"I'm in the mood to write a book," Jesus said, "and I think I shall title it EUGENE." Jesus has written many such books, and usually the name of the main character is the title; perhaps you have read some of them, books such as RUTH, JONAH, DANIEL, NEHEMIAH, EZRA, EZEKIEL, and many others. Yes, Jesus is in the mood to write another book, ad this one has my name on it. In fact, Jesus writes with Living Words, Acts 7:37,38  and at this moment he's writing your story, too.

And what kind of writer is Jesus? What kind of story will my book be? Well, one thing you can count on is that Jesus is going to write a whole lot of crises into your life. Acts 14:22  You see, it is the glory of an author to unfold a plot that puts the main characters into impos­sible situations, 1 Peter 4:12‑14  and with little or no resources in which to respond.  

This is a well‑established principle of writing, called Conflict‑Resolution. The most interesting stories have their heroes (or heroines) entangled in nail‑biting circumstances, with dangerous deadlines ticking away in the background. If you have ever read (or watched) any James Bond or Indiana Jones episodes, you know what I mean. The more skillful the writer is, the more we admire such stories, because we are taken by delightful surprise when the hero bursts forth from grave circumstances, usually using some common, ordinary, insignificant item 2 Corinthians 12:9,10 to make their escape that then escalates into total victory over their enemies. 

Jesus is the most skillful writer of them all, so you can fully expect to find yourself in constant jams and difficulties, because the one thing Jesus is eager to do is bring glory to his own name, 1 Peter 1:6,7 & 2 Timothy 4:18  and he achieves that every time he delivers you from all your impossible and anxious troubles. 2 Corinthians 1:8 

There are many examples of this in Scripture, of which these are but a few: Jonah swallowed by a whale; Nehemiah opposed by Sanballat; Mordecai threatened by Haman; Peter thrown into prison; Paul shipwrecked twice; Moses trapped at the Red Sea by Pharoah's army. Now it could be argued that Jesus did not cause all these troubles to come upon his people; for example, Jesus did not cause Paul to be shipwrecked or beaten. But then again, the Bible clearly says that God chooses the exact time and place where everyone will live and be born, Acts 17:26  so each one of the Lord's heroes were specifically placed in a time and place were their antagonists were also strategically placed by the Lord. Joseph and Potipher's wife. David and Saul. Jacob and Esau. Moses and Korah. John the Baptist and Herod. Whenever Jesus writes a story, for every hero there will be a villain.

We also know from the book of Job that though the Lord may not be directly involved in our painful and perplexing struggles, we do know they could NOT happen without His express permission. Job 1:8‑12  Therefore, Jesus allows these sufferings to be intertwined into our life stories, so he can work his magic as the "Author of our Salvation," Hebrews 2:10  and bring glory to his own name when he writes in the always promised "Way of Escape" 1 Corinthians 10:13  that he guarantees to every hero of each and every book he writes. Are there crises in your life? Then rejoice: It just means Jesus is writing himself another bestseller, a blockbuster book that has YOUR NAME for the title!

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