Yesterday, the American novelist (particularly of the Cold War) Tom Clancy died. Clancy was famous for writing, among other works, Hunt for the Red October and Clear and Present Danger. I remember reading Patriot Games in the Reader’s Digest Condensed Version while going back and forth to the Bill Gothard seminar in Grand Rapids with Dennis Katopol. Clancy was a good antidote to the seminar. I read some great quotes yesterday – the best one being about hard work:

“The difference between fiction and reality? Fiction has to make sense.”

 “You learn to write the same way you learn to play golf. You do it, and keep doing it until you get it right. A lot of people think something mystical happens to you, that maybe the muse kisses you on the ear. But writing isn’t divinely inspired—it’s hard work.”

I dare say everything is hard work. True, there are talents that can make it a little easier, but at the end of the day, anything worth doing is going to come out of real, nose to the grindstone, hard work.

Proverbs tells us (14:23) that in all work there is great profit but mere talk tends only to poverty. Here are a couple more classics from the Bible about hard work: Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, Col. 3:23; For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies. Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living. 2 Thes 3:10-12; Do all things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, Phil 2:14-15; and my personal favorite: And to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one. 1 Thes 4:11-12.