أهلا وسهلا إلى سوسنة في إنتظارك

أهلا وسهلا في أول منشور عربي هنا في مدونة سوسنة في إنتظارك، أريد أن أعرف عن نفسي وأعلمكم بما ينتظركم في الأيام القادمة.

اسمي أوليڤيا باشا وأنا أتبع يسوع .ولدت ونشأت في أمريكا ولكن الآن أسكن في بلاد الشام مع زوجي، وهو مسيحي عربي ولد ونشأ في الشرق الأوسط. في عام ٢٠١٥، بدأت هذه المدونة بهدف مشاركة ما تعلمته وما زلت أتعلمه من أجل تشجيع وتحدي المؤمنين الآخرين بيسوع أثناء نمو علاقتهم به. عنوان المدونة قد يكون غريب، لكنه يشير إلى لغة الزهور في العصر الڤيكتوري، الذي فيه زهور السوسن تترجم ل "رسائل"، فالفكرة هنا من "سوسنة في إنتظارك" أن هناك رسالة تنتظرك حتى تفتحها وتستمتع بها.

منشوراتي الأولى كانت تندرج تحت ثلاثة فئات: الكنيسة، والتي تستهدف المسيحيين؛ الثقافة، والتي تستهدف الأحداث الحالية في أمريكا من خلال عدسة الكتاب المقدس؛ وكل شيء، والتي تغطي مواضيع لم تقع في الفئتين الأخريين. في عام ٢٠٢٠، بعد عام من لقاء زوجي، وكنت قد أصبحت مخطوبة له، بدأت فئة جديدة: التواصل بين الثقافات، والتي تهدف لمساعدة قرّائي الأمريكيين أن يتعلموا عن ثقافة الشرق الأوسط التي كنت على وشك الدخول إليها وأن يروا كيف يمكن أن يساعد التعلم عن ثقافة الشرق الأوسط في إعطائنا فهم أفضل عن الكتاب المقدس. و أيضا هدفت في هذه الفئة أن أساعد الأمريكيين المسيحيين أن يدركوا أن لهم أخوة وأخوات في المسيح في الشرق الأوسط والذين يتشاركون معهم برابط إيماني.

مع كل هذه الأمور التي ذكرتها، كان تركيزي قبل عام ٢٠٢٣ بشكل كبير على جمهور أمريكي. لكن خلال السنوات الماضية وتحديداً بعد الانتقال للسكن في الشرق الأوسط، مجتمعي توسع ليشمل عائلة وأصدقاء عرب. رأيت وسمعت وشعرت بالإحباط حيال ندرة الموارد المسيحية باللغة العربية بالمقارنة مع اللغة الإنجليزية. في العام الماضي، صديقتي -والتي أيضاً تعلمني اللغة العربية- زرعت في رأسي فكرة ترجمة بعض المنشورات من المدونة إلى اللغة العربية. ومع نهاية عام ٢٠٢٢، وجدت أن الرب وضع هذه الفكرة بشدة في داخلي، لقد شعرت أنه شيء يجب علي أن أفعله في عام ٢٠٢٣.

خلال الأشهر الماضية، أعطى الله بعض من الأصدقاء الرغبة في المساعدة في الترجمة وأنا متحمسة أن أشارك أن "سوسنة في إنتظارك" سيكون فيها فئة جديدة مخصصة للغة العربية تحتوي على ترجمات لبعض من منشوراتي السابقة. هذه المنشورات ستحتوي على ملاحظات من قراءة الكتاب المقدس، دروس يعلمني إياها الله، ورسائل أخرى تهدف إلى أن تشجعك و تتحداك في رحلتك مع يسوع. حتى نبدأ، سيتم مشاركة منشور واحد كل شهر وسيكون أول منشور الأربعاء القادم. 

أغلب المنشورات موجهة للجمهور مسيحي، لكن بغض النظر إن كنت تعرف يسوع لفترة طويلة أو أنك مؤمن جديد أو مؤمنة جديدة أو ليس لك علاقة به، صلاتي أن يستخدم الله هذه المنشورات لكي تساعدك على تعميق فهمك لصلاحه ونعمته ولتقترب منه. له وحده كل المجد.

شكرا من أجل قراءة المنشور. ليباركك الرب بسلام.

كتب من قبل أوليفيا باشا. ترجم من قبل حنا باشا. تعديل ميس سلفيتي.

المصدر: عيسى باشا. سمح بالنشر.

A New Chapter for An Iris Awaits

It’s hard to believe it’s been over seven years since I started this thing called “An Iris Awaits.” Since that time, God has graciously allowed me to share things that He has laid on my heart on a variety of topics, but all with the view of challenging and encouraging others to go deeper in their relationship with Him and to see how that relationship is, or at least can and should be, integral to every aspect of our lives, not just put in a “spiritual” or “Christianity” box that we keep separate from everything else.

Over the last seven years, we’ve delved into passages from the Bible; we’ve looked at lessons to be learned from classic literature; we’ve heard from friends on a breadth of topics they are passionate about and heard how their faith informs their work in those areas; we’ve examined current events in light of truths from God’s Word; and most recently we’ve begun exploring how interacting with different cultures—particularly Middle Eastern culture—can help us better understand God and the Bible.

From the beginning, my primary audience has been the American Church, because believers from my home country were the majority of my community, and they were the ones my heart was most burdened for, desiring to see their faith become solid, vibrant, and authentically lived-out. But in the past few years, my community has rapidly expanded to include the Arab Church, both with family and with friends. And while my heart is still very much burdened in the same way for my American brothers and sisters, that burden has now grown to include my Arab brothers and sisters as well.

Time and again as my husband and I have been serving in church or having conversations with friends, biblical resources have come to mind that would be incredibly helpful in the given situation but that are only available in English. And while English is essentially a second language where we live and many people are able to speak fluently and read fluently (or nearly so), it is still frustrating for us and others not to be able to share these biblical resources with people here in Arabic, their heart language.

Sometime last year, my friend and Arabic teacher asked me if I had ever thought about publishing posts in Arabic. I hadn’t really, but thanks to her question, I gave it some thought at the time. As she pointed out, there are not many written resources for Christian discipleship in Arabic. It wasn’t long, though, before the idea had slipped to the back of my mind as other things took precedence. Fast-forward to the end of 2022, and as I was thinking about the new year, the Lord suddenly and strongly brought the idea to the forefront of my mind. This was something I knew I needed to do in 2023.

Over the past few months, the Lord has given confirmation through responses from others with whom I floated the idea and by providing several friends to help with translation work. So beginning this month, I’m opening a new section here on the blog that will be dedicated to posts in the Arabic language. While I will continue writing and posting in English (typically every other Monday), this new area will contain Arabic translations of selected posts from the past seven years (typically published one Wednesday a month for starters).

Will you join me in praying that these Arabic-language posts will make their way to those who need them, that our fellow believers who speak Arabic will be challenged and encouraged in their walk with Christ, that those who are “Christians in name only” will recognize their need to make a personal decision to follow Christ, and that those who have no interest in knowing Jesus will begin to see the beauty of a relationship with Him? I have no idea how God wants to use this meager offering of ours, but I am beyond excited to see what He will do. All glory to His Name!

PC: Issa Basha. Used with permission.

What a Power Outlet Taught Me about God

People often ask me, “What is the biggest difference between living in America and living in the Middle East?” And while there are certainly some big differences, most of the difference comes from the accumulation of a lot of little things—things that you don’t even know to think about until you experience them. Take power outlets, for instance. Pictured below is a contemporary standard outlet in America.

Until I traveled outside the United States, it never occurred to me that any other kind of power outlet existed (other than the two-pronged version found in older houses). Turns out, there are a lot of different types of outlets across the world, including here in the Middle East, where the outlets look like this:

Growing up, I became familiar with outlet adapters from staying at my grandparents’ where we had to use them to convert our three-pronged plugs into two-pronged ones, so having to use adapters for my phone and computer chargers when I moved to the Middle East wasn’t that foreign of a concept. But it isn’t just the plugs and outlets that are different.

The voltage is different too. So it doesn’t matter whether the plug fits in the outlet if the voltage capacity of the device doesn’t match the voltage coming from the outlet. In that case, the device either won’t turn on, or it will fry. To fix the problem, you need a voltage adapter as well as an outlet adapter to help convert the electricity into something that the device can handle.

While it may not be a perfect analogy, thinking about all these adapters made me think about the spiritual adapters we need in our lives. God’s Word, the Bible, is like an outlet adapter. We come to it in our fallen humanness and through it are able to encounter God, the Power Source. As the primary means by which we learn about God, the Bible is one of the main ways that we become connected to Him.

But not everyone who reads the Bible understands what they read or receives strength and encouragement from it. I’m reminded what Paul wrote about preaching God’s Word: “we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1:23-24, ESV). To some the Gospel and God’s Word is a stumbling block or folly instead of the power and wisdom of God. So what makes the difference?

God’s Word is powerful on its own, yes and absolutely (see Isaiah 55:11 and Hebrews 4:12), but there is a means by which the power of God’s Word is effective, and that is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the One through whom the human writers of the Bible were divinely inspired (see 2 Peter 1:21 and Acts 4:25). And the Holy Spirit is the One who equips human readers to understand the truth that they read.

So If God’s Word is like the outlet adapter, the Holy Spirit is like the voltage adapter. Without the aid of God the Holy Spirit, we are not able to handle the power coming from Him as the Power Source. But the Holy Spirit, our Helper (see John 16:7), equips us to handle the power of receiving and processing the Word of God.

Before Jesus, God the Son, was crucified, He told His disciples that there was much more they had yet to hear and understand: “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now” (John 16:12, ESV). When and how would they be able to bear them? We find the answer in the next verse: “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you” (John 16:13-14, ESV). With the help of the Holy Spirit, the disciples would be able to bear the truth without crumbling under its weight. In the same way, with the help of our Voltage Adapter, the Holy Spirit, we are able to bear the incoming power of the truth of God’s Word. He enlarges our capacity to receive what God the Father has to give us.

So how are you trying to live your life as a Christian? Are you dragging along without much power? Does God seem distant and disconnected? If you feel as if you never hear from God or experience His power in your life, try asking yourself if you’re really utilizing your Outlet Adapter (the Bible) to plug into God’s very thoughts and words delivered to you in writing. And if you’ve got your Outlet Adapter securely in place, but you still feel like you’re disconnected from the Power Source, be sure to plug into your Voltage Adapter (the Holy Spirit) before, while, and after you read. Ask Him to give you the understanding, to guide you into the truth, and to help you internalize and live out what God Almighty, the Power Source, has delivered to you in His Word. 

PC: Daniel Basha. Used with permission.

Never-ending

Lamentations 3:22-23 are some of the most encouraging verses in the Bible and perhaps also some of the most well-known, thanks to the hymn “Great Is Thy Faithfulness,” which is based on them.

“The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases;

            his mercies never come to an end;

they are new every morning;

great is your faithfulness” (ESV).

Whenever I’ve heard sermons or discussions about these verses, the part that seems to be emphasized the most is the fact that God’s mercies are new every morning, and certainly that is an encouraging truth. Regardless of how much we have messed up the day before, each morning we are met, not with condemnation, but with mercies from God, and not just any mercies, but fresh mercies. It’s not yesterday’s leftovers that we are left to ration out throughout the day. Each morning God gives us brand new compassion to carry us through.

When I was reading these verses some time ago, though, another phrase stood out to me about His mercies that is just as encouraging. They “never come to an end.” Take a moment and think about how amazing that is. So many things in life—including earthly life itself—come to an end eventually, and endings often come with grief. We finish a good book or film; we move away; we say goodbye, and regardless of what new things are beginning, we still are left with a feeling of loss and sadness that a good thing did not last. Such is our lot here on this temporary earth of temporary things where Eternity is still in our future.

But there is a Being who exists beyond space and time and for whom Eternity is now (and has always been) present—"the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!” (Revelation 4:8, ESV). He is “the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8, ESV), which means that He never changes. And if He never changes, then every aspect of His character is constant and never-ending. This means there will never ever be a point, in time or outside of it, when God’s mercy and compassion stop. There will never ever come a time when His love runs out or His faithfulness is depleted. We will never ever face a day when we must grieve the ending of God’s kindness. We’re often told to “never say never,” but when it comes to God, we can confidently say that who He is will never change.

In a world where it can seem that good things never last, we can find great joy and deep assurance in the fact that God’s mercies last forever. In a world where so little can be depended on, we can wholeheartedly depend on His faithfulness. His mercies are new in the morning, yes, but there also will never be a morning where they will cease to exist. The fountain of His love will never run dry. His tender care will never disappear from our lives. What a beautiful, calming, bolstering thought.

So the next time you are disappointed by the world or the people in it, the next time you must navigate the process of grieving an ending, the next time you feel like there is nothing solid to hold on to, read these verses and meditate on the constancy of God’s character and the never-ending nature of His good gifts to His children. Will you join me even today in thanking God for this marvelous truth?

“The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases;

his mercies never come to an end;”

To read the Arabic translation of this post, click here.

لقراءة الترجمة العربية لهذا المنشور إضغط هنا.

PC: Pamela Hollis. Used with permission.

Sealing the Deal

When my parents and I first visited my husband’s family in the Middle East, one of the hardest adjustments was learning to navigate the cultural protocol for accepting or rejecting something that was offered. Generally speaking, Americans are a very straightforward people. We like to be direct and get to the point. Middle Easterners, on the other hand, tend to be more circular in their thinking and communication, as I’ve written about in a previous post.

One of the main arenas where this difference plays out is hospitality. Middle Easterners are an incredibly hospitable people. When you visit them at their home, they will offer you all manner of refreshments. But when it comes to receiving such things, they consider it more polite to refuse the first time it is offered. Only after the second or perhaps third offering of “Would you like such-and-such?” is it considered polite to accept something. This means even if you really want that cup of coffee or piece of baklava, you turn it down the first time it’s offered, knowing it will be offered again—and again. It also means that if you really don’t want it, you’ll have to refuse it several times before the refusal is recognized as your genuine wish. Americans, by contrast, have no qualms about stating their true desires from the outset. “No, thank you” really means “No, thank you.” In the same way, when Americans offer something to their guests and are met with that “No, thank you,” they take it at face value and usually don’t offer again.

You can imagine the cultural clash that occurs when an American visits a Middle Eastern home or vice versa. In the first setting, Americans can easily come across as rude or can feel pressured by the repeated offers and finally give in, taking something that they really didn’t want in the first place. In the second, Middle Easterners are in danger of going hungry or thirsty if they don’t realize that a refusal on their part most likely won’t be met with a repeated offer from their host.

In our culturally-blended family now, when we say, “No, thank you,” we joke that it’s either “an American no” or “an Arab no.” And thankfully, my in-laws have come to understand that I’m not being rude when I say “yes” the first time, and I’m slowly learning to keep offering, even when my first offer is met with a “no.”

This cultural dynamic can also affect the process of buying and selling something. In the Middle East, Person 1 may ask how much something is, and Person 2 might say, “Oh, you can have it. No need to pay.” At which point, Person 1 will understand that Person 2 is being polite and avoiding the appearance of greed by not disclosing the price right away. Person 1 will then ask again and insist that he be allowed to pay. This cycle can go on and on for some time before Person 2 finally feels it appropriate to state the price.

It wasn’t until I moved to the Middle East that I really began to understand how deeply rooted this pattern of etiquette is, and it was then that I gained understanding of a passage in the Bible that had always confused and amused me. In Genesis 23, Abraham’s wife Sarah had just passed away, and he was looking for a place to bury her. He approached the Hittites, the people living in the area, and we pick up with him in verses 8-9 (ESV):

“And he said to them, ‘If you are willing that I should bury my dead out of my sight, hear me and entreat for me Ephron the son of Zohar, that he may give me the cave of Machpelah, which he owns; it is at the end of his field.’” At first, with this translation, it appears that Abraham is asking to be given the cave for free, but we see from his next statement in verse 9, that he is really offering to pay: “‘For the full price let him give it to me in your presence as property for a burying place.’” So what did Ephron do? American readers like myself might expect him to simply state the price, which is why we are surprised and a bit confused to see he didn’t. Instead, he said in verse 11, “‘No, my lord, hear me: I give you the field, and I give you the cave that is in it. In the sight of the sons of my people I give it to you. Bury your dead.” Ephron was clearly offering to give not only the cave but also the entire field to Abraham at no charge. Again, we American readers might expect Abraham to respond with something like, “Really? That’s so kind of you. Thank you so much” and accept the offer. But he didn’t. In verses 12-13, “Then Abraham bowed down before the people of the land. And he said to Ephron in the hearing of the people of the land, ‘But if you will, hear me: I give the price of the field. Accept it from me, that I may bury my dead there.’” So Abraham repeated his offer, and what Ephron did next presents another surprise.

“Ephron answered Abraham, ‘My lord, listen to me: a piece of land worth four hundred shekels of silver, what is that between you and me? Bury your dead’” (vv. 14-15). Here Ephron still appeared to be offering the land to Abraham for free, but he slipped in there the value of the property. In my American mindset, I always thought that either he never intended to make Abraham pay for the land or he had been genuinely not wanting to charge Abraham at first, changed his mind because of Abraham’s insistence, but still felt bad about naming a price. After learning how Middle Eastern negotiation works, though, I see now that Ephron always had the intention of selling the land to Abraham for the full price. It just took going through the culturally appropriate process to get there.

So “Abraham listened to Ephron, and Abraham weighed out for Ephron the silver that he had named in the hearing of the Hittites, four hundred shekels of silver, according to the weights current among the merchants” (v. 16). They closed the deal, and everyone was happy. Ephron and Abraham were living and acting in the context of their culture—a culture that is still in existence today. And suddenly what seemed an oddity in Scripture made perfect sense.

This is just one example of how learning the nuances of a culture different from our own can increase our understanding and how, when it comes to studying Scripture, knowing the context of the place in which its events occurred helps us avoid misinterpretation. For more examples like this one, see other posts with the Cross-Cultural label here on An Iris Awaits.

PC: Rose Creger Tankard. Used with permission.

A Happy Heart

When I was a child, a ministry called Life Action came to our church multiple times to host week-long church events. On at least one occasion, their visit was extended as God was working powerfully in our midst. In fact, it is through the ministry of Life Action that both my parents came to know the Lord personally, and by extension me as well, since it was through their witness after their conversion that I, too, became a follower of Jesus.

During the sessions every evening, the adults would sit under preaching while the kids would have their own time of teaching and activities. It was during this time that I learned the definition of obedience, taught in a sing-song way with hand motions, which is why I still remember it today: “Obedience is doing what you’re told to do, when you’re told to do it, with a happy heart.” Remove any one of those phrases, and you don’t have true obedience.

Most of us 90s kids there knew that if our parents told us to do something and we didn’t do it, then we were being disobedient. But the next part was a bit uncomfortable. If we said we would do the thing and even intended to do it, but decided to do it later, after we had finished whatever we were engaged in at the moment, then we weren’t being truly obedient. In other words, delayed obedience is disobedience. I remember after learning this lesson that I tried to change my practice from delaying to either obeying right away or simply asking, “May I finish this chapter (or song) first?” (because let’s be honest, I was usually either reading or playing piano when the parental instructions came along). Most of the time, the answer was “Yes,” but when it was “No,” I had the choice to defy my parents in disobedience by delaying anyway or to stop what I was doing and obey. Making the right choice wasn’t always easy, but it was what I was called to do as a child who followed Jesus—to honor my father and mother.

However difficult that part might have been, though, it was nothing compared to the last part—“with a happy heart.” Sure, I might have been able to master the “doing what I was told to do when I was told to do it,” but was I happy about it? Or was I inwardly—or outwardly—grumbling that I had to stop my very enjoyable pastime and get up to unload the dishwasher or run upstairs to get something for Mom? The uncomfortable truth was that if I was just going through the motions but was doing so with a complaining spirit, I wasn’t being truly obedient.

That’s all well and good, you might be thinking, but what does that have to do with me, a 2020s adult? Well, everything, really. Because just as children are called to honor and obey their earthly parents, God’s children—of every age—are called to honor and obey Him. And for us, the definition of obedience is the same. “Obedience is doing what we’re told to do, when we’re told to do it, with a happy heart.”

Did you know that the Bible actually talks about the heart when it comes to obedience? Read these words from Romans 6:16-18 (ESV) and see if you can pick it out:

Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.

Did you see it? “Obedient from the heart”—in other words, truly obedient. But how on earth were the recipients of Paul’s letter able to become obedient from the heart? And how are we to be able to always do what God tells us to do with a heart of happiness? I might sacrifice my time, have a difficult conversation, or go somewhere He is calling me to go, but am I happy about it? Or am I inwardly—or outwardly—grumbling that I have to stop my comfortable and enjoyable activities to do what He has instructed me to do?

I don’t know about you, but that war between my old self (my flesh) and my new self is an ongoing battle. But the fact that there is a battle should be of great encouragement to us. It means that our heart of stone has been replaced with a new heart (see Ezekiel 36:26). Before coming to know Jesus, our heart is unable to obey with happiness. We might be able to go through the motions, but we can never be truly obedient because our hearts are bent toward selfishness and self-righteousness when doing so. But when we surrender to Jesus, He gives us a new heart, and through this gift we are able to truly obey Him. We can honestly say with David, “I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart” (Psalm 40:8, ESV).

God doesn’t just demand complete obedience from us. He also graciously gives us the tools necessary to obey. He literally changes our heart and puts His own Spirit in us, making it possible for us to be truly obedient. Through our new heart, inhabited by the Holy Spirit, we have a power indwelling us that is able to defeat our griping, complaining, feet-dragging flesh and give us the strength to choose willing and glad obedience to what is asked of us. So let’s not ignore or attempt to quench that power. Let’s not cheapen the gift made possible by Jesus’ perfect life, substitutionary death, and victorious resurrection by failing to apply it to our lives. Let’s live in the truth that we are freed from our bondage to sin and begin obeying God completely—with a happy heart.

To read the Arabic translation of this post, click here.

.لقراءة الترجمة العربية لهذا المنشور إضغط هنا

PC: Eric Eanes. Used with permission.

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.