emptyreflection.com

In my last blog (Countdown) I talked about watching on TV the early days of America’s space program. We watched many of those pre-dawn broadcasts with great anticipation, waiting patiently for those precious words “we have liftoff” - sitting awestruck as the rocket slowly rose from it’s holding platform into the sky, and ultimately into space. I’m sure that my family was like many others - excited, fulfilled, and exuberant that success had been realized. My brothers and I would hurry off to school to share that excitement with many of our classmates who were equally bubbling over with enthusiasm. Lift off had been realized.

Yes - lift off has been realized! Blood Reflection has been officially released! You can go to www.oaktara.com to see the publisher’s blurb, or to www.amazon.com to actually order the book! Right now it is only available in kindle, but will very soon be available to order in print.

Thanks again for waiting - and, should you be so inclined, for purchasing the book. Even more so if you READ it!

I’m part of that ‘boomer’ generation that grew up with the space program in it’s infant stage. Due largely to the fact that my older brother was deeply entrenched in anything that had to do with rockets - from NASA to his own homemade “October Sky”-like projects - we usually got out of bed to watch those pre-dawn launches from Cape Canaveral (before it became Cape Kennedy). We watched the Mercury Project, to Gemini, all the way to Apollo and the ultimate walk on the moon. I honestly don’t think we missed a single launch, watching in anticipation as the countdown clock ticked downward to those long-awaited words: “we have ignition”.

I can’t tell you how many times we watched in frustration as the countdown clock stopped. Something had happened - we weren’t usually told back then until much later - and the clock was stopped at “T-minus” whatever. More than once I can remember that number being below a minute - even just a few seconds. We had waited and waited - but no lift-off took place.

That is how I have felt during the process of having “Blood Reflection” published. But now - the countdown clock is ticking, and this thing is actually going to take place. I’ve been in contact this past week with the publisher to go over the proofs, and everything appears to be ready to send to the printer! We should have the book in hand in a very short time.

Check out the publisher’s website: www.oaktara.com - they put their ’soon to be published’ books on the home page, so we should see it there soon.

Thanks for hanging in there - and I hope you’ll pass the word when “we have lift off”!

Empty Reflection is on the verge of being published - although the title has been changed to “Blood Reflection”, tying in more pointedly to the issue of the blood of Christ on the soldier’s cloak, thus the ‘origin’ of the main character, Brock Auzman.

I actually wrote this book, which is about two young men who struggle with their identity, nearly three years ago. Had it been published immediately (obviously a near-impossible task) I might have looked like a prophet as I wrote about a politician with a rock-star presentation who has a meteoric rise on the political scene. I’m afraid I might look more like some right-wing kook now! But the main principle still remains, regardless of how it might be perceieved now: we need character and content, not just flash and show, from those who would be leaders.

The prophets of old were probably looked at as kooks - in fact many were persecuted and even killed for their outspoken ways. But they carried their message faithfully to those they were sent to regardless of public opinion or popularity. They understood character and knew the importance of the content they were charged to deliver.

There are few prophets in our day - but we need to make sure we aren’t swept away with simple charisma when a situation calls for truth, not to mention change. The messenger might not always be flashy, but what matters is that he is faithful to the proper cause, not just to the popularity polls.

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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