Guest Blogger ~ Claudia Burney

Claudia Mair Burney is the author of the Amanda Bell Brown Mysteriesseries, NavPress. Her first novel Murder, Mayhem, and a Fine Man releases in July of 2006. She is the ragamuffiin diva, a neomystic, hippie chick Jesus Freak, married to Ken, mama to seven, and a friend of sinners (and a couple of saints). http://ragamuffindiva.blogspot.com/.







Meeting Jesus on the Page


I’m no devotional master. Sometimes my prayer life fizzles. I wouldn’t get any gold stars about my Bible study, either. So, what’s the Lover of my soul to do when I’m paying no attention to Him? When I’m somewhere typing away, and He is lonely for my voice? Jesus, with His tender mercy and outrageous grace, meets me right where I am. When I’m in a story He meets me on the page.

I’ve been reading the Notebooks of Nicole Gausseron. This wife and mother opened two homes for Jesus’ “Companions”. They barely made do. Many of the men went back to abusing alcohol. Some died. Some even committed suicide. This was daunting, thankless work—like writing—but through it all she kept scribbling in her little notebooks.

As I continued to read I realized she and I know the same Jesus. I’ve heard His seductive voice. Like her I know His playfulness and rebuke. He even flirts with me. Jesus kept telling Nicole, “I am alive. I am a person.” He did it right in her notebooks.

I am imperfect. I have my shining moments when it’s just Jesus and me. On occasion I manage to do as the Divine Liturgy says, and can “lay aside all earthly cares.” But too often I neglect Him. He whispers, “Come to me,” and I don’t. “I’m busy writing,” I may say. We play hide and seek.

Like Nicole, I keep hearing a persistent Jesus say, “Come.” But I treat Him like He’s on a plaster crucifix hanging on the wall. In those times, I miss His aliveness, His presence, but He’s kind enough to enter my story anyway. He’s done it many times.

Recently, in a crisis, I met Jesus in the pages of “The Crowded House.” In my story unexpected sorrows visit me. I entered into my fictional world with the same intensity I reserve for centering prayer and Bible study. Writing doesn’t take the place of time alone with God, but this guest blog entry is really about God’s mercy. It’s about writing and missing the adoration mark doing literary busy work for the Lord. But Jesus showed up, alive, His voice like surround sound, and image as vivid as HDTV. He bore gifts of love and healing to lavish upon us, both writer and reader.

We have an insistent lover in Christ. He needs our love. Astounding! He woos us any way He can. Not only will he meet us in a story, He’ll meet others in our work, too. Pure grace. As Madeline L’Engle said, “Jesus is God who told stories.” I say, He is God who enters ours. He’s the same God who used stories to show Himself in His Word, after all. He uses even the most soaring flights of fancy to let us and our readers know He’s here, and there, and everywhere. He’s altogether lovely.

Welcome Him, on the page and in your heart.

Mair






**A note from Gina: I'm in the middle of reading Claudia's first novel,
Murder Mayhem and a Fine Man (click here to read more) and WOW! It's all I thought it would be. Sassy doesn't even come close. It is so well written, funny, and the love story is so great, I think I've got a crush on the hero. More than anything, our girl, Mair, (aka Claudia Burney), says all the things we'd say if we were braver. You all have got to check this book out. It's fresh and a definite winner. I'll be reviewing it in the coming week or so on Novel Reviews. It releases July 5th.