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Uh These are the words, these are the words of life. Welcome back to Words of Life. We are continuing a series where we're speaking to writers of all kinds, and today we're joined by our friends, Dr. Bill and Reverend Diane Urey. If you are an aspiring writer, I want to encourage you to listen to the end because at the end of this interview, Diane offers some beautiful advice and encouragement.
We are welcoming back our good friends, Dr. Bill and Reverend Diane Urey. They are our national ambassadors for holiness. Thank you guys for coming back on the show. It's great to be with you.
Thank you for having us. We love this.
So, for any of our listeners who don't know you, can you just kind of share who you are and what that role with the Salvation Army means? We are a married couple, 41 years, and have been in ministry for. All of that time, but in the last eight years, the Lord has led us to the army in this marvelous, wonderful. It's a blessing of a ministry for us. To offer to the army again a reminder, a loving reminder of who the Lord's called us to be.
A holy people, biblically, but of course, as a denomination. And we've just had a wonderful time traipsing around the country and some of the world. Just talking with people about the Holy One and all He wants to do in our lives.
So it's been a an incredibly beautiful time for our lives. We just often say how the Army has just blessed us with this opportunity to spend. these years uh together in such a vital for our lives anyway a vital ministry so We're very grateful. That's kind of how I would describe us. I don't know what you would say.
That's good. Yeah. Mm-hmm. We wanted to have a series talking about the importance of writing, the act of writing.
So, scripture itself is the written word of God, and throughout history, it's been a primary way that the gospel spreads.
So, why do you think the written word remains such a powerful medium for sharing our faith today?
Well, I think that there is something incarnational. About Words that are written. It's really tempting, especially in this day and age, to kind of, without thinking it through, we kind of get involved in. Ideas that are disembodied? Talking about AI.
That's very tempting, but there's something about the written word that it's embodied. And Jesus Obviously, he's God embodied. He's the incarnation. And the Bible is And incarnation.
So Jesus is. He's God the Spirit. Who joined himself to humanity? That's who Jesus is. He's.
Fully God, fully human. And then the Bible is also. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, but it was regular human persons who wrote it.
So there's something I think that's really powerful about the fact that. that writing Is embodied. It's not just a disembodied bunch of thinking and ideas. but when it's written down There's something graspable about it. There's a power in it.
that is created by God who is the word. And that just excites me. It kind of takes the pressure off of us having to have great ideas on our own. we can know for a fact that writing is of God. Yeah, I think you'll sense that Diane I love to be Aeriferia, she said.
First of all, I want to say this is one of the most it's really a very deep question. I love that Diane started with the incarnation. I would say also. Not beyond that, but beside that, it's also Trinitarian. I mean, if you think about.
That the Lord is the eternal Word Himself. that within the Trinity there's communication going on for eternity, then we are invited into that life by being speaking creatures. That's how we share ideas. That's how we share love is through words, other ways, but words are the key way of sharing ideas. And And so that the incarnate word would then allow an unscripturated word, a written word.
to be the avenue by which we would know ultimate truth is really a remarkable thing. Because, of course, he allows us to interpret those words. They're eternal, they're true words, but we can interpret them.
So it's a personal relationship.
So the whole thing about speaking, communicating is Trinitarian, person to person. And then we're invited into that as well. That to me is the whole foundation of what makes a book Meaningful or not. I mean, you and I pass, like behind me, thousands of books. But only a few of them are really life-changing.
when he when you think about the world of books And only those books that really are, I think, that tap into the nature of. of God's self-communication. And how the world is he put together by speaking it into existence. It's really a remarkable thing that we're involved in.
So I view it when I'm in my good days, not my bad days of not being able to write, but the better days. Saying, Lord, thank you for inviting me into describing. You and reality to other people as best as I can. I feel very weak, but you use these things to change lives, and it's a beautiful thing. Hey, you're listening to the Salvation Army's Words of Life.
We're gonna take a quick ad break and we'll be right back. Americans have a big healthcare problem. Over 100 million U.S. citizens carry medical debt, but that's not the whole story. With health insurance, your out-of-pocket and monthly costs are way too high.
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org slash wellness. That's chministries dot org slash wellness. As Christian writers, the act of writing can be a form of worship. What does that look like for you as you write? I loved that question.
I was so curious where you came up with that, but. For me, the definition of worship is mutual self-giving and mutual receiving.
So that can that can happen on a Sunday morning. But it is not only music. Worship is not just singing. It's not just music. Worship is when, like, say, the preached word.
It's God offering himself. in the preached word and we receive that And we give back to him our life when we sing or when we tithe. an offering and when we give of ourselves He says, thank you very much. And he receives that.
So it's this continuous mutual. Giving and receiving? And so for me. As a writer, This is very, very helpful to me when I think about writing as worship because. Not any idea I've ever had.
if it's worth anything. Has ever originated in me. And so the way I look at it is None of the ideas I have. Belong to me? They're not mine.
They belong to Jesus? And he has offer them to me. And he's saying, What are you gonna do with those?
So I I have a responsibility to steward. what he has given to me. And it always is for someone else. It's always for somebody else. And so.
I just find that really freeing because it takes me right out of the picture. I'm out of the way. And I just sit with him. Jesus, you know who's going to read this, you know what they need. Give me your words, your ideas, your thoughts.
And so it's like teamwork.
So for me, that's how writing is worship. It's like this non-stop breathing in the Lord, and then just in obedience and self-offering, I'm just saying, okay, this was of you, and I'm going to write it down, and you take it. And not only. Is it important that he give us the words and the ideas, but that he inhabit them? I want him to inhabit anything that I've ever written.
Because that's the only way there's ever going to be any fruit from it. We pray that you're enjoying and being blessed by this conversation. Uh We're going to take one more ad break and we'll be right back. Americans have a big healthcare problem. Over 100 million U.S.
citizens carry medical debt, but that's not the whole story. With health insurance, your out-of-pocket and monthly costs are way too high. You get surprise bills, denied claims, and poor customer service. That's a serious burden. As Christians, we don't have to pay for a broken system.
Christian Healthcare Ministries is an alternative to health insurance at half the cost. You can enroll at any time and join a proven faith-based solution that's both reliable and affordable. CHM isn't just help, it's financial and spiritual support when you need it most. Families across the country count on CHM to step in during their hardest moments, and it works. Stand up to health insurance with a low-cost, biblical solution.
Join CHM today by visiting chministries.org/slash wellness. Ministries.org slash wellness. Your most recent book called Conversations About Holiness. Why did you guys write this? Who is this for?
And what do you hope people get out of it?
Well, the the book is It's a Q ⁇ A setup. It's a question and answer format. Every single one of those questions are real. They came from actual salvationists. And so we just try to answer them in a conversational style.
I gave all the really hard ones to Bill. Sure that wouldn't. But that's what the book is.
So it came out of the realization that. These questions are very, very common. And so we thought maybe this would be helpful to people who've never been in one of our QA sessions, but. Apparently everyone is asking the same questions, so we just hope it'll be helpful. We don't want to we didn't want to give a monolithic sort of this is the answer to everything.
There are different perspectives. No one has the Salvation Army. Believes in holiness, we love sanctification, but we're not saying we have the only ideas about this. We have some particular beautiful ones, but. The Holy One is, you can't define him, you can't describe him, so you need different personalities.
Conversing about the nature, the mammoth nature of God, the internal nature of God. And that's why we need everybody who's called to write to write. We need your perspective. What advice would you give a listener? who has a desire to write but feels stuck.
And I want to say this is like tangible practical advice. Read his word. Get like your physical Bible every day, every morning. Mm. Bible is the source of any good book that's ever been written.
He is the best storyteller. He's the master word, right? And have your notebook with you while you're reading. Anything that strikes your heart is probably the Spirit whispering to you: write it down. Just write it down.
Doesn't have to be well written. Just write it down. And sometimes it might be a verse. Write the entire verse with your hand on a paper notebook. And Offer yourself to Jesus in that process.
over what he's just spoken to you. Give thanks to Him, whatever it is. Breathe in the awe of the moment that God from outside this world has just spoken His word to you, and you've just written it down. It's so intimate. You receive his word, you respond in whatever way, and you always obey.
But Whatever. you might eventually write about is going to come from his voice? I'll say that again. Whatever you eventually write about is going to come from the very voice of God. And that should just fire you up.
That should give you great confidence. And you might be a fiction writer. You might be a journalist. You might be. a theologian, whatever kind of writer you are.
Always start in his word. He wants to produce through you. What he wants someone else to receive. You might be writing curriculum for sixth graders, whatever it is. It's gonna come from him?
And it's going to be awesome. The Salvation Army's mission, doing the most good, means helping people with material and spiritual needs. You become a part of this mission every time you give to the Salvation Army. Visit SalvationArmyUSA.org to offer your support. You can subscribe to Words of Life on your favorite podcast store or visit SalvationArmysoundcast.org.
Join us next time for the Salvation Army's Words of Life. These are the words, these are the words of life. These are the words, these are the words, these are the words of life. These are the words of life. These are the words of life.
Thanks so much for listening to Words of Life. We want to thank the team at Life Audio for their partnership with us on the show. Visit lifeeaudio.com, where you'll find dozens of other faith-centered podcasts in their network. They have shows about prayer, Bible studying, parenting, and more. Thanks again for listening.
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