Verbal Thinking

October 20, 2015 By B. Baylis Leave a Comment

VIsual Story Board for Manuscript Title, Part IV – Biblical?

This post is the next to the last in a series on the development of the title of my manuscript, An Explorer’s Guide to Biblical Life Planning: Student Version. In the series I have illustrated the application of a visual approach to thinking through a pictorial story board. In this post, I concentrate on the adjective Biblical, and some questions surrounding it. Since there are so many Life Planning processes, I wanted an adjective that would specify the type of process I was developing.

This adjective needed to convey a number of things. I wanted it to indicate something about the audience to whom I was addressing the book. The first adjective that I selected was the word Christian. I experimented with this word because I developed this process in conjunction with my work at four different Christian colleges. In those contexts, the students whom I was counseling and mentoring were almost exclusively Christian students. The few who were not Christians had made a conscious choice to attend a Christian college and knew the kind of education in which they were participating.

Yet I hesitated to use the adjective Christian. Why was I exhibiting this uncertainty? The main reason for my uncertainty came from the fact that there are many different forms of Christianity. Each form has its own nuances. In some of those branches of Christianity there is a strict exclusivity: “You are only a Christian if you belong to our group. We are the only group that has the truth.” Christianity does have an exclusivity. Christ is the only way, truth and life. No one can come to God except through Christ. In the Gospel of John, we read:

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (John 14:6 KJV)

However, there is a wide-open invitation to all to come to Christ. There is no set of restrictive rituals that one must perform to come to Christ. You must just believe that you are a sinner, that Christ died for your sin, and you must accept his free offer of salvation. Christ did not save us to enslave us. He died to make us free, as he spoke to a group of Pharisees and other Jews,

³⁰As he spake these words, many believed on him. ³¹Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; ³²And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.³³They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free? ³⁴Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. ³⁵And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever. ³⁶If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. (John 8:30-36, KJV)

In Paul’s letter to the Galatian church he wrote

Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. (Gal 6:1 KJV)

I have had my own life journey in Christianity. I have been a Christian for more than 60 years. I spent 40 of those years as a faculty member or administrator at four different Christian colleges, of various denominational and theological stripes. Over those 40 years I witnessed many arguments about whether a particular college should have the right to call itself a Christian college. These arguments arose mainly due to the sectarianism, parochialism, or pettiness of legalists, who have infiltrated the ranks of churches. My personal views are built upon many years of personal studies of the scriptures, theology and the history of the church. I believe in a richness and breadth of Christianity. I did not want to limit the appeal or application of my work to a narrow segment of the universal church, a segment which would force Christians into a small box of man’s making.

In my projected manuscript I didn’t want to restrict my audience to a particular portion of Christians desiring to find God’s plan for their lives. However, I know that not all who call the Lord, “Lord” are of the House of God.

⁴³For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. ⁴⁴For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes. ⁴⁵A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh. ⁴⁶And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? ⁴⁷Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like: ⁴⁸He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock. ⁴⁹But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great. (Luke 6:43-49, KJV)

If we come to Christ and do the things he has said, we will be shown to be like Christ, and worthy to carry the label Christian. Where do we find the things that Christ has said? I do not deny that in the past God has spoken directly to individuals, and even today he may still speak directly to some individuals. The word of the Lord may not necessarily come audibly, but rather through the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts and minds. However, our primary source of the words of the Lord today are the Scriptures. When individuals believe that God has spoken directly to them, those individuals, and anyone who listens to them, have the responsibility to test the words they believe came from God against what God has said elsewhere.

Since we know and believe that God is our primary authority, we must look to our current main source of his instructions, which is the Bible. That thought tipped the balance in my thinking toward the use of the word Biblical in the title of my manuscript.

However, as I thought more about this choice. I studied applications where the term Biblical has been used, such as Biblical counseling. There I found significant discussions about the use of the term Biblical, particulary in that context. The primary criticism of the use of the term Biblical Counseling seems to be related to the use of the Bible as the only source of knowledge and methodologies related to counseling, and the exclusion of other sources such as psychology and psychiatry. Thus we have two pictures. The picture to the left includes only the Bible and no other sources. While the picture to the right includes another source of knowledge, but does put the Bible on top in the place of ultimate prominence. I believe that God has given us brains and expects us to use them for His honor and glory. So my thinking leans toward the picture to the right.

Back to my question of this post: “What adjective do I use to describe the process that I am proposing?” May I ask for your help? What adjective should I use? I welcome my readers input.

October 12, 2015 By B. Baylis Leave a Comment

Visual Story Board for Manuscript Title, Part III – Life Planning

Life Planning: What do I do now?

This phrase is very different from the other phrases or words in my manuscript title in one very distinctive way. I have had the phrase Life Planning firmly fixed in my mind for many years. I started working on the idea of Life Planning a number of years before I had my traumatic brain incidents. During my years at Indiana Wesleyan University, in working with and supervising the staff of the IWU Life Calling and Leadership Center, I developed a five step process outlining how I believed God works in the lives of Christians. I labeled this process Life Planning because it helped individuals answer the question: “Which way do I go now?” My proposed manuscript explains this process and helps individuals work through the details in their own lives.

When individuals face the question “Which way do I go now?” they are really facing a multitude of questions. It is a time of challenge trying to balance many questions at once. There are so many choices and so many opportunities in an individual’s future. It can literally have a person’s head spinning.

As individuals face this challenge, they can be overwhelmed and find themselves buried under the weight of many questions.

At this point in their lives, they may have reached a point where they really can’t dig out on their own and they definitely need help extricating themselves from this tangled mess. The first place to find help is another person who can lend a helping hand. This person can be a parent, friend, teacher, pastor, or professional counselor. I believe that a second source of help could be my book, if the person is willing to spend the necessary time working through the book.

What is my five-step program? In words from before my TBI, the LIfe Planning process begins with God reaching out to individuals and inviting them to enter into a personal relationship with Him. It continues with those individuals responding to God, and then looking inward to satisfy their own inner questions, needs and desires. It concludes with individuals reaching out to other people.The five steps may be summarized in the following manner:

CALLING is God’s summoning individuals to enjoy the benefits of His grace, and then empowering them to participate in His grand plan for the universe.
MINISTRY is God’s assignment of an individual to a particular function, office or area of service.
VOCATION can be seen as the means of fulfilling God’s assignment. It is giving voice and hands to God’s calling and one’s inner self. It is the means of fulfilling one’s inner spiritual need to follow God’s summons and assignment.
PREPARATION is the individual’s personal response as the best way to equip one’s self for one’s vocation.
ENGAGEMENT is the final step, as an individual takes action in one’s ministry and vocation to fullfill God’s plan in his or her life. It almost always involves reaching out to others.

At this point in this post I diverge from the prepared script written prior to my TBIs and rejoin the battle between verbal and visual thinking. In the above discussion, I have given a short outline of my understanding of the process of life planning. I really have not defined life planning. So I ask the question: “What is life planning?” I have already hinted that life planning is a multi-faceted process. Some of the facets include setting a goal and racing toward it, defining success and measuring it, and navigating the maze of life

It involves investigating all the opportunities available to any individual and the open doors before that individual:

It involves balancing work and life, setting the bar high and striving to vault over it, and climbing to the summit and planting one’s flag on it.

Sometimes it involves an individual search for and finding the missing piece that fits right into the open slot of a pie, or the right key to open one’s mind to what lies in front of the individual

Finding the adjective Biblical may have been the most difficult aspect of constructing the manuscript title. In my next post I will explain how I decided to use the term Biblical. I will also discuss some of the implications of using the term Biblical to describe my Life Planning process.

October 5, 2015 By B. Baylis Leave a Comment

Visual Story Board for Manuscript Title, Part II

In my previous post, I indicated that in this post I would attempt to explain how I decided that the next word in my manuscript title, An Explorer’s Guide to Biblical Life Planning: Student Version, should be Guide. After coming up with the word Explorer, I wanted a word which would describe the type of book that I was writing. I wanted the word to describe how an Explorer would use this book. Every author somewhere needs to answer the question, “How should this book be used?” What better place to answer this question than in the title? What visual scenes came to my mind as I contemplated this question? I will admit that the first scenes that I saw were scenes that I immediately rejected.

I did not want my book to be a cook book that provided a step-by-step recipe for living one’s life. I did not want to convey the idea that God is a puppet master pulling our strings and controlling every movement.

My book is not a book of do’s and don’ts that portrays God as a policeman that is waiting to pounce on an individual for overlooking one commandment. I don’t mean for my book to be a law book. It’s also not a book that portrays God as a vindictive judge that is ready to “throw the book” at everyone who comes before Him. Yes, God is a righteous judge who has a set of laws that He intends for us to obey. However, as David reminds us in one of his morning prayers:

⁸The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. ⁹He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever. ¹⁰He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. ¹¹For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. ¹²As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. ¹³Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. ¹⁴For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust. (Psalm 103: 8 – 15; KJV)

If those are not the images I wanted to use for my title, what images did I want to use? They were images that portrayed assistance to the reader. I wanted my help to help the reader find his or her way through the maze of life to find the fulfillment that God intended for them. The first three visuals did exactly that. However, the words that emanated from the visuals, (compass, maze, diagram, map) didn’t convey the ideas that I wanted or needed in the book title.

Finally, I can check off this desire. With the fourth visual, I found the word that I was seeking.

The term is Guide. A guide dog doesn’t tell its user where to go. The blind person directs the dog to where he or she wants to go. It is the responsibility of the human member of the team to listen for the movement of traffic and other sounds in the environment to determine whether it is safe to proceed. A guide dog doesn’t tell the human user where to go. The human picks the intended destination. The guide dog helps the human maneuver around fixed obstacles. The human is still responsible for avoiding any moving obstacles. A travel guide book doesn’t tell the tourist what sites to visit. It highlights places and things worth visiting. The human tourist makes the final choice of where to go and what to do.

In my next post, I will explain the phrase Life Planning. I will discuss where it came from and what I mean by it.

September 28, 2015 By B. Baylis Leave a Comment

VIsual Story Board for Manuscript Title, Part I

In my previous post, Writing Using Visual Thinking as a Starting Point, I indicated that I was working on a book manuscript with the working title, An Explorer’s Guide to Biblical LIfe Planning: Student Version. In this current series of posts I will take you through the story boards that I built to come up with that title. Due to the length and intricacies of these story boards it will take at least five posts to explain my thinking. In this first post I will concentrate on the first phrase in the title, An Explorer. I wanted this first phrase to indicate both the type of individual to whom the book was addressed and the approach to studying the book the reader should take.

I wanted to focus on individuals who, when standing on the edge of a precipice, are willing to look across to the other side and consider whatever crossing avenues are available, no matter how frightened they might be. I wanted to address those individuals who are courageous enough to try to cross that rickety bridge.

I wanted to address those individuals who are willing to use a number of different paths and modes of transportation to achieve their goals. They are willing to do whatever it takes to reach the summit. They aren’t afraid to change mid-stream to a different approach.

I wanted to reach individuals who are willing to search high and low for answers.

I wanted to speak to individuals who are not afraid of books, particularly the Bible. These individuals have an affinity for books and are eager to spend time studying them deeply.

I wanted to speak to individuals who have a deep curiosity about the world and are not afraid to investigate it. They spend time looking carefully at the surface details, but also are brave enough to look beneath the surface.

Digital Illustration of a Viking Ship from Graphic Stock

The individuals to whom I am writing may have a good idea of where God is leading them, but don’t know all of the details. Even with their incomplete information, they are still ready to sail off into stormy waters and unknown seas like Leif Erikson or Christopher Columbus.

More modern versions of brave adventurers of this type include New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Nepalese SherpaTenzing Norgay, who were the first to reach the top of Mount Everest, the highest mountain in the world, at 11:30 a.m. on May 29, 1953. In the intervening years, more than 2000 climbers have reached that peak. However, a number of attempted climbs have ended tragically. More than 200 climbers have died on Mt. Everest’s treacherous slopes. The current year, 2015, is the most costly in terms of human life, with more than 20 climbers perishing as a result of an avalanche in April.

One more recent event than the initial climbing of Mt. Everest that caught the imagination of the world is the moon landings of the American space program. Neil Armstrong and Edwin (“Buzz”) Aldrin, two of the three astronauts in the Apollo 11 space craft, were the first two men to walk on the moon. Since their historical steps, there have been 10 more men to walk on the moon. There could have been two more. However, while en route to the moon, Apollo 13 had serious difficulties. It circled the moon but never landed on it. Almost everyone remembers the famous line from the movie account on this expedition: “Houston, we have a problem!” This is actually a misquote of the line spoken by Apollo 13 commander, Jim Lovell, who really said, “Houston, we’ve had a problem.” Notice the past tense in the Lovell version of the line. The present tense in the movie line makes for a more dramatic moment.

As we look to the future, who can forget the opening lines from the space-based science fiction television series, Star Trek? “Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before.” There is the word, I am searching for: explore

With all these images floating around in my head, I finally found the word that I needed to use in my title to describe the people to whom I am addressing my book. The one word that fits all of my images is EXPLORER. Hence the opening phrase, “An Explorer’s…” In my next post I will break down the images behind the next word in the title, “Guide“.

September 21, 2015 By B. Baylis Leave a Comment

Writing Using Visual Thinking as a Starting Point

Ever since I made the observation that I believed that my primary mode of thinking had changed from a verbal basis to a visual one, people have asked me the very appropriate question: “What do you mean by that?” In this post, I attempt to illustrate the process that I am now using to write. I will use an example from a book manuscript on which I am currently working.

The working title of my book is An Explorer’s Guide to Biblical Life Planning:Student Version. How did I come up with that title? I literally spent many hours every day over several weeks thinking about and experimenting with a number of different titles. When I wanted to convey that particular thought to you, the first things that came to my mind were pictures of a clock, a calendar, and an individual sitting at a desk thinking and writing. I felt the urgent need to get this book written and my ideas down on paper. The calendar and the clock were always hanging over my head. However, no matter how hard I tried, there were times when good ideas seemed to escape me. The thought bubble in my mind was empty.

Image from Presenter Media. Used with permissiong

The illustration above is not the exact picture I had in my mind. I am not sufficiently talented enough as an artist to sketch the picture that I see in my head and have you understand what I have sketched. In this post, I am using stock illustrations that I found on the internet. Initially, I didn’t realize it, but this type of search process is a two-way street, with one idea leading to another. As I looked for images that represented what I was seeing in my head, I found images that sparked other ideas in my mind. The two idea bubbles to the right represent that thought. The road sign and the sketch representing the transfer of information between my mind and my computer show the back and forth going on in my head, between visual and verbal thinking, and how ideas in one arena generate ideas in the other.

Image from GraphicStock. Used with permission

Why is the process of picking a title so hard? It is so difficult because the title of a book is extremely important. It must do much work. It must have arms to carry a load of conveying the theme and major ideas of the book. It must also reach out and grab a potential reader’s attention. It must have legs to walk on its own. It must go to where the reader lives. Its message must tell the story of the book in a very few words. The title must be memorable. If a reader can’t recall the title of a book, that reader won’t keep going back to the book or recommend it to other people. If a book’s title doesn’t speak to a reader, and that reader doesn’t find the title interesting and appealing, it is very unlikely the reader will pick up that book, hold on to it, read it, walk with it, live with it and, in general, spend time with it.

Readers need to spend time with this book as if it were a friend. For a friend, people will make time in their otherwise busy schedule. They spend time with a friend, walking and talking. Amos 3:3 asks “Can two walk together, except they be agreed? (KJV) The Hebrew translated agreed means to meet by appointment. Readers need to put time for this book into their regular schedule. Visually, what I want to happen is illustrated below:

I hope this gives my readers a little insight into my daily battle with writing. With God’s help, I will finish An Explorer’s Guide to Biblical Life Planning: Student Version, and mid- to late-adolescents will spend time in the book, and find insights into what God has in store for them. Don’t worry parents, I already have in mind a follow-up that I have tenatively entitled An Explorer’s Guide to Biblical Life Planning: PG Version. In that version I will hopefully provide parental guidance on how to help their children make very difficult decisions and navigate through very troubling times in their lives. That’s my daily prayer. I entreat you to join me in that prayer. If you do, you will have my back and uphold me. In my next post, I will attempt to explain what’s behind the title, An Explorer’s Guide to Biblical Life Planning. Thanks in advance for your prayers. God’s peace and blessings be with you!