A Season to Prepare
(& the tale of the mad rollercoaster)
The 2015 American Christian Fiction Writers conference will be in Dallas, and it will start a week earlier than last year’s. No biggie, right? Wrong! September 17th-20th is still summer. I feel so rushed. I have a whole manuscript to edit, a synopsis and pitch to write, a proposal to write, a proposal to update, research to do. I feel The Beast is about to do a number on me again.
The Beast is a wooden rollercoaster at Kings Island in Mason, Ohio. When it opened, it was the tallest, fastest, and longest wooden rollercoaster in the world. It spans more than 35 acres and features a lengthy ride time that lasts more than four minutes. Ouch.
In the spring of 1992, my first in America, I unintentionally rode The Beast. This spring, I did it again. Not the one at Kings Island this time, but the one in my head. I rode The Beast of making the Genesis contest semi-final and not making the final. A rollercoaster I could have avoided if I'd remembered Jeff Gerke's writing tip #1: The (Accepting) Audience of One.
I didn’t expect to make it to the semi-final. I never do. I was in shock when I learned I’d made it this time. And that’s when the ride started. I let my lifelong addiction to approval and the validation of others out of its cage, and let the truth of God’s permanent love and approval fade to the background fast. I knew God was in control, but I thought He was saying it was my turn.
But then it wasn’t. And just like the real ride, the second part was faster, more unpleasant, and very destructive. I asked the questions that many Christians ask when things go wrong: Was it me, Lord? Did I make You mad? Are You disciplining me? If only I’d tried harder.
I didn’t realize my misery was directly related to forgetting Jeff’s #1 tip until God led me back to the list on Thursday. But on Wednesday, before showing me—again—that His favor doesn’t waver and that He leads us in many ways, a guest preacher preached on John 6. The disciples wanted to know why the man born blind was born blind. They wanted to know who sinned. Sounds familiar?
