Fiery chariots and Star Trek beams

A personal note from Andrew with context on "all the Bible references"

I was about to launch into some thoughts from an interesting passage in scripture: a wild moment in Elijah's life. You know, that towering prophet who looms large in the Old Testament, is swooped up into heaven in a fiery chariot then Star Trek beams back into the New Testament for a convo with Moses and Jesus before vanishing again?

But then I stopped.

Because I want to take a moment to re/introduce myself. I’m Andrew, and I write things down. I’m so grateful that your eyes are on these words.

If you landed on my email list because you know my work for the stage, or saw one of my movies with

Unveil

, read one of my YA novels, or happened upon some of my poetry somewhere and now are experiencing a different style, I hope that you’re pleasantly surprised (and not disoriented).

For those of you wondering “What’s with all the Bible references?” I wanted to share a little about my background.

Biblical roots

After high school, I spent a few years with the University of the Nations. After completing my BA in English, I became a lecturer for the U of N in the School of Biblical Studies¹ (on a campus in Malaysia).

This cross-cultural school was foundational for both my faith and my writing journey: they were the best years of my twenties!

It wasn’t unusual, then, to be immersed in passages of scripture for ten hours each day for five or six days a week for months at a time. It was daunting, overwhelming, life-giving, mundane, transcendent.

I still have the Bible I used in the school and it’s a marked-up, notated, duct-taped treasure.

I remember a favourite leader, a towering intellect, encouraging us newbie lecturers who signed on as staff. He shared that the work we were doing by studying and teaching in the school would generate material we could use for a lifetime. He wasn’t wrong!

In my current exploration of the concept of Remnant here in this space, those years of detailed study are richly relevant. I’m grateful that I can draw upon notes, old teachings and study from that time. What a gift to pull forward thoughts and study into my content creation today from all those years ago!

So while, this week, I expected to dive deep into a passage from the historical account of the Kings of Israel, I thought it worthwhile to give some context about this vein running through my work: scripture has shaped my journey. It’s been a light, to borrow from the psalmist, that has helped to illuminate the path of my writing and my life.²

I love

Substack

because it’s a platform where so many of my interests collide—as a writer and producer, but also as a reader. That's the gist of Things I Wrote Down. A place to explore collisions of words, creativity and faith.

I'm so glad you're reading; grateful for your attention in these content-rich times.

Next week I plan to jump back into the concept of Remnant. We’ll travel back in time to hook up Elijah and Israel's kings to a heart rate monitor.

I look forward to continuing that exploration with you,

~ AK

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If you're new or are catching up, here's the first two posts in this new Remnant series:

Don’t miss this week’s Mocktail Mashup - a fun conversation between Petra and I. This week’s episode goes well with a Cucumber, Lime, Mint cooler.

Footnotes to article

1. The SBS is not for the faint of heart. It’s a 9-month intensive program in which students read the Bible, verse by verse, book by book, in its entirety using the inductive method of study (and really digging into the historical and cultural context of the scriptures.

2. Psalm 119:105