Welcome Fellow Travelers, My name is Brian D. Stansell. At a young age, I was given a passion for story, parable, folklore, and fiction. I did not recognize this as a gift at first. I am an author that few people know about because I almost lost my way with the gift I had been given. It was buried awhile. It’s not much, but it’s still what I have in my hand, and I am surrendering it over to the One who can make much out of little.
This work of faith in fiction is just the beginning of a calling and a journey for me. The Holy Scriptures tell me:
“The one who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and the one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.“ [Luke 16:10 NET]
So, with what little talent I have, (no matter how I may perceive it), I am to offer it back in service to the Great Giver to make of it He wills. What profitability comes from it, is His to decide. It was given to me to serve the purposes for which He called me.
Many years ago, I read the following verse:
“Let this be written for a future generation, that a people not yet created may praise the LORD:” [Psalms 102:18 NIV]
And, back then, the words struck me as a particular calling on my writing life. The desire for writing inspirational fiction flickers within me, like a persistent flame that I cannot put out. I had fooled myself that, for me, writing fiction was a ‘childish dream’ that I had to put away to become a mature and responsible adult.
1 Corinthians 13:11 says: “When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things.“
But I gravely misunderstood that verse. I counted the love of fiction and the desire to write it as a “childish thing”. That I should focus more on the “real world” and practical things that built a career, made money, and garnered me the acceptance and prestige of the world at large. This thinking made me ashamed of the persistent flame, rather than pursuing a calling that would fan it into a roaring wildfire. That isolated verse in context goes on in verses 12-13 to say:
“Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely. Three things will last forever–faith, hope, and love–and the greatest of these is love.”
I had questioned the “gift” and thereby the motives of the Giver. My Creator lit that flame in me, and I was resisting His Will by trying to belittle it or shove it aside due to my own fears and lack of faith. I had proved how little I knew by trusting in the distorted image I had created of my Father, rather than learning what His true reflection was. Verse 12 was prophetically my self-imposed predicament. I made high-sounding, over spiritualized excuses for my actions, but I had deluded myself and I was fooling no one. I was afraid. Afraid that the flame was no sustainable. Afraid it would fail to provide any light in the dark passages of life. I had overcomplicated the call, and let fear consign my faith into a little safe cave in the back of my heart. But God’s calling remained, and He lovingly will not let us be held captive by fear forever. He calls us to an abundant life as a conqueror over the forces of darkness. He tells us to hold fast to the good and not overcomplicate His message of Hope. But in a modern “Surface” world that is constantly redefining terms, it had become difficult to hear beyond the noise what the “good” was that I should be striving for.
Thankfully, God has a way of illumining His intentions for us with His Word. Eventually, with study and humility, its Light shines into our self-imposed darkness and clarifies what we could not see.
The book of the OT prophet Micah reveals the simplicity of the “Good” for me.
“He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God? The voice of the LORD will call to the city– And it is sound wisdom to fear Your name: “Hear, O tribe. Who has appointed its time? “Is there yet a man in the wicked house, Along with treasures of wickedness And a short measure that is cursed? “Can I justify wicked scales And a bag of deceptive weights? “For the rich men of the city are full of violence, Her residents speak lies, And their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.” [Micah 6:8-12 NASB]
So I was left to unpack those truths and ask, “What does that mean for me?” The Words of the Scripture have very little direct effect on us if we do not humbly bring them into personal life application.
“But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. Because if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like someone looking at his own face in a mirror. For he looks at himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of person he was.“ [James 1:22-24 CSB]
I had been judging my “gift” by the “wicked scales” mentioned in the book of Micah, and listening to the seductive words of popular culture. My “gift” was not to be buried, or hidden, but to be placed in a lampstand as a fiery torch to enlighten the way for others.
Over the years since and with some spiritual maturity, I have discovered the delightful twist of the Giver. His “gifts” invested in you are not to frustrate you. If the desires and tastes and delights in your heart are not immoral or against His precepts then they are to be invested in and explored. He is a Good Father who wraps your gift and calling in the passions He invested in You. He is the Source of all “good” things.
“Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.” [James 1:17 NASB]
For a long time that “calling” was hidden by my own misunderstanding. Knowing the Nature of the Giver a little bit more over the years, I have come to discover how deliberate and intentional He is about what He does. And how He invests creativity and passion into a single life even from the very moment His Breath is transferred into our tiny lungs to gives us access to life-abundance. This is not a prosperity gospel, this is what comes of truly learning His Father Nature and His personal intentions (His Will) for us.
So this then is my manifesto. My public declaration of my mission: My passion, my calling is to create fictional parables that deliver passengers of eternal truths into the highways and by-ways and into the hearts of travelers, such as yourself. These are my five biscuits and a small piece of fish that I offer to the Master to make with them what He wills to feed the thousands gathered at this moment in time. This site/book series is the incubator of a dream and a passion. A vision and a journey just becoming more clear with each passing day. I walk it by faith and not by sight. I believe in The One who calls me and equips me for everything, good or bad ahead of me. This is how I am called to do battle against the lies that steal from my generation and hopefully for those generations to come.
Excavatia 