Poem - The Road He Traveled

Well, here we are again coming up on Christmas. I thought you might enjoy reading one of my poems.

 

If you look back on my blog you will see that I gave you another Christmas poem I wrote called The Fight Before Christmas. Both of these poems are among my favorites. Please feel free to leave a comment or share this with your friends.

 

Hope you have a very Merry Christmas.

 

The Road He Traveled

 

Three shepherds watched their flock out in a field one starlit night

When suddenly up in the sky there was a brilliant light.

An angel floated in the air and they were so afraid

Its voice fell lightly on their ears and this is what it said.

 

“Fear not, for God has come to man as a little baby boy,

And all who worship at His feet will have exceeding joy.

A virgin of the house of David gave birth to Him today.

This star so bright will lead to where He’s on a bed of hay.”

 

So, they left their flock and traveled east, following the star.

They searched and found the child that night, though it was very far.

And though they had no gifts that day they worshiped for a while

Then Jesus looked into their eyes, and gave a little smile.

 

The shepherds went back to the flock, their hearts were all aglow.

Joseph took Mary and the babe, ‘twas time for them to go.

They raised Him up along beside His sisters and His brothers

But knew He was the Son of God and nothing like the others.

 

And when the time was come for Him to do His Father’s plan

He left and walked from town to town and witnessed man to man.

He told the people of God’s love, so rich and full and free.

He turned water into wine, and even calmed an angry sea.

 

He preached upon the mountain top and fed five thousand men

With five loaves and two fishes, then He preached to them again.

A man was raised up from the dead, and demons driven out

This truly was the Son of God, of that there was no doubt.

 

But one day as He walked along the road, this Nazarene

He met a leper crying out, “Unclean, unclean, unclean.”

Then Jesus laid His hand on him and said, “My son, be well.”

His sores dropped off, he cried for joy and at Jesus feet he fell.

 

A blind man standing close could hear the man cry out with glee

And said, “Oh, Master, if You will, I know You can heal me.”

Jesus touched his eyes and gave him back his sight that day.

He turned to His disciples and began to walk away.

 

But a man with a withered arm said, “If You only will, my Lord,

You can heal my arm with Your touch or Your spoken word.”

Then Jesus said, “Take heart My son, your faith hath made you whole.”

With two good arms he hugged Christ and said, “Thank You with all my soul.”

 

Then the three healed men said, “You won’t recall, for You were too small to know,

But we knelt down at Your manger bed, many long years ago.

Our shepherd’s life has been unkind, and made our bodies this way.

But by chance You came along and healed all three of us today.”

 

“It was not by chance”, Jesus gently said, “that I came down this road.

For, long ago, when you knelt down, I felt your heavy load.

I looked into your eyes that day and saw what lay ahead.

I could have traveled another road, but came this way instead.”

 

“From the manger bed I set My path to meet with you today.

For I saw what life would do to you, and I couldn’t turn away.

I’ve searched for you for many years, just like you searched for Me.

Now live a full and healthy life, for you have been set free.”

 

Men must still seek the Son of God, and worship at His feet.

For there you’ll find exceeding joy, that makes your soul complete.

Yes, life can be cruel and bend you low, but God’s love, time can never erase.

For once you have knelt at the Jesus’ feet, He never forgets your face.

 

                                                                                    Janice Bates

                                                                                    December 13, 2003

                                                                                    1:51 AM

 

 

Don't Miss Out

So you want to be a writer. Yeah, me too. Oh, wait a minute, I am a writer. I have a published book and everything. Granted I am not John Grisham or Danielle Steel, but I am a writer.

 

Do you ever feel inadequate or unworthy? We all do. The trick is to not give in to those feelings, and that isn’t always easy. Don’t be afraid to call yourself a writer, or whatever it is that you do.

 

If you are lucky you will have people around you who will encourage you and help you to know that you can do whatever you set your mind to. On the other hand, if you are unlucky those people will not help you. They might even tear you down, telling you that you can’t do anything or that you don’t deserve to succeed. Don’t ever listen to that. Everyone deserves to succeed.

 

We will never know how many people could have done great things if they had only ignored the criticism. Many a name will never be known, picture never be painted or book never written because of negative feedback. That type of thing isn’t easy to get past.

 

I am a person who tends to buckle if someone tells me I can’t do something. That is how I think of myself, so it is easy to convince me that I am right. Thank goodness I have a husband who encourages me.

 

The book I published probably never would have happened if my husband hadn’t been here telling me that I could do it, and that I needed to do it. I would have missed out on so much. I have had so many children come up to me and tell me that they have my book, and how much they love it. They would have missed out too.

 

My little great nieces and nephew are characters in my book, angels actually. When they got their copies of the book they took it around and showed it to everyone they knew. They bragged about how much they loved the book and that they are in it. That is a great example of what someone else would have missed out on if I had given up. It also gave them the idea that they could publish a book too. How great would that be?

 

My book is about a little angel named Chrisamee who watches creation happen through a window in heaven. I felt like God inspired me to write the story so that lots of children would hear about creation and understand it. That is another thing that would have been missed.

 

Lately I have been finding out about people who are teaching children from my book. How cool is that?

 

I am so glad that I listened to the positive comments more that the negative ones.

 

So, how much will the world miss out on if you don’t follow through with your goal, your dream. Don’t let anything or anyone stop you. You have so much to offer. Unfulfilled talent is a loss to the whole world.

 

Make your contribution. The world will be richer for it.

Six Levels of People

Sometimes I get very discouraged, feeling like I will never get my book out there for the readers of the world. Maybe I never will. Who knows?  What I do know is that when I work at it, things happen.

Someone told me that the people who can help you are only six people away. In other words, if you talk about your project with the people you know, and in turn they talk to the people they know and so on, by the time it gets to the sixth level of people it will have reached the ears of someone who can really help you.

If you doubt this, try it.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with what I do, I write. I published a book about a little angel in heaven named Chrisamee. One day she finds a hole in the side of heaven. When she runs to the throne room and asks God what it is, He tells her it is a window where she can see what goes on outside of heaven. For the next six days she sits in the window and watches creation happen. At the end of each day she jumps from her window, runs to the throne room and talks to God about what she saw. She always has questions about things she doesn’t understand, and God explains everything to her. The idea is to tell children about creation and to help them to really understand it.

A few months ago a man named David started attending our church. The Sunday before last I was talking to him and told him about my book. He asked if he could see it so I gave him a copy. He took it home and read it. The following Sunday he told me that he loved everything about my book. In talking to him I also learned that he is a third grade school teacher. At his school they have a club that meets after school hours for children who want to learn about God. They have thirty students who attend regularly. He is now trying to get my book to be included as part of their curriculum.  

Today at church I was talking to him again and asked if he would be interested reading what I have written so far in the manuscript of my new book. This book is about the fall of Lucifer and the fall of Adam and Eve, and about the nativity. Once again it is the same concept where little Chrisamee watches the fall of Lucifer right there in heaven, and then watches everything that happens on earth through her window in the side of heaven. I told him that as a school teacher I thought that perhaps he could help me think of questions that children have about these events. I am trying to answer as many questions for them as I can.

David told me that he has a good friend who is a professor at the local Bible College, and this is right up her alley. He said this would really be her field of expertise. He is now in the process of setting up a meeting between him, her, another lady in the same field, and me so we can brainstorm. I had no idea where my conversation with him was going to lead. And, guess what, I have only reached the second level. I spoke to David and he is in turn speaking to his friends who can really help me. Who knows where this could be by the time it reaches the sixth level. So much is being accomplished in just two levels. This is very exciting for me.

So, where does your journey to six levels start. It starts with you beginning to talk to everyone you know, and every new person you meet. You might not see any results right away, but keep talking to everyone. It will happen. You will be amazed to see how many people want to help you on your road to success. They get excited at the idea of being part of your journey. Many of them would like to be doing what you are doing, but they don’t feel like they have the skill. However, they do know how to help you. They can sort of live their dream through you.

So, there you go. By talking to people about what you are doing, not only are you furthering your journey, but you are also bringing pleasure to others by the fun they have being part of your journey.

I would love to hear from you about how this works for you. Please feel free to leave me a comment.

If you would like to find out more about my book, you can email me at jbates@littlechrisamee.com.

Treasures

For years I have wanted to collect souvenirs from places I traveled to, but I didn’t want a cupboard full of coffee mugs that no one would ever see. Too often your souvenirs just become clutter and dust collectors.

Then one day I discovered thimbles. If you read my post from 11-12-13 called Little Souvenirs, you will find out how I got started collecting them. Kind of a fun story.

They take up very little space and can be displayed for all of your friends and visitors to see.

I have brought them home from all over California, Oregon, Montana, England, Wales, and Scotland. People have brought them to me from Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Florida, Hawaii, Paris, Amsterdam and Jamaica, to name a few. When people find out you collect them they tend to want to add to your collection. I believe it makes them feel like they are part of something fun.

Some of our close friends just came back from a cruise to Europe and they had six new thimbles for me. I now have added to my treasure trove thimbles from Berlin Russia, Estonia, Finland, Sweden, and a second thimble from Amsterdam. On their next cruise they will be going all over Asia. I will be getting thimbles from China, Japan and who knows where else. I can hardly wait.

Some people might see my thimbles as silly, but to me each one is a unique treasure. It represents a place, an experience and a friend who brought it back to me. There are no two alike, just like no two of the memories they represent are alike. I wish you all could see them.

As you probably know, I am a Christian children’s book author. I also write poetry. In fact, that is what I wrote first.

To me, every time I write something it is a treasure. It is exciting to create an experience that I am bringing to my friends. It is unique. No one else has written exactly what I just put into words.

Some people might not understand it. They might think it is silly, but others will love it. There is an expression, “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure”. In other words, we are all different. Nothing pleases everyone, but everything pleases someone.

If you are a writer, don’t try to please everyone. You can’t do it. Write in a way that pleases you. If you do that I guaranty you that you please at least some people.

When I show my book to people some of them just look at it and give me a condescending smile, but others go crazy over it. I have had to learn to let it go when someone does no appreciate what I have done.

Whether you write, paint, do magic tricks, or dance, share your art with people who will see it for the treasure it is. Do not be discouraged by the ones who don’t get it.

Whatever you do it is a treasure, it is your treasure. Enjoy it and keep sharing it.

Poem - Mother of the Bride

Today I would just like to say Happy Mother's Day to all the moms.


Years ago I went to the wedding of the daughter of one of my best friends. I stood and watched my friend cry as her daughter left in the car with her new husband. I went home and wrote this poem and I would like to share it with you today.


I hope you enjoy it.

Mother of the Bride

 

Yesterday my infant lay upon my arm and slept.

Today I realized she was gone, and silently I wept.

 

Yesterday she drooled and cooed as she crawled ‘round the floor.

Today I knew that I would never see that anymore.

 

Yesterday she laughed and played with children on our street.

Today, her place at the table bare, I couldn’t even eat.

 

Yesterday her piano playing drove me up the wall.

Today the silence deafened me so, I couldn’t hear at all.

 

Yesterday when she was sick, I tired playing nurse.

Today I cannot play that role, and I feel so much worse.

 

Yesterday I worried as she went out on her first date.

Today I’d love to sit and watch for her to come home late.

 

Yesterday she graduated high school with straight “A”s.

Today I browsed her yearbook, and my mind was in a haze.

 

Yesterday she said she’d met the boy of her dreams.

Today I can’t believe how very long ago that seems.

 

Yesterday she showed her ring, and said that she would marry.

Today the thought of losing her is oh so sad and scary.

 

Today her father walked her down the aisle, and gave her away.

I lost my child as she became a lovely woman today.

 

Janice Austin Bates

 

Millions of Pictures

My nephew Chris and his wife Torri go to a really wonderful church here in our town. They have four great children, Amy, little Torri, Trent and Jackie. One of the things I love about their church is that they have a ministry to the deaf. Watching the interpreters signing the whole service to the deaf is a very beautiful thing.

Amy, little Torri, Trent and Jackie are home schooled. One day a week a large group of home schooled children in our town all meet at a local church where the home schooling moms teach classes like at a regular school. Almost all of these home schooled children are scholastically ahead of the children in the public schools. It is an awesome way of learning.

At their church, the lady in charge of the deaf ministry, Obie, decided to teach a class in American Sign Language (ASL) to any of the church members who wanted to learn.  Obie is a very intense teacher, wanting her students to really learn a lot. Having a great desire to learn ASL, Amy and little Torri took the class and worked at it very hard. Amy even started teaching ASL to at the once a week home schooling sessions they attend. The students love it.

Last week the people who took the ASL class at church had their graduation ceremony. My sister, Diane, and I were able to go to it. We watched as each of the graduating students got up one by one and performed. They each had to interpret The Lord’s Prayer, one chapter of their choice from the book of Psalms in the Bible, and two songs that are sung at their church. We found out that to be a good interpreter you must also have a very expressive face. Every wave of the hand or facial expression has to actually set a mood. Each movement literally paints a picture of the word. It all makes sense when you know the meaning of the moves. As they interpreted, another student read out loud so the audience could follow the sign language. By the end of the ceremony, my sister and I were amazed how many ASL words we had learned. 

This experience got me to thinking about writing. As writers we are not just telling stories, we are painting pictures. There is an expression, “a picture is worth a thousand words”. I suppose that is true, but on the other hand, words can be worth millions of pictures. You might be asking yourself what in the world does she mean by that. Well, let me explain.

Think about this. As you were reading about the graduation ceremony I just described, did you imagine the ceremony in your mind? I dare say you did. Granted there aren’t a million people reading my blog, but many of you are writers and have people reading your words. Most of us won’t have a million readers following our work, but together we could have many millions of readers.

One of the great things, and perhaps the best thing, about reading is that as the writer’s words unfold you are forming a picture, actually a sort of movie, in your mind.

If you and I were to read the same writing, we would probably form similar pictures in our minds. However, since our surroundings and experiences in life are different, the pictures we formed would be slightly different also.  

Think about that for a moment. If one hundred of you wrote and published a book, and each of you had ten thousand people read it, between you, you would have painted one million pictures. How many artists who paint their pictures with oils, acrylics, or pencils can say that?

The power of the pen is far greater than any other type of creativity, in my opinion. Like no other medium, when you write not only do you get to be creative, but you help and allow your readers to be creative also.

How cool is that? So, what are you waiting for? Get to writing and start the creative juices flowing in minds all over the world.

If you are interested in finding out about my book, “The Adventures of Little Chrisamee – Creation”, a story about creation through the eyes of a little angel, please feel free to contact me. My email address is jbates@littlechrisamee.com.

That Olympic Drive

So, here I sit, watching the Olympics like so many other people. These athletes are pushing themselves beyond what seems humanly possible. How do they do it? Where did they get that drive to become the best in the world? Why haven’t I done that?

Seeing what they do makes me very proud, and, more than that, it keeps me humble.

If I had the kind of determination and dedication that I am seeing at the Olympics, I would have an entire library of published books. Everyone would know my name, and I would probably be a multi-millionaire.

On the other hand, I don’t want to be too hard on myself. After all, I have written quite a few poems, published a book, I am working on my second book, and have several other books in my head. When I was growing up, I had no idea I would do what I have done.

I picture my books being made into movies like the veggie tales. Little Chrisamee, the little angel in my stories, would be so cute running around in heaven, so excited about the things she sees through her window. She would have her talks with Father God where He explains why things happen the way they do. Maybe someday.

In the meantime, I belong to a writers group now called Quills of Faith. It is made up of Christian writers. Some of them have not published or even finished a book yet. Some have lots of books out there, selling like crazy. One has ghost written a few books for famous people. That must be difficult to write a book and have it be published with some celebrity’s name on it as the author, and get all the credit for what you wrote. But, that is part of the game.

I look at the other members of our group and see that they are just people like you and me. The successful ones have taken the initiative to learn to do what is needed to become successful authors.

I am trying to glean knowledge from them. They are such giving people, so ready to share all they know with the rest of us, whether we are proven authors, or just starting out.

One of the successful lady authors makes entire binders full of information on every book she ever writes. She actually has pictures of what her characters look like. She writes complete descriptions of them, their personalities, families, histories, where they live, and so on. The binder also explains what part they play in the story, what they are going to do, and why. From what I hear, these binders are really something to behold. At the meeting last night I asked her if she would bring a binder to the next meeting for us to see. She said she would be happy to. I can’t wait to see it.

Several of our authors have stories in the “Chicken Soup for the Soul” books. They also have articles in widely published magazines. These people are really quite amazing.

When I think about the Quills of Faith meetings I realize that this is sort of like our own Olympics training, except we are striving for published books and articles rather than medals.

So, I guess the principle is the same. Whoever works the hardest is the most successful. Of course talent also plays an important part in the race, but I truly believe that hard work and dedication will make us winners.

Now I have to ask myself, do I have what it takes to be a champion? Where do I spend most of my time, in front of the television, or in front of the computer working on my book? Do I want it badly enough? Do I have that Olympic drive?

I hope so.

The Radio Interview and the Mermaid

Well, I had my radio interview the other day. There was another author there by the name of J L Cash. Reverend Jim Wilson interviewed us. He is a very intelligent and interesting man.

Being on the radio is fun but also scary. During the whole interview I kept praying that God would not let me say anything silly. That is easy to do when the interviewer is asking you questions and you have to answer them off the top of your head. I think I did okay. I hope so.

It helped that there was another author there also. Jim Wilson would talk to me for a few minutes and then he would talk to Jim Cash. That would give me a moment to relax. It is amazing what being on the radio does for your ego. Suddenly you feel like maybe you are a success, whether you really are or not.

The way I met Jim Wilson was at a book signing. I belong to a writer’s forum. Once a year they have a big book signing in the center of the local mall. You can rent half of a table for half of or all of the day. People in the mall come by and look at the books, talk to you, and hopefully buy. You don’t have to be a member of the forum to rent a table. I rented half a table for the whole day.

As it turned out, the other half of the table had been rented for half a day by a lady who was not from the forum. She had a book that she had written about some little mermaids who had special powers. I read part of the book and thought it seemed like it had been written, and illustrated by a little child. She told me that she had not been able to sell a single book. I wasn’t surprised. She said she decided to give the book signing a try. I felt sorry for her because obviously she had wasted her money. I really liked the lady, but I couldn’t see anyone spending any money on her book.

We sat there and started getting to know each other a little bit. She was really sweet and soft spoken. After about five minutes a lady stopped at our table and looked at my book. She told me that when she came to the book signing she had told herself that she could buy two books and had decided that mine was going to be one of them. I was very flattered and excited.

About twenty minutes later a lady who already had one of my books showed up. She had her aunt with her. The aunt wanted to get one of my books also.  I happily sold her one also and was thrilled with how well the book signing was going. This was going to be a very good day.

Then the lady with the mermaid book told me that her son’s girlfriend had said that she would wear a mermaid costume and come down to help promote the mermaid book. A few minutes later she showed up. The top part of her costume consisted of two shells with a ribbon around the back. There wasn’t even a ribbon over her shoulders to hold up the shells, so she had to keep pulling them up. The bottom of the costume started about four inches below her belly button and went down to her ankles, where she was wearing very tall high heels.  As you can tell, there was very little left to the imagination. I couldn’t believe this was happening.

The gentleman who had rented half of the table on the other side of the mermaid author introduced himself to me and we became friends. He was Reverend Jim Wilson (the radio interviewer) and he had several of his books there. He has been selling his books for many years and is very successful at it.

As soon as the mermaid showed up you can imagine what happened. Every time a man or boy walked by, their jaw would hit the floor and they would stare at her the entire time as they passed the tables. Every time a woman walked by she would say, “Oh, how cute”, and stare also. Every time a child walked by they would start squealing, “Oh mommy, mommy. Look at the mermaid. Mommy take my picture with the mermaid.”  So, of course, the mommy would take out her phone and take a picture of her child with the mermaid. Then the child would again start squealing, “Oh mommy, look at the mermaid book. Mommy buy me the mermaid book.”  The mother, without even looking at the book to see if she liked it or not, would take out her check book and buy the mermaid book.

No other author on our entire side of the square of tables ever even got looked at or spoken to again, once the mermaid showed up.

I couldn’t wait for the day to be half over because the mermaid author would be leaving. Then maybe the rest of the authors and I could get to talk to the people again. Suddenly, to my dismay, the mermaid author told me that the person who had rented her half of the table for the afternoon hadn’t shown up so she was being allowed to stay for the rest of the day. My heart sank.

Jim Wilson and I did a lot of talking to each other because there were no people to talk to. In the early afternoon, he told me that someone at one of the tables had sold all of their books and had left. He said that he wasn’t even being seen where he was, so he was moving to where the other author had been. For the rest of the afternoon I kept looking over where he was and he was constantly selling two or three books at a time all the rest of the day. He sold tons of books. Unfortunately for me, there wasn’t another space that came available all day, so I had to stay where I was.

The mermaid author sold books all day long. I only sold the two books before the mermaid showed up. By the end of the day I was just laughing to myself about it. It was a case of either laughing or crying so I decided I had to see the humor in it. However, before the day was over, Jim Wilson had set up a radio interview with me. That was a little over a year ago. The interview last week was the second one, so I guess it all worked out for the best anyway.

What I learned at that book signing was how effective marketing can be. The mermaid book was not well done, but the marketing was. If you find something that grabs people’s attention, like a scantily clad mermaid, it is amazing what you can accomplish. Since my book is about a little angel in heaven, I don’t think I will be marketing it with a scantily clad angel. I guess I will have to think of something else.

If you would like to find out more about my book, feel free to email me at jbates@littlechrisamee.com. I will be happy to send you some information about the book and show you examples of the illustrations.

God bless you.

Falling Into Place

Hello my friends. I have to apologize for not writing last week. I have so much going on right now and it is very hard to sit down and write.

The other day I was worried about what I was going to write. I was feeling like I didn’t have anything to say that anyone would want to read. Then a friend called and wanted to read a daily devotion. Guess what! It was about how Christian writers are only writing for one, and that one is Jesus Christ. Wow, was that a word for me or what?

Then I sent an email to the publisher of my book, Lisa, to ask her a question. She is about 2000 miles away and I hadn’t spoken to her in months. She called me back a little later and told me that when the email came in she was talking to someone at her business about me and my book. Another coincidence? She also asked me to send her the first chapter of my new book so she could give it to the editor. That way, if the editor thought I needed to make changes she could let me know before I finished the manuscript. The editor was happy with it. I am really excited.

There is a pastor here in my town named Jim Wilson. He is the founder of a Christian organization called Pray North State. He also has a radio show. A little over a year ago he interviewed me on his show. That was very fun. Well, guess what. He called me the other day and asked me to do another interview for his show. We are going to record the interview tomorrow and it will probably air in a few weeks. I am really looking forward to doing this.

As you can tell, a lot of things have been falling into place for me lately.

It is nice when life is easy like it is right now. However, as you all know, the easy things in life are not what grow you character. If we never had problems or difficulties we would not be able to relate to others when life isn’t easy for them. We would become self-centered and uninteresting. God, in His infinite wisdom, knows this and lets us go through some very tough things sometimes. That is when we have to rely on Him. He also knows that if tough times were all we had, we would collapse under the weight of life. So, here we are. A little bit of easy and a little bit of hard. Even though the easy times are more fun, I thank God for it all.  It is necessary for spiritual maturity.

As I am writing this new book, which is about the fall of Lucifer, I am drawing on the difficult emotional times in my life to help me try to show how much the fall hurt the heart of God. I can never feel the sadness He felt, nor can I put it down adequately on paper, but my own hurts and heartaches help me to try to express it.

I guess this is another reason to allow us to have pain in our lives. It helps us to understand the pain that our sin has caused Him, and to realize how much pain He had to go through to redeem us from sin.

We will never be able to fully comprehend it, but I want to say thank you God for all you did for us. Please help me to never forget it.

The Slump

Boy have I been a slump. I believe it has been a combination of things.

 

For one thing, we went on a two and a half week cruise where we were waited on hand and foot all day long. Ever since we got home I have been sitting down at the dinner table and waiting for the food to magically appear on a plate in front of us. After a while I realize it probably isn’t going to happen, so I get up and cook us some dinner. Just kidding. That is, however, what happened while we were on the ship. The beds were made, the bathroom cleaned, the meals cooked and the dishes washed while we just had fun.

 

Even though we knew this wonderful treatment was only going to happen while we were on the cruise, we did get used to it and we got pretty spoiled. My husband is still telling everyone that this was one of the best times in his life. He is an extremely hard working man and has never before been spoiled to this degree. I have to start spoiling him more.

 

I also got spoiled on the trip. I think everyone needs to be spoiled at times. On the other hand, it does make it hard to get back into the groove of life. Before I left on the trip I wrote several articles for my blog and scheduled them to post each week. While I was having fun riding around the countryside on busses, playing trivia, learning to water paint, or watching some wonderful show each night, my postings were appearing on my blog all by themselves. Now I have to think of what to write, type it up and get it posted. That is a lot more work. Don’t take me wrong, I love doing this. It does take effort and discipline though.

 

Then there is my book. The first one was easy to write. Creation is a very exciting thing to write about. The second one, however, is not so easy. I am telling the story of the fall of Lucifer and the fall of Adam and Eve. That is a very sad story to tell. When you are writing for children you can’t have too much sadness. The children will lose interest.

 

For quite a while I couldn’t figure out how I was going to do it. Then one day I felt like God inspired me to include the story of the nativity in the book. That is a very happy story. Now the book won’t be all sadness.

 

In the mean time I had gotten into a slump with my writing. A slump is different than writer’s block. With writer’s block you want to write but the words won’t come. When you are in a slump you just can’t get into the mood to write. That was the problem I was having.

 

I mentioned the last time I posted that I met a wonderful young man from Serbia named Igor while we were on the cruise ship. He was our waiter. As we got to know Igor I got to thinking about how the people in Serbia probably don’t have as much opportunity to hear about God as we do in the United States. God laid Igor on my heart to make sure he knows about God. That is when I decided to give him the book that I had with me. I also got his email address so I can tell him this story of salvation. He was very excited about getting the copy of my book. When I gave my book to Igor I told him that I would send him a copy of the next book when I get it published. He was thrilled at the idea of getting the next book also. He said, “Oh yes, please send me the next book. I would love to have it too.”

 

In case you aren’t familiar with my book, it is about a little angel named Chrisamee who watches through a window in the side of heaven as creation happens. At the end of every day she jumps out of the window, runs to the throne room and tells Father God what she saw. She has questions about it and God answers all of her questions. The idea of the book is to tell children the story of creation and to answer the questions about it that they might have. While sitting here in my home I thought about Igor wanting to receive the second book, and about how I want to tell him about God. That is what made me realize that I had to start writing again. Yesterday morning I sat down at the computer and started working on the book. Once I started, the enthusiasm about writing came back. Even though this is a more difficult book to write, I am having fun again.

 

I think the slump is over. It feels great.

 

 If anyone is interested in finding out more about my book or purchasing it you can contact me at jbates@littlechrisamee.com.