Thursday, March 25, 2004
I saw a snake out by the stream here yesterday and while that may not be great news to everyone snakes are cold blooded so for the to be out means winter is finally pretty well gone, I hope.
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I received a beautiful email from a very good friend of mine, that is called "The Room." It was supposedly written by a 17 year old guy who died in a tragic accident not long after. Well I am now to the point that I check everything against snopes.com before I forward anything. Sure enough when I checked it, it was false, but the real tragedy is in why it was false. The story was a beautiful illustration of Jesus washing away our sins. The boy really did present the story and he really did die in the tragic accident. He just didn't write the story. The reporter from snopes.com seemed to take particular joy in pointing out which commandments the kid had broken. The kid thought it was harmless but it ended up taking on a life of its own. We have got to keep it real and live the example because we never know our circumstances.
So who actually wrote this story, it was "I Kissed Dating Goodbye's" Joshua Harris. His response to this story is wonderful and beautiful and telling of our own attitudes oward our own creations, which is why this article will appear on both my blogs today.
Here's what Joshua had to say:
"Did Josh Really Write It?
Within months of writing "The Room" Josh Harris had people questioning whether he was truly the author. "It wasn't long after we'd printed it in New Attitude magazine that I started getting 'The Room' emailed to me with 'Author unknown' printed at the bottom," Josh recalls.
The response to the article was amazing. People shared it in their churches, copied it and gave it to friends. It was forwarded via email to thousands. Brio magazine as well as Choral Ridge Ministries used the article by the "unknown" author before they were alerted that Josh had written it.
"I have to admit that it really tested my heart," Josh says. "Part of me wanted to go on a campaign to let everyone know that I was the true author. I'd finally written something really good and I wasn't being given credit for it." Instead, Josh realized God wanted him swallow his pride let the dream be used however God wanted.
"I felt God was telling me that 'The Room' was about Him and His grace and I was to step aside and not be concerned with having my name on it. The night I had the dream and wrote the article I knew it was something very special. I think I even told people I felt like God had written it and had me type it. But then when I wasn't getting credit I was upset! God was showing that in my heart I wasn't passionate about his name being glorified but having my name glorified. It was an important lesson."
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So who actually wrote this story, it was "I Kissed Dating Goodbye's" Joshua Harris. His response to this story is wonderful and beautiful and telling of our own attitudes oward our own creations, which is why this article will appear on both my blogs today.
Here's what Joshua had to say:
"Did Josh Really Write It?
Within months of writing "The Room" Josh Harris had people questioning whether he was truly the author. "It wasn't long after we'd printed it in New Attitude magazine that I started getting 'The Room' emailed to me with 'Author unknown' printed at the bottom," Josh recalls.
The response to the article was amazing. People shared it in their churches, copied it and gave it to friends. It was forwarded via email to thousands. Brio magazine as well as Choral Ridge Ministries used the article by the "unknown" author before they were alerted that Josh had written it.
"I have to admit that it really tested my heart," Josh says. "Part of me wanted to go on a campaign to let everyone know that I was the true author. I'd finally written something really good and I wasn't being given credit for it." Instead, Josh realized God wanted him swallow his pride let the dream be used however God wanted.
"I felt God was telling me that 'The Room' was about Him and His grace and I was to step aside and not be concerned with having my name on it. The night I had the dream and wrote the article I knew it was something very special. I think I even told people I felt like God had written it and had me type it. But then when I wasn't getting credit I was upset! God was showing that in my heart I wasn't passionate about his name being glorified but having my name glorified. It was an important lesson."
