Join me in some shameless audacity?

The disciples ask Jesus to teach them to pray. He answers with the now-famous Lord’s prayer, and then tells an intriguing story about you needing bread in the middle of the night because of unexpected visitors. You go to your friend and ask, but he can’t be bothered to get out of bed just on the weight of your friendship. But as Jesus says, “Yet because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you as much as you need” (my emphasis, Luke 11:5-8).

You’re in dire straights – visitors to feed and no food – and so you receive what you ask for. The door opens for those who knock. Those who seek will find.

And how much more will our Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.

I’m taking this passage to heart, as I embark on a writing project with a deadline of the end of the year. I’m asking the Lord with shameless audacity for his Holy Spirit, that he may spark ideas and fun and stories to fill this book – that it might be something actually worth reading! (But if it’s trash, I’ll not blame God. I don’t always hear him clearly, and I am trying to train myself away from distractions. Those distractions that could keep me from writing well.)

Oh, what’s the book? I’m glad you asked. Called View from the Vicarage, it’s a loving look at life in my adopted country – tea and all – to be published October 2015.

Do you need a dose of shameless audacity today? What’s your dream that you’ve long wanted to pursue?