Breakers: Chapter Six--Thanks for asking!

Here is chapter six. It was fun to create. I'm re-writing in this chapter, so it's pretty much new...except for Jon. He's been like this for years.

Please comment, check responses and if you are enjoying Breakers, why not tell some friends?

So DIVE IN HERE!

Grace and Peace to you.
david

Breakers: Fifth Chapter! Link below.

Yesterday I was able to spend quite a bit of time writing, and today a friend and I proofed the next chapter of Breakers. So here it is.

As always, let me know of errors. This is fresh, so you will find them.

Hope you enjoy the fifth chapter, and if you haven't read Breakers yet, then all five chapters are here.

I like the way two world views are juxtaposed in the lead characters of the story. I'd love your comments.

Peace.

Chapter 3 of BREAKERS is Coming!

I have chapter three of Breakers in the bag, and plan to post it next Monday--March 23. I wanted to let you know if you checked back in.

I'm not sure how far I'll be going with this. The Runaway Pastor takes some powerful twists and turns after the first chapters, and I've been hesitant to post more than the first seven chapters of it. I don't want to give up too much of a book we are trying to market. But Breakers is a different thing. I probably have an estimated 16 chapters printed on this one, and as I remember, nothing too much is "given away" at the end of them. So I may just go for a while. Or maybe a publisher will jump in and say, "Wow, that's a best-seller in the making! Let's buy it!" Well, if that happens, all of you "comment and encourage" people won't be forgotten:-).

Hey, speaking of publishing, I want to put in a mercenary line or two here. A blog of this sort is a free way for me to have people read what I've written. And a few hundred different people from all over the country and around the world have shown interest in The Runaway Pastor already. That is gratifying, and has happened largely through word of mouth advertising by people like you. Thanks. And, if you like what you read here, please pass the word along. Tell friends, copy and paste the URL to people you think might like this theme.

If you haven't guessed, there is a thorny issue (at least one) in the plot of Breakers. A Christian minister guy is getting somewhat interested in an irreligious girl. This story is allowing me to explore questions of the walls which separate us...especially those that Christians seem to erect that Jesus didn't.

I've spent my life crossing borders of suspicion, culture and class. I've never met a person in which I don't see the stamp of the image of God. I believe deeply in all people--that each of us are potential representatives of the love of God. Breakers is giving me the chance to work out this idea.

By the way, this book probably needs a title besides this working one. Got an idea? Maybe after you read a bit further you will? I've also thought about "Worlds Apart." That feels a bit clumsy though.

Keep your eyes out here next Monday for chapter 3 of Breakers. And have a few friends look in as well.

Peace to you.
David

Parable of the Gym: Parts 1-4

Several of you have requested that I link all four parts of The Parable of the Gym together. You can click on the title and read them. By the way, there is more to this parable than I have published. And I am preparing to do an edit of these, so your remarks via comment or email are welcomed.

I really hesitated to post this. The parable is a stinging rebuke of the church from Trent, the main character in my novel. He is hurting deeply, and as people who hurt often do, he writes in a stream of conscientiousness that leaves no room for editing. So perhaps it is unfair. However, the parable was written after many conversations with hurting pastors and faithful church people. And, I wrote in the midst of my own dark days of burnout.

I publish the parable here not as a declaration against any church or denomination. I love mine. Rather, it is a starting place for discussion, and I believe holds many painful truths about how the church presents herself to a world that needs her message. Even if spiritually seeking people are wrong about how they perceive their treatment at the hands of the church, to them their perception is--well--their perception.

Wherever Jesus ministered, he was most often loved and admired by those outside of his religious circles. And those inside of it? Not so much. Does today's church find itself being the person and presence of Jesus to the world? Or are we playing the role of those to whom Jesus issued his most stern of warnings?

Grace and peace to you as you seek to be the person and presence of Jesus.

"Witnessing"

In my novel, The Runaway Pastor, there is a scene where Trent is asked by a new friend about his faith. Here is the question, and how Trent approaches his answer.

“Talk to me about your faith, Trent.”


She followed his eyes as he looked out over the sea and the moon, and toward the stars. “Love made all of this. Love so intense it reaches out to you and me and says ‘love me back!’ And I do. I love Love back. And Carman—that woman we met today lying on the street—has been so unloved, that Love begged me to love her. So I did.”


“That’s…that’s beautiful. I think. Does this love have a name, or a religious circle where it hangs out?” Kim asked.


“I think Love’s name is Jesus. And I’m not sure where He hangs out anymore.”

So what is your response to this method of Trent sharing his faith?
Will an answer like this ever meet the need expressed by the questioner?
Why didn't Trent use Jesus' name until pushed for the identity of "Love?"
Would you ever use such an indirect approach to answer such a question about your fatih? Why, or why not?

I've been wanting to get some feedback on various sections of the book, so here is an invitation for you to start a conversation.

Are there any other snippets of the novel you'd like to see discussed?

David