Write His Answer!

The Philadelphia Christian Writers Conference was held last week, and I was fortunate to be able to attend the four day event.

You see, writing has been a latent desire of mine for many years. When I was in third grade, I remember setting up an office in my parents' home here on Layton and declaring that I would be an author.

In college I would have enjoyed majoring in journalism, but my college didn't have a writing majo. I defaulted to a major in English. Eventually, I taught middle and high school English for over thirty years. I also taught journalism for twelve years at the high school where I started the school newspaper, The Lakeland Lance. Somewhere in that mix of time, I wrote for our local, weekly newspaper, The Abington Journal, penning features, news stories, and my own column. But child rearing and a full time teaching job dominated.

Now, in retirement I have come full circle . . . back to writing. I've joined a writers' group, started this blog, written devotions and articles for online ezines, and set my hand to a book. I'll never make a pile of money or gain name recognition, but I will have satisfied that God-given desire - to write.

The scriptural basis for the Philadelphia Writers Conference was Habakkuk 2:2.

Write my answer,
Make it clear.
Shout my message,
Help them hear.
All who read it
How they'll run
To share the vision
That has come.

What a marvelous mandate: write God's answer, large and clear, so that anyone can read it. Here, I thought, is a mandate that I can ride into and through retirement. Though my mouth is too often silent, and I fail to tell others of the Lord's loving kindness, my pen (or computer keyboard) does not have the same qualms and hesitations. It walks boldly where my mouth sometimes fears to tread.


Writing has become more than a wish to follow my latent and unfulfilled desires.Writing has become missional and purposeful. To write God's credits large and clear, to pen reminders of His love, to point to Him as the answer to life's conundrums, to rush to tell others of Him. This is not retirement - this is higher living! And so I write . . . from Layton.

Sherry Boykin is my writers' group buddy and roommate at the Philadelphia Writers Conference. Sherry's brand is "But-Kickers" - "Growing Your Faith Bigger Than Your But." (There's a title I can love).
Bob Hostetler is the author of many books; a number of them were co-authored with Josh McDowell. Bob's closing session at the conference, a powerful, dramatic monologue, reminded us that we may be writing for one special person whom God has prepared to read our work. See http://www.bobhostetler.com/
Here's my billboard, Bob.  I'll write LARGE AND CLEAR.