Rejoicing in heaven

Jul

25

2010

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Jul

25

2010

A friend of mine who has been helping me as a creative consultant for my book sent my manuscript to a couple of big time agents in NYC. He lives in Pennsylvania and recently traveled to New York City for a meeting. He was riding the subway and at one of the train stops, unbelievably one of the agents whom he’d sent my manuscript got on the train with him and incredibly she had my book manuscript with her. They exchanged pleasantries and she actually began to read some of my transcript as the train progressed into the city. When they parted company she said that the first couple of chapters certainly got her attention and were excellent and then she got off the train.

I was really excited about that and thought this has to be yet another miracle of God in the making in my life . I mean what are the odds that she would get on that particular train, at that particular time, in a city of 12 or 13 million people with my manuscript in her hand and run into my friend. Surely God put her on that train.

Yesterday my friend heard back from her and she rejected my manuscript. She liked the book and said it definitely held her attention, but she felt the field, (rough childhood drugs alcohol – overcoming and triumphing), was too crowded. She went on to say: “I don’t think it’s hopeless at all – It is a good story and he seems like a great guy. But I’m just dubious having been burned by a few too many memoirs now.”

Hmmm. What is God trying to tell me with this incident? Most people would be disappointed by this news, but I’m not. Why? Because of my faith in God. The easy way would have been for this lady to fall head over her high heels in love with this story and offer me a publishing deal of a lifetime; however I have found in life that nothing worthwhile has ever come easy in my life.

Obama calls people who are successful in this country, “fortunate”. I find that the harder I work, the more risk I take, and the less I give up and throw in the towel at the first sign of trouble, the more “fortunate” I become. Call me stubborn but this rejection of my manuscript makes me all the more determined to either find another publisher or publish that baby myself and make it successful.

Then I wondered, “What is successful? What if only a few hundred people read it?

Some friends of mine just produced a faith based movie, “Letters to God”. This came on the heels of the very successful movie they produced, “Firestorm”. “Letters to God” was every bit as touching of a story, far better financed than the first, had better actors, and I can tell you first hand that they all worked exceedingly long hours and put everything they had into this movie, but alas it did not do nearly as well as hoped.

I felt really bad for them because I know the tremendous amount of prayer, money, and hard work that went into this thing. Their goal was not to make money but to reach people for Christ. I put similar effort into my book and have the same aspirations and can relate.

If it flops, will I have failed?

And then I had an epiphany. Even if ONE person finds Jesus Christ because of this movie or my book and is saved by God and as a result gets to spend the rest of eternity in the splendor of God’s glorious presence, all of the hard work, all of the money, and all of the determination and effort will have been worthwhile.

Think about that for a moment will you?

Someone who might have ended up in hell for eternity had it not been for your influence on their lives in introducing them to Christ will now get to spend eternity with Jesus Christ in heaven.

I hope that makes you determined to go out there today and try to influence someone you know to go to church with you today. Don’t be discouraged if you cannot save the entire world, all of the hard work, effort, money, et al, that you can muster will all be worthwhile even if you lead just one person to the Lord. In fact the angels in heaven will rejoice with you!

Luke 15:1-10
Now the tax collectors and “sinners” were all gathering around to hear him. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

Then Jesus told them this parable: “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

“Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”






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