Why I Write

I’d planned this post to coincide with my book launch to give readers a glimpse of what motivates my writing. In light of the tragic events caused by the flood along the Guadalupe River, I almost changed my mind. Who am I to speak about God’s presence in the midst of unspeakable loss?

But that’s exactly why I write – to encourage those who are asking,

Where is God in the midst of tragedy?

How could He let this happen?

At the macro level, God could have prevented the flood on the Guadalupe. But He didn’t. At the micro level, He could have awakened the girls in that cabin and gotten them to safety before the wall of water hit, but He didn’t.

So how do we reconcile a God that is omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent and good with a God who allows such suffering?

And Yahweh is the one who goes ahead of you; He will be with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.” – Deuteronomy 31:8

Jesus weeps with those who weep. He mourns with those who mourn. Knowing he would raise Lazarus from the dead, He wept with Mary and Martha anyway. Because we live in a fallen, broken world, one in death’s grip until He makes all things new.

But He is there with us in the midst of the brokenness.

What He declared in Deuteronomy 31, He reiterated in Hebrews 13. He’ll never leave us or forsake us.

To proclaim that is why I write.

If you know me at all, you know I’m passionate about two things: Christian apologetics, in general, and the era surrounding the Babylonian exile, in particular.

Well, that’s mighty specific.

It is. I’m so caught up in this era because it shows how God’s justice and his mercy go hand in hand.

I cut my spiritual teeth on apologetics in the ’80s. Josh McDowell came to Rice University around 1984 and blew my mind with evidence for the faith. I ate it up, and I haven’t stopped. I’m in two apologetics book clubs and devour every apologetics argument I can find.

But-

You’ll never argue someone to faith.

We believe what we want to believe.

In his newest book, The Familiar Stranger, Tyler Staton says  that the Boomer generation wanted information and answers.

Win my mind, and you get my heart.

But with millennials, Gen Z, and Gen Alpha, the “my truth generations” it’s

Win my heart, and you get my mind.

So. How do we make them want to believe?

How do we make them thirsty for what we have?

And that’s why I write. I want to harvest the power of story to draw people to Jesus.