Questioning Everything

1 Tim 1:4 “Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith: so do.”

When I was little I was always questioning everything from why the earth was round to why trees grow upward toward the heavens. Yeah, my quizzical mind sought God from the very early breaths of living and to this day I still question God about everything relying not on my own understanding.

Some people are a little uneasy with the winds of change, afraid of being put out of their comfort zone. While others embrace the change and actively pursue answers (not via the net mind you) to all of their questions. Some even pretend to be seeking all the while clinging to what they only think to be true when in reality they never sought the REAL truth.

Pastor Mike said, “God uses you to bring people to Him.” That really hit home since the New Year has brought about change, I can see Him working through my delicate words to reach you, my avid reader. I’m not here to judge you or change you; I’m here to reach you in places you might need to be reached. 

God is not on a lot of people’s minds these days and that is understandably so since they’re consumed in the here and now and not what was and always will be. They’re busy wondering what they’ll wear for the day, what shoes look right with that shirt, what’s happening on the net and there you have it, a world being eaten alive by the internet. 

If I had the power, I would obliterate the communications called the internet for at least a year and watch the world scramble with what to eat or what to wear or maybe be forced to read the newspaper to see what politician is doing what. I almost feel as though I time-warped from another century and was placed here and surely don’t fit in anywhere. This finds me questioning everything.

Yes, I USE the internet and I like the speed of finding answers to my questioning. Yes, I blog but do not allow the net to own me. I don’t carry the world in a palm-sized instrument or feel the need to hold one in my hand and tell the outside world what every second of my day consists of.

My niece, who is sixteen, received a $200 dollar phone for Christmas and just this weekend the phone was stolen while at a friend’s party. My sister’s logic is ‘she HAS to have a phone’, and my logic is WHY??? Why do kids NEED these phones when they’re not mature enough to take care of them or handle them responsibly?

We’re living in a generation of at your fingertip technology and it is being abused in more ways than one. While I would miss it for a year, the kids today could not even function without their phones or the net for a year. I wonder how many honestly could. The generation who never had it all of their lives will say they could function without the net for a year but I wonder, could they really?

I question why some people believe the earth is only 6000 years old while others believe it to be millions of years old. Even with the age of scientific proof we’re still uncertain? Truth at our bloody fingertips, literally tapping out the questions to find the truth and believing the answers we receive? Why hasn’t the TRUTH been revealed within you instead of the endless seeking for truth from outside sources? Because life is and always will be a mystery shrouded in our questioning. That is the secret in a nutshell, you can’t find the answers in the cluttered world of information, the truth is found within you and if you can’t physically touch it or read it in your hand, then it must not be true.

Faith is exactly the same way. You rely on what you feel not what you see or read to know what is the truth. It might only be your truth but you found it from within you not from the stirring confusion in the outside world. While that might not make sense to many, it WILL make sense to a few. We’re all given the talents to use but not all use them. Me, I’m forever questioning everything, seeking and finding. Not in the superficial realm, in the spiritual realm where all questions are answered. 

Go with God and may He be with you all!

Pss. 119:59 “I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies.”

What's in a Name

Psalm 45: 17 I will make thy name to be remembered in all generations: therefore shall the people praise thee for ever and ever.

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Have you ever surfed through Amazon, the library, bookstores, looking for a book to buy, read, or borrow, or in some cases, download? My next question is this: What made you pick that book up that your holding in your hand? The title.

The title of a story or book can have some real lasting affects on you as a reader. It also can make or break you as a writer. If you’re not catching readers with a title, then you need a really good picture on the cover, and if you have a lousy title, so-so picture, you’re gonna need a daggone excellent review of what your book is about.

Short stories don’t have the luxury (most of the time) of a pic to pull you in. Your title is going to need power behind it. There’s that word again. POWER! You see, I said in a previous post that words are power and I meant it in every way shape and form.

Today I was at a Short Story site. I lingered through the titles and found that the ones I read had a really cool title. I’m wondering if Stephen King’s book Carrie, got rejected numerous times because of the simple title. A whacky title, by a whacky author, may have gotten the story accepted much sooner.

Before you submit, check to see if you have a powerful enough title, or quirky enough title to get you accepted. Look at Chicken Soup for the Soul and how successful that series has become. Had it just been titled Soul Stories, it may not have had the draw and pull that has readers across the world diving in for a swim.

My son pointed out the other day, that my blog might have had better success had I had a stronger name. Now as I sit here three years after starting this blog, knowing a lot more than I did back then, I think he’s right. He has a blog titled Poems Have Hearts, and my fiancé has one titled, The Drums in the Deep, and I’m thinking, a title is everything.

Now keep in mind also, that I’ve read some books because the title was luring, the review interesting, only to read the book, get half way through and find it an utter disaster. I like quality writing and I can usually tell right off whether the story is going to work or not. I’ve even been known to read an entire story of bad writing, just to give an author the chance to be read. But, I would never read from that author again and that’s a shame.

Also, I was always taught that it is in bad form to start off with dialogue. As I was going through the short story site, many of the writer’s used dialogue to drag me into their story. It was through the dialogue that interested me in their characters and to keep the writing consistent, I kept reading. Maybe in short stories it is acceptable to start with dialogue because people don’t have much time to invest in the character. Good dialogue between two characters makes you stand up and read.

So, the title that I read today? Why not a Duck? There’s another tip, ask a question in your title. You know why? Because it is human nature for us to be inquisitive, and we as readers will want to know the answer!