The Dragon's Queen: Revelation

Blurb for my new book coming out late November 2025.

Princess Sarah of Rishona, the last royal heir, has found herself enslaved by a tyrannical dragon and a kind and brilliant giant. The oddity of this is that the dragons of Adamah are good, and giants aren’t known for their intelligence or kindness. For Sara, the goal is simple: learn the skills she needs to survive, escape, and then find her way home, but nothing is ever that simple.  

About the Author

Charles (CS) Areson lives with his family in Indiana. He enjoys reading, board games, D&D, and writing a variety of fiction and religious non-fiction. His current focus is to take his stack of finished but unedited works and prepare them for publication. These works include (the working titles): Carpenter Tales, The House of a Thousand Rooms, Closing the Door, Teia and the Dragon, Braydon the…, The Max and Link Trilogy, and of course, The Dragon’s Queen Trilogy. Got an hour? Ask him about them. 

His children’s book, The Bee in the Blackberry Bush, is available in Lao, Spanish, and English. His children’s book, The Heirs of Nosera, is a mostly true fantasy written for the love of his grandchildren. 

Jeremiah 31

When I read verse 24, I couldn't help but think of the musical, Oklahoma. In it, there is a song that argues that the farmer and the cowman should be friends. Understand that historically, their different roles caused a lot of conflict. The song is saying that the territory folks should stick together for a better future. We see this fulfilled in Jesus. Jesus even in his choice of disciples picked people that would normally be on different sides of issues that could have caused conflict, but in Jesus, there was unity. 

Don't know if they will keep this up forever, but here it is at least now, https://youtu.be/biNrKEgg8jg?si=UQhLlajB3agEWNrs

Photo by Kiy Turk on Unsplash

1 Samuel 28

 

The outcome of the chapter is pretty clear: Saul is going to die. Yet, I have to wonder if things could have ended better for Saul. Saul was fasting, and though this could have been the act of a man who was desperate and depressed, it was also a sign of repentance. Could Saul have had a final change of attitude toward God had he refused to eat? We will never know, but what is true is that repentance is always the right choice, no matter what others may say.

Photo by Jametlene Reskp on Unsplash

Romans 9

 Israel had so many benefits, yet many, according to Paul, are not really Israel. Yet as Paul goes on in this chapter, it can be seen why some believe that God makes people behave the way they do. Everyone's choices, however, do matter. This is what John Wesley sees in this chapter. God has the right to show mercy on those who believe and to harden those who are hard. If we truly believe that God is the creator (the potter), then God has the right to do what he thinks is right. God doesn't have to show mercy on your or my sins if we don't repent. The fact that he does when we repent is because he has chosen, not because we earned it. John Wesley didn't see this passage, according to his notes, as proof that God predestines every action, just his reaction to every action.  

Photo by Paolo Chiabrando on Unsplash

Psalm 82

 

You are gods, but you will die like men. What a fall. Yet it reminds me today that though we might start off well, we can end poorly. I was reading about Hezekiah today, a king of Judah who started off great but ended in a place of pride and disobedience. Starting great can be a great boost, but none of that matters if you don't cross the finish line. For many, they start out with lots of energy on a project or even in ministry, but burn out as the trials of life wear them down. 

This is why maybe God gave us the Sabbath. It was a reminder that we can not keep going all out, even if we think we can. It is also a reminder that we need to trust God. Then I wondered if the saying attributed to both St. Augutus and Ignatius, as we take it, is accurate: "Pray as if it all depends on God and work as if it all depends on you." Shouldn't we pray that it all depends on us (which means we are desperate in our prayers) and work like it all depends on God (which means freedom to sabbath). 

This may seem a far cry from what this chapter is teaching, but I don't think so. Ultimately, our trust and our work need to depend on God and his faithfulness. 

In looking up who made the quote, I came across this article, which summed up what I was thinking. 

Work as if Everything Depends on God

ByJim Manney

There’s an old saying that we should “pray as if everything depends on God, and work as if everything depends on you.” It’s been attributed to St. Ignatius, who said something similar, if not using those exact words, as reported in Vida del Bienaventurado Padre Ignacio de Loyola by Pedro de Rivadeneira. Many think the phrase captures the Ignatian spirit: turning it all over to God in prayer and then working tirelessly and urgently to do God’s work.

I prefer to reverse it: “pray as if everything depends on you, and work as if everything depends on God.” This means that prayer has to be urgent: God has to do something dramatic if everything depends on me. It also puts our work in the right perspective: if it depends on God, we can let it go. We can work hard but leave the outcome up to him. If God is in charge we can tolerate mixed results and endure failure.

Ignatius writes about work and human effort in a letter to an aristocrat named Jerome Vines, whom I imagine was a busy, hard-charging, Type A character who was getting upset about the fate of his many projects. A busy man, Ignatius writes, “must make up his mind to do what he can, without afflicting himself if he cannot do all that he wishes. You must have patience and not think that God our Lord requires what man cannot accomplish.” He concludes with this: “There is no need to wear yourself out, but make a competent and sufficient effort, and leave the rest to him who can do all he pleases.”

https://www.ignatianspirituality.com/work-as-if-everything-depends-on-god/

Photo by Alex Kotliarskyi on Unsplash

1 Samuel 27

 

I have discussed before about David's actions and my thoughts on them, so I won't go into it here, but I would like to look at Achish's assumption. Achish assumed David was an outcast and would be his servant because he had no place else to go. This, of course, was not true. David's loyalty to Israel was just as strong as ever, but Achish couldn't see it. David was an obvious enemy of the Philistines, but Achish couldn't see it. This tells me that we should never assume someone else's motives. Yes, action can show intent, but the truth was Achish didn't see the actions, only words. For Christians, the person we can always assume is for us is God. 

Photo by Alireza Attari on Unsplash

1 Samuel 26

God protected David when he snuck into Saul's camp. This protection also gave David a chance to show his worth and Saul another proof that David wasn't a threat to his life and power. However, I do see that even knowing that God protected him and would protect him, David didn't rejoin Saul. Saul requested that David come to him, and though Saul might not have tried to kill him then, David knew that Saul's attitude might change. David trusted God, but he also didn't purposely put himself in danger, and neither should we. Yes, there are times when God calls people to stand firm, though it may mean their life, and other times God expects us to use wisdom and not put ourselves in danger. As I heard it said, God may save you if the Devil pushes you off the top of a building, but if you jump on your own, God will let you try and fly on your own too.  

Photo by Yeshi Kangrang on Unsplash