emptyreflection.com

I’ve had several people ask why I wrote this book. It is a novel, but I hope it brings forth a couple of messages. For one thing - in fact, the most important thing - there are several places in the book where various characters struggle with their spiritual “place”. They ask questions, and find answers, including one poignant scene where my main character, the best friend of Brock Auzman, sits in a storage cubicle with his late dad’s Bible and seeks answers for himself.

The second, underlying reason, is a ’set-up’ on prophecy. There will be an anti-christ. We don’t know the time, or all the details, but we do know he will be first of all recognized as a ‘man of peace’ - evidently a great and probably charismatic leader. I guess my point in writing was to challenge readers to make sure we look beyond words and surface charisma to the real person, and their real character.

The main character of Empty Reflection is a young man who has a lot of charisma and seems to have a lot of influence on people. He has a near “rock-star” personality when it comes to influencing people - especially voters - but people really don’t know him. In reality, he doesn’t even know himself.

Self-identity is necessary for anyone who would truly make an impact. We’ve all seen politicians who can make the promises of change, or help - but they seem to fold when actually elected because of the fact that too much of their platform was built on the ’say-anything’ foundation rather than true convictions, true values, or true beliefs. When someone runs for office or seeks to be a leader of any kind, they must know who they really are, and what it is that really drives them, or they will ‘lead’ by popular opinion and polls rather than a clear vision of what truly needs to be done.

A lot of things get said in a political season. Sadly, it is often what isn’t said that really would have mattered. Rather than the statements that handlers know the masses want to hear, we need to hear the experiences that have shaped the values and convictions that make the candidate trustworthy, experienced, and ready to lead.

Charisma only goes so far. Character is what counts. And a person who lacks self-identity usually lacks genuine character.

I preached this morning on Moses, with the opening point being “Passion Without Knowledge”. Moses saw a problem - ‘his’ people being persecuted, and even beaten - so he took matters into his own hands and killed the Egyptian who was beating the Hebrew slave. Not only did that result in him having to flee as a fugitive, it obviously didn’t do anything about the problem. The main reason he didn’t do anything constructive was because though he had passion - he ‘felt their pain’ - he didn’t have proper knowledge. He was trying to fix a symptom - the Hebrew slaves persecution - while ignoring the real problem: they were slaves! They didn’t need better working conditions. They needed FREEDOM!

Since this book is about an ‘up-and-coming’ politician, it seems fitting to challenge how often politicians today ‘pull a Moses’. They obviously don’t kill anyone to try to alleviate problems, but they do propose and promise a lot of ‘fixes’ that merely deal with symptoms! Of course, there’s a reason for that: most symptoms have as their root cause a sinful nature, and no politician, or law for that matter, can change that! We don’t need a better slavery - we need freedom as well, which can ONLY be found in Jesus Christ.

He may not get many votes during this or any other political season - but I hope He has yours.

I had a very unusual experience this past week. I was asked to become guardian of an elderly man in our church - a man who has no relatives and no one else who could make medical decisions for him, and a man who was not able to make such decisions, or any decisions, for himself, as he has been in a coma since early September. I went to court on Friday to become his guardian, after having visiting him yet again on Thursday, along with a court-appointed ‘observer’ - to confirm that he needed a guardian. He was completely unresponsive to our presence, as he had been on every previous visit since September.

I went back to see him this afternoon. He was out of the coma, and attempted to communicate (though he could not - not only because of the intubation tube, but there is still obviously some misfiring taking place). Truly, a miracle had taken place over the past couple of days, and now there are decisions being made to help him get better, as opposed to helping him die!

Ever feel hopeless? Maybe not quite that bad, but the feeling that your dream, your hope, is pretty much dead? Hold on, friend - that may be just the time that God brings supernatural fulfillment to that ‘dead’ dream, just so that you (and others!) know who He really is.

I’m praying that for this book. I’d like to invite you to pray with me about it! It might be coming out of the ashes right now, but I’m having some feelings that we need some LIFE pumped into it. Maybe that LIFE is just around the corner. Maybe in your case too.

One of the main characters of the book “Empty Reflection” has an ongoing battle withing himself (that usually spills onto others) - mainly because he has a struggle with his identity. He knows, or perceives, that there is something unique or different about him, but he doesn’t know what that is. His doubts lead to a lot of discouragement within, and a lack of character without.

What is character? Back in my baseball coaching days at Liberty University, my boss - the head coach, Al Worthington - used to strongly emphasize the need and the importance of character. To him, success was more in building character than in wins and losses, though he certainly wanted us to win! I asked him to define character - stating that he emphasized it a lot, but I wasn’t sure that the players understood what he meant by it. His answer was classic: “I can’t define it, but I can see it when it isn’t there.”

The character in Empty Reflection would be recognized by Al. He has that lack of character. He is out to get what he can get, and really doesn’t care who he runs over to get it.

Sadly, that pretty much describes most of our politicians today who are driven to success, and it is one of the main culprits in the whole economic problem that led to last week’s congressional bail-out. Greed and selfishness have gotten in the way of service, sacrifice and humility - not to mention genuine leadership.

Yes, character counts. And the lack of it leads to a subtraction that hurts us all.

This story is about a young man who seemed to have what it takes to be “successful” - but the problem is that what he has is mostly surface. There simply is no depth of character.

In my days as an assistant baseball coach, my ‘boss’ - head coach Al Worthington - often referred to the need of character, actually stating that learning and living character was more important than the win/loss record. He knew what would matter in the long run.

One particular road trip resulted in some lack of character. Coach had the bus driver pull over and ordered everyone off the bus. Standing in the hot sun next to that bus, Al gave a heated lecture regarding that lack of character and the stern warning that the current behavior had better change immediately.

When we got back on the bus, I was sitting across the aisle from Al. After waiting a few minutes for him to cool down, I finally asked “Okay Coach, you talk a lot about character, but I’m not sure everyone knows what you mean. Can you define it for me so I can help communicate that?”

He wasn’t quite as cool as I would have liked as his eyes bored holes in me, but he answered: “Ronn, I can’t define it. But I sure can see it when it isn’t there!”

That statement has stuck with me ever since that roadside Yogi Berra like experience. I can’t tell you how many times I haven’t seen character - and I can also tell you how awesome it is to see it in action (especially when I see it in the most unexpected places!).

We hear a lot of promises, and a lot about change that matters. My hope is that a huge part of whatever change takes place doesn’t deal with the symptoms of economy, etc. - but with what really matters: the real need of character development, moral foundation building, and genuine faith strengthening.

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I signed a contract with a publisher yesterday, and now wait for the actual publishing. Hard to believe this whole thing is real. None of us are fans of waiting - we want what we want when we want it, and that’s usually right now! And it seems like our whole nation is in this “waiting room” at this point: waiting on the election, waiting on the financial bail-out plan, waiting to see if the Cubs will break their 100-year drought! Obviously God has a plan and purpose for our waiting.

I’m reminded of a story I read a long time ago about a little boy in the waiting room - waiting to see the Doctor. He examined everything in the room, including the bathroom - then announced to his mom that he was done, and ready to go. “But you haven’t seen the Doctor yet - and that’s why we’re here!” Many, many times I have announced “I’m done” - but the purpose of the wait has not yet been realized.

So -  I wait. This wait no doubt has a purpose: there’s a book a-comin’! Then I’ll wait, I’m sure, for the buyers to come running. But ultimately, my wait is to see if the message of this book will hit home with those who read it, and get the true meaning.

In the meantime, I’ll wait to hear from any of you who might want to know more!

Just starting this blog spot, but can’t wait to get some reaction! This blog will have updates on how the publishing of my novel, EMPTY REFLECTION, is progressing. I have signed a contract with a publisher and we are now in the editing process.

You might wonder what the book is all about. Allow me to ‘whet your appetite’.  Janie and I were watching one of the many CSI programs several years back where a crime was solved by doing what is called a blood wash - getting DNA from very old blood. After the show, the news came on and a segment of our local news dealt with the actual process of cloning humans - how they do it. The next morning Janie woke me up with some interesting questions: “If they cloned a human, does that clone have it’s own soul or a cloned soul - that is, who is that person.” We discussed it a few minutes and decided (somewhat in ignorance of the whole thing) that the clone would have its own soul - much like an identical twin.

Then she hit me with the big question: “IF they found some blood of Jesus, got the DNA, and cloned Him, would that be Jesus, or would it be the antichrist?”

The book idea was born. I chose to make the main character a young, charismatic and easily followed man who was on the fast-track in politics. His name is Brock Auzman, and his best friend - who is basically a “John the Baptist” type of man, challenges him all along the way.

Wanna know more?