This is where I find the magic that inspired The Seekers Series.

Oh, by the way? If you were wondering what the magic system of the Seekers Series is? Hint: read your Bible. There’s more incredible . . . and incredibly REAL . . . magic there than any other book in the world! In The Seekers Series, I try to bring to life the same awe and wonder that those Biblical stories inspire, and the God whose movements those stories tell.

As a kid, I loved exploring the wild places, and was lucky to live in an area consisting largely of farm fields, but which still had a lot of wilderness for a kid to explore . . . and at a time it was still safe for a kid to wander.

Sad that subsequent generations had no such privilege.

The above photo is of a place not far from my childhood home, a long-abandoned chain of sand pits dating from the 19th century. They were dug during the construction of the railroads at that time- then left to the wilderness ever since.

I always found the place . . . well . . . magical. The wonder of the history of the place, and that it was left unknown and unattended for all the decades after, lit my imagination.

And this place, which we kids called Burr Oak after the predominant species of tree that grew there, is the very same Burr Oak that is featured in both Book two and Book Three of the Seekers Series, Inheritance and Interregnum.

Here’s a sample from Inheritance:

Leif lifted his face to the sky, the sun warming his skin, penetrating deep to loosen long-tensed muscles around his eyes and jaw. He stopped and basked in the sheer joy of it. Then he laughed and spread his arms wide as if to embrace all creation.
This terrain was so strange, these conical hills like some mysterious fantasyland, rising as if by magic from the surrounding plains. Who’d expect to see such here, and only scant miles from his hometown? Who’d have thought he’d be paid to hike such an idyllic landscape, the Burr Oak Moraine?
What he now walked through was primordial forest, dark and green, full of life, his footsteps cushioned by thick loam, fingertips playing along rough trunks awaiting his soon-to-be logging crew. The nut-producing trees once planted here now offered thousands of acres of prime hardwood. They’d harvest these marvelous specimens, enabling his family millwork to transform them into prized heirloom furniture.
This deal of a lifetime would save his family’s generations-old business, one sorely in need of saving. Advisor Haman already threatened to seize the enterprise, along with Leif’s parents’ home, if they didn’t produce dramatic results—and soon.
With the stakes this high, he refused to fail.
He crested a hilltop, stopped, and leaned his back against the warm rugged hide of an oak. Far below, the blue of the sky, the white of the clouds, and the greens, yellows, and reds of the foliage reflected in the sparkling silver bowl of an abandoned sand quarry, the multitude of hues broken into a shimmering kaleidoscope. The breeze carried crisp air, redolent of earth, sunshine, and growing things. He laid his head against the massive old bole as the sky peeked through gaps between its dappled leaves. With the green glow of sunlight shining through so inviting, he lost himself there, rising as if on the breeze now lifting those leaves, ruffling his hair.
An arrow slammed into the tree, vibrating its ominous note mere inches from his neck, and a clear, high voice called out from his right. “Don’t you move, or the next one’s between your eyes.”

Hey- how’s this for a mission? What say we gang together and make the world safe for kids again? Of course, that would require a complete reset of culture and morals . . . which would require a wave of national repentance and revival . . .

Okay! You had me at revival. Let go!

For my part, it’s my (admittedly unwritten) mission statement to join the battle for our civilization, and for the Kingdom, through the Power of Story. Small steps, admittedly, one person at a time, but that’s how organic groundswell movements happen.

Doubt it not. The Power of Story is not without influence. As I heard ​Seth Ring​ mention on Thomas Umstattd’s ​recent podcas​t, trends in narrative stories generally precede cultural movements—AND HELP SHAPE THEM!

So will you be joining the battle?

One way you could do so would be to share great stories with the people in your life. Stories that promote a Godly worldview, that help shape a healthy culture, that illustrate the good, the beautiful, and the true. Help those stories be discovered by the people they were written for!

The other side is promoting their worldview. Powerfully. Effectively. They own the corporate media, flood the world with their message. But we outnumber them- if only we’d join our voices to shout them down!

Will you help?