How I became a writer Part VII

Title: How I became a writer

Part: VII

Every time the soccer team would take the field we would chant, “Aye go, fight, win!” which is a very logical thing to shout.  It is a small synopsis of what you hope happens on the field.  Generally, this is what happened.  I don’t know what Mr. Earl’s win to loss lifetime was for the Bethel Warriors in soccer but it had to be excellent!  Except one year we seemed to tie...often.  I think the powers that were in the POCCA League, decided one season that there would be no shoot-outs or overtime in regular season games.  Whether that is true or not, I do not remember shoot-outs during those ties. 

Confidence as a team is important and tying as much as you win early in the season is not a way to boost morale.  At that time I had no idea how blessed I was to play for a winning program but no worries...college would teach me that!  Anyway, the tie thing was a dark cloud hanging over us or an albatross tied to the grill of the school bus.  Sometimes, when things are looking down, you need a team leader to step into the gap, and turn things around...or at least reframe what was going on. 

Enter Jim Roddy.  He invented some clever bus ride chants that got us fired up and helped us to laugh at the dark clouds as if they didn’t matter.  One was “Aye go, fight, tie!!!”  Another was “We’re number TWO!  We’re number TWO!  Too bad for you!!”     One of my favorites was the one where we started out very cocky, “We bad, get down,” and then we all pretended to mutter, “our team’s alright, I guess.”  The last and most brilliant was “KICK THEIR BUTTS!!” screamed at the top of our lungs, followed by a soft, “in a Christian way.”

Jim Roddy wasn’t the only one to help reframe life.  I was riding one day in the “lime-o-zine,” which as an old airport limo our school had secured, when a student reframed our ride.  Here you might be tempted to break in, “Oh, a limo, what a perfect thing for a small private school to have.”  Maybe it would be for an elite school, but we were a small, private CHRISTIAN school, which meant the limo we had looked more like an Oscar Myers wiener truck...where the hot dog had gone bad.  At times when the girl’s volleyball team was not going with us, the school made us cram into it to save on gas.  “Wait,” you say, confused, “how big was your soccer team?” Well, we carried subs to that game, so we must have had fourteen or fifteen players with us.  I never thought to ask if Mr. Earl had to ask some kids to stay back, I just knew I was traveling to a soccer match in the lim-o-zine, watching the road go by below my feet...literally (there were holes in the floor).  When we got out at another school, it felt as if we were exiting a clown car.  Judging from other team’s spectators and players, that is exactly how we looked!

So, one day a group of us were in the lime-o-zine, cruising through Erie, when a student... (Eric?  Marc?) suggested we scream out the window we were from a rival Christian school.  Heritage.  We gleefully did so, like a bunch of idiots!  “We’re from Heritage!” we yelled out.  “Go Heritage!”  Heritage Christian were our ARCH-Rivals.  The OTHER Christian school from across town.  It was a sad day when they closed down.  Then we had to settle for Meadville Christian being the sum or all fears and an arch nemesis.  I’ll never forget when Pastor Jack said we were going to Meadville for a youth rally!”  WHAT???  They were the ENEMY!  He might as well have said, “Hey, kids, we’re taking a trip to Mordor!”  I manned up and went.  Turns out kids from Meadville were cool.  Anyway, reframing our ride helped our teenage pride.  I don’t remember the driver rebuking us, so either they thought it was funny or agreed:)

After being in the ministry for close to twenty-five years now, I totally understand the lime-o-zine” and should have been grateful to have it.  In fact, in my allegory of the church, military war book series, The C-3 Saga, two fans caught a “mistake.”  They noticed despite the futuristic world of C-3, the army the book follows uses very primitive things that seemed inconsistent with the stories setting and genre.  I told them both, “It’s not a mistake,” and tried to explain it to them.  A few years later, one of those fans married a pastor/engineer and the other became a pastor.  Both have since told me they now understand exactly why that is in the series!  In the Lord’s service we need to make do with what he gives us and stay humble.  If the King of the Universe, Jesus Christ, was born in a barn, I think I can ride in a less than cool limo!

Reframing is not only a morale booster but sometimes it is a necessity.  Soon I would go from the term would-be author (author in my mind at the time!) to would-be Christian author.  Before I tell that story, I must deal with the label “Christian Author” which has become to some “professional” Christians, the lime-o-zine.  Tim Hawkins did a whole routine mocking Christian labels on things like movies and comedy.  Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE Tim Hawkins, and my church was very kind to send my family and I to a live show of his...I almost died laughing.  His joke about different denominations hits Baptists like me dead on.  But he really misses when he pokes fun at the label Christian in front of “comedian”, “movie”, or  “author.”  A really, funny homeschooled YouTuber, Jordan Taylor, the leader of Blimey Cow (Messy Mondays), also spends a whole video destroying this title.  Ted Dekker, a Christian author who has written some great books, doesn’t care for the label “Christian” author either.  Why do I cling to the title so zealously?  My story explains it. 

After “Reforger” I wrote “The Baby Commando” (about my very cute little sister Joy!) and another small work or two, before realizing I was ready to write a novel.  Oh, the confidence of youth!  I began to write a work based on the Rats of Nimh, which I had probably recently read.  My world though had guns and violence in it.  It was a very exciting story...at least I thought so:)  “What’s that in the back row?  Did I get convicted about having action in my story and decide to become a ‘Christian’ author?  No.  I am an action writer.  I make no apology for that.  At about page thirty God whispered to me, “Why don’t you write for me?”  I never completed my action Rat story.  I would no longer try to merely tell stories but try to influence people’s eternal destiny through my writing and lift up Jesus Christ.

Several years ago my board asked if they could sit down with me.  (They are great guys by the way:)  They shared one or two hard things that I needed to be corrected on and I accepted that they were right.  My changing those areas has blessed our church VERY much.  But they also brought up that a few people in the community were mad that we had GUNS in some of our plays.  (We had just done a Christian version of MacGyver, boy was that fun!)  I asked them, “Did these people actually attend the play?”  No, they had not.  “Do these people watch rated R movies in their homes?”  I wasn’t judging these people, I’ve watched the Matrix and Speed, but I was pointing out a major inconsistency.  My board was very quiet.  “Would you guys agree that our plays are on the level of what Disney used to be or more classic TV and that it is family friendly?”  They nodded, smiles growing on their faces.  One of them said, “Pastor, we withdraw that concern!”  We’ve spoofed James Bond and the Jason Bourne and other such things.  Our church plays and skits don’t always have action in them but when they do, they are fun:)  My favorite was our Wild West Christmas play.  It had all the elements of a great Western, was funny, and had a great Christian message!  Am I a Christian writer?  Yes, I am!  Wouldn’t have it any other way!