About The Blog Title

   So why 'Write Hard and Pray Harder?'

Obviously, if you're going to be a writer, you have to write, write, and re-write.

And obviously in the Christian life, we're supposed to pray. So what's the connection?

When I started getting serious about wanting to write a book, I had a different idea of how things would be than I do now. It's kind of a long story but I didn't always feel the same way about writing that I do now. Basically, I used to write because I wanted to and I didn't care about what God wanted me to do. When I yielded my writing to God I realized two things. 1. I'm never as happy as when I'm fully surrendered to God and 2. I will never be able to write anything worth reading without God's help. I can't tell you how many times I've been stuck on writing a scene and when I prayed about it, a verse came to mind that helped me through the scene. If we're not writing for God's glory, we're not going to be writing things worth reading. The best advice I can give someone who wants to write, is to always talk things out with God. It may seem silly to be talking about fictional people with God, but God cares about us, and if our story is important to us, God will care about it as well. I've found that in every area of life, if I pray through my problems, God will help me. It doesn't matter how hard I write, without prayer, my writing is nothing. So I write hard, but I pray harder! No, my books aren't perfect, but I don't think God cares so much about my story and grammar, as He cares about me, and who I become through my writing.

I Peter 5:7 "Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you."

Father's Day (a little late)

   I know this post is a little late, but hey, we should appreciate our dad's every day of the year! So here's a little poem about fathers. Make sure you take time today to appreciate your dad.

An Excerpt from 'Mission of a Lifetime'

This is not the whole first chapter, but it's a little sneak at what I've been working on:)

                                                      

CHAPTER ONE

“God uses men who are weak and feeble enough to lean on Him.” - Hudson Taylor

Pounding footsteps shattered the stillness of the jungle night. “Willie!” a voice called.

William Rodriguez groaned and rolled over.

“Willie!” the voice called again. It sounded like his friend Seth.

Willie sat up and held the light button on his watch. “Two-thirty in the morning,” he mumbled.

Feeling for a flashlight he tried to make sense of the noises he was hearing.

“Willie?” the voice sounded closer this time.

“I’m here,” Willie said pulling back his mosquito net. He stepped out of his hammock and walked towards the open door of his hut. “Seth? Is that you?”

“It’s me,” Seth said.

“What’s wrong?” Willie asked fumbling with the buttons on his shirt.

“You need to come with me.” Seth’s voice was a pitch higher than normal.

Willie followed Seth down the familiar path toward the mission clinic. The jungle noises cleared his head and the dew felt good on his bare feet.

What’s going on? Willie thought. He wanted to demand that Seth tell him what was happening but he knew that Seth would talk when he was ready and not before.

When they got to the mission clinic Seth stepped aside and let Willie go first. “I’m sorry, Willie,” he whispered as Willie walked by.

Willie had never heard that tone of sympathy in Seth’s voice before and it sent chills up his spine.

Inside the clinic, next to the communication center, Uncle Jim sat holding a handheld radio.

Uncle Jim’s face was contorted in a look of agony. He looked up when Willie came in. “I’m sorry, Son.”

Willie’s breathing grew shallow and his chest tightened. The look on Uncle Jim’s face could only mean one thing. “They’re dead aren’t they?” he asked.

Uncle Jim handed him the radio. “I don’t know. Mr. Kennedy’s on the radio. He can tell you more than I can.”

Willie grabbed the radio. “Mr. Kennedy? This is William Rodriguez. Where are my parents? Over.”

The radio crackled with static. “…didn’t show… can’t find… airplane’s down… missing… Carabayo territory… Over.”

Willie wracked his brain to figure out what he had missed. He hated these old radios. They couldn’t transmit anything clearly. Skyping people from the United States is clearer than trying to talk to fellow missionaries on these old radios.

“Can you repeat that? Over.”

Mr. Kennedy repeated the message and Willie sank into a nearby chair. He shoved the radio back into Uncle Jim’s hands and propped his elbows on his knees. Resting his chin on his fists he tried to control his emotions.

Seth placed a hand on his shoulder but Willie shrugged it off. He got to his feet and paced the room. “If my parents didn’t die in the plane crash, then the Carabayo natives will finish them off. I have to go help them.”

Willie turned to leave the clinic but Uncle Jim’s commanding voice stopped him. “Willie, you can’t go. Your parents are in God’s hands. Besides, if something happens to you, what will happen to Carmen and E.N.? Your parents wanted you to become their guardian.”

 Willie groaned. Why did he have to be twenty-one years old? If he were younger then he wouldn’t have to worry about being guardian to his siblings. Or if Jerry were here… Stop it, Willie, he chided himself. You can’t think about Jerry now.

He glanced at Seth. “It’s your tribe, will you come with me?” Willie felt a glimmer of hope. Seth was always ready for an adventure, especially if it involved fighting.

Seth shook his head. “I think we need to wait.”

“Wait for what?” Willie asked. “Word to come that they’re dead?”

Seth shook his head again. “I’m sorry Willie, but if my tribe has your parents, you won’t see them again.”

Willie slammed one fist into the palm of his other hand. “We can’t sit here and do nothing!”

“We’ll just have to wait,” Uncle Jim said. “Mr. Kennedy will contact us when he knows more.” 

On another note, I went black light mini golfing with two of my friends/cousins yesterday and had a blast! If you're ever in Warroad, MN make sure you stop in at Hobby Plus and go mini golfing! (Sorry the picture is so poor, I took it with my phone:)

V.B.S.

    Do you know any kids between the ages of 4 and 12? Great! Send them to our Vacation Bible School next week! If you're interested, go ahead and visit our church website at http://www.familyfundamentalchurch.com/ Our theme this year is 'Choosing to Serve the King!'

     On another note, a friend of mine wrote an article on her blog that I really agreed with. It was titled "Three Reasons Why I Can't Stand Romance Novels." I've been asked before why I don't read and write romance novels, and this article pretty much sums it up. If you're interested in reading it you can click here.

     Until next time, this is Priscilla J. Krahn reminding you to keep your life salty for Christ!

(Matt. 5:13)

I.S.C.

   So I'm home from the International Student Convention in Warrensburg, Missouri!!! It was an absolutely incredible week and I had way to much fun! For those of you who don't know, I was serving on the 'His Servants 24/7 Squad' which basically means I do what I'm told when I'm told:) Our team had around 30 members and although we were busy, I loved every minute of it! Thank you everyone who prayed for me while I was gone, it was really a growing experience for me.

The first day, during registration while the adults were filling out papers and all that kind of stuff, they had a bunch of inflatables set up outside for the students. I got to run this Velcro wall. If you've never heard of one before, you should look it up. It was a lot of fun to run! You should have seen some of the flips people did! The not-so-fun part of it was when we had a guy get his beard stuck to the wall!

Also, on the first day, I got to do some tours of the campus for new schools. I really enjoyed that, and getting to meet people from all over the world. We had people on our team from a few different countries. We had some people on our team from Australia, and I absolutely loved their accents!!!!!

The campus had a bowling alley, and one afternoon a few of us were able to take a break and go bowling! I've never done much bowling so I really enjoyed the opportunity.

I was taking pictures on my phone, so they aren't the clearest, but here's some of my team in the dining hall. We did get a group picture with all of us, but I don't have it so you'll just have to be content with seeing bits and pieces of our team.

I got to help out a bunch in the 'Game Zone' where they have open events for people to compete in. I was able to score the 'Scripture Detectives' competition and I REALLY enjoyed that!! I also got to judge and score several Scrabble games which was also really fun. I enjoyed getting to meet and interact with people from so many different countries.

 This last picture is kind of embarrassing! On my family's way to pick me up and drop off my sister at the camp she's going to be working at, our beloved brown van gave up the ghost. Now if you know my dad, you know that we don't spend extra money on vehicles. After all, a vehicles job is to transport people, not look pretty. However since my family was broken down near a car lot, their options were limited. Beggars can't be choosers and the car pictured below was the cheapest one that was an option. Imagine my shock when my family pulled up in this thing to pick me up!! It was definitely a challenge getting the five of us and our luggage and sleeping bags and a big cooler in that small thing, but it worked and we made it home. Hopefully we'll be able to sell it and get a real van again, but I guess we'll see what happens.:)

I loved every minute of the trip! The evening rallies were always so encouraging with all the great preaching, but I think the biggest thing I learned was from being a part of the team. On the team, we help where we can, whenever we can, and however we can. During one of our staff devotion times, I was challenged with the thought that we're supposed to be God's servants 24/7, not just when we're at convention. You're probably thinking "Duh, we're supposed to serve God 24/7" but for me, it really got me thinking.  At convention, if we missed sleep, or a meal, or something we wanted to do, we didn't care because we weren't there to eat or sleep or have fun; we were there to serve. (And we had fun serving!!!!!)Yet how often in our Christian lives do we get frustrated when we lose sleep or miss a meal, or miss out on something fun? We're not here on earth to eat, or sleep, or have fun, we're here to serve. So yes, sleeping and eating is necessary to life, but that's not why we're here! We're here to serve God 24/7 however we can, whenever we can, wherever we can!

And THANK YOU Mr. John for running our team!! It was GREAT!!!!!!!!!!