Steps of Faith
René says:
"As I get older I look back and see where I led myself and where that got me and I also see where I was guided, with opened and closed doors, with 'accidents' and 'coincidences' or with a kind and gentle sense of what I was supposed to do next. God has very much had a hand in bringing me to my vocations, my marriage, my steps in fatherhood and in my writing."
"Though I was raised as a Christian I didn't think about it much, but I had experiences in life that were supernatural and proved to me that another world exists parallel to our own. At university I studied Philosophy for a while and read books by Heidegger, Sartre, Nietzsche, Plato, William James, Kafka, Camus, Freud and others. Many were atheists and their philosophy threw me for a loop because although I had a faith I didn't know how to defend it.
Though the candle wavered it didn't go out. I remain a strong believer in God and the ultimate sacrificial example of Jesus.
I am not self-made, though in moments of weakness I may pretend to be. I am not successful on my own. I've been carried along for a purpose. My wife, my sons, my jobs and extended family... I owe them all to my loving creator.
Does that change how I write? Absolutely! My writing profs told us never to preach in our stories. Nobody wants to be preached at! But faith, beliefs, our deepest fundamentals become exposed in our daily work like flecks of gold in a rock specimen. You cannot hide who you are!"