Zeal

My book, The Tower Builder, ( http://www.amazon.com/Tower-Builder-biography-intersect-dangerous-ebook/dp/B00JXP8B72/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=&qid= )rose to #6 ranking on Amazon around dinner time last night. That was exciting. Then a short time later, it went to #5. That was even more exciting. I went momentarily berserk begging everyone I knew to buy a copy. I wanted so badly to hit #1, if only for a moment. I am a little obsessive about the book, but if you knew the history you would cut me some slack. I started this book 9 years ago, with a field trip to some rare, local radio towers. I had no idea that for nearly a decade I would then try to solve some mysteries I first heard about on that field trip. I didn't know it would turn into a book. I didn't know that I would fall in love with radio towers. One just doesn't expect that of non-techy women who like animals, great literature, sunsets, redwood forests, ocean waves, and art. Radio towers are the last thing I would have felt any affinity for. So I wrote the book knowing no one was going to buy it. How would I convince anyone a book about radio towers could be exciting...even spell-binding?

I guess some people were convinced. I checked my rankings throughout the evening. At 2 a.m., it was at #2, but seemed stuck there. Oh well. It had been exciting watching it go up all day!

I had worked so hard and so long on the book. Given the near decade of work on the book, I was receiving little return.  #2 wasn't bad, but I had kinda hoped beyond hope it would hit #1. I really believed it was a good book, but how to convince the readers? There are many things I feel passionate about, but founder in my desire to transmit that zeal to others. I don't mean just about the little things like convincing people the book I wrote is worth reading. I mean big things too -- like the timeless and incredibly freeing truth of the Gospel message, or the absolute sanctity of human life, or the value of modesty and purity before God, or the pursuit of excellence in all things.  I cherish and believe in those things with all my heart, and am often terribly frustrated when I am unable to convey in a convincing enough manner why those things matter so much. In fact, at times instead I receive scorn. It can be disheartening. God knows this will happen, and reminds us often that if we pursue righteousness, we will be persecuted. Great. Nonetheless, we are to stay the course and not lose heart, for He has overcome the world. It is sometimes hard to remember that when we are in the trenches.

My brother, who was the one who sent me on the initial tower fieldtrip texted me a few nights ago, knowing sales were not what we had hoped.
"I feel responsible," he said, "For you wasting 8 years of your life on this. I thought you would be a millionaire..."
"It wasn't a waste," I told him, "It is a good book...even if no one knows it."

This morning, a text from the hero of my book, Tony the Tower Builder awoke me. Here is what he sent:

In case you can't read the little print, my book went to #1 overnight. The Tower Builder is an Amazon #1 Best seller. I don't mind being awoken at the crack of dawn for that....

http://www.amazon.com/Tower-Builder-biography-intersect-dangerous-ebook/dp/B00JXP8B72/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=&qid=


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John 8:32 

And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

John 14:6 

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Matthew 21:22 

And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.”

2 Corinthians 4:4 

In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

2 Timothy 2:15 

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.