over it, I hold my hands up and open, (while still holding the steering wheel), and I say, “Thank You for the money you’ve given me to get this far. I pray for more to keep going." It’s a bit like, "Thank You, Lord, for this daily bread," and trusting Him to provide the next day’s, too.
LIST OF HEALINGS
I once wondered why I didn’t see more miraculous healings in my life when I prayed for people. I had seen some, but not as many as I wanted to see. A friend said, “Believe me, the more you pray for healings, the more you’ll see them.” So I prayed more. And I started to keep a list.
I continued praying, as I often did, but now I wrote down those healing prayers, along with God’s answers. I prayed for my child’s cold to go away, and it did. A cough to stop, so they could sleep, and it did. Aches and pains to be gone, and they were. Bones to be repaired, surgeries to heal, the list went on and on in just a few weeks’ time! I realized just how many times God healed, and all of them miraculous, all of them helpful, all of them answers to prayer.
If you cut a piece of cloth, it doesn’t repair itself. But God has wired us for healing. And our prayers and care help facilitate that. Keep praying for healing, and you’ll see it more and more.
Paul goes on to say:
"And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you” (Phil 4:4-9).
So… how else do you do this practically? I think there are a lot of ways. Here’s another one that’s helped me recently. Instead of fixating on my No’s, I’ve start counting my Yes’s.
STARTING A MEN’S GROUP
I’ve wanted to start a men’s group, jotting down names of men I’d like to invite. I’ve been jotting down names for a few years, but I’ve never started.
I wanted about a dozen guys, maybe two dozen. My list had grown to about 70 men. But I was afraid to ask.
To give you some context, several years ago I started a group at the church where I attend for people dealing with certain struggles in their lives. I was a bit afraid to announce the group because I felt the group would be swamped with people (we have over 5,000 in our church). But I did announce it, and the first week when I showed up, you know how many people were there? Zero. Not even 1.
The second week, 0. The third, 0. The 4th, 5th, 6, and 7th, none. For 10 weeks I sat there in the room alone. Praise God, the 11th week, 2 showed up, then 3. We never got more than 4 or 5, and met for a full year with those God sent.
As John the Baptist said:
"A person can receive only what is given them from heaven" (John 3:27).
Also for context, a year later I was in a men’s group of about a dozen guys. It was rich, vibrant, and fun. I loved it. And so did the other guys.
The time came for the group to end, but none of us wanted it to end. I offered to continue it, and many said Yes. The next week, I sat in the room at the appointed time. Alone. I sat there for an hour and a half alone. And we never met again.
A year later, the same thing happened. I announced a group, set a date, and not one person came.
So that’s the context. I was afraid to ask about this new men’s group. What if no one showed up?
But I decided to ask anyway, praying for a dozen to say Yes. If so, then I’d start. Two dozen would be wonderful, if possible. I bought 25 booklets for the group, I kept praying for 25 people to say Yes.
I began to ask, and here’s what I did. I determined in my heart to count my Yes’s and not worry about the No’s or non-responses.
I started getting Yes’s from several men. 1, 2, 3, 4. Soon I was up to a dozen. I had some No’s, too, and some non-responses, but I didn’t count those. I only counted the Yes’s, trusting that God would bring who He wanted to bring.
As the day approached for the first group, I had 21, 22, 23. 24. I said, “Lord, my extravagant ask was for 25. Bring 25 if You want 25. Fifteen minutes before the study started, a man texted and said, “If it’s not too late, I’d like to come.”
I said, “It’s not too late, you’re right on time!” I told him later he was number 25 of the 25 I prayed for.
How do you rejoice always? Be content in all circumstances? Stop counting your No’s. And start counting your Yes’s. Psalm 103:2-5 says this:
“Let all that I am praise the LORD; may I never forget the good things He does for me. He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases. He redeems me from death and crowns me with love and tender mercies. He fills my life with good things. My youth is renewed like the eagle’s!” (Psalm 103:2-5)
THE MIDAS TOUCH
Just in case you think its good fortune that has turned things around for me, I assure you that’s not the case! Just last week on Wednesday night I showed up to a group I started for Christian musicians to teach them how to put their music online, to bless others and receive blessings back themselves.
All year I’ve been offering this class, for free, once a month, for anyone who wants to learn how to do it. But last week, when 7 PM came, I sat in my zoom room for the class, alone. I recorded my message anyway and posted it online for anyone who might come along later. Even though I sat there and wondered why more people didn’t come, I also knew enough to just keep going. I was content to talk to my camera alone. If no one ever watches it, that’s OK. I’m just making it available if people want it. (It’s on my YouTube channel in case you’re interested, at ericelder.com under the playlist "Online Christian Music Group.)
No one showed up, but I just keep moving on. I’m counting my Yes’s, not my No’s.
A friend of mine seems to have the Midas touch, meaning that it seems everything he touches turns to gold. But another friend who also knows him well told me one day, “It isn’t that everything he touches turns to gold. It’s just that he touches a lot of things.”
MY NEW MUSICAL
I recently announced I’ll be staging a new musical in Streator, Illinois, this Christmas. (Here’s the 1-minute announcement: https://youtu.be/nL77UtJ4bV0) It sounds great and wonderful. But what I didn’t share was all the No’s that preceded getting to this point.
I had asked churches and theater companies in Normal, Peoria, Henry, Indiana, Texas. All said No. They all had their reasons. But it didn’t make it any easier.
I finally decided at the end of last year that I would do it at my house. I’ve got a big barn out in the country that I thought I could fix up, make a stage, and invite people to sit in my yard on lawn chairs. I would do "Christmas in July" and hold it outdoors. If no one else wanted to do it, I wanted to do it! And one way or another, I was going to do it.
In the midst of cleaning up my barn, I heard back from several churches in Streator. They said Yes, they wanted to do it! I was stunned. Someone said Yes. So I said Yes. And we’re going forward.
And God did something special with that Yes just last week. I asked the manager of the auditorium if they had a piano there, because if they did, I thought that maybe I’d play the piano along with the other musicians during the show, since I wrote all the songs. If they didn’t have a piano there, I wouldn’t.
I have to tell you, I can really only play my piano at home. I freeze up anywhere else on any other instrument. It’s hard for me to play a digital keyboard. And while I can play other pianos, they don’t feel the same to me, they don’t sound the same, and it throws me off. Years ago, God gifted me with a beautifully restored 1910 Steinway Model B grand piano. It’s unique and very special to me.
So I asked the manager if they had a piano and if it was an upright or a grand. They did, she said, and it was a grand. I asked if I could come see it. So last Wednesday I went to the auditorium to see it. Even though I had been to the auditorium just a few weeks earlier, I hadn’t seen a piano anywhere. It turns out that’s because they keep it in a temperature and humidity controlled room backstage. It’s on wheels so they can wheel it out anytime.
When the manager unlocked the door, I saw that the piano was not only a grand, it was a Steinway grand. A Model B, as far as I could tell. I sat down to play it. And it was gorgeous. It was as close to mine at home as any I had ever seen before. I asked if I could examine it to find the serial number because you can tell the date by the number.
When I got to my car, I looked it up. It was a 1908 Steinway, just two years older than mine. They could be sisters. I wanted to cry. I don’t know anyone else who owns a Steinway piano. I’ve never seen another here in Illinois except in a piano showroom. But there, backstage at the Streator auditorium—the ONLY place that said Yes—was sitting a 1908 Steinway grand piano.
“I thank You, God, for your No’s. There’s only one Yes that matters. And that’s the Yes that You want me to have."
GOLD STARS AND LITTLE WINS
I’ll share one more story.
I was in the hospital about 2 years ago for 10 days. I had just had open heart surgery. After the surgery, every day was a battle. A battle to breathe, to eat, to stand, to go to the bathroom. As is often the case, in order to go home, I had to be able to do 2 things: to walk around the nurses station by myself. And to go #2. I couldn’t do either.
Every day, I’d try, multiple times, but couldn’t do either.
When I finally did both, I was elated. I told my kids, “I need a sticker book! Gold stars. Anything to keep me going.”
That night, in the middle of the night, my friend and colleague at our church, Nicki Green, showed up with this a journal. Inside, it said in big letters: “Eric’s Gold Stars and Little Wins.”
Nicki wrote on the inside: “Dear Eric, So this may be a little over the top, but when I’m asked to provide a journal with gold starts for little wins – this is what you get! :) I will continue to pray for God to do a miraculous work in your heart as He brings complete healing.” She wrote a little more, then closed with this: “I look forward to hearing you share with me the answered prayers and “little wins” through your healing journey! Get well my friend! Praying with you, Nicki.”
I started filling it up with stars, having my kids write in it for me because I could hardly do anything for myself.
“Discharged.” 1 big star.
“Took off all the tape.” 1 big star and 4 little ones.
“Arrived home.” A huge blue ribbon.
“Made it to the 2nd floor! 16 steps!” 16 stars.
“First shower in 10 days! 1 hour, 2 boys helping.” 9 stars.
“Made it through 1 week at home.” A whole page full of stars.
“Took bandaids off.” 10 stars. (That hurt.)
This one I really felt I earned: “Survived a visit to the ENT.” The Ear, Nose, and Throat doctor had to put a scope up my nose to look down my throat. I felt it was going right through my brain on the way up my nose before it curved back down into my throat. I grabbed the doctor’s arm and held on tight until my son, Bo, came up and I grabbed his arm so the doctor could do his work!
On my way out of the office, I saw they had some Finding Nemo stickers on the desk. I asked if I could have one. It says, “I was a brave patient.” I love that sticker. :)
When I was telling my daughter, Makari, about my journal, she said, “I need a sticker book, too!” And she got one.
This past Christmas, at the end of 2020, Makari gave me a Christmas present. It was a whole journal with a pack of gold stars in the back that I could add to it.
Inside the front cover, she wrote, “We made it,” and put a gold star.
“We made it?” I asked.
“Through 2020," she said.
Sometimes we need a whole pack of stickers.
Maybe it seems childish. But wasn’t it Jesus who said,
“Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18:3, NIV)
Maybe we could all use a little more "faith like a child."
COUNTING YOUR YES’S
I’m counting my Yes’s. I hope you will, too.
Then, like Jesus, you’ll say:
“Yet I want Your will to be done, not Mine.”
Like Job, you’ll say:
“The LORD gave me what I had, and the LORD has taken it away. Praise the name of the LORD!”
Like Paul, you’ll say:
“I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little," and “Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done.”
Like David, you’ll say:
“Let all that I am praise the LORD; may I never forget the good things He does for me.” (Psalm 103:1-2)
If you need encouragement to keep going, this message is for you! In it, I share several moments recently when my faith became sight, when I could finally see that what I believed could happen, REALLY COULD happen!
Keep going. It’s worth it! For as the Bible says, "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we WILL reap a harvest if we do not give up" (Galatian 6:9).
Also, I’ve just released a new song called "Fairytale," by Ludovico Einaudi.
It’s a beautiful and moving piano/cello duet that you can listen to over and over! (That’s what I do!) I recorded it for a friend’s wedding, along with a superb cellist from the UK, Clea Friend.
Maybe you’re like me several years ago: you have some music you’ve created or want to create, but you don’t know how to record or share it with others.
Now, 20+ years into it, I can say that recording my music has turned into one of the best and most surprising blessings of my life… both to me and to those who have been touched by it.
I’d love to share with you how I do it, giving you the practical nuts and bolts of how I record, how I edit, and how I post my music so it can go beyond my living room and out to the world.
My goal and my heart is to help Christian musicians use their gifts to the fullest. I have no other agenda than that! Nothing to sell, nothing in it for me… except the joy of seeing others walk more fully in their calling.
Please join me tonight at 7 PM Central Time if you’re interested or pass this along to others who might be!
I’ve also posted an interview I did last month with Cooper Smith, an up and coming Christian musician who shares some of his secrets for reaching hundreds of thousands of people with his songs.
It’s a great interview with lots of tips, whether you’re just getting started or have been at this for years. Here’s the link to my interview with Cooper. I think you’ll love hearing his heart for why he does what he does, and his encouragement that you can do it, too. https://youtu.be/BRlakoAayHw
Tonight I’ll be chatting live with Cooper Smith, an uber-talented singer, songwriter, and worship leader, about how to reach more people online with your music.
Whether you’re a singer, songwriter or musician or not, you’re welcome to join us for this special chat on Zoom. Tonight’s interview is part of my monthly group for Christian musicians to help them get their music out to more people, as I’d love to flood the world with more music from a Christian worldview.
As C.S. Lewis said about writing, “The world does not need more Christian literature. What it needs is more Christians writing good literature.” The same applies to music. Cooper’s music fits the bill as he writes from his heart about life and love and the feelings we all share.
If you miss tonight’s session, you can still join our group and watch the recordings later. It’s free, and you can sign up for reminders here and links to previous meetings here. We meet Zoom on the third Wednesday of each month starting at 7 PM Central Time.
I recently interviewed my good friend Al Lowry to ask about his gig, a music ministry he started at his church over 30 years ago.
Little did Al know when he woke up one Sunday morning and decided to go to church for the first time in 18 years that he was about to embark on the greatest adventure of his life. Driving through the streets, he saw a poster for a new startup church called Saddleback.
Rick Warren was preaching and his wife Kay was playing the piano for a couple hundred people who had gathered that day.
Al responded to Rick’s message, giving his life fully to Christ and soon after playing on the church’s first worship team. As the church grew, they hired their first worship pastor, Rick Muchow, who baptized Al and became a lifelong friend.
Along the way, Al realized there were more talented musicians coming to the church than could possibly play on the main stage, so he started a volunteer ministry called "Guitarists Into God" or "GIG." The group gathered weekly to worship, write songs, develop their skills, then go out into the community to use their gifts. They played for nursing homes, small groups, homeless shelters, and eventually other startup churches and mission trips around the world.
Al would pitch the idea to new members coming to the church, saying,
If your guitar is gathering dust under the bed, pull it out and use it… or give it away so others can put it to use!
This new group also helped take stress off the main stage worship team, as they were being asked to play more and more. And for the musicians and singers who weren’t able to be on the main stage for whatever reason, they were able to use their gifts more fully right where they were, rather than going to another church or letting their gifts go unused.
Just last week, after more than 30 years of doing this kind of ministry, Al was asked by one of the group’s original members if he would come lead worship at a nearby campground. Al said:
Robin felt inspired to start a weekly church service in a campground she lived in off a rural road near San Juan Capistrano, Ca. It was an old trail now popular with motorcyclists that drives past a tavern called Hell’s Kitchen.
Robin asked if I could play worship songs for the residents at the camp and her husband would preach. This request typifies what our guitar ministry is all about.
Through the years our church grew large in size, but we continued as a heart behind the scenes. Our outreach demonstrates how a guitar, a prayer, and a little imagination can serve God far beyond how we are accustomed to hearing it on church main stages.
A week ago my music pastor and mentor, Rick Muchow passed away. I wish he were around to hear this interview as he was so instrumental in allowing it to thrive. He’s greatly missed, as his spirit of true worship and encouragement was exactly what is required to make a ministry like Guitarists Into God thrive.
I wanted to share Al’s story with you to inspire you to consider "What’s Your Gig?" Maybe you have a gift or talent gathering dust that God might want you to put into use for Him? Maybe there’s a way you can use that gift to mobilize others and help THEM put THEIR GIFTS into action, too?
I hope you’ll watch Al’s story. As you do, I pray God might inspire you to start YOUR gig, too.
Today I’m launching a new series of relaxing music videos to help you relax, unwind, and get closer to the One who created you… and everything you see around you!
I’ve filmed these relaxing scenes around my home in Illinois and on a recent trip to Colorado, then set them to beautiful piano music by my AMAZINGLY talented sister, Marilyn Byrnes! I think you’ll find the videos beautiful and mesmerizing, perfect for relaxing, praying, thinking or calming an anxious heart.
I’m including the links below to all four videos, plus a playlist of all four videos in one link. You can listen to one at a time or click the playlist and listen for HOURS!
I’m also including some info below on a class I’ll be teaching TOMORROW NIGHT on zoom to help people get their music onto streaming services like Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Pandora, YouTube and more.
It’s easier than you might think! And I’m glad to show you how! I’d love to help you get your music and message out to the world. The class is free, and I’ll be teaching it live tomorrow night, so check out the links below to learn more. Please forward this note to anyone else who might be interested!
Here are the links to the new music videos…
The first features 100% pure piano set to the mesmerizing motion of windmills in the heart of the Great Midwest.
The second also features the windmills around our house, but at a different time of year. I love the way the sky changes as nighttime approaches.
The third features a romp through the snow-covered mountains of the Colorado Rockies set to lively Disney piano music. I love the scenery and the way my sons weave effortlessly in and out of the trees along the trail.
The fourth features a snow-covered day in my front yard this past winter when a neighbor came with his tractor (thankfully!) to clear several feet of snow from our lane. I love the peace and quiet of this early morning video after one of the heaviest snowfalls we’ve seen in years.
Lastly, if you’re a singer, songwriter, musician or composer, I’d love for you to join me tomorrow night for a special session of a new "Online Christmas Music Group" I started last month.
Tomorrow night, I’ll be teaching a free class on zoom to show how to upload music to EVERY streaming platform in one shot! I’ll be walking through a live demo of uploading one of my new singles, a beautiful piano and cello version of "Fairytale" from the movie Dr. Zhivago, to CDBaby.com. CDBaby will then send the song within days to dozens of music streaming music services like Spotify, YouTube, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Pandora, and more. (I’ll share the link where you can listen to this beautiful song in a few weeks!)
If you’d like to learn how to do this with your own music, I’d love to show you how! I love helping people get their music out to the world… especially music that can touch people’s hearts for God.
Do you have a message you want to get out to the world? You can! I hope you’ll be inspired by watching my recent interviews with some friends on my YouTube channel who are using their gifts in creative ways.
You can start by watching my interview with Merphy Napier. She has taken her love of books and turned it into a thriving YouTube channel reaching hundreds of thousands of people every day. It’s quite amazing. I hope you’ll check it out. https://youtu.be/aNXyUdOYYiw
You can also watch my interview with my cousin, Joan Moody, who uses her love of painting to share that joy with others. Her motto for her studio is to "Show Up and Dive In." She has had a huge spiritual influence on my life, propelling me forward in my faith in Christ in amazing ways. She has also helped me explore my own interest in art, helping me tap into some of my own creative gifts. You can watch here: https://youtu.be/EixbQNw9ePc
Lastly, here’s an interview with one of the most evangelistic and enthusiastic people I personally know, Nicki Green. Nicki has a knack for helping people see and step out in God’s calling in their lives, even when they might not be able to see it themselves. She calls this "Seeing Your Mountain on a Cloudy Day." Nicki has also had a huge influence on my life by calling forth some of the gifts God has given me. I hope you’ll check it out, too! https://youtu.be/8H0ZiylBmtQ
P.S. For those who are following my filmmaking journey, I heard this week that the ballet movie I produced, called "One Life," took top honors at another film festival… this time in Istanbul! The real-life Nicholas hails from Turkey himself, so I thought they might be interested in an inspirational movie about one of the their own. And they were… it won Best Christian Feature Film for March! The movie will now be entered into their annual awards event in May.
If you haven’t watched "One Life" yet, here’s a link to the documentary version of the movie, which I think you’ll find fascinating and get to enjoy scenes from the ballet, as well. https://youtu.be/14Dq8WKbYRw
In the opening scene of my new ballet documentary,I answer a question from the audience about how to find courage to step out in faith. I said:
"I’ve been encouraged over the years that you have everything you need to do everything God wants you to do… Of course, He provides for the birds of the air, but He doesn’t throw the food into the nest. They still have to get up early in the morning and go find it."
What do you need today? I pray that as you read these words today, God will give you a clear picture that you really do haveeverything you need to do all that He has put on your heart to do, and that He will show you how to gather it up and step out in faith, too.
To encourage you in this regard, I’d like to share a very recent answer to prayer about how God has provided everything I’ve needed for the filming of this new movie.
I heard from a banker friend years ago that the happiest people he knows are those who have "just enough." Too much and they worry about losing it, too little and they worry about how to get more. But those who have just enough, he said, seem to be the happiest people of all! I have to say I fully agree!
Sixteen months ago, I began praying and asking that God would provide everything we needed to make this movie. During that time, 100 people donated $18,091 towards our budget of $25,000. We released the movie just in time for Christmas on December 18, 2020, and it’s already had over 1,900 views. But there was still more God wanted to do.
Ten days ago, I released a "documentary" version of the ballet, something we had planned to do from the beginning, but we weren’t able to finish until now. It features scenes from the ballet interspersed with engaging interviews with the dancers and creators. I posted it on YouTube on March 20th, and I am thrilled that it has already been seen by many as well.
Then came the kicker: a friend asked me last week if I had received everything I needed for the movie yet, so I went to my GoFundMe page to see exactly how much was left to reach our goal. I launched my calculator and found I still needed $6,909.
I thought… that number sounds familiar. I remembered I had something like that in my ministry’s bank account when I balanced it just a few days earlier. I looked at my account and saw that I had exactly $6,909.88! It was everything I needed, with 88 cents left over to apply to a future project! :)
I felt God say to me, "Eric, you have just enough." And I remembered what my banker friend said, once again, that the happiest people he knew were those who have just enough. I agree! And even better, I agree that God really does provide everything we need to do everything He puts on our hearts to do.
Here’s a screen shot of my calculations when I discovered I had reached my goal. In looking at my records, the amount I needed "happened" to come in just two days before I launched the documentary online… the final piece of the project.
By faith, we kept going forward. And by God’s faithfulness, He brought in everything we needed. Hallelujah!
And that’s just the miracle on MY side of things. The bigger miracle is that God can now use these projects to reach many, many people for Christ, all around the world, with His life-changing message.
If you need a boost in your faith this Easter, I hope you’ll watch this show. It’s fun, it’s free, and it clearly points you to Jesus every step of the way, that He really does have everything you need, because everything you need comes from Him.
As Jesus said:
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear… Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them…
"So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ … your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." (from Matthew 6:25-33)
P.S. For those who were praying for me this past weekend at the Faith & Family Chicago Film Festival, I wanted to let you know that our projects took home three awards!!!
When I first talked to Reidland Tucker about directing our "One Life" ballet movie, he suggested I watch a documentary he thought could be a good model for our movie. And it was a good idea: to intersperse scenes from the ballet with interviews of the cast and creators of the show.
When we released the ballet last Christmas, we were only able to include the scenes from the ballet itself. But I’ve recently finished the "documentary" version of the film that we had talked about at the beginning.
And it’s beautiful! I love the ballet movie, but I also love the human interest aspect of the documentary as you get to hear insights from the hearts and minds of the dancers and creators. I think you’ll find it a rich and inspiring backstory to the main story we’re trying to tell: how one life … INCLUDING YOURS! … can touch the world for good.
I’d love for you to watch the documentary and let me know what you think! It premieres TONIGHT AT 7 PM (Central Time) at the link below. But if you miss it tonight, you can watch it anytime thereafter by clicking this same link:
In this engaging documentary, you’ll hear from:
Reidland Tucker, the film’s director and interviewer
Cynthia Dewar, the ballet’s artistic director
Erin-Elizabeth Morton, the ballet’s assistant director
Aubrey Addy, who dances as the Holy Spirit
Anna Klausli, who dances as Mary and Nick’s Mother
Leah Atten, who dances as Ruthie
Owen Ragland, who dances as Nicholas
Jack Ragland, who dances as Joseph and Nick’s Father
Kayla Medlin, who dances as the Ship’s Captain
Davis Stafford, who dances as the Magistrate
Matt Ludwig, the orchestrator of several songs in the film
Emilyn Young, who dances in the company
Hannah Norris, who dances as the Widowed Mother and Gabriel
and me! (Eric Elder), the author and producer
Plus, you’ll see the entire ballet interspersed with the interviews. So if you missed it at Christmas, or just want to watch it again with all the backstory included, I hope you’ll watch this new documentary edition. It’s not just for Christmas! It’s for anytime you need a boost in your faith and a reminder that God really does have a unique purpose for your life.
If you need some inspiration this Easter, I hope you’ll watch the whole documentary during this Holy time. But if you want just a sneak peak, here’s one scene from the middle of the movie called, "The Walk of Jesus." It tells the Easter story beautifully and energetically in just 5-6 minutes. Feel free to pass it along!
ALSO, would you pray with me that God will take the ballet movie and documentary far and wide?
I’ve submitted both versions of the movie to several film festivals in the hopes of giving the project even more exposure worldwide. And BOTH FILMS were recently accepted to be shown next weekend in Chicago at the "Chicago Faith & Family Film Festival"! The ballet movie will be shown on Friday night at 9, and the documentary will be shown on Sunday morning 9:25. I’ll be at the festival to introduce both films!
I’m waiting to hear back from several other film festivals that will take place later in the year in places like New York, North Carolina, Texas, Tennessee, and as far away as Denmark (who gave us the name of Santa Claus from his Danish name, "Sinterklaas") and Turkey (the birthplace of St. Nicholas)!!!
Please pray for these festivals, that they will help many to see, many to hear, and many to put their faith in the Lord.
Thanks for your prayers, and I hope you enjoy watching the films!
Click to listen to some relaxing piano music that my friends and I have recorded and put on The Ranch website!
Possible Online Christian Musicians Group
Would you be interested in joining a group for Christian musicians to help you get your music released online?
I’m thinking of starting such a group to help you reach more people with your music. The group would be free, and we’d meet once a month on Zoom. I’ve been putting my piano music online, and helping others do the same, for over 20 years. I’ve learned enough to fill a small library!
I’d love to share what I’ve learned to help you reach listeners on places like Spotify, YouTube, Amazon, Apple Music, Pandora and more. It’s easier than you might think! I know you can do it… with a little encouragement along the way.
If there’s enough interest in this group, we’ll be meeting once a month for the next 10 months to take you from start to finish, showing you what’s possible online, how and where to upload your music, how to handle licensing and copyrights, getting paid, building your audience, and building playlists.
I’ll be holding an informational meeting tonight on Zoom at 7 PM Central Time. If you can’t make the meeting tonight, but you’re still interested in future meetings, please email me at eric.If we have enough interest, we’ll keep going! I’ll be online 10-15 minutes before 7 PM Central for anyone who wants to join early and test their connection.
Here’s a one-minute clip of our behind-the-scenes prep on the set of "One Life," our new Christmas story ballet based on the book Lana and I wrote about the real-life St. Nicholas.
I can’t wait for you to see the whole show, but we have a lot of detailed editing before it’s ready.
I usually do a month-long fund raiser in November for our ministry, but this year I’ve chosen to focus solely on the "One Life" movie project.
If you could help us, this is our most pressing need right now. Since we’re a non-profit ministry, all gifts to this project are tax deductible to the fullest extent allowed by law.
Today’s the LAST DAY for a GREAT WAY to get a tax break for 2019! Just make your gift by MIDNIGHT TONIGHT! Click here to learn more or make a donation:
We had a tremendous launch two weeks ago, thanks to ALL of you! I so appreciate it.
We’ve had over 1,500 views so far, with still one more holiday weekend ahead of us (this weekend!).
If you haven’t watched it yet, I hope you’ll watch it soon, then share it with your family and friends! You can forward this email just as it is and let them know they can watch this incredible production right now, wherever they are!
I’ve created a new trailer you can share which incorporates some wonderful comments from viewers. I hope you’ll take just 90 seconds to watch it!
Then forward this on to anyone you think might be interested in seeing this "meltingly beautiful" production, as Ann Shakespeare in the UK called it in her wonderful review (thanks, Ann!).
Here’s the new trailer…
I’ve also put together several related videos you might be interested in, with behind-the-scenes interviews of the dancers and creators, audience reactions, reviews from professional dancers, plus playlists and readings and interviews about my new musical, "His Name Was Nicholas," also based on our book, "St. Nicholas: The Believer."
I hope you enjoy all these "extras," too!
I can’t thank you enough for helping me bring this movie to life. It’s truly been a 25-year dream come true. I’m so grateful for your support, encouragement, and "cheering me on" through this journey.
It makes me cry, and it’s a wonderful way to close out this year that’s brought so many tears for so many reasons… but some of them, like this one, are truly tears of joy! So thank you!
With love,
Here are the links to the trailer, the movie, plus all the "extras" I spoke about above… some of which I’m making public for the very first time today! Enjoy!
The new trailer…
The movie…
Interview with the dancers…
Interview with the creators…
Audience reactions…
Interview with the ballet directors…
Overcoming obstacles…
Review of the movie by two professional dancers…
Six songs from my new musical, fully orchestrated and vocalized by Matt Ludwig & friends…
A read-through, play-through, and sing-through of my new musical…
Interview with Kent Sanders about turning a book into a movie…
Interview with Joy Foglietta about life, ministry, and the ballet and musical…
Listen to some audience reactions after seeing the live shows we filmed!
Start a New Holiday Tradition
…with a beautiful story, beautiful music, beautiful dancing, and a beautiful message. If you haven’t watched it yet, watch our new Christmas movie,"One Life: A Christmas Story Ballet." It’s a touching retelling of the story of St. Nicholas, his faith in Christ, and the difference one life can make in the world.
Then click here to watch the story yourself. Some shows leave you entertained, but unchanged. But "One Life" will leave you entertained AND changed, knowing that your "One Life" can really make a difference, too. Watch now, and start a new holiday tradition!
With love,
P.S. And if you’d like to support this movie, we could still use your help! Your donations of any size help us make this movie freely available all around the world! There’s a free gift for all who donate! https://charity.gofundme.com/o/en/campaign/one-life-the-movie
Angels on pointe, from one of the spectacular scenes in "One Life: A Christmas Story Ballet"
Watch "One Life: The Movie" Now on YouTube!
Looking for a beautiful and inspiring Christmas activity for yourself, your family or friends? Watch "One Life: The Movie," our spectacular new Christmas movie we launched last night on YouTube!
The comments have been over-the-top, and I’m so grateful! I was especially touched by this one…
"Beautiful work. Love the music! I hope you can take it far and wide!" Brian Bird, writer and producer of CBS’s long-running series, "Touched By An Angel," and more recently, creator and producer of Hallmark Channel’s #1 original series, "When Calls the Heart."
It’s one thing for me to love the movie, but quite another to hear from the producer of two shows that I’ve loved watching myself over the years! I hope you like it, too.
"One Life" is heartwarming, inspirational, and most of all points people to Christ, the true centerpiece of Christmas. The movie is free to watch, over and over again. Please watch, enjoy, and share it far and wide!
P.S. Thanks to everyone who has made a donation to this movie. We’ve raised 2/3rds of our production costs so far, and have just 1/3rd to go!
We could still use your help! For a donation of ANY size, I’d love to send you a copy of "St. Nicholas: The Believer," the book on which this ballet is based.
And for a donation of $500 or more by the end of the year,I’d love to send you the book PLUS a soft-leather purse to put it in…a $200 value! These custom-made, 10-in-1 bags have been graciously donated for this purpose by some friends of our ministry at designabag.com. (Thank you, Cary and Kimberly!)
Although we can’t provide a Christmas delivery, we’ll get these out to you as soon as possible so you can enjoy them in the New Year. Thanks for helping us reach our goal!
If you’re ready for a new holiday tradition, I hope you’ll watch "One Life: The Movie," premiering FRIDAY NIGHT on YouTube!
"It’s the new Nutcracker!" says my friend Al Lowry, and he’s not far off. In fact, the original Nutcracker ballet premiered on the same date – December 18th – way back in 1892.
Since so many theaters around the world aren’t able to perform the Nutcracker this year, I think it’s a perfect time to start a new holiday tradition. I hope you’ll gather your family and watch "One Life" together.
It’s the rarely-told story of the real-life St. Nicholas, the forerunner of our modern-day Santa Claus, set to beautiful music, colorful staging, and wonderful dancing.
If you love Jesus, love Christmas, and love a good story, you’ll find all three in this new Christmas story ballet. It’s our gift to you this Christmas – from all 173 of us who put it together! – and it’s all free for you on YouTube!
Here’s a sneak peak from one of the spectacular numbers in the middle of the show, when Nicholas imagines the angels announcing the birth of Jesus, complete with music from the Hallelujah Chorus.
And if you’d like to help me present this gift to the world, I could still use your help!
GoFundMe sent me a note yesterday saying that I’m HALF-WAY toward my goal to cover the production costs for the movie. They said I "just need 78 people people to donate $153" AND THE SHOW WOULD BE COMPLETELY FUNDED! I would love this.
Who knows, maybe 128 years from now people will still be talking about "One Life" the way we talk about the Nutcracker today. (Lord, let it be, for there are still so many people who need to put their faith in You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.)
P.S. And in case you missed my behind-the-scenes answer to a question about finding faith to step out in faith, here’s my 5-minute video. I pray it encourages you that God can use YOUR steps of faith for Him, too!
I could use your help. Why? Please watch my answer to this question that was asked during the filming of our "One Life" Christmas ballet (about the real life St. Nicholas who lived in the 3rd and 4th centuries AD).
We’re releasing the movie on December 18th, and I can’t wait for the world to see it! But I COULD REALLY use your help to finish the project well. Here’s the link to see my answer and why I need your help…
P.S. For a donation of any size by THIS TUESDAY (#GivingTuesday),I’ll include your name in the credits of the movie as my way of saying thanks for cheering me on. I appreciate it so much!
I’ve just finished writing the full script & score for a new Christmas musical called His Name Was Nicholas! I can’t wait to share it with you!
So, starting tonight and for the next 25 nights, I’ll be reading through the script and playing all 25 songs so you can have a little Christmas cheer here in the middle of the year. We could all use a little lift right now, I think!
You can watch the podcast live at 10 pm Central every night (or anytime that’s convenient thereafter) on my YouTube channel at ericelder.com. It’s free, it’s fun, and it’s for EVERYONE… adults and kids, too!
To introduce the story to you, I’ve recorded a special "story behind the story" podcast with my good friend, Kent Sanders. You can watch the interview at the link below, then tune in tonight at to watch at ericelder.com and see how the story unfolds over the next 25 days!
You can also get a paperback copy of the full script and score from Amazon or my website if you’d like to follow along while I read it aloud.
ALSO! I’ve just finished 2 other books you might be interested in (trying to make the most of this pandemic time at home)!
The first is called My Stories of Faith, which I read on my nightly "Bedtime Stories of Faith" podcast during April and May. You can now get the book with all the stories in it as a way to encourage yourself or those you love. I’m praying many people will step out in faith as a result of reading the book to see what God will do. Click here to learn more or order a copy!
The second book is called "365 Daily Devotions with Eric," and it includes 365 devotions I’ve written over the years on topics like how to pray, how to get free, how to be more loving, how to be more gracious, and how to rebuild something that may be broken in your life.
I did a special edition of my podcast last night to announce all three of these books. I also included at the end of the podcast a few words about the "cancel culture" we’re currently living in and how we as Christians can best navigate it for ourselves. Here’s a link if you’d like to watch the special episode…
Do you have a book in mind you’d like to share with the world? This coming Wednesday, May 20 at 7 pm Central Time, I’ll be sharing on Zoom how to self-publish your book on Amazon. The class is free and publishing on Amazon is free!
My goal is to help you share your love for Christ with others around the world. Whether you write fiction or non-fiction, mysteries or thrillers, poetry or romance, you can impact people for Christ by offering them a Christian worldview to the issues they are facing today.
I’ve been meeting once a month this year with other writers who want to publish their books. I’ve posted each of these meetings online so you can watch along, too. Here’s what we’ve covered so far (click any link to watch).
These are in-depth discussions meant to help you think through your book from start to finish, and get it out to the world! (There’s nothing in it for me except the joy of seeing more Christians share their stories with the world and seeing more lives impacted by those stories. I’ve published dozens of books this way for myself and for others and glad to share what I’ve learned with you!)
Your story matters! It’s unique, and God can use it to reach people in a way that other people may not be able to do. I hope you’ll consider writing it down and sharing it. Who knows what God might do?!?
Here’s a video of our most recent session session, "Creating Your Interior," in which Sandy Egle, Kent Sanders, and I share tips on creating the interior of your book, with a step-by-step demonstration using Microsoft Word at the end.
In our next meeting, I’ll be sharing about "Uploading to Amazon," covering how to setup and upload your book to Amazon to make it available to the world.
Here’s the Zoom link where you can join us live this coming Wednesday, May 20th, at 7 pm Central Time. Feel free to connect 10-15 minutes early to test out your connection, as I’ll be in the chat room starting at quarter till. https://zoom.us/j/631002158
I’ve just posted a video on my new YouTube channel called, "Counting Sheep Online." With so many churches and ministries streaming their services right now, I thought it might be helpful for people to see a behind-the-scenes look at what the numbers mean when counting online viewers.
Twenty-five years of online ministry has giving me a bit of experience with online statistics. And how better to share my experience with you than through an action-packed, jaw-dropping video of nonstop numbers and analytics. (Don’t worry, it’s not as boring as it sounds… and how could it be when I’ve spiced it up with 10 of the best "Bad Dad Jokes" on counting?!)
In this video, I’ll give you a behind-the-scenes look at our church’s online statistics from Easter Sunday, 2020—a record-breaking Sunday worldwide for online church attendance. We’ll take a look at our stats from Facebook, YouTube, and Haivision (for streaming to our Church Online Platform, Roku, and AppleTV).
Here are "10 Views on Counting Online Views" that I’ll be sharing:
1. BIBLICAL VIEW: Why motivation for counting matters
2. INCREDIBLE VIEW: Why online numbers can seem unbelievable
3. PERSONAL VIEW: Why online numbers matter
4. PHILOSOPHICAL VIEW: Why what you count counts
5. EDUCATIONAL VIEW: How to increase your impact by looking at online numbers
6. TRADITIONAL VIEW: How in-person counting compares to online counting
7. PERPETUAL VIEW: Why online counting often means undercounting
8. PRACTICAL VIEW: Why involving viewers in counting helps your count
9. THEORETICAL VIEW: How to test and confirm your counting theories
10. SUPERNATURAL VIEW: Why you can trust God with the numbers in the end
"Bedtime Stories of Faith"
Speaking of counting sheep, I’m still streaming a live message every night at 10 pm Central Time to help people relax, unwind, and keep God at the forefront of their minds.
I call these "Bedtime Stories of Faith," and you can watch them nightly, either live or later, on my YouTube channel at ericelder.com. In each episode, I share a story, a song, and a prayer to give you a boost in your faith.
When my friend, Mary Felkins, asked God how she could help with their family finances, she was as surprised as anyone that God prompted her to write a book. And an inspirational romance novel at that.
This was nothing that Mary had ever thought about or wanted to do before, but she couldn’t deny what God was calling her to do. So she set out to learn the craft, wrote a draft, and has now published her first novel, Call to Love.
How did she do it? That’s the topic of my new podcast interview with her called "Writing Romance." I hope you’ll watch, for there are lessons shared that you can apply to your life no matter what God may be calling you to do.
My hope with these podcasts is to encourage you to step out in faith and use the gifts God has given you, even gifts you may not realize you have.
Did you know that God has prepared in advance things that He wants you to do? The Bible says: "For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."
If you don’t feel like you’re hitting on all cylinders, I hope you’ll listen to this podcast.I believe you’ll discover new ways God can use you, especially in these important days.
For those writers or would-be writers among you, I’ve started a new writers group that meets online once a month to help you learn more about the process. Mary was a guest at a recent meeting, which you can watch here: https://youtu.be/TVLMQqjqqU4
Today is #GivingTuesday, a special day set aside to help non-profits like ours raise funds during these unique times. If you’d like to support a project dear to my heart, here’s a link where you can donate to help us finish well with the creation of our Christmas movie called "One Life," still on target to be released for Christmas this year! https://charity.gofundme.com/o/en/campaign/one-life-the-movie
I’d like to show you a "first look" at one of the scenes from our upcoming movie about the life of St. Nicholas. In this scene, our teenage Nicholas is looking for guidance, wanting to know the next step God wants him to take in his life.
In this intimate dance between Nicholas and the Holy Spirit (danced by Owen Ragland and Aubrey Addie of the South Carolina Christian Dance Theater), Nicholas prays and the Spirit guides him to go to the Holy Land. You can see the Holy Spirit leading Nicholas—even though Nicholas can’t see the Holy Spirit.
The same is often true in my life. Even though I can’t see the Spirit of God with my physical eyes, I can feel the Spirit’s guidance and presence many times.
I hope you’ll watch this video, in which I not only share a "first look "from the movie, but I also share the "story behind the story," including some of the highest highs and lowest lows of trying to bring this movie to life.
We’re still on target for a release date of Christmas 2020, but we could use your help to get there. We’ve setup a GoFundMe page to offset some of the costs of the production, and we’re just over $5,000 towards our $25,000 goal by Christmas.
Because of the impact of the Corona virus on so many non-profits like ours, GoFundMe has announced they’ll match any donations made towards this project between now and May 10, up to $1,000 total. If you can give $100, GoFundMe will give $100, too! Gifts of any size are truly appreciated and will help us to bring this production to life.
Join me for "Easter @ Home" at 9 or 11 a.m. Central Time, with playback throughout the day at eastview.church/online.I’ll be in the chat room during both services if you’d like to chat or pray.
It’s a great day to celebrate the most miraculous day in history! Jesus still alive today and working in my life and the lives of hundreds of thousands of people throughout the world.
Whether you’ve put your faith in Him before or not, I pray you’d put your faith in Him today for EVERYTHING in your life. He really is there, and He really does care!
My New Nightly Message
And if you need a boost throughout the week, I’ve been sharing a personal message online every night for the last 10 days.
Each night, I share a story, a song, and a prayer to help you relax, unwind and get a boost in your faith. We could all use more faith, especially during these special days, so I hope you’ll watch and be encouraged.
Click here to see all 10 episodes, each of which lasts about 10-15 minutes. As you watch, be sure to hit "subscribe" on my YouTube Channel to be notified whenever a new episode is posted.
For quite some time, I’ve wanted to start a nightly podcast to help keep God at the forefront of our minds. There’s so much bad news it’s hard to stay focused on what God is doing in and through our lives.
So starting tonight at 10 pm Central Time, I’m going to begin sharing some stories of how God has worked in and through my life as a way to encourage you that God will work in and through your life, too.
I’ll also be sharing a prayer and a song to lift your spirits and send you off to sleep with God’s peace.
I’m calling these nightly readings "Bedtime Stories of Faith," and whether you listen live or later, I pray they’ll give you peace and encouragement to face whatever you might be facing.
I’ll be sharing some of God’s most amazing miracles and breakthroughs I’ve seen with my own eyes, plusencouragement from the Word of God as a reminder that He’s been doing the same for a very long time.
You’ll be able to watch these episodes on YouTube or Facebook, and feel free to play them over and over again or play the whole playlist back to back. Even if you fall asleep while you listen, I’ll consider that a success!
My goal is to help you keep God at the forefront of your mind. He’s always there and always cares about every single thing going on in your life. I hope you’ll listen, not only to the stories, but also to God’s voice as He speaks to you, too.
Here’s a link to the first chapter, streaming tonight at 10 p.m., called "The Gift of Faith."
And here’s a link to the entire playlist, which will have all the chapters as I share them, starting with tonight’s episode. Be sure to subscribe to my YouTube Channel to get notifications whenever there’s a new episode!
Need a boost in your faith? I’m launching a new podcast to give you just that!
In Episode 1, you’ll hear how God can use not only your gifts and your talents for Him, but also your brokenness. My special guest, Nicki Green, has the most uncanny ability to see someone’s mountain on a cloudy day… including mine!
She’ll share with you why it’s so important, how she does it, and how you can, too. You can watch right now on YouTube!
And if you like it, be sure to leave a comment and hit subscribe on YouTube so you won’t miss any episodes in the future.
ALSO! Nicki Green will be in our Sunday morning Zoom video chat after each service!Our services start ONLINE at 9 and 11 a.m. Central Time at: eastview.church/online
Nicki’s chat room will be open at the end of each service around 10 a.m. and 12 noon Central Time. Just click the link below to join us for a video chat! (Or join by audio or just listen in! No pressure. Just come!) Here’s the link to join Nicki’s After-Service Chat: https://zoom.us/j/995236339
I know many of you are going through some very hard things right now. Know that I’m praying for you today!
If you’re not able to attend a church locally this week, join me online for an hour you won’t regret! In addition to running my own ministry, I also help out at our church as their Online Campus Pastor.
Last week we had over 12,000 watch with us online! We’ve put together another service for you this morning that you can watch anytime, anywhere. Share it with your friends!
Here’s a 15-second welcome message from our Senior Pastor…
I’ll be online in the chat room this morning with some of our other volunteers during both the 9 and 11 a.m. services (Central Daylight Time). We can watch the service together!
We’d also be glad to talk and pray with you in the chat room (at live.eastview.church),so please join us online during the live stream if you’d like.
If you don’t see this message till later, you can always watch any of our services online, anytime throughout the the week at: eastview.church/online
I’m praying for you today, trusting that the God who created you will sustain you through whatever’s ahead of you. He is faithful, consistent and worthy of all praise, always.
I’ve been in planning meetings all weekend to help take our church fully online this weekend! (I don’t preach there, but I help out with their Online Campus, so this weekend has been extra busy.)
If you’re feeling bored, lonely, scared, stir crazy or all of the above, join us for church online! We’re streaming live at 9 and 11 a.m. Central Time with playback throughout the week at: http://eastview.church/online.
If you don’t have a local church to attend, please join us and invite your friends! It’s a great way to share the hope we have in Jesus Christ.
Last month, I met with a group of writers to talk about writing and see if there was any interest in starting an online Christian writers group. There was!
So starting this Wednesday, and every 3rd Wednesday of each month for the rest of the year, we’ll be meeting online with anyone who wants to talk about writing, specifically about turning your thoughts into books.
I’ve written and self-published dozens of books over the years and would be glad to talk about how you can, too! All for free, for the world to see! I’d love for you to join us!
I’ve posted a video of our January meeting on YouTube so you can watch and get a feel for the group and what we’ll be talking about for the year. Our January meeting was on the topic of "Why Write?" and how God can use your unique words to touch hearts everywhere. https://youtu.be/7yGn1Q0e9iE
Zoom Link for February
Our next meeting will be on Wednesday, February 19, from 7-9 pm Central Time.You can join us live at this link: https://zoom.us/j/631002158
If you’ve never used Zoom before, it’s a free video chat software that will let you see and hear everyone in the group in real time. This link will work on your phone, tablet, laptop or desktop.
Feel free to connect 10-15 minutes before 7 pm to test out your connection, as I’ll be in the chat room starting at quarter till. Please join the video chat using both audio and video as it will help us even more to encourage one another. We’ll start promptly at 7.
Our topic for February’s meeting is "Getting Started." We’ll talk about choosing your topic, what to include, and how to get started writing those first words and chapters. You’ll walk away with a game plan for writing your entire book from beginning to "The End."
Here are the meeting dates for the rest of the year (all dates are on the 3rd Wednesday of each month):
Wednesday, Feb 19, 2020
Wednesday, Mar 18, 2020
Wednesday, Apr 15, 2020
Wednesday, May 20, 2020
Wednesday, Jun 17, 2020
Wednesday, Jul 15, 2020
Wednesday, Aug 19, 2020
Wednesday, Sep 16, 2020
Wednesday, Oct 21, 2020
Wednesday, Nov 18, 2020
Wednesday, Dec 16, 2020
Upcoming topics include: getting started, dealing with fear, writing and rewriting, getting feedback, formatting text, designing a cover, self-publishing (on Amazon, for free!), traditional publishing, marketing your book, launching your book, and writing a book in a month!
Forward this message to your friends who might be interested in joining this group! They can sign up to get these monthly updates for themselves at this link: https://confirmsubscription.com/h/d/734C9A8C76F80949
I’d like you to hear from one of hundreds of people who saw "One Life" in person, the Christmas Story ballet we’re turning into a movie.
I love hearing people’s reactions to the show. It’s one thing to hear from a salesman about their product, but another to hear from a "satisfied customer."
Here’s a one-minute clip from just one "satisfied customer" who tells us what he loved about the show and why.
I can’t wait for you to see it, too!
Would you like to help us get this movie out to the world? You can help us greatly by making a donation on our GoFundMe page:
For your donation of any size, I’ll be glad to send you a sneak peak of the movie before we unveil it to the general public. Just be sure to include your email address with your donation so I can send you the link!
My sister (Marilyn Byrnes) and I have put together a playlist of 5 hours of Christmas piano music, including 84 songs from 29 albums and 20 artists–including my sister and me!
The playlist is called "Relaxing Christmas Piano Music for the Holidays" and features instrumental piano music great for relaxing, studying, cooking, cleaning, wrapping, decorating, and dinner parties!
It’s available now on Pandora, YouTube, Spotify and Apple Music. It’s free if you have access to any of these services. Just click a link to start streaming!
When I was looking through the footage of our first day of filming this story of the life of St. Nicholas, I was astounded at the number of gorgeous shots we had of the dancers, their emotions, and their colorful costumes. There was only one thing missing… their feet! This was a ballet, and I wanted to showcase their incredible dancing.
So the next day, I said to our director and cameramen: “More feet, more feet!” From that point on, the quest began to capture as many feet as possible, dancing their way through the story in ways that are truly remarkable!
I can’t wait to share this film with you when it’s done, even if you’ve never seen a ballet before, as I believe you’ll be moved by it like those who have seen it in person. It’s an all-out display of passionate faith, moving many to tears as they hear God speaking to them through the sights, sounds, movements, and storyline.
We have much to do to bring this film to life, and we could use your help! I’ve brought in some of the most talented people I know to help out with the production to make it the highest quality possible. I want people to be able to enjoy the film, over and over, for years to come.
If you’d like to help with a donation of any size, I’d be glad to send you a special sneak peak of movie when it’s done before we unveil it to the general public. Just be sure to include your email address with your donation so I can send you the link!
You can make a donation on our GoFundMe page at this link:
P.S. Here’s another scene from last year’s production of “One Life,” called “There’s Always Something You Can Give.” It’s a song I wrote, sung by Cooper Smith and orchestrated by Matt Ludwig, as a reminder that God can use each of us, even in the smallest of ways to make the biggest of differences. I can’t wait to show you the scene from this year’s production, filmed up close and personal with full cinematic cameras!
When I was looking through the footage of our first day of filming this story of the life of St. Nicholas, I was astounded at the number of gorgeous shots we had of the dancers, their emotions, and their colorful costumes. There was only one thing missing… their feet! This was a ballet, and I wanted to showcase their incredible dancing.
So the next day, I said to our director and cameramen: "More feet, more feet!" From that point on, the quest began to capture as many feet as possible, dancing their way through the story in ways that are truly remarkable!
I can’t wait to share this film with you when it’s done, even if you’ve never seen a ballet before, as I believe you’ll be moved by it like those who have seen it in person. It’s an all-out display of passionate faith, moving many to tears as they hear God speaking to them through the sights, sounds, movements, and storyline.
We have much to do to bring this film to life, and we could use your help! I’ve brought in some of the most talented people I know to help out with the production to make it the highest quality possible. I want people to be able to enjoy the film, over and over, for years to come.
If you’d like to help with a donation of any size, I’d be glad to send you a special sneak peak of movie when it’s done before we unveil it to the general public. Just be sure to include your email address with your donation so I can send you the link!
You can make a donation on our GoFundMe page at this link:
P.S. Here’s another scene from last year’s production of "One Life," called "There’s Always Something You Can Give." It’s a song I wrote, sung by Cooper Smith and orchestrated by Matt Ludwig, as a reminder that God can use each of us, even in the smallest of ways to make the biggest of differences. I can’t wait to show you the scene from this year’s production, filmed up close and personal with full cinematic cameras!
25 years ago, my wife Lana and I had the idea to make a movie about the life of St. Nicholas, the real one who lived back in the 4th century AD. His story is fascinating, but not many people have ever heard about it.
7 years ago, we finished writing a book about the life of St. Nicholas called "St. Nicholas: The Believer." Many have read it and been blessed year after year as they hear this heartwarming new story for Christmas based on the old story of St. Nicholas.
1 year ago, a Christian dance company in South Carolina was looking for a new Christmas story to stage for their dancers. When the director, Cynthia Dewar, searched online for "a new Christmas story" she pulled up our book, thought it sounded interesting, and ordered it.
She says she fell in love with the story immediately and passed it along to her co-director, Erin-Elizabeth Morton. Together, they carefully composed a note to me asking for permission to stage the story for their Christmas performance with over 200 dancers from their studio!
I was thrilled that they wanted to stage the story and that their hearts for the Lord and commitment to excellence were fully in line with mine.
A few months later, when I saw the show they put together, I said, "We’ve got to film this! This has to go out to the whole world!" I believed it would give boundless HOPE to millions.
SO THIS YEAR, we’re making a movie of the production in order to get it out to as many people as possible all around the world!
Would you like to help? We’ve hired a film crew of some of the best filmmakers I know, rented some of the highest caliber cinematic cameras , and are working to create an awesome experience that families will want to watch over and over and over again for years to come.
I’ve committed to doing this project personally, no matter what it takes, because I’m THAT BIG of a FAN of their show! But many of you have asked how you can be involved too, and to be honest, I would LOVE your help! "Many hands make light work," and your hands holding mine, will help to lighten my load as we finish crafting this beautiful new movie.
This is FUN! I love everything about this project. And I would love for you to be a part of it.
For your donation of any size, I’ll be glad to send you a special sneak peak of movie before we unveil it to the general public. Just be sure to include your email address with your donation so I can send you the link!
You can make a donation on our GoFundMe page at this link:
P.S. Here’s a scene from last year’s production of "One Life" called "Holy Night." Imagine how it will look as a full-length film with cinematic cameras!
Dear friends, it’s been six months today since my unexpected trip to the hospital after experiencing a heart attack, which led to open heart surgery and a quadruple bypass.
I’d like to share a special message about what I learned, not only from that experience, but also from a series of God-moments in my life. The message is called "The Importance of Showing Up," and I hope it will encourage you to keep showing up, even when you feel the most like giving up .
Through this, I felt God say to me:
"Eric, 9/10ths of the Christian walk is just showing up, not even what you say or do or don’t say or don’t do. When you show up… at church, at work, at the food pantry, at small groups… that is 9/10ths of the work, and allows you to be used and blessed in hundreds of ways. Keep showing up! And I will bless you and bless many others through you."
I hope you’ll listen to this special message… and keep showing up!
I’ve added 4 new devotional series to The Ranch website that you can sign up to receive each day by email.You can sign up now with the click of a button… just use the highlighted links in the paragraphs below.
For those interested in rebuilding something in your lives, you might like Nehemiah: Lessons In Rebuilding, based on one of the most ambitious rebuilding projects of all time. You’ll learn how to rebuild whatever’s broken in your life: whether it’s a house, a church, a ministry, a business, a marriage or a relationship. Let God speak to you through these words of Nehemiah. (15 devotions)
If you’re interested in reading through some of the most popular passages in the Bible, check out The Top 20 Passages In
The Bible, featuring 20 of the most cherished passages in the best-selling book of all time. Each of these passages contain some of the most inspiring, convicting, encouraging, and faith-building passages I’ve ever encountered. (20 devotions)
If you’d like to take a tour of the land where Jesus walked, sign up for Israel: Lessons from the Holy Land,featuring devotions based on 30 special locations throughout the Holy Land. Each devotion includes an inspiring message, plus a link to a short (1-2 minute) video clip shot on location. (30 devotions)
And if you’re ready for a new perspective on life, sign up forRomans: Lessons In Renewing Your Mind. You’ll learn how to think clearer, live better, and enjoy life more fully. No book of the Bible has changed my life more drastically than Romans, and this daily devotional tells why. (45 devotions)
You can sign up for any or all of these daily devotions by just clicking the highlighted links in the paragraphs above, or click here to see all the daily devotions now available on The Ranch website.
(Note: If you’re already receiving "365 Daily Devotions with Eric," you don’t need to sign up for these devotions separately. You’ll get them as part of your daily messages throughout the year. You can still sign up here for "365 Daily Devotions with Eric" and start receiving them today.)
Piano, piano, piano!
If you like piano music, or even if you’ve never listened to it much before, my sister and I have just finished creating a playlist of some of THE BEST PIANO MUSIC on the PLANET! That might sound a little grand, but it’s true! I love all these songs, and I hope you will, too.
The playlist includes 5 hours of continuous piano music, featuring over 90 songs from 20 albums and 15 different artists (including my sister, Marilyn Byrnes, and me!)
Here are the links. I hope you’ll listen, either on The Ranch website or on one of your favorite streaming platforms. Each playlist offers a slightly different listening experience, depending on if you have a paid or free account on these services, so try them all and see which one you like the best!
Perfect for relaxing, studying or chilling out! Click to listen now on:
Featuring the music of Marilyn Byrnes, Eric Elder, Philip Aaberg, Andre Previn, David Lanz, Michael Gettel, Yiruma, Laurie Z., David Benoit, Stephen Sondheim, Jeremy Lubbock, Emile Pandolfi, Jennifer Thomas, Kevin Kern, and Alice Perrey.
I can’t thank you enough for your thoughts and prayers, cards and meals, and true care and concern for me during my recovery from open heart surgery 3 months ago. This picture is of a sticker book a friend gave me to earn gold stars for all my "little wins" along the way… like making it through a difficult procedure or climbing to the top of a flight of stairs. It really helped!
Thankfully, I’m back to 80% health now. Praise God! When I wrote my last health update, 2 months ago, I was not doing well at all… my shortness of breath and fatigue were affecting everything I did. I was afraid it would take a year or more to get back to where I am now.
But about 1 month ago it was like a "fever broke" and I was suddenly on the fast-track to healing. I could breathe again! I could go for 3-4 hours at a time before I had to rest again! And, quite honestly, I had hope for my future again for the first time in months.
Someone asked me "What was the most surprising thing about this process?" and I have to say it was just how dark and depressing my recovery would be. One of my friends told me that when her dad had open heart surgery, the nurse at the hospital sent them home with a bottle of anti-depressants. My friend said, "But he’s not depressed." The nurse said: "Oh, he will be!"
I wouldn’t have expected my heart surgery to take that type of toll on me, but it did. I felt broken, like damaged goods that no one would ever want again. How could I be useful or helpful to anyone, when I couldn’t even pull up my own pants? I was totally broken.
But God has been reminding me about the incredible value of brokenness. Jesus said, "This is My body, broken for you," (1 Corinthians 11:24, KJV), just before suffering a horrifying death. But how many billions of people have since looked upon His suffering and poured out their thanks to God for it? There is a resurrection on the other side of brokenness.
If you’re feeling broken today, let me remind you what God has been reminding me: "The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit" (Psalm 34:18). He cares about your heart. He cares about your life. He is still "for" you, just as He is still "for" me.
Brokenness can often be a precursor to blessings. I’m encouraged by this thought by the Benham brothers in their new book Bold & Broken:"A horse that’s broken can pull the chariot for its master, but a horse that’s unbroken is put out to pasture." Brokenness has incredible value, depending on how we respond to it.
I can see it now, this side of recovery! But going through it, everything looked pretty dark and dismal. I still have a ways to go to get back to 100% (and I’m praying for 150%, now that I’ve gotten this "upgrade" to my heart!) So I would appreciate your continued prayers to help me get there. I can see it now: there really is a resurrection on the other side of brokenness.
Thanks so much for your prayers. They really do make a difference!
New Devotionals Online: Acts & Ephesians!
I’ve put 2 more daily devotionals online recently, a 30-day devotional called "Acts: Lessons In Faith," and a 20-day devotional called "Ephesians: Lessons In Grace."
If you need a boost in your faith, I hope you’ll sign up for "Acts: Lessons In Faith." I truly believe that God can do whatever He says He can do, whether it’s healing, forgiving, restoring, reconciling, you-name-it… He can do it! The book of Acts is filled with such stories, and I’d love for you to read them along with me.
You’ll get the Acts devotional automatically (or may have already gotten it!) if you’ve signed up for "365 Daily Devotions with Eric." But you can also sign up for this 30-day devotional on its own at this link:
And if you’d like to learn more about grace, I hope you’ll sign up for "Ephesians: Lessons In Grace."
If you’ve never read the book of Ephesians, I think you’ll find it filled with both grand thoughts about God and practical suggestions for your life. For those who have read it before, you’ll be amazed at how many of the most famous Bible verses are found in this very short book. You can sign up to start receiving it today at the link below (and again, if you’re already receiving "365 Daily Devotions with Eric," You don’t need to sign up for the Ephesians devotional separately).
And for those who aren’t getting my "365 Daily Devotions with Eric," you can still sign up for them anytime and get every one of my daily devotions from the beginning. You’ll get both "Acts: Lessons In Faith" and "Ephesians: Lessons In Grace" along the way. They’re all free and they’ll help you grow stronger in your faith every day.
Some of you may have heard that I’ve taken on a new, part-time role at my church as their Online Campus Pastor. That means that when you click to watch our live services, you’ll see my face pop up to welcome you to our church and invite you to be involved with us as much as you want to be, regardless of where you might live in the world!
We really take out online guests seriously, with volunteers in the chat room during every online service, chatting and praying with anyone who wants to talk or has a prayer request.
You can join us live, online, at either 9 or 11 a.m. CST on Sunday mornings at live.eastview.church. We start streaming from our worship center about 15 minutes before the service begins for anyone who wants to join the chat early and say hello beforehand.
If you miss the live service, no problem! You can always watch it later, anytime during the week, at the same link: live.eastview.church. Just go to the link and click "play."
I love our church! I hope you’ll take a chance and check it out! You can learn more about it at eastview.church.
I can’t thank you enough
for your thoughts and prayers, cards and meals, and true care and
concern for me during my recovery from open heart surgery 3 months ago.
This picture is of a sticker book a friend gave me to earn gold stars
for all my “little wins” along the way… like making it through a
difficult procedure or climbing to the top of a flight of stairs. It
really helped!
Thankfully, I’m back to 80% health now. Praise
God! When I wrote my last health update, 2 months ago, I was
not doing well at all… my shortness of breath and fatigue were
affecting everything I did. I was afraid it would take a year or more to
get back to where I am now.
But about 1 month ago it was like a “fever broke” and
I was suddenly on the fast-track to healing. I could breathe again! I
could go for 3-4 hours at a time before I had to rest again! And,
quite honestly, I had hope for my future again for the first time in
months.
Someone asked me “What was the most surprising thing about this process?” and
I have to say it was just how dark and depressing my recovery would be.
One of my friends told me that when her dad had open heart surgery,
the nurse at the hospital sent them home with a
bottle of anti-depressants. My friend said, “But he’s not depressed.”
The nurse said: “Oh, he will be!”
I wouldn’t have expected my heart surgery to take that type of toll on me, but it did. I felt broken, like damaged goods that no one would ever want again. How could I be useful or helpful to anyone, when I couldn’t even pull up my own pants? I was totally broken.
But God has been reminding me about the incredible value of brokenness. Jesus said, “This is My body, broken for you,” (1
Corinthians 11:24, KJV), just before suffering a horrifying death. But
how many billions of people have since looked upon His suffering and
poured out their thanks to God for it? There is a
resurrection on the other side of brokenness.
If you’re feeling broken today, let me remind you what God has been reminding me: “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit” (Psalm 34:18). He cares about your heart. He cares about your life. He is still “for” you, just as He is still “for” me.
Brokenness can often be a precursor to blessings. I’m encouraged by this thought by the Benham brothers in their new book Bold & Broken:“A horse that’s broken can pull the chariot for its master, but a horse that’s unbroken is put out to pasture.” Brokenness has incredible value, depending on how we respond to it.
I can see it now, this side of recovery! But
going through it, everything looked pretty dark and dismal. I still
have a ways to go to get back to 100% (and I’m praying for 150%, now
that I’ve gotten this “upgrade” to my heart!) So I would appreciate your
continued prayers to help me get there. I can see it now: there really
is a resurrection on the other side of brokenness.
Thanks so much for your prayers. They really do make a difference!
New Devotionals Online: Acts & Ephesians!
I’ve put 2 more daily devotionals online recently, a 30-day devotional called “Acts: Lessons In Faith,” and a 20-day devotional called “Ephesians: Lessons In Grace.”
If you need a boost in your faith, I hope you’ll sign up for “Acts: Lessons In Faith.” I
truly believe that God can do whatever He says He can do, whether it’s
healing, forgiving, restoring, reconciling, you-name-it… He can do
it! The book of Acts is filled with such stories, and I’d love for you
to read them along with me.
You’ll get the Acts devotional automatically (or may have already gotten it!) if you’ve signed up for “365 Daily Devotions with Eric.” But you can also sign up for this 30-day devotional on its own at this link:
And if you’d like to learn more about grace, I hope you’ll sign up for
“Ephesians: Lessons In Grace.”
If
you’ve never read the book of Ephesians, I think you’ll find it filled
with both grand thoughts about God and practical suggestions for your
life. For those who have read it before, you’ll be amazed at how many of the most famous Bible verses are found in this very short book. You can sign up to start receiving it today at the link below (and again, if you’re already receiving “365 Daily Devotions with Eric,” You don’t need to sign up for the Ephesians devotional separately).
And for those who aren’t getting my “365 Daily Devotions with Eric,” you can still sign up for them anytime and get every one of my daily devotions from the beginning. You’ll get both “Acts: Lessons In Faith” and “Ephesians: Lessons In Grace” along the way. They’re all free and they’ll help you grow stronger in your faith every day.
Some of you may have heard that I’ve taken on a new, part-time role at my church as their Online Campus Pastor. That means that when you click to watch our live services, you’ll see my face pop up to welcome you to our church and invite you to be involved with us as much as you want to be, regardless of where you might live in the world!
We really take out online guests seriously, with volunteers in the chat room during every online service, chatting and praying with anyone who wants to talk or has a prayer request.
You can join us live, online, at either 9 or 11 a.m. CST on Sunday mornings at live.eastview.church. We start streaming from our worship center about 15 minutes before the service begins for anyone who wants to join the chat early and say hello beforehand.
If you miss the live service, no problem! You can always watch it later, anytime during the week, at the same link: live.eastview.church. Just go to the link and click “play.”
I love our church! I hope you’ll take a chance and check it out! You can learn more about it at eastview.church.
Dear Friends, This heart pillow is a souvenir from my unexpected stay last month at BroMenn Hospital. I had gone to the Emergency Room on March 3rd with some strong chest pains and three days later was having open heart surgery and a quadruple bypass! My surgeon signed my pillow with a Sharpie and drew on it the four bypasses he had put in my heart.
I’m at home now recovering, doing well in many ways but still needing your prayers in others, mainly, that the doctors would be able to diagnosis and treat some shortness of breath I’ve been having ever since the surgery. It’s affecting my ability to sit, stand, walk, talk, eat, sleep… just about every aspect of my life!
I’m very thankful I had a "warning shot," as my surgeon calls my heart attack, as I had no other symptoms to indicate that my heart needed this major repair. I know not everyone gets such a warning, so I’m thankful for it and for those who have been able to help me get through this—including you, if you could keep me in your prayers.
I have 2 more updates for you below that I hope you’ll find encouraging, so please read on!
Podcast Interview
I was recently interviewed by my good friend Kent Sanders for his innovative podcast called "Born to Create." We talked about "Taking Control of Your Destiny" and how to fulfill God’s call on your life in whatever situation you find yourself.
I was able to share some deeply personal stories of how God has walked with me, talked with me, and encouraged me to fulfill the calling He has had on my life. The podcast was just released about 10 days ago, but has already started touching people in profound ways, for which I’m thankful.
I hope you’ll listen, too. Here are a few comments from others who have heard it:
"I listened to your podcast this morning titled “Taking Control of Your Destiny” and loved it! I honestly have to say that this podcast is now one of my all-time favorite podcasts of any podcast I have listened to! It spoke to me in so many ways, being as I’m also in full-time ministry and also an entrepreneur. I will for sure come back and listen to this one over again." Keith
"Loved your conversations with Eric Elder. Great combination of practicality and passion. Tugged at the heart strings. Thanks for the posts." Jim
I’ve also just put another of my 30-day devotionals online, this one based on the book of Matthew and called "Jesus: Lessons In Love."
I love Matthew’s stories about Jesus for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that I put my faith in Christ over 30 years ago while reading about Him in the stories Matthew recorded for us.
If you’d like to learn how to love God, love others and love yourself more, I think you’ll really really benefit from this devotional. Jesus is, after all, the greatest "lover" of all time, and Matthew gives us example after example of how we can be better lovers as well.
You’ll get this devotional automatically if you’re already signed up for "365 Daily Devotions with Eric" (after the Exodus series). But if you’re not signed up for that, you can sign up separately to get this new devotional delivered by email every day for the next 30 days at this link:
(And if you haven’t signed up for my "365 Daily Devotions with Eric," and would like to start receiving them from the beginning, you can do that instead byclicking here! You’ll get "Jesus: Lessons In Love" along the way. The daily devotions are free and a great way to grow stronger in your faith every day.)
Thanks for everything, especially your prayers as I continue to recover in the upcoming weeks!
Dear Friends, This heart pillow is a souvenir from my unexpected stay last month at BroMenn Hospital. I had gone to the Emergency Room on March 3rd with some strong chest pains and three days later was having open heart surgery and a quadruple bypass! My surgeon signed my pillow with a Sharpie and drew on it the four bypasses he had put in my heart.
I’m at home now recovering, doing well in many ways but still needing your prayers in others, mainly, that the doctors would be able to diagnosis and treat some shortness of breath I’ve been having ever since the surgery. It’s affecting my ability to sit, stand, walk, talk, eat, sleep… just about every aspect of my life!
I’m very thankful I had a “warning shot,” as my surgeon calls my heart attack, as I had no other symptoms to indicate that my heart needed this major repair. I know not everyone gets such a warning, so I’m thankful for it and for those who have been able to help me get through this—including you, if you could keep me in your prayers.
I have 2 more updates for you below that I hope you’ll find encouraging, so please read on!
Podcast Interview
I was recently interviewed by my good friend Kent Sanders for his innovative podcast called “Born to Create.” We talked about “Taking Control of Your Destiny” and how to fulfill God’s call on your life in whatever situation you find yourself.
I was able to share some deeply personal stories of how God has walked with me, talked with me, and encouraged me to fulfill the calling He has had on my life. The podcast was just released about 10 days ago, but has already started touching people in profound ways, for which I’m thankful.
I hope you’ll listen, too. Here are a few comments from others who have heard it:
“I listened to your podcast this morning titled “Taking Control of Your Destiny” and loved it! I honestly have to say that this podcast is now one of my all-time favorite podcasts of any podcast I have listened to! It spoke to me in so many ways, being as I’m also in full-time ministry and also an entrepreneur. I will for sure come back and listen to this one over again.” Keith
“Loved your conversations with Eric Elder. Great combination of practicality and passion. Tugged at the heart strings. Thanks for the posts.” Jim
I’ve also just put another of my 30-day devotionals online, this one based on the book of Matthew and called “Jesus: Lessons In Love.”
I love Matthew’s stories about Jesus for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that I put my faith in Christ over 30 years ago while reading about Him in the stories Matthew recorded for us.
If you’d like to learn how to love God, love others and love yourself more, I think you’ll really really benefit from this devotional. Jesus is, after all, the greatest “lover” of all time, and Matthew gives us example after example of how we can be better lovers as well.
You’ll get this devotional automatically if you’re already signed up for “365 Daily Devotions with Eric” (after the Exodus series). But if you’re not signed up for that, you can sign up separately to get this new devotional delivered by email every day for the next 30 days at this link:
(And if you haven’t signed up for my “365 Daily Devotions with Eric,” and would like to start receiving them from the beginning, you can do that instead byclicking here! You’ll get “Jesus: Lessons In Love” along the way. The daily devotions are free and a great way to grow stronger in your faith every day.)
Thanks for everything, especially your prayers as I continue to recover in the upcoming weeks!
Want to dive into one of the most dramatic, yet practical books in the Bible? I’ve just finished putting all 50 of my daily devotions for the book of Exodus online. You can sign up to start receiving them today! They’re free… and a great way to get a boost in your faith EVERY DAY! Read on and sign up!
Exodus Devotions Now Online!
Exodus is one of the most dramatic books in the Bible. Feature films have told various stories from the book of Exodus, ranging from Cecil B. Demille’s epic The Ten Commandments, to DreamWorks’ animated The Prince of Egypt, to Stephen Spielberg’s classic Raiders of the Lost Ark.
But what I like most about the book of Exodus is not how dramatic it is, but how practical it is.
I began this study at a time when I wanted to expand my own ministry. I wanted to learn how God used Moses to set hundreds of thousands of people free. I thought I might learn a few lessons for how God might use me to set others free, too.
I was right. But instead of finding one or two lessons, I found fifty!
I began applying these lessons to my own life and ministry and began to see results immediately. These are the lessons that I’ll be sharing with you throughout this book―lessons from stories that are over 3,000 years old and lessons from from my own life today; lessons that include some of my favorite Bible stories and lessons that include some of my favorite personal stories of my own walk with God.
God wants to set you free. He wants to keep you free. And He wants to use you to set others free.May God bless you―and many others―as you read and apply these lessons to your life.
(NOTE: If you’ve ALREADY signed up for "365 Daily Devotions with Eric," you DON’T need to sign up again for these Exodus devotions. They will be sent to you AUTOMATICALLY after the "Two Weeks With God" devotions. And if you’d LIKE to sign up for all "365 Daily Devotions with Eric," you can do that now byclicking here! You’ll get the Exodus devotions included, starting on week 3.)
Want to dive into one of the most dramatic, yet practical books in the Bible? I’ve just finished putting all 50 of my daily devotions for the book of Exodus online. You can sign up to start receiving them today! They’re free… and a great way to get a boost in your faith EVERY DAY! Read on and sign up!
Exodus Devotions Now Online!
Exodus is one of the most dramatic books in the Bible. Feature films have told various stories from the book of Exodus, ranging from Cecil B. Demille’s epic The Ten Commandments, to DreamWorks’ animated The Prince of Egypt, to Stephen Spielberg’s classic Raiders of the Lost Ark.
But what I like most about the book of Exodus is not how dramatic it is, but how practical it is.
I began this study at a time when I wanted to expand my own ministry. I wanted to learn how God used Moses to set hundreds of thousands of people free. I thought I might learn a few lessons for how God might use me to set others free, too.
I was right. But instead of finding one or two lessons, I found fifty!
I began applying these lessons to my own life and ministry and began to see results immediately. These are the lessons that I’ll be sharing with you throughout this book―lessons from stories that are over 3,000 years old and lessons from from my own life today; lessons that include some of my favorite Bible stories and lessons that include some of my favorite personal stories of my own walk with God.
God wants to set you free. He wants to keep you free. And He wants to use you to set others free.May God bless you―and many others―as you read and apply these lessons to your life.
(NOTE: If you’ve ALREADY signed up for “365 Daily Devotions with Eric,” you DON’T need to sign up again for these Exodus devotions. They will be sent to you AUTOMATICALLY after the “Two Weeks With God” devotions. And if you’d LIKE to sign up for all “365 Daily Devotions with Eric,” you can do that now by clicking here! You’ll get the Exodus devotions included, starting on week 3.)
Do you like daily devotions? If so (or even if you’ve never tried them before), I’m excited to announce that starting today you can sign up to receive "365 Daily Devotions with Eric!" Each day I’ll share some thoughts from the Bible and some thoughts from my heart to give you a boost in your faith. To learn more or to sign up, read on…
365 Daily Devotions with Eric!
I love daily devotions. Why? Because I love spending quiet time with God, every day. He centers me. He gives me hope. He gives me His thoughts on what He wants me to do with my day.
And more than anything else, He reminds me that He loves me—even if I don’t get anything else done with my day than to spend that time with Him.
If you’d like a boost in your faith EVERY DAY, I’d love to send you a daily devotional—a short reading with some thoughts from the Bible and some thoughts from my heart—every day for the next 365 days!
You can start right now, today!It’s easy, it’s free, and the daily devotionals will be delivered to your inbox at the same time every day, based on the time of day that you sign up.
The devotions contain a range of topics, from why God waits to answer our prayers and how to deal with loss and grief, to how to get free, stay free and set others free from the bonds that are holding them down.
The featured passages come from a range of books in the Bible, from Old Testament books like Exodus, Psalms and Nehemiah to New Testament books like Matthew, Acts and Romans.
And the stories I share come from my heart, containing real life examples of how God has spoken to me, led me and guided me through the various biblical passages I highlight.
My hope for this series is to give you a boost in your faith every day, trusting and believing that God is there and really cares—for you. Nothing else is more important.
As the Bible says:
"Without faith, it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists, and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him" (Hebrews 11:6).
God is there, and He really cares. I can’t wait for you to start this series! I really do believe God will speak to you daily if you’ll listen for His voice.
Click here to start the series, which begins with two weeks’ worth of devotions from my devotional book, Two Weeks With God. At the end of the two weeks, you can sign up for more! They’re all free, and you can unsubscribe at any time.
I hope you enjoy your new year, and I hope you enjoy your time with God!
Do you like daily devotions?If so (or even if you’ve never tried them before), I’m excited to announce that starting today you can sign up to receive “365 Daily Devotions with Eric!” Each day I’ll share some thoughts from the Bible and some thoughts from my heart to give you a boost in your faith. To learn more or to sign up, read on…
365 Daily Devotions with Eric!
I love daily devotions. Why? Because I love spending quiet time with God, every day. He centers me. He gives me hope. He gives me His thoughts on what He wants me to do with my day.
And more than anything else, He reminds me that He loves me—even if I don’t get anything else done with my day than to spend that time with Him.
If you’d like a boost in your faith EVERY DAY, I’d love to send you a daily devotional—a short reading with some thoughts from the Bible and some thoughts from my heart—every day for the next 365 days!
You can start right now, today! It’s easy, it’s free, and the daily devotionals will be delivered to your inbox at the same time every day, based on the time of day that you sign up.
The devotions contain a range of topics, from why God waits to answer our prayers and how to deal with loss and grief, to how to get free, stay free and set others free from the bonds that are holding them down.
The featured passages come from a range of books in the Bible, from Old Testament books like Exodus, Psalms and Nehemiah to New Testament books like Matthew, Acts and Romans.
And the stories I share come from my heart, containing real life examples of how God has spoken to me, led me and guided me through the various biblical passages I highlight.
My hope for this series is to give you a boost in your faith every day, trusting and believing that God is there and really cares—for you. Nothing else is more important.
As the Bible says:
“Without faith, it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists, and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6).
God is there, and He really cares. I can’t wait for you to start this series! I really do believe God will speak to you daily if you’ll listen for His voice.
Click here to start the series, which begins with two weeks’ worth of devotions from my devotional book, Two Weeks With God. At the end of the two weeks, you can sign up for more! They’re all free, and you can unsubscribe at any time.
I hope you enjoy your new year, and I hope you enjoy your time with God!
As we announced a few months ago, Greg and I have some new opportunities on the horizon so we’re going to be sending you our messages from two different email addresses as two separate ministries—starting tomorrow!
Greg will continue sending you his daily Christian quotes, Bible verses and occasional smiles every Monday through Friday from message@thisdaysthought.org.
And I (Eric) will continue sending you encouraging messages from time to time on weekends to help you stay strong in your faith from eric@theranch.org. (You might want to “whitelist” both of these addresses to be sure you receive our messages to your inbox.)
You’ll also notice our top banners are changing… “This Day’s Thought from The Ranch” will change to “This Day’s Thought” from Greg and “What’s New at The Ranch” from me.
A few other notes:
Prayer requests will continue to be received at “The Ranch” on a confidential prayer page called “A Quiet Place to Pray.”
Our app for iOS and Android devices will be discontinued.
Donations for “This Day’s Thought” can now be made directly at thisdaysthought.org/make-a-donation and for “The Ranch” directly at theranch.org/make-a-donation. While Greg and I will continue working together behind-the-scenes to help each other with our ministries, we will be raising our support and funding for our two ministries separately.
I’ll share more in the weeks ahead about some of these new opportunities in “What’s New at The Ranch,” including new music, new messages, new books, new podcasts, new interviews, new devotions and more—all designed to help you put your faith in Jesus Christ for everything in your life. What Isaiah the prophet said in the Bible is still happening today:
“See, I am doing a new thing; Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland” (Isaiah 43:19).
Thanks for coming along with us this far, and I’m looking forward to our days ahead. The best really is yet to come. P.S. If you should have any questions, you can contact me at eric@theranch.org and Greg at greg@thisdaysthought.org.
Special Note… Change of (email) address! Starting this Monday, January 21st, we’ll be sending you our daily thoughts from this email address: message@thisdaysthought.org. You might also “white list” this sending address by adding it to your Contact list, etc.
We expect a smooth transition, but just wanted to give you a heads-up before the change in case you stop receiving our daily thoughts for any reason.
There are no disappointments to those whose wills are buried in the will of God.
Frederick W. Faber
“But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins…” He said to the paralytic, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”
Mark 2:10-12
The New International Version
Very few people take the trouble to use their brains as long as their prejudices are in working condition.
Special Note… Change of (email) address! Starting this Monday, January 21st, we’ll be sending you our daily thoughts from this email address: message@thisdaysthought.org. You might also “white list” this sending address by adding it to your Contact list, etc.
We expect a smooth transition, but just wanted to give you a heads-up before the change in case you stop receiving our daily thoughts for any reason.
While the Kingdom of God as the realm in which God’s will is perfectly done continues to be future, the Kingdom as the active saving power of God has come into the world in the person and activity of Christ to redeem men from the kingdom of Satan.
George E. Ladd
And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Change of (email) address! Starting this Monday, January 21st, we’ll be sending you our daily thoughts from this email address: message@thisdaysthought.org. You might also “white list” this sending address by adding it to your Contact list.
We expect a smooth transition, but just wanted to give you a heads-up before the change in case you stop receiving our daily thoughts for any reason.
There is no need to plead that the love of God shall fill our heart as though he were unwilling to fill us. He is willing as light is willing to flood a room that is opened to its brightness; willing as water is willing to flow into an emptied channel. Love is pressing round us on all sides like air. Cease to resist, and instantly love takes possession.
Amy Carmichael
He trusted in the Lord the God of Israel; so that there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him, nor among those who were before him.
The life of faith is not a life of mounting up with wings, but a life of walking and not fainting. Faith never knows where it is being led, but it loves and knows the One who is leading.
Oswald Chambers
Praise the Lord! Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, Who delights greatly in His commandments. His descendants will be mighty on earth; The generation of the upright will be blessed. Wealth and riches will be in his house, And his righteousness endures forever.
God Incarnate is the end of fear; and the heart that realizes that he is in the midst, that takes heed to the assurance of his loving presence, will be quiet in the midst of alarm. “No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper, and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn.” Only be patient and be quiet.
F. B. Meyer
For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;
Because some of you have asked if we made our goal in our 2018 fundraiser, I thought I’d answer it here…
No, we didn’t, but we’re so grateful for all the funds that did come in!
We received a total of $16,431.19… a record for us in terms of total funds raised during our year-end fundraiser.
I love this chart because it shows all 237 gifts that came in and how each gift, ranging from $3 to $1,000, contributed to the total amount. This chart beautifully illustrates that many hands really do make light work.
I’d like to share one more chart with you, though. It shows the total number of donors to our fundraiser compared to our total number of subscribers.
I share this chart just as a fact of fundraising. Less than 1% of our subscribers ever make a donation to our ministry. That’s not a complaint, just a fact. You’ll find similar stats for “listener supported radio” and other kinds of fundraisers.
We’re happy to provide our daily and weekend messages freely to anyone who wants them, and we’re thankful for those who contribute to make it possible.
But the truth is that Greg and I have been making up the difference each year from our own personal resources and other funds we have raised behind-the-scenes to help make this ministry possible.
We have new ministry opportunities before us, however, and we were hoping to transfer some of the financial weight of this ministry to those who benefit directly from it. For this reason, we set our fundraising goal at $60,000, which means we fell short of that goal by about $44,000.
So we are in the process of restructuring how we do the ministry so we can keep it going as strongly as possible and continue sending you these wonderful daily messages, while still pursuing all of the other opportunities before us.
I share all this because we like to present you with the facts, keep you in the loop with what’s going on, and let you know how you can help, if you’re so inclined. We’ll be letting you know in the next week or two the changes we’re making in how you’ll receive our messages.
Even though our year-end fundraiser is over, if you’d still like to contribute, please know that every gift you make truly does lighten the financial load. Many hands really do make light work! As the Bible says:
“Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2).
Thanks to those of you who asked, and thanks to those of you who read this far!
Please know that this list is always free to you with no obligation to give. We’re happy to share whatever we have. Sometimes, though, we need to be good receivers as well as good givers in order to accomplish all that God has put on our hearts to do.
And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year:
“Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.”
And he replied:
“Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God.
That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.”
M. Louise Haskins
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
To be sure, we cannot make the wind blow. But we do not need to do so, for it is already blowing. Wherever the Son of God goes, the winds of God are blowing, the streams of living water are flowing, and the sun of God is smiling. He is the bodily guarantee that the sun and streams and wind of God are round me. I do not need to seek them. I am already encircled by the rush of wind and water and the radiance of light when Jesus begins to speak.
Helmut Thielicke
“This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’”
Faith is the Christian’s foundation, hope is his anchor, death is his harbor, Christ is his pilot, and heaven is his country.
Jeremy Taylor
I will praise you with the harp for your faithfulness, my God; I will sing praise to you with the lyre, Holy One of Israel. My lips will shout for joy when I sing praise to you—I whom you have delivered. My tongue will tell of your righteous acts all day long,
(Click to watch or listen to this 7-minute message)
My 2018 felt like a failure. It wasn’t, but it felt like it was.
That’s because one of my heartfelt hopes and dreams for the year didn’t happen.
And because the one thing I hoped would happen didn’t happen, it colored the way I saw everything else that happened in 2018. Like a bit of glass in my eye from the shattered mirror in Hans Christian Anderson’s story “The Snow Queen,” that one shard in my eye affected the way I saw everything else.
But a more objective look at my 2018 reveals a different view than the one I see only through my glass-distorted eye.
2018 was filled with friends who have continued to support and encourage me in my life: a Monday morning foursome of guys who check in each week via video chat for an hour, a group of a dozen or more of us who do ministry together at church and who also share our hopes and dreams and struggles along the way, a few close friends who call or take calls at any hour of the day or night to keep me from going off a cliff, and my family who does life with me and who laughs and cries and eats and prays with me day by day. For these, I am so thankful.
2018 was filled with travel and speaking opportunities ranging from talking about the wonders of God’s creation with 80 junior highers at a summer camp for a week in Indiana to talking about the joys and pitfalls of godly and ungodly intimacy to 450 young adults during a weekend in Colombia. I spoke multiple times to a local county board about a building project that would affect my life and the lives of hundreds of others for years to come. I led 3 very small groups of 3-5 people each, spoke at 3 retreats of 12-120 each, shared sermons at 3 churches of 300-400 each, and spoke at the wedding of a family friend with 100 others listening in, all of whom were touched by God at these events in meaningful ways. For these, I am so thankful.
2018 was filled with healthy living and helpful diagnoses, having finally reached an ideal weight after 8 years of weighing less than ideal, seeing a few of my vital stats come into normal ranges after being on the edges of normal for awhile, getting regular exercise and getting rid of a sleeping device I feared I’d have to use for the rest of my life. On the flip side, I’ve had some medical tests this year, now that I’ve reached the age to do such routine testing, some of which have helped me see I still have farther to go and more work to do so I don’t shortchange my life from even one day that God has in mind for me. For these, I am so thankful.
2018 was filled with helping others achieve their dreams and goals, from recording some gifted pianists and getting their music online to encouraging some gifted writers and getting their words out to the world. And I’ve stepped into a new role at our church this year, first as a volunteer and since September as a part-time, paid staff member, helping to grow their online ministry to reach thousands more with the good news of Christ. For these, I am so thankful.
And 2018 was filled with some personal achievements that have been a long time in coming, from completing a 9-year renovation project at my home turning an attic into a personal retreat center to watching a 25-year writing project about the life of St. Nicholas turn into a wonder-filled stage production in the form of “a Christmas story ballet.” I’ve enjoyed trips to the west coast to celebrate a birthday of a friend and to the east coast in honor of the memory of my late wife, Lana, and took in two fantastic Broadway shows. I’ve enjoyed playing my piano and seeing my kids go after their own dreams. For these, I am so thankful.
I’m not where I want to be, and I’m not where I could be. But with God’s help and the help of others who love me, I think I’m better than I used to be.
The story of “The Snow Queen,” it turns out, is more relevant to my life than I realized.
The story was written, at least one biographer believes, after Hans Christian Anderson went through a personal heartache as well. That real-life event so impacted him that he wrote about it in allegory form, capturing a condition that affects us all universally.
The beauty of the story is that it also points to the solution to the problem of having bits of glass in our eyes which distort our vision: to return to the One who gave us our lives, our Lord who loves us unconditionally and who will never leave us nor forsake us.
Anderson tells in his story how our heartfelt tears can wash away those bits of glass, tears that were sparked by a friend who cared, and who pointed him back to Christ. He writes:
“Gerda shed hot tears, and when they fell upon him they went straight to his heart. They melted the lump of ice and burned away the splinter of glass in it….
“Kay burst into tears. He cried so freely that the little piece of glass in his eye was washed right out.”
The story ends with a verse from the Bible and a verse from a hymn, read by a grandmother to these two young friends who had been through so much:
“Both of them had forgotten the icy, empty splendor of the Snow Queen’s palace as completely as if it were some bad dream. Grandmother sat in God’s good sunshine, reading to them from her Bible:
“‘Except ye become as little children, ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.’
“The two looked into each other’s eyes, and at last they understood the meaning of their old hymn:
“’Where roses bloom so sweetly in the vale,
There shall you find the Christ Child, without fail.’
“And they sat there, grown-up, but children still–children at heart. And it was summer, warm, glorious summer.”
As 2018 has ended and 2019 has come, I’m reminded that the tears I’ve shed weren’t wasted tears; they’re part of the healing love that flows from God above, the One who renews our vision and restores our souls to see the world anew. For this, I am so thankful.
My prayer for you this year is the same as my prayer for myself, that God would renew your vision and restore your soul as you head into 2019, knowing that He sees every tear and walks beside you always–even when you have no more tears left to cry.
May God bless you abundantly in 2019, and may He give you His vision for your New Year. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
You must learn to make your evils your great good and to spin comforts, peace, joy, communion with Christ, out of your troubles. They are Christ’s wooers, sent to speak on your behalf to himself.
Samuel Rutherford
The priests took their positions, as did the Levites with the Lord’s musical instruments, which King David had made for praising the Lord and which were used when he gave thanks, saying, “His love endures forever.” Opposite the Levites, the priests blew their trumpets, and all the Israelites were standing.
2 Chronicles 7:6
The New International Version
A little Swedish girl was walking with her father one night under the starry sky, intently meditating on the glories of heaven. At last, looking up to the sky, she said, “Father, I have been thinking that if the wrong side of heaven is so beautiful, what will the right side be?”
He brought light out of darkness, not out of a lesser light; he can bring your summer out of winter, though you have no spring; though in the ways of fortune, or understanding, or conscience, you have been benighted until now, wintered and frozen, clouded and eclipsed, damped and benumbed, smothered and stupefied till now, now God comes to you, not as in the dawning of the day, not as in the bud of the spring, but as the sun at noon.
John Donne
Thou hast put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound.
There is nothing that makes us love a man so much as praying for him.
William Law
But he said to them, “You give them something to eat.” They said, “We have no more than five loaves and two fish—unless we are to go and buy food for all these people.” For there were about five thousand men. And he said to his disciples, “Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each.” And they did so, and had them all sit down. 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. And they all ate and were satisfied. And what was left over was picked up, twelve baskets of broken pieces.
I suppose when we wake on January 1 the world will look the same. But there is a reminder of the Resurrection at the start of each new year, each new decade. That’s why I also like sunrises, Mondays, and new seasons. God seems to be saying, “With me you can always start afresh.”
Ada Lum
That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate; Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.
Today’s the last day of our year-end fundraiser. We’re currently at $14,156… up from $13,889 in 2017 and $11,792 in 2016. A HUGE blessing, to be sure!
But with our goal this year of $60,000 to do all that God has put on our hearts to do, we’re still $45,844 short of that goal.
What do we do if we don’t meet our goal? We regroup, we replan, and we restructure. Ultimately, we follow the wisdom God gave to King Solomon in Proverbs 3:5-6:
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.”
If you’re like me, you had plans for 2018. Some of mine have not come to pass the way I had hoped or expected or believed they would. Others have come to pass in ways that have exceeded my highest expectations! What do I do with that mix of results? I do the same as above. I follow the wisdom God gave to King Solomon in Proverbs 3:5-6:
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.”
Perhaps you’re ending 2018 like me and wondering what 2019 will bring. Can I encourage you to do the same? Follow the wisdom God gave to King Solomon in Proverbs 3:5-6:
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.”
We make our plans. We pray to God. We trust Him with all our heart.
If you’ve given already, thank you! If you’ve meant to give but haven’t yet, we’d still love your help.
There’s so much more we’d love to accomplish for Him.
If you wonder how your life can touch the world, I hope you’ll watch this message I shared last week with a congregation here in Illinois!
In this message, I also share some video clips and a song on the piano from our recent ballet called “One Life,” based on the book we’ve been featuring these past 7 Sundays called “St. Nicholas: The Believer.”
To watch the message, click the picture below or click this link.
And if you’d like to watch a LIVE worship service today at 9 or 11 a.m. Central Time (and recorded for playback later anytime during the week at the same link), visit live.eastview.church.
P.S. I’ll be doing a baptism today at the end of the 11 o’clock service of an online viewer who is coming in to be baptized! Be encouraged; people are coming to Christ all around the world.
We were chaff, now we are wheat;
we were dross, now we are gold;
we were ravens, now we are doves;
we were goats, now we are sheep;
we were thorns, now we are grapes;
we were thistles, now we are lilies;
we were strangers, now we are citizens;
we were harlots, now we are virgins;
hell was our inheritance, now heaven is our possession;
we were children of wrath, now we are sons of mercy;
we were bondslaves to Satan, now we are heirs of God and co-heirs with Jesus Christ.
James Bisse
But grow in spiritual strength and become better acquainted with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be all glory and splendid honor, both now and forevermore. Good-bye.
2 Peter 3:18
The Living Bible
Men give advice; God gives guidance.
Leonard Ravenhill
Ministry Members…We thank you for your overwhelming support over these last 20 years. As we now prepare for our next year of ministries, The Ranch and This Day’s Thought, we prayerfully ask that you might again support our present year-end fundraising efforts. We are seeking a firm financial foundation from which to go forward, and this next year, as we change our ministry’s structure so we can maximize our many ministry opportunities, will be a pivotal time in our ministry history. Thank you sincerely for considering supporting us financially to help in all these efforts!
To our wonderful subscribers… our daily thoughts will follow, but I wanted to share a story with you.
I was raising funds one time for myself and 2 others to go on a missions trip overseas. We had been asked to speak at a dozen events there and to encourage others in sharing their faith.
I believed strongly in the mission, but with just a few days left before our trip, we had still only raised about 15% of the total we needed for the 3 of us to go.
I had one more opportunity to share the need with our church before the deadline. But as the worship leader that morning, I had been so wrapped up in the worship that I forgot all about letting the people know about the need!
I was sitting down after the service with the pastor and his father, after everyone else had left, when I realized my mistake. I told them how I was so caught up in worship that I had forgotten to share the need. I was sorry, but I didn’t know what else I could do.
The pastor’s father asked how much we still needed, so I told him the amount. He said, “I usually give that same amount to a different mission project each year, but I haven’t given it away yet this year. I’d like to give it to you.” He wrote a check that covered the whole balance of our trip! In the weeks that followed, the 3 of us were able to board a flight and touch the lives of thousands of people, training them to encourage others put their faith in Christ, too.
I remembered that story this morning as we have raised just over 20% of our goal this year for this ministry. We are so thankful for the $12,095.05 we’ve raised so far and for the 186 subscribers who have blessed us with their gifts. But with just 5 days left in the year, and our goal this year of $60,000, I feel just like I did after the service that Sunday morning, sitting down and wondering how God could possibly meet the balance of our need.
Perhaps you could be an answer to our prayers? It would be such a blessing, not only to us, but to the thousands of others we’re able to reach each day with these encouraging messages. People like:
Peter in Germany: “I spend much of my time in a suitcase traveling to other countries. Being able to receive your daily posts are such a beautiful and enriching part of my day.”
Fred in Granada: “Keep up the good work. I so look forward to the daily messages.”
Deanna in Idaho: “Thank you for making a daily difference!!!”
and John in Illinois: “Please accept this donation to your fine ministry.”
If you’d like to make a donation, we’d truly appreciate it… as would the thousands of others we’re able to reach each day with an encouraging word for their faith. Thanks so much!
Or send your gift to:
Eric Elder Ministries, 25615 E 3000 North Road, Chenoa, IL 61726 USA
If we are willing to take hours on end to learn to play a piano, or operate a computer, or fly an airplane, it is sheer nonsense for us to imagine that we can learn the high art of getting guidance through communion with the Lord without being willing to set aside time for it. It is no accident that the Bible speaks of prayer as a form of waiting on God.
Paul S. Rees
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teach and admonish one another in all wisdom, and sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
It is distrust of God to be troubled about what is to come; impatience against God to be troubled with what is present; and anger at God to be troubled for what is past.
Simon Patrick
And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near.
Ephesians 2:17
The English Standard Version
Hezekiah took his morning mail, with its bad news, and forwarded it to God.
William Vander Hoven
Ministry Members…We thank you for your overwhelming support over these last 20 years. As we now prepare for our next year of ministry with The Ranch and This Day’s Thought, we prayerfully ask that you might again support our present year-end fundraising efforts. We are seeking a firm financial foundation from which to go forward, and this next year, as we change our ministry’s structure so we can maximize our many ministry opportunities, will be a pivotal time in our ministry history. Thank you sincerely for considering supporting us financially to help in all these efforts!
Wishing you a most joyous and meaningful Christmas celebration! Greg and Eric
A Christmas Prayer
O God, our loving Father, help us rightly to remember the birth of Jesus, that we may share in the song of the angels, the gladness of the shepherds, and the worship of the Wise Men. May the Christmas morning make us happy to be your children and the Christmas evening bring us to our bed with grateful thoughts, forgiving and forgiven, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.
Robert Louis Stevenson
And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city. Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child. So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
If we could condense all the truths of Christmas into only three words, these would be the words: “God with us.” We tend to focus our attention at Christmas on the infancy of Christ. The greater truth of the holiday is His deity. More astonishing than a baby in the manger is the truth that this promised baby is the omnipotent Creator of the heavens and the earth!
John F. MacArthur, Jr.
The following month God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a village in Galilee, to a virgin, Mary, engaged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of King David. Gabriel appeared to her and said, “Congratulations, favored lady! The Lord is with you!” Confused and disturbed, Mary tried to think what the angel could mean. “Don’t be frightened, Mary,” the angel told her, “for God has decided to wonderfully bless you! Very soon now, you will become pregnant and have a baby boy, and you are to name him ‘Jesus.’ He shall be very great and shall be called the Son of God. And the Lord God shall give him the throne of his ancestor David. And he shall reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom shall never end!” Mary asked the angel, “But how can I have a baby? I am a virgin.” The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit shall come upon you, and the power of God shall overshadow you; so the baby born to you will be utterly holy—the Son of God.”
Luke 1:26-35
The Living Bible
A Christmas candle is a lovely thing;
It makes no noise at all,
But softly gives itself away;
While quite unselfish, it grows small.
Eva K. Logue
Ministry Members…We thank you for your overwhelming support over these last 20 years. As we now prepare for our next year of ministries, The Ranch and This Day’s Thought, we prayerfully ask that you might again support our present year-end fundraising efforts. We are seeking a firm financial foundation from which to go forward, and this next year, as we change our ministry’s structure so we can maximize our many ministry opportunities, will be a pivotal time in our ministry history. Thank you sincerely for considering supporting us financially to help in all these efforts!
MERRY CHRISTMAS! Today, I’m posting the conclusion of our story, St. Nicholas: The Believer.
I’m also preaching a special Christmas message, live and online this morning from Central Church in Streator, Illinois! You can watch live at this link at 9:30 a.m. CST (or watch the replay at the same link starting later in the day on Monday). I’d love to help bring the Christmas story to life for you this year–to YOUR LIFE!
And now, here’s Part 7 and the Conclusion of St. Nicholas: The Believer.
ST. NICHOLAS: THE BELIEVER
A new story for Christmas based on the old story of St. Nicholas
by Eric & Lana Elder
Nicholas stood at his favorite spot in the world one last time: by the sea. Eighteen years had passed since he had retuned to Myra from the council in Nicaea. In the days since coming home, he continued to serve the Lord as he had always done: with all his heart, soul, mind and strength.
Nicholas had come to the shore with Dimitri and Anna Maria, who had brought with them one of their grandchildren, a young girl seven years old, named Ruthie.
Ruthie had been running back and forth in the waves, as Dimitri and Anna Maria tried to keep up with her. Nicholas had plenty of time to look out over the sea and as he often did, look out over eternity as well.
Looking back on his life, Nicholas never knew if he really accomplished what he wanted to in life: to make a difference in the world. He had seen glimpses along the way, of course, in the lives of people like Dimitri, Samuel, Ruthie, Sophia, Cecilia and Anna Maria.
He had also learned from people like the ship’s captain that when the captain arrived in Rome, his ship miraculously weighed exactly the same as before he had set sail from Alexandria—even after giving the people of Myra several years’ worth of grain from it. Reminders like these encouraged Nicholas that God really had been guiding him in his decisions.
He still had questions though. He never quite knew if he had done the right thing at the council in Nicaea. He never quite knew if his later private conversations with Constantine might have impacted the emperor’s personal faith in Christ.
He was encouraged, however, to learn that Constantine’s mother had also made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land just as Nicholas had done. And after her visit, she persuaded Constantine to build churches over the holy sites she had seen. She had recently completed building a church in Bethlehem over the spot where Jesus was born, as well as a church in Jerusalem over the spot where Jesus had died and risen from the dead.
Nicholas knew he had had both successes and mistakes in his life. But looking back over it, he couldn’t always tell which was which! Those times that he thought were the valleys turned out to be the mountaintops, and the mountaintops turned out to be valleys. But the most important thing, he reminded himself, was that he trusted God in all things, knowing that God could work anything for good for those who loved Him, who were called according to His purpose.
What the future held for the world, Nicholas had no idea. But he knew that he had done what he could with the time that he had. He tried to love God and love others as Jesus had called him to do. And where he had failed along the way, he trusted that Jesus could cover those failures, too, just as Jesus had covered his sins by dying on the cross.
As Nicholas’ father had done before him, Nicholas looked out over the sea again, too. Then closing his eyes, he asked God for strength for the next journey he was about to take.
He let the sun warm his face, then he opened the palms of his hands and let the breeze lift them into the air. He praised God as the warm breeze floated gently through his fingertips.
Little Ruthie returned from splashing in the water, followed closely by Dimitri and Anna Maria. Ruthie looked up at Nicholas, with his eyes closed and his hands raised towards heaven. Reaching out to him, she tugged at his clothes and asked, “Nicholas, have you ever seen God?”
Nicholas opened his eyes and looked down at Ruthie, then smiled up at Dimitri and Anna Maria. He looked out at the sunshine and the waves and the miles and miles of shoreline that stretched out in both directions before him. Turning his face back towards Ruthie, Nicholas said, “Yes, Ruthie, I have seen God. And the older I get, the more I see Him everywhere I look.”
Ruthie smiled, and Nicholas gave her a warm hug. Then just as quickly as she had run up to him, she ran off again to play.
Nicholas exchanged smiles with Dimitri and Anna Maria, then they, too, were off again, chasing Ruthie down the beach.
Nicholas looked one last time at the beautiful sea, then turned and headed towards home.
EPILOGUE
So now you know a little bit more about me–Dimitri Alexander–and my good friend, Nicholas. That was the last time I saw him, until this morning. He had asked if he could spend a few days alone, just him and the Lord that he loved. He said he had one more journey to prepare for. Anna Maria and I guessed, of course, just what he meant.
We knew he was probably getting ready to go home, to his real home, the one that Jesus had said He was going to prepare for each of us who believe in Him.
Nicholas had been looking forward to this trip his whole life. Not that he wanted to shortchange a single moment of the life that God that had given him here on earth, for he knew that this life had a uniquely important purpose as well, or else God would never have created it with such beauty and precision and marvelous mystery.
But as Nicholas’ life here on earth wound down, he said he was ready. He was ready to go, and he looked forward to everything that God had in store for him next.
So when Nicholas sent word this morning for Anna Maria and me and a few other friends to come and see him, we knew that the time had come.
As we came into this room, we found him lying on his bed, just as he is right now. He was breathing quietly and he motioned for us to come close. We couldn’t hold back our tears, and he didn’t try to stop us. He knew how hard it was to say goodbye to those we love. But he also made it easier for us. He smiled one more time and spoke softly, saying the same words that he had spoken when Ruthie had died many years before: “Either way we win,” he said. “Either way we win.”
“Yes, Nicholas,” I said. “Either way we win.” Then the room became quiet again. Nicholas closed his eyes and fell asleep for the last time. No one moved. No one said a word.
This man who lay before us slept as if it were just another night in his life. But we knew this was a holy moment. Nicholas had just entered into the presence of the Lord. As Nicholas had done throughout his life, we were sure he was doing right now in heaven, walking and talking and laughing with Jesus, but now they were face to face.
We could only imagine what Nicholas might be saying to Jesus. But we knew for certain what Jesus was saying to him: “Well done, My good and faithful servant. Well done. Come and share your Master’s happiness.”
I have no idea how history might remember Nicholas, if it will remember him at all. He was no emperor like Constantine. He was no tyrant like Diocletian. He was no orator like Arius. He was simply a Christian trying to live out his faith, touching one life at a time as best he knew how.
Nicholas may have wondered if his life made any difference. I know my answer, and now that you know his story, I’ll let you decide for yourself. In the end, I suppose only God really knows just how many lives were touched by this remarkable man.
But what I do know this: each of us has just one life to live. But if we live it right, as Nicholas did, one life is all we need.
CONCLUSION
by Eric Elder
What Nicholas didn’t know, and what no one who knew him could have possibly imagined, was just how far and wide this one life would reach–not only throughout the world, but also throughout the ages.
He was known to his parents as their beloved son, and to those in his city as their beloved bishop. But he has become known to us by another name: Saint Nicholas.
The biblical word for “saint” literally means “believer.” The Bible talks about the saints in Ephesus, the saints in Rome, the saints in Philippi and the saints in Jerusalem. Each time the word saints refers to the believers who were in those cities. So Nicholas rightly became known as “Saint Nicholas,” or to say it another way, “Nicholas, The Believer.” The Latin translation is “Santa Nicholas,” and in Dutch “Sinterklaas,” from which we get the name “Santa Claus.”
His good name and his good deeds have been an inspiration to so many, that the day he passed from this life to the next, on December 6th, 343 A.D., is still celebrated by people throughout the world.
Many legends have been told about Nicholas over the years, some giving him qualities that make him seem larger than life. But the reason that so many legends of any kind grow, including those told about Saint Nicholas, is often because the people about whom they’re told were larger than life themselves. They were people who were so good or so well-respected that every good deed becomes attributed to them, as if they had done them themselves.
While not all the stories attributed to Nicholas can be traced to the earliest records of his life, the histories that were recorded closest to the time period in which he lived do record many of the stories found in this book. To help you sort through them, here’s what we do know:
Nicholas was born sometime between 260-280 A.D. in the city of Patara, a city you can still visit today in modern-day Turkey, on the northern coast of the Mediterranean Sea.
Nicholas’ parents were devout Christians who died in a plague when Nicholas was young, leaving him with a sizable inheritance.
Nicholas made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and lived there for a number of years before returning to his home province of Lycia.
Nicholas traveled across the Mediterranean Sea in a ship that was caught in a storm. After praying, his ship reached its destination as if someone was miraculously holding the rudder steady. The rudder of a ship is also called a tiller, and sailors on the Mediterranean Sea today still wish each other luck by saying, “May Nicholas hold the tiller!”
When Nicholas returned from the Holy Land, he took up residence in the city of Myra, about 30 miles from his hometown of Patara. Nicholas became the bishop of Myra and lived there the rest of his life.
Nicholas secretly gave three gifts of gold on three separate occasions to a man whose daughters were to be sold into slavery because he had no money to offer to potential husbands as a dowry. The family discovered Nicholas was the mysterious donor on one of his attempts, which is why we know the story today. In this version of the story, we’ve added the twist of having Nicholas deliver the first two gifts, and Dimitri deliver the third, to capture the idea that many gifts were given back then, and are still given today, in the name of Saint Nicholas, who was known for such deeds. The theme of redemption is also so closely associated with this story from Saint Nicholas’ life, that if you pass by a pawn shop today, you will often see three golden balls in their logo, representing the three bags of gold that Nicholas gave to spare these girls from their unfortunate fate.
Nicholas pled for the lives of three innocent men who were unjustly condemned to death by a magistrate in Myra, taking the sword directly from the executioner’s hand.
“Nicholas, Bishop of Myra” is listed on some, but not all, of the historical documents which record those who attended the real Council of Nicaea, which was convened by Emperor Constantine in 325 A.D. One of the council’s main decisions addressed the divinity of Christ, resulting in the writing of the Nicene Creed–a creed which is still recited in many churches today. Some historians say that Nicholas’ name does not appear on all the record books of this council because of his banishment from the proceedings after striking Arius for denying that Christ was divine. Nicholas is, however, listed on at least five of these ancient record books, including the earliest known Greek manuscript of the event.
The Nicene Creed was adopted at the Council of Nicaea and has become one of the most widely used, brief statements of the Christian faith. The original version reads, in part, as translated from the Greek: “We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten of the Father, the only-begotten; that is, of the essence of the Father, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father; By whom all things were made both in heaven and on earth; Who for us men, and for our salvation, came down and was incarnate and was made man; He suffered, and the third day He rose again, ascended into heaven; From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead…” Subsequent versions, beginning as early as 381 A.D., have altered and clarified some of the original statements, resulting in a few similar, but not quite identical statements that are now in use.
Nicholas is recorded as having done much for the people of Myra, including securing grain from a ship traveling from Alexandria to Rome, which saved the people in that region from a famine.
Constantine’s mother, Helen, did visit the Holy Land and encouraged Constantine to build churches over the sites that she felt were most important to the Christian faith. The churches were built on the locations she had been shown by local believers where Jesus was born, and where Jesus died and rose again. Those churches, The Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, have been destroyed and rebuilt many times over the years, but still in the same locations that Constantine’s mother, and likely Nicholas himself, had seen.
The date of Nicholas’ death has been established as December 6th, 343 A.D., and you can still visit his tomb in the modern city of Demre, Turkey, formerly known as Myra, in the province of Lycia. Nicholas’ bones were removed from the tomb in 1087 A.D. by men from Italy who feared that they might be destroyed or stolen, as the country was being invaded by others. The bones of Saint Nicholas were taken to the city of Bari, Italy, where they are still entombed today.
Of the many other stories told about or attributed to Nicholas, it’s hard to know with certainty which ones actually took place and which were simply attributed to him because of his already good and popular name. For instance, in the 12th century, stories began to surface of how Nicholas had brought three children back to life who had been brutally murdered. Even though the first recorded accounts of this story didn’t appear until more than 800 years after Nicholas’ death, this story is one of the most frequently associated with Saint Nicholas in religious artwork, featuring three young children being raised to life and standing next to Nicholas. We have included the essence of this story in this novel in the form of the three orphans who Nicholas met in the Holy Land and whom he helped to bring back to life–at least spiritually.
While all of these additional stories can’t be attributed to Nicholas with certainty, we can say that his life and his memory had such a profound effect throughout history that more churches throughout the world now bear the name of “Saint Nicholas” than any other figure, outside of the original disciples themselves.
Some people wonder if they can believe in Saint Nicholas or not. Nicholas probably wouldn’t care so much if you believed in him or not, but that you believed in the One in whom He believed, Jesus Christ.
A popular image today shows Saint Nicholas bowing down, his hat at his side, kneeling in front of baby Jesus in the manger. Although that scene could never have taken place in real life, for Saint Nicholas was born almost 300 years after the birth of Christ, the heart of that scene couldn’t be more accurate. Nicholas was a true believer in Jesus and he did worship, adore and live his life in service to the Christ.
Saint Nicholas would have never wanted his story to replace the story of Jesus in the manger, but he would have loved to have his story point to Jesus in the manger. And that’s why this book was written.
While the stories told here were selected from the many that have been told about Saint Nicholas over the years, these were told so that you might believe–not just in Nicholas, but in Jesus Christ, his Savior. These stories were written down for the same reason the Apostle John wrote down the stories he recorded about Jesus in the Bible. John said he wrote his stories:
“…that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name” (John 20:31).
Nicholas would want the same for you. He would want you to become what he was: a Believer.
If you’ve never done so, put your faith in Jesus Christ today, asking Him to forgive you of your sins and giving you the assurance that you will live with Him forever.
If you’ve already put your faith in Christ, let this story remind you just how precious your faith really is. Renew your commitment today to serve Christ as Nicholas served Him: with all of your heart, soul, mind and strength. God really will work all things together for good. As the Bible says:
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28).
Thanks for reading this special book about this special man, and I pray that your Christmas may be truly merry and bright. As Clement Moore said in his now famous poem, A Visit From St. Nicholas:
“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”
Eric Elder
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Eric & Lana Elder have written numerous Christmas stories that have captivated and inspired thousands as part of an annual Christmas production known as The Bethlehem Walk.
St. Nicholas: The Believer marks the debut of their first full-length Christmas story. Eric & Lana have also collaborated on several other inspirational books including:
Here are a few pictures of St. Nicholas statues you can still see today in Demre, Turkey: on the left is my favorite because of the strength, humanity and love for children portrayed; on the top right is an earlier version by another sculptor on display in front of the church of St. Nicholas; and on the bottom right is a portrayal of Nicholas in his role as the Bishop of Myra (present-day Demre), which stands in a courtyard of the church.
And here’s a short video of my favorite statue of St. Nicholas, sculpted by Necdet Can and placed in the town square of Demre, Turkey, where Nicholas lived and ministered in the 3rd and 4th centuries A.D.
Christmas turns all wise souls from the surface which is time to the center which is eternity.
E. Merrill Root
Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
Zechariah 9:9
The New International Version
Christmas is a Son away from home.
Norma Alloway
Ministry Members…We thank you for your overwhelming support over these last 20 years. As we now prepare for our next year of ministries, The Ranch and This Day’s Thought, we prayerfully ask that you might again support our present year-end fundraising efforts. We are seeking a firm financial foundation from which to go forward, and this next year, as we change our ministry’s structure so we can maximize our many ministry opportunities, will be a pivotal time in our ministry history. Thank you sincerely for considering supporting us financially to help in all these efforts!
Somehow not only for Christmas,
But all the long year through,
The joy that you give to others
Is the joy that comes back to you.
And the more you spend in blessing
The poor and lonely and sad,
The more of your heart’s possessing
Returns to make you glad.
John Greenleaf Whittier
“Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.”
Isaiah 7:14
The New King James Version
Ministry Members…We thank you for your overwhelming support over these last 20 years. As we now prepare for our next year of ministries, The Ranch and This Day’s Thought, we prayerfully ask that you might again support our present year-end fundraising efforts. We are seeking a firm financial foundation from which to go forward, and this next year, as we change our ministry’s structure so we can maximize our many ministry opportunities, will be a pivotal time in our ministry history. Thank you sincerely for considering supporting us financially to help in all these efforts!
The publican stood afar off and beat his breast and said, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” I tell you that man had the finest theology of any man in all England.
Charles H. Spurgeon
A hot-tempered man stirs up strife, but he who is slow to anger quiets contention.
Proverbs 15:18
The Revised Standard Version
If you would voyage Godward, you must see to it that the rudder of thought is right.
W. J. Dawson
Dear Readers, Thank you for your gracious and generous response to our year-end fundraising efforts, as we have been inviting you, our ministry members, to participate in supporting these ministries financially. In preparation of our next year, we prayerfully go forward in our efforts to simply remain centered in the Lord’s will as we all minister together. Thank you sincerely!
There is no circumstance, no trouble, no testing, that can ever touch me until, first of all, it has gone past God and past Christ, right through to me. If it has come that far, it has come with a great purpose, which I may not understand at the moment. But I refuse to become panicky, as I lift up my eyes to him and accept it as coming from the throne of God for some great purpose of blessing to my own heart.
Alan Redpath
Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
Dear Ministry Members…As we come closer to the end of our joint ministry fundraising campaign, we first wish to thank you sincerely for so many years of prayer and support. Without all of you, we would not have been able to minister in these many ways. Eric, of The Ranch, with his sermon series, his books, his music, his plays…all the resources that he has shared and made available for over 20 years! And he has strived to continue making all of these blessings available to all of us through his blessed technical wherewithal.
He was one of the earliest pastors to understand the potential of this “thing” we call the Internet so long ago, and he still remains on the forefront of understanding the use of this technology, much as Billy Graham and his associates did first with radio and then TV so very long before.
We all now take the Internet and this worldwide connectivity for granted, but if we take a moment just to reflect not only how it has changed all of our lives, but just how powerful of a tool it really is in our work for the Lord, to reach out and touch people in such significant and life-changing ways.
I thank God for Eric each and every day…for the blessing of “randomly” sitting next to him at a conference some 18 or so years ago…that began a friendship and a collaboration that has been a joy and a reward from the Lord, in the work we have attempted ever since.
And your support has made all the difference to my area of devotion, in sharing a daily Christian seed with you each and every morning. It has been just 20 years now that This Day’s Thought has broadcast out, and, at my upcoming age of 65, I do hope and pray that I might continue for even another 20 years, if that is what the Lord has in his plans for me.
So, thank you all for your diligent and pervasive prayers and for all your past financial support. Eric and I remain prayerful that we can still end this year with the desired resources to enter into 2019 on a firm financial foundation, as we both go forward to share our love of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
And thank you for considering helping us yet again in these efforts.
Imagine being in this glorious world with grateful hearts—and no one to thank.
Christina Georgina Rossetti
But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.
John 14:26
The New King James Version
Is your Christianity ancient history or current events?
Samuel M. Shoemaker
Dear Readers, Thank you for your gracious and generous response to our year-end fundraising efforts, as we have been inviting you, our ministry members, to participate in supporting these ministries financially. In preparation of our next year, we prayerfully go forward in our efforts to simply remain centered in the Lord’s will as we all minister together. Thank you sincerely!
When the divine owner takes possession of a property, he has a twofold objective: intense cultivation and abounding fruitfulness.
Norman P. Grubb
“And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
Mark 12:53
The English Standard Version
When Jesus went back to heaven, all He left behind was a prayer meeting.
Armin Gesswein
Dear Readers, Thank you for your gracious and generous response to our year-end fundraising efforts, as we have been inviting you, our ministry members, to participate in supporting these ministries financially. In preparation of our next year, we prayerfully go forward in our efforts to simply remain centered in the Lord’s will as we all minister together. Thank you sincerely!
A state of mind that sees God in everything is evidence of growth in grace and a thankful heart.
Charles G. Finney
And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom, understanding, counsel, and might; the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.
Isaiah 11:2
The Living Bible
Dear Readers, Thank you for your gracious and generous response to our year-end fundraising efforts, as we have been inviting you, our ministry members, to participate in supporting these ministries financially. In preparation of our next year, we prayerfully go forward in our efforts to simply remain centered in the Lord’s will as we all minister together. Thank you sincerely!
The blessing of the Lord makes rich, and he adds no sorrow with it.
Proverbs 10:22
The Revised Standard Version
I went to a theological book and crammed my brains with sentences long enough to make the jaw of a Greek professor squeak for a week. It didn’t amount to shucks. So I went and loaded up the old gun with rough-on-rats, ipecac, saltpeter, rock salt, dynamite and every other kind of explosive, and I pulled the trigger, and that Pharisee gang has been on the run ever since.
Billy Sunday
Dear Readers, Thank you for your gracious and generous response to our year-end fundraising efforts, as we have been inviting you, our ministry members, to participate in supporting these ministries financially. In preparation of our next year, we prayerfully go forward in our efforts to simply remain centered in the Lord’s will as we all minister together. Thank you sincerely!
Never believe anything bad about anybody unless you positively know it to be true; never tell even that unless you feel that it is absolutely necessary—and that God is listening while you tell it.
Henry van Dyke
Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.
Oh, beware! Do not seek to be something! Let me be nothing, and Christ be all in all.
John Wesley
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
John 3:16
The King James Version
Prayer—the best wireless connection.
Unknown
Dear Ministry Members…Thank you for over 20 years of prayer and support, as we have sought to reach people throughout the world with our daily Christian messages of inspiration and encouragement. We wish to once again share our year-end fundraising efforts, where we invite our readers to participate in supporting these ministries financially. In preparation of our next year, we would so value and appreciate your continued prayers and your donations, as we seek to strengthen and expand our ministries as we go forward together. Thank you!
That God is more near, more real and mighty, more full of love, and more ready to help every one of us than any one of us realizes, is the undying message of the Gospels.
David S. Cairns
And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?
Mark 4:40
The King James Version
I do not find God hard to live with.
A. W. Tozer
Dear Ministry Members…Thank you for over 20 years of prayer and support, as we have sought to reach people throughout the world with our daily Christian messages of inspiration and encouragement. We wish to once again share our year-end fundraising efforts, where we invite our readers to participate in supporting these ministries financially. In preparation of our next year, we would so value and appreciate your continued prayers and your donations, as we seek to strengthen and expand our ministries as we go forward together. Thank you!
Dear Subscribers, This month of December serves as not only the close to the year, but also the last of our joint fundraising efforts.Eric and I have been so very blessed to work so closely together for these many years, but we are even more excited and grateful for the prospects that lie ahead for the two ministries The Ranch and This Day’s Thought.The Lord has blessed us with many new opportunities for ministry as we begin 2019, and we now prayerfully prepare to have a firm foundation from which to begin the next year with all of you.
Our year-end fundraising efforts are accordingly so important to us, more than any time in the past, to provide for a smooth transition forward. We thank you for your prayerful consideration of helping us financially at this time, and are so appreciative for your continued prayers as well of all your past support.
Or send your gift to:
Eric Elder Ministries, 25615 E 3000 North Road, Chenoa, IL 61726 USA
I used to think that God’s gifts were on shelves one above the other and that the taller we grew in Christian character the more easily we could reach them. I now find that God’s gifts are on shelves one beneath the other and that it is not a question of growing taller but of stooping lower.
F. B. Meyer
With the mighty deeds of the Lord God I will come, I will praise thy righteousness, thine alone.
A saint is never consciously a saint; a saint is consciously dependent on God.
Oswald Chambers
Admit your faults to one another and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous man has great power and wonderful results.
James 5:16
The Living Bible
The Christian who has the smile of God needs no status symbols.
Leonard Ravenhill
Dear Ministry Members…Thank you for over 20 years of prayer and support, as we have sought to reach people throughout the world with our daily Christian messages of inspiration and encouragement. We wish to once again share our year-end fundraising efforts, where we invite our readers to participate in supporting these ministries financially. In preparation of our next year, we would so value and appreciate your continued prayers and your donations, as we seek to strengthen and expand our ministries as we go forward together. Thank you!
When we are praying, the thought will often cross our minds that (if only we knew it) the event is already decided one way or the other. I believe this to be no good reason for ceasing our prayers. The event certainly has been decided—in a sense it was decided “before all worlds.” But one of the things that really cause it to happen may be this very prayer that we are now offering.
C. S. Lewis
And the priest said to them, “Go in peace. The journey on which you go is under the eye of the Lord.”
Judges 18:6
The English Standard Version
Dear Ministry Members…Thank you for over 20 years of prayer and support, as we have sought to reach people throughout the world with our daily Christian messages of inspiration and encouragement. We wish to once again share our year-end fundraising efforts, where we invite our readers to participate in supporting these ministries financially. In preparation of our next year, we would so value and appreciate your continued prayers and your donations, as we seek to strengthen and expand our ministries as we go forward together. Thank you!
Lord, send me where Thou wilt, only go with me; lay on me what Thou wilt, only sustain me. Cut any cord but the one that binds me to Thy cause, to Thy heart.
Titus Coan
Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
John 11:25
The King James Version
God created this game of life; and only when we play it his way can we find meaning, purpose and happiness.
Lane Adams
Dear Ministry Members…Thank you for over 20 years of prayer and support, as we have sought to reach people throughout the world with our daily Christian messages of inspiration and encouragement. We wish to once again share our year-end fundraising efforts, where we invite our readers to participate in supporting these ministries financially. In preparation of our next year, we would so value and appreciate your continued prayers and your donations, as we seek to strengthen and expand our ministries as we go forward together. Thank you!
I’m in Columbia, South Carolina this weekend for the opening of “One Life,” the new Christmas ballet based on my story, “St. Nicholas: The Believer.” The show is a WONDER-FILLED adaptation of the book. I would love for all of you to be able to see it someday!
Today I’m posting Part 4 of the book so you can read or listen along and enjoy. I am hearing from so many people how the book is touching them this holiday season. Even if you haven’t read any parts up to now, you can read today’s Part and be touched by it as it contains one of the most famous stories from Nicholas’s real life.
I pray you’ll have a renewed love for Jesus this Christmas.
ST. NICHOLAS: THE BELIEVER
A new story for Christmas based on the old story of St. Nicholas
by Eric & Lana Elder
Nicholas’ next step in life was about to be determined by a dream. But it wasn’t a dream that Nicholas had conceived–it was a dream that God had conceived and had put in the mind of a man, a priest in the city of Myra.
In the weeks leading up to Nicholas’ arrival in Myra, a tragedy had befallen the church there. Their aging bishop, the head of their church, had died. The tragedy that had fallen upon the church wasn’t the bishop’s death, for he had lived a long and fruitful life and had simply succumbed to the effects of old age. The tragedy arose out of the debate that ensued regarding who should take his place as the next bishop.
While it would seem that such things could be resolved amicably, especially within a church, when people’s hearts are involved, their loyalties and personal desires can sometimes muddy their thoughts so much that they can’t see what God’s will is in a particular situation. It can be hard for anyone, even for people of faith, to keep their minds free from preconceived ideas and personal preferences regarding what God may, or may not, want to do at any given time.
This debate was the storm that had been brewing for a week now, and which had reached its apex the night before Nicholas’ arrival.
That night one of the priests had a dream that startled him awake. In his dream he saw a man whom he had never seen before who was clearly to take up the responsibilities of their dearly departed bishop. When he woke from his dream, he remembered nothing about what the man looked like, but only remembered his name: Nicholas.
“Nicholas?” asked one of the other priests when he heard his fellow priest’s dream. “None of us have ever gone by that name, nor is there anyone in the whole city by that name.”
Nicholas was, to be sure, not a popular name at the time. It was only mentioned once in passing in one of Luke’s writings about the early church, along with other names which were just as uncommon in those days in Myra like Procorus, Nicanor, Timon and Parmenas. It seemed ridiculous to the other priests that this dream could possibly be from God. But the old priest reminded them, “Even the name of Jesus was given to His father by an angel in a dream.”
Perhaps it was this testimony from the gospels, or perhaps it was the unlikelihood that it would ever happen, that the priests all agreed that they would strongly consider the next person who walked through their door who answered to the name of Nicholas. It would certainly help to break the deadlock in which they found themselves.
What a surprise then, when they opened their doors for their morning prayers, when an entire shipload of men started to stream into the church!
The priests greeted each of the men at the door as they entered, welcoming them into the church. The last two to enter were the captain and Nicholas, as they had allowed all of the others to enter first. The captain thanked the priests for opening their doors to them for their morning prayers, then turned to Nicholas and said, “And thanks to Nicholas for having this brilliant idea to come here today.”
The astonished priests looked at one another in disbelief. Perhaps God had answered their prayers after all.
CHAPTER 19
The captain’s concern about what to do with the grain on his ship dissipated when they arrived at the church as fast as the storm had dissipated when they arrived on shore.
Within moments of beginning their morning prayers, he was convinced that it could only have been the mighty hand of God that had held their rudder straight and true. He knew now for sure he wanted to make an offering of the grain to the people who lived there. God spoke to him about both the plan and the amount. It was as if the captain were playing the role of Abraham in the old, old story when Abraham offered a portion of his riches to Melchizedek the priest.
The captain was willing to take his chances with his superiors in Rome rather than take any chances with the God who had delivered them all. He knew that without God’s guidance and direction so far on this journey, neither he nor his men nor the ship nor its grain would have ever made it to Rome at all.
When the captain stood up from his prayers, he quickly found Nicholas to share the answer with him as well. Nicholas agreed both to the plan and to the amount. The captain asked, “Do you think it will be enough for all these people?”
Nicholas replied, “Jesus was able to feed 5,000 people with just five loaves of bread and two fish—and what you want to give to this city is much more than what Jesus had to start with!”
“How did He do it?” asked the captain—almost to himself as much as to Nicholas.
“All I know,” answered Nicholas, “is that He looked up to heaven, gave thanks and began passing out the food with His disciples. In the end everyone was satisfied and they still had twelve baskets full of food left over!”
“That’s exactly what we’ll do then, too,” said the captain.
And the story would be told for years to come how the captain of the ship looked up to heaven, gave thanks and began passing out the grain with his crew. It was enough to satisfy the people of that city for two whole years and to plant and reap even more in the third year.
As the priests said goodbye to the captain and crew, they asked Nicholas if he would be able to stay behind for a time. The winds of confusion that had whipped up and then subsided inside the captain’s mind were about to pale in comparison to the storm that was about to break open inside the mind of Nicholas.
CHAPTER 20
When the priests told Nicholas about their dream and that he just might be the answer to their prayers, Nicholas was dumbfounded and amazed, excited and perplexed. He had often longed to be used by God in a powerful way, and it was unmistakable that God had already brought him straight across the Great Sea to this very spot at this very hour!
But to become a priest, let alone a bishop, would be a decision that would last a lifetime. He had oftentimes considered taking up his earthly father’s business. His father had been highly successful at it, and Nicholas felt he could do the same. But even more important to him than doing the work of his father was to have a family like his father.
Nicholas’ memories of his parents were so fond that he longed to create more memories of his own with a family of his own. The custom of all the priests Nicholas knew, however, was to abstain from marriage and child-bearing so they could more fully devote themselves to the needs of the community around them.
Nicholas pulled back mentally at the thought of having to give up his desire for a family of his own. It wasn’t that having a family was a conscious dream that often filled his thoughts, but it was one of those assumptions in the back of his mind that he took for granted would come at some point in his future.
The shock of having to give up on the idea of a family, even before he had fully considered having one yet, was like a jolt to his system. Following God’s will shouldn’t be so difficult, he thought! But he had learned from his parents that laying down your will for the sake of God’s will wasn’t always so easy, another lesson they had learned from Jesus.
So just because it was a difficult decision wasn’t enough to rule it out. An image also floated through his mind of those three smiling faces he had met when he first landed in the Holy Land, with their heads bowed down and their hands outstretched. Hadn’t they seemed like family to him? And weren’t there hundreds—even thousands—of children just like them, children who had no family of their own, no one to care for them, no one to look after their needs?
And weren’t there countless others in the world—widows and widowers and those who had families in name but not in their actual relationships—who still needed the strength and encouragement and sense of family around them? And weren’t there still other families as well, like Nicholas and his parents, who had been happy on their own but found additional happiness when they came together as the family of believers in their city? Giving up on the idea of a family of his own didn’t mean he had to give up on the idea of having a family altogether. In fact, it may even be possible that he could have an even larger “family” in this way.
The more Nicholas thought about what he might give up in order to serve God in the church, the more he thought about how God might use this new position in ways that went beyond Nicholas’ own thoughts and desires. And if God was indeed in this decision, perhaps it had its own special rewards in the end.
The fury of the storm that swept through his mind began to abate. In its place, God’s peace began to flow over both his mind and his heart. Nicholas recognized this as the peace of God’s divine will being clearly revealed to him. It only took another moment for Nicholas to know what his answer would be.
The storms that had once seemed so threatening–whether the storm at sea or the storm in the church or the storms in the minds of both the captain and Nicholas–now turned out to be blessings of God instead. They were blessings that proved to Nicholas once again that no matter what happened, God really could work all things for good for those who loved Him and who were called according to His purpose.
Yes, if the priests would have him, Nicholas would become the next bishop of Myra.
CHAPTER 21
Nicholas didn’t suddenly become another man when he became a bishop. He became a bishop because of the man he already was. As he had done before with his father so many years earlier, Nicholas continued to do now, here in the city of Myra and the surrounding towns: walking and praying and asking God where he could be of most help.
It was on one of these prayerful walks that Nicholas met Anna Maria. She was a beautiful girl only eleven years old, but her beauty was disguised to most others by the poverty she wore. Nicholas found her one day trying to sell flowers that she had made out of braided blades of grass. But the beauty of the flowers also seemed to be disguised to everyone but Nicholas, for no one would buy her simple creations.
As Nicholas stepped towards her, she reminded him instantly of little Ruthie, whom he had left behind in the Holy Land, with the golden flowers in her hand on the hillsides of Bethlehem.
When he stopped for a closer look, God spoke to his heart. It seemed to Nicholas that this must have been what Moses felt when he stopped to look at the burning bush in the desert, a moment when his natural curiosity turned into a supernatural encounter with the Living God.
“Your flowers are beautiful,” said Nicholas. “May I hold one?”
The young girl handed him one of her creations. As he looked at it, he looked at her. The beauty he saw in both the flower and the girl was stunning. Somehow Nicholas had the ability to see what others could not see, or did not see, as Nicholas always tried to see people and things and life the way God saw them, as if God were looking through his eyes.
“I’d like to buy this one, if I could,” he said.
Delighted, she smiled for the first time. She told him the price, and he gave her a coin.
“Tell me,” said Nicholas, “what will you do with the money you make from selling these beautiful flowers?”
What Nicholas heard next broke his heart.
Anna Maria was the youngest of three sisters: Sophia, Cecilia and Anna Maria. Although their father loved them deeply, he had been plunged into despair when his once-successful business had failed, and then his wife passed away shortly thereafter. Lacking the strength and the resources to pick himself up out of the darkness, the situation for his family grew bleaker and bleaker.
Anna Maria’s oldest sister, Sophia, had just turned 18, and she turned a number of heads as well. But no one would marry her because her father had no dowry to offer to any potential suitor. And with no dowry, there was little likelihood that she, nor any of the three girls, would ever be married.
The choices facing their father were grim. He knew he must act soon or risk the possibility of Cecilia and Anna Maria never getting married in the future, either. With no way to raise a suitable dowry for her, and being too proud to take charity from others, even if someone had had the funds to offer to him, her father was about to do the unthinkable: he was going to sell his oldest daughter into slavery to help make ends meet.
How their father could think this was the best solution available to him, Nicholas couldn’t imagine. But he also knew that desperation often impaired even the best-intentioned men. By sacrificing his oldest daughter in this way, the father reasoned that perhaps he could somehow spare the younger two from a similar fate.
Anna Maria, for her part, had come up with the idea of making and selling flowers as a way to spare her sister from this fate that was to her worse than death. Nicholas held back his tears out of respect for Anna Maria and the noble effort she was making to save her sister.
He also refrained from buying Anna Maria’s whole basket of flowers right there on the spot, for Nicholas knew it would take more than a basket full of flowers to save Sophia. It would take a miracle. And as God spoke to his heart that day, Nicholas knew that God just might use him to deliver it.
CHAPTER 22
Without show and without fanfare, Nicholas offered a prayer for Anna Maria, along with his thanks for the flower, and encouraged her to keep doing what she could to help her family–and to keep trusting in God to do what she couldn’t.
Nicholas knew he could help this family. He knew he had the resources to make a difference in their lives, for he still had a great deal of his parents’ wealth hidden in the cliffs near the coast for occasions such as this. But he also knew that Anna Maria’s proud father would never accept charity from any man, even at this bleakest hour.
Her father’s humiliation at losing his business, along with his own personal loss, had blinded him to the reality of what was about to happen to his daughter. Nicholas wanted to help, but how? How could he step into the situation without further humiliating Anna Maria’s father, possibly causing him to refuse the very help that Nicholas could extend to him. Nicholas did what he always did when he needed wisdom. He prayed. And before the day was out, he had his answer.
Nicholas put his plan into action–and none too soon! It just so happened that the next day was the day when Sophia’s fate would be sealed.
Taking a fair amount of gold coins from his savings, Nicholas placed them into a small bag. It was small enough to fit in one hand, but heavy enough to be sure that it would adequately supply the need.
Hiding under the cover of night, he crossed the city of Myra to the home where Anna Maria, her father and her two older sisters lived.
He could hear them talking inside as he quietly approached the house. Their mood was understandably downcast as they discussed what they thought was their inevitable next step. They asked God to give them the strength to do whatever they needed to do.
For years, Sophia and her sisters had dreamed of the day when they would each meet the man of their dreams. They had even written love songs to these men, trusting that God would bring each of them the perfect man at the perfect time.
Now it seemed like all their songs, all their prayers and all their dreams had been in vain. Sophia wasn’t the only one who felt the impact of this new reality, for her two younger sisters knew that the same fate might one day await each of them.
The girls wanted to trust God, but no matter how hard they thought about their situation, each of them felt like their dreams were about to be shattered.
At Anna Maria’s prompting, they tried to sing their favorite love song one more time, but their sadness simply deepened at the words. It was no longer a song of hope, but a song of despair, and the words now seemed so impossible to them.
It was not just a song, but a prayer, and one of the deepest prayers Nicholas had ever heard uttered by human tongue. His heart went out to each of them, while at the same time it pounded with fear. He had a plan, and he hoped it would work, but he had no way of knowing for sure. He wasn’t worried about what might happen to him if he were discovered, but he was worried that their father would reject his gift if he knew where it had come from. That would certainly seal the girls’ doom. As Sophia and Cecilia and Anna Maria said their goodnights–and their father had put out the lights–Nicholas knew that his time had come.
Inching closer to the open window of the room where they had been singing, Nicholas bent down low to his knees. He lobbed the bag of coins into the air and through the window. It arced gracefully above him and seemed to hang in the air for a moment before landing with a soft thud in the center of the room. A few coins bounced loose, clinking faintly on the ground, rolling and then coming to a stop. Nicholas turned quickly and hid in the darkness nearby as the girls and their father awoke at the sound.
They called out to see if anyone was there, but when they heard no answer, they entered the room from both directions. As their father lit the light, Anna Maria was the first to see it–and gasped.
There, in the center of the room, lay a small round bag, shimmering with golden coins at the top. The girls gathered around their father as he carefully picked up the bag and opened it.
It was more than enough gold to provide a suitable dowry for Sophia, with more to spare to take care of the rest of the family for some time to come!
But where could such a gift have come from? The girls were sure it had come from God Himself in answer to their prayers! But their father wanted to know more. Who had God used to deliver it? Certainly no one they knew. He sprinted out of the house, followed by his daughters, to see if he could find any trace of the deliverer, but none could be found.
Returning back inside, and with no one to return the money to, the girls and their father got down on their knees and thanked God for His deliverance.
As Nicholas listened in the darkness, he too gave thanks to God, for this was the very thing Nicholas hoped they would do. He knew that the gift truly was from God, provided by God and given through Nicholas by God’s prompting in answer to their prayers. Nicholas had only given to them what God had given to him in the first place. Nicholas neither wanted nor needed any thanks nor recognition for the gift. God alone deserved their praise.
But by allowing Nicholas to be involved, using Nicholas’ own hands and his own inheritance to bless others, Nicholas felt a joy that he could hardly contain. By delivering the gift himself, Nicholas was able to ensure that the gift was properly given. And by giving the gift anonymously, he was able to ensure that the true Giver of the gift was properly credited.
The gift was delivered and God got the credit. Nicholas had achieved both of his goals.
CHAPTER 23
While Nicholas preferred to do his acts of goodwill in secret, there were times when, out of sheer necessity, he had to act in broad daylight. And while it was his secret acts that gained him favor with God, it was his public acts that gained him favor with men.
Many people rightly appreciate a knight in shining armor, but not everyone wants to be rescued from evil–especially those who profit from it.
One such man was a magistrate in Myra, a leader in the city who disliked Nicholas intensely–or anyone who stood in the way of what he wanted.
This particular magistrate was both corrupt and corruptible. He was willing to do anything to get what he wanted, no matter what it cost to others. Although Nicholas had already been at odds with him several times in the past, their conflict escalated to a boiling point when news reached Nicholas that the magistrate had sentenced three men to death–for a crime Nicholas was sure they did not commit. Nicholas couldn’t wait this time for the cover of darkness. He knew he needed to act immediately to save these men from death.
Nicholas had been entertaining some generals from Rome that afternoon whose ship had docked in Myra’s port the night before. Nicholas had invited the generals to his home to hear news about some changes that had been taking place in Rome. A new emperor was about to take power, they said, and the implications might be serious for Nicholas and his flock of Christ-followers.
It was during their luncheon that Nicholas heard about the unjust sentencing and the impending execution. Immediately he set out for the site where the execution was to take place. The three generals, sensing more trouble might ensue once Nicholas arrived, set out after him.
When Nicholas burst onto the execution site, the condemned men were already on the platform. They were bound and bent over with their heads and necks ready for the executioner’s sword.
Without a thought for his own safety, Nicholas leapt onto the platform and tore the sword from the executioner’s hands. Although Nicholas was not a fighter himself, Nicholas made his move so unexpectedly that the executioner made little attempt to try to wrestle the sword back out of the bishop’s hands.
Nicholas knew these men were as innocent as the magistrate was guilty. He was certain that it must have been the men’s good deeds, not their bad ones, that had offended the magistrate. Nicholas untied the ropes of the innocent men in full view of the onlookers, defying both the executioner and the magistrate.
The magistrate came forward to face Nicholas squarely. But as he did so, the three generals who had been having lunch with Nicholas also stepped forward. One took his place on Nicholas’ left, another on Nicholas’ right and the third stood directly in front of him. Prudently, the magistrate took a step back. Nicholas knew that this was the time to press the magistrate for the truth.
Although the magistrate tried to defend himself, his pleas of fell on deaf ears. No one would believe his lies anymore. He tried to convince the people that it was not he who wanted to condemn these innocent men, but two other businessmen in town who had given him a bribe in order to have these men condemned. But by trying to shift the blame to others, the magistrate condemned himself for the greed that was in his heart.
Nicholas declared: “It seems that it was not these two men who have corrupted you, sir, but two others–whose names are Gold and Silver!”
Cut to the quick, the magistrate broke down and made a full confession in front of all the people for this and for all the other wrongs he had done, even for speaking ill of Nicholas, who had done nothing but good for the people. Nicholas set more than three prisoners free that day, as even the magistrate was finally set free from his greed by his honest confession. Seeing the heartfelt change in the magistrate, Nicholas pardoned him, forever winning the magistrate’s favor–and the people’s favor–from that moment on.
When Nicholas was born, his parents had named him Nicholas, which means in Greek “the people’s victor.” Through acts like these, Nicholas became “the people’s victor” both in name and in deed.
Nicholas was already becoming an icon–even in his own time.
CHAPTER 24
Within three months of receiving her unexpected dowry from Nicholas, Sophia had received a visit from a suitor–one who “suited her” just fine. He truly was the answer to her prayers, and she was thankfully, happily and finally married.
Two years later, however, Sophia’s younger sister Cecilia found herself in dire straights as well. Although Cecilia was ready to be married now, her father’s business had not improved, no matter how hard he tried. As the money that Nicholas had given to the family began to run out, their despair began to set in. Pride and sorrow had once again blinded Cecilia’s father to the truth, and he felt his only option was to commit Cecilia to a life of slavery, hoping to save his third and final daughter from a similar fate.
While they were confident that God had answered their prayers once, their circumstances had caused them to doubt that He could do it again. A second rescue at this point was more than they could have asked for or imagined.
Nicholas, however, knowing their situation by this time much more intimately, knew that God was prompting him again to intercede. It had been two years since his earlier rescue, but in all that time the family never suspected nor discovered that he was the deliverer of God’s gift.
As the time came closer to a decision on what they should do next, Nicholas knew his time to act had come as well. And in order to make it clear that his gift was to be used first and foremost for Cecilia’s dowry, and then after that for any other needs the family might have, he waited until the night before she was to be sold into slavery to make his move.
Once again waiting for the cover of darkness, Nicholas approached their house. Cecilia and Anna Maria had already gone to bed early that night, sent there by their father who had told them not to expect any similar miracle to what happened for Sophia. But somewhere in the depths of his despair, their father still had a glimmer of hope in his heart, a wish perhaps, more than anything else, that Someone really was watching out for him and that his prayers just might still be answered. With that hope, he decided to stay awake and stay close to the window, just in case some angel did appear–whether an earthly one or a heavenly one.
Nicholas knew this might happen, and he knew that Cecilia’s father might still reject his gift if he found out that Nicholas had given it. But he also hoped that perhaps her father’s proud heart had softened a bit and he would accept the gift even if Nicholas was discovered.
Seeing that the house was perfectly quiet, Nicholas knelt down beside the open window. He tossed the second bag of gold into the room.
The bag had barely hit the ground when the girls’ father leapt out of the window through which it had come and overtook Nicholas as he tried to flee. You might have thought that Nicholas had taken a bag of gold rather than given a bag of gold the way the girls’ father chased him down!
Fearing that all his efforts had been wasted, Nicholas’ heart was eased as the man didn’t rebuke Nicholas but thanked him without even looking at who he had caught.
“Please hear me out,” he said. “I just want to thank you. You’ve done so much already for me and my family that I couldn’t have expected such a gift again. But your generosity has opened my eyes to the pride in my heart–a pride that almost cost me the lives of two daughters now.”
The girls’ father had spoken both breathlessly and quickly to be sure that the stranger would hear him before trying to escape again. But when he looked up to see who he was talking to–Nicholas the priest–the shock on their father’s face was evident. How could a priest afford to give such an incredible gift?
In answer to this unasked question, Nicholas spoke: “Yes, it was I who delivered this gift to you, but it was God who gave it to me to give to you. It is not from the church and not from the charity of my own hand. It came from my father who earned it fairly by the work of his hands. He was a businessman like you. And if he were alive today, he would have wanted to give it to you himself. I’m sure of it. He, of all people, knew how difficult it was to run a business, just as you do. He also loved his family, just as you do, too.”
Nicholas paused to let his words sink in, then continued, “But please, for my sake and for God’s sake, please know that it was God Himself who has answered your prayers–for He has. I am simply a messenger for Him, a deliverer, a tool in His hands, allowing Him to do through me what I know He wants done. As for me, I prefer to do my giving in secret, not even letting my right hand know what my left hand is doing.”
The look on Nicholas’ face was so sincere and he conveyed his intentions with such love and devotion for the One whom he served, that the girls’ father could not help but to accept Nicholas’ gift as if it had truly come from the hand of God Himself.
But as they said their goodbyes, the girls and their father could hardly contain their thankfulness to Nicholas, too, for letting God use him in such a remarkable way.
As much as Nicholas tried to deflect their praise back to God, he also knew he did have a role to play in their lives. Although God prompts many to be generous in their hearts, not everyone responds to those promptings as Nicholas did.
Nicholas would wait to see how the family fared over the next few years to see if they would need any help for Anna Maria, too.
But Nicholas never got the chance. The new emperor had finally come into power, and the course of Nicholas’ life was about to change again. Even though Nicholas often came to the rescue of others, there were times when, like the Savior he followed, it seemed he was unable to rescue himself.
Here are a few pictures inside the St. Nicholas Church in Myra (present-day Demre), Turkey, which was has been built and rebuilt over the spot where St Nicholas’ bones were first entombed. The pictures here show an archway with a mosaic floor, light streaming into the main sanctuary, a tomb which has been broken into (Nicholas’ bones were removed in a nighttime raid in A.D. 1087 when they were under threat of destruction by invaders, then taken to Bari, Italy, where they remain today), and a fresco on a domed ceiling featuring Jesus and His disciples.
And here’s a 90-second video I shot of the church itself and how it impacted me when I first walked into it.
Here is Christian identity: I know my past, where I came from. I came from God. I know what went wrong. I tried to play God instead of being satisfied to be a real man. I know my future. My destiny is Christ. And I know the present. I can face myself now—my problems, my hang-ups, my assets, my faults—because I have turned myself over to God.
Leighton Ford
O Lord, your discipline is good and leads to life and health. Oh, heal me and make me live!
Isaiah 38:16
The Living Bible
Men go abroad to wonder at the heights of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long courses of the rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motions of the stars, and they pass by themselves without wondering.
Augustine
We end this month of November, so very thankful for you, our ministry members. Thank you for your prayers and support for so many years as we once again share our year-end fundraising efforts, where we invite our readers to participate in supporting these ministries financially. In preparation of our next year, we would so value and appreciate your prayers and your donations, as we seek to strengthen and expand our ministries as we go forward together. Thank you!
The self-centered suffer when others disappoint them. The Christ-centered suffer when they disappoint others.
Leonard Ravenhill
What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
James 2:14-17
The English Standard Version
We end this month of November, so very thankful for you, our ministry members. Thank you for your prayers and support for so many years as we once again share our year-end fundraising efforts, where we invite our readers to participate in supporting these ministries financially. In preparation of our next year, we would so value and appreciate your prayers and your donations, as we seek to strengthen and expand our ministries as we go forward together. Thank you!
Success is neither fame, wealth nor power; rather it is seeking, knowing, loving and obeying God. If you seek, you will know; if you know, you will love; if you love, you will obey.
Charles Malik
When the crowds learned it, they followed him; and he welcomed them and spoke to them of the kingdom of God, and cured those who had need of healing.
Luke 9:11
The Revised Standard Version
The world is a looking glass and gives back to every man the reflection of his own face.
William Makepeace Thackeray
We are so very thankful for you, our ministry members. We thank you for your prayers and support for so many years. Presently, during these months of November and December, we share once again our year-end fundraising efforts, where we invite our readers to participate in supporting these ministries financially. In preparation of our next year, we would so value and appreciate your prayers and your donations, as we seek to strengthen and expand our ministries as we go forward together. Thank you!
We have the best subscribers in the world! Thank you so much for your support. We’ve raised just over $8,000 from just over 100 people.
Would you like to join them? Gifts of any size are welcomed! $10, $20, $50, $100, $500, $1,000… Some could write a check for $10,000 or $20,000. We would very much appreciate it! Our goal is $60,000 by the end of the year. Every gift helps.
Or send your gift to:
Eric Elder Ministries, 25615 E 3000 North Road, Chenoa, IL 61726 USA
Wherever God dwells he hides himself. Men expect the Kingdom of God to come with observation; they know not that it is a hidden mystery, to be received only as God makes himself known in hearts surrendered and prepared for him. Even when I cannot see the least evidence of the Holy Spirit’s working, I am quietly and reverently to believe that he dwells in me.
Andrew Murray
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.
Stewardship is your commitment: the asking of God to take you back to himself—all that you have and all that you are.
Lawrence L. Durgin
“Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My name.”
Psalm 91:14
The New King James Version
To pray is nothing more involved than to lie in the sunshine of God’s grace.
Ole Hallesby
We are so very thankful for you, our ministry members. We thank you for your prayers and support for so many years. Presently, during these months of November and December, we share once again our year-end fundraising efforts, where we invite our readers to participate in supporting these ministries financially. In preparation of our next year, we would so value and appreciate your prayers and your donations, as we seek to strengthen and expand our ministries as we go forward together. Thank you!
Today I’m posting Part 3 of 7 of St. Nicholas: The Believer, a new story for Christmas based on the old story of St. Nicholas! If you haven’t read parts 1 and 2, you can still read (or listen for free!) at this link.
Next weekend is the PREMIERE of “ONE LIFE,” a new ballet based on this book. I’ve just finished recording the final narrations that will tell the story between the scenes of the ballet. I’m so excited to see the book come to life. If you want to take a road trip/plane trip to South Carolina, I’ll be there!
And if you’re looking for a Sunday morning church service online, you can watch one live at 9 or 11 a.m. (CST) at live.eastview.church and recorded for playback anytime the same link.
ST. NICHOLAS: THE BELIEVER
A new story for Christmas based on the old story of St. Nicholas
by Eric & Lana Elder
PART 3
CHAPTER 12
Once again, Nicholas was standing on a beach, alone. This time, however, it was on the shores of the Holy Land, looking back across the Great Sea towards his home.
In the months following his visit to Bethlehem, Nicholas, along with his young guide and bodyguards, had searched for every holy place that they could find that related to Jesus. They had retraced Jesus’ steps from His boyhood village in Nazareth to the fishing town of Capernaum, where Jesus had spent most of His adult years.
They had waded into the Jordan River where Jesus had been baptized and they swam in the Sea of Galilee where He had walked on the water and calmed the storm.
They had visited the hillside where Jesus had taught about the kingdom of heaven, and they had marveled at the spot where He had multiplied the five loaves of bread and two fish to feed a crowd of over 5,000 people.
While it was in Bethlehem that Nicholas was filled with wonder and awe, it was in Jerusalem where he was filled with mission and purpose. Walking through the streets where Jesus had carried His cross to His own execution, Nicholas felt the weight on his shoulders as if he were carrying a cross as well. Then seeing the hill where Jesus had died, and the empty tomb nearby where Jesus had risen from the dead, Nicholas felt the weight on his shoulders lifting off, as Jesus must have felt when He emerged from the tomb in which He had been sealed.
It was in that moment that Nicholas knew what his mission and purpose in life would be: to point others to the One who would lift their burdens off as well. He wanted to show them that they no longer had to carry the burdens of their sin, pain, sickness and need all alone. He wanted to show them that they could cast all their cares on Jesus, knowing that Jesus cared for them. “Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened,” Jesus had said, “and I will give you rest.”
The stories Nicholas had heard as a child were no longer vague and distant images of things that might have been. They were stories that had taken on new life for him, stories that were now three dimensional and in living color. It wasn’t just the fact that he was seeing these places with his own eyes. Others had done that, and some were even living there in the land themselves, but they had still never felt what Nicholas was feeling. What made the difference for Nicholas was that he was seeing these stories through the eyes of faith, through the eyes of a Believer, as one who now truly believed all that had taken place.
As his adventures of traveling to each of the holy sites came to an end, Nicholas returned to the spot where he had first felt the presence of God so strongly: to Bethlehem. He felt that in order to prepare himself better for his new calling in life, he should spend as much time as he could living and learning in this special land. While exploring the city of Bethlehem and its surroundings, he found another cave nearby, in the city of Beit Jala, that was similar to the cave in which Jesus had been born. He took up residence there in the cave, planning to spend as much time as he could living and learning how to live in this land where His Savior had lived.
Dimitri, Samuel and Ruthie had gained a new sense of mission and purpose for their lives as well. As much as they wanted to stay with Nicholas, they felt even more compelled to continue their important work of bringing more people to see these holy places. It was no longer just a way for them to provide a living for themselves, but they found it to be a holy calling, a calling to help others experience what they had experienced.
It had been four full years now since Nicholas had first arrived on this side of the Sea. During that time, he often saw his young friends as they brought more and more pilgrims to see what they had shown to Nicholas. In those few short years, he watched each of them grow up “in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men,” just as Jesus had done in His youth in Nazareth.
Nicholas would have been very happy to stay here even longer, but the same Spirit of God that had drawn him to come was now drawing him back home. He knew that he couldn’t stay on this mountaintop forever. There were people who needed him, and a life that was waiting for him back home, back in the province of Lycia. What that life held for him, he wasn’t sure. With his parents gone, there was little to pull him back home, but it was simply the Spirit of God Himself, propelling him forward on the next leg of his journey.
Making arrangements for a ship home was harder than it was to find a ship to come here, for the calm seas of summer were nearing their end and the first storms of winter were fast approaching. But Nicholas was convinced that this was the time, and he knew that if he waited any longer, he might not make it home again until spring–and the Spirit’s pull was too strong for that kind of delay.
So when he heard that a ship was expected to arrive any day now, one of the last of the season to sail through here on its way from Alexandria to Rome, he quickly arranged for passage. The ship was to arrive the next morning, and he knew he couldn’t miss it.
He had sent word, through a shopkeeper, to try to find his three best friends to let them know that he would be sailing in the morning. But as the night sky closed in, he had still not heard a word from them.
So he stood there on the beach alone, contemplating all that had taken place and all that had changed in his life since coming to the Holy Land–and all that was about to change as he left it. The thoughts filled him with excitement, anticipation and, to be honest, just a little bit of fear.
CHAPTER 13
Although Nicholas’ ship arrived the following morning just as expected, the children didn’t.
Later that afternoon, when the time came for him to board and the three still hadn’t shown up, Nicholas sadly resigned himself to the possibility that they just might miss each other entirely. He had started walking toward the ship when he felt a familiar tug at his sleeve.
“You a Christian?” came the voice once again, but this time with more depth as about four years were added to his life. It was Dimitri, of course. Nicholas turned on the spot and smiled his broadest smile.
“Am I a Christian? Without a doubt!” he said as he saw all three of them offering smiles to him in return. “And you?” he added, speaking to all three of them at once.
“Without a doubt!” they replied, almost in unison. It was the way they had spoken about their faith ever since their shared experience in Bethlehem, an experience when their doubts about God had faded away.
As Nicholas tried to take in all three of their faces just one more time, he wondered which was more difficult: to leave this precious land, or to leave these three precious youth whom he had met there. They all knew that God had called them together for a purpose, and they all trusted that God must now be calling them apart for another purpose, too, just as Nicholas had previously felt he was to move to Bethlehem and they were to continue their work taking pilgrims from city to city.
But just because they knew what God’s will was, it didn’t mean it was always easy to follow it. As Nicholas had often reminded them, tears were one of the strongest signs of love in the world. Without tears at the loss of those things that matter most, it would be hard to tell if those things really mattered at all.
A lack of tears wouldn’t be a problem today. Once again, Nicholas asked them all to hold out their right hands in front of them. As he reached into his pocket to find three of his largest coins to place into each of their outstretched hands, he found he wasn’t fast enough. Within an instant, all three children had wrapped their arms completely around Nicholas’ neck, his back and his waist, depending on their height. They all held on as tightly as possible, and as long as possible, before one of the ship’s crewmen signaled to Nicholas that the time had come.
As Nicholas gave each of them one last squeeze, he secretly slipped a coin into each of their pockets. Throughout their time together, Nicholas’ gifts had helped the children immeasurably. But it wasn’t Nicholas’ presents that blessed them so much as it was his presence–his willingness to spend so much time with them. Still, Nicholas wanted to give them a final blessing that they could discover later when he was gone, as he often did his best giving in secret.
Nicholas wasn’t sure whether to laugh or to cry at the thought of this final gift to them, so he did a little of both. Under his breath, he also offered a prayer of thanks for each of their lives, then bid them farewell, one by one. The children’s hugs were the perfect send-off as he stepped onto the ship and headed for home–not knowing that their hugs and kind words would also help to carry him through the dark days that he was about to face ahead.
CHAPTER 14
The wind whipped up as soon as Nicholas’ ship left the shore. The ship’s captain had hoped to get a head start on the coming storm, sailing for a few hours along the coast to the harbor in the next city before docking again for the night. It was always a longer trip to go around the edges of the Great Sea, docking in city after city along the way, instead of going directly across to their destination. But going straight across was also more perilous, especially at this time of year. So to beat the approaching winter, and the more quickly approaching storm, they wanted to gain as many hours as they could along the way.
Keeping on schedule, Nicholas found out, was more than just a matter of a captain wanting to make good on his contract with his clients. It was also soon to become a matter of life and death for the families of the crew on board, including the family of the captain. Nicholas found out that a famine had begun to spread across the empire, now affecting the crew’s home city back in Rome. The famine had begun in the countryside as rain had been sparse in the outlying areas, but now the shortages in the country were starting to deplete the reserves in Rome as well. Prices were rising and even families who could afford to pay for food were quickly depleting their resources to get it.
The ship’s captain was not a foolish man, having sailed on these seas for almost 30 years. But he also knew that the risk of holding back on their voyage at a time like this could mean they would be grounded for the rest of the winter. If that happened, his cargo of grain might perish by spring, as well as his family. So the ship pressed on.
It looked to Nicholas like they had made the right decision to set sail. He, too, felt under pressure to get this voyage underway, although it wasn’t family or cargo that motivated him. It was the Spirit of God Himself. He wouldn’t have been able to explain it to anyone except to those who had already experienced it. All he knew was that it was imperative that they start moving.
He had thought he might spend still more time in the Holy Land, perhaps even his entire life. It felt like home to him from the very beginning, as he had heard so many stories about it when he was growing up. He had little family waiting for him elsewhere, and up to this point, he was content to stay right where he was, except for the Spirit’s prompting that it was time to go.
The feeling started as a restlessness at first, a feeling that he was suddenly no longer content to stay where he was. He couldn’t trace the feeling to anything particular that was wrong with where he was, just that it was time to go. But where? Where did God want him to go? Did God have another site for him to see? Another part of the country in which he was supposed to live? Perhaps another country altogether that he was supposed to visit?
As the restlessness grew, his heart and his mind began to explore the options in more detail. He had found in the past that the best way to hear from God was to let go of his own will so that he could fully embrace God’s will, whatever that may be. While letting go was always hard for him, he knew that God would always lead him in the ways that were best. So, finally letting go of his own will, Nicholas began to see God’s will much more clearly in this situation as well. As much as he felt like the Holy Land was his new home, it wasn’t really his home. He felt strongly that the time had come for him to return to the region where he had been born, to the province of Lycia on the northern coast of the Sea. There was something, he felt, that God wanted him to do there–something for which he had been specifically equipped and called to do, and was, in fact, the reason that God had chosen for him to grow up there when he was young. Just as Nicholas had felt drawn to come to the Holy Land, he now felt drawn to return home.
To home he was headed, and to home he must go. That inner drive that he felt was as strong–if not stronger–than the drive that now motivated the ship’s captain and crew to get their cargo home, safe and sound, to their precious families.
Storm or no storm, they had to get home.
CHAPTER 15
Nicholas’ ship never made it to the next harbor along the coast. Instead, the storm they were trying to outrun had outrun them. It caught hold of their ship, pulling it away from the coast within the first few hours at sea. It kept pulling them further and further away from the coast until, three hours later, they found themselves inescapably caught in its torrents.
The crew had already lowered the sails, abandoning their attempts to force the rudder in the opposite direction. They now hoped that by going with the storm rather than against it they would have a better chance of keeping the ship in one piece. But this plan, too, seemed only to drive them into the deepest and most dangerous waters, keeping them near the eye of the storm itself.
After another three hours had passed, the sea sickness that had initially overcome their bodies was no longer a concern, as the fear of death itself was now overtaking all but the most resilient of those on board.
Nicholas, although he had traveled by ship before, was not among those considered to be most resilient. He had never experienced pounding waves like this before. And he wasn’t the only one. To a man, as the storm worsened, each began to speak of this as the worst storm they had ever seen.
The next morning, when the storm still hadn’t let up, and then again on the next morning and the next, and as the waves were still pounding them, they were all wondering why they had been in such a hurry to set out to beat the storm. Now they just hoped and prayed that God would let them live to see one more day, one more hour. As wave after wave pummeled the ship, Nicholas was simply praying they would make it through even one more wave.
His thoughts and prayers were filled with images of what it must have been like for the Apostle Paul, that follower of Christ who had sailed back and forth across the Great Sea several times in similar ships. It was on Paul’s last trip to Rome that he had landed in Myra, only miles from Nicholas’ hometown. Then, as Paul continued on from Myra to Rome, he faced the most violent storm he had ever faced at sea, a raging fury that lasted more than fourteen days and ended with his ship being blasted to bits by the waves as it ran aground on a sandbar, just off the coast of the island of Malta.
Nicholas prayed that their battle with the wind wouldn’t last for fourteen days. He didn’t know if they could make it through even one more day. He tried to think if there was anything that Paul had done to help himself and the 276 men who were on his ship with him to stay alive, even though their ship and its cargo were eventually destroyed. But as hard as he tried to think, all he could remember was that an angel had appeared to Paul on the night before they ran aground. The angel told Paul to take heart–that even though the ship would be destroyed, not one of the men aboard would perish. When Paul told the men about this angelic visit, they all took courage, as Paul was convinced that it would happen just as the angel said it would. And it did.
But for Nicholas, no such angel had appeared. No outcome from heaven had been predicted and no guidance had come about what they should or shouldn’t do. All he felt was that inner compulsion that he had felt before they departed–that they needed to get home as soon as they could.
Not knowing what else to do, Nicholas recalled a phrase of his father’s: “standing orders are good orders.” If a soldier wasn’t sure what to do next, even if the battle around him seemed to change directions, if the commanding officer hadn’t changed the orders, then the soldier was to carry on with the most recent orders given. Standing orders are good orders. It was this piece of wisdom from his father, more than any other thought, that guided Nicholas and gave him the courage to do what he did next.
CHAPTER 16
When the storm seemed to be at its worst, Nicholas’ thoughts turned to the children he had just left. His thoughts of them didn’t fill him with sadness, but with hope.
He began to take courage from the stories they had all learned about how Jesus had calmed the storm, how Moses had split the Red Sea and how Joshua had made the Jordan River stop flowing. Nicholas and the children had often tried to imagine what it must have been like to be able to exercise control over the elements like that. Nicholas had even, on occasion, tried to do some of these things himself, right along with Dimitri, Samuel and Ruthie. When it rained, they lifted their hands and prayed to try to stop the rain from coming down. But it just kept raining on their heads. When they got to the Sea of Galilee, they tried to walk on top of the water, just like Jesus did–and even Peter did, if only for a few short moments. But Nicholas and the children assumed they must not have had enough faith or strength or whatever it might have taken for them to do such things.
As another wave crashed over the side of the ship on which Nicholas was now standing, he realized there was a common thread that ran through each of these stories. Maybe it wasn’t their faith that was the problem after all, but God’s timing. In each instance from the stories he could remember, God didn’t allow those miracles on a whim, just for the entertainment of the people who were trying to do them. God allowed them because God had places for them to go, people they needed to see and lives that needed to be spared. There was an urgency in each situation that required the people to accomplish not only what was on their heart, but what was on God’s heart as well.
It seemed that the miracles were provided not because of their attempts to try to reorder God’s world, but in God’s attempts to try to reorder their worlds. It seemed to Nicholas that it must be a combination of their prayers of faith, plus God’s divine will, that caused a spark between heaven and earth, ignited by their two wills working together, that burst into a power that could move mountains.
When Jesus needed to get across the lake, but His disciples had already taken off in the boat, He was able to ignite by faith the process that allowed Him to walk on water, and thereafter calm the storm that threatened to take their lives when He finally did catch up to them.
“Standing orders are good orders,” Nicholas recalled, and he believed with all his heart that if God hadn’t changed His orders, then somehow they needed to do whatever they could to get to the other side of the Sea. But it wasn’t enough for God to will it. God was looking for someone willing, here on earth to will it, too, thereby completing the divine connection and causing the miracle to burst forth. Like Moses when he lifted his staff into the air or Joshua’s priests who took the first steps into the Jordan River, God needed someone to agree with Him in faith that what He had willed to happen in heaven should happen here on earth. God had already told Nicholas what needed to happen. Now it was up to Nicholas to complete the divine connection.
“Men!” Nicholas yelled to get the crew’s attention. “The God whom I serve, and who Has given each one of us life, wants us to reach our destination even more than we want to reach it. We must agree in faith, here and now, that God not only can do it, but that He wills us to do it. If you love God, or even if you think you might want to love God, I want you to pray along with me, that we will indeed reach our destination, and that nothing will stand in the way of our journey!”
As soon as Nicholas had spoken these words, the unthinkable happened: not only did the wind not stop, but it picked up speed! Nicholas faltered for a moment as if he had made some sort of cosmic mistake, some sort of miscalculation about the way God worked and what God wanted him to do. But then he noticed that even though the wind had picked up speed, it had also shifted directions, ever so slightly, but in such a distinct and noticeable way that God had gotten the attention of every man on board. Now, instead of being pounded by the waves from both sides, they were sailing straight through them, as if a channel had been cut into the waves themselves. The ship was driven along like this, not only for the next several moments, but for the next several hours.
When the speed and direction of the ship continued to hold its steady but impressively fast course, the captain of the ship came to Nicholas. He said he had never seen anything like this in his whole life. It was as if an invisible hand was holding the rudder of the ship, steady and straight, even though the ropes that held the rudder were completely unmanned, as they had been abandoned long ago when the winds first reached gale force.
Nicholas knew, too–even though he was certainly not as well seasoned as the captain–that this was not a normal phenomenon on the seas. He felt something supernatural taking control the moment he first stood up to speak to the men, and he felt it still as they continued on their path straight ahead.
What lay before them he didn’t know. But what he did know was that the One who had brought them this far was not going to take His hand off that rudder until His mission was accomplished.
CHAPTER 17
The storm that they thought was going to take their lives turned out to be the storm that saved many more. Rather than going the long way around the sea, following the coastline in the process, the storm had driven them straight across it, straight into the most dangerous path that they never would have attempted on their own at that time of year.
When they sighted land early on the morning of the fifth day, they recognized it clearly. It was the city of Myra, just a few miles away from Nicholas’ hometown, and the same city where the Apostle Paul had changed ships on his famous journey to Rome.
It was close enough to home that Nicholas knew in his heart that he was about to land in the exact spot where God wanted him to be. God, without a doubt, had spared his life for a purpose, a purpose which would now begin the next chapter of his life.
As they sailed closer to the beach, they could see that the storm that raged at sea had hardly been felt on shore.
The rains that had flooded their ship for the past several days, and that should have been watering the land as well, hadn’t made it inland for several months. The drought that the captain and sailors had told him had come to Rome had already been here in Lycia for two and a half years. The cumulative effect was that the crops that were intended to supply their reserves for the coming winter and for next year’s seed had already been depleted. If the people of Lycia didn’t get grain to eat now, many would never make it through the winter, and still more would die the following spring, as they wouldn’t have seed to plant another crop. This ship was one of the last that had made it out of the fertile valleys of Egypt before the winter, and its arrival at this moment in time was like a miracle in the eyes of the people. It was certainly an answer to their prayers.
But that answer wasn’t so clear to the captain of the ship. He had been under strict orders from the keeper of the Imperial storehouses in Rome that not one kernel of grain could be missing when the ship arrived back in Rome. The ship had been weighed in Alexandria before it left Egypt and it would be weighed again in Rome–and the captain would be held personally responsible for any discrepancy. The famine had put increasing pressure on the emperor to bring any kind of relief to the people. Not only this, but the families of the captain and crew themselves were awaiting the arrival of this food. Their jobs, and the lives of their families, relied on the safe delivery of every bit of grain aboard.
Yet without the faith and encouragement of Nicholas, the captain knew that the ship and its cargo would have been lost at sea, along with all of their lives.
While it was clear to Nicholas that God had brought him back to his homeland, he too wasn’t entirely certain what to do about the grain. While it seemed that giving at least some of the grain to the people of Myra was in order, Nicholas still tried to see it from God’s perspective. Was this city, or any other city throughout the empire, any more in need of the grain than Rome, which had bought and paid for it to be delivered? But it also seemed to Nicholas that the ship had been driven specifically to this particular city, in a straight and steady line through the towering waves.
The whole debate of what they were to do next took place within just a matter of minutes of their arrival on shore. And Nicholas and the captain had little time to think through what they were going to do, as the people of the city were already running out to see the ship for themselves, having been amazed at the way God had seemingly brought it to their famished port. They were gathering in larger and larger numbers to welcome the boat, and giving thanks and praise to God at the same time.
Both Nicholas and the captain knew that only God Himself could answer their dilemma. The two of them, along with the rest of the crew, had already agreed the night before–as they were so steadily and swiftly being carried along through the water–that the first thing they would do when they arrived on shore was to go to the nearest church and give thanks to God for His deliverance. Upon seeing where they had landed, Nicholas knew exactly where they could find that church. It was one that his family had visited from time to time as they traveled between these twin cities of Patara and Myra. Telling the people that their first order of duty was to give thanks to God for their safe passage, Nicholas and the captain and his crew headed to the church in Myra.
As they made their way across the city and up into the hills that cradled the church, they had no idea that the priests inside its walls had already been doing battle with a storm of their own.
And here are some pictures my daughter and I took of the actual city of Myra (today known as Demre) on the coast of Turkey where the real St. Nicholas lived and ministered in the 3rd and 4th centuries A.D. You can see here some rock tombs, an archway under a theater, and the entrances and exits of the same theater from behind the stage.
And here’s a 30-second video of the famous rock tombs of Myra, which were carved into the mountainside several hundred years before Nicholas’ arrival there.
A great many people are trying to make peace, but that has already been done. God has not left it for us to do; all we have to do is to enter into it.
Dwight L. Moody
There is great gain in godliness with contentment;
1 Timothy 6:6
The Revised Standard Version
How easy is pen-and-paper piety! I will not say it costs nothing; but it is far cheaper to work one’s head than one’s heart to goodness. I can write a hundred meditations sooner than subdue the least sin in my soul.
Thomas Fuller
This particular week, we are so very thankful for you, our ministry members. We thank you for your prayers and support for so many years. Presently, during these months of November and December, we share once again our year-end fundraising efforts, where we invite our readers to participate in supporting these ministries financially. In preparation of our next year, we would so value and appreciate your prayers and your donations, as we seek to strengthen and expand our ministries as we go forward together. Thank you!
There is an imaginative story told of a day when the sun did not rise. Six o’clock came and there was no sign of dawn. At seven o’clock, there was still no ray of light. At noon it was as black as midnight. No birds sang and only the hoot of an owl broke the silence. Then came the long black hours of the afternoon. Finally evening arrived but no one slept at night, Some wept, some wrung their hands in anguish. Every church was thronged with people on their knees. Thus they remained the whole night through. After that long night of terror and agony, millions of eager, tear-streaked faces were turned toward the east. When the sky began to grow red and the sun rose, there was a loud shout of joy. Millions of lips said, “Bless the Lord O my soul!” because the sun had risen after one day of darkness.
The very consistency of God’s blessings sometimes seems to dull our gratitude. The wonderful thing about the mercies of God is that they are fresh every morning and new every evening. Let us remember to be consistently thankful to our gracious God.
Unknown
Being enriched in every thing to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God.
2 Corinthians 9:11
The King James Version
This particular week, we are so very thankful for you, our ministry members. We thank you for your prayers and support for so many years. Presently, during these months of November and December, we share once again our year-end fundraising efforts, where we invite our readers to participate in supporting these ministries financially. In preparation of our next year, we would so value and appreciate your prayers and your donations, as we seek to strengthen and expand our ministries as we go forward together. Thank you!
I thank You for these gifts, dear God,
Upon Thanksgiving Day—
For love and laughter and the faith
That bids me kneel to pray.
For life that lends me happiness,
And sleep that gives me rest;
These are the gifts that keep my heart
Serene within my breast.
Love, laughter, faith and life and sleep,
We cherish every one—
They carry us along the road
That leads from sun to sun.
Margaret E. Sangster
Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.
Psalm 100:4
The New International Version
When we eat the good bread, we are eating months of sunlight, weeks of rain and snow from the sky, richness out of the earth. We should be great, each of us radiant, full of music and full of stories. Able to run the way clouds do, able to dance like the snow and the rain. But nobody takes time to think that he eats all these things and that sun, rain, snow are all a part of himself.
Monica Shannon
This particular week, we are so very thankful for you, our ministry members. We thank you for your prayers and support for so many years. Presently, during these months of November and December, we share once again our year-end fundraising efforts, where we invite our readers to participate in supporting these ministries financially. In preparation of our next year, we would so value and appreciate your prayers and your donations, as we seek to strengthen and expand our ministries as we go forward together. Thank you!
Forgiveness is the name of love practiced among people who love poorly. The hard truth is that all people love poorly. We need to forgive and be forgiven every day, every hour increasingly. That is the great work of love among the fellowship of the weak that is the human family.
Henri Nouwen
“Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the Lord God is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation.”
Isaiah 12:2
The English Standard Version
This particular week, we are so very thankful for you, our ministry members. We thank you for your prayers and support for so many years. Presently, during these months of November and December, we share once again our year-end fundraising efforts, where we invite our readers to participate in supporting these ministries financially. In preparation of our next year, we would so value and appreciate your prayers and your donations, as we seek to strengthen and expand our ministries as we go forward together. Thank you!
As we progress towards the end of this year, we wish to share our ministry’s goals and financial needs with you, so that we might begin our next year together on a firm financial foundation.
This is a particularly pivotal coming year in the life of our two ministries.
The Ranch was begun by Eric Elder and his wife Lana some 23 years ago and This Day’s thought was started by Greg Potzer 20 years ago. If you will recall, these were the very early years of the Internet…web sites and email communications, social media.
During the earliest of these years, both ministries were operated individually, but at the same time both Greg and Eric worked together on many of aspects of their respectful goals.
Then, in 2012, both ministries joined together in a more unified presentation & approach, and thus, for the last 9 years have worked seamlessly together.
We now are in the process of prayerful plans to both go forward into our next year, separated once again in order to maximize all our present opportunities, but still so very unified in our goal to serve the Lord.
You have always been so very generous and supportive of our ministry needs and at this time we would humbly ask that you might consider your financial support for this next year. You have always heard us share, “we need so very little but we need that little so very much,” and we must admit that has never been so true and important as it is now, as we approach this year end.
We currently reach over 40,000 people each and every day, from over 160 countries, with our Christian “seed-for-a-day,” offering encouragement & inspiration, and we hope to expand our reach even further with the blessing of your prayers and gifts.
So, if you might prayerfully consider donating to these efforts, and help us lay the very best foundation to be able to go forward, we thank you for all you past gracious support and hope you will find it in your hearts to do so even more so as we begin many more years together, in our praise and celebration of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Or send your gift to:
Eric Elder Ministries, 25615 E 3000 North Road, Chenoa, IL 61726 USA
The happiest, sweetest, tenderest homes are not those where there has been no sorrow, but those which have been overshadowed with grief, and where Christ’s comfort was accepted.
J. R. Miller
“In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”
Acts 20:35
The New International Version
As in Paradise, God walks in the holy Scriptures, seeking man.
As a way to help you keep Christ in Christmas, I’m posting the full version of a heartwarming Christmas story I’ve written called St. Nicholas: The Believer. Today, I’m posting Part 2 of 7. If you missed Part 1, you can still read it online at this link.)
I’m excited to tell you that in two weeks I’ll be in Columbia, South Carolina attending the premiere of “ONE LIFE: A CHRISTMAS STORY BALLET,” which is based on our book!
I’m can’t wait to see the characters from our story spring to life in 3D, whirling and twirling in this new Christmas spectacular! If you’re in the South Carolina area, I hope you’ll stop by, see the show and say “Hi!” You can learn more at: https://scchristiandance.com/one-life/
(And if you’re looking for a Sunday morning church service online, you can watch one live at 9 or 11 a.m. (CST) at live.eastview.church and recorded for playback anytime the same link.)
For now, enjoy Part 2 of our special Christmas story…
ST. NICHOLAS: THE BELIEVER
A new story for Christmas based on the old story of St. Nicholas
by Eric & Lana Elder
Nicholas stood alone. He was on the same stretch of beach where his father had stood just ten years earlier, looking out at the sunrise and the waves on the seashore.
Nicholas’ father never made it out to look at the Great Sea again, having finally succumbed to the sickness himself. Nicholas’ mother passed away first, within two weeks of the first signs of illness. His father lasted another three days after that, as if holding on as long as he could to make sure his wife passed as peacefully as possible from this life to the next, and making sure Nicholas was as ready as possible to take the next steps in his own life.
Nicholas’ father didn’t shy away from tears, but he didn’t want them wasted on wrongful emotions either. “Don’t cry because it’s over,” his father had said to both his wife and his son. “Smile because it was beautiful.”
There was a time and place for anger and disappointment, but this wasn’t the time for either. If given the chance to do it all over again, his parents would have chosen to do exactly what they did. It was not foolishness, they said, to be willing to risk their lives for the sake of others, especially when there were no guarantees that they would have survived anyway.
As it turned out, the plague ended up taking the lives of almost a third of the people in Patara before it finally ran its course. The sickness seemed to have a mind of its own, affecting those who tried to shield themselves from it as well as those who, like his parents, had ventured out into the midst of it.
After the death of his parents, Nicholas felt a renewed sense of urgency to pick up where they had left off, visiting those who were sick and comforting the families of those who had died.
Then, almost as suddenly as it came to their city, the plague left. Nicholas had spent most of the next few weeks sleeping, trying to recover from the long days—and even longer nights—of ministering to those who were affected. When he was awake, he spent his time trying to process his own feelings and emotions in light of the loss of the family he loved. In so many ways, his parents were his life. His life was so intertwined with theirs, and having them taken so suddenly from him, he hardly knew what to do without them. He went to live with his uncle, a priest who lived in the monastery in Patara, until he was ready to venture out further into the world on his own. Now that time had come, and it was time for Nicholas to make his decision.
Unlike many others who had been orphaned by the plague, Nicholas had been left with a sizable inheritance. The question on his heart wasn’t what he would do to make a living, but what he would do to make a life. Through all that he had experienced, and now recognizing the brevity of life for himself, Nicholas now knew why his father had come so often to this shore to pray. Now it was Nicholas’ turn to consider his own future in light of eternity.
What should I do? Where should I go? How should I spend the rest of my days? The questions could have overwhelmed him, except that his father had prepared him well for moments like these, too.
His father, always a student of the writings of Scripture and of the life of Christ, had told him that Jesus taught that we needn’t worry so much about the trouble down the road as just the trouble for that day. Each day has enough trouble of its own, Jesus said.
As Nicholas thought about this, his burden lifted. He didn’t have to figure out what he was going to do with the rest of his life just yet. He only had to decide on his next step.
He had enough money to travel the length of the entire world back and forth three times and still have enough to live on for years to come. But that wasn’t really what he wanted to do. He had never had a desire to live wildly or lavishly, for the life he knew up to this point already gave him tremendous satisfaction. But there was one place he had always wanted to see with his own eyes.
As he looked out across the sea, to the south and to the west, he knew that somewhere in between lay the place he most wanted to visit—a land that seemed more precious in his mind than any other. It was the land where Jesus had lived, the land where He had walked and taught, the land where He was born and died, and the land where so many of the stories of His life—and almost the entirety of Scripture itself—had taken place.
Nicholas knew that some decisions in life were made only through the sweat and agony of prayer, trying desperately to decide between two seemingly good, but mutually exclusive paths. But this decision was not one of them. This was one of those decisions that, by the nature of the circumstances, was utterly simple to make. Apart from his uncle, there was little more to keep him in Patara, and nothing to stop him from following the desire that had been on his heart for so long.
He was glad his father had shown him this spot, and he was glad that he had come to it again today. He knew exactly what he was going to do next. His decision was as clear as the water in front of him.
CHAPTER 7
Nicholas’ arrival on the far shores of the Great Sea came sooner than he could have imagined. For so long he had wondered what it would be like to walk where Jesus walked, and now, at age 19, he was finally there.
Finding a boat to get there had been no problem, for his hometown of Patara was one of the main stopovers for ships traveling from Egypt to Rome, carrying people and cargo alike. Booking passage was as simple as showing that you had the money to pay, which Nicholas did.
But now that he had arrived, where would he go first? He wanted to see everything at once, but that was impossible. A tug at his sleeve provided the answer.
“You a Christian?” the small voice asked.
Nicholas looked down to see a boy not more than ten looking up at him. Two other children giggled nearby. To ask this question so directly, when it was dangerous in general to do so, showed that the boy was either a sincere follower of Christ looking for a fellow believer, or it showed that he had ulterior motives in mind. From the giggles of his little friends nearby, a boy and a girl just a bit younger than the one who had spoken, Nicholas knew it was probably the latter.
“You a Christian?” the boy asked again. “I show you holy places?”
Ah, that’s it, thought Nicholas. Enough pilgrims had obviously come here over the years that even the youngest inhabitants knew that pilgrims would need a guide once they arrived. Looking over the three children again, Nicholas felt they would suit him just fine. Nicholas had a trusting heart, and while he wasn’t naive enough to think that trouble wouldn’t find him here, he also trusted that the same God who had led him here would also provide the help he needed once he arrived. Even if these children were doing it just for the money, that was all right with Nicholas. Money he had. A map he didn’t. He would gladly hire them to be his living maps to the holy places.
“Yes, and yes,” Nicholas answered. “Yes, I am indeed a Christian. And if you would like to take me, then yes, I would be very interested to see the holy places. I would love for your friends to come along with us, too. That way, if we meet any trouble, they can defend us all!”
The boy’s mouth dropped open and his friends giggled again. It wasn’t the answer the boy had expected at all, at least not so fast and not without a great deal of pestering on his part. Pilgrims who arrived were usually much more skeptical when they stepped off their boats, shooing away anyone who approached them—at least until they got their land legs back and their bearings straight. But the boy quickly recovered from his shock and immediately extended his right hand in front of him, palm upraised, with a slight bow of his head. It gave Nicholas the subtle impression as if to say that the boy was at Nicholas’ service—and the not-so-subtle impression that the boy was ready for something to be deposited in his open hand. Nicholas, seeing another opportunity to throw the boy off guard, happily obliged.
He gently placed three of his smallest, but shiniest coins into the boy’s upraised palm and said, “My name is Nicholas. And I can see you’re a wise man. Now, if you’re able to keep your hand open even after I’ve set these coins in it, you’ll be even wiser still. For he who clenches his fist tightly around what he has received will find it hard to receive more. But he who opens his hand freely to heaven—freely giving in the same way that he has freely received—will find that his Father in heaven will usually not hold back in giving him more.”
Nicholas motioned with his hand that he intended for the boy to share what he had received with his friends, who had come closer at the appearance of the coins. The boy obviously was the spokesman for all three, but still he faltered for a moment as to what to do. This man was so different from anyone else the boy had ever approached. With others, the boy was always trying, usually without success, to coax even one such coin from their pockets, but here he had been given three in his very first attempt! The fact that the coins weren’t given grudgingly, but happily, did indeed throw him off balance. He had never heard such a thought like that of keeping his hands open to give and receive. His instinct would have been to instantly clench his fist tightly around the coins, not letting go until he got to the safest place he could find, and only then could he carefully inspect them and let their glimmers shine in his eyes. Yet he stood stock still, with his hand still outstretched and his palm facing upward. Almost against his own self-will, he found himself turning slightly and extending his hand to his friends.
Seizing the moment, the two others each quickly plucked a coin from his hand. Within an instant of realizing that they, too, were about to clench their fists around their newly acquired treasure, they slowly opened their fingers as well, looking up at the newly arrived pilgrim with a sense of bewilderment. They were bewildered not just that he had given them the coins, but that they were still standing there with their palms open, surprising even themselves that they were willing to follow this man’s peculiar advice.
The sight of it all made Nicholas burst out in a gracious laugh. He was delighted by their response and he quickly deposited two more of his smallest coins into each of their hands, now tripling their astonishment. It wasn’t the amount of the gifts that had astonished them, for they had seen bigger tips from wealthier pilgrims, but it was the generous and cheerful spirit that accompanied the gifts that gave them such a surprise.
The whole incident took place in less than a minute, but it set Nicholas and his new friends into such a state that each of them looked forward to the journey ahead.
“Now, you’d better close your hands again, because a wise man—or woman–“ he nodded to the little girl, “also takes care of that which they have been given so that it doesn’t get lost or stolen.”
Then, turning to walk toward the city, Nicholas said, “How about you let me get some rest tonight, and then, first thing in the morning, you can start showing me those holy places?”
While holy places abounded in this holy land, in the magical moments that had just transpired, it seemed to the three children—and even to Nicholas himself–that they had just stepped foot on their first.
CHAPTER 8
Nicholas woke with the sun the next morning. He had asked the children to meet him at the inn shortly after sunrise. His heart skipped a beat with excitement about the day ahead. Within a few minutes, he heard their knock–and their unmistakable giggles–at the door.
He found out that their names were Dimitri, Samuel and Ruthie. They were, to use the common term, “alumni,” children whose parents had left them at birth to fend for themselves. Orphans like these dotted the streets throughout the Roman Empire, byproducts of people who indulged their passions wherever and with whomever they wanted, with little thought for the outcome of their actions.
While Dimitri could have wallowed in self-pity for his situation, he didn’t. He realized early on that it didn’t help to get frustrated and angry about his circumstances. So he became an entrepreneur.
He began looking for ways he could help people do whatever they needed, especially those things which others couldn’t do, or wouldn’t do, for themselves. He wasn’t often rewarded for his efforts, but when he was, it was all worth it.
He wasn’t motivated by religion, for he wasn’t religious himself, and he wasn’t motivated by greed, for he never did anything that didn’t seem right if it were just for the money, as greedy people who only care about money often do. He simply believed that if he did something that other people valued, and if he did it good enough and long enough, then somehow he would make it in life. Some people, like Dimitri, stumble onto godly wisdom without even realizing it.
Samuel and Ruthie, on the other hand, were just along for the ride. Like bees drawn to honey, Samuel and Ruthie were drawn to Dimitri, as often happens when people find someone who is trying to do what’s right. Samuel was eight, and like Dimitri, wasn’t religious himself, but had chosen his own name when he heard someone tell the story of another little boy named Samuel who, when very young, had been given away by his parents to be raised by a priest. Samuel, the present-day one, loved to hear about all that the long-ago Samuel had done, even though the other one had lived over 1,000 years before. This new Samuel didn’t know if the stories about the old Samuel were true, but at the time he chose his name, he didn’t particularly care. It was only in the past few months, as he had been traveling to the holy sites with Dimitri, that he had begun to wonder if perhaps the stories really were true.
Now Ruthie, even though she was only seven, was as sharp as a tack. She always remembered people’s names and dates, what happened when and who did what to whom. Giggling was her trademark, but little though she was, her mind was eager to learn and she remembered everything she saw and everything she was taught. Questions filled her mind, and naturally spilled right out of her mouth.
Dimitri didn’t mind these little tag-alongs, for although it might have been easier for him to do what he did by himself, he also knew of the dangers of the streets and felt compelled to help these two like an older brother might help his younger siblings. And to be completely honest, he didn’t have anyone else to call family, so finding these two a few years earlier had filled a part of his heart in a way that he couldn’t describe, but somehow made him feel better.
Nicholas took in the sight of all three beaming faces at his door. “Where to first?” asked Dimitri.
“Let’s start at the beginning,” said Nicholas, “the place where Jesus was born.” And with that they began the three-day walk from the coast of Joppa to the hills of Bethlehem.
CHAPTER 9
After two days of walking and sleeping on hillsides, Nicholas and his new friends had just a half day left before they reached Bethlehem. For Nicholas, his excitement was building with every hill they passed, as he was getting closer and closer to the holy place he most wanted to see, the birthplace of Jesus.
“Why do you think He did it?” asked Dimitri. “I mean, why would Jesus want to come here—to earth? If I were already in heaven, I think I’d want to stay there.”
Even though Dimitri was supposed to be the guide, he didn’t mind asking as many questions as he could, especially when he was guiding someone like Nicholas, which didn’t happen very often.
Nicholas didn’t mind his asking, either, as Nicholas had done the same thing back home. His parents belonged to a community of believers that had been started about 250 years earlier by the Apostle Paul himself when Paul had visited their neighboring city of Myra on one of his missionary journeys, telling everyone who would listen about Jesus. Paul had lived at the same time as Jesus, although Paul didn’t become a believer himself until after Jesus died and rose again from the dead. Paul’s stories were always remarkable.
Nicholas got to hear all of the stories that Paul had told while he was in Myra, as they were written down and repeated by so many others over the years.
As a child, Nicholas thought that anything that happened 250 years ago sounded like ancient history. But as he started to get a little older, and now that his parents had passed away, too, it didn’t seem that long ago at all. The stories that Nicholas heard were the same stories his father and his grandfather and his great grandfather, back to six or seven generations, had heard, some for the very first time from the Apostle Paul in person. Nicholas loved to hear them over and over, and he asked many of the same questions that Dimitri was now asking him—like why would Jesus leave heaven to come down to earth in person.
“The simple answer is because He loved us,” said Nicholas. “But that alone probably doesn’t answer the question you’re really asking, because God has always loved us. The reason Jesus came to earth was, well, because there are some things that need to be done in person.”
Nicholas went on to explain the gospel–the good news–to the children of how Jesus came to pay the ultimate price with His life for anything we had ever done wrong, making a way for us to come back to God with a clean heart, plus live with Him in heaven forever.
Throughout the story, the children stared at Nicholas with rapt attention. Although they had been to Bethlehem many times before and had often taken people to the cave that was carved into the hillside where it was said that Jesus was born, they had never pictured it in their minds quite like this before. They had never understood the motivations behind why God did what He did. And they had never really considered that the stories they heard about Jesus being God in the flesh were true. How could He be?
Yet hearing Nicholas’ explanation made so much sense to them, that they wondered why they had never considered it as true before. In those moments, their hearts and minds were finally opened to at least the possibility that it was true. And that open door turned out to be the turning point for each of them in their lives, just as it had been for Nicholas when he first heard the Truth. God really did love them, and God had demonstrated that love for them by coming to the earth to save them from their certain self-destruction.
For Nicholas, when he first heard about the love of the Father for him, the idea was fairly familiar to him because he had already had a good glimpse of what the love of a father looked like from the love of his own father. But to Dimitri, Samuel and Ruthie, who had never had a father, much less one like Nicholas had just described, it was simultaneously one of the most distantly incomprehensible, yet wonderfully alluring descriptions of love they had ever heard.
As they made their way through the hills toward Bethlehem, they began to skip ahead as fast as their hearts were already skipping, knowing that they would soon see again the place where God had, as a Man, first touched earth less than 300 years earlier. They would soon be stepping onto ground that was indeed holy.
CHAPTER 10
It was evening when they finally arrived at their destination. Dimitri led them through the city of Bethlehem to the spot where generations of pilgrims had already come to see the place where Jesus was born: a small cave cut into the hillside where animals could easily have been corralled so they wouldn’t wander off.
There were no signs to mark the spot, no monuments or buildings to indicate that you were now standing on the very spot where the God of the universe had arrived as a child. It was still dangerous anywhere in the Roman Empire to tell others you were a Christian, even though the laws against it were only sporadically enforced.
But that didn’t stop those who truly followed Christ from continuing to honor the One whom they served as their King. Although Jesus taught that His followers were to still respect their earthly rulers, if forced to choose between worshipping Christ or worshipping Caesar, both the Christians and Caesar knew who the Christians would worship. So the standoff continued.
The only indication that this was indeed a holy site was the well-worn path up the hill that made its way into and out of the cave. Tens of thousands of pilgrims had already made their way to this spot during the past 250 years. It was well known to those who lived in Bethlehem, for it was the same spot that had been shown to pilgrims from one generation to the next, going back to the days of Christ.
As Dimitri led the three others along the path to the cave, Nicholas laughed, a bit to himself, and a bit out loud. The others turned to see what had made him burst out so suddenly. He had even surprised himself! Here he was at the one holy site he most wanted to see, and he was laughing.
Nicholas said, “I was just thinking of the wise men who came to Bethlehem to see Jesus. They probably came up this very hill. How regal they must have looked, riding on their camels and bringing their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. For a moment I pictured myself as one of those kings, riding on a camel myself. Then I stepped in some sheep dung by the side of the road. The smell brought me back in an instant to the reality that I’m hardly royalty at all!”
“Yes,” said Ruthie, “but didn’t you tell us that the angels spoke to the shepherds first, and that they were the first ones to go and see the baby? So smelling a little like sheep dung may not make you like the kings, but it does make you like those who God brought to the manger first!”
“Well said, Ruthie,” said Nicholas. “You’re absolutely right.”
Ruthie smiled at her insight, and then her face produced another thoughtful look. “But maybe we should still bring a gift with us, like the wise men did?” The thought seemed to overtake her, as if she was truly concerned that they had nothing to give to the King. He wasn’t there anymore to receive their gifts, of course, but still she had been captivated by the stories about Jesus that Nicholas had been telling them along the road. She thought that she should at least bring Him some kind of gift.
“Look!” she said, pointing to a spot on the hill a short distance away. She left the path and within a few minutes had returned with four small, delicate golden flowers, one for each of them. “They look just like gold to me!”
She smiled from ear to ear now, giving each one of them a gift to bring to Jesus. Nicholas smiled as well. There’s always something you can give, he thought to himself. Whether it’s gold from a mine or gold from a flower, we only bring to God that which is already His anyway, don’t we?
So with their gifts in hand, they reached the entrance to the cave—and stepped inside.
CHAPTER 11
Nothing could have prepared Nicholas for the strong emotion that overtook him as he entered the cave.
On the ground in front of him was a makeshift wooden manger, a feeding trough for animals probably very similar to the one in which Jesus had been laid the night of His birth. It had apparently been placed in the cave as a simple reminder of what had taken place there. But the effect on Nicholas was profound.
One moment he had been laughing at himself and watching Ruthie pick flowers on the hillside and the next moment, upon seeing the manger, he found himself on his knees, weeping uncontrollably at the thought of what had taken place on this very spot.
He thought about everything he had ever heard about Jesus—about how He had healed the sick, walked on water and raised the dead. He thought about the words Jesus had spoken—words that echoed with the weight of authority as He was the Author of life itself. He thought about his own parents who had put their lives on the line to serve this Man called Jesus, who had died for him just as He had died for them, giving up their very lives for those they loved.
The thoughts flooded his mind so fully that Nicholas couldn’t help sobbing with deep, heartfelt tears. They came from within his very soul. Somewhere else deep inside him, Nicholas felt stirred like he had never felt in his life. It was a sensation that called for some kind of response, some kind of action. It was a feeling so different from anything else he had ever experienced, yet it was unmistakably clear that there was a step he was now supposed to take, as if a door were opening before him and he knew he was supposed to walk through it. But how?
As if in answer to his question, Nicholas remembered the golden flower in his hand. He knew exactly what he was supposed to do, and he wanted more than anything to do it.
He took the flower and laid it gently on the ground in front of the wooden manger. The golden flower wasn’t just a flower anymore. It was a symbol of his very life, offered up now in service to his King.
Nicholas knelt there for several minutes, engulfed in this experience that he knew, even in the midst of it, would affect him for the rest of his life. He was oblivious to anything else that was going on around him. All he knew was that he wanted to serve this King, this Man who was clearly a man in every sense of the word, yet was clearly one and the same with God as well, the very essence of God Himself.
As if slowly waking from a dream, Nicholas began to become aware of his surroundings again. He noticed Dimitri and Samuel on his left and Ruthie on his right, also on their knees. Having watched Nicholas slip down to his knees, they had followed suit. Now they looked alternately, back and forth between him and the manger in front of him.
The waves of emotion that had washed over Nicholas were now washing over them as well. They couldn’t help but imagine what he was experiencing, knowing how devoted he was to Jesus and what it had willingly cost Nicholas’ parents to follow Him. Each of them, in their own way, began to experience for themselves what such love and devotion must feel like.
Having watched Nicholas place his flower in front of the manger, they found themselves wanting to do the same. If Jesus meant so much to Nicholas, then certainly they wanted to follow Jesus as well. They had never in their entire lives experienced the kind of love that Nicholas had shown them in the past three days. Yet somehow they knew that the love that Nicholas had for them didn’t originate with Nicholas alone, but from the God whom Nicholas served. If this was the kind of effect that Jesus had on His followers, then they wanted to follow Jesus, too.
Any doubts that Nicholas had had about his faith prior to that day were all washed away in those timeless moments. Nicholas had become, in the truest sense of the word, a Believer.
And from those very first moments of putting his faith and trust fully in Jesus, he was already inspiring others to do the same.
Here are a few pictures of the Holy Land (taken by my daughter, Makari on a trip we took there a few years ago): a waterfall in the mountains of En Gedi where David fled from King Saul, an unmarked tomb by the side of a road, and the Temple Mount in Jerusalem where Jesus once walked, taught, and touched people’s lives 2,000 years ago.
And here’s a short video clip I took while visiting Bethlehem, showing the star on the ground which has been shown to believers since the days of St. Nicholas as the location of the stable where Jesus was born. A church was first built over this spot just a few dozen years after the real St. Nicholas visited there.
Don’t be afraid to desire great mercies from the God of heaven.
John Bunyan
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20
The English Standard Version
Though weary, love is not tired;
Though pressed, it is not straitened;
Though alarmed, it is not confounded.
Love securely passes through all.
Thomas Kempis
We have begun our year-end fundraising efforts, where we invite our readers to participate in supporting this ministry financially. In preparation of our next year, we would so value and appreciate your prayers and your donations, as we seek to strengthen and expand our ministry as we go forward together. Thank you!
If you check out the life of Jesus you will discover what made him perfect. He did not attain a state of perfection by carrying around in his pocket a list of rules and regulations, or by seeking to conform to the cultural mores of his time. He was perfect because he never made a move without his Father.
Tom Skinner
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6:23
The Revised Standard Version
We have begun our year-end fundraising efforts, where we invite our readers to participate in supporting this ministry financially. In preparation of our next year, we would so value and appreciate your prayers and your donations, as we seek to strengthen and expand our ministry as we go forward together. Thank you!
No sorrow touches man until it has been filtered through the heart of God.
Joseph D. Blinco
In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.
Psalm 4:8
The English Standard Version
The soul is not where it lives but where it loves.
Thomas Fuller
We have begun our year-end fundraising efforts, where we invite our readers to participate in supporting this ministry financially. In preparation of our next year, we would so value and appreciate your prayers and your donations, as we seek to strengthen and expand our ministry as we go forward together. Thank you!
Update from Eric Elder: Today’s “Thoughts” follow this brief update, but I wanted to let you know we’ve received $5,145.30 so far from 67 of our wonderful subscribers…
As you can see from this chart, the donations have ranged from $5 to $1,000, and each one is significant in helping us to reach our goal.
Would you consider joining these others in our efforts to send these daily words of encouragement to over 40,000 people over 160 countries? Our goal is to raise $60,000 by the end of the year, and every donation gets us that much closer!
Thanks so much for your help and for your notes of encouragement like these:
“Your ministry has blessed me for many years and I’m in a better place because of it.”
“With love and gratitude for your ministry which has been of great support and joy to me in what has been a very difficult year.”
“Thanks again for the inspiration of this week’s sermon and daily thoughts. They are always a source of encouragement, a blessing, and a reminder of God’s love and interest in our lives. May God continue to bless your ministry.”
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Eric Elder Ministries, 25615 E 3000 North Road, Chenoa, IL 61726 USA
The storm was raging. The sea was beating against the rocks in huge, dashing waves. The lightning was flashing, the thunder was roaring, the wind was blowing; but the little bird was sound asleep in the crevice of the rock, its head tucked serenely under its wing. That is peace: to be able to sleep in the storm! In Christ we are relaxed and at peace in the midst of the confusions, bewilderments and perplexities of this life. The storm rages, but our hearts are at rest. We have found peace—at last!
Billy Graham
Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law, or by hearing with faith?
We have to pray with our eyes on God, not on the difficulties.
Oswald Chambers
That I may proclaim with the voice of thanksgiving, And tell of all Your wondrous works.
Psalm 26:7
The New King James Version
Because of a friend, life is a little stronger, fuller, more gracious thing for the friend’s existence, whether he be near or far. If the friend is close at hand, that is best; but if he is far away he still is there to think of, to wonder about, to hear from, to write to, to share life and experience with, to serve, to honor, to admire, to love.
Arthur Christopher Benson
We have begun our year-end fundraising efforts, where we invite our readers to participate in supporting this ministry financially. In preparation of our next year, we would so value and appreciate your prayers and your donations, as we seek to expand and strengthen our ministry as we go forward together. Thank you!
ST. NICHOLAS: THE BELIEVER A New Story for Christmas Based on the Old Story of St. Nicholas Part 1 of 7 (Click here to listen)
by Eric & Lana Elder
Starting today and for the next 6 Sundays leading up to Christmas, I’ll be posting the entire book that my late wife Lana and I wrote about the real St. Nicholas who lived in the 3rd and 4th centuries A.D. Nicholas had a strong faith in Christ, and I’d love to tell you about it! His story will encourage you to keep putting your faith in Christ for everything in your life.
New this year, I’ll also be posting a few songs that a friend and I have written for an upcoming ballet that is being staged this Christmas by 250 kids at a wonderful Christian Ballet company in South Carolina. The ballet is called “One Life,” a name taken from the tag line of the book that says: “Nicholas had just one life to live, but if he lived it right, one life was all he would need.”
If you live in the South Carolina area and want to see the show, you can get tickets here!I’ll be at the show November 30th and December 1st and would love to meet you! I’ll be posting some songs in the weeks ahead.
If you’re looking for a Sunday sermon, you can watch one live at 9 or 11 a.m. (CST) at live.eastview.church or recorded for playback later at the same link.
Without further adieu, I present to you, St. Nicholas: The Believer!
This book is dedicated to my sweet wife, Lana, who inspired me and helped me to tell you this spectacular story.
Lana had just finished making her final edits and suggestions on this book the week before she passed from this life to the next, way too young at the age of 48.
It was her idea and her dream to share the story of St. Nicholas with as many people as possible. She wanted to inspire them to give their lives to others as Jesus had given His life for us. This book is the first step in making that dream a reality.
To the world Lana may have been just one person, but to me she was the world. This book is lovingly dedicated to her.
INTRODUCTION
by Eric Elder
There was a time when I almost gave up celebrating Christmas. Our kids were still young and weren’t yet hooked on the idea of Santa Claus and presents, Christmas trees and decorations.
I had read that the Puritans who first came to America were so zealous in their faith that they didn’t celebrate Christmas at all. Instead they charged fines to businesses in their community who failed to keep their shops open on Christmas day. They didn’t want anything to do with a holiday that was, they felt, rooted in paganism. As a new believer and a new father myself, the idea of going against the flow of the excesses of Christmas had its appeal, at least in some respects.
Then I read an article by a man who simply loved celebrating Christmas. He could think of no greater way to celebrate the birth of the most important figure in human history than throwing the grandest of parties for Him–gathering and feasting and sharing gifts with as many of his family and friends as possible. This man was a pastor of deep faith and great joy. For him, the joy of Christ’s birth was so wondrous that he reveled in every aspect of Christmas, including all the planning, decorating and activities that went along with it. He even loved bringing Santa Claus into the festivities, our modern-day version of the very real and very ancient Saint Nicholas, a man of deep faith and great joy as well who Himself worshipped and adored the Baby who was born in Bethlehem.
So why not celebrate the birth of Christ? Why not make it the biggest party of the year? Why not make it the “Hap-Happiest season of all”?
I was sold. Christmas could stay–and my kids would be much hap-happier for it, too.
I dove back into celebrating Christmas with full vigor, and at the same time took a closer look into the life of the real Saint Nicholas, a man who seemed almost irremovably intertwined with this Holy Day. I discovered that Saint Nicholas and Santa Claus were indeed one and the same, and that the Saint Nicholas who lived in the 3rd and 4th centuries after the birth of Christ was truly a devout follower of Christ himself.
As my wife and I read more and more about Nicholas’ fascinating story, we became enthralled with this believer who had already been capturing the hearts and imaginations of believers and nonbelievers alike throughout the centuries.
With so many books and movies that go to great lengths to tell you the “true” story of Santa Claus (and how his reindeer are really powered by everything from egg nog to Coca-Cola), I’ve found that there are very few stories that even come close to describing the actual person of who Saint Nicholas was, and in particular, what he thought about the Man for whom Christmas is named, Jesus Christ. I was surprised to learn that with all the historical documents that attest to Saint Nicholas’ faith in Christ, compelling tellings of those stories seem to have fallen by the wayside over the ages.
So with the encouragement and help of my sweet wife, Lana, we decided to bring the story of Saint Nicholas back to life for you, with a desire to help you recapture the essence of Christmas for yourself.
While some people, with good reason, may still go to great lengths to try to remove anything that might possibly hint of secularism from this holiest day of the year, it seems to me equally fitting to go to great lengths to try to restore Santa to his rightful place–not as the patron saint of shopping malls, but as a beacon of light that shines brightly on the One for whom this Holy Day is named.
It is with deep faith and great joy that I offer you this Christmas novella–a little story. I’ve enjoyed telling it and I hope you’ll enjoy hearing it. It just may be the most human telling of the story of Saint Nicholas you’ve ever heard.
Above all, I pray that God will use this story to rekindle your love, not only for this season of the year, but for the One who makes this season so bright.
May God bless you this Christmas and always!
In Christ’s love, Eric Elder
P.S. I’ve divided this story into 7 parts and 40 chapters to make it easier to read. If you’d like, you can read one part a day as I send them out for the next 6 Sundays leading up to Christmas. Or if you’d like to use this book as a daily devotional, you can read a chapter a day for 40 days!
PART 1
PROLOGUE
My name is Dimitri–Dimitri Alexander. But that’s not important. What’s important is that man over there, lying on his bed. He’s–well, I suppose there’s really no better way to describe him except to say–he’s a saint. Not just because of all the good he’s done, but because he was–as a saint always is–a Believer. He believed that there was Someone in life who was greater than he was, Someone who guided him, who helped him through every one of his days.
If you were to look at him closely, lying there on his bed, it might look to you as if he was dead. And in some sense, I guess you would be right. But the truth is, he’s more alive now than he has ever been.
My friends and I have come here today to spend his last day on earth with him. Just a few minutes ago we watched as he passed from this life to the next.
I should be crying, I know. Believe me, I have been–and I will be again. But for now, I can’t help but simply be grateful that he has finally made it to his new home, a home that he has been dreaming about for many years. A home where he can finally talk to God face to face, like I’m talking to you right now.
Oh, he was a saint all right. But to me, and to so many others, he was something even more. He was–how could I put it? An inspiration. A friend. A teacher. A helper. A giver. Oh, he loved to give and give and give some more, until it seemed he had nothing left to give at all. But then he’d reach down deep and find a little more. “There’s always something you can give,” as he would often say.
He always hoped, in some small way, that he could use his life to make a difference in the world. He wanted, above all, to help people. But with so many needs all around, what could he possibly do?
He was like a man on a beach surrounded by starfish that had been washed up onto the shore. He knew that they would die if they didn’t make it back into the water.
Not knowing how to save them all, the man on the beach did what he could. He reached down, picked one up, and tossed it back into the water. Then reached down again, picked up another, and did the same.
Someone once asked the man why he bothered at all–that with so many needs all around, how could he possibly make any difference. He’d just toss another starfish into the water and say, “It made a difference to that one.” Then he’d reach down and pick up another.
You see, to the world you may be just one person, but to one person you may be the world.
In many ways, my friend was just like you and me. Each one of us has just one life to live. But if you live it right, one life is all you need. And if you live your life for God, well, you just might touch the whole world.
Did his life make any difference? I already know my answer, because I’m one of those that he reached down and picked up many, many years ago. But how about I tell you his story, and when I get to the end, I’ll let you decide if his life made a difference or not. And then maybe, by the time we’re finished, you’ll see that your life can make a difference, too.
Oh, by the way, I haven’t told you his name yet, this man who was such a great saint, such a great believer in the God who loved him, who created him, who sustained him and with whom he is now living forever.
His name is Nicholas–and this is his story.
CHAPTER 1
Nicholas lived in an ideal world. At least that’s the way he saw it. As a nine-year-old boy, growing up on the northern coast of what he called the Great Sea–you might call it the Mediterranean–Nicholas couldn’t imagine a better life.
He would often walk through the streets with his father, acting as if they were on their way to somewhere in particular. But the real reason for their outing was to look for someone who was struggling to make ends meet, someone who needed a lift in their life. A simple hello often turned into the discovery of a need to be met. Nicholas and his father would pray, and if they could meet the need, they found a way to do it.
Nicholas couldn’t count the number of times his dad would sneak up behind someone afterwards and put some apples in their sack, or a small coin or two. As far as Nicholas knew, no one ever knew what his father had done, except to say that sometimes they heard people talking about the miracle of receiving exactly what they needed at just the right time, in some unexpected way.
Nicholas loved these walks with his father, just as he loved his time at home with his mother. They had shown the same love and generosity with him as they had shown to so many others.
His parents had somehow found a way to prosper, even in the turbulent times in which they lived. They were, in fact, quite wealthy. But whether their family was rich or poor seemed to make no difference to Nicholas. All he knew or cared about was that his parents loved him like no one else on earth. He was their only son, and their times together were simple and truly joyful.
Their richest times came at night, as they shared stories with each other that they had heard about a Man who was like no other Man they had ever known. A Man who lived on the other side of the Great Sea about 280 years earlier. His name was Jesus. Nicholas was enthralled with the stories of this Man who seemed to be so precious in the eyes of his parents. Jesus seemed both down-to-earth and larger-than-life, all at the same time. How could anyone be so humble, yet so noble? How could He be so poor that He was born in an animal stable, yet so generous that He could feed 5,000 people? How could He live His life so fully, yet die a death so cruelly? Jesus was, to Nicholas, an enigma, the most fascinating person about whom he’d ever heard. One day, Nicholas thought to himself, he hoped to visit this land on the other side of the sea–and walk where Jesus walked.
For all the love that Nicholas and his parents shared and which held them together, there was one thing that threatened to pull them apart. It was the one thing that seemed to be threatening many families in their country these days, irrespective of their wealth or poverty, their faith or lack of faith, their love for others or their lack of love.
Nicholas’ friends and neighbors called it the plague. His parents had mentioned it from time to time, but only in their prayers. They prayed for the families who were affected by the plague, asking God for healing when possible, and for strength of faith when not. Most of all, his parents prayed for Nicholas that regardless of what happened around him, he would always know how very much they loved him, and how very much God loved him.
Even though Nicholas was so young, he had seen enough of life to know that real threats existed in the world. Yet he also had been shielded from those threats, in a way, by the love of his parents and by their devout faith in God. As his father had learned over the years, and had many times reminded Nicholas, “In all things, God works for the good of those who love Him.” And Nicholas believed him. Up to this point, he’d had no real reason to doubt the words his father had spoken.
But it would be only a matter of months before Nicholas’ faith would be challenged and he would have to decide if he really believed those words for himself—that in all things, God would truly work for the good of those who loved Him.
Tonight, however, he simply trusted the words of his father, listening to his parents’ prayers for him–and for those in his city–as he drifted off into a perfect sleep.
CHAPTER 2
Nicholas woke to the sounds of birds out his window. The air was fresh, washed clean by the seaside mist in the early morning.
But the news this morning was less than idyllic. A friend of Nicholas’ family had contracted the sickness that they had only heard about from people in other cities. The boy was said to be near the point of death.
Nicholas’ father had heard the news first and had gone to pray for the boy. Returning home just as Nicholas awoke, his father shared the news with his wife and with Nicholas.
“We need to pray,” he said, with no hint of panic in his voice, but with an unmistakable urgency that caused all three of them to slip down to their knees.
Nicholas’ father began the prayer: “Father, You know the plans You have for this child. We trust You to carry them out. We pray for Your healing as we love this boy, but we know that You love him even more than we do. We trust that as we place him in Your hands this morning, You will work all things together for good, as You always do for those who love You.”
It was a prayer Nicholas had heard his father pray many times before, asking for what they believed was best in every situation, but trusting that God knew best in the end. It was the same type of prayer Nicholas had heard that Jesus had prayed the night before He died: “If You are willing,” Jesus prayed, “take this cup from Me. Yet not My will, but Yours be done.”
Nicholas never quite knew what to make of this prayer. Wouldn’t God always want what’s best for us? And how could someone’s death ever be a good thing? Yet his father prayed that prayer so often, and with such sincerity of heart, that Nicholas was confident that it was the right thing to pray. But how God could answer any other way than healing the boy–and still work it out for good–remained a mystery.
After Nicholas’ mother had added her own words to the prayer, and Nicholas himself had joined in, his father concluded with thanks to God for listening–and for already answering their prayers.
As they stood, the news came to their door, as if in direct answer to what they had just prayed. But it wasn’t the answer they were hoping for. The boy had died.
Nicholas’ mother began to weep quietly, but not holding back on her tears. She wept as she felt the loss of another mother, feeling the loss as if it were her own son who had died.
Nicholas’ father took hold of her hand and pulled Nicholas close, saying a quiet prayer for the family of the boy who had died, and adding another prayer for his own family. He gave his wife and son one more final squeeze, then walked out the door to return to the other boy’s home.
CHAPTER 3
The boy’s death had a sobering effect on the whole city. The people had known the boy, of course, and were sad for the family.
But his death was more sobering because it wasn’t an isolated event. The people had heard stories of how the sickness had been spreading through the cities around them, taking the lives of not just one or two people here and there, but entire families—entire neighborhoods. The death of this boy seemed to indicate that the plague had now arrived in their city, too.
No one knew how to stop it. All they could do was pray. And pray they did.
As the sickness began to spread, Nicholas’ parents would visit the homes of those who lay dying. While his parents’ money was powerless to offer relief to the families, their prayers brought a peace that no amount of money could buy.
As always, Nicholas’ father would pray that death would pass them over, as it had passed over the Israelites in Egypt when the plague of death overtook the lives of the firstborn of every family that wasn’t willing to honor God. But this sickness was different. It made no distinction between believer or unbeliever, firstborn or last born, or any other apparent factor. This sickness seemed to know no bounds, and seemed unstoppable by any means.
Yet Nicholas watched as his father prayed in faith nonetheless, believing that God could stop the plague at any moment, at any household, and trusting God to work it all out for good, even if their lives, too, were seemingly cut short.
These latter prayers were what people clung to the most. More than anything else, these words gave them hope–hope that their lives were not lived in vain, hope that their deaths were not going unnoticed by the God who created them.
A visit by Nicholas’ father and mother spoke volumes to those who were facing unbearable pain, for as the plague spread, fewer and fewer people had been willing to leave their own homes, let alone visit the homes where the sickness had struck. The prayers of Nicholas’ father, and the tears of his mother, gave the families the strength they needed to face whatever came their way.
Nicholas watched in wonder as his parents dispensed their gifts of mercy during the day, then returned home each night physically spent, but spiritually strengthened. It made him wonder how they got their strength for each day. But it also made him wonder how long their own family could remain untouched by this plague.
When Nicholas finally found the courage to voice this question out loud, a question that seemed to be close to all of their hearts, his father simply answered that they had only two choices: to live in fear, or to live in love, and to follow the example of the One in whom they had entrusted their lives. They chose to live in love, doing for others what they would want others to do for them.
So every morning Nicholas’ father and mother would wake up and pray, asking their Lord what He would have them do. Then, pushing aside any fears they might have had, they put their trust in God, spending the day serving others as if they were serving Christ Himself.
While his father’s response didn’t answer the immediate question on Nicholas’ heart– which was how much longer it might be till the sickness visited their own home–it seemed to answer a question that went much deeper. It answered the question of whether or not God was aware of all that was going on, and if He was, whether or not He cared enough to do anything about it.
By the way that God seemed to be directing his parents each day, Nicholas gained a peace of mind that God was indeed fully aware of all that was going on in the lives of every person in his city of Patara—and that God did indeed care. God cared enough to send Nicholas’ parents to those who needed to hear a word from Him, who needed a touch from His hands, who needed a touch from God not just in their flesh, but in their spirits as well.
It seemed to Nicholas to be a more glorious answer to his question than he could have imagined. His worry about when the sickness might visit their own home dissipated as he went to sleep that night. Instead, he prayed that God would use his own hands and words–Nicholas’ hands and words–as if they were God’s very own, reaching out to express God’s love for His people.
CHAPTER 4
In the coming days, Nicholas found himself wanting to help his father and mother more and more as they delivered God’s mercy to those around them.
They worked together to bring food, comfort and love to each family touched by the plague. Some days it was as simple as stopping by to let a mother know she wasn’t alone. Others days it was bringing food or drink to an entire family who had taken ill. And still other days it was preparing a place in the hills around their city where they carefully laid the bodies of those who had succumbed to the sickness and whose spirits had passed from this life to the next.
Each day Nicholas’ heart grew more and more aware of the temporal nature of life on earth, and more and more in tune with the eternal nature of the life that is unseen. It seemed to Nicholas that the line between the two worlds was becoming less and less distinct. What he had once thought of as solid and real—like rocks and trees, or hands and feet—soon took on a more ethereal nature. And those things that were more difficult for him to touch before—like faith and hope, love and peace—began to become more solid and real.
It was as if his world was turning both upside down and inside out at the same time, not with a gut-wrenching twisting, but as if his eyes themselves were being re-calibrated, adjusting better to see with more clarity what was really going on—focusing more acutely on what really mattered in life. Even surrounded by so much sickness and death, Nicholas felt himself coming alive more fully than he’d ever felt before.
His father tried to describe what Nicholas was feeling by using words that he’d heard Jesus had said, that whoever tried to hold onto this life too tightly would lose it, but whoever was willing to let go of this life, would find true life. By learning how to love others without being constrained by fear, being propelled forward by love instead, Nicholas was starting to experience how it felt to truly live.
Whether that feeling could sustain him through what lay ahead, he didn’t know. But what he did know was that for now, more than anything else, he wanted to live each day to the fullest. He wanted to wake up each day looking for how God could use him, then do whatever God was willing to give him to do. To do anything less would be to shortchange himself from living the life God had given him to live—and to shortchange God from the work God wanted to get done.
As the days passed, Nicholas came to know what his father and mother already knew: that no one knew how many more days they had left in this world. His family no longer saw themselves as human beings having a temporary spiritual experience, but as spiritual beings, having a temporary human experience. With eyes of faith, they were able to look into whatever lay ahead of them without the fear that gripped so many of the others around them.
CHAPTER 5
When Nicholas awoke one day to the sound of his mother coughing, time seemed to stand still.
For all the preparation his parents—and his own faith—had given him, it still caught him off guard to think that the sickness might have finally crossed over the threshold of their own home.
He thought that maybe God would spare them for all the kindness they had shown to others during the previous few months. But his father had cautioned him against such thinking, reminding him that for all the good that Jesus had done in His life—for all the healing that He had brought to others—there still came a time when He, too, had to face suffering and death. It didn’t mean that God didn’t love Jesus, or wasn’t concerned for Him, or hadn’t seen all the good He had done in His life. And it didn’t mean that Jesus remained indifferent to what was about to take place either. Jesus even told His disciples that His heart was deeply troubled by what He was about to go through, but that didn’t mean He shrank back from what lay ahead of Him. No, He said, it was for this very hour that He had come. Greater love, He told His disciples, had no one than this: that they lay down their lives for their friends.
Nicholas’ mother coughed again, and time slowly began to move again for Nicholas. He stood to his feet. As he approached his mother, she hesitated for a moment. It was as if she was torn between wanting him to stand still—not to come one step closer to the sickness that had now reached her body—or to get up on her feet, too, and throw her arms around him, assuring him that everything would be all right. But a moment later, Nicholas had made her decision unnecessary, for he was already in her arms, holding on as tight as he could as they both broke down in tears. As Nicholas was learning, having faith doesn’t mean you can’t cry. It just means that you can trust God, even with your tears.
Nicholas’ father had already shed some of his own tears that morning. He had gone outside before the sunrise, this time not to visit the homes of others, but to pray. For him, the place where he always returned when he needed to be alone with God was to the fresh air by the sea, not far from their home. While he knew he could pray anywhere, at any time, it was by the sea that he felt closest to God. The sound of the waves, rhythmically washing up on the shore, seemed to have a calming, mesmerizing effect on him.
He had arrived in time to watch the sunrise off to his left, looking down the shoreline of the Great Sea. How many sunrises had he seen from that very spot? And how many more would he have left to see? He turned his head and coughed, letting the question roll back out to sea with the next receding wave. The sickness had come upon him as well.
This wasn’t the first time he had asked himself how many days he had left to live. The difference this time was that in the past, he had always asked it hypothetically. He would come to this spot whenever he had an important decision to make, a decision that required he think beyond the short term. He would come here when he needed to look into eternity, taking into account the brevity of life. Here, at the edge of the sea, it was as if he could grasp both the brevity of life and the eternity of heaven at the same time.
The daily rising of the sun and the swelling, cresting and breaking of the waves on the shore reminded him that God was still in control, that His world would carry on—with or without him—just as it had since God had first spoken the water and earth into existence, and just as it would until the day God would choose for its end, to make way for the new heaven and the new earth. In light of eternity, the lifespan of the earth seemed incredibly short, and the lifespan of man even shorter still. In that short span of life, he knew that he had to make the most of each day, not just living for himself, and not even just living for others, but ultimately living for the God who had given him life. If God, the Creator of all things, had seen fit to breathe into him the breath of life, then as long as he could still take a breath, he wanted to make the most of it.
Coughing again, Nicholas’ father remembered that this was no mere intellectual exercise to help him come to grips with a difficult decision. This time–as he looked out at the sunrise once more, and at one more wave rolling in—he realized that this was the final test of everything that he had believed up until this point.
Some of life’s tests he had passed with flying colors. Others he had failed when fear or doubt had taken over. But this was a test he knew he wanted to pass more than any other.
He closed his eyes and asked for strength for another day. He let the sun warm his face, and he gently opened the palms of his hands to feel the breeze as it lifted up along the shore and floated over his body. He opened his eyes and looked one more time at the sea.
Then he turned and walked toward home, where he would soon join his precious wife and his beloved son in a long, tearful embrace.
The photos below (taken by my daughter, Makari) feature the ancient Roman theater, the main street and the parliament building in Patara, Turkey, the birthplace of St. Nicholas.
It is impossible to have the feeling of peace and serenity without being at rest with God.
Dorothy H. Pentecost
And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
Philippians 1:9-11
The English Standard Version
May God defend me from myself.
Michel de Montaigne
Once a year, we invite our readers to participate in supporting this ministry financially. You have heard us say, “we need so very little, but we need that little so very much!” In preparation of this coming year, we would so value and appreciate your prayers and your donations, as we strive to go forward with our eyes on the Lord. Thank you!
Sinners can do nothing but make wounds that Christ may heal them; and make debts that he may pay them; and make falls that he may raise them; and make deaths that he may quicken them; and spin out and dig hells to themselves that he may ransom them. But it is neither shame nor pride for a drowning man to swim to a rock, nor for a ship-broken soul to run himself ashore upon Christ.
Samuel Rutherford
All the glory of mankind will bow low; the pride of men will lie in the dust, and the Lord alone will be exalted.
Isaiah 2:17
The Living Bible
Once a year, we invite our readers to participate in supporting this ministry financially. You have heard us say, “we need so very little, but we need that little so very much!” In preparation of this coming year, we would so value and appreciate your prayers and your donations, as we strive to go forward with our eyes on the Lord. Thank you!
We must move from asking God to take care of the things that are breaking our hearts, to praying about the things that are breaking His heart.
M. Gibb
Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.
John 5:19
The King James Version
It’s about time we gave up all this theological grand opera and went back to practicing the scales.
Vance Havner
Once a year, we invite our readers to participate in supporting this ministry financially. You have heard us say, “we need so very little, but we need that little so very much!” In preparation of this coming year, we would so value and appreciate your prayers and your donations, as we strive to go forward with our eyes on the Lord. Thank you!
Where man’s method fails and can reach no higher, there God’s method begins.
Jan Ruysbroeck
He who pursues righteousness and kindness will find life and honor.
Proverbs 21:21
The Revised Standard Version
Once a year, we invite our readers to participate in supporting this ministry financially. You have heard us say, “we need so very little, but we need that little so very much!” In preparation of this coming year, we would so value and appreciate your prayers and your donations, as we strive to go forward with our eyes on the Lord. Thank you!
God is always moving about His work to shape and arrange events in His wise government of our lives.
John of the Cross
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.
Ephesians 1:3
The New International Version
Prayer is not learned in a classroom but in the closet.
E. M. Bounds
Once a year, we invite our readers to participate in supporting this ministry financially. We’d love your help! For those who have given before, would you consider doubling or tripling your gift this year? It would help us greatly. Thank you!
Thank you sincerely for your prayers and financial support as we begin this season of giving and this year-end time of fundraising for our two ministries, The Ranch and This Day’s Thought.
Eric and I are preparing for this next year with hearts of joy and dedication as we are both committed to going forward in our closely aligned efforts in serving you, our participants, with the very best we can offer.
We have grown to over 40,000 subscribers in over 160 countries, during these last 20 years, and we want to continue serving the Lord for as long as He has planned for each of us.
This coming year, we will be structured slightly differently, as we have shared, and now prayerfully seek the resources to launch these efforts to continue for perhaps another 20 years, if so blessed!
Here are just a few recent comments from some of you, our valued readers…
“Hi there from Scotland! Every night before I go to bed I read your messages by email. Can I just say how wonderfully meaningful they all are and how they have brought me to tears many times with their power. Thank you so much .”
“I love your daily messages. They inspire me.”
“Thank you for the daily encouragement I receive from your devotional’s. Many have come at critical times over the past year as my life has gone through great spiritual change… many have been God inspired & timed to meet me where and how I needed the most. Thank you!”
“Beautiful sermon! Thank you so much! I have been subscribed to The Ranch for so many years now, and it has truly helped me during some of the most difficult times of my life more than I can say. I am grateful and inspired by your ministry! Thank you for allowing The Lord to work through you by giving Him control over your entire house!”
“Your daily bible verses keep me lifted. I just wanted to thank you for sending them.”
“I love your daily thoughts, I really value the daily quotes and the verses. And the smiles always make me smile. I am so very grateful.”
“Many thanks for an inspiring sermon. I always look forward to your weekly sermons. Thanks for the blessings they bring to our home.”
“God gave you a beautiful and engaging style to minister to hearts through your Internet ministry. Thank you.”
“I just wanted to share my gratitude with all that you do. Every Morning I wake up I look forward to my Morning reading. Life seems to be unfair for so many people, such as myself. But Reading daily and finding the scriptures has helped me see that God wants so much for us and we tend to misunderstand Gods works. Thank you for helping me see that God has so much more for all of us. My heart is healing through the work of God. Also through good people like all of you who spread his word. Thank You!”
“Thank you for your daily encouragement! It is a blessing to me!”
We are asking for your financial support at this time, if you are able to help with your donations, both small and large, as we strive to have our necessary funding in place by year’s end, in order to go forward.
Thank you all sincerely, for all your past years of prayer and assistance as if it were not for you, our members, we would not have been able to reach so many with our daily messages of inspiration and encouragement.
May God bless you all in your continued walks with Him.
The challenge of faithfully living prepared and ready…
When I was a Boy Scout, I remember how the younger scouts
struggled and suffered on long hiking-camping trips; because they always seemed to bring so much of the wrong stuff.
They’d come loaded down with unnecessary equipment & supplies,
and yet often, they would not have brought along the more useful & important things they actually needed.
With more experience and by listening to the advice of others,
you learned which items were better left back at home, and which ones were actually useful and needed, which supplies & equipment were worth the cost – the weight of carrying them on your back.
The result was that the more experienced scouts were generally
much better prepared and fared better in any situation.
They were better prepared for whatever might happen; and so they were more able to relax and enjoy their camping experience out in nature.
It was really a matter of learning how to prepare for the unexpected.
A most formative time in my spiritual journey was during, “The Jesus Revolution” of the early 70’s.That was a pretty heady time to be a young Christian.There were lots of Bible Clubs and Bible Studies
that sprung up in school and in the community.There were alternative worship services and events, quite different than mainline Presbyterianism.
In the excitement and religious fervor of the time, it was difficult to know what to do – what was true; whose theology & teaching was really God’s truth?
Which way of worship and which music did God most favor?
There was an amazing variety of answers to religious questions
Caught in the swirl of conflicting ideas and voices, each authoritatively claiming to be God’s truth, It was confusing to decide between religious ideas.
Back then, as a young Christian, it was almost impossible to discern the truth —so many voices making so many claims in absolute certainty each declaring that they alone rightly read the Bible and that their ways alone matched God ways, and were closest to the New Testament church.
So how could I possibly know who was right, way back then?Today its much easier, more obvious to discern who was right back then.
Those who truly followed God, are still in the faith; while that which was false, that not of God, has withered and waned, it is no more —-those folks have not weathered the years.
The passing of time has disproved their false claims. Some who I knew back then have grown in their faith, their walk with God has matured, broadened and deepened.
Others have strayed over time, some have abandoned their faith
Some of the loudest outspoken and most adamantly certain, did not hold to Christ, have not served God over the years.
When things got difficult or demanding, they left. So the passage of time and events have revealed, who was truly speaking God’s truth, and who was not.
That is the same principle of spiritual & prophetic discernment That God told Moses to teach the people of Israel.
Deuteronomy 18:21-22
You may say to yourself, “How can we recognize a word that the LORD has not spoken?” If a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD but the thing does not take place or prove true, it is a word that the LORD has not spoken.The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; do not be frightened by it.
The immediate appearances may well obfuscate and deceive, but in the long run, time will surely tell — the ones who persevere on the long journey, have truth, and the ones who do not, but falter & fail, are false.
Most anyone can make a good impression at first, for a season —-and on the surface, its easy enough to seem faithful, but its on the long journey that faith gets tested —-can it withstand hard times and harsh struggles? Can it emerge from questions and doubts still intact?… or is it only an easy fair weather faith? Is it prepared to withstand storm and tribulation?
The test of a genuine Christian faith is just that simple,and that is the point and that is the message of the parable Jesus tells.
The context is a Middle Eastern village wedding celebration, which was culturally somewhat different back then.
In our culture, the wedding is mostly the bride’s special day, but in that patriarchal society, the focus was on the groom.
The bride and her attendant bridesmaids would wait all together while the groom and his party negotiated the ’bride’s price’ with her family.A sign of the families love for their daughter, was to be difficult and draw out the negotiations, to show their reluctance at losing their daughter.
You’d have to have haggled & bargained in a Middle Eastern market to appreciate how much they enjoy the verbal exchange — the give and take is an important part of their culture;– its not really about the money or the cost of the item, but its establishing a relationship and respect; which is why even today it is a great insult when a tourist accepts the first price offered.
So having appropriately discussed at length the ’brides price. and once an agreed upon figure has been carefully negotiated, its now late into the night when the groom and his party would go and bring the bride and her attendants to the great wedding feast and celebration.
This was before the age of fireworks and neon lights, so the bridesmaids would provide lamps and torches; their job was to illuminate the way, their light creating a bright festive atmosphere.
Part of the fun and delight was to catch them napping, not ready; to show up unexpectedly, surprise and catch them off guard.
So Jesus frames his parable within that particular cultural context.
Matthew 25:1-4
“Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this.
Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom.
Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them; but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps.
To all outward appearances, there is no perceptible difference, between the wise and the foolish bridesmaids —they are all dressed in the same long gowns, their hair done up, each looking their best, with their lamps ready to celebrate.
If you just look around at them, you can’t tell which ones are the foolish, or which ones are the wise.Only by the passing of time, only the long delays will tell, who is prepared and ready for the unexpected, and who not.
The groom and his party are delayed, they show up very late, and the catch the girls napping — they are surprised, and then there is a mad scramble for the procession to begin.
Now the bridesmaids have just one responsibility, to provide a bright light ready for when the groom arrives.
The five wise bridesmaids fill-up their lamps with spare oil, but the five foolish have not planned ahead and prepared.
They have no oil for their now depleted empty lamps, and with no oil, there is no light, so they cannot fulfill their one critical responsibility, so they aren’t ready to take part in the procession.
As soon as the groom and his party arrive the celebration begins.
Then there is no more time for preparations & getting ready.
The foolish are not prepared or ready to do what is expected of them, they cannot provide light to honor the procession; which within that peasant village cultural context, would be a major insult against the bride & groom.
It would be unheard of doing such a rude thing, like inviting someone to dine at a restaurant, and then not having any money to pay for the meal.
Well, it is futile at that late hour to go out looking for oil.
It is futile to try and prepare once its already too late, so they are not welcome or permitted to share the joy of the wedding celebration.
The wedding procession and celebration will go on without them
The parable is really that simple and straight forward, the challenge is understanding how it applies to our lives.
The first application has to do with the second coming of Christ; that despite the delay of over 20 centuries, his call is still to be ready, to be found alert & waiting.
Hebrews 9:27-28
And just as it is appointed for mortals to die once, and after that the judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.
Whether its our own death or the second coming of Jesus, at some point the Bridegroom will come for us, and our call is to be found ready and waiting.
Being ready is not a life spent figuring out when and how, its not a passive life spent watching the skies, and its not being sequestered away from the world – or standing on mountaintop singing hymns, checking our watches.
A lot of Bible interpreters seem to focus on the judgment aspect, be ready or else —with the threat of accountability – answering for our sins, they teach fear and terror at the Lord’s coming.
Jesus told this parable just days before his arrest, it was meant to reassure his frightened disciples, to give them courage and hope in facing the future.
The setting is the joy of a wedding celebration – not a funeral.
For Christians, the coming of Jesus is good news, not bad.
If we believe, if we know and walk with Jesus now, then it describes the joyful coming of a close friend.
It’s the happy excitement of a festive celebration, which is hardly reason or cause for fear & dread.
To those who already know the Bridegroom, this marks the fulfillment of our heart’s deepest desire and delight.
Yet at the same time, clearly there is a challenge to this text; will we have oil for our lamps when the Bridegroom comes for us?
The oil for our lamps is our relationship with God through Jesus; it is having submitted to the Lordship of Christ, it is accepting His love and grace to transform our lives.
BUT far more than just responding to an alter call one time, it is living out an on-going and growing walk with God it is living out his teachings – reflecting his light, and dwelling purposefully in the presence of God’s Holy Spirit
It is taking God and God’s Word seriously, living a life that honors God and imitates Christ, seeking to grow deeper & more faithful in our walk
Among international students studying in our universities, if a fellow foreign student becomes lax or grows complacent, if they stop making an all out effort and really trying, if they forget the sacrifice necessary to be there, they will be accused of, ’going American’.
International students have noticed that some American students coming from our culture of free entitlements & easy opportunity seem to always demand more and more, better and faster.
They expect life to be easy without any great effort. They show little gratitude for all they have. and are largely unwilling to give or contribute back.
It’s a harsh evaluation of our culture that may reveal some difficult truth.
And sometimes Christians, ’go American’, in the Church; becoming lax and worldly, ungrateful and spiritually lazy, undisciplined and complacent in our faith.
Forgetting the high cost of God’s love poured out at Calvary, we figure God owes us God ought to be grateful just because we show up.
In unrestrained arrogance, inflated ego and pride, we expect God to make our lives easy and pleasant, for God to quickly provide exactly what we want, for God to always respond to our every little whim; even though we refuse to submit to his rule and authority, though we continue to insist on having it our own way.
The mainline American church is plagued by such passive Christians who will commit to only enough religion and faith, as to inoculate ourselves … from God’s Spirit & Truth actually directing our lives.
We figure God owes us, just for showing up at all.We want to control & limit God’s impact & rule in our livesWe want a type of religion that doesn’t cost us very much.
The parable is a stark reminder to those who’ve grown lax, to church insiders and members gone lazy and inert, who choose to ignore and refuse God’s ongoing call, who are content to go no further than yesterdays faith.
The parable is meant to grab our attention and shake awake those who don’t take God’s truth seriously.There is a lot more to the Christian life than just showing up.There’s a lot more than just smiles and warm fuzzy feelings.It requires more than just being a member and then watching others support & serve the church.
It means to live out our lives to their richest & fullest, to fully commit our ways to serving our Lord.It means giving God more than just the leavings of our lives, but making God’s presence in our lives our priority.
It means first seeking and obeying the will of God, and not just showing up occasionally after we’re through doing whatever else we want to do.
The call is to be ready and prepared with oil for our lamps, and that oil is our deepening relationship growing in Christ.The oil is our lives lived usefully and faithfully, as we have been called and equipped for God’s service.
Our call is to wait and be ready, prepared no matter what the future holds for us.It means to grow deeper, more faithful with the Lord.Its easy enough to look good on surface – have a godly appearance, but has God’s truth permeated deep into our hearts and souls?
Its easy enough to be appear godly and holy for a short season, but will our faith last over time and adversity?The truth will be revealed by how we run life’s long race hour by hour, day by day, all the way to the end.
To quote Starbucks coffee:
“Life is short —- stay awake”
To quote Jesus Christ: Luke 12:35-38
“Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks.Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them.”
If he comes during the middle of the night, or near dawn, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.
Throughout the Bible, when God asked a man to do something, methods, means, materials and specific directions were always provided. The man had one thing to do: obey.
Elisabeth Elliot
For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
Romans 14:17
The English Standard Version
A saint is a person who has learned how to get out of God’s way.
Margaret C. Romanes
Once a year, we invite our readers to participate in supporting this ministry financially. We’d love your help! For those who have given before, would you consider doubling or tripling your gift this year? It would help us greatly. Thank you!
If you love only the people who are like you—who have the same values, the same economic and educational background—you’re not really doing much except loving yourself.
Rick Reynolds
Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through this Man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins;
Acts 13:38
The New King James Version
Once a year, we invite our readers to participate in supporting this ministry financially. We’d love your help! For those who have given before, would you consider doubling or tripling your gift this year? It would help us greatly. Thank you!
We do not have a personal Gospel and a social gospel.There is one Gospel, and one Gospel only, and that Gospel is the Gospel of God—this indivisible message from God has its individual application and its social application.It has the power to redeem the individual and also the power to redeem social order.
Jesse M. Bader
He is your praise. He is your God, who has done for you these great and terrifying things that your eyes have seen.
Deuteronomy 10:21
The English Standard Version
Music strikes in me a profound contemplation of the First Composer.
Thomas Browne
Once a year, we invite our readers to participate in supporting this ministry financially. We’d love your help! For those who have given before, would you consider doubling or tripling your gift this year? It would help us greatly. Thank you!
I am fully assured that God does not, and therefore that men should not, require any more of any man than this: to believe the Scripture to Be God’s Word, to endeavor to find the true sense of it, and to live according to it.
William Chillingworth
But I will sing of thy might; I will sing aloud of thy steadfast love in the morning. For thou hast been to me a fortress and a refuge in the day of my distress.
Psalm 59:16
The Revised Standard Version
Once a year, we invite our readers to participate in supporting this ministry financially. We’d love your help! For those who have given before, would you consider doubling or tripling your gift this year? It would help us greatly. Thank you!
In the pure, strong hours of the morning, when the soul of the day is at its best, lean upon the window sill of God and look into his face, and get the orders for the day. Then go out into the day with the sense of a Hand upon your shoulder and not a chip.
E. Stanley Jones
The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the Lord will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel.
Joel 3:16
The King James Version
Many men have too much will power. It’s won’t power they lack.
Special note from Eric Elder, founder of The Ranch:
Ever since I met Greg Potzer at a Billy Graham Internet Evangelism conference in Florida 18 years ago, he and I have worked together to reach as many people as possible online to bring some hope and encouragement in their faith in Jesus Christ. Sometimes our work together has been behind the scenes; at other times, as with our joint effort with “This Day’s Thought from The Ranch,” it has been very much “in front of the scenes.”
Starting next year, we’re going to continue working together, but with some new opportunities on the horizon we’re going to be sending you our messages from two different lists. Greg will continue to send you daily Christian quotes, Bible verses and occasional smiles from “This Day’s Thought” every weekday, Monday through Friday, and I’ll continue to send you messages from “The Ranch” on a regular basis to encourage you to keep putting your faith in Christ for everything in your life.
We’re telling you this now as we enter into our joint, once-a-year fundraiser, to ask if you could help us both to enter into our new year and our new opportunities as strongly as possible. We’re hoping to raise $60,000 by the end of this year, which we will split between our two ministries.
So many of you have been so generous in the past with your gifts and words of encouragement, and we’re so grateful to have such wonderful subscribers. Here are just a few of the notes we’ve recently received:
“I cannot tell you how important your daily messages are. I am alone here and you sustain me. This in itself is God’s blessing on you.”
“Your message is wonderful daily. You have no idea how far it travels and how many hearts are touched.”
“I just wanted to tell you how much I look forward to your days thoughts. Thank you.”
“Hi, I’m from a rural town in middle of South Africa. I use the internet for everything else in my business life- why not use it for the most important thing? I need daily food and fellowship to serve God and my responsibility to my family, and the rest of my heavenly family. Thanks for this site.”
“This Day’s thought has helped me through some rough days and has been an inspiration to me. Thanks so much for everything.”
“Your work in sharing the word of God brings comfort to me every day, and I forward it on to friends and coworkers and always seem to get a response from someone who really needed to “hear” that today. You are truly a blessing to so many people in the world.”
“Thank you very much for the ministry of This Day’s Thought. You are like a candle burning in me every day. I’m always closer to God. Papua New Guinea”
“Thank you for another wonderful message. I am rather isolated from other Christians geographically and hearing your good word on a daily basis makes a world of difference in my life. God bless you and your ministry. Nicaragua”
“Just wanted you to know I am glad I stumbled upon this site. I find it a wonderful way to start my mornings! Very encouraging, inspiring, and reassuring. The uplifting messages and Bible verses seem to reflect God’s love for me! I need to be reminded. And I’m the pastor.”
“Keep up the fantastic work that you do in bringing the message to all via the internet. Am always refreshed when I read your inspirational thought for the day. Austria”
“Each message is a divine joy, blessing and an opportunity for us to be with Jesus each day. It is the modern day equivalent how Jesus would spread his message.
“Bless you for all you do! This ministry makes more of a difference than you will ever know!”
Greg and I love doing this, giving people a regular boost in their faith, and we look forward to doing it for many more years to come. Would you help us as we venture out to reach even more people for Christ in the coming year?
If you’ve given in the past, would you consider doubling or tripling what you normally give, or giving an extra-special one-time gift? And if you’ve never given before, would you consider joining us in this work as we go forward, not only as a blessing to yourself, but so we can pass on that blessing to others?
As we’ve often said,“we need so little, but we need that little so much.” Thanks so much for your support!
In the first chapter of Joshua, we begin reading about a crisis that has erupted in the lives of the people of Israel. Their longtime leader and spiritual guide, Moses, has died. We need to understand that this time was very much a crisis for these people. This was the man who had led them from slavery in Egypt! This was the man who brought them the laws of God! And now he is gone.
In the first chapter of this book, we not only find crisis, but we find the Lord speaking to the new leader of the people. We find God meeting this man and encouraging him. We find God meeting this man and challenging him about the future.
THE PURPOSE OF GOD (v. 2)
Joshua was about to become very aware of God’s purpose and direction in his life. Moses was dead and Joshua had been his assistant. There was no contract that Joshua would become the leader. There was no line of succession. What I mean to say is that Joshua becoming the leader was not a “given”, but was open. This new leader would be in charge of leading the people to the Promised Land… no small task.
I think the leadership of Israel was in doubt until that moment when “God spoke to Joshua.” God was now hand-choosing the next leader of His people. It was God who would be directing their paths through the Promised Land. God chose Joshua to be that leader who would bring about the fulfillment of the promises to Abraham.
God’s directions and purposes are clear: 1) The people of Israel are going across the Jordan River into Canaan and will take possession of it. 2) Joshua son of Nun will be their leader in all of this.
II. THE PROMISE OF GOD (v. 3)
Joshua and the people of Israel trusted in the Lord their God. They put all their faith and trust in Him to guide them and lead them into Canaan. And what of Joshua? He had to believe that God keeps His Word. Joshua had been a faithful believer throughout his life. In fact, when Israel spied out Canaan 40 years before, only he and Caleb put their faith in God and believed that they could conquer the land. Joshua knew that God always fulfills His promises. Joshua knew that God had promised Abraham that he would become a mighty nation and that his people would inhabit the land of Canaan. And now, Joshua and the people stood on the bank of the Jordan ready to go in and possess the land. God’s promises were coming true.
We as Christians also have the benefit of knowing that God keeps His promises. We have the entire Bible to read and discover all the promises that have been fulfilled. We also have Christ, in who so many of God’s promises are fulfilled. 2 Corinthians 1:20 explains to us that all the promises of God are fulfilled in Jesus and He is the One we have been looking for. In Him we find the “Yes” answer to our questions.
Was Jesus the Son of God?
Was He the Promised One who would take away the sins of the world?
Is He our every present help in times of need?
Does He provide direction for us in our lives?
As God was speaking with Joshua, He promised Joshua something very important. It occurs in verse 3. Joshua was assured victory in all of his endeavors. In taking hold of these promises, Joshua would be given all the places that his foot trod. He was given the victory before he even started.
III. THE POWER OF GOD (v. 5)
I believe that Joshua was a man of faith. He believed God and all that He was saying and promising. Because of this, God’s power was available for Joshua. God tells Joshua in verse 5 that no one will be able to stand against him all the days of his life… now that is power. We will see that power working in Joshua’s life shortly when he faces off against Jericho.
The people of Israel don’t stand a chance of toppling this mighty fortress of a city. Yet they do.
Joshua may feel that he doesn’t have the skills to lead Israel. Yet he does.
Retold from “The Book of Virtues” Editor: William J. Bennett
There is a story that centers on a king and the members of his court who were continually full of flattery. “You are the greatest man that ever lived…You are the most powerful king of all…Your highness, there is nothing you cannot do, nothing in this world dares disobey you.”
The king was a wise man and he grew tired such foolish speeches. One day as he was walking by the seashore he decided to teach them a lesson. “So you say I am the greatest man in the world?” he asked them. “O king,” they cried, “there never has been anyone as mighty as you, and there never be anyone so great, ever again!”
“And you say all things obey me?” he asked.
“Yes sire” they said. “The world bows before you, and gives you honor.”
“I see,” the king answered. “In that case, bring me my chair, and place it down by the water.” The servants scrambled to carry the royal chair over the sands. At his direction they placed it right at the water’s edge. The King sat down and looked out at the ocean. “I notice the tide is coming in. Do you think it will stop if I give the command?”
“Give the order, O great king, and it will obey,” cried his entourage.
“Sea,” cried the king, “I command you to come no further! Do not dare touch my feet!”
He waited a moment, and a wave rushed up the sand and lapped at his feet. “How dare you!” he shouted. “Ocean, turn back now! I have ordered you to retreat before me, and now you must obey! Go back!” In came another wave lapping at the king’s feet. The king remained on his throne throughout the day, screaming at the waves to stop. Yet in they came anyway, until the seat of the throne was covered with water.
Finally the king turned to his servants and said, “It seems I do not have quite so much power as you would have me believe. Perhaps now you will remember there is only one King who is all-powerful, and it is He who rules the sea, and holds the ocean in the hollow of His hand. I suggest you reserve your praises for him.”
The power of God, that same power that holds the earth together and calms the seas, is available to you in your own personal life. All that is required to access this awesome power is faith.
IV. THE PRESENCE OF GOD (v. 9)
Verse 9 would have been a great comfort to Joshua and the people. God told Joshua that He would be with them wherever they went. Joshua had the very presence of God as he marched through the Promised Land. We, as Christians, have that very same presence with us today. We have the presence of God in our lives given to us by Christ and described to us in the Word of God.
THE PRESENCE OF HIS LOVE
The passengers on the bus watched sympathetically as the attractive young woman with the white cane made her way carefully up the steps. She paid the driver and, using her hands to feel the location of the seats, walked down the aisle and found the seat he’d told her was empty. Then she settled in, placed her briefcase on her lap and rested her cane against her leg.
It had been a year since Susan, thirty-four, became blind. Due to a medical misdiagnosis she had been rendered sightless, and she was suddenly thrown into a world of darkness, anger, frustration and self-pity. Once a fiercely independent woman, Susan now felt condemned by this terrible twist of fate to become a powerless, helpless burden on everyone around her.
“How could this have happened to me?” she would plead, her heart knotted with anger. But no matter how much she cried or ranted or prayed, she knew the painful truth her sight was never going to return. And all she had to cling to was her husband Mark.
Mark was an Air Force officer and he loved Susan with all of his heart. Finally, Susan felt ready to return to her job, but how would she get there? She used to take the bus, but was now too frightened to get around the city by herself. Mark volunteered to drive her to work each day, even though they worked at opposite ends of the city. At first, this comforted Susan and fulfilled Mark’s need to protect his sightless wife who was so insecure about performing the slightest task. Soon, however, Mark realized that this arrangement wasn’t working – it was hectic, and costly.
Susan is going to have to start taking the bus again, he admitted to himself. Susan was horrified at the idea of taking the bus again. “I’m blind!” she responded bitterly. “How am I supposed to know where I’m going? I feel like you’re abandoning me.” Mark’s heart broke to hear these words, but he knew what had to be done. He promised Susan that each morning and evening he would ride the bus with her, for as long as it took, until she got the hang of it. And that is exactly what happened.
For two solid weeks, Mark, military uniform and all, accompanied Susan to and from work each day. He taught her how to rely on her other senses, specifically her hearing, to determine where she was and how to adapt to her new environment. He helped her befriend the bus drivers who could watch out for her, and save her a seat. He made her laugh, even on those not-so-good days when she would trip exiting the bus, or drop her briefcase.
Finally, Susan decided that she was ready to try the trip on her own. Monday morning arrived, and before she left, she threw her arms around Mark, her temporary bus riding companion, her husband, and her best friend. She said good-bye, and for the first time, they went their separate ways. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday… Each day on her own went perfectly, and Susan had never felt better. She was doing it! She was going to work all by herself! On Friday morning, Susan took the bus to work as usual. As she was paying for her fare to exit the bus, the driver said, “Boy, I sure envy you.” Susan wasn’t sure if the driver was speaking to her or not. After all, who on earth would ever envy a blind woman who had struggled just to find the courage to live for the past year? Curious, she asked the driver, “Why do you say that you envy me?”
The driver responded, “It must feel so good to be taken care of and protected like you are.” Susan had no idea what the driver was talking about, and asked again, “What do you mean?” The driver answered, “You know, every morning for the past week, a fine looking gentleman in a military uniform has been standing across the corner watching you when you get off the bus. He makes sure you cross the street safely and he watches you until you enter your office building. Then he blows you a kiss, gives you a little salute and walks away. You are one lucky lady.”
God watches over us in just the same way. We may not know He is present. We may not be able to see His face, but He is there nonetheless! Be blessed in this thought: “God Loves You – even when you are not looking.”
People of faith can face the uncertain future with certainty. We can face each day as Joshua did, with God’s purpose, promise, power, and presence.
I think of death as a glad awakening from this troubled sleep which we call life; as an emancipation from a world which, beautiful though it be, is still a land of captivity.
Lyman Abbott
For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,” says the Lord, who has compassion on you.
Among the attributes of God, although they are all equal, mercy shines with even more brilliancy than justice.
Miguel De Cervantes
O Lord, my strength and my stronghold, my refuge in the day of trouble, to thee shall the nations come from the ends of the earth and say: “Our fathers have inherited nought but lies, worthless things in which there is no profit.
Jeremiah 16:19
The Revised Standard Version
Please be patient. God isn’t finished with me yet.
Every man has a train of thought on which he rides when he is alone.The dignity and nobility of his life, as well as his happiness, depend upon the direction in which that train is going, the baggage it carries, and the scenery through which it travels.
Joseph Fort Newton
Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.
When I came to believe in Christ’s teaching, I ceased desiring what I had wished for before. The direction of my life, my desires, became different. What was good and bad changed places.
Leo Tolstoy
He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
1 John 4:8
The King James Version
Christ can triumph in a weaker man than I am, if there be any such.
How does God guide us in the decisions we have to make? This sermon provides an outline of a Biblical model of guidance, using Colossians 3.
I don’t suppose many of you are old enough to remember the original TV Quiz Show, “Pick-a-Box”. It was hugely successful back in the very early days of television in Australia in the 1950’s and 60’s – so, yes, all the episodes were in black and white.
The big moments in “Pick-a-Box” came when the contestant who had got the questions right had to pick from several boxes on a wall and there would be either a terrific prize or some useless dud object in the box. It was a moment of great drama for many Australians at the time – what would the contestant decide? I guess more recently we have had the nightly decision by the winner of “Sale of the Century” about whether to take the prize they’d already won or come back the next night to try for a bigger one.
Decisions, decisions – life is full of the need to make decisions. Make the right decision – pick the right box – and you will end up a lot better off than if you make the wrong decision.
In “Pick-a-Box” the outcome was random. Despite being smart enough to know the answers and get to the point of making the decision, in the end the contestant just didn’t have enough information to be able to tell which was the best choice of box.
Sometimes we get choices like that in life and a lot of the things that happen to us in life do seem somewhat random. But most of the time we do have information to help us make our decisions – maybe not enough information to guarantee the outcome, but enough to help us to make a choice from among alternatives. It is then up to us to use the information we have and any other resources that might be able to help along the way, to make the best decisions.
• Some decisions are quite trivial – will I have a Magnum Classic or a Magnum Ego? Will I choose Optus or Telstra as my internet provider?
• Some are moderately important – will I give up eating ice cream like Magnums so that I don’t get overweight? Will I go out and play sport or spend my time on the internet?
And some decisions are crucial for our life’s direction – will I get married? What career will I aim for? Will I obey the road rules when I am driving my car?
Phew, some big issues there! Because they can be quite daunting choices to make, some people seem to think that they can avoid making decisions and just drift along with life. What did those critters in “The Lion King” call it – akuna matata? Friends, that sort of attitude IS making a decision – it’s a decision to be unthinking about what you do in life, a decision to give in to the forces that are at work in the world for good or evil and let them rule over you. From my experience, far from meaning “no worries for the rest of your days”, akuna matata means nothing but trouble as those forces sweep over us and get us into an awful mess sometimes.
As Christians we have accepted that making our own decisions our own way, ignoring God in our lives, is not the way we want to live; we have turned to Jesus as our Lord and Saviour, accepting Him because He has accepted us, has taken us into His friendship, into His family; and as a result we have decided to follow Him.
This means that when we are faced with a decision we will want to make the right decision, the best decision, the decision that is consistent with us being followers of Jesus Christ.
The question before us tonight is, therefore, how do we know whether we are making the best decisions? How do we find and follow God’s guidance in our lives? We want to obey God’s will, but how do we know what His will for us actually is? Like the writer of the psalm that we read together, we call out to God:
“Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths;
Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are my God and Saviour and my hope is in you all day long.” (Ps 25:4-5)
God Promises to Guide Us
The prayer of the psalmist is not a forlorn one, because God does promise to guide us. Later in psalm 25 we read that:
“Good and upright is the Lord; therefore He instructs sinner in His ways; He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them His way.” (Ps 25:8-9)
Other verses that similarly promise God’s guidance are:
Proverbs 3:6 “In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.”
Isaiah 58:11 “The Lord will guide you always.”
James 1:5 “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.”
These and many other passages in scripture make it clear that God wants to help us to live the lives He asks of us. He hasn’t called us into a relationship with Himself only to leave us in the dark about how that relationship should unfold. In the verse from Isaiah that I just quoted he uses interesting imagery to make this point clear. He describes life without God as being like living in a desert, in a “sun-scorched land”, but says that God’s guidance of His people means that they “will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.”
Be in no doubt that God wants what is best for His followers and that He promises to guide us.
How Does God Guide Us?
OK, you accept that God has made this promise, but the question then becomes, “how?” How does God guide us? When we acknowledge Him, as the verse in Proverbs says, how will he then direct our paths? When we ask for wisdom, as James instructed, how will He give it to us?
Over the years many Christians have given lots of different answers to this question. You will hear sermons on guidance that talk about doors that are opened and closed for you; about things that you can do to test out the different options from which you are to choose; about the importance of the counsel of Christian friends and elders; or about the place of your own feelings of “peace” about a decision.
In some of those things there can be helpful stuff and in relation to some decisions that we face in life those sort of “signals” will have a part to play. If I fail maths and the Universities Admission Board won’t let me into an engineering degree course then that is probably a clear signal that I should pursue something other than a career in engineering.
But I worry that a lot of the things I hear on guidance belittle the place of God’s revealed word in the whole process. The apostle Paul wrote to his young friend Timothy that the Bible is “inspired by God” and said that this means that it “is profitable for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (2 Tim 3:16) Doesn’t that mean that if we want to find out how God wants us to make decisions, how He guides us, that we should look first and foremost in the Bible?
Yes it does, but there is also a great danger of taking this the wrong way entirely as well. Finding information on guidance in the Bible doesn’t mean that there is going to be in its pages a simple, text-book like answer to every question. When my wife and I decided to get married all those years ago we didn’t look up a passage in the Bible that said, “God wants D.A.D. to agree to marry Warren Bird”.
Nor does it mean that we can lift any verse out of its context and interpret it as telling us something about a decision that we are facing. I heard of a young man once who tried to use the Bible like that.
He randomly opened it at a page and with his eyes closed let his finger pick out a verse on that page. He got to Matthew 27:5 in this fashion: “Judas went and hanged himself.” That’s not real helpful, he thought, so he repeated the process and ended up selecting Luke 10:37: “Go and do likewise.”
Sounds funny, but there are many Christians who treat the Bible just like that – I know, I was one of them when I was a young Christian.
Paul also wrote to Timothy that he should “be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a workman who is not ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.” (2 Tim 2:15) I could preach a whole sermon on what “correctly handling the word of truth” involves. The key thing to get across tonight is that understanding any one verse requires understanding the message of the whole Bible and that understanding what the Bible is saying about my life individually requires prayerful meditation and reflection. That way we can ensure that we are not imposing what WE want or think on what God is really saying to us.
A model of guidance
What, then, DOES the Bible say about how God guides us? I think that our reading from Colossians gives us a terrific outline of the answer to this question. There are three parts to the answer:
1) Keep your eyes on the prize.
2) Keep your feet on the path.
3) Keep your heart at peace with Christ.
Eyes on the prize (Col 3:1-4)
Ultimately, God’s guidance relates to the way that He takes us from being sinners who do not know Him to living eternally in heaven with Him. God cares about every detail of our lives here and now, because He wants to help us to negotiate the path tp heaven that we set out on when we become Christians; it is the impact that each decision we make has upon that objective that is of most importance to Him.
This is a constant theme in the New Testament. Paul elsewhere wrote that personally he was pressing on toward the goal to win the prize for which God had called him heavenward in Christ Jesus (Phil 3:14). Peter wrote that Christians should “live holy and godly lives”, looking forward to the day in which God will bring this world to an end and usher in the new heaven and the new earth, our new home of righteousness (2 Peter 3:11-13).
It’s also in Psalm 25 – verse 15 says, “my eyes are ever on the Lord, for only He will release my feet from the snare.”
In Colossians Paul urges us to set our hearts and minds on the prize that awaits us when Christ returns in glory. Everything we do in our life now should be done with our eyes on the prize. When we are faced with decisions that have to be made, God’s guidance is that we choose things that will be positive for us spiritually, that will help us on our journey to our home of righteousness, rejecting choices that will hinder our journey.
The first principle of guidance is to keep our eyes on the prize.
Feet on the path (Col 3:5-14)
Paul goes on to argue that if we are heading in the direction of heaven then we should actually walk on the path that takes that us in that direction. The attitudes and behaviours that we have turned away from when we decided to become Christians should be left behind and the attitudes and behaviours of “God’s chosen people” should be the ones that we adopt.
Let’s be clear – no one is a Christian because they live a moral life. Being a Christian means you are an immoral person who knows they are immoral and has asked God’s forgiveness through Christ. But someone who has been forgiven is now heading for a new home of righteousness, as Peter called heaven, and thus right living is a logical, natural outworking of the relationship we have with Jesus. So when you are seeking God’s guidance, a significant place to look is in those passages of the Bible that talk about His moral will.
When you are faced with a choice between something that is morally wrong and something that is morally right, then God’s guidance for you is unambiguous – choose the thing that is right. Sometimes it won’t be easy, especially when it is a decision that has effects on other people, who might fight back or take some sort of retaliatory action against us. But be clear that God will only ever guide you to decide something that is morally right.
As Psalm 25 says, “may integrity and uprightness protect me, because my hope is in You.” (Ps 25:18)
There was a lot of news about lying, cheating and fraud in some of America’s biggest companies. The first of those companies to be found out was Enron and the whistle blower was an employee of Enron who knew that the financial accounts were a fabrication. She is a Christian woman and she realized that keeping her feet on the path required her to be honest about what was going on at Enron. It has cost her a lot – she lost her job and has been ridiculed and verbally abused by the men that she exposed – but she is able to stand before her God in all good conscience, which is far better.
The second principle of guidance is to make decisions that keep our feet on the path of life.
• Hearts at peace with Christ (Col 3:15-17)
The third and final principle is to make decisions based upon Christ’s peace ruling in our hearts. This isn’t talking about a subjective feeling of being “at peace” about a decision. Rather it is talking about the peace that we know in our hearts and souls when our daily lives are in tune with the friendship that we have with Jesus.
A lot of it comes from the fact that thankfulness is a significant part of our relationship with God. Can you thank God for the decision that you have made? Can you stand before other Christians and say that you have made a decision that expresses your gratitude to God for what He has done in your life? That you are at peace with God after making the decision? If you can, then it is a decision that you can truly say resulted from following God’s guidance.
Working it Out
You might be thinking about a decision you face at the moment in light of these three principles. It is possible that you might be thinking, “hey, wait a minute, those three things rule out some of the choices that I have but not all of them. I’m still in the dark about what God is guiding me to do. Should I go with option A, B or C?”
I want to say to you that in many, many instances there are going to be several choices that are ALL within the realm of God’s guidance. You might be looking for a new job; you rule out a couple of options because they contradict Biblical principles; but you still have a choice of 2 or 3 jobs left. A lot of people would keep fretting about not yet having received God’s guidance about what to do, but I want to tell you that in that case you really should be rejoicing! If God’s clear leading results in you having a couple of choices then there is nothing wrong with going with the one you’d prefer. God is your creator as well as you saviour, and if he made you with a liking for engineering instead of medicine, or labouring instead of office work, and there are no spiritual or moral reasons to favour one job over the other, then go with the one you’d like the best.
The apostle Paul has summed up the Bible’s teaching on guidance really well in Colossians 3:17 – “whatever you do, in word or in deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” Everything we do is as a representative of God here on earth – we act in His name. When we have choices to make, let us make the ones that represent Him the best, the ones for which we can give Him thanks. We can’t go wrong if these are our guiding principles.
Our life has no meaning in itself; it has meaning only in relation to God.
Christoph Blumhardt
“There is a saying, ‘Love your friends and hate your enemies.’ But I say: Love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way you will be acting as true sons of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust too. If you love only those who love you, what good is that? Even scoundrels do that much. If you are friendly only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even the heathen do that. But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.”
Matthew 5:43-48
The Living Bible
You have not fulfilled every duty, unless you have fulfilled that of being pleasant.
The harder a man tries to be himself without being right with God, the less like himself he becomes and the more like everyone else he is. Man was made to have fellowship with God, and man is never himself until he submits to this divine rule. Not your talent first, or your money, or your time, or your service, but the complete “you” is what God requests and requires—not that he might make you into a slave, but that he might emancipate you.
Richard C. Halverson
The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him.
To believe on Christ, I say: not merely to believe in him, or to believe something about him, but to believe on him; and this means to entrust your soul to him and to trust in him for wisdom and strength and salvation.
Washington Gladden
I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies.
2 Samuel 22:4
The Revised Standard Version
When you educate a man you educate an individual; when you educate a woman you educate a whole family.
After the resurrection the apostles never used the word death to express the close of a Christian’s earthly life. They referred to the passing of a Christian as “at home with the Lord,” “to depart and be with Christ,” “to sleep in Jesus.”
John M. Drescher
“It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.”
In case you missed it, you can still watch all 4 main sessions from our 2018 Men’s Retreat (the sessions are powerful for anyone, men or women) at this link: https://theranch.org/2018-mens-retreat/. Topics include “Facing Your Fears” by Eric Elder, “Out of the Vortex (Breaking Addictions)” by Jefferson Williams, “5 Lies I Believed About Depression” by Kent Sanders, and “Going After Your Dreams” and “Why Everyone Should Consider Writing A Book” by Eric Elder and Kent Sanders.
How do we hear the voice of God, Samuel’s life emulates 4 traits we should have in order to listen to the call of God
The following are actual bloopers found in church bulletins.
· The scouts are saving aluminum cans, bottles and other items for recycling. Proceeds will be used to cripple children.
· Next Sunday’s Message – WHAT IS HELL, come early and hear our choir
· Weight watchers meeting Tuesday; please use large double doors at the side entrance.
· Ushers will eat newcomers
· Remember to pray for the many people who are sick of our church and the community.
· Our minister is on vacation; massages can be given to the secretary.
· This being Easter Sunday, Mrs. Johnson will lay an egg on the piano.
· The flowers on the altar are provided by Jason Edwards, the sin of Pastor and Mrs. Edwards.
Miscommunication it is all around us, we speak of it as a get out of jail free card” in our society – If we have a mishap, we call it miscommunication.
· Failure to Listen
· Out of the Loop
· Dad I did not hear you
· Mom, you want to clean the WHOLE room.
MISCOMMUNICATION
Through out the Bible God communicated with his creation in a number of ways.
· Dreams
· A Burning Bush
· Prophets
· Animals
· Miraculous signs
Through this God teaches us he is not limited to one way of communication.
Heb 1:1-2
In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe.
When God communicates with his creation, he does it in such a way as that one is assured God is speaking.
In 1 Sam. 3, we discover a young man who hears God voice and yet does not recognize him to be God. Yet after some prompting he soon learns to be a great listener for God.
COULD WE BE LIKE SAMUEL?
· Would we fail to recognize God’s voice?
· Do we need someone prompting us so that we might be able to listen?
· A better question today, What qualities in Samuel’s life made him able to hear the voice of God?
IN 1 SAMUEL 3 WE DISCOVER 4 QUALITIES IN SAMUEL’S LIFE WORTH EMULATING TODAY.
Samuel had a servant’s heart.His role, Ministering before the Lord
Jewish historian, Josephus states Samuel was 12 years old at the time of his calling.
His tasks were to light the candles, tend to the furnishings and general housekeeping in the Tabernacle.
These were not the “glory jobs” of the Tabernacle, but none the less they had to be done.
Compare this to Eli’s sons – They grew up in the Tabernacle, saw their father administer the worship – But in 1 Sam. 2:12 Eli’s sons were wicked men; they had no regard for the LORD.
WHAT A CONTRAST Growing up in the same house, watching the same man (Eli), observing the same sacred items – yet two different outcomes.
HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED WHY CHILDREN GROWING UP IN THE CHURCH REJECT THE CHURCH LATER ON IN LIFE? After all we have a promise Prov 22:6, Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.
– PARENTS ROLE, Hannah prayed for her son (2:20) Hannah monitored her Son’s grow (2:19) Hannah and her husband were faithful in worship (1:21)
– Eli, knew his son’s sin (2:22) He was willing to confront their sins (2:23-25)
– THE CHILD’S ROLE – The attitude of the sons – Eli’s, No regard, Samuel, Servant hood
There comes a time when children must take responsibility for their actions, Now if we will keep this two step approach of a Parent’s active role and a child’s submissive attitude, we will be able to claim the promise of Prov. 22.
2. Samuel had a good reputation
1 Sam 2:26
And the boy Samuel continued to grow in stature and in favor with the LORD and with men.
These are the same words used to describe Jesus in Luke 2:52
Why is our reputation so important? Simply put how people see us is how they see God. – Our actions reflect our leader.
That is why Jesus had such trouble with the Pharisees, they were representatives of God and yet their reputation for ritual and rules had become a departure of God’s grace.
Reputations must be formed, a reputation is not formed in one day, but it can be destroyed in one minute. A reputation cannot be passed on from one generation to the next but it can be destroyed in a relatively short time. A reputation is formed by living a consistent life before God
Billy Graham was one of the most respected men in the world today, with the many scandals that have come about in the last 20 years; Graham remained untarnished – WHY? Graham’s 3 laws of integrity
– He never was the first person to enter a hotel room
– He never ate dinner with a woman other than his wife
He never was in a car alone with a woman other than his wife.
Samuel is an example of how a good reputation makes one available to be used by.
3. Samuel was obedient to authority.
3 times he thought he heard what he thought was the voice of Eli, and 3 times he went to see what his mentor wanted.
Obedience is an unnatural response. Few of us enjoy being told what to do. Our natural response is to be in control. Yet where there is control there is an absence of humility.
THIS IS WHEN PRIDE TAKES OVER – Don Shula, Former head coach of the Miami Dolphins tells of a vacation he was taking in Maine during the off season. He wanted to go some place where he go and relax without people recognizing he and his wife. When they arrived at their resort, it was raining so they decided to go to a movie in town. When they arrived at the Theater the house lights were on and he was surprised how small the crowd was for the movie. Yet when he walked in he was surprised to receive a round of applause from the patrons. They took their seat and waited for the movie to start. Secretly surprised, Shula leaned over to his wife and whispered, I guess there is not a place I can go where I am not recognized. I guess not she replied with a bit of sarcasm. About that time a man came over and with a friendly smile shook hands with Shula and his wife. Shula said I am surprised you know us. Should I know you the man asked? We are just glad you came in the manager said he would start the film until 10 people came in.
Samuel was obedient because he was humble.
Signs of Obedience
– Understand God is good – he has our best interest in hand.
– Submit to his authority – God is in control, Good Friday to Easter
Realize there are benefits to ObedienceObedience in the good times – OT Promise of faithfulness, Moses, Joshua, Josiah
Obedience in hardships – Wilderness Wanderings
Obedience is the key to our salvation – are we willing to do what Jesus asks?
Even though Samuel was not receiving answers from Eli, He continued to be obedient to his mentor. In like manner we must always find our obedience in the Lord – EVEN WHEN HE DOES NOT ANSWER!
Obedience must be lived out
Of the Fiery Furnace
Dan 3:16-18
16 Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter.
17 If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king.
18 But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”
When we are obedient we are able to hear his voice – even in silence.
4. Samuel was willing to listen.
Eli realizing Samuel was being called by God now gives him a series of instructions to prepare for God’s call.
NOTICE THE INSTRUCTIONS
Go back to your room – waiting, Have you ever been in God’s waiting room? Waiting to be used, waiting for an answer to prayer? WAITING PREPARES US
If he calls you again – Anticipation, carries with it the idea of expectation. A young minister was distraught by the lack of results in his new church after his first few months of service. He visited D.L. Moody for some advice. Moody asked, “Do you expect decisions ever Sunday, when you preach? The young man replied. There is your problem – You Should.
I am amazed the number of people who do not expect God to do great things. We pray and prayers are answered and we say it is a coincidence. We put God first in our finances and then when our needs are met we seem shocked. 1 Cor 2:9 However, as it is written: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him” Each week I hope you anticipate God working in your life.
Answer His Call – Be available, this may seem so simple, but it can be difficult to answer God’s call. So many things call out for our attention.
Samuel did answer the call notice his words – SPEAK FOR YOUR
SERVANT IS LISTENING, I imagine those are some of the sweetest words the lord can hear from our mouth.
I don’t know what you want to do with me BUT SPEAK FOR YOUR SERVANT IS LISTENING
I don’t know how I can help BUT SPEAK FOR YOUR SERVANT IS LISTENING
I am concerned about the future BUT SPEAK FOR YOUR SERVANT IS LISTENING
When Samuel made himself available he was ready to receive God’s instructions
Listening for God requires…
1. a servant’s heart
2. a good reputation
3. an obedience to authority
4. And the ability to be ready to listen.
Jesus himself used an illustration of listen for the voice of God in
John 10:1-5
1 “I tell you the truth, the man who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber.
2 The man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of his sheep.
3 The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice.
5 But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.”
Who are you listening for today, who is calling your name, and what is your reply?
Reminder from Eric Elder:Starting tonight, you can watch our live broadcasts from the 2018 Men’s Retreat (you can watch online anonymously, so you don’t have to be a man to watch… the sessions are deeply personal and will be powerful for anyone).
I’m speaking tonight (Friday, Oct 12) at 7 pm CDT on “Facing Your Fears,” Jefferson Williams is speaking Saturday morning at 8 am CDT on “Out of the Vortex: Breaking Addictions,” Kent Sanders is speaking Saturday morning at 10 am CDT on “5 Lies I Believed About Depression,” and Kent and I will be doing a special interview on Saturday afternoon at 4 pm CDT on “Going After Your Dreams” and “Why Everyone Should Consider Writing a Book.” You can watch live online at live.theranch.org.
In the cross of Christ excess in men is met by excess in God; excess of evil is mastered by excess of love.
Louis Bourdaloue
Lord Almighty, blessed is the one who trusts in you.
You will never be an inwardly religious and devout man unless you pass over in silence the shortcomings of your fellow men, and diligently examine your own weaknesses.
Thomas Kempis
And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.
Matthew 7:25
The English Standard Version
Join us this weekend, in person or live online, for a faith-boosting Men’s Retreat! Click here to learn more!
Jesus Christ alone stands at the absolute center of humanity, the one completed harmonious man. He is the absolute and perfect truth, the highest that humanity can reach; at once its perfect image and supreme Lord.
Charles W. French
“Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.”
Luke 16:10
The New International Version
Join us this weekend, in person or live online, for a faith-boosting Men’s Retreat! Click here to learn more!
Here’s the archive of all 4 sessions from the “2018 Men’s Retreat,” held on October 12-13 at Little Galilee Christian Camp in Clinton, Illinois.
The theme was Bondage or Breakthrough… Conquering Your Fears Through the Power of the Spirit, featuring inspirational messages by Eric Elder, Jefferson Williams, Kent Sanders, and worship with Travis Johnson. Discussion questions for each session are at the bottom of this page.*
SESSION 1 – Eric Elder “Facing Your Fears”
SESSION 2 – Jefferson Williams, “Out of the Vortex (Breaking Addictions)”
SESSION 3 – Kent Sanders, “5 Lies I Believed About Depression”
SESSION 4 – Eric Elder & Kent Sanders, Podcast Interviews: “Going After Your Dreams” and “Why Everyone Should Consider Writing A Book”
*QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION OR DISCUSSION
SESSION 1 – “Facing Your Fears”
1. Read Exodus 1:8-14. Is there an area of your life where you feel God might want you to be strong, but for some reason you feel weak in that area?
2. Read Exodus 1:15-17. What are some steps you could take to knock down those hurdles of fear and move forward in God’s calling in that area of your life?
3. Read 1 Peter 5:8. How does the “fear of man” play into any fears Satan might be throwing your way to discourage you from following what could be God’s calling on your life?
4. Read Exodus 1: 20-21. How might God bless you, and those around you, if you did step forward into what God might be calling you to do?
5. Read Exodus 2:11-23. In what ways has God already wired you to do what you feel called to do, regardless of your fears of doing it?
6. 2 Chronicles 2:16:9a. In what ways do you need strengthening from God right now to help you carry out what He’s put on your heart to do?
SESSION 2 – “Out of the Vortex (Breaking Addictions)”
1. What are some things that the feather can represent in a person’s life?
2. Why is secret sin so dangerous?
3. Why is learning about your identity in Christ so important in fighting sin?
4. After listening to Jeff’s talk, how would you counsel a friend who is struggling with sexual sin?
5. Jeff said that he believes that the church is weak because a lot of people are trapped in a cycle of shame and guilt and unable to lead. Do you believe this? What’s the solution?
SESSION 3 – “5 Lies I Believed About Depression”
Lie #1: I can __________________ my depression on my own.
Question: Are you trying to manage life on your own, or do you have a solid support network in place to help you through depression and other struggles of life?
Lie #2: Self-medicating my pain is an effective ______________________ strategy.
Question: Are you trying to medicate your pain with a vice or bad habit? What pain are you running away from in your life?
Lie #3: I have no _____________________ over the forces that make my depression worse.
Question: What are some proactive ways you are dealing with stress, fatigue, and conflict in your life?
Lie #4: I don’t need _______________________ help.
Question: Why do you think most men have a hard time admitting they need professional help or counseling?
Lie #5: My struggle with depression means that I am _______________________ in some way.
Question: Why do men tend to view depression as a weakness or deficiency? Do you have a trusted group of friends who can help you process through life’s difficulties?
Action Steps:
Find a support network.
Face your pain–don’t medicate it.
Proactively deal with stress, fatigue, and conflict.
Special Note from Eric: Need a boost in your faith? Join us NEXT WEEKEND, LIVE ONLINE OR IN-PERSON, for a men’s retreat where I’ll be speaking on “Facing Your Fears,” and my friends Jefferson Williams and Kent Sanders will be speaking on “Breaking Addictions” and “5 Lies I Believed About Depression.” We’ll also have inspirational times of worship with my friend, Travis Johnson.
Join us LIVE ONLINE (for free!) starting Friday, October 12 at 7 p.m. Central Time at http://live.theranch.org, or register to attend IN-PERSON (for a small fee for food and lodging) here.
You can also watch a live, Sunday morning church service TODAY at 9 and 11 a.m. Central Time (or on-demand anytime thereafter) at this link: http://live.eastview.church.
DEFEATING DEPRESSION
by Kevin Burden
Loneliness has been called the most desolate word in the English language. It is no respecter of age, race, economic status, or intelligence. Albert Einstein once said, “It is strange to be known so universally, and yet to be so lonely.”
God made us for intimacy and companionship with others. Even before sin entered the world, He declared that “it is not good for man to be alone” (Genesis 2:18). That’s why many people often feel so empty inside.
Jesus experienced loneliness. He felt it when His disciples deserted Him (Mark 14:50). The Father’s presence more than compensated for this, however. He said, “Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me” (John 16:32).
Intimacy with God is available to all who put their trust in Christ – John 14:16-23.
We can reduce our feelings of loneliness by reaching out to others. But even more important, we must reach out to the Lord. He is always with us, and He wants us to fellowship with Him throughout the day.
A recent Gallop poll concludes 4 out of 10 Americans admit to frequent feelings of intense loneliness and depression. Has loneliness ever crept into your life? What does the Bible say to those who are going through those dark times?
Difficult times came to many in the Bible. Just two examples…
Elijah needed rest after his encounter with the Prophets of Baal.
Paul in his letter to Timothy said, “Everyone has deserted me” three different times. His way of coping was to ask for his parchments and his friends.
Charles Spurgeon was prone to times of deep sadness and depression. On an unforgettable Sunday morning in 1866, the great C. H. Spurgeon stunned his five thousand listeners when from the pulpit of London’s Metropolitan Tabernacle he announced, “I am the subject of depressions of spirit so fearful that I hope none of you ever gets to such extremes of wretchedness as I go to.” For some of his audience it was incomprehensible that the world’s greatest preacher could know the valley of despair. Yet twenty-one years later in 1887 he said from the same pulpit, “Personally I have often passed through the dark valley.”
The fact is – many “Good” Christians battle depression. Most of us face situational depression at some time. There are times in life when depression is a normal response to a difficult situation…
* The death of a loved one
* A disappointment in life
* Failure in some area of your life
* Relational problems
Some battle biological factors
Depression Can be Devastating: The Psalmist felt many things during time of loneliness.
* God seemed far away – v 2.
* Life seemed meaningless – v 3
* His bones burned; He just didn’t feel well – v 3
* He experienced loss of appetite and weight loss – v 4
* He felt alone – v 6
* Felt persecuted and rejected –v 8
* Experienced times of sadness and tears – v 9
* He was painfully aware of his failures – v 10
He felt tossed aside – v 10
Does this sound like some of the things you have experienced in life?
How do we defeat Depression? Start by…
#1. TURNING OFF THE TUNNEL VISION – v 3-10.
Depression often occurs when we focus on the circumstances surrounding a situation instead of the situation surrounding the circumstance. We become unable to see “the forest for the trees.”
In these times we must learn to dwell on the Lord’s goodness b not our pain.
#2. SURRENDER TO GOD’S SOVEREIGNTY – v 12-15.
God is in charge. He knows where you are and what you’re going through.
He knows what he is doing b even if we don’t. We must learn to trust God.
God perfects us by means of the furnace.
#3. CONCENTRATE ON GOD’S CHARACTER – v 17-22
#4. FOCUS ON THE FUTURE – v 16, 23-28.
Look past the present. God is preparing a great place for those who trust Him.
As we reach the end of Psalm 102 we see the darkness lifted.
Are you prone to deep darkness? Is it a powerful emotion that you seem powerless to change? Are you trusting God or are you trying to make it on your own?
If your depression will not go away; If you trust, and pray and nothing changes…
You may need to see a Doctor. Overcoming depression can be hindered by chemical imbalance, diet or other physical complications.
You may need to see a Christian counselor.Overwhelming, overpowering thoughts of harming yourself or others; Overwhelming, overpowering thoughts of suicide are not acceptable conditions. You must seek help immediately.
Understand what is happening; then take charge of your mind. Don’t deny the emotion . . . face it!
Here are some practical steps for defeating Depression. . . .
* Get some rest – like Elijah
* Ponder God’s Character and love – like Jesus
* Make extra time to study God’s Word – like Paul
Spend extra time with your Christian friends and church family – like Paul.
These are usually the opposite of what you feel like doing. But take control!
Minirith/Meier Christian Counseling:
“Seven laws for living life free of Depression.”
1. Commit yourself to the purpose of glorifying God in all things.
2. Spend time daily meditating on God’s Word and applying it to your life.
3. Deal with grudges and anger daily.
4. Concentrate on building close relationships with your family.
5. Develop solid Christian friendships and spend time each week enjoying these people.
6. Be involved in a daily routine that brings personal satisfaction to you.
7. Do something nice for one special person each week.
To know God is at once the easiest and the most difficult thing in the world. It is easy because the knowledge is not won by hard mental toil, but is something freely given. As sunlight falls free on the open field, so the knowledge of the holy God is a free gift to men who are open to receive it. But this knowledge is difficult because there are conditions to be met and the obstinate nature of fallen man does not take kindly to them.
A. W. Tozer
Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you; love her, and she will watch over you.
The big end of the branch is always toward the vine. The fruit comes on the little end. When we daily direct the big end of our lives towards Christ, and his Word, an amazing thing takes place. The fruit comes on the little end. It will come in a way that will let us know that it was because of him and in spite of us.
Lane Adams
Ye also helping together by prayer for us, that for the gift bestowed upon us by the means of many persons thanks may be given by many on our behalf.
Jesus Christ is no crutch; he is the ground to walk on.
Leighton Ford
Know this, my beloved brethren. Let every man be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger, for the anger of man does not work the righteousness of God.
James 1:19-20
The Revised Standard Version
Knowledge is a process of piling up facts; wisdom lies in their simplification.
Are you looking unto Jesus now, in the immediate matter that is pressing, and receiving from him peace? If so, he will be a gracious benediction of peace in and through you. But if you try to worry it out, you obliterate him and deserve all you get.
Oswald Chambers
And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.”
As a reminder: Starting this month, in addition to our regular Sunday sermons, we’re going to be featuring an online church service that you can watch live at 10 or 11 a.m. (Central Time) or on-demand throughout the week at this link: http://live.eastview.church.
Also, if you need prayer or someone to talk to, you can chat live with our online hosts between 9 and noon on Sunday mornings at the same link. Join us today for some rich worship, biblical teaching, and an online chat!
Why The Holy Spirit Does Not Give Into Our Whims, but Helps to Bring Out God’s Best in Us and Teaches Us to Love What is Difficult
by Paul Fritz
Rom. 8:26-28
People need people. Laurie was about three when one night she requested my aid in getting undressed. I was downstairs and she was upstairs, and … well. “You know how to undress yourself,” I reminded. “Yes,” she explained, ’but sometimes people need people anyway, even if they do know how to do things by themselves.”
-William C. Schultz, Bits & Pieces, December 1990.
1. The Holy Spirit wisely chooses to not give in to our selfish whims because He knows what is best. Paul wrote, “God works all things together for good for those who love God and those who are called according to His purposes.” (Rom. 8:28) The Spirit of God works to conform us more to the thinking, behavior and character qualities that are found in Christ Jesus. Ask the Lord to help you surrender more of the control of your desires to the leading of the Spirit.
2. The Holy Spirit listens to our cries, but selectively responds to the prayers that are in conformity with the will of God for our lives. The Spirit acts as our advocate to the Father, but acts only according to the will of God. The Spirit has a way of filtering out requests that are not in agreement with scriptural truth. Paul wrote, “And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.” (Rom. 8:27) Ask the Lord to help you pray more in line with all of the scriptural passages, promises, and principles.
3. The Holy Spirit makes us competent to do whatever God calls us to accomplish. Paul wrote, “Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant.” (2 Cor. 3:5,6) Thank the Lord for all the ways He has made you competent to perform every aspect of His will of your life.
4. The Holy Spirit filters out some of our requests that are not in the perfect will of God. Paul wrote, “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.” (Rom. 8:26) Ask the Lord to help monitor your requests so that the Lord answers only the prayers that are in line with 100% of the perfect will of God.
5. The Holy Spirit has a way of amplifying the requests that will facilitate our maturity in Christ. Paul wrote, “The Spirit intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.” (Rom. 8:26) The Spirit continues to remind us of the prayers that will best help bring us to higher levels of personal, spiritual and ministry maturity. Ask the Lord to help you record your prayers and answers to prayers enabling you to see where God is blessing.
6. The Holy Spirit is hindered from helping to answer the prayers of those who are habitually living with secret sins. David wrote, “If I cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.” (Psa. 66:18) Ask the Lord to help you uncover any secret sins so that you can confess and forsake them.
7. The Holy Spirit is more concerned about obedience and trust than in giving us what we desire. John wrote, “Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.” (I John 3:24) Whenever you are not seeing answers to prayer, it may be necessary to evaluate how obedient and trusting you are in the Lord. Ask the Lord to show you if there is any false way in your heart so that you can become all that the Lord wants you to be.
8. The Holy Spirit cautions us against hardening our hearts to the Lord in any way. The writer of Hebrews wrote, “So, as the Holy Spirit says, ’Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the desert, where your fathers tested and tried me and for forty years saw what I did. (Heb. 3:7; Psa. 95:7-11; Ex. 17:7) Ask the Lord to help you be more tender hearted to the Lord’s correction and rebukes.
9. The Holy Spirit wants us to pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. Paul wrote, “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.” (Eph. 6:18) Ask the Lord to help you pray in harmony with the Spirit’s mind, will and emotions with everyone of your prayers and requests.
10. The Holy Spirit does not want anyone to hear God without really listening and responding to Him. Paul said, “The Holy Spirit spoke the truth to your forefathers when he said through Isaiah the prophet: ’Go to this people and say, ’You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes.” (Acts 28:25-27) Ask the Lord to help you avoid any tendency to be insensitive to God’s word, His voice or His counselors.
11. The Holy Spirit wants us to realize that many of our desires are contrary to God’s will. Paul wrote, “So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want.” (Gal 5:16,17) Ask the Lord for help in conforming more of your will to the Father’s will.
There are no hopeless situations; there are only people who have grown hopeless about them.-Clare Boothe Luce.
Christ always lives where there is room for him. If there is room in your heart for Christ, he lives there; if there is room in a law office for Christ, he lives there; if there is room on a locomotive engine, he will be there; if there is room in a baggage car, he will be there.
Sam Jones
Work hard and cheerfully at all you do, just as though you were working for the Lord and not merely for your masters,
Colossians 3:23
The Living Bible
I cast off the mooring lines at a decaying wharf and pointed the bow toward the open sea of life, trusting my new Captain to take me safely to his heavenly haven.
Joy is not gush; joy is not jolliness. Joy is perfect acquiescence in God’s will because the soul delights itself in God himself.
H. W. Webb-Peploe
Only, do not rebel against the Lord; and do not fear the people of the land, for they are bread for us; their protection is removed from them, and the Lord is with us; do not fear them.
God created the world for reasons that are sufficient unto himself. It is not necessary that we be told these reasons. As long as we know that God loves us, we have a base for hope. And when we have hope, all else can be borne in patience.
Edward John Carnell
He shall pray to God, and He will delight in him, He shall see His face with joy, For He restores to man His righteousness.
Job 33:26
The New King James Version
My life’s horizontal started focusing when Jesus Christ introduced me to vertical fine-tuning.
I came to Christ as a country boy. I did not understand all about the plan of salvation. One does not have to understand it; one has only to stand on it. I do not understand all about electricity, but I do not intend to sit around in the dark until I do! One thing I did understand even as a lad: I understood that I was under new management. I belonged to Christ and he was Lord.
Vance Havner
Fools give full vent to their rage, but the wise bring calm in the end.
Do you love the Son? Is he the captain of ambition and desire? Are you receiving daily into your spirit those marvelous resources and powers which are available from Christ? Are you living an everlasting life? Are you happy? Are you calm? When you can say Yes to these questions you have come to the point where your partnership with Christ begins.
Alistair MacLean
Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.
Isaiah 26:3
The King James Version
Who lives content with little possesses everything.
As a reminder: Starting this month, in addition to our regular Sunday sermons, we’re going to be featuring an online church service that you can watch live at 9 or 11 a.m. (Central Time) or on-demand throughout the week at this link: http://live.eastview.church.
Also, if you need prayer or someone to talk to, you can chat live with our online hosts between 9 and noon on Sunday mornings at the same link. Join us today for some rich worship, biblical teaching, and an online chat!
A FAMILY RESEMBLANCE
by Terry Sisney
Ge 1:26 Ge 5:1
We say we belong to the family of God, My question is can the world see the resemblance.
It’s interesting sometimes to go to a family reunion or family get together and to look around at the different people and try to determine whose children they are by their characteristics, or features.(Sometimes it’s very evident, unmistakable, undeniable) then other times it’s less evident.
As Believers we have been born again by the spirit of God into the family of God, We have a new blood line, We are the children of God.
I’m talking about a family resemblance:
Now are we the sons of God.
1Jo 3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
1Jo 3:1 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.
I know it’s hard to take it in, but by virtue of the new birth you and I are as much the sons of God as Jesus himself.
In fact he calls us his brethren, (his brothers, sisters, mothers)
Mt 12:50 For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.
When you see a branch of an apple tree, loaded down with apples, you have no difficulty distinguishing it’s identity.
There is no wondering if perhaps it’s a grapefruit tree that it’s connected to, or an orange tree, (No the branch takes on the same character as the tree) It has a family resemblance.
Jesus said: I am the vine ye are the branches.
My concern is that in the hour that we live in, it’s getting harder and harder to distinguish what family we belong to.
The Church is becoming more worldly, more comfortable with sin, we laugh at the things that used to make us cry.
What used to break our hearts now gets passed off by saying ( it’s just the times we’re in).
My friends the truth is, you can dress it up anyway you want to and call it good.
But Jesus said the tree is known by it’s fruit.
If the fruit is rotten the tree is rotten, You can’t have a rotten tree and good fruit, (it may look good, and it may sound good) but look at the fruit.
Let me take it a step farther (There are only two families)
(#1) The family of God (#2) The family of the devil
Joh 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
1Jo 3:10 In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.
In the natural many times people will attribute a certain characteristic or personality trait to their bloodline.
(Bad Temper)
(grudge holding, self pity, critical, prejudice, untrustworthy,) it’s in the blood, That’s the way his Grandpa was and his daddy – the poor kid didn’t have a chance.
Sometimes they will say the same thing about certain sicknesses or diseases, (well it’s in the blood line)
(Family Resemblance)
But as a new creature in Christ Jesus we have a new bloodline, and This bloodline doesn’t have any homosexuality in it, it doesn’t have any prejudice or self pity, or bad temper in it, It doesn’t have any sugar diabetes, or heart disease or cancer or any other disease in it.
(Are you following me? I’m talking about a family resemblance)
You won’t find adultery or fornication or Drug addiction, or wife abuse or child abuse.
In this bloodline.
Too many times Christians want to excuse wrong behavior by saying: I can’t help it it’s just my nature,
(No sir)
The Christian cannot use that excuse because he has got a new nature, and he has a new bloodline,
We cannot say: I really am a good tree, you just have to overlook my bad fruit,
(No sir) If the tree is good there will be a family resemblance, we are going to bring forth the fruits of righteousness, the fruit of the spirit,
We’re going to look like our daddy.
And we’re going to think like our daddy, and act like our daddy.
Eph 5:1 Be ye therefore followers = (Imitators) of God, as dear children;
There is a supernatural side to this family: We should be contending for everything that he gave us in this new birth.
Power, power to heal the sick, power to cast out devils, The gifts of the spirit.
(Talking about a family resemblance) Jesus said: The works that I do shall ye do also and greater works than these shall ye do.
I wonder does the world see a family resemblance in us?
When they look at us can they see Jesus, When we speak can they hear Jesus?
If I was on trial for being Wayne Sisney’s son, I would be convicted, the resemblance is undeniable, indisputable, in fact people who have known my dad for years will call me Wayne, because we look so much alike.
If we were on trial for being Sons of God, is there enough family resemblance to convict us?
The fact is: (We are) every day we are on trial before the world, do they see a family resemblance to your heavenly father and your brother Jesus Christ?
Brother, if you commit a sin and take pleasure in it, the pleasure passes but the sin remains. But if you do something virtuous even though you are tired, the tiredness passes but the virtue remains.
Camillus de Lellis
As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.
Severe trouble in a true believer has the effect of loosening the roots of his soul earthward and tightening the anchor-hold of his heart heavenward.
Charles Spurgeon
Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words.
Virtues are formed by prayer. Prayer preserves temperance. Prayer suppresses anger. Prayer prevents emotions of pride and envy. Prayer draws into the soul the Holy Spirit, and raises humanity to heaven.
Ephrem the Syrian
For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.
As a reminder: Starting this month, in addition to our regular Sunday sermons, we’re going to be featuring an online church service that you can watch live at 9 or 11 a.m. (Central Time) or on-demand throughout the week at this link: http://live.eastview.church.
Also, if you need prayer or someone to talk to, you can chat live with our online hosts between 9 and noon on Sunday mornings at the same link. Join us today for some rich worship, biblical teaching, and an online chat!
HEALING
by Tim Zingale
Luke 8:26-39
“Then they arrived at the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. And as he stepped out on land, there met him a man from the city who had demons; for a long time he had worn no clothes, and he lived not in a house but among the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him, and said with a loud voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beseech you, do not torment me.” For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many a time it had seized him; he was kept under guard, and bound with chains and fetters, but he broke the bonds and was driven by the demon into the desert.) Jesus then asked him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Legion”; for many demons had entered him. And they begged him not to command them to depart into the abyss. Now a large herd of swine was feeding there on the hillside; and they begged him to let them enter these. So he gave them leave. Then the demons came out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned. When the herdsmen saw what had happened, they fled, and told it in the city and in the country. Then people went out to see what had happened, and they came to Jesus, and found the man from whom the demons had gone, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. And those who had seen it told them how he who had been possessed with demons was healed. Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked him to depart from them; for they were seized with great fear; so he got into the boat and returned. The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him; but he sent him away, saying, “Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.” And he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him.” Luke 8:26-39, RSV.
Grace and Peace to you from our Lord and Saviour, Jesus who is the Christ. Amen
Once there was a very wealthy young man who lived in a great, elaborate house with dozens of rooms. Each room was more comfortable and more beautiful than the one before it.
One day he decided to invite the Lord to come and stay with him.
When the Lord arrived, this young man offered Him the very best room in the house. The room was upstairs and at the end of the hall. “This room is yours, Jesus, stay as long as you like and you can do whatever you want to in this room. Remember Jesus, it’s all yours.”
“Thank you,” the Lord replied, and with that the man shut the door and went about his business.
That evening, after he had retired for the night, there came a loud knocking at the front door. The young man pulled on his robe and made his way downstairs. When he opened the door he found that the Devil had sent three of his demons to attack the man! He quickly tried to close the door but one of the demons kept sticking his foot in the door.
Sometime later, after a great struggle, he managed to slam the door shut and returned to his room totally exhausted. “Can you believe that?” the young man thought. “Jesus is upstairs in my very best room sleeping while I am down here battling demons. Oh well, maybe he just didn’t hear.”
The young man slept fitfully that night. The next day, things went along as normal and, being as tired as he was, the young man retired early that evening. Along about midnight, there came such a terrible ruckus at the front door that the young man was sure that whatever it was would tear the door down. He stumbled down the stairs once again and opened the door to find that there were dozens of demons now trying to get into his beautiful home.
For more than 3 hours he fought and struggled against the demons from
hell and finally overtook them enough to shut the door against their attack. All energy seemed to fail him. “I really don’t understand this at all. Why won’t the Lord come to my rescue? Why does he allow me to fight all by myself? I feel so alone.”
Troubled, he found his way to the sofa and fell into a restless sleep.
The next morning he decided to inquire of the Lord about the happenings of the last two evenings. Quietly, he made his way to the elegant bedroom where he had left Jesus. “Jesus,” he called as he tapped at the door. “Lord, I don’t understand what is happening. For the last two nights I have had to fight the demons away from my door while you were sleeping. Don’t you care about me? Did I not give you the very best room in my house?”
He could see the tears building in Jesus’ eyes but continued on. “I just don’t understand. I really thought that once I invited you in to live with me, that you would take care of me, and I gave you the best room in my house and everything. What more can I do?”
“My precious child,” Jesus spoke softly, “I do love and care for you. I protect all that you have released into my care. But when you invited me to come here and stay, you brought me to this lovely room and you shut the door to the rest of the house. I am Lord of this room but I am not Master of this house. I have protected this room and no demon may enter here.”
“Oh Lord, please forgive me. Take all of my house, it is yours! I am so sorry that I never offered you all to begin with. I want you to have control of everything! With this he flung open the bedroom door and knelt at Jesus’ feet. “Please forgive me. Lord. for being so selfish.”
Jesus smiled and told him that He had already forgiven him and that He would take care of things from now on.
Along about midnight the banging on the door was frightening. The young man slipped out of his room in time to see Jesus going down the stairs.
He watched in awe as Jesus swung open the door. Satan stood at the door demanding to be let in. “What do you want, Satan?” the Lord asked. The devil bowed low in the presence of the Lord. “So sorry, I seem to have gotten the wrong address.” With that, he and the demons all ran away.
Our opening story reminds us that Jesus wants control of our whole lives. And this is seen very dramatically in our gospel lesson.
A man had demons and Jesus came to him and demanded that those demons leave. This man surrendered to Jesus and the demons left.
Notice he did not have to ask Jesus to have the demons leave, Jesus acted on His own accord. The only request that was made was made by the demon itself, Legion asked that they not be put into the abyss, but to enter the swine and Jesus agreed. But the swine being filled with the demons rushed down the bank into the river and were drown.
The man, now free from the demons, sat at the feet of Jesus and we can just imagine that Jesus was explaining to him who he was, the Son of God.
Then the people from the city came and were afraid of Jesus because of the miracle he had performed and asked him to leave.
Isn’t that typical? If you don’t understand something, you become afraid and then blame not yourself, but the person responsible.
When I was in the senior year of college, I began applying for teaching jobs. It was later that In entered seminary, but I graduated from college with a BA in elementary education. I had an interview on campus with a superintendent of a school system. It was a good interview and at the end he offered me a job teaching 4th graders. But he said that the school board would have to approve, but thought that would be no problem.
I left feeling confident that I had a job. My wife and I were engaged at the time and we planning a wedding as soon as I graduated. I had told the superintendent that I was going to my wife’s family for the weekend and he could contact me there with the final approval.
The phone rang, I answered and the superintendent told me that I did not get the job. He said the school board did not want some one like me teaching their kids.
His exact words were: “We don’t want someone like that teaching our kids”
Someone like what?
For he explained to them that I wore a long leg brace and used a cane for walking and they were afraid of my disability and would not hire me.
I later found a teaching job and my disability did not matter one bit in the classroom.
But isn’t that typical, if we don’t understand something we blame the person not our selves for our ignorance or bigotry.
The people of Jesus day did not understand what He had done, did not understand that He was the Son of God, did not understand that Jesus had just made this man whole. What they saw they could not believe, so they became frighten and demanded that Jesus leave.
But the man, who was now whole, understood and wanted to go with Jesus. He had in his demon state surrendered to Jesus and now in his healed state he once again surrendered himself, his whole self to Jesus.
Jesus understood, but wanted the man to stay behind and convince the people to not be afraid of Jesus’ power but to surrender to it as he had.
Jesus wanted this man to help the people to begin to heal, to be delivered from their “demon” of fear and misunderstanding. He wanted the man to help the people to surrender their “whole house” to Jesus not just one room, but everything.
Healing comes to us in various ways. Some experience “a miracle”, some are given the power of courage and strength to endure their situation. Others are released from their personality traits that keep them from truly experiencing the healing power of Jesus.
When this post polio syndrome hit me and I had to leave the ministry because of being in a wheelchair, not being able to talk well enough to preach, and because I did not have the stamina to do more than every day activities, I was really angry. Angry at God, I guess for allowing this to happen, angry that I had to endure another “disability” in my life, angry that I had to give up something that I truly enjoyed and thought I was called to do.
Finally, after much screaming at God, soul searching, and finally being able to just surrender this whole situation to God, some peace and comfort came into my life.
I had to allow Jesus into everyone room even the room of anger and what I saw as the unfairness of live.
When He entered that room finally, I felt at peace with myself and this terrible situation. That peace allowed me to develop this Internet ministry to share my sermons with you even though I do not have a congregation of my own. I enjoy preaching and this is one way for me to continue that even though I am still experiencing all the manifestations of this post polio syndrome.
Healing comes when we open all the rooms in our “house” to Jesus and He can work his power in our lives.
Should we feel at times disheartened and discouraged, a simple movement of heart toward God will renew our powers.Whatever he may demand of us, he will give us at the moment the strength and the courage that we need.
Francois Fenelon
But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God.
A cross Christian, an anxious Christian, a discouraged, gloomy Christian, a doubting Christian, a complaining Christian, an exacting Christian, a selfish Christian, a cruel, hard-hearted Christian, a self-indulgent Christian, a Christian with a sharp tongue or bitter spirt—all these may be very earnest in their work, and may have honorable places in the church; but they are not Christlike Christians.
Hannah Whitall Smith
But I am like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God; I trust in God’s unfailing love for ever and ever.
Special Note from Eric: Starting this week, in addition to our regular Sunday sermons, we’re going to be featuring an online church service that you can watch live at 9 or 11 a.m. (Central Time) or on-demand throughout the week at this link: http://live.eastview.church.
Also, if you need prayer or someone to talk to, you can chat live with our online hosts between 9 and noon on Sunday mornings at the same link. Join us today for some rich worship, biblical teaching, and an online chat!
PRAISE
by George Rennau
Isaiah 43:21 This people have I formed for myself; they shall shew forth my praise.
Psalm 107:8 “O that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men.”
Rev. 3:15 “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold or hot, I would thou wert cold or hot”.
The Bible expresses that God has created us to praise the Lord, the scripture also tells us that God desires that we would recognize his works and that we would give him the credit for it in our life.
PRAISE IS NOT JUST SOME ASPECT OF CHURCH THAT MEN THOUGHT UP.
It is a divinely ordained unconditional expression on our part that if practiced by us
— will draw us closer to God
— and according to scripture it will draw God closer to us.
Ps 22:3
But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.
The purpose of my message is to encourage us to praise the Lord that we might enjoy the benefits and pleasure of this aspect of our worship toward God.
And I want to deal with this subject by asking the question What is Praise?
Prayer
I. What is Praise?
1. Praise by definition is: “an expression of approval or commendation; applause”
it is getting hilariously excited
I will never forget being at the high school football game.We had decided to go to the last game of the season, and in the fourth quarter there was a 70 yard conversion for a touch down.
Do you know what happened
We are a people formed to give praise,
We know how to give praise.
And people including me went wild
-we use words
-clap
-we smile
-cheer
-we even become FANATICAL.
OH THAT WE COULD GET AS EXCITED ABOUT GOD AS WE DO ABOUT FOOTBALL
2. The Bible tells us the manner in which we should show our praise to God!
None of these ways include reserved silence. There is a times for silent meditation. Meditation is a different aspect of our life with God, Meditation is not praise…
EXPRESSING YOUR PRAISE INCLUDES
Clapping — Psalm 47:1 Clap your hands all ye people, shout unto God with a voice of triumph”.
Lifting up your hands — Psalm 134:2 “Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and bless the Lord”.(That doesn’t sound like a suggestion.)
Singing – Psalm 100:2 — “come before him with Joyful song”
Ephesians 5:18-20 “Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess, but be filled with the spirit; speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord”
Verbal Praise – Psalm 100 “Shout for Joy all the earth, worship the Lord with gladness.
Praise is an expression of approval, commendation, and applause to God.
Isaiah 43:21 This people have I formed for myself; they shall shew forth my praise.
Psalm 107:8 “O that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men”
II. Thanksgiving to God for blessings received and the reporting of those blessings to others
The testimony of God’s goodness toward you should be an unceasing proclamation.
Isaiah 62:6 “I have posted watchmen on the walls., o Jerusalem they will never be silent day or night, You who call on the Lord give yourselves no rest”.
When my father in law pastored in Nebraska. There was an old fellow — who had been kicked in the head by a mule as a small boy. One day he received Christ.
His regular testimony was “we just can’t thank him enough”And he was right also
b. Praise for What God is doing in your life should be shared in the home.
Mark 5:19 (demon possessed man) “go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has for you, and how he has had mercy on you.”Our faith and testimony needs to go beyond, Sunday morning.
c. Our testimony and Thanksgiving to God should be proclaimed in the assembly.
Ephesians 5:19 “Speak to one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, sing and make music in your heart to the Lord.
Thirdly praise is…a response of faith toward his precious promises.
I believe in positive confession.
• If his promise to heal you is true then you need to thank and praise him for it.
• If you believe his promise to deliver you is true then you need to thank and praise him for it.
If you trust him to guide you then you need to thank and praise him for it.
If you believe he can perform a miracle in your finances -then you need to thank and praise him for it.
Rather then praising God for the answer even before it comes What many Christians do when faced with one of God’s promises is to grow discouraged, start to doubt, they begin to disbelieve — and miss the blessing.
A poet wrote…
We mutter and sputter
We fume and we spurt
We mumble and Grumble
Our feelings get hurt
We can’t understand things
Our vision grows dim
When all that we need
Is a moment with him
Hebrew 11 says: that with out faith it is impossible to please God and he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek himPraise is an expression of your faith and without that in your life it is impossible to please God.But when you praise him and trust him, and believe him he will reward you.
In order to begin experiencing the blessing God has for you in this discipline of Praise you have to climb the mountain for we are in the position of travelers who after surveying a great mountain and after traveling around it and observing how it dominates the landscape, and observing its features and the landscape around it, now must approach it directly, for the intention of climbing it.
In other words, if we are ever going to fulfill the purpose for which we were created.
Isaiah 43:21 “This people have I formed for myself; that they may proclaim my praise”
We just have to go for it.
Rev. 3:15 “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold or hot, I would thou wert cold or hot”.
This verse speaks of our life toward God.God desires that we would be on fire for him and a people who are praising Jesus all the time.Not cold and dismal and lifeless, but expressive and reverent toward Him. for he is the focus of our praise
There was an elderly Christian whose advancing years had taken their toll on her memory. As her health faded the time came that she could recite but a single verse (2 Timothy 1:12) “I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I’ve committed unto HIM against that day”.
Even these words slowly slipped away from her memory until only a few days of he life remained and friends would hear her repeat just seven words: ”that which I’ve committed unto him.”
Finally as the hour of the women’s death neared and her memory was all but gone.She voiced a single word repeatedly, it was all she could remember.HIM HIM HIM
Here is the key to our praise, when we come together to worship, when we are giving thanks in the presence of others, or when we are expressing our faith through praise let it all focus upon HIM.
Faith makes a Christian,
Life proves a Christian,
Trial confirms a Christian,
Death crowns a Christian.
Unknown
But the Lord was gracious to them, had compassion on them, and regarded them, because of His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and would not yet destroy them or cast them from His presence.
He who shall introduce into public affairs the principles of primitive Christianity will change the face of the world.
Benjamin Franklin
Noah was another who trusted God. When he heard God’s warning about the future, Noah believed him even though there was then no sign of a flood, and wasting no time, he built the ark and saved his family. Noah’s belief in God was in direct contrast to the sin and disbelief of the rest of the world—which refused to obey—and because of his faith he became one of those whom God has accepted.
God will never plant the seed of his life upon the soil of a hard, unbroken spirit. He will only plant that seed where the conviction of his Spirit has brought brokenness, where the soil has been watered with the tears of repentance as well as the tears of joy.
Alan Redpath
Honour and majesty are before him: strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.
Psalm 96:6
The King James Version
The finger of God never leaves identical fingerprints.
I was watching a T.V. program while on vacation called “Rescue 911”. This program has different scenarios of emergencies that occur and then it tells of the rescue. A particular scene caught my attention.
A family was in a boat that got to spinning out of control and everyone was thrown from the boat except a 3 year old child. As the boat continued to spin round and round, people were gathered just watching the boat go in circles. There were a couple of feeble attempts to get into the boat and there was several people that was offering up suggestions; but no one could rescue the child.
As the boat continued to spin word began to spread all over the pier about the little child trapped in the boat. At this news a man yelled at his son to come help him get the boat so they could go help. As he was yelling, he noticed his 16 year old son driving on a jet-ski towards the boat. The teenager went around the boat and dangerous motor 2 times and then all of a sudden drove right up against the boat and dove into the boat. He then drove the child to shore where he brought him together with his family.
Since the beginning of humanity when Adam and Eve sinned, mankind has been spinning around in sin and no one could do anything about it. Sure there has been some who thought they had the answers; but these were just feeble attempts. When it seemed that there was nothing that could be done, God the Father sent His only begotten Son Jesus Christ to this earth to die on a cross so that we could be rescued from the grips of sin.
Colossians 1:13-14 (NIV)
[13]For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, [14] in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Through His victory over sin, death, and Satan; Jesus has snatched us out of the grips of sin. When no one else could do anything, Jesus Christ saved us.
I want to tell you the rest of the story about the rescued 3 year old. The family of the child welcomed the 16 year boy into their home. They treat him with great respect and honor. They never forget his birthday, they stay in communication with him, they tell other people what he did, and they never take him for granted.
Jesus died so that we could be rescued. Jesus is now at the right hand of God the Father; but He has sent the Holy Spirit to dwell in all believers which make up the church. Every member of the Body of Christ is a part of the rescued.
In the Book of Colossians, Paul was writing to a group of Christians that made up the local Church of Colosse. This Church was under attack of the Gnostics who believed that they had “the market” on God. These Gnostics were extremely arrogant and legalistic. They were also trying to shut down the local church so that their “garbage doctrine” would not be contested. How did the Church of Colosse hold up and continue on? As we answer this question we must ask ourselves the same question.
We live in a time when the church is known for being a place of fighting, lying, cheating, stealing, gossiping, etc… Because of this, lost people are not drawn to the church; many saved people don’t want to be a part of the church; and the church seems to just be spinning in circles. Our reputation as a church matters to the cause of Christ.
Colossians 1:3-8
[3]We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, [4] because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints– [5] the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel [6] that has come to you. All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God’s grace in all its truth. [7] You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, [8] and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.
Look at what was noticed about the Colossian Church…
Their Faith, Hope, And Love
Their faith in Jesus Christ was apparent by the way they loved.
1 John 4:7-12
[7]Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. [8] Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. [9] This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. [10] This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. [11] Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. [12] No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
Do you see the correlation? If we show love to one another, our faith in Jesus Christ is obvious. This must mean that the opposite holds true. If we are constantly tearing each other down and not showing love to one another then our faith in Christ is in question.
How was this church able to stay faithful and love one another during such hard times? Verse 5 says that their faith and love sprung up from their hope of Heaven. When they were told that the Word of God says that all believers in Jesus Christ would some day go to Heaven, they believed it. This hope is what pushed them daily to faithfully serve Jesus Christ. Their motive was Jesus Christ.
May be the reason that the church of the 21st century does not see faith and love evident is because they have lost that burning hope of Heaven in their lives. Sometimes it seems that Christians are about as excited about leaving this earth and going to Heaven as they are about going to the dentist. Christians, we need to let go of the things of the world that are hold us down.
Unfortunately, sometimes it takes something bad happening in our lives to get our attention. Sometimes it even takes a near death experience to cause us to remember why we are here.
Not only did Paul point out the evidence of their faith, hope, and love; but he also pointed out why it was evident.
Their Hearing And Doing
When they heard the Word of God, they didn’t just hear it with their ears, they heard it with their heart; and when they heard it they put it into action and because of that, the Gospel of Jesus Christ spread like “wildfire”.
James 1:22-25 (NIV)
[22]Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. [23] Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror [24] and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. [25] But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it–he will be blessed in what he does.
In a world where evil seems to be growing; Christians need to stop just Amening the sermon and then go home and not change anything. Myself and many other preachers are growing tired of preaching about something and then watching the opposite happen during the week. We seem to think that if we heard it then it will automatically happen. No! Just because you know what is right doesn’t mean you will do it. Christians, stop walking in the flesh and walk in the Spirit.
Let me give you an example. This week something happened that caught my attention. Generally when something is wrong at our church, I hear about it. I usually am told that I need to fix whatever the problem is; but this week things were different.
It was noticed on Wednesday night that the hymnals and Bibles in the pew were not organized. Normally this would end up into me being in trouble because something didn’t get done; but instead this person came up on her own time Thursday and went in and checked things out. Christians, if we would all spend our time doing God’s will instead of griping about who is at fault we would see a change.
It is like the people who are suing McDonald’s because they got fat. Let me give those people a little hint, if you would stop eating 2 Big Macs, 2 hot fudge Sundays, and 2 lbs. of French fries; may be you wouldn’t gain so much weight. Christians we need to be hearers and doers of the Word.
Paul pointed out why there was evidence of faith, hope, and love. He then finishes this section by saying a word about the pastor of the Colossian Church, Epaphras.
Their Faithful Minister
Paul points out why Epaphras was a faithful minister. He preached the Word. He taught them the truths of God with love. He wasn’t out playing referee for a bunch of fighting Christians. He wasn’t out mowing the grass, watching the nursery, etc…; he was studying the Word, praying, and preaching the Word.
Epaphras could lead the church. He had time to do those things that God called him to do and when he lead, the people followed.
I have heard numerous stories about how sorry preachers are doing leading their congregations; but may be its not the pastor’s leadership that is the problem. Maybe the problem is the congregation’s fellowship.
I have preached for almost 6 years 2 main themes: 1) Let’s get along and act like Christians; and 2) Start doing what God is calling you to do.
The bottom line is this: certain churches have had the reputation for fighting and bickering amongst each other. I don’t know about you; but I and God are not pleased. I don’t want this kind of reputation for our Church.
We can say things such as, “All churches have these kind of problems, this is normal”. Or we can say, “I’m not the problem, it is someone else”. You can say, “It’s not my fault”.
You know what I say, “Enough!” Either we are going to lay stagnant as individuals or we are going to stand together and watch God work. We are going to settle our disputes, we are going to get our lives right with God, and we are going to start being a vibrant Church; or we are going to sit here and devour one another and be a waste of space to the Kingdom of God.
The Lord is telling us to be honest about our sins, to put away bitterness, criticism, and dishonesty from among us. Christ must have first place in our lives. We need to give him the key to every secret closet in our hearts, and help him to clean out all the junk we have allowed to accumulate there.
Carol Myers
The vessels that have been given you for the service of the house of your God, you shall deliver before the God of Jerusalem.
Ezra 7:19
The English Standard Version
If life is a comedy to him who thinks and a tragedy to him who feels, it is a victory to him who believes.
Christianity does not consist in abstaining from doing things no gentleman would think of doing, but in doing things that are unlikely to occur to anyone who is not in touch with the Spirit of Christ.
R. H. L. Sheppard
On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with your income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made.
Baptism signifies that the old Adam in us is to be drowned by daily sorrow and repentance, and perish with all sins and evil lusts; and that the new man should daily come forth again and rise, who shall live before God in righteousness and purity forever.
Martin Luther
A man has joy by the answer of his mouth, And a word spoken in due season, how good it is!
I have learned to place myself before God every day as a vessel to be filled with his Holy Spirit. He has filled me with the blessed assurance that he, as the everlasting God, has guaranteed his own work in me.
Andrew Murray
Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.
For me prayer is a surge of the heart, it is a simple look towards heaven, it is a cry of recognition of love, embracing both trial and joy.
Therese of Lisieux
For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
Romans 1:20
The New International Version
When saving for old age, be sure to put away a few pleasant thoughts.
A man was lured into a busy florist shop by a large sign in the window that read, “Say It With Flowers.” “Wrap up one rose for me, please” he told the florist. “Just one?” the florist asked. “Just one,” the customer replied. “I’m a man of few words.”
A husband was told by the marriage counselor to try and be nice to his wife. One day he comes home from work. He does the dishes, vacuums the house, and does all of the dusting and laundry. He’s dressed up in a suit, he has cologne on, and he has a bouquet of flowers and a box of candy in his hands. He’s trying to make a good impression. The wife says, “Oh, I can’t believe it! Little Johnny has been throwing up; the dishwasher just broke; your parents are coming to visit this weekend and to top it all off, you come home drunk!
Sometimes we have a hard time expressing love don’t we?
What is love? The word conjures up all kinds of different pictures. Is love a feeling or an action? For some love is flowers, candy and gifts. To some love is getting what you want from people when you give them something. For some love is an inanimate object such as a car, a house. This object will give them pleasure.
Where did love come from? Did it evolve?
What does it mean to tell someone that you love them? When we tell someone that we love them, we can mean anything from “I really like you a lot”, to “I really like what you do for me” to “I want to commit my life to you.”
1 John 4:8 says, “The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.”
1 John 4:7 tells us that love is from God. How has God displayed His love for us? Why does God love us? Does God love us because of what we give to Him? This is t he type of love that the world has, the type of love that says, “I will love you if..”
What is different about God’s love? What can we learn about love from God?
I want us to take a look at another attribute of our awesome God, love.
I want us to see three things about the love that God has for us. The type of love that God has for you is a true love; it is not a selfish love that only loves you because you have something to offer. God’s love is a deep love, it is a love that we can look to as an example of the type of love that we are to have for the people around us.
GOD’S LOVE IS:
SACRIFICIAL (1 JOHN 3:16, PHILIPPIANS 2:7-FF)
God’s love is a different kind of love than what the world teaches us. God’s love is agape love. This type of love means to do what is spiritually best for another because the one doing the loving sees something of value in that person.
The world’s system of love tells you that if do not get what YOU want out of a relationship that you need to move on to the next one. In our wedding vows we talk about for better or worse for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, till death do us part. What this part of the vow means is that I am going to love you sacrificially. I may have to give something up to love you.
God loved us so much that He sacrificed a lot to show us His love for us.
1 John 3:16 We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
What did God have to gain by sending His son for us? Would you intentionally allow your son or daughter die for someone else? It reminds me of the story of a young boy and his sister.
A little boy was told by his doctor that he could save his sister’s life by giving her some blood. The six-year-old girl was near death, a victim of disease from which the boy had made a marvelous recovery two years earlier. Her only chance for restoration was a blood transfusion from someone who had previously conquered the illness. Since the two children had the same rare blood type, the boy was the ideal donor.
“Johnny, would you like to give your blood for Mary?” the doctor asked.
The boy hesitated. His lower lip started to tremble. Then he smiled, and said, “Sure, Doc. I’ll give my blood for my sister.”
Soon the two children were wheeled into the operating room–Mary, pale and thin; Johnny, robust and the picture of health. Neither spoke, but when their eyes met, Johnny grinned.
As his blood siphoned into Mary’s veins, one could almost see new life come into her tired body. The ordeal was almost over when Johnny’s brave little voice broke the silence, “Say Doc, when do I die?”
It was only then that the doctor realized what the moment of hesitation, the trembling of the lip, had meant earlier. Little Johnny actually thought that in giving his blood to his sister he was giving up his life! And in that brief moment, he had made his great decision!
Jesus said in JOHN 15:13 “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. This little boy actually was willing to lay his life down for his sister.
Jesus sacrificed His life for ours. God could have turned His back on you when you decided not to live you life that way that God wants you to live, but He didn’t.
As we look at the scriptures not only do we find that God sacrificed His son for us but in Philippians 2:4-8 we see that Jesus gave up the glory of Heaven to come here so that we could have the opportunity to receive eternal life.
The world tells you that you should have it all, God tells you that true love requires sacrifice. I am not just speaking of love within marriage, but love for people in general.
There will be times that our love for others will cost us something, your love for your children will cost you time and money. If your children cause you some embarrassment, will you still love them? We have embarrassed God, but He still loves us. In the story of the prodigal son, you know the father must have suffered some embarrassment over his son leaving to live the wild life, but when the son returned, the father accepted him.
Some young men and women need to realize that when they get married, they are sacrificing their days of running wild or running with the boys. The husband’s love for his wife should make him want to settle down and spend time with his family instead of running and boozing with the boys.
Some people feel that you can love with no strings attached, but God’s true love has the string of sacrifice attached to it.
GOD’S LOVE IS:
II. UNCONDITIONAL (ROMANS 5:5-8)
Hettie Green was a famous millionaire. She lived in seclusion and became a virtual recluse. She had only a few friends and an ugly mongrel dog that kept biting the few friends she did have. One of them said, “You’ve got to get rid of that dog.” Hettie refused. She said, “That dog loves me and he doesn’t even know how rich I am.”
Let’s look at Romans 5:5-8 together for a moment.
Verse 5 tells us that God’s love has been poured out to us through the Holy Spirit.
Verse six tells us that while we were still helpless, Christ died for us. The word helpless means that we had NOTHING to offer to God, but God’s love was such that even though we had nothing to give to Him, He still send His son to die for us.
Verses 7-8 makes the case that normally a person would not even allow themselves to die for even a righteous person, but God sent His son to die for us while we were still sinners.
You need to realize that God despises sin, but He loves us unconditionally. Our world tells us that you should be able to receive something for the love that you give. The worlds love us conditional.
In 1995, Christopher Reeve, the “Superman” actor, fell from a horse in a riding accident that severed his spinal cord and paralyzed him from the shoulders down. In the days which followed both he and his mother considered pulling the plug on his life support system.
In his new memoir Still Me, which recounts how he battled back from the accident, Reeve said he first shared his thoughts with his wife, Dana. “I mouthed my first lucid words to her: ’Maybe we should let me go,’ ” he recalled.
But his wife, through tears, persuaded him to fight back, saying, “I want you to know that I will be with you for the long haul, no matter what. You’re still you, and I love you.”
Think about the life that Mrs. Reeves was in for, yet she sacrificially and unconditionally loved her husband.
God’s love goes way beyond all that man would do or conceive and commends His love to us as deeper, stronger and purer than the human hearts can know.
It is easy for those of us who are saved to know that God loves us because we are trying to live for and please Him, but we need to understand is that God loves all people unconditionally. The person who is getting tanked up on the barstool last night is still loved by God.
This love does not mean that God likes what the person is doing or that love equals heaven, but the Bible tells us in 1 Timothy 2:4 that God desires all to come to the knowledge of the truth and be saved, despite what we have been done.
Sometimes love will require us to be tough. When a husband or wife abandons, abuses or commits adultery, your love for them at some point my require you to leave so that they will wake up and change. God loves us enough that He will not force you into heaven, if you do not want to go, He will not make you go.
The opportunity for salvation is an example of God’s unconditional love for you.
The worlds love has conditional strings attached. As long as you give me what I want, I will love you. As long as you look young and thin, I will love you.
LUKE 6:32-33 “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. “If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.
God’s love is unconditional. He loves you no matter what you have done. You do not have to clean up your act before you experience His love for you.
Living for Jesus in one sense is tough because you start thinking about how your actions reflect upon Jesus, but on the other hand it is easy when you can allow yourself to experience God’s love for you and turn your life over to Him.
I have heard a statement that I have always liked, LET GO AND LET GOD.
God always has your best interests in mind, let Him love you, let Him work on your heart.
GOD’S LOVE IS:
III. PERMANENT (ROMANS 8:38-39)
In Romans 8:35-39 we find that God’s love is permanent. Let’s look at the depth of this passage.
VERSE 35-.
No condition of existence (LIFE OF DEATH)
No beings (ANGELS OR PRINCIPALITIES) (Demonic or Angelic)
Nothing in time (PRESENT, FUTURE, THINGS TO COME)
Nothing in the way of powers. (earthly rulers)
Nothing in space (HEIGHTS OR DEPTHS)
Nothing in creation (ANY CREATED THING)
But God, I have lived a terrible life! God still loves you.
But God, I have allowed the devil to run my life! God still loves you.
But God, I have worshipped the creation instead of you! God still loves you.
But God, in the future I do not know if I can follow you! God still loves you.
Here is the point. Quit making up excuses as to why you will not allow God to love you. God loves you no matter what, God loved you so much that He provided a way through Jesus so that you can be with Him for eternity.
Let God love you. His love NEVER ends. God will love you if you decide to reject Him. God will always love you, but do not mistake that love for a ticket to heaven.
You can reject God’s love, but God will still love you. God loved you enough to give you a free will. God was willing to let you decide if you are going to love Him back.
The love of the world is a self-centered love; it is a love that basically says that if you can deliver for me, I will love you. God says, I love you sacrificially, (in other words, God’s love for you cost Him something).
God says that He loves you unconditionally. That is that God loves you no matter what you have or will do.
God says that His love for you transcends time. God will always love you.
I am so glad that we can look to God to see how we are to love each other.
In Ephesians husbands are told to love their wives as Christ loved the church.
Jesus gave His all for the church; He did what was best for the church.
God’s type of love, agape, always does what is spiritually best for someone.
If a person loves you the way that God loves you, they will not use you and they will always be looking out for what s best for you.
A man can accept what Christ has done without knowing how it works; indeed, he certainly won’t know how it works until he’s accepted it.
C. S. Lewis
He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; he seats them with princes and has them inherit a throne of honor. “For the foundations of the earth are the Lord’s; on them he has set the world.”
1 Samuel 2:8
The New International Version
Jesus Christ didn’t come into my heart to sit down; he started moving around.
To solve the human equation, we need to add love, subtract hate, multiply good, and divide between truth and error.
Janet T. Coleman
They will attack your cities until all the fortified walls in your land—the walls you trusted to protect you—are knocked down. They will attack all the towns in the land the Lord your God has given you.
Life’s beauty is discovered through it’s pain and hardship.
R. R. Ball
Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you, the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.
Isaiah 58:8
The Revised Standard Version
The Other Serenity Prayer
God, grant me the serenity to stop beating myself up for not doing things perfectly, the courage to forgive myself because I‘m working on doing better, and the wisdom to know that you already love me just the way I am.
15Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; John 15:15 (NASB)
There is a picture which haunts my mind; it is of the last supper, where John, the beloved friend of Jesus is leaning against the Lord as they celebrate the Passover. Judas can be seen in the background, leaving the room to betray Him.
“Friend” is a word Jesus extended to even Judas at the Last Supper. “Philos” is the word; it means dear, and carries with it the idea of affection, a friend;
Jesus knew Judas would betray him, yet he loved him.
Later, in Gethsemane, when Judas led the soldiers to Jesus with a kiss, even then Jesus called Judas “friend”. In fact he used a word which means comrade, or clansman.
The betrayer had worked out a sign with them: “The one I kiss, that’s the one—seize him.” He went straight to Jesus, greeted him, “How are you, Rabbi?” and kissed him. Jesus said, “Friend, why this charade?” Matthew 26:50 (TMNT)
When it came to choosing friends, I don’t think we would have chosen Judas. Then, again, consider some of the friends that God has had who are listed in the Bible:
Moses stuttered.
David’s armor didn’t fit.
John Mark was rejected by Paul.
Timothy had ulcers.
Hosea’s wife was a prostitute.
Amos’ only training was in the school of fig-tree pruning.
Jacob was a liar.
David had an affair.
Solomon was too rich.
Abraham was too old.
David was too young.
Peter was afraid of death.
Lazarus was dead.
John was self-righteous.
Naomi was a widow.
Paul was murderer. So was Moses.
Jonah ran from God.
Miriam was a gossip.
Jeremiah was depressed and suicidal.
John the Baptist did not dress well.
Gideon and Thomas both doubted.
Elijah was burned out.
Martha was a worry-wart.
Mary was lazy.
Samson had long hair.
Noah got drunk.
Did I mention that Moses had a short fuse? So did Peter, as well as Paul… well lots of folks have that problem.
The Passion of the Christ film showed us the extreme pain and suffering Jesus went through in order to forgive the sins of people like that; people like us. Yet, with all the cost of being the Savior and Lord over sin, Jesus still calls us friends. It is a most strange thing that Adonai, the Lord God should want us as friends.
Our daughter Carrie and her husband Shannon have a dog; rather he is a small horse. He is called Coltrane. Cole does not realize he weighs 150 pounds. He also does not realize he has “drooling issues”. (Now that may be caused by the fact that my wife brings hot dogs to the house whenever we visit…the dogs are for the dogs…Cole starts drooling when we turn on their street. The sound of our car’s engine is like music to his ears!)
Whenever we visit Cole comes charging; he has only two gears, wide-open and stopped (on top of your chest, after you’ve been slammed to the ground). The hound is not going to miss hot dog call!
Coltrane eats before saying “hello”. (Got his priorities straight, that dog does!) Once the Ball Park dogs are inside the dog (is that an “inside-the-park-dog”?), then comes a gregarious welcome. The welcome always includes generous portions of “slime”. A 150-pound Rottweiler who has just consumed 18 hot dogs can produce impressive amounts of saliva!
Needless to say, I have learned to wear my yard clothes when we visit.
This is for two reasons —
1. I can’t afford to buy clothes as often as we are at Cole’s place.
2. I love the dog…even the way he says “hello”.
When that hound comes to me, everything living (or that which wants to stay living) has to get out of the way. He is going to get his ears scratched and his tummy rubbed. In fact, if you rub his belly long enough, he just slides down to one side, flops-over and falls asleep while you “say hello”. “Keep rubbing…a little to the left…harder, that’s it….ahhhhh.”
This is so much like God’s acceptance of me. He wants me close to Him, even with all the goofy things I do, and the mess which I bring. He loves me and calls me friend, even with my sin and betrayal. He loves me and calls me friend, even though it meant taking on all my slime, my sin. He is still called, the Friend of Sinners!
Being a friend to the Friend of Sinners
Friendship goes in more than one direction. If all God had in mind was saving the world from sin, Jesus would have gotten up from the grave and returned to heaven. But, He hung around for forty days to teach the disciples what was next…relationship…friendship with God.
In spite of the fact that we tend to slip back into the slime of sin, God wants us for friends. It hardly seems like that would be possible, but it is the one reason this church (and all churches) exists; we are to introduce our best friend, Jesus to more friends.
Here are the major themes to friendship; they apply in your relationship to Jesus:
• Stay in Touch with your Friend
Being a friend is not the easiest thing in the world. I am not good at it. But, I am learning, and I’m better now than I used to be. Samuel Johnson said, “A man…should keep his friendships in constant repair.”
Friendship is strong, but it can be destroyed through carelessness. It almost need not be said that Jesus is never careless with our friendship; we are not in that class. Last week I missed my friend’s birthday. In February I missed my daughter-in-law’s birthday. I’m beginning to understand why Judas went out and hung himself.
Our earthly friendships are important and we should keep in touch. The heavenly relationship is no different – even more important. Keeping in touch is that daily devotional time of prayer and reading our Bibles.
• Trust your Friend
George Washington wrote: Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence. True friendship is a plant of slow growth and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity.
When it comes to human friendships, George was right – there is nothing quite as devastating as trusting another person, only to have that person break your trust. On the other hand, friendship without trust is simply an acquaintance.
With Jesus, trust is the starting point. That’s the rub…we learn early to test before we trust. With Jesus, you don’t even enter the family until you trust Him.
• Be there for your Friend
When it comes to earthly friendships, there is a time when your friend will need you to stick with him. I am glad to say there are a few men who are my friends who have stuck with me in difficult times. I pray I will be there when they have need.
With Jesus our friendship should also be returned. He was there on the cross for us when we were still in our sins. His promise is that he will always be there:
…for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. Hebrews 13:5b
It is possible to offer fervent prayer even while waiting in public or strolling alone, or seated in your shop…while buying or selling…or even while cooking.
John Chrysostom
And Elijah said unto Ahab, Get thee up, eat and drink; for there is a sound of abundance of rain.
It is possible to be so active in the service of Christ as to forget to love him.
P. T. Forsyth
Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, The Creator of the ends of the earth, Neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength.
Isaiah 40:28-29
The New King James Version
I have pain (there is no arguing against sense) but I have peace, I have peace.
The only complete cure for your bad nerves, as you call them, is to relax in the hands of God and know that He is now looking after your troubles, that He is now guiding you into the quiet waters of inner peace.
Norman Vincent Peale
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation.
Romans 5:3-4
The New Living Translation
For those who have hidden fellowship with God, life is a continuous feast.
[22] But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, [23] gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
The annual cost of people running red lights in the United States is $7 billion. The average amount of time saved by running a red light is only 50 seconds. How much might a minute saved cost you?
Yes, this morning we are going to focus on patience. I’ve often heard people say, “Don’t pray for patience because it’s too painful!” Or others who have prayed, “Lord please give me patience . . . and I want it NOW!” Whether you are reluctant to pray for patience or if you want patience in a hurry, you are not likely to develop much fruit until you have a change of heart. What you need is a better understanding of what patience really is and how it works in our lives.
What is patience?
How many of you know when we talk about patience there are a lot of different ideas that come to mind? Patience can be:
o Endurance or staying power, an inner strength
o Tolerance or lack of complaint, a still calmness
o Persistence or personal fortitude, a willingness to wait
But what is patience . . . what is the fruit of the Spirit known as patience? Is it all of these things, or is it something else altogether?
For starters let’s remember, we’re talking about the FRUIT of the Spirit not fruits! Paul lists nine different expressions of the Spirit, but they are all one fruit. The fruit is all connected to each other.
Love is the blossom; love is where the fruit of the Spirit begins. Without love there is no fruit. In the same way you will not have cherries without cherry blossoms, or apples without apple blossoms, you cannot have the fruit of the Spirit without love.
The first thing the Spirit does within our lives is to put the love of God within us. Remember also that we are talking about the fruit of the Spirit and not the fruit of the saints. Apart from the Spirit of God these characteristics cannot be fully developed in our lives.
We have said joy is love rejoicing; peace is love resting—love trusting. Patience is love enduring; it’s love that is durable and lasting. Patience is love that is not easily broken.
How many of us would like to receive that kind of love from the people in our lives? Guess what . . . you will most often receive the love you give! When we think of patience as love enduring—a love that is not easily broken, then we are all more likely to want it!
Does this fit with what the Bible says? Paul wrote to the Galatians, “The fruit of the Spirit is . . . patience.” What did he mean by patience? Well for starters let’s remember Paul didn’t write the Bible in English! It was written in Greek. The fruit of the Spirit we are calling patience has also been translated into English as longsuffering, forbearance, and serenity.
What is this fruit of the Spirit? Is it really love enduring, a love not easily broken?
The Bible uses four different Greek words that are translated in various ways as patience. Each of these words emphasizes one aspect in one way or another of what we think of as patience. Because it’s “Greek to me” and you too we’re not going to look at all four of these words; we are only going to look the word Paul used as the fruit of the Spirit.
Paul said the fruit of the Spirit is “makrothymia.” This is a compound Greek word made up of the words “makro” meaning long, and “thymia” meaning anger. So literally it means LONG TO ANGER as opposed to “oxythymia” which means sudden anger.
We all know people who “have a short fuse.” They are quick tempered and easily angered. Let’s be honest; I have found “oxythymia” sudden anger looking back at me in the mirror sometimes; my fuse has sometimes been cut short. Am I the only one?
That’s why we need the fruit of the Spirit; we need “makrothymia;” we need a long fuse, to be slow to anger. Patience is the prolonged control of anger or restrained wrath.
Do you see now why patience or longsuffering, forbearance or serenity, whatever you may want to call it is really LOVE ENDUREING? Patience is a love that lasts; it is durable and will not be easily broken.
The Picture of Patience
• Matthew 18:21-35 (MsgB)
At that point Peter got up the nerve to ask, “Master, how many times do I forgive a brother or sister who hurts me? Seven?”
[22] Jesus replied, “Seven! Hardly. Try seventy times seven.
[23] “The kingdom of God is like a king who decided to square accounts with his servants. [24] As he got under way, one servant was brought before him who had run up a debt of a hundred thousand dollars. [25] He couldn’t pay up, so the king ordered the man, along with his wife, children, and goods, to be auctioned off at the slave market.
[26] “The poor wretch threw himself at the king’s feet and begged, ’Give me a chance [be patient with me] and I’ll pay it all back.’ [27] Touched by his plea, the king let him off, erasing the debt.
[28] “The servant was no sooner out of the room when he came upon one of his fellow servants who owed him ten dollars. He seized him by the throat and demanded, ’Pay up. Now!’
[29] “The poor wretch threw himself down and begged, ’Give me a chance [be patient with me] and I’ll pay it all back.’ [30] But he wouldn’t do it. He had him arrested and put in jail until the debt was paid. [31] When the other servants saw this going on, they were outraged and brought a detailed report to the king.
[32] “The king summoned the man and said, ’You evil servant! I forgave your entire debt when you begged me for mercy. [33] Shouldn’t you be compelled to be merciful to your fellow servant who asked for mercy?’
[34] The king was furious and put the screws to the man until he paid back his entire debt. [35] And that’s exactly what my Father in heaven is going to do to each one of you who doesn’t forgive unconditionally anyone who asks for mercy.”
The responsibility of the servant to forgive is not dependant upon ordinary human emotion and feelings. The servant is not expected to show mercy because he is relieved and overjoyed that his debt has been canceled. Instead the responsibility to be merciful is directly linked to attitude shown to him by his master. Because the king was patient with his servant, the servant should follow the example and lifestyle of the king. In other words the servant should be patient with his fellow servants whether he feels like it or not simply because the master has been patient with him.
God has been patient with us. His anger and wrath have been restrained. He has not treated us as we deserve to be treated for our sin. Because God is patient with us, He expects us to be patient with each other. This is why Jesus has given us His Spirit to live within us. The Spirit empowers us to live like Jesus; the fruit of the Spirit is “makrothymia” long to anger—patience.
The Purpose of Patience
The obvious question is: WHY IS GOD PATIENT WITH US, and in turn why does God want us to be patient with others?
• Romans 2:4 (NIV)
Do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you toward repentance?
What is God’s purpose for being patient with us? God’s patience leads us to repentance. As the wrath of God is restrained we are given the opportunity to become friends of God. Look how the Message Bible puts this verse:
• Romans 2:4 (MsgB)
Or did you think that because he’s such a nice God, he’d let you off the hook? Better think this one through from the beginning. God is kind, but he’s not soft. In kindness he takes us firmly by the hand and leads us into a radical life-change.
As a father I have taken my children firmly in hand from time to time. Sometimes I take hold of them when they have disobeyed to teach them obedience, but at other times I have taken hold of them to lead them to safety. I still take Mikey by the hand when we walk through a parking-lot or go across the street. Because I’m bigger than he is I can see things that he won’t see. While I may have to walk a little slower with Mikey at my side, together we arrive safely across the street.
God is patient with us; He has taken us by the hand, not to pour out His wrath. God takes us by the hand to lead us into a radical life-change, a life of repentance whereby we can have a relationship with God.
• 2 Peter 3:9 (MsgB)
God isn’t late with his promise as some measure lateness. He is restraining himself [He is patient] on account of you, holding back the End because he doesn’t want anyone lost. He’s giving everyone space and time to change.
God has a single goal for each of us, for all 6 billion plus of us living today on planet earth. God does not want us to be separated from Him for all eternity; He loves us so much He wants to spend all eternity together with us. Therefore He is patient; He withholds His wrath giving everyone time to repent. Notice what Peter then says:
• 2 Peter 3:15 (MsgB)
Interpret our Master’s patient restraint for what it is: salvation.
The goal and purpose of God’s patience is salvation! God wants’ us to have an intimate and loving relationship with Him!
That’s also why God wants us to have patience! As we live a lifestyle of patience God will use us to reconcile men to God as well as our own personal relationships with family and friends.
The Practical Practice of Patience
EVERY FRUIT I KNOW OF HAS A PROTECTIVE OUTER LAYER. We peel a banana or orange to eat the fruit inside. Others fruit like an apple or grape we will eat skin and all. The outer layer serves an important purpose; it helps keep the moisture inside the fruit . . . even in dry seasons. The outer peel will also protect the fruit and allow it to grow. If the outer peel or skin is broken or removed, then the fruit will rot and spoil.
Patience is like that for the soul of man. Patience protects our hearts from becoming rancid—bitter and rotten to the core. God wants our lives to be sweet and appealing to others; that’s the purpose of the fruit of the Spirit to give our lives the aroma and taste of Jesus!
The practical practice of patience restores and protects relationships. Godly patience enables us to show mercy instead of hate, to forgive instead of seek revenge.
“Patience is the ability to put up with people you’d like to put down.” Ulrike Ruffert
I have often said, “We must learn to trust the heart and when necessary forgive the hands.” Pinch your neighbor and guess what, you will probably feel good about it and they will say “Ouch!” Why? We are all human!
Hurting others comes naturally to us! The longer you are in relationship with other people eventually you will be hurt. That’s when you need to trust their heart and forgive the hands—to be patient, slow to anger.
And guess what, it is not an option! Remember the servant who begged his master to be patient with him. Because the king was slow to anger and forgave the debt the servant should follow the example of his master and do likewise.
• Ephesians 4:2 (NIV)
Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.
Patience is love enduring; it’s love that lasts and won’t be broken by anger. We are to be patient; with a long fuse we give allowances for each other’s faults and shortcomings.
• Colossians 3:12-13 (NIV)
Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. [13] Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
Patience is not idleness; it doesn’t mean you do nothing. Patience is active. The patient man is always ready to meet his neighbor halfway; instead of building fences, patience builds bridges to maintain relationships.
Further, patience is not simply a character trait or quality an individual may possess. PATIENCE IS A LIFESTYLE! It is a way of life that affects all our relationships. Patience is an expression of love because love is patient.
Patience, being slow to anger enables us to live a good life. Patience will keep us from embarrassing ourselves by what we say or do.
• Proverbs 14:29 (NIV)
A patient man has great understanding, but a quick-tempered man displays folly.
Slowness to anger makes for deep understanding; a quick-tempered person stockpiles stupidity. Proverbs 14:29 (MsgB)
Some of the stupidest things I have done were at times when my fuse was short and I lost my temper! Am I the only one? We have all done some things we would rather not talk about.
God wants to lengthen our fuse; He wants to enable us by His Spirit to be slow to anger, to restrain our wrath. Why?
God is patient to lead us to repentance; His patience offers us salvation a relationship with God that will last for all eternity. Likewise our patience with others is to restore and renew our relationships with one another. Further our patience can be used by God to bring others to salvation as well.
• 2 Timothy 4:2 (NIV)
Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.
You may not be a preacher, but your testimony can be wrecked through impatience, by cutting your fuse short and blowing up in anger. God does not want our lives to be a stumbling block to others. He wants to use our lives to bring others to repentance. That’s an ETERNAL practical practice of patience.
How can we have patience?
[1] We must be connected to Jesus.
• John 15:5 (MsgB)
I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you’re joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant. Separated, you can’t produce a thing.
[2] Remain ever thankful for God’s patience in your life. Being mindful of how God’s patience will remind us of our responsibility to do likewise.
[3] Ask God for help! Yes, pray for patience. God will equip you to live a lifestyle of patience, or you can face conflict and hurtful relationships on your own.
The very heart and root of sin is an independent spirit. We erect the idol self, and not only wish others to worship, but worship it ourselves.
Richard Cecil
“And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.”
In sorrow and suffering, go straight to God with confidence, and you will be strengthened, enlightened and instructed.
John of the Cross
Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling.
1 John 2:9-10
The English Standard Version
The gloom of the world is but a shadow; behind it, yet within our reach is joy. Take joy.
The air which we breathe, the bread which we eat, the heart which throbs in our bosoms, are not more necessary for man that he may live as a human being, than is prayer for the Christian that he may live as a Christian.
John Eudes
“Every one then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house upon the rock; and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.”
Our trials will seem to us nothing at all. We shall talk to one another about them in heaven. Let us go on, therefore; and if the night be ever so dark, remember there is not a night that shall not have a morning.
Charles Spurgeon
The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him.
Psalm 28:7 The King James Version
We must remember God more often than we draw breath.
Someone said “If God were small enough for us to understand, He would not be big enough to Worship.—Author Unknown
Some go to church to take a walk. Some go to church to laugh and talk. Some go to church to meet a friend. Some go to church, their time to spend. Some go to church to meet a lover.
Some go to church, a fault to cover. Some go to church for speculation. Some go to church for observation. Some go to church to doze and nod. The wise go there to worship God.—Author Unknown
I. SERVICE WITHOUT WORSHIP WILL CAUSE US TO LOSE FOCUS.
A. Service will become a burdensome weight.
1) This word “Cumbered” means “to be driven about mentally, to be distracted; to be over-occupied, too busy, about a thing”
2) Matt 11:28-30 The yoke was a familiar item to the Jew. It was made of wood and placed around the neck of oxen. Jesus says his yoke is easy or well fitted and is light, easy to carry.
3) The law was a heavy yoke. And in the same way, when we serve without worshipping, the yoke becomes heavy and hard to bare.
B. Without worship our attitude will not be right.
1) Martha was a kind and loving person from indication of Scripture. But here she had lost her focus.
2) I believe that Church division is a result of a lack of worship. If we are not worshipping, we will say and do things that we would not normally do.
C. Jesus said “Martha, you are careful and troubled by many things.”
1) The word careful has two meanings here. It means “to be worried and also to be seeking one’s own interest.”
2) Martha thought Jesus would say “Mary get in that kitchen and help her.”
II. WORSHIP IS NEEDFUL
A. It is the important or needed thing.
1) It is needed so that our relationship is right with Christ.
2) It is needed to make the yoke light.
3) It is needed to prepare us for service.
A while ago, the world watched as three gray whales, icebound off Point Barrow, Alaska, floated battered and bloody, gasping for breath at a hole in the ice. Their only hope: somehow to be transported five miles past the ice pack to open sea. Rescuers began cutting a string of breathing holes about twenty yards apart in the six-inch-thick ice.
For eight days they coaxed the whales from one hole to the next, mile after mile. Along the way, one of the trio vanished and was presumed dead. But finally, with the help of Russian icebreakers, the whales Putu and Siku swam to freedom.
In a way, worship is a string of breathing holes the Lord provides his people. Battered and bruised in a world frozen over with greed, selfishness, and hatred, we rise for air in church, a place to breathe again, to be loved and encouraged, until that day when the Lord forever shatters the ice cap.
III. WORSHIP IS POURING OURSELVES OUT BEFORE GOD.
A. Worship is sparing no expense or commitment to honoring Christ.
1) We tend to offer only what is convenient in our worship. That is not worship.
2) This ointment was very valuable. Three hundred pence was the equivalent of a years wages for a rural worker.
B. The use of her hair was a sign of total dedication.
1) Some have supposed that this was done because no towel was provided by the host.
2) The washing of feet was a job normally done by the lowest servant for his master.
C. When we commit everything to God some will criticize. 4-6
1) Judas said “Lord, that is a waste, we should have sold it and given it to the poor.”
2) Notice the insightful information given in Scripture. His true motive was to steal some or all of this money.
No matter how good it sounds, any work of God that is put before worship is out of place.
Will you totally surrender to Christ in an act of worship today.
Tell God all that is in your heart, as one unloads one’s heart, its pleasures and its pains, to a dear friend. Tell Him your troubles, that He may comfort you; tell Him your joys, that He may sober them; tell Him your longings, that He may purify them; tell Him your dislikes, that He may help you conquer them; talk to Him of your temptations, that He may shield you from them; show Him the wounds of your heart, that He may heal them; lay bare your indifference to good, your depraved tastes for evil, your instability.
Francois Fenelon
But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
How melancholy it is that we must often bolster up our will to live and strive by the thought that someone else is in an even worse plight than we are ourselves.
Oscar Wilde
“For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,” says the LORD, who has compassion on you.
Isaiah 54:10
The English Standard Version
Live through me, Son of God, make me like Thy clear air through which unhindered colors pass as though it were not there.
Our broken lives are not lost or useless. God’s love is still working. He comes in and takes the calamity and uses it victoriously, working out His wonderful plan of love.
Eric Liddell
If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.
As a good Christian should consider every place holy because God is there, so he should look upon every part of his life as a matter of holiness because it is to be offered unto God.
William A. Law
Pray all the time. Ask God for anything in line with the Holy Spirit’s wishes. Plead with him, reminding him of your needs, and keep praying earnestly for all Christians everywhere.
Ephesians 6:18
The Living Bible
There are things you can’t dream your way out of, think your way out of, buy your way out of, or work your way out of. You can only trust your way out of.
We need to get control of our anger & channel it into productive instead of destructive ways. It is important to understand our anger, realize what causes it, & how to control it.
A LOOK AT ANGER
Anger is a universal human experience. It is an intense emotional reaction that may express itself through frustration, irritability, annoyance, impatience, blowing of steam, shouting, intimidating, insensitivity, fretting, quitting, back-bitting, depression. Thus there are many passages in Proverbs that focus on anger. We need to get control of our anger and channel it into productive instead of destructive ways. It is important to understand our anger, realize what causes it, & how to control it.
In his autobiography, Number 1, Billy Martin told about hunting in Texas with Mickey Mantle. Mickey had a friend who would let them hunt on his ranch. When they reached the ranch, Mickey told Billy to wait in the car while he checked in with his friend.
Mantle’s friend quickly gave them permission to hunt, but he asked Mickey a favor. He had a pet mule in the barn who was going blind, and he didn’t have the heart to put him out of his misery. He asked Mickey to shoot the mule for him. When Mickey came back to the car, he pretended to be angry. He scowled and slammed the door. Billy asked him what was wrong, and Mickey said his friend wouldn’t let them hunt.
“I’m so mad at that guy,” Mantle said, “I’m going out to his barn and shoot one of his mules!” Mantle drove like a maniac to the barn. Martin protested, “We can’t do that!” But Mickey was adamant. “Just watch me,” he shouted.
When they got to the barn, Mantle jumped out of the car with his rifle, ran inside, and shot the mule. As he was leaving, though, he heard two shots, and he ran back to the car. He saw that Martin had taken out his rifle, too.
“What are you doing, Martin?” he yelled.
Martin yelled back, face red with anger, “We’ll show him! I just killed two of his cows!
Anger… can be dangerously contagious. As Proverbs puts it, “Make no friendship with an angry man; and with a furious man thou shalt not go: Lest thou learn his ways, and get a snare to thy soul” (Proverbs
In Proverb 14:17 the emphasis is on a result of a lost temper. “A quick-tempered man acts foolishly, and a man of evil devices is hated.”
The quick-tempered or impatient man readily loses control of his temper. When a man allows his anger to run unchecked he will not act in a wise thought out manner. Flying off the handle causes a person to do & say things, which he may later regret & be unable to undo. The Hebrew word temper comes from the noun nostrils implying the flaring of the nostrils in anger. It has been correctly said that when your temper boils over, you usually end up in hot water. We have seen it over & over again in our lives. We must learn to control our anger before it grows from a weakness into a habit of deceitful scheming.
Proverb 14:29 contrasts the slow to anger (patient) with the quick tempered (impatient). “He who is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who is quick-tempered exalts folly.”
[ “Quick-tempered” is literally “short of spirit.”] What does anger do to objectivity? Anger obscures the facts & makes us subjective & emotional. To see calmly is to see clearly or with understanding. Let me illustrate.
A man from Michigan had an idea for removing a TREE STUMP from the yard of a friend. He decided to use some dynamite he had stored away in his house. It did the trick. The explosion turned the stump into an airborne missile that traveled 163 feet down range before crashing through a neighbor’s roof. The stump opened a 3-foot hole in the roof, split the rafters, and pushed through the ceiling of the dining room.
If we are honest, we can see ourselves in the actions of the dynamite user. We have used explosive words and actions to try to solve problems, which only made things worse. We get action, but we leave much damage in our wake.
We are not the first to let anger make trouble for us. It happened to people in the Bible too. Moses, for instance, became extremely frustrated with his murmuring followers (Num. 20:10). So, instead of speaking to the rock to get water, as the Lord had instructed him, he angrily struck it twice (v. 11). He did get water from the rock, but there was a problem-Moses had disobeyed God. Because of this angry response, God told Moses he could not enter the Promised Land (v. l2).
Anger, like dynamite, is explosive. Unless it is handled with wisdom and self-control, it can do great damage. [MRD II. Our Daily Bread] When a person’s temper gets the best of him, it reveals the worst of him.
People learn better than to come to the rescue of an angry person. Proverb 19:19 teaches us that anger stirs us to do foolish and destructive things. “A man of great anger will bear the penalty, For if you rescue him, you will only have to do it again.”
Anger is one of the most common and destructive emotions. In our hard-driving American society, anger is sometimes viewed as a virtue. We will be nice and friendly until someone crosses us, or we’re calm and controlled until something doesn’t go our way- and then we have the right to be angry.
We are taught by some psychologists that spontaneous explosions of anger can be therapeutic–can help us to get things off our chest and to feel better. While it certainly is true that not all anger is wrong (Jesus got angry), the Bible also makes it clear that we are not to be under the control of anger. “A fool vents all his feeling, but a wise man holds them back” (Proverbs 29:11).
Again Proverb 22:24 warns us of associating with hot tempered people. “Do not associate with a man given to anger or go with a hot-tempered man,” Verse 25 tells us what happens to us if we do associate with hot tempered people. “Or you will learn his ways and find a snare for yourself” (NASV).
The warning here is against being a friend or even associating with a hot-tempered man (lit. “an owner or possessor of anger”(19:19), or one easily angered. The reason for not associating because such an association leads a person to take on wrathful ways [which are foolish (14:17, 29), divisive (15:18), and sinful (29:22)]. Anger and bitterness are contagious. Don’t be friends with angry people because you’ll start to agree with them. When you do you become ensnared (29:6) in events and caught up in a way of life that is hard to get out of.
Levelheadedness, control of temper, and patience are requisites for leadership. One way to cultivate these traits is to avoid “friendship” with those whose lives are stamped by temper and anger. “An angry man” (lit., an “owner of anger”) and “a furious man” (lit., a “man of heats”) are not persons who occasionally let off excess steam. They are steam engines with subnormal boiling points and extra loads of fuel. Anger is their path of life (“ways”). To walk that road with them is to put your whole stability and equilibrium in jeopardy, since their path is laced by traps which any misstep will trigger. [Hubbard, David. The Preacher’s Commentary Series, Vol 15: Proverbs. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc, 1989, S. 364]
2ND ANGER STIRS UP STRIFE.
Proverb 15:18 teaches that anger people are divisive. “A hot-tempered man stirs up strife, but the slow to anger calms a dispute.”
The hot-tempered man [lit., a man of heat] blows up like Mt. Vesuvius The contrast is not between opinion but between two kinds of people, one hot-tempered the other slow to anger.
In contrast to the angry man is the one who is slow to anger. The calm man has his anger under control. In His presence quarrels die. Contention cannot exist without someone feeding the flame.
[Proverb 20:2 “The terror of a king is like the growling of a lion; He who provokes him to anger forfeits his own life.” ]
[Proverb 26:21 “Like charcoal to hot embers and wood to fire, So is a contentious man to kindle strife.”]
Proverb 29:8 indicates that anger inflames situations and places. “Scorners set a city aflame, but wise men turn away anger.”
Mockers (1:22) laugh at the upright and stir up (“fan or blow on”) trouble. Mockers keep things in an uproar. These troublemakers get others angry and incite rebellion. (“anger” and “angry” in 29:11, 22.) The wise, however, help calm a city by averting anger and its rebellious results. [Walvoord, John & Zuck, Roy. The Bible Knowledge Commentary. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1983, p. 967.]
Proverb 29:22 warns that hot head people cause sin to abound. “An angry man stirs up strife, and a hot-tempered man abounds in transgression.”
An angry hot-tempered person causes strife (26:21; 30:33) and commits many sins. These sins could include cursing, insulting others, misusing God’s name, being rude, lacking kindness, being cruel or proud.
Proverb 30:33 once again teaches that anger produces strife. “For the churning of milk produces butter, and pressing the nose brings forth blood; so the churning of anger produces strife.”
As sure as churning milk makes butter and the twisting of a nose brings blood, so the agitation and stirring up of anger produces strife.
3RD SOME SOLUTIONS FOR ANGER.
A solution for anger is proposed in Proverb 10:12. “Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all transgressions.”
Hatred results in the stirring or raising up of dissension (6:14) because people who despise each other can rarely work or live together in peace. If you hate someone you look for excuses to bad mouth or start in on him. The gossip fiend is at work everywhere, in homes, offices, politics and churches. It is like a subterraneous fire that smolders out disgusts, dislikes, envyings, coldness and selfishness.
Love contributes toward peace because it covers or forgives the faults of others (17:9). It does not dwell on those faults (1 Cor. 13:5; James 5:20; 1 Peter 4:8). [The Hebrew word translated “covereth” is kacah, which means “to overwhelm” (Proverbs 10:6, 11)]. When we see shortcomings in others, the solution is to overwhelm them with love. For we who have been forgive so much must forgive others (Col. 3:18).
A promoter of strife magnifies the faults of other (and we all have them). If you love someone, you give them the benefit of the doubt. If you hate someone, you don’t. Love covers a multitude of sins [Prov 17:9; 1 Cor 13:4–7; James 5:20; 1 Pet 4:8].
The message of Jesus is simple yet astounding: Love your enemies. Do good to those who mistreat you. Repay evil with kindness. When Christians live by these principles, he will keep his heart free of hatred no matter how others feel toward him.
Proverb 15:1 teaches that angry outbursts are divisive. “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.”
Notice the contrast. A gentle (soft) answer can dispel a potentially tense situation. Such a conciliatory response in a tense situation is not easy. It requires forethought, patience and self-control. A harsh (lit., “hurtful”) word though arouses rather than dissolves anger.
In Proverb 16:32 having patience and a controlled temper is honored above being a great warrior. “He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit, than he who captures a city.”
In a land where safety depended on might and skill in warfare, this statement may seem surprising. Yet conquering oneself (14:17, 29; 25:28; 29:11) is of greater virtue than conquering a city.
If you’re slow to anger, or are self-controlled, you possess an ability so great in God’s eyes that it’s more valuable than the ability to defeat an entire city.
Proverb19:11 teaches us the value of discretion in controlling anger. “A man’s discretion makes him slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook a transgression.”
A prudent, patient man is not easily upset by people who offend him. The word discretion refers to insight. You must first have insight to impart insight. Discretion makes it possible for a man to control his anger & see what should be done & how it should be done. He overlooks offenses (12:16), knowing that to harbor resentment or attempt revenge only leads to more trouble. Overlooking them is honorable and brings him glory.
[Proverb 21:14 “A gift in secret subdues anger, and a bribe in the bosom, strong wrath.”]
In Closing,
When God’s Word shapes our thinking and guides our choices, we’ll discover that His way is always better than the way of the world. With gratitude, praise God that He has given up His anger against us because of Christ.
Worship is giving God the best that he has given you. Whenever you get a blessing from God, give it back to Him as a love gift.
Oswald Chambers
The Lord God is my Strength, and he will give me the speed of a deer and bring me safely over the mountains.
Habakkuk 3:19
The Living Bible
Who knows? God knows and what He knows is well and best. The darkness hideth not from Him, but glows clear as the morning or the evening rose of east or west.
What is there then that can blight our Christian hope; for apparently there is no person, place or thing that can neutralize the exhilarating truth that God is never far from any of us.
James Turro
“You have heard that it was said to the men of old, ‘You shall not kill; and whoever kills shall be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that every one who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment;”
Matthew 5:21-22
The Revised Standard Version
God is the owner; I’m the manager. Every resource, every blessing I have today is a gift of God.
Fear is a greater evil than the evil itself…What do you fear? No, fear not; you walk on the sea amid the winds and the waves, but it is with Jesus. What is there to fear? But if fear seizes you, cry loudly, “O Lord, save me.” He will give you his hand: clasp it tight and go joyously on.
Francis de Sales
“He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
Pray often, for prayer is a shield to the soul, a sacrifice to God, and a scourge to Satan. Prayer will cease a man from sin; or sin will cease a man from prayer.
John Bunyan
But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead. I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Self-examination is an important part of our relationship with God.
There are events in our lives that cause us to take a good look at ourselves. The death of a close friend or loved one, especially if death comes in an accident or at a young age, tends to make us stop this whirlwind of activities we call life and look deep inside our souls.
Examine yourself. That is precisely what the Bible teaches us to do every time we recall Jesus’ death by participating in the Lord’s Supper. But how do we examine ourselves. Allow me to suggest three areas that should be included as a part of our self-examination.
1. Examine your relationship with God.
a. What does our relationship with God consist of? It consists of a true and total surrender of our will to the sovereign will of God; exchanging our agenda for His agenda.
b. Many people who have accepted the gospel have done so because of the benefits that are received as a result of knowing Christ. He gives joy, peace, healing, meaning for life, glue for a marriage, the promise of heaven, etc. So they base their relationship with God on these benefits, but they never cross over into a relationship of total commitment. Consequently, we have an entire generation of nominal Christians who know nothing about power with God because they know little about true commitment and surrender to God.
c. Just how committed is God to you? Well, Jesus died for you to be saved; not only for you to receive the benefits of his death, but he died to have complete rule over you. (Rom. 14:9)
d. Examine your relationship with God. Are you making your own decisions without regard to whether it’s God’s will or only your will. Let your relationship with God be one where only He rules.
2. Examine your relationship with others.
a. Before a person comes to God, he basically lives for himself because man’s basic nature is self-centered. An unsaved person has little or no awareness of God’s laws and certainly has no regard for them. But when that person is saved, he is also transformed by the power of God. That self-centeredness is replaced with a humility and love for others. In fact, the Bible clearly teaches what the basis of our relationship with others should be. (Phil. 2:3; Rom. 12:10)
b. Unfortunately, we live in a society where we are taught to demand our rights. Some Christians have also demanded their right to make decisions without worrying about whether others are affected or not. They say, “I can do whatever I want. I have no obligation to other believers.” The truth is no, we don’t have that right, and yes, we do have that obligation. In fact, if our actions confuse young Christians and cause them to stumble, we will be accountable to God. (Matt. 18:6)
c. God is committed to building a loving family, so much so that he does not even want us to approach him if we are in conflict with a fellow believer. (Matt. 5:23-24) So examine your relationship with others. Are you placing your interests and desires before others? Are you making your decisions without no consideration for how others will be affected? Is there unresolved conflict with others.
3. Examine your relationship with the church.
a. What is this thing we call the church. The church is the family of God, those who have been saved and transformed, those who have been called out of the world, living in community with one another. The church meets together for worship, the church is accountable to one another, the church reaches out to the unsaved.
b. Why is it important to be committed to the church? Because God is committed to it, so much so that his son gave his life for the church. (Eph. 5:25) Because in being committed to it, we have power that hell itself cannot overcome. (Matt. 16:18)
c. Examine your relationship to the church. Are you as committed to it as Jesus is? Are you fully involved in the life of the church? Are you and your family reaping the benefits that come as a result of being committed to the church of God?
Forgiveness is powerful and beneficial. When we forgive someone for hurting us, it frees us from feeling like victims or feeling we are under the power of the person who hurt us.
Grace Ketterman
“‘I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken;’”
Acts 2:25
The English Standard Version
When you pray, you are not starting the conversation from scratch, you are just remembering to plug back into a conversation that’s always in progress.
It is no use to pray for the old days; stand square where you are and make the present better than any past has been. Base all on your relationship to God and go forward, and presently you will find that what is emerging is infinitely better than the past ever was.
Oswald Chambers
Do not say, “I will repay evil”; wait for the Lord, and he will deliver you.
Proverbs 20:22
The English Standard Version
The more I read and pray, the more I want to read and pray. The less I read and pray, the less I want to read and pray.
If you want to hear God’s voice clearly and you are uncertain, then remain in His presence until He changes that uncertainty. Often, much can happen during this waiting for the Lord. Sometimes, He changes pride into humility, doubt into faith and peace.
Corrie ten Boom
“Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.”
Grace, peace, blessing, keeping. God desires wonderful things for His faithful people! Blessing is a term that gets misused a lot – this sermon explores what it really means.
Have you ever noticed how the apostle Paul opens every one of his letters by wishing his readers “grace and peace”? It is also present in both of Peter’s letters, one of John’s and Revelation.
When they said, “grace and peace” these Biblical writers were not merely using a polite form of words to start a letter. In fact, they are very special words. To wish someone “grace” and “peace” is to desire for them something wonderful – it is to pray that they will be as close as possible to the heart of God.
When they said, “grace and peace”, Peter, John and Paul were also carrying on a tradition that dated back almost 1500 years; a tradition that started during the time of Israel’s wilderness wanderings between the Exodus and entering the Promised Land. God used this time to prepare Israel for life as His people in His land. One of the important things He did was to establish the role and ministry of the priests, who were to offer the sacrifices and lead the people in worship.
And an important part of their ministry was to “bless” the people. In Numbers 6 we read of God’s instruction for the priests to say these words:
“The LORD bless you and keep you;
the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you;
the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace.”
And it adds that in this way “they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them”. I’m not going into detail what “putting my name on them” means, but the essence is this. Pronouncing this blessing affirmed the people of their special relationship with God and of the special place they had in His world.
We learn from Leviticus that the priests were to say these words with their hands held up above their heads. This was to signify that the words weren’t just being uttered by the priests, but were coming from God Himself to the people. The priest was the mediator, not the initiator. When the people gathered for worship, the priest would offer the sacrifices to establish them in fellowship with God, then he would raise his arms and pronounce the blessing.
What did it mean to say, “The Lord bless you”?
The Hebrew word literally means “on bended knee”. It describes a servant kneeling out of respect for his master or a lover kneeling to ask his beloved for her hand in marriage. There is a wonderful moment near the end of “The Return of the King” when the four hobbits are stunned that the newly crowned king of men, Aragorn, kneels to honour them. That is something like what this passage has in mind. In this blessing, God is offering to come to His people “on bended knee” – that is, to come to serve them, to love them, to share Himself with them.
The second part of the first phrase of the Aaronic blessing calls upon God to “keep” His people. What do you think “and keep you” might mean?
The Hebrew word for “keep” is used to describe the way shepherds would use thorn bushes to build a protective enclosure for the sheep, to keep them safe from predators. “To keep” literally means “to build a hedge around”. Thus, the key idea is that of protection from harm, putting around you and your life a sort of fence to keep out enemies that would snatch away the blessings that God has given you, and to keep you from wandering off.
Are these not staggering thoughts? That YHWH, the supreme and almighty God, who dwells in eternity, the creator of and ruler over all things, would get down on one knee as a servant to sinful and rebellious people like us! That He would then take the trouble to build a protective hedge around us to keep us safe? Yet that is exactly what the Bible says he instructed the priests to call on Him to do.
Most people do not think of God like this. In fact, I believe that many Christians don’t think of God like this. Yet, even more than the people of Israel, we should be able to see that this is how God has revealed Himself. His coming “on bended knee” was most completely put into action in the incarnation of God the Son. Jesus in the manger is God on bended knee; Jesus eating with sinners is God coming on bended knee; Jesus living as one of us, then giving His life on the cross is God on bended knee. Jesus ascending to heaven and sending His Spirit as our Comforter is God at work keeping our us secure, for as Peter wrote, “we have an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade, kept in heaven for you.”
Truly, God has shown Himself to be a God who has a heart to bless and keep His people!
What sort of blessings does this prayer have in mind?
If you peruse the many other references to “blessing” in the Old Testament you will find that the sort of things most often referred to are:
• material needs being met, so that you will have sufficient to live on and to be generous to others;
• a happy family life;
• a good reputation in the community where you live and work;
• good health and a long life;
• the defeat and scattering of your enemies;
• fruitful labour, that their daily work would go well and be rewarded;
that they would be the head and not the tail – i.e. to be able to make decisions about their life rather than merely being followers, dragged along by others.
In short, these are the sort of things that the prayer of General Thanksgiving calls “all the blessings of this life”. Life, health, safety, power to work and leisure to rest, as the current version puts it. These are great things not only to be thankful for, but to pray for on behalf of others.
But the Bible also teaches that the greatest blessing is that of a faithful relationship with God, issuing in obedience to Him. The Aaronic blessing also goes much deeper than “blessings of this life”. It goes on to the two ideas that I mentioned at the beginning of this talk – it seeks from God the great spiritual blessings of His grace and His peace.
The second phrase asks for God’s grace:
“The Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you.”
The best way I can explain God’s face shining on us is to think about the difference between rainy days and sunny days. I work in the city and try to get out at lunchtimes to walk in the Botanic Gardens. I distinctly remember one day after a period of rain and wind that had made being outside quite unpleasant; however, the sun came out and when I went walking I noticed several things about the sunny day:
– it was much brighter – the grass seemed greener, the harbour sparkled, the flowers were all wide open with their colours showing off to maximum effect;
– it was much warmer – pleasant on the face, indeed it sort of cheered up my whole body to have the sun shining again;
there is much more life and activity – more people are out and about, they are involved in a range of activities that often don’t take place on wet days. The city was more alive!
How good is it, then, when in the midst of the stormy weather that we often encounter in life, when our spirits are dampened by the sadness of this world, to have God’s face shine upon us? His light helps us to see clearly, brightening our understanding of what is going on in the world and how He is in control working out His purposes. His love warms us and heals our soul’s wounds. When we are weighed down because of our own inadequacies and the contributions that we make to the sadness of our world, it is wonderful to know that God is gracious. We don’t deserve it, but He is on our side. God is for us – who can be against us? Nothing can separate us from God’s grace and love in Christ.
What a great thing that is to pray for someone – that they will know the grace of God in their lives! What a great thing for someone to pray for you! “The Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you.”
The third phrase of the Aaronic blessing asks for the reality of God’s peace in the lives of His people:
“The Lord turn His face towards you and give you peace.”
Have you ever been looking for someone in a crowd? Perhaps you’ve been to pick someone up at the airport, or been met yourself when you’ve gone to visit someone you haven’t seen for a long time. Think of the moment when you finally make eye contact with the person you are looking for. Suddenly, out of all the people gathered in that place at that time you make a personal connection with someone that you know and who knows you! You run up to them and embrace them. Any doubts – would they be there? Would they know you? – all such questions disappear as they turn their face towards you.
That’s what the Aaronic blessing asks for between us and God. When God turns His face towards you, it is a moment of recognition that you matter to Him and are special to Him. The one who turns His face towards you also opens His arms wide to embrace you as you meet. You are at peace in that embrace, you are secure in the knowledge that your relationship with God is real; you know that He knows you and that your relationship with Him cannot be shaken.
Is that not a wonderful thought?! It is not just a thought – it is our reality as Christians. Jesus said that His sheep hear His voice; He knows them and they follow Him; He gives them eternal life and no one can snatch us from His Father’s hand. God is for us – and neither life, nor death, nor calamity, nor things or people from our past, nor anything in the future can ever separate us from Him and His love for us. Truly this is peace that passes all understanding!
God gave this prayer to the priests of ancient Israel because His desire is to bless His people. He wants to come to us on bended knee to bring us great things from His heavenly storehouse of treasures. He wants to shine His face on us, to pick us out from the crowd and embrace us, to build a protective hedge around us so that nothing can deprive us of His grace and peace. This is the heart of God for us and He gives these blessings to all who come to Him through faith and serve Him faithfully throughout their lives. When Jesus hung on that cross, God came to us on bended knee to give us far more than we could ever imagine or ever deserve. He gave us Himself. There can be no greater blessing than this.
At the end of Luke’s gospel we read that one of the last things Jesus did before returning to heaven was to raise His arms and bless His disciples. I believe that Jesus prayed this prayer for them, as the great high priest who gave Himself as the ultimate sacrifice for us.
Furthermore it is now our role to be priests who pass on God’s blessing to others. As Peter says in chapter 2 of his first letter, everyone who believes in Christ is part of His royal priesthood. He speaks of us declaring God’s praises – which includes praying and working for the spiritual well-being of others. As someone has put it, we are blessed to be a blessing.
The apostle Paul knew this, which is why every one of his letters commences with his own shortened version of the Aaronic blessing – “grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” He blessed them as he shared God’s word with them, as he travelled around risking his life to help them to know the gospel, and as he prayed for them and sought their spiritual well-being.
We also have the opportunity to be instruments of God’s blessing in this world – to minister grace and peace to our neighbours, our work colleagues, our classmates, our families and our friends. We can do this by how we treat them and by what we say to them and about them. The things we say to people can be a powerful force for good or ill in their lives. In a world that so often sets out to curse people, to put them down and keep them down, a positive word, an affirmation that God desires good for them, can be profound.
Let me illustrate what I mean by reading to you a true story. Writing in his book, “Life of the Beloved”, Henry Nouwen tells of a time when he was working with disabled people. One of the handicapped women in the community asked him for a blessing, but when he started to do the ritual signing of the cross she said, “no that doesn’t work. I want a real blessing!”. He realized something special was needed and promised to do something when the community was gathered together later.
He tells of how later on when about 30 people were present he said that Janet had asked for a special blessing. I continue in his own words:
“As I was saying this, I didn’t know what Janet really wanted. But Janet didn’t leave me in doubt for very long. As soon as I (started speaking) Janet stood up and walked toward me. I was wearing a long white robe with ample sleeves covering my hands as well as my arms.
Spontaneously, Janet put her arms around me and put her head against my chest. Without thinking, I covered her with my sleeves so that she almost vanished in the folds of my robe. As we held each other I said, ‘Janet, I want you to know you are God’s beloved daughter. Your beautiful smile, your kindness to the people in your house and all the good things you do show us what a beautiful human being you are. I know you feel a little low these days and there is some sadness in your heart, but I want you to remember who you are: a very special person, deeply loved by God and all the people who are here with you.’”
Nouwen relates how Janet’s smile assured him he’d hit the mark and that before long many of the other handicapped people had also come forward for a blessing. “The most touching moment, however, came when one of the assistants, a 24-year old student, raised his hand and said, ‘And what about me?’ ‘Sure,’ I said, ‘come’. He came and, as we stood before each other, I put my arms around him and said, ‘John, it is so good that you are here. You are God’s beloved son. Your presence is a joy for us all. When things are hard and life is burdensome, always remember that you are loved with an everlasting love.’ As I spoke these words,” writes Nouwen, “he looked at me with tears in his eyes and then he said, ‘Thank you, thank you very much’.”1
My dear brothers and sisters, blessing and being blessed are very important parts of being a Christian. Blessing is the work of God.
Let me conclude, then, by praying this prayer for you.
“The Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
the Lord turn His face towards you and give you peace.”
(Footnote: quotes are from “Life of the Beloved” by Henri Nouwen, Hodder & Stoughton 1992, p 57-59.)
(Second footnote: During June 2006, a scholar of ancient languages challenged my use of the definition ’to kneel’ for the word bless. He suggested that it’s only a primitive root meaning and not necessarily a good translation when used in the Bible. He particularly argued that my statement about coming on bended knee being like a lover making a proposal of marriage was conjecture and that he’s unaware of the word ’barak’ ever being used in that way in Hebrew literature. I take these points and acknowledge his greater expertise. However, I also believe that, in their contexts, the usages of ’bless’ that I’ve referred to in this sermon are perfectly consistent with the notion of kneeling in service and humility. I don’t believe anything needs to be changed, but I felt that I should note my friend’s technical point for the record.)
We are of such value to God that He came to live among us…and to guide us home. He will go to any length to seek us, even to being lifted high upon the cross to draw us back to Himself. We can only respond by loving God for His love.
Catherine of Siena
Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.
Habakkuk 3:18
The New King James Version
Go outside, to the fields, enjoy nature and the sunshine, go out and try to recapture happiness in yourself and in God. Think of all the beauty that’s still left in and around you and be happy!
A world of saints and angles, a glorious world, the palace of God, the mountain of the Lord of Hosts, the heavenly Jerusalem, the throne of God and Christ, all these wonders, everlasting, all-precious, mysterious and incomprehensible, lie hid in what we see.
John Henry Newman
No evil shall befall you, Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling; For He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you in all your ways.
Psalm 91:10-11
The New King James Version
If you can walk,
you can dance.
If you can talk,
you can sing.
He who created us without our help will not save us without our consent.
Augustine of Hippo
The godly may trip seven times, but they will get up again. But one disaster is enough to overthrow the wicked.
Proverbs 24:16
The New Living Translation
When I get to heaven, I shall see three wonders there. The first wonder will be to see many there whom I did not expect to see; the second wonder will be to miss many people who I did expect to see; the third and greatest of all will be to find myself there.
Psalm 63: 3 “Because thy loving kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee.”
Age is maturity gained though wisdom
Praise is acknowledging the sovereignty of God.
I met with a childhood friend of mine the other day for lunch. He looked at me and said; man you have a lot of gray hair. You should do like I do. When you take a shower, just put a little color in your hair. I smiled and told him. It took me too long to grow it like this!
“God keep my heart attuned to laughter
When youth is done;
When all the days are gray days, coming after
The warmth, the sun.
God keep me then from bitterness, from grieving,
When life seems cold;
God keep me always loving and believing
As I grow old.”
As one matures in age they should gain wisdom though the understanding that life’s lessons of love and longevity will bring you closer to God.
That’s why Age and Praise belong together.
Age enhances praise because of authentic experiences.
Thou my everlasting portion, more than friend or life to me, All along my pilgrim journey, Savior, let me walk with Thee. – takes on new meaning when life has taught you what it means to have God as your everlasting portion.
When peace like a river attendeth my way. When sorrows like sea billows roll; Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say, It is well, it is well with my soul.
Longevity tell you that when you finally get a hold of God and God has gotten a hold of you. You become like the tree planted by the water and you’ll say, I shall not be moved.
Let look closely at the text and see how the life of David informs us in this Psalm. Psalm 63 was written when David was in the wilderness fleeing from his son, Absalom, who had taken over his Kingdom and was attempting to kill him. Age tells you that trouble can rise up in your own home, even among you children. The ones you have given your all to, invested in, sometimes can be the very ones to try to destroy you spirit, kill your joy, break your heart. But David knew that even though he had to leave for a place and flee to the wilderness. David knew something about God.
Whither shall I go from thy spirit? Or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou are there. If I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.
Age confirms in your spirit that if your heart is right, if your spirit is sincere, if your mind is stayed on Jesus. God is an ever-present help even in the time of trouble.
That’s why David in his wilderness experience could say with assurance.
“Because thy loving kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee.”
Loving-kindness. Kindness is calling someone on the phone and asking if they are all right. Loving-kindness is stopping by their house and bringing them some chicken soup and sitting beside their bed and feeding them until they want no more.
Kindness is inquiring. Loving-kindness is compassion.
When David thought about the Loving-kindness of God. God is a Shepard. God is a shield. God is a bridge over trouble water. God is a healer. God is a comforter. God is the lily of the valley. When David thought about the goodness of the Lord!!!
That’s why you praise the Lord. When life has given you some experience. When you been though the storm. When you seen the lighting flash. When you’ve heard the thunder roll, then you know there is a God somewhere. And his promise is true. God promised never to leave me, never to leave me alone. No never alone. No never alone. He promised never to leave me. Never to leave me alone.
David like each one of you stood on that faith during his time of trouble.
Trouble on one hand – wilderness in the middle – triumph on the other.
Because when David has the battle with the army of Abasalom, he defeats them and wins the battle.
2. Praise can extend age. Praise can extend your life. Many of you know that if you listen to what your medical doctors say, friends say, people say. You would have been gone a long time ago. But praising God can extend you life. King Hezekiah was told that his time on earth was coming to an end. He turned his face to the wall and prayed to God that I can’t praise you in the grave. God heard his pray and extended his life fifteen more years to praise his name.
Someone hear knows what it is to have Age and Praise. Someone has had an experience with God and knows that you just couldn’t keep it to yourself. You must tell somebody.
I have a friend who when she was 89 years old had a double heart by-pass. Many people wondered why have such a serious operation at such an advanced age. I met with her family. Prayed with her. She told me of her faith in God and her belief that God was with her. I had grown to love her and was very afraid that she might not be strong enough to with stand the trauma of the operation. She told me everything was going to be alright.
The night of the operation I prayed to God to allow to not necessary experience healing, but to experience wholeness. Healing is the recovery of your body. Wholeness is the recovery of your spirit and the experience of joy. The joy of the Lord is your strength.
Last Monday, she was 94 years old and I stood on the corner of McCulloh and Stevens Street and dedicated a former fire station that was completely renovated and had become a community center, day care center, banking center and office space. She was there because the building was named for her. The mayor was there, the congressman was there, the state senator was there, the four television stations where there, and people came from everywhere. Her doctor was there taking pictures. And I thanked God for the life of Maggie Jones who not only experienced healing, but wholeness. Five years ago was laying on an operation table and on this day was witnessing a building being dedicated in her honor.
I want you to know that age and praise goes together.
Praise God from whom all blessing flow . Praise God here below. Praise God.
Prayer is not trying to grab hold of God. Prayer is to recognize God coming to us.
Stephen Verney
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.
James 1:5-6
The English Standard Version
It used to irritate a friend of mine that when he went to confession he never got the chance to tell the priest the good things he had done.
Make sure you are doing what God wants you to do—then do it with all your strength.
George Washington
“Listen, all of you. Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. Pray for the happiness of those who curse you; implore God’s blessing on those who hurt you.”
One act of thanksgiving when things go wrong with us is worth a thousand thanks when things are agreeable to our inclination.
John of Avila
For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:38-39
The Revised Standard Version
Standing your ground is easier when you are grounded in God’s Word.
There are two verses in our texts for today that I would like to call to your attention. The first is in our lesson from Romans which says: “But God shows His love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.” and the other verse is found in our gospel lesson saying:” When he (Jesus) saw the crowds, “He had compassion for them because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”
These two verses, I feel, sum up for us the meaning of the gospel message, the Good News of Jesus Christ. God shows His love for us while we were still sinners, or enemies of God and Jesus had compassion for the people. But what does that mean?? God loves us and Jesus had compassion? These two words oft times have a vague and mysterious meaning. What does it mean to love?? What does it mean to have compassion??
In Roget’s Thesaurus, which is a book of synonyms and antonyms, he lists many words which describe or expand on the meaning of love and compassion. These words are, sympathy, charity, mercy, generosity, pity, and we could go on and on. And each of these words can be described with many others. The list is endless. But that still doesn’t get us to the meaning, to the heart of the matter, what does it mean that God loves us, what does it mean that Jesus had compassion? Maybe scripture might help, how about John 3:16, “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that who so ever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.
“Yes, that verse speaks about God’s love for us, but does it describe it? Can we see love in that verse? Yes and no. Yes we can see love because God’s love is visible only through Christ. No, we cannot see love, because we do not see the actions of Christ. The only true way to see God’s love, to describe God’s love is to see Christ. Christ is God’s love incarnate, or God’s love made real in this world. So, as we look through the New Testament, as we look for descriptions of what does it mean that God loves us, we need to look at the actions of Christ.
When Christ had compassion on the crowds, He was in a sense, in all reality, showing the people, showing us what it means that God loves us. As He healed, as He forgave sins, as He brought people together, as He made especially women feel part of God’s created order, He showed us and them God’s love.
Jesus is the one who shows us very dramatically what God’s love is like. It is a forgiving, accepting, caring, merciful, compassionate love. It is a love which allowed God’s only son to be killed on a cross so that you and I might have eternal life. It is a love which was willing to sacrifice God’s son so that reconciliation might happen on this earth. “While we were yet sinner, Christ died for us.” While we were yet sinners, Christ reconciled God the Father with the creation.
So, if one is to describe God’s love it can be described in the action, words and deeds of Christ. It can be called a reconciling love, a love which brings people together. It is a love which forgives, it is a love which is willing to sacrifice, it is a love which is willing to give instead of take.
That love of God is seen through Christ and the cross, but at the same time, the love of Christ is seen today not only through the actions, words and deeds of Christ in the Bible, but through the actions of the Holy Spirit working in the lives of people today. Paul says very clearly, that you and I are little “little Christs” out in the world. People see Christ today through us, through you and me. Paul says in Romans 12:9,”Let love be genuine, hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good, love one another with brotherly affection, outdo one another in showing honor.”
Paul says further in Ephesians 5: “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” Paul says further,”for once you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord, walk as children of light,”
As you can tell, you and I are to be little Christ’s in this world. We are to be Christ like, loving one another as Christ has loved us. We are to be free with our love, expressive with our love, we are to be generous with our love toward our neighbor.
As you have come to know my preaching style, I am comfortable telling stories and this morning, I would like to tell you some stories which sum up for me this love of God through Christ and then my love for my neighbor. It is in the experiences of these stories, that Christ becomes alive for the individual. I hope and pray that as you listen, Christ will come alive for you and then you in His love will become alive for your neighbor. Our faith is not static, but alive and expressive. As you listen to each story, decide which character you are. Who are you in each story??
Story # 1.
“A group of men were traveling across the desert. They were total strangers when they started, some were well to do business men, others were common working men, and one was a criminal, a thief. This band of men traveled together across the hot desert sand. They encountered more wind storms they they anticipated, so their food, their water began to run low. They wore woolen hoods to keep the hot, biting sand from stinging their faces as they traveled. As they traveled, a man noticed that one was missing, the one called Jasmin. They looked around in the driving wind storm, but all they could see was his empty camel. No rider. The men thought it wasn’t worth going back to look for Jasmin since he was the thief among them. He wasn’t worth saving. But, Lawrence, a wealthy business man, a man who had a lot to loose risked leaving the group to go back to look for Jasmin. Lawrence traced over their route, and finally found Jasmin, half mad with heat and thirst. He shared what little water and food he had, placed him on his own camel, and led the camel forward once more. They traveled on and on until they reached the group. When they arrived, all were surprised they had made it. They were bewildered that Lawrence, the rich man, would risk his life for a thief, a crook. They marveled at his love, his respect for a human life.
Do you see yourself in this story?? I do, I am Jasmin. In my relationship with God I am the criminal, I am the outcast, I am the sinner. I am the enemy of God. But Paul says,,”For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son.” You and I are Jasmin, having broken God’s laws, having become lost in the storms of life and failed to live according to God’s commandments. But all is not lost, Christ is Lawrence. Christ saves the lost. Christ finds the lost. Paul says,”much more, now that we are reconciled shall we be saved by his (Jesus) life.”
Story #2
Peirre von Passen in his book, Days of our Years, tells of a little hunchback, Ugolin, who lived in a small French village. He had a difficult because he was a monstrous looking person. Children would not play with him. One night some men who were drinking started making fun of him. One kicked him, spit on him tore off his clothes and finally left him in a pool of blood. Later that night, the local priest found him, took him home, washed him and put him to bed. The next day, while the priest was conducting mass, Ugolin, went to the river and drowned himself. When his sister found out, she committed suicide. Though they were suicides, the priest planned a double funeral in the church for he said, “Those children were not suicides. they were murdered by society without mercy.” The day came for the funeral and the priest went to the pulpit. While looking at everyone, he began his sermon says, “Christians!!!When the Lord of Life and of Death shall ask me on the Day of Judgment, Pastor where are your sheep??? I will not answer him. On the third time he will ask, Pastor…..Where are your sheep?? I will hang my head in shame and I will answer, They are not sheep, Lord…they were a pack of wolves!!!”
Who do you relate to in this story?? The priest, the boy and girl, the towns people??? Maybe all three. As the priest, you and I are the word of God in the world reminding people they are not all that God intends for them to be. You and I are not perfect. We need the love of God, the transforming love of God in our lives. If you and I were not or are not at one point or another a pack of wolves, if we did not have a sense of our own sinfulness, then, then, you do not need Jesus Christ, you do not need to be here, you do not need to come and eat and drink this morning, you do not need the cross, you can get up and leave right now because there is nothing here for you.
But if you sense you can be and at times are that pack of wolves at times in your lives, if you treat people badly, if you reject God, if you feel life is not as perfect as you would like it, then, you are in the right spot, because here transformation takes place, here lives are changed, here you and I encounter God and Christ through the Holy Spirit. Here you and I have a personal relationship with Christ through the Word, through the Sacraments, through fellowship with each other. Here hurts are healed, here lives are made whole, here fellowship and love are present.
Lutherans have far to often be accused of being stuffed shirts, non expressive in our faith. But I think Lutheranism is broad enough to allow for expression, to allow for joy, to allow emotion of faith to be expressed. I have said many times in my other churches, but probably not here yet, that if someone would shout an amen, or praise the Lord, or alleluia during one of my sermons, I would know that maybe someone was listening, that someone was interested, that everyone was not asleep. There is a power present here that means something, it means business is not usual. Life can be changed. People can be renewed.
Because of that power, we would not have an Ugolin and his sister dying for nothing. All of us at one time or another can relate to the hurt, the pain, the abandonment these young people felt. If we are honest with ourselves, we have all been there. But what is so sad in that story, is they felt they had no where to turn, no one who would care, no one to help.
But my dear friends, I hope and pray that does not ever happen here, because all of us have someone I hope, we have Christ, and we have Christ incarnate in someone here in the church. If we do not, then there is something wrong with the church and its members.
Here people is where the power of Christ is present. Here is where the compassion of the people of God should be present. Here is where love should abound for each other. Here is where we should and do feel free to express that love for Christ and love for neighbor. Here is where deeds of mercy and love should begin and then spread out across the land. But if we cannot love each other here in this particular family of God, then I do not know where else that love can be felt.
I like to think of the church as a family and in that family, each of us gives of ourselves, receives from others and is willing to sacrifice for another. In that way we express Christ’s love for us and we become little Christ for one another.
I would like to close with a story of that kind of caring. As you listen, think of yourself as the mother, at times, in the family of God, as you listen, think of yourself as the girl, because I believe as members of God’s family, we are constantly changing roles, constantly giving, constantly receiving, constantly being loved.
The story is told of a young girl whose mother was very beautiful–all except her hands, which were shriveled and scarred and hideous. One day the girl asked her mother about her hands….The mother told her how their house caught fire when the girl was very little. The mother rushed upstairs to the room where the girl was sleeping in her crib, and with the help of Lord was able to carry the babe downstairs and outside without being harmed. But in doing so, the mother’s hands were terribly burned. This brought sobs to the child as she said, “O Mother, you know I’ve always loved you–especially your face, your smile your eyes. But better than all, now I love your hands.”
Do not limit the benefits of fasting merely to abstinence from food, for a true fast means refraining from evil.
Ambrose
Blessed be the LORD, that hath given rest unto his people Israel, according to all that he promised: there hath not failed one word of all his good promise, which he promised by the hand of Moses his servant.
1 Kings 8:56
The King James Version
You will always have joy in the evening if you spend the day fruitfully.
Our suffering is not worthy the name of suffering. When I consider my crosses, tribulations, and temptations, I shame myself almost to death, thinking what are they in comparison of the sufferings of my blessed Savior Christ Jesus.
Martin Luther
Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
Hebrews 13:5
The New King James Version
The devil is a gentleman who never goes where he is not welcome.
The Ranch 