What's Made for Eternity about?

Hmm. Maybe it's better to ask what it's not about. MFE is something of a journal. I never could get the hang of keeping up an journal, but for me, poetry is my outlet. I find that I can best express myself that way. So, MFE is just a collection of the things I think about - some mundane (pistachio ice cream), some awesome (God's amazing grace). In its pages you'll find recordings of some of my darker moments, but also my delight in God, His world, and the hope (calm assurance) I have for the future.

Much of my poetry is about my spiritual journey, my growing understanding of the wonders of salvation, the Christian life, trials, mercy, love. I write about these things because they are what I know and what I want to know more of. I'm sharing them in MFE so that what I'm learning can encourage others.

You can get a preview by going here.

How did you decide to write MFE?

I've always wanted to write a book, ever since 1987 when I "published" the first edition of Nice News, a sporadically produced one page newspaper that I sold for 10 cents a copy. (Incidentally, my dear grandpa created a satirical counterpart to my paper called Nasty News, which he would pay me 2 cents to read.)

Over the years, Nice News faded away, replaced by essays and short stories in English classes. These creative writing tasks were my favorite assignments and somewhere along the way I discovered poetry. I first began writing poems when I was a freshman in high school, and my collection has slowly grown over the past 10 years or so. I'm not a very prolific writer - I don't have thousands of poems spilling from spiral bound notebooks like some people. However, by the end of 2005, I realized there was enough poetry to compile into a short book. I had been thinking about ideas for my parents' 30th wedding anniversary in July 2006, and it seemed to be the perfect gift; they have always been supportive of my writing. My 5 siblings enthusiastically pitched in on the financial end (and did a great job of keeping it all a secret). In June 2006, I received my first author copies from iUniverse. My parents' surprised and delighted reaction when they saw the finished product made all the preparation and editing work worth it.

Poetry?

Yes, poetry. And a couple essays. But I'm no e.e. cummings (or any number of modern day poets) - I don't try to write poems that are so profound even I don't know what they mean. I want to write poetry that is accessible, that people can relate to, so I write about what I know, and that's real life. Real life is messy and disappointing, exhilarating and fun, and sometimes it's just completely ordinary. Kinda like writing poetry.

What's the story behind the title?

The quote by H.A. Ironside on the top of the page was the "inspiration" for the title. I found it while reading a devotional of his from the book of Ecclesiastes. In that book, King Solomon tries everything under the sun (wealth, women, knowledge, etc.) to find satisfaction in life, only to come up empty again and again. Clearly, this is because human beings weren't made to find fulfillment in the temporary things of this world. We were meant to live eternally with God in perfect fellowship. We are indeed made for eternity, and until we find satisfaction in a relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ, we will be without true peace. We will be lost.

Or, as I've heard a pastor say in summing up the message of Ecclesiastes, "Without a right vertical relationship with God, man is miserable and life is meaningless." Do you have that right relationship with God? If you want to know how you can have peace with Him, click here.