The Christmas Victory

First of all, I did NOT plan to write another book. With a Biblical novel, which I recently revised an expanded, a time travel novel and a self-help book under my belt, my only plans were for promotion.

Secondly, when I was in Seminary, circa 1974, The Lord began to give me insight into the meaning of Isaiah 7:14 from the use of language and context. I came up with a unique interpretation which I did not find anywhere else, but which I found to be extremely practical.

Thirdly, I wrote an article on my findings and published it in my ezine and on my Squidoo page.

Fourthly, two years ago in November (2012) I was given the opportunity to preach around Christmas time and decided to use my idea and preach on Is.7:14. I entitled the message “The Christmas Victory.” It was well received by many, but some thought it a bit esoteric, so last year (2013) I got the idea to rework it and asked to preach it again. I revised it to make it more understandable and preached it on Dec.15, 2013 at Faith Presbyterian Church in Pembroke Pines Florida. I had nothing but good comments this time.

Fifthly, as an illustration, toward the end of the sermon, I used Paul Harvey's bird story, of which he says he couldn’t trace the parentage.

Sixthly, for the choir anthem, I had the choir sing “I heard the bells on Christmas Day,” and I gave a brief history of the writing of the song, which I derived from the internet.

Seventhly, while I was working on my sermon and the hymn history, a friend of mine with whom I was praying on the phone, asked me if I were writing another book. I told him NO, and asked why he had asked. He said he felt the Lord telling him to pray for the book I was writing. I told him again, I'm not writing any book and have no intention of writing another book.

Eighthly, BUT, the more I thought both about my sermon (and the fact that it needed to reach a larger audience) and the history behind that hymn (the story of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow) and the bird story, I felt that these elements perhaps did have the making of another novel. The clincher was when I saw an episode of the T.V. Show “Touched by an Angel” in which Mark Twain is affected by the Longfellow poem. I decided to try to tie all these elements together as a way of getting my sermon (which is found typed in all caps in Chapter 6) a larger audience by wrapping it up in a novel.