What Really Matters

While many authors will never win a Pulitzer for literature (particularly yours truly), we all aspire to that coveted list: the NY Times Best Sellers. It is akin to winning the literary lottery and the idea that success means huge sales and a large bank account sucks you in the moment your book goes on sale. I know better, and yet the siren still calls.

Of course, all authors write in order to have their book read, but for the Christian author their audience is dictated by their genre and ultimately by God. A wonderful book just released by Terry Burns and my friend, Linda Yezak, Writing in Obedience, confirmed this insight. In Lions and Other Things (Why I Write), I explain how I came to write this particular book, And Then Came a Lion. Terry and Linda validated that experience. I am not alone in this regard, as their book clearly illustrates. I have joined the ranks of thousands called to write for the Christian market. Some receive a calling while others offer their work to Him. Both are following His will.

Catfish

Pastor Greg Laurie from Harvest Church in  Riverside, California sent this story in an e-mail: 

 A group of fish suppliers had trouble shipping cod from the East Coast. No matter what they tried, the fish arrived spoiled, mushy, or dead. As a last resort, they tried shipping the fish alive in tanks with one catfish in each tank. The cod arrived alive and well because they spent the trip running from the catfish. 

Pastor Laurie went on to correlate the catfish with our spiritual lives: God puts catfish in our spiritual tanks in the form of difficult co-workers, family members, or any other difficulty to keep us spiritually fit. 

Picturing the poor cod running for their lives made me giggle, and equating them with my own challenges caused outright laughter. I don't know about you, but I think God puts a whole lot more than one catfish in my spiritual tank at a time, and I spend a great deal of my time running, dodging, avoiding and hiding. It seems I lose one, only to see another. 

God also sends confirmations along with the catfish.

Psalm 27: 13-14: I believe to see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living. Expect the Lord, do manfully, and let thy heart take courage, and wait for the Lord.

God is in control and I am not to worry over my circumstances, even though they are frustrating and sometimes frightening. It is time to do some heavenly house cleaning, time to remove the dust of fear and the cobwebs of doubt, and replace them with the light of His grace. 

How about you? Are you fleeing from catfish in your spiritual tank?