"For, lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head: for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb: and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines." (Judges 13:5)
In the Bible, a Nazarite was someone who took a special vow to separate themselves wholly to the service of God. One of the requirements for this vow was that they never cut their hair during their service. The most famous Nazarite was Samson, to whom the above verse refers. While I am not an Israelite with superhuman strength (and prefer to have short hair), I have separated myself unto God through accepting Jesus Christ as my personal savior.
Since I've become a Christian, God has blessed me by allowing me to study abroad in England, my favorite country in the world. After I graduated from college, I was given the honor of being a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Eastern European nation of Georgia, a country with a rich and ancient heritage that is the home of the most hospitable and loving people whom I've ever met. My service there was tragically cut short by the Russian invasion, during which I was evacuated to Armenia. While there, I was welcomed with open arms by the Armenian people as well as the local Peace Corps Volunteers and staff. It was there that I was given the opportunity to continue my service in Micronesia, where I served on the island of Kosrae. On Kosrae, God gave me the strength to refuse to attend the local, island-wide church that taught a false gospel of salvation through good deeds and church membership. He empowered me to stand up for the fact that eternal life can only be received through faith in Jesus Christ, allowing me to endure in my beliefs in spite of being ostracized, slandered, and persecuted by the community and my own host family for my decision. When my host father, a lay minister in that church, finally lost all sense of reason and threatened my life, God made sure that I was evacuated safely for the second time, after which I was allowed to complete my service early and to return to the United States.
Since I've returned, I've spent my free time returning to my favorite activity: writing! I'm currently working on a book that describes my Peace Corps experience in more detail, as well as trying to publish the sequels to my story "Heart of Flesh", which appeared in Mindflights Magazine in May of 2008. I'm also revising my novel "Fionnuala," which continues Cassandra's adventures beyond "Heart Of Flesh" and its two sequels, "Innocent" and "Ecgtheow's Way." This blog will cover the progress I'm making, along with movie and book reviews and the occasional "random thoughts" post.
Next Post: The Nazarite's Writing Creed. Discover what you will (and won't) find in my books and stories.
