I’ve got another writing idea to share. This time it is for a novel! I’m learning toward a medically-related field of vocation like a helicopter pilot, because of a great theological angle . . .
How does God respond to prayer? How do we respond to often seeing no answer to prayer? Also, how do we balance normalcy and repetitive tasks with the intense reality that we impact other eternal souls?!
Wouldn’t it be great to follow a helicopter pilot around? One who travels between hospitals saving lives, carrying organs for transplant, etc.? Wouldn’t it be neat to even learn how to become one? (It’s a pet peeve to me that I didn’t even realize how many fields of service existed as a kid. I seriously thought it boiled down to teachers, cooks, business men, medical personnel, and government/law.)
And, a Lutheran perspective could deal with the reality of prayers you never know the answers to, belief and disbelief, and horror that only finds its resolution in a hope external to so much of what surrounds us in this world.
Plus, an aerial vocation means you could delve into why does God cause storms? A medical vocation means you can delve into why “bad things happen to good people,” how some people experience their faith more . . . experimentally than others. And, how sometimes the most tragic deaths can inspire and cut us down at the same time.
Ok, ok, I’d add a family dimension, too, probably parent to child with a smattering of realistically married. Male or female, the main character could help us explore scarier things typically outside our daily troubles in a way that can prepare us. Medical troubles will come our way, either to ourselves or our loved ones. And, all of us can find ourselves in the place of giving indirect service. Sometimes it’s hard to recognize we can only serve indirectly (!), but it’s also a reassurance that God works through us anyway, working good even amid so much evil in this world.
What do you think? Tweak the idea and run with it. Just, please, don’t sugar-coat it too much. Let theology shine and let the Gospel comfort! Even to, and through, a helicopter pilot. 🙂
