Tell a Better Story: Hurt by Travis Thrasher

A few months back I posted a review on three books by Travis Thrasher, from his Solitary Tales Series, Solitary, Gravestone and Temptation. Not long after I posted this post, I heard from Travis Thrasher and a series of events occurred leading up to me getting an advance copy of the last book in the series, Hurt, which releases January 1. I just finished reading it and it is amazing.

I read this almost 500 page book in less than a week, and if you knew my schedule you would know that is quite a feat. This book is a real page turner. The books are supernatural thrillers that follow the life of Chris Buckley, a teenager who finds himself in the middle of a spiritual battle against a town (Solitary, NC) taken over by evil forces beyond his comprehension. It’s a coming of age story, that would probably be labeled young adult fiction, though this nearly 50 year old writer found it thoroughly engaging.

The books are at times very dark, but then that’s how it is in a spiritual battle and this is an intense battle. What I love about this series is it’s reality. Thrasher presents his protagonist warts and all. He presents teen angst in a way that makes one remember how hard  that time of life can really be. He shows coming to faith as a battle and shows that the battle doesn’t end when we come to Christ. Chris Buckley rises and falls and struggles and doubts and all those other things that happen when the forces of good and evil battle over our lives. Thrasher presents that battle and struggle so well and while there are some events in these books that most of us will never see (thank you Lord) he reminds us that there is a battle around us and it is very real. This has been an excellent series and Hurt finishes it out masterfully. I loved this book, probably the best series I have read in this genre since This Present Darkness and Piercing the Darkness
by Frank Peretti.

Like I said Hurt doesn’t release until January 1, 2013, but I post it now so you can read the other three books or better yet, get the books and give them to someone who is obsessed with Twilight, Hunger Games, etc. Thrasher really does tell a better story.

Order the books through this page to benefit AMOKArts.

Solitary: A Novel (Solitary Tales Series)

Gravestone: A Novel (Solitary Tales Series)

Temptation: A Novel (Solitary Tales Series)

Hurt: A Novel (Solitary Tales Series)

IllustrationFriday.com Challenge: Lost

The challenge of the week was Lost. Lately I’ve been dabbling with pop-art and there was this piece I was already working on that pretty much sums up the ultimate reason we get lost. It all comes down to a choice a long time ago. God told his first two people they could have everything they wanted in the paradise He created for them. There was only one thing they could not have. Unfortunately the one thing they could not have became the apple of their eye and they made a choice. Reject God for the only thing he did not give them. It sounds senseless, but we do it every day, every time we choose something that God tells us not to do.

What was their prize? The tempter told them they would be like God knowing good and evil. Let’s examine that. They already knew good, they were surrounded by everything good and had daily communion with God in person so what did they really gain by their sin? They got to know evil. In the same way when we choose sin we get the privilege of dealing with the consequences not to mention sometimes unleashing those consequences on the people around us.

You may finally ask the question, why did God put that tree there in the first place? Why did He allow them to be tempted? Believe it or not, because of love. You see love is a choice. Without an alternative, would ti really be love? They got to choose whether or not they would love God and they chose wrong. Today we are surrounded by billions of harmful choices, and the way to resist them is same as it has always been. Choose to love God more. Anything less is a lost choice.

Yes we are surrounded by temptations and consequences on every side, but hope is not lost. God gave His only Son to die on a cross to pay the price for our sins. If we will put our faith in Him, He will save us and lead us through this minefield called life.

Hope is not lost. Hope is a person. His name is Jesus.

(If you’d like to purchase a print of the image above, click the image, or get it on a T-shirt here.)

Tell A Better Story: Travis Thrasher’s Solitary Series

Okay, I’ll be perfectly honest here. I only knew one thing about the first book in the Solitary Series when I picked it up… It was free. One of my Facebook friends announced this limited time free offer of a book called Solitary. I didn’t know it was a Young Adult novel and had I known that I would have passed it up. Don’t make that mistake. In the two weeks since I have read all three available books in the four book series. I know I’m not the target market for these books but what can I say, Travis Thrasher can write a story!

Solitary is not your typical feel good at the end Christian novel. As a matter of fact one of the things that really intrigued me was, I can usually read a book, especially a Christian book, and know how it will end. I wasn’t even close. As a matter of fact when I got to the end of this one, I had only one thought, “There better be a sequel.”

The story follows Chris Buckley a 16 year old who moved from the suburbs of Chicago to a place in the middle of nowhere called Solitary, NC. Solitary is a place with a dark secret. It’s a coming of age story in the midst of a thriller/horror plot. It moves about a million miles an hour through all three books (Solitary, Gravestone and Temptation) and it is not what you’re expecting.

I can’t give you much without giving things away. All I can say is these books are really tough to put down. This is not your typical Christian fiction. It asks a lot of hard questions, as the protagonist wrestles with what to believe.

This would be a great one to get into the hands of fans of Hunger Games or Twilight. Travis Thrasher knows how to tell a better story. I am really looking forward to the fourth book.

IllustrationFriday.com Challenge: Yield

IllustrationFriday.com Challenge: Yield

I think it really is this simple. God loves you, wants what’s best for you and His way leads to life. To turn from that way is to really mess you up.

Joshua, near the end of his life challenged the people of Israel and he said this…
if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”

IllustrationFriday.com Challenge: Suspense

This one made me think of the old joke:
Q: “How do you keep an idiot in suspense?”
A: “I’ll tell you tomorrow.”
I know it’s a little mean and yet it’s funny in a strange sort of way. It’s a little deception, a little bait and switch, a set up. You bite on this one thinking you are going to hear a funny joke, but you don’t realize that if you fall for the joke, you will be the butt of it. Fall for it and you get burned.

That’s sort of how sin is. You bite on temptation thinking you are going to experience some pleasure. but if you fall for it, you get burned by it. There are lots of set ups in life that aren’t funny at all. Be careful what you fall for. Temptation can leave you feeling like an idiot.

IllustrationFriday.com: Lesson

IllustrationFriday.com Challenge: Lesson

The challenge word for the week at IllustrationFriday.com is “lesson” and I decided I couldn’t let it go by without a little lesson of my own. I can’t speak for you but it sometimes feel like there are times when I am incredibly dense, like I go around the same old mountain over and over again. I go through a problem, I know it’s my fault, I know what I did to cause it, and yet somehow I find myself in that place over and over again. I get to that point and think “How could I have been so stupid?” Here’s what I have learned. Temptations are temptations because they’re tempting and my ability to learn my lesson is usually directly related to how tempted I am. If it were wrong to eat onion sandwiches, I would be all set. I hate onions. No temptation there whatsoever. My waistline, however, proves that there are some things candy cookies, baked goods that I have a very hard time passing up and I fail often.

The ease of learning a lesson is usually proportional to the temptation involved.

Please tell me I’m not the only one who finds himself on this hamster wheel. I know I’m not. The Apostle Paul once wrote: “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.” (Romans 7:15 NIV). So what’s the answer? Do we just give in to it? Do we just say we’re only human and quit. NO! We resist and we pray. Paul came to this conclusion:

Romans 7:21 So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!

When you fail, (notice I didn’t say if) ask forgiveness, make things right and run to Jesus. He can help you overcome what you can’t on your own. He loves you and He wants to help you.

Sin is a trap, temptation is the bait, Christ is the way out. That’s the lesson. Learn it.

Bible Reading Guide
An important part of following God is knowing what He wants and a great way to know what He wants is to read His Word. Follow this plan and you will finish reading the Bible in a year.
Joshua 20; Mark 14; Psalm 33
You can also download your own chart here.

AMOKArts ArtChurch: WDJD?/WWJD 6: Dealing with Temptation Jesus Style

Message
This message is based on the temptation of Jesus from Matthew 4:11. It shows temptation and how we can deal with it. Temptation is the number one weapon the enemy of our souls uses against us and it’s called temptation because it’s tempting. I hate onions, I can’t stand them. I’m sure God had a good reason for making them but it’s sort of lost on me. Satan’s not going to waste his time waving an onion sandwich in front of me. No he’s going to hit me with something I want, something that I can be tempted by and something that will appeal to me but also cause me pain and ruin my witness. Temptation is hard and it will beat us if we let it and that brings us back to act one. Let’s look at what happened when the roaring lion went after Jesus.

Art
Temptation and the Roaring Lion
This is the art project that went along with my message, WDJD?/WWJD 6: Fighting Temptation Jesus Style. It goes along with 1 Peter 5:8,9 which speaks about how Satan prowls around like a roaring lion seeking whom he might devour.

Bible Reading Guide
An important part of following God is knowing what He wants and a great way to know what He wants is to read His Word. Follow this plan and you will finish reading the Bible in a year.
Genesis 25,26, Galatians 3
You can also download your own chart here.