On Suspense and Storytelling: A Conversation with J. Robert Kinney

J. Robert Kinney is an award-winning author specializing in the suspense/thriller genre. He has published four novels thus far, the last three of which make up The Volya Series, and he draws on his educational background in psychology, forensic science, political science, international relations, and terrorism studies to inform his writing. I first met J. Robert Kinney through his mother, whom you might remember as the guest in the last Conversations post here on An Iris Awaits. A few years ago, he was gracious enough to sit down with me and answer my many questions about the process of writing and publishing, and I continue to look forward to each new book he releases. Recently, I asked him to share about his personal writing journey and how his faith informs his work:

Olivia: How did you become interested in writing novels, and what drew you to the suspense genre?

J. Robert Kinney: When I was younger, English was one of my least favorite subjects in school. But a series of excellent teachers ultimately flipped that on its head. They not only taught me the mechanics of the craft, but also showed me how to enjoy writing. Looking back, those teachers were a blessing for which I am immensely grateful.

That said, I think the core of storytelling was always there, cultivated by parents who read to me early and often, and I devoured books by the stack from the library. And as a very young child, I even used to take my toys and have them act out stories, characters, and scenarios. So even if I wasn’t writing them down, the instinct and interest in storytelling has been present for a long time.

However, I finally did start taking it seriously and writing ideas down in college. The suspense genre, I think, just came naturally. It was an escape and a stress relief to create stories. And mystery or suspense were the stories I liked reading, whether it was The Hardy Boys as a child, Robert Ludlum’s Jason Bourne series, John Grisham, or many others. So when it came time to write something, I just wrote a story I would like to read.

Olivia: What would you say is the most crucial element of a good story?

J. Robert Kinney: Characters. People will read a book with a weaker plot as long as they’re invested in the characters, but even the best of plots flounder if you can’t convince the reader to care what happens to the people in it. Characters need motivations that are logical and coherent, and traits that feel real to the reader. They need to follow natural development arcs that resonate. Ultimately, an author needs to construct characters who readers can relate to, root for (or against), and watch as they develop and grow.

Olivia: How does being a Christian influence the way you develop stories and/or your understanding of the concept of story itself?

J. Robert Kinney: This is an interesting question. My first instinct was to argue that it doesn’t really affect story development but is rather an influence on character development. But after mulling it over, I’m not sure that’s true.

I’m a big fan of C.S. Lewis and his writings, both fiction and non-fiction, and the path to his conversion to the faith hinges on this very idea of a Christian story. It was a conversation he had with J.R.R. Tolkien and Hugo Dyson over the nature of a myth; the two other men, both believing Christians, showed Lewis how the story of Christ is a “true myth,” one that affects and moves us the same way as many myths, but with one tremendous difference that this particular one actually happened. This story was actually true.

That’s a long way of saying that being a Christian does impact the way I develop a story because so many of the themes I tackle are, at their core, the same ones that a life of faith has me tackle, question, consider, wrestle with, and (hopefully) answer. Ideas of sacrifice, forgiveness, heroism, courage, and even faith itself are all ideas that my plots circle around. People who are brought to low points by loss and/or life circumstances but find something beyond themselves that allows them to persevere, learn, and grow.

Olivia: What do you hope readers take away from The Volya Series?

J. Robert Kinney: When I look back at the trilogy, there are a few themes that stand out as particularly central to the story, things that I hope readers experience, think about, or absorb.

First is the importance of family and friendships. Not necessarily blood family (though it often is), but the connections we have, or create, with others is what makes us human. Humanity wasn’t created to live in isolation, either physically or emotionally. From the very beginning, God said it was not good for man to be alone. We dwell and work in community, and whether it is parent/child or sibling relationships, or simply connections with friends and coworkers, it is relationships that define our own character and our lives.

Second is the idea of second chances. People are inherently imperfect. More than that, we are deeply flawed. Every one of us. We all make mistakes; we’ve said or done things that we feel can’t be forgiven, things that we can’t overcome or make up for. But at the heart of Christianity is the importance of forgiveness and healing from hurt. Whether we’re struggling to forgive another for pain they’ve caused us, or to forgive ourselves for things we’ve done, it’s important to realize that redemption is possible.

And third, I hope readers see themselves in the characters’ struggles and the ways they overcome those challenges. I always tell people that I don’t necessarily view my books as Christian fiction, but rather as books that simply include Christian characters. And indeed, my main protagonist in the series, Franklin, is not a believer. In fact, most of the characters are not. But Franklin is searching. For something, even if he doesn’t really understand what it is he seeks yet. And part of his story is that internal search and battle with the idea of faith. He has people around him who believe, but he doesn’t understand and constantly fights doubt. I think that is something that so many people—believers or not—have undergone; it resonates with us to know that we are not alone in those difficulties and doubts.

Olivia: Can you share any hints about what we might see from J. Robert Kinney in the future?

J. Robert Kinney: Well, The Volya Series isn’t quite complete yet. I still need to record and release the audiobook for At All Costs. So that’s next on my to-do list. But I already have some ideas percolating for more stories. I have one that is already in progress…it’s kind of a dueling storylines concept, with a modern-day plotline alternating (and intertwining) with one from decades before. But I also have some thoughts on prequel spin-offs with two characters from The Volya Series as well.

Writing is a lifelong journey however, so I view my story as only just beginning! The future is very much in flux, and I can’t wait to see what’s to come.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this conversation with J. Robert Kinney and that it has helped you ponder the importance of good stories and how they can both reflect and shape our lives. You can learn more about J. Robert Kinney’s work and how to purchase his books at his website: https://jrobertkinney.com/ . Links to follow him on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter are also available on his website.

 

When Hindsight Is Still Blind Sight, History Still Comes to the Rescue

This post was originally published in 2017 under the title, "When Hindsight Is Blind Sight, History Comes to the Rescue." Although written five years ago, it is just as applicable today, hence the addition of "still" to the title.

Chances are, most of you are familiar with the phrase “Hindsight is 20/20.” The idea is that when we look back on certain choices or events we are able to see more clearly what course should have been taken or why it was imperative or fortunate that we took the course we did. Closely related is the principle that we can and should learn from our mistakes, and there is certainly an element of truth to these concepts, but there is also a flipside.

 

The opposite of 20/20 hindsight is what I’ll call the “Good Ol’ Days syndrome,” i.e. looking at the past through rose-colored glasses resulting in (or perhaps resulting from) a chronic dissatisfaction with life as it is in the present, a discontentment with circumstances and with society, a pining for the glory days when all was well--or at least better--with the world.  This kind of past-gazing, I’ve found, is rarely 20/20. In fact, it’s more akin to blindness. How so? Let’s explore a bit...

 

Have you noticed lately that there have been increasing cries for unity in America as constituents, pundits, and politicians alike bemoan the harsh and often vitriolic tirades that are so prevalent all across the political spectrum? Certainly verbal assaults and physical violence are uncalled for and are rightly rejected, but a careful observance of the sentiments expressed by those who point out just how out of hand the political culture is becoming reveals that there is a good bit of the “Good Ol’ Days syndrome” sneaking in.

 

Time and time again, I’ve heard pundits and commentators remark, “I haven’t seen anything like this in my lifetime,” or, “Tensions are higher than they’ve ever been, at least in my time.” And maybe they are, but the implication is that our current state is far worse than anything most people have seen. Woe are us.

 

What so many seem to be missing is the fact that, in many ways, the level of hostility among us is nowhere near what it was during numerous periods of our country’s past. To illustrate this point, let’s play a game, shall we?

 

Below are three sections with several statements each, all describing the state of affairs of a given time in American history. Read them and decide if you think that given time is today (i.e. 21st century) or not.

 

Section 1:

a.     Critics of the President highly object to his extended absences from the capital.

b.     A high-profile individual expressly wishes bodily harm to befall the President.

c.      People who previously were cordial, even close friends, go out of their way to avoid each other due to deep ideological differences.

d.     Differences of opinion and conviction result in physical violence.

e.     Divisions exist not just between parties but within parties as well.

f.       The media uses inflammatory language to rile up supporters and opponents of the administration and of each party.

 

Section 2:

a.     Americans find that politicians in neither party represent their views.

b.     Members of Congress take personal offense at the President’s decisions and let that offense influence their vote on bills.

c.      The Secretary of State, nurturing Presidential aims, calculates what advice to give to the President in such a way as to be able to benefit from association with the administration if things go well yet to avoid blame if things go badly.

 

Section 3:

a.     Campaign financing is corrupt.

b.     Immigrants not yet eligible for citizenship are allowed to vote anyway.

c.      Party workers incentivize specific ethnic groups to win their votes.

d.     Partisan media outlets use extreme language and condone violence against their ideological opponents.

 

Section 4:

a.     A former President rebukes the incumbent, accusing him of hypocrisy and immorality for his positions.

b.     A man disgruntled with the current political system detonates a bomb in the middle of a crowded street.

 

So what do you think? Would you be surprised to learn that the statements in Section 1 all describe the late 1790s, that those in Section 2 describe the 1840s, those in Section 3, the 1850s, and in Section 4, the 1910s-1920?  Take a look below the signature in this post to see the exact years and exposition on each statement from David McCullough’s biography John Adams for Section 1, Robert W. Merry’s A Country of Vast Designs (Section 2), James M. McPherson’s Battle Cry of Freedom (Section 3), and David Pietrusza’s 1920: The Year of the Six Presidents (Section 4). It’s fascinating stuff, largely because the similarities to today are so striking.

 

So what are we to learn from this? Well for one, we’re really not worse off today than we’ve ever been. Granted, I am in no way diminishing the seriousness of the current climate. Instead, I’m hoping to put it in perspective, helping us make more informed and relevant observations, which in turn can lead to more effective solutions. When it comes to observations, here are just a few:

 

1. There is nothing new under the sun.

 

When we see tensions rise, slurs abound, and vilification of “the other” increase, we don’t need to be surprised or think that these are new human phenomena. Sure, the specifics might change, but the underlying issues are the same, which brings me to my next observation:

 

2. Man is fallen.

 

We deal with the same issues as our forebears because we, like they, are human, and there are certain things that are always (with the exception of Jesus’ case) included in being human after the Fall—namely, a sinful nature. Because we inherit the fallen nature of our first ancestors, we are given to pride, selfishness, anger, hatred, callousness, and the list goes on. We are, in short, at complete odds with our Creator who also happens to be the supreme God of the universe.

 

When we understand this fact about ourselves, we begin to see why there is so much commonality across eras, and we see that, while there is capacity for good in humanity because we are made in the image of God, our default is evil because that image has been marred by selfish rebellion. This leads to the next point:

 

3. Only an outside Entity can effect the fundamental heart-transformation that is necessary for changed conduct.

 

There are schools of thought that either posit that we are inherently and overridingly good or that we are somewhat defective but on our way to becoming the best version of ourselves, evolving into a purer state. Yet the reality of the steadiness of vice across generations should be evidence enough to convince anyone otherwise.

 

The very fact that the same division and viciousness among fellow humans exists today as it did in each previous decade, century, and millennium shows that no amount of education or legislation can root out the evil seed in our hearts. The only solution is for us to get new hearts, for our souls to be made alive, and this can only happen “by grace, through faith” in Jesus Christ’s life, death, and resurrection for us (see Ephesians 2:8-9).

 

So we want to work towards a more unified nation? A more compassionate and considerate citizenry? Let’s do a heart check, examining our own lives for evidence of belief and one-step-at-a-time change (i.e. sanctification). Once we, through faith, have received a new heart from God, then let’s help others examine their own hearts, lovingly, graciously, walking them through the process of assessing their own lives and their own standing before God and helping them discover the new life that is to be found in Jesus.

 

As God draws us closer to Himself, we can lose those rose-colored hindsight glasses, put off the “Good Ol’ Days syndrome,” and, with imparted wisdom, start using our understanding of the past to inform our present and shape our future.

1a. 1799: “Convinced he could run the government as well from Quincy as at Philadelphia [then the nation’s capital], [John] Adams stretched his stay at home from late March to September, fully seven months. From the views expressed by his vociferous critics, it was hard to say which annoyed them more, his presence at the capital or his absence. At worst, his absence seemed an arrogant abdication of responsibility. At best, it seemed a kind of eccentric scholarly detachment” (McCullough, 526).

1b. 1799: “Another riled Federalist [of the same party as Adams], Robert G. Harper of South Carolina, Hamilton’s chief spokesman in the House, privately expressed the hope that on Adams’s way home to Quincy, his horses might run away with him and break his neck” (McCullough, 524).

1c. 1797: “Feelings ran deep, dividing the parties, dividing old friends. ‘Men who have been intimate all their lives,’ wrote [Thomas] Jefferson, ‘cross the streets to avoid meeting and turn their heads another way, lest they should be obliged to touch their hats’” (McCullough, 493).

1d. 1798: “Vicious animosity of a kind previously confined to newspaper attacks broke out in the first physical assault to occur in Congress. In the midst of debate, when Federalist Roger Griswold of Connecticut insulted Republican [not to be confused with the modern Republican party] Matthew Lyon of Vermont, Lyon crossed the chamber and spat in Griswold’s face. Soon after, Griswold retaliated with a cane. Lyon grabbed fire tongs from the fireplace, and the two went at each other until, kicking and rolling on the floor, they were pulled apart” (McCullough, 494).

1e-f. 1797: “Regional and party differences had made a tinderbox of American politics. It was not only that Republicans were divided from Federalists, but Federalists were sharply at odds with themselves, and the role of the strident, often vicious press was changing the whole political atmosphere” (McCullough, 484).

 

2a. 1844 “Whatever might be said about the eloquence and soundness of these arguments [on whether or not to annex Texas], their underlying significance was clear: The political establishment of both parties had taken a position at variance with the strong sentiment of the broad electorate” (Merry, 77).

2b. 1846 “By July 11 [President Polk] feared many northeastern Democrats [members of his own party] would line up against the [tariff] bill—in part, he surmised, because of lingering animosities over his patronage decisions. ‘There is more selfishness among members of Congress which is made to bear upon great public measures, than the people have any knowledge of,’ he wrote” (Merry, 274).

2c. 1848: “Polk wasn’t fooled by [Secretary of State] Buchanan’s machinations. Though the conversation was ‘unpleasant to me,’ he put in his diary, ‘. . . I thought I ought to rebuke him, and let him understand that I understood the motive that governed him”—namely, Buchanan’s presidential ambition. He wished Polk to send up the treaty [ending the Mexican-American War] against his advice because he would then be well positioned irrespective of the outcome. ‘If it was received well by the country,’ speculated the president, ‘being a member of my administration, he would not be injured by it in his Presidential aspirations, for these govern all his opinions and acts lately; but if, on the other hand, it should not be received well, he could say, ‘I advised against it’” (Merry, 428).  

 

3a-c. 1856, 1858: “The War and Navy departments had awarded contracts without competitive bidding to firms that made contributions to the Democratic party. Postmasters in New York and Chicago under both [Presidents] Pierce and Buchanan had siphoned public funds into party coffers for years. Democrats had used some of this money in congressional contests in 1858. They had also bribed judges to naturalize immigrants prematurely so they could vote in the crucial states of Pennsylvania and Indiana in 1856, and had “colonized” Irish railroad construction workers in Indiana to help swing that state to Buchanan” (McPherson, 226).

3d. 1856: “The Richmond Enquirer pronounced ‘the act [of caning Senator Charles Sumner] good in conception, better in execution, and best of all in consequence. The vulgar Abolitionists in the Senate are getting above themselves. . . . They have grown saucy, and dare to be impudent to gentlemen! . . . The truth is, they have been suffered to run too long without collars. They must be lashed into submission’” (McPherson, 151).

 

4a. 1917 Teddy Roosevelt on a Woodrow Wilson speech: “I do not regard any speech as a great speech when it is obviously hypocritical and in bad faith; nor do I regard the making of such a speech of service to the world. I regard it as a damage to the cause of morality and decency. So far as concerns what Wilson has done in the past few months, I think on the whole it has been badly done; and, what is more, that it has been badly done because of very evil traits on his part” (in Pietrusza, 62).

4b. 1920 “When authorities indicted [anarchists] Sacco and Vanzetti (‘the best friends I had in America,’ said Buda), he swore revenge on the capitalist system and headed for New York. After obtaining a horse and wagon—and a hundred pounds of dynamite—Buda, at noon on Monday, September 16, parked at Wall and Broad Streets, in front of the House of Morgan. [...] A minute later, 12:01 P.M.—lunchtime, with the streets packed with workers—hell broke loose. Five hundred pounds of shrapnel perforated the sky. [...] The blast would eventually claim thirty-three lives” (Pietrusza, 153).

 

Sources:

McCullough, David. John Adams. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2001.

McPherson, James M. Battle Cry of Freedom. New York: Ballantine Books, 1989.

Merry, Robert W. A Country of Vast Designs. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2009.

Pietrusza, David. 1920: The Year of the Six Presidents. New York: Basic Books, 2007.

Even So

I don’t know the statistics on this topic to know if I’m right, but if I had to guess I would say that, second only to “Amazing Grace” by John Newton and “Joy to the World” by Isaac Watts, the most well-known hymn in the world is probably “It Is Well with My Soul” by Horatio Spafford.[1] Written during a period of immense loss and grief in the author’s life, this theologically rich hymn has been a comfort to many who are walking through sorrow or difficulty, a reminder that “Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to know; It is well, it is well with my soul.”[2]

Although some verses were added later, the original four are the ones most well-known today. The first stanza speaks of the truth that, whether in good times or bad, our souls can remain steady in their wellness. The second speaks of the assurance that comes from knowing Jesus took our punishment and died in our place, thanks to the great Plot Twist I wrote about last time. The hymn reminds us that this assurance holds fast even in the face of attacks from our spiritual enemy and various trials in life. The third stanza speaks of the “glorious” truth that in light of what Jesus did for us, we can be free from the entire burden of our sin.

All of this is counter to what we might expect before coming to know God. To those who don’t know Him, it can seem amazing that even the experience of great loss is not enough to shake our security and confidence because of Christ. The fact that “Christ has regarded my helpless estate, And hath shed His own blood for my soul,” and that “I bear [my sin] no more” is mind-blowing, as we saw in the last post. But what I want to focus on today is the last stanza, which contains a surprise in and of itself.

The verse begins, “And Lord, haste the day when the faith shall be sight, The clouds be rolled back as a scroll.” It speaks of Jesus’ return, the day when we will at last see with our eyes what we believe with our minds and hearts. For a follower of Jesus this is a day worth looking forward to, hence the prayer “haste the day” in the hymn. But the day when “The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend” will not be a joyous day for everyone. In fact, if it weren’t for the great Plot Twist or if we didn’t know about that, we would expect the arrival of the Righteous One to be dooming for us unrighteous ones. We have no chance of standing before the Holy God on our own merit.

The apostle Paul describes what the second-coming of Jesus means for those who are still trusting in their own efforts at goodness to achieve salvation, speaking of the day “when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might” (2 Thessalonians 1:7b-9, ESV). Simply put, the souls of those who do not have a personal relationship with God the Father through God the Son are not well and will not be well when Jesus returns or for the rest of eternity. They will be afflicted with unending separation from the One who knows them best and loves them most.

But that love is what made possible a way out for anyone who will take it. Because of Jesus’ sacrifice and ransom for us, those who trust in Him instead of in themselves or in anyone else are able to say as the hymn does, “The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend, even so it is well with my soul.”[3] Even during the regal announcement of the return of the King of Kings, the souls of those who are alive in Christ have no need to tremble with fear. Even when the Lord of Lords descends to consummate His reign, the souls of those who follow Him need not be anxious but can rest secure, peaceful, and confident in their salvation. The Just Judge of all that exists is coming back, but even so, our very souls are well.

As Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, “For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18, ESV).

For those who are in Christ, the splitting clouds and resounding trumpet bring not judgment but the fulfillment of a kind promise. Instead of being eternally “away from the presence of the Lord and the glory of his might,” “we will always be with the Lord” our Maker. We will finally enter the perfect rest that He provides and live forever in the place He has lovingly prepared for us (see Hebrew 4 and John 14).

Jesus is coming back. That is assured. And when He does, will you be able to say, “Even so, it is well with my soul”?

PC: Bobbie Kyle. Used with permission.

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[1] My friend Kim S. Kinney has written a wonderful chapter about Spafford’s story in her book Living for His Glory, available on Amazon.

[2] The word “know” was later changed to “say.” See a reproduction of the original manuscript, written in Spafford’s hand, at https://www.spaffordhymn.com/. (Incidentally, “know” has such a richer meaning to it, doesn’t it? It’s not just that we can say, “It is well with my soul” in any situation, it’s that we can know, i.e. be confident and sure that “it is well with my soul.”)

[3] The original line reads, “A song in the night, oh my soul!” but this has the same positive feeling to it, implying that Jesus’ return is one that brings security and joy for those whose sins are wiped away.

Plot Twist

Among the many religions in the world, most of them have one thing in common: the idea that humans are beneath God and must somehow work their way up and into His favor by accumulating good deeds and thoughts. Whether the belief is in one god or many gods, it is generally recognized that he/they are far above us as humans and that we cannot approach him/them without a great deal of effort. Sometimes the belief is that he/they are angry with us and must be appeased if we want things to go well in our lives.

In the Ancient Near East, this effort of appeasement or gaining favor took the form of offerings and sacrifices—sometimes human—of worshiping carved images and of bodily mutilation (see Numbers 25:2, Deuteronomy 12:31, 1 Kings 11:8, and 1 Kings 18:28). Today it can look like praying or repeating specific phrases a certain number of times a day, fasting at prescribed times, giving tribute to statues or images, performing acts of charity, or attending religious services. Many believe that if they simply do enough of these things it will counteract all the bad things they have done so hopefully, when they die, they will find favor instead of punishment.

Unlike those who erroneously believe that they are inherently good, those who recognize the sinfulness of their nature are at least correct about their distance from holiness. But is it true that we must work our way into right standing before God? For many deities worshipped all around the world, this is what is required. And so, for many, who might be reading the Bible for the first time, this is likely what is expected from the God who reveals Himself there.

There are many verses in the Bible where people acknowledged their sinfulness. King David said, “For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me” (Psalm 51:3, ESV). The prophet Isaiah declared, “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips” (Isaiah 6:5, ESV). The apostle Paul called himself the “foremost” of sinners and groaned, “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (1 Timothy 1:15; Romans 7:24, ESV). And in the same way, the prophet Micah wrote, “I will bear the indignation of the LORD because I have sinned against him” (Micah 7:9a, ESV).

If we take our cue from other religions, we would expect these thoughts to end with a full stop. We are sinful, unclean, wretched people who bear God’s indignation, period, end of story. And we would expect that any hope we have of remedying our situation is wholly and completely up to us. But when we keep reading, we are met with an unexpected twist, for there is more to what Micah had to say:

“I will bear the indignation of the LORD because I have sinned against him, until he pleads my cause and executes judgment for me. He will bring me out to the light; I shall look upon his vindication” (Micah 7:9, ESV, emphasis added).

Take a moment and read that again. Do you realize how earth-shatteringly unexpected the rest of that verse is? We might expect it to say, “I will bear the indignation of the LORD until I do enough good deeds to make up for my sin” or “I will bear the indignation of the LORD until my family’s prayers appease Him on my behalf” or even “I will bear the indignation of the LORD until he pours out His judgment on me and I perish.” But that’s not what it says. It says, “I will bear the indignation of the LORD […] until he pleads my cause.” God, the perfectly holy and righteous One against whom we have sinned, is the One who steps forward for our defense. He is the One who pleads our cause.

But it doesn’t stop there. It says, “until he pleads my cause and executes judgment for me.” There is judgment executed, absolutely. God would not be a just God if He let wrongs go unpunished. But notice the judgment he executes is not on us, it is for us. So, who, then, is His judgment executed on, if not on us who have broken His laws?

His judgment fell on Jesus Christ, on the 2^nd person of the Trinity, on God Himself. As Paul explained, “[B]ut God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life” (Romans 5:8-10, ESV). And, “For our sake he made him [Jesus] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21, ESV). And Peter explained, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed” (1 Peter 2:24, ESV).

When Jesus died on the Cross, He wasn’t just being punished by human authorities for crimes He didn’t commit; He was bearing the full weight of the judgment of God for all the crimes that we had committed and would commit. And He did this “for us,” “for our sake.” So instead of bearing God’s vindication, we “shall look upon his vindication,” as Micah prophesied. Instead of experiencing it ourselves, we observe it. God “will bring [us] out to the light,” instead of leaving us in our darkness, by reconciling us to Himself as Paul wrote and giving us the freedom to “live to righteousness” as Peter said.

Do you realize what a major plot twist that is? No longer do we have to live our lives striving and hoping that somehow we will be able to accumulate enough good deeds that our bad deeds will be outweighed in the end. No longer do we have to live in fear of divine judgment day in and day out. No longer do we have to face death unsure of what kind of reception we’ll receive on the other side. We don’t have to make our own way out of our darkness—truth be told, we couldn’t regardless of how hard we tried.

All we have to do, having recognized that we are not holy and that we sin, is believe that Jesus took our place and bore the judgment that we were due, accept and agree that He is who He says He is—the Son of God, Savior, and Lord—and place our trust in His earned righteousness that He offers to us instead of in our own feeble attempts to make ourselves right with God. He is the only way. And for those of us who repent and believe, He will not execute judgment on us because He has already executed it for us.

This is why, as he is confessing his sin, David can call God, “O God of my salvation” (Psalm 51:14, ESV). This is why Isaiah could hear the words “your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for” (Isaiah 6:7b, ESV). This is why immediately after his groaning, Paul could exclaim, “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:25a, ESV). And this is why Micah could marvel, “Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love. He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.” (Micah 7:18-19, ESV).

Praise be to God that He is unlike other gods. Praise be to God that He does not leave us to our striving. Praise be to God that He does not hate us for our wrongs against Him but instead loves us enough to take our punishment on Himself so that we might enjoy Him forever. Praise be to God for this most life-giving plot twist of all!

Artwork by Melissa M. Angles Art. 

Used with permission.

Days in a Life

Time is a funny thing. Sometimes it feels as if it rushes by, faster than we can keep up with it, and other times it drags along, feeling slower than molasses. “Time flies when you’re having fun,” so the saying goes. And even so, the opposite is just as true. When we’re bored or waiting, time seems to stand still. Despite the fact that time passes more quickly the older we are (which makes sense when we realize that, as we age, a day is an increasingly smaller percentage of our lived experience), the drudgery of waiting is not exclusive to the young. When we are waiting on an expected event, a day can feel like an eternity, no matter our age.

Life is full of waiting. Whether it’s waiting for something to end or something to begin, waiting to hear from someone or to be able to share good news, waiting to be a certain age or meet a certain person, we all know what it’s like to wait. And the Christian life is no exception. Sometimes (a lot of times) we have to wait on the Lord. He operates according to His perfect timeline established in His perfect wisdom, and that timeline doesn’t always match up with our own. And sometimes while we’re waiting, it can seem like He is absent, or at least silent, and we find ourselves not only waiting for Him to move but also waiting for Him to speak.

In these seasons of waiting on the Lord, we can turn to His Word and be reassured that He has spoken as we contemplate what He has revealed to us there about Himself. But there are other parts of Scripture that are encouraging in a different way, if only we have the eyes to see them.

I don’t know about you, but when I read the Bible, especially the narrative portions, I can easily lose sight of how much time is represented in just a few chapters. We can read the entire story of someone’s life in just a couple hours or even a few minutes, and we can forget that these people actually lived through every single day of their lives, one day at a time.

Take Abraham, for instance. In Genesis 12:3-4, we see that God promises, “I will make of you a great nation,” and that Abraham is seventy-five years old when he steps out in faith, believing this promise, and heads to Canaan. Just four chapters later, he becomes a father to Ishmael, but we see in Genesis 16:16 that he was eighty-six years old at the time. That’s eleven years or over four thousand days, and he still had fourteen more years to wait before the arrival of Isaac. He was one hundred years old when Isaac was born, so he had waited twenty-five years, a quarter of a century, from the time of God’s promise to the arrival of his wife’s son (See Genesis 21:5).

Imagine being told that you would be a father to many nations and then waiting day after day and year after year for even the physical possibility of that promise’s fulfillment to become a reality.

Abraham’s great-grandson, Joseph, had a dream as a teenager that he would rule over his brothers, but through a long series of events, he ended up unjustly imprisoned in Egypt. While in prison, he accurately interpreted the dreams of two men who had served in Pharoah’s household, asking the one who would be restored to his position to put in a good word for him to Pharoah. In Genesis 41:1, we read that it was only “after two whole years” that the man remembered Joseph, leading to Joseph’s release from prison and appointment to the second-highest position in the land, the position from which he would in fact rule over his brothers, as his teenage dream had foretold.

Imagine being stuck in prison for something you didn’t do, having a rare chance to do a favor for someone who was about to be released, asking that person to remember you, and then thinking every day, “Maybe today is the day,” for two whole years before finally being released.

Or consider Hannah. Married to a man who had another wife, Hannah was tormented by this more fertile woman because of her own childlessness. The bullying was so severe that “Hannah wept and would not eat,” and on top of that her husband just didn’t understand, asking, “Why is your heart sad? Am I not more to you than ten sons?” (1 Samuel 1:7-8). We read that this “went on year by year” (1 Samuel 1:7), and though we’re not told exactly how many years she waited for a child, we see that “in due time” she conceived after beseeching the Lord (1 Samuel 1:20).

Imagine longing for a child month after month only to be provoked by your husband’s other wife who had the very thing you wanted, and on top of that to be met with guilt-tripping, unsympathetic questions from your husband as your pain and desire grew year after year after year.

And then there’s Elijah. We first meet Elijah in 1 Kings 17 when the Lord uses him to prophecy to King Ahab that there will be a severe drought in the land. In verse 2, “the word of the LORD came to him,” directing him to stay by the brook Cherith, which he did until the brook dried up from lack of rain. Then in verse 8, “the word of the LORD came to him,” sending him to Zarephath where he was provided for by a widow and her son, and we see in verse 16 that they did not run out of food “according to the word of the LORD that he spoke by Elijah.” Eventually, the son died, and Elijah called out to God, asking him to bring the boy back to life (v. 21). “And the LORD listened to the voice of Elijah. And the life of the child came into him again, and he revived” (v. 22). Chapter 17 ends with the widow telling Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in your mouth is truth” (v. 24).

It seems from chapter 17 that Elijah and God had a pretty open and regular line of communication; even the first verse of chapter 18 says, “the word of the LORD came to Elijah.” But before this phrase, there is another phrase that we could easily glance over without a second thought but that changes the dynamics of the story significantly: “After many days.” We’re not sure exactly how many, but between the end of chapter 17 and the beginning of chapter 18, many days passed in which Elijah presumably did not hear the word of the LORD.

Imagine having God speak to you, sending you to inform a king what was going to happen in the future, telling you where to go to survive, answering your request to bring someone back from the dead, and then having Him go silent for day after day before you hear His word again.

So often we read these accounts as if the people involved knew what we know—how the story would play out. But they didn’t. This was their actual life. Each and every one of those “many days” was a full day lived by Elijah. Every “year by year” was a year that Hannah lived and thought and felt. Every day of “two whole years” was a day Joseph lived and breathed and wondered, not knowing if he would ever get out of prison. Every day of twenty-five years was a day that Abraham lived and waited to see a child conceived with his wife be born. Every day they woke up not knowing what the day would bring, and every day they had to depend on God to sustain them as they waited.

If we keep a sense of time as we read through Scripture, we will see how time and again people like Abraham and Joseph and Hannah and Elijah waited on God either to act or speak or fulfill His promise. And in doing so we can be mindful of many things. We can be encouraged by the perseverance and steadfastness of God’s people as they waited on Him. We can learn the dangers of trying to take matters into our own hands when we grow tired of waiting. And above all, we can see God’s faithfulness as He worked, seemingly behind the scenes, to bring about His perfect plan for His people’s lives. And because we know He never changes, we can trust that He is doing the same for us. While we wait, He is active. While we wait, He is with us. And just as the men and women in the Bible waited through seemingly endless days of the unknown and made it through, so can we, depending all the days in our lives on God’s goodness and grace.

PC: Yandle Multimedia Photography. 

Used with permission.

Down to Earth

Have you ever thought about where the phrase “down to earth” came from? We English-speakers use it as an idiom to express the idea that someone is relatable, humble, accessible, not snooty or conceited or aloof. But it hit me the other day that the meaning behind the phrase could have come from the life of Someone who literally came down to Earth and was relatable, humble, and accessible despite having all the right in the universe to stand aloof. You might have an idea of who I’m talking about. But how did I start thinking about this in the first place? Let me back up and tell you a story…

In the last ten months of living in the Middle East, I’ve lost count of the number of times people have expressed amazement or confusion at the fact that my husband and I are living here instead of in America. The locals especially find it hard to fathom that someone from one of the freest countries on earth would leave all that behind and live under occupation, with all the difficulties and inconveniences such a life brings. I usually tell people how God has helped me and prepared me to live here, how life in America is no utopia despite the fact many people think of it as heaven, and how contentment in life doesn’t come from where you live; it comes from having a relationship with Jesus. All of that is very much true. But there’s also another reason I chose to move to my husband’s city in the Middle East: because I love him.

Truth be told, he has been one of the major instruments God has used to prepare me for life here. His patient and tireless explaining of everything foreign, his encouragement as I learn and try new things, his understanding when my brain has reached its limit for the day, his determination to find random items at the grocery store so I can cook a favorite meal—with all of these, he has made the adjustment so much easier.

But there are some things outside of his control. He can’t change the fact that we must be cognizant of how many appliances we have running at one time so the power doesn’t go out. He can’t change the fact that we can’t throw toilet paper in the toilet because the plumbing can’t handle it (although, to be honest, that’s really not that bad once you get used to it). He can’t change the fact that we can’t go visit one of the most famous cities in the world even though it’s less than ten miles from us because I haven’t been issued a permit. He can’t change the fact that we drive by multiple armed soldiers on our way to visit his grandparents. He can’t change the fact that we often have to cancel plans or change travel routes because of the latest round of unrest. He can’t change the fact that the process to travel is exhausting and frustrating and unnecessarily time-consuming and often dehumanizing. And the fact that I have to experience these things that have characterized the majority of his life sometimes weighs heavily on him.

“I’m sorry you have to go through this,” he will say. But I hold him and tell him the truth: “You’re worth it.” No, living here is not always easy, especially as an American who has freedom and equal protection under the law running in her veins. Sometimes it’s downright infuriating. But getting to be his wife and live alongside him and understand his lifelong experience in a deeper way, even if only partially, is worth all the difficulties. I can face them because of my God-given love for him.

I’ve often heard it said that when you become a parent you start to have a deeper understanding of the way in which God loves you as His child. As Jesus said, “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:11, ESV). The experience of parenting and unconditionally loving a child gives us a glimpse of the unconditional love that God has for His children.

In the same way, I’ve found that my experience of leaving my relatively comfortable life in America and moving to a place where I have to worry about concrete walls and checkpoints and permits and soldiers, the process of entering into the world of people I love, to live among them as they live and to be considered one of them, has given me a deeper understanding of the sacrifice Jesus made by becoming incarnate. He left the completely perfect realm of Heaven, the only actual utopia, and came literally and figuratively down to Earth to live among us as we live and to be one of us.

A Being who was self-sufficient, He made Himself dependent. A Being who was self-sustaining, He subjected Himself to hunger and thirst. An all-powerful Being who never slumbers or sleeps, He inhabited a body that became tired and sleepy. The Being who designed the human body and created its process of development, He willingly entered a womb and experienced being physically born. A Being who was omnipresent, He experienced the physical limitations of humanity that require travel to be in a different place and prevent being in multiple places at once.

The Word of God made Himself a child who had to learn to speak. The Light of the World entered a world that became dark every evening. The Prince of Peace came to dwell in a land of unrest. The King of Kings became a common carpenter. The Just Judge subjected Himself to a system of injustice. Jesus, “though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:6-8, ESV).

Why? Because He loved us. Because the world and all of creation needed to be set right. Because our relationship to Him, to ourselves, to each other, and to nature needed to be healed and restored. He could have left us to our own ruin, but He loved us. He could have given up on us and destroyed us like we deserve, but He loved us. He could have avoided the inconveniences and difficulties of life as a human, but He loved us. He could have escaped the suffering and pain He endured from living and dying in this fallen world, but He loved us.

So He came. Down to Earth. He lived how we lived; He worked how we worked; He felt how we felt; He walked how we walked and traveled how we traveled; He sweat how we sweat and toiled how we toiled; He ate how we ate, drank how we drank, slept how we slept, and cried how we cried; He was “tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15, ESV). And all because He loved us. “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly,” and this was the culmination of the plan to show His and the Father’s love (Romans 5:6, 8 ESV).

What a deep, abiding, perfect love that Jesus Christ has for us. Because of this love, it is possible for us to go from being enemies to children of God (see 1 John 3:1). That the Supreme God of the universe would love us so much that He would willingly identify with us, live among us, and become one of us, even while we were rebelling against Him—what an awe-inspiring thought. That He would care enough about us to understand our struggles and the difficulties of our situation, not only intellectually from being all-knowing but experientially from enduring them Himself—what a mind-blowing realization. What beautiful, wondrous love!

PC: Cheri Moore. Used with permission.

A Heart for Home

The idea of home is one that has captivated humanity for ages and not surprisingly, since a heart that longs for home is a feature of the design God created in us. We’ve reflected this longing by writing songs and stories, developing clichés, creating décor, all dedicated to this idea of belonging, of attachment to a place. The idea is so ingrained in us that one of the first things we typically ask when getting to know someone is, “Where are you from?” which is another way of saying, “Where is your home?”

For those of us who have moved around a lot, that can be a confusing question. Is home where I was born? Is it where I grew up? Is it where I currently live? Is it where my family lives? Is it where my family roots are? Is it the place to which I feel most attached? For many, myself included, those can all be different places. So which one is home? I recently went “home” (to the United States) to visit my “home” (my parents’ house where I used to live) and my other “home” (the town and house where I grew up) before returning “home” to the Middle East where my husband and I currently live.

In the weeks leading up to and during that trip, my thoughts were often turned to the idea of home, and I realized that the answer to all those questions above is “yes.” All of those places are home, because all of those places are part of me, and I was part of them. The saying “Home is where the heart is” is more than just a cliché. It’s reflective of the truth that our home is the place where we make memories and/or where our affection lies and/or where we find belonging. It is possible, then, to have many homes. And because we are finite creatures who are only able to physically be in one place at a time, that multi-home reality means that we are destined for a life of being home while simultaneously missing home.

In some ways, I think I expected that with each passing move my earlier places of residence would lose some of their hold on me, but that has not been the case. The only thing that has changed each time is that I then have more places to miss. It turns out the heart is not some box that only fits so many things inside. It keeps growing to hold all the people and places that one finds dear, and while that is a beautiful thing, in some ways the thought of it can be exhausting. It means that in all likelihood my husband and I will always live in a different country than at least one set of our parents. It means that the longing I have for all my homes will never go away, and I’ll only get more longings for more places the more I move around. It means the longing I have for face-to-face time with all my friends from all those homes will never go away, and I’ll only have more friends to miss the more I leave one home for the next.

To be clear, I’m not complaining. Having many homes and many friends is a blessing beyond measure. To put a spin on Tennyson, ‘tis better to have family and friends far away than never to have had family or friends at all. What I am doing, though, is acknowledging that sometimes being far away from home just plain hurts. But as I was thinking about this perpetual longing the other day, the Lord reminded me that these longings are reflective of a greater longing. They are echoes meant to point me to something else, to another home, the ultimate Home that I have waiting for me thanks to Jesus.

As C. S. Lewis wrote in Mere Christianity, “If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.” The desire for home is one such unsatiable, otherworldly desire. Even if you’re enjoying being in one home, you’re always missing the others. Even in moments of happiness, there is often still the sense that something or someone is missing. But the prospect of a persistent ache from being absent from loved ones and dear places is not something to be overwhelmed by. Instead, it is a gift, because it reminds me that one day I will be fully Home and missing and longing and aching will be no more. And it’s a gift because in reminding me of these things it points me to Jesus.

While I was home in the States with all these things in the back of my mind, I had one of those moments where I was reading a familiar passage of Scripture only to have the Holy Spirit emphasize verses I hadn’t usually focused on before. The passage was Hebrews 11, and I was struck by the ways the chapter speaks to this idea of leaving home to go to a new home while simultaneously longing for our ultimate home.

In verse 8 we read, “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going” (ESV). Abraham is called by God to leave his home, to leave the place where he grew up, the place where his family lived, and go to a new home. And he goes. “By faith he went to live in the land of promise,” (v. 9). But interestingly it doesn’t say that he made it his new home, even though it’s where he lived out the rest of his life. Verse 9 continues, saying he went to live “as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise.”  Why? “For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God” (v. 10). God had promised him a new earthly home, yet his eyes weren’t focused on that new home; they were focused on his eternal home.

No doubt, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, and Jacob wanted to settle down in their new home and have the longing of the promise fulfilled in their lifetimes, but instead, “These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland” (vv. 13-14). As these verses point out, if we saw someone neglecting to put down roots in a new place, we might assume that they intended to return home.

But Abraham and Sarah weren’t focused on their former earthly home any more than they were focused on their new one (which, as we’ve seen, wasn’t a lot). “If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return” (v. 15). Instead, their longing for home was pointed elsewhere. “But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city” (v. 16). No doubt, they missed their family and the familiarity of their earlier home; no doubt they would have liked to feel completely settled and at home in their new land, but their desire for their future home, their heavenly home, was greater.

While we may have many earthly homes, the truth is that none of them are truly our home. None of them are where we truly belong. None of them are where our greatest affection lies. None of them are the place where we can most completely be ourselves. None of them are where we were designed and created to live for eternity. So while we absolutely can and should love where we live and have lived and recognize them all as gifts that God has sovereignly used as parts of our story, and while we certainly can feel the pain of missing people and places that comes from being absent from those things that we love, we should also recognize, as Abraham and Sarah and C. S. Lewis did, that our homeland is in another world.  And we can let that truth wash over us with all of its refreshing, hopeful promise whenever the longing for our other homes presses heavily on our hearts.

Because one day all our other homes will pass away and our new home will arrive, “coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband,” and we will know not only intellectually but experientially with every fiber of our being that “‘the dwelling place of God is with man,’” because “‘He will dwell with [us], and [we] will be his people, and God himself will be with [us] as [our] God.’” And “‘He will wipe away every tear from [our] eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.’ And he who was seated on the throne said, ‘Behold, I am making all things new.’ Also he said, ‘Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true’” (Revelation 21:1-6, ESV).  

PC: Penny Eanes. Used with permission.

P.S. As often happens, when there is a theme of thought during a particular period of my life, references to that theme will pop up from seemingly random places. Several days ago, as the beginnings of this blog post were rolling around in my head, The Foreign Landers (a band I follow made up of a fellow alum of my college and his wife) released a new song partially inspired by the very C.S. Lewis quote I mentioned above. It speaks of the longing that serves as a reflection of our ultimate home. Please take a moment to listen and be encouraged: https://fb.watch/eF_VaLtUMx/ (no Facebook account needed to view). I’d recommend listening twice so you can most fully grasp the meaning of all the lyrics.