The Joy of the Writing Process

I have been writing a story over the last few days. It started out to be an assignment for my New Testament class on a Johanine Theme, but I chickened out because I wasn't sure my professor would accept a fictional account in place of a research paper. I had planned to call it a Midrash, which is an ancient Jewish traditional style of reflection on what isn't in scripture by supposing what might have happened after or before the scene that is depicted. I just wasn't sure if he would accept it, and my grades do matter to me. Gotta keep those straight A's even if they are just for me.

So, I went ahead and wrote a straight up research paper on another theme in John. But I couldn't get my imagination to shut down. I was pondering the idea of who was this Malchus, the High Priest's slave whose ear Peter cut off in the Garden of Gesthemene? Why does John bother to mention him by name? I started to piece together a few suppositions of this person's background, and before I knew it I had five pages of story before me on my computer.

I had so much fun writing. The words seemed to flow so freely that I wasn't even aware of the process that went with the writing. It reminded me of the story I wrote about Gomer, Hosea's wife, a few years ago for another class I took on the Old testament. In that class we were encouraged to write in the midrash tradition.

So, now I have two stories. I may do a whole collection of them. Who knows some day you may be able to purchase a book of them somewhere. I would be honored if God allowed me to use this talent for writing that is His gift to me in that way.

Pax