Why Do I Write? Because God Sent Me Lions Instead of a Whale

Original Photo by author, taken in South Africa 

I have recently been asked why I write. Is it for the money or the fame? Nope. 

Some of you may know this story, but for those of you who don’t, it’s because of lions.

It started with a devotional reading from the Book of Daniel, 14:42. “Then the king said: ‘Let all the inhabitants of the whole earth fear the God of Daniel: for he is the Savior working signs and wonders in the earth: who hath delivered Daniel out of the lions’ den.’”

During my morning commute, I listened to a radio program by Pastor Greg Laurie from Riverside, California. He opened the program with this question. “Have you read Peter Capstick’s book, Death in the Long Grass?”

At my husband’s suggestion, I read it before our trip to Africa. The stories of about man-eaters still haunt me.  

Pastor Greg then asked, “Do you know the movie, The Ghost and The Darkness, the story of Colonel Patterson and the lions of Tsavo?”

It was one of the first movies my husband and I watched when we were dating.   

Pastor Greg continued. “Do you know the song, The Lion Sleeps Tonight?”

I was not just familiar with it. On our wedding night, four young men sang the song to us while we ate dinner on the terrace of the Safari Lodge in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, Africa. Below us in the game reserve, lions roared during the entire performance, forever fixing the song in my memory.

Pastor then quoted several verses from the book of Daniel, particularly Daniel in the lions’ den.

The theme continued that night. The History Channel had a documentary on the fall of Babylon from Biblical prophesies, including the book of Daniel.

Daniel and lions again. I wandered what was so important about Daniel that God was hammering me with references to him.

The next morning Pastor Greg opened his radio program with these words, “I’ll tell you what is so important about Daniel…”

Not wanting to miss a single word, I turned the volume up.

“… Because of his faith in God, Daniel was a man of integrity and honesty. These virtues, not his spirituality, advanced him up through the Babylonian court to a place of immense power and influence. If you follow Daniel’s example, you too will rise to a higher status.

“It is as much your responsibility to share the Gospel as much as it is mine. As the stories in the Bible indicate, we can bring people to God by sharing ours.”

God didn’t mean me. I discounted the idea until the next morning when a young mountain lion ran across the road in front of my car. 

I wrote a memoir, but decided it was too much work, not to mention boring, and I tossed the manuscript out.

A few months later we moved from Tucson, Arizona to Boise, Idaho and more bizarre coincidences began.

A friend had recommended a novel by Dean Koontz, Odd Thomas. In the first few pages, the author mentioned the song, When You Wish Upon A Star. My phone alarm played the same song. Next, he mentioned being in the woods of Oregon. I spent most of my childhood camping out near my dad’s logging sites in the forests of that state.  

Odd Thomas’ landlady lost her husband in 2001. I lost my third husband the same year. 

The villain in the story used checks issued by Wells Fargo. I worked as a receptionist for Wells Fargo Wealth Management. Odd Thomas called his girlfriend, Stormy, but her real name was Bronwen. One of my new coworkers spelled her name Bronwyn.

Maxfield Parrish prints decorated Stormy’s apartment. A few days after my third husband passed away, my sister gave me a book of the artist’s prints coupled with words from one of my favorites songs, Somewhere Over the Rainbow.

A friend of Odd Thomas’ told him, “To write, write, write.” It was important for him to share his story.  

As if to drive the point further, I received a phone call, a wrong number. Out of curiosity I did a Google search. The call came from a residence on Pico Street in Boise. Odd Thomas takes place in the fictional city of Pico Mundo.

The next morning Matthew 10:27 was among my listed devotions. “What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs.” 

I took it to heart, and wrote my Lions and Lambs series, a set of fictional stories inspired by real crimes and peppered with some of my spiritual experiences.

Whenever I get frustrated and think of quitting, I remember Jonah sitting in the whale’s belly for three days until he agreed to obey God. Considering he sent me lions instead of a whale, it might be wise on my part to keep writing until he tells me to stop.