Speculative: based on conjecture rather than knowledge.

Faith: trust in a person or thing.

Those two words sum up my writing journey—where I’ve been and, by God’s mercy, where I’m headed. My goal with this post is to glorify the One who makes everything possible. For He is the Person I trust. In Him, I speculate…about the unseen things of this world and the one to come.

As I sit down to write this, my wife shared with me a section of Scripture that deals with idols and how everything without God is really nothing at all. That said, my early days of writing were pure idolatry. I found my worth in the false hope of becoming published.

I speculated about worldly things. I idolized the “published” life.

I remember researching the Garden of Eden back in 1998. I wrote a rough draft of The Sending under a different title and the result was a secular novel with many speculative features but zero faith.

Then in 2004, I was on my own road to Damascus when I experienced Jesus in a life changing way. Long story short, I surrendered to Him. Not in a 90/10 sort of way like I had been doing. Maybe you can relate. My dialogue with the Creator of the universe went something like this: “Lord, here’s my life, but I’d like to try and control this writing gift. You know, I’ll write a novel and pray it gets published with all that I have instead of pursuing you.” In the deepest part of my soul, I felt the nudge to flesh out my manuscript and rewrite major sections to reflect my new love relationship with Christ.

At the time, I entered my manuscript in the Christian Writers Guild’s Operation First Novel. I didn’t win that year, but I still have the letter that said I placed as a semifinalist. For me, it was God’s gentle whisper to keep on writing.

Now I speculate about God things and my writing is for his glory not mine. I worship the “God” life. As writers, we are called to proclaim the good news. We need not worry about the outcome. Speculate on how much we are loved by our heavenly Father and have faith that the worlds and words you create are good in His sight.

I couldn’t stop thinking about the Tree of Life. The cherubim placed at Eden’s entrance were to prevent Adam, Eve and others from returning to the garden and eating the fruit from the Tree of Life. Lest they live forever.

I wanted to explore the Garden of Eden; God’s first home for his children. The Tree of Life is the Bible’s bookends appearing in both Genesis and Revelation. Together it was the setting I needed to write about.

The Sending is a journey to find real faith that has the supernatural power to carry a person through the painful ruins of a broken world. My lead, Mark Grant, has a unique ability called remote viewing which allows him to see distant places. He gets hired to locate the Garden of Eden. Antagonist Konrad Lynch uses Mark’s gift to locate the Tree of Life, the key to eternal life.

There is a greater plan at work as the armies of darkness have found a way to reclaim their place in heaven. To do so, they must escape their ultimate death in the lake of fire by using Mark as their human host. The fruit of the Tree of Life will solidify their insidious plan. So Mark is sent to find the way back into Eden—and his family is kidnapped to insure his compliance.

Racing time to find them and the Tree of Life, Mark must decide if he’s willing to lose his faith to save his soul.

That’s The Sending in a nutshell. I thank the Lord for Jeff Gerke and Marcher Lord Press for giving me the opportunity to share my story. One day we’ll all be in heaven and see the Tree of Life right there in the middle of Paradise. Just the way God intended it to be.

Thanks for reading. Have a great weekend!

The Sending, Matt Koceich, Marcher Lord Press (October 2010)