A Word A About Ted Dekker

     I believe it's safe to say that I have graduated from my obsession with the fantasy that is Harry Potter's World of Witchcraft and Wizardry. That is not to say that I've stopped being impressed, delighted, and fascinated by J.K. Rowling's series of 7 books but I do believe that I have moved on to more fulfilling favourites.
     Ted Dekker is undoubtedly quite an exceptional and inspiring favourite, maybe even my utmost favourite at this very moment in time on the 31st of August at 1:39 PM, though given the fickle tendencies of the human mind it can be expected that my order of favourites will change in the very near future.
     But for now Ted Dekker is my favourite.
     I'd like to bring attention to his incredible ability to bring to the surface the deeper and more confusing issues regarding Life and the beliefs of those who live it; to spin these issues subtly into a tale that holds just the right amount of action, just the right sprinkle of gore, just the right addition of a thrill and a touch of mystery and suspense, and just the right side dish of romance. And within this intricately, beautifully woven tapestry of a tale, the heavier realistic issues are addressed, subtle yet with such impact, in a tangle of delicious fiction. His extensiveness, accuracy, and enlightening manner is one such as I have not encountered elsewhere to date.
     In the true sense of the word, quite awesome. In the true sense of the word, quite awe-striking.
     Though it has been a couple of years since my perusal of his series, the Circle - Black, Red, White, and Green - and the Lost Books series, my very recent reading of the books Showdown, Saint, and Sinner have brought quite a number of relevant, striking questions to mind; issues that I have fretted over with passion only to find no answers in my mind. Though Dekker does not exactly present me with those sought answers he does leave the mind with feelings of high surety and understanding.

     It has to be impossible to step away from his writing without looking at at least one heavy thought path in a completely different light. Through his writing, Ted Dekker works in realms of thought and question, love, and good and evil.
     At this very moment in time, at 1:48 PM on August the 31st of the year 2013, Ted Dekker is my absolute favourite Weaver of Words.

To Be Thankful For Suffering

     In the morning of the third of August, 2013, while I was in the kitchen baking the black midnight cake for my mother's birthday, I suddenly realized how it was possible to be thankful for suffering. I believe that the only reason for this is that I am, quite officially, thankful for the hardships I've recently undergone. "I do not regret", as I've said before. The reality of that actually hit me for some reason that I don't even understand.

     Why didn't I notice this before?

     Honestly, I have no idea. It doesn't make much sense. All I can say is that I am grateful that I've come to this realization. It's a freeing concept, a relieving thought, one that I would hope that all could come to terms with. In the end, however, it's probably safe to say that the only people who will come to terms with it are those who have undergone notable hardship, hardship that has brought them to the brink of despair, hardship that changed them.

     It would be a lie to say that I was still the same after some of the things I experienced within the last two years. I'm different from before, not only in body but in mind and heart as well, and I know it. If your hardships don't change you it's difficult to be thankful for them. The ones that change you are the ones you understand the reason for, the ones you can look back on and seriously believe that "yes, it was worth it, and this is why".

     I can be thankful for what has happened because I know that I have learned from it and changed for the better. I can be thankful for what has happened because I know that I came away from it better off than before. We can't always see the reason for why we go through what we go through, but there always is one. That is the theme of my life: There is a reason.

     Everything has a reason.

          There is always a reason.

               And that is why I always ask "why"?

     When you finally see the reason behind it, it feels like a splash of cold water on an unsuspecting face. A hard slap from reality. It's a beautiful thing. And yet, searching for the reason can be a long, tiresome process. The challenge there is not getting too caught up in that process, blinding yourself to everything else. The challenge is believing that there is indeed a reason to the turmoil, even when you can't see what it is.

       In the morning of the third of August, 2013, while I was in the kitchen baking the black midnight cake for my mother's birthday, I suddenly realized how it was possible to be thankful for suffering. A beautiful realization, most certainly.