7 reasons why I wrote "The Road to the Father's House”

…and 7 questions for you to ask yourself about what God has given you to create…

I'm writing this post because I find it really helpful hearing people's real world experiences about trying to pursue the dream God has put in their heart. Hearing the realness of someone's story, the ups and the downs and the moments they had to push through, it's life giving for me and I think for many others too.

I first wanted to write a book sometime around 2007...my book was finally published in 2021. It was a long journey nurturing that dream from embryo stage to full term delivery. As I went I learned that why I was doing it was as important as what I was trying to do.

I want to help you to find 'the why' behind your future project that is just waiting to happen.

I want you to read this and be thinking about what He has given you, what you're doing with it, what may be holding you back or slowing you down...and what His Spirit is saying to you today about His heart for you and this dream.

Here are my 7 reasons for writing the book and 7 questions for you to ask about the thing God has put in your heart.

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1 - I learned that it was my nature to pass on what I have learned…so I did that

This sounds a bit pretentious if I’m honest, but the reality is, I’ve always wanted to pass on things that I have learned to others. If you know me even a little you’ll have probably heard me say ‘I was listening to a podcast the other day you should check it out’ at some point in our friendship, or something like that. When something moves me, I just want someone else to be moved by it too...it's no more complicated than that.

Sometimes I find myself sharing something I’ve learnt before I’ve really absorbed it properly myself. I think I just get too excited.

God blew my life apart with the message of His identity as a Father and my identity as His son. I’ve got lots of ideas for books in me, but I knew I had to write this one first, as it was the most impacting thing God has done in my life.

So even though it’s personal and bordering on too honest at times, it felt natural for me to do this. Whether I’ve been a youth team volunteer, a school teacher or a pastor, I’ve always had it in my DNA to want to pass along what God has revealed to me.

So, my first question for you is this: what is in your DNA? What were you born to do and what do you find yourself always doing regardless of where you are and what your job or life-stage is?

2 - I realised I really wanted to be authentic…and not play the game

Saying ‘authenticity’ is one my chief values feels a little like saying ‘I only ever tell the truth and I never lie about anything’.

Sorry for an honest moment here, but there are times when I embellish, hide the truth or just leave it out entirely sometimes. I don’t mean to most of the time, though sometimes I do. On some occasions it’s as simple as nodding and smiling and telling someone I’m fine when I’m really not. I'm not always real and honest and authentic…but I’d like to be.

I want to know the real God. And I want to be the real me. And I want to be transformed into who He really believes I can really be. This one is a short one and a simple one, but it’s also a game changer.

I wrote this book in attempt to shoot at that target.

Authenticity.

People can smell fake a mile off, I didn’t want whatever I wrote to be fake or generic.

Real, honest and God honouring was the goal.

Still is too.

So my second question for you is: What motivates you and stirs your passion? What gap needs filling? What target do you find yourself constantly trying to shoot for when you talk and share and dream?

3 - I wanted to steward something that I felt I'd been given, and not hide it in the ground

We all have something.

I knew I had been given something.

I also knew I was in danger of leaving it on the shelf or burying it.

I’ve learned over the years that stewardship is one of the biggest themes of the bible. What we do with what God has given us, whether we invest it or not, take risk with it or play it safe, is seen by God.

The parable of the talents and the prophetic words by Jesus about the judgement seat of Christ are among many portions of the bible that show God cares greatly about what we build with our lives and with what we’ve been given.

had the desire in my heart to write long before I could actually explain why it was important to me to do so. But for years my fear of failing at it held me back from ever truly investing in it.

We’ll come on to fear in the next one…but right now I want to just focus on this stewardship thing.

• It was in my heart

• It needed to come out

• But I could have left it there locked up and safe for the rest of my life.

A dream never realised, but never crushed either. Any of this sound familiar?

What have you been given to steward? What is locked away somewhere in your heart, an idea and a gift from God that is just waiting to be birthed?

4 - I knew fear of it not being successful was not God's heart for me

No one needed to give me reasons for not writing this book and taking a lunge at this dream. I’ve had those reasons in my head for years:

• I could sell only 6 copies…

• I could spend a lot of money making it happen that I’ll never see again

• I could have friends and people I respect read it and think that it wasn’t very good

• Some might think my theology was poor or my analogies were average.

• It might be seen as unoriginal or even a copy of something better from someone else.

• At the end of the day it could come and go with a whimper of anti-climax and this thing I’ve spent all these years on, thinking, dreaming and actually writing could have all been for nothing.

All of these things went through my head.

And then I remembered that those thoughts are not my Father in heaven’s thoughts. My Father’s thoughts towards me are life and hope…and that is the message of the book that I wanted to write.

He doesn’t think about me and what I do with my life like that. He is not intimidated by failure. I am His adopted son…and so I should think like Him.

If it fails it fails, but at least I would know I trusted Him, and regardless of what happened, He was proud of me for trying.

And if it succeeds, well I would know who to thank and be grateful to.

I’d also know to lean on Him again for the next dream, the next project and promise land He’d put in my heart.

So, fourth question…what are you afraid of?

5 - I knew that my journey would help some people, those who had the same ache “I thought I was the only one…”

My book is about our hearts and the slow journey they take with God back to His home, as He disciples and matures us and shows us little by little more His beauty. It was the journey I have taken for most of my life.

I didn’t write it to fill a gap in the market or to try and hit some current trending topic in the church world. I wrote it for the people who contend with questions in their heart about who they are in God and where He is in their life.

The book is not about fiery power encounters on the tops of mountains or prophetic declarations about the coming decade. It is simply about your heart and mine and the lifetime walk we take side by side with God, where we discover He has always been a good dad…and we are his adopted children as a result of that.

That is what my journey has been these last few decades, discovering that…and I know I’m not alone. I know others are on that journey, and want to discover that pathway and walk in for themselves. Some are in a heap on the roadside beaten up from trying to walk that way - I wanted to reach them too.

There ache within all of our hearts for God to speak into our story and where we have need Him most. I wanted to speak out my own ache and speak to those who shared it too.

So next question: Who might you represent out there? Who are you speaking to? Whose hearts has God stirred you to speak to and reach?

6 - I didn’t want to look back at my life and say I never tried it for a host of reasons that no longer seem all that important…

In the Euro 2020 finals five England players stood up to take penalties in the final match of the tournament. Three of those five players who stood up for the three lions, missed, England lost the final. It was painful.

As an Englishman though I was so proud of those three boys who stood up. They took the long walk from the halfway line to the penalty spot, with the opposition crowds booing them as they took their run up. They stood up to be counted and they have my respect and admiration. Even though they missed and we lost, they left it all out on the field and gave it their all.

I wrote this book because I didn’t want to look back and say I ducked out, avoided the risk, played it safe and protected myself from failure.

I wanted to trust God with something He had put in my heart.

And so I sat down to write it, shared it with friends, allowed professional editors to give honest feedback and so on and so on.

I'm glad I did it. So glad.

I’m proud of the book even though I know it’s not perfect. Even thought I know I’d probably rewrite the introduction again if I had the chance, and maybe I'd cut it down by 20,000 words too, it’s probably too long.

I’m still so thankful to God He gave me the encouragement to do it and keep going until it was done.

I hope it will help people I never even get a chance to meet, and go places I never dreamt it would end up. I hope and pray that its message will be around long after I’ve graduated to heaven, because it’s an eternal message about our eternal Father and our eternal position as His sons and daughters and that means something.

So, my penultimate question:

What do you want your legacy to be?

Big question…tough question…crucial question.

7 - I wanted to inspire others…if I can do this, so can you

This one is a simple one to end on, but it might end up being the most fruitful part of your dream being realised for someone.

I knew that I had a message an ache to share the love of the Father and my experience of trusting that I and we are His children. This was the message I wanted to convey. This was the fruit I wanted to see in other people’s lives. Sonship. Adoption. Belief that God is a good Father who can be trusted.

That’s what I really wanted the book to do.

However…my other secret hope was that someone who pick it up, look at it, and think “If Alistair could do this, then I can do what God’s put in my heart”.

I’m not the first person to write a christian book, but I know for some people they will look at my story, and find something of their own in there, and God will use that to push them through whatever barriers they are facing and into the dream He has for them.

So the last question:

What would you hope and pray you life, ministry and realised God dreams would inspire in someone else?

If the last question was about the impact of your legacy, maybe this one goes a step deeper…how do you want to inspire others to do the great things in their heart for God?

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What do you think?

What has been your journey of creating and partnering with God to see the dreams and visions He’s put in your heart come to pass?

What have you learned?

The Road to the Father's House can be purchased on Amazon and Waterstones and on this website