tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32328007760228113452023-11-16T08:53:59.014-08:00There is a season...Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger373125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3232800776022811345.post-17876131167114419282010-09-21T18:40:00.000-07:002010-09-21T18:42:52.950-07:00for CFBA - " In Every Heartbeat" by Kim Vogel Sawyer<div align="center"><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5500/1432/1600/CFBAreviewer_gif.0.gif"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5500/1432/320/CFBAreviewer_gif.0.gif" style="margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px;" /></a></div><center><span style="font-size: 130%;">This week, the</span></center> <br /><br /><center><a href="http://www.christianfictionblogalliance.com/"><span style="font-size: 100%;">Christian Fiction Blog Alliance</span></a></center> <br /><br /><center><span style="font-size: 100%;">is introducing</span></center> <br /><br /><center><span style="color: #993300; font-size: 130%;"> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0764205102">In Every Heartbeat</a></span></center> <center>Bethany House (September 1, 2010)</center> <br /><br /><center>by</center> <center><span style="color: #006600; font-size: 130%;"><a href="http://www.kimvogelsawyer.com/">Kim Vogel Sawyer</a></span></center> <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="color: #ff6600; font-size: 100%;">ABOUT THE AUTHOR:</span> <br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyp6h5Ph_kF1TNlFNta8tTEJ8-a_lAM6xqWbzaSMQ3Ab-mfe6-dzR4wXz76TujZaSUitC5qfuRWUcFUCnp16RdtYlRHqguperAK2BtZzYMrLHlUjMTIud6er3zvH6J7QiZx274DEIAg1vj/s1600/Kim+Sawyer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyp6h5Ph_kF1TNlFNta8tTEJ8-a_lAM6xqWbzaSMQ3Ab-mfe6-dzR4wXz76TujZaSUitC5qfuRWUcFUCnp16RdtYlRHqguperAK2BtZzYMrLHlUjMTIud6er3zvH6J7QiZx274DEIAg1vj/s200/Kim+Sawyer.jpg" width="156" /></a></div><br /><br /><br /><br />Kim Vogel Sawyer is the author of fifteen novels, including several CBA and ECPA bestsellers. Her books have won the ACFW Book of the Year Award, the Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence, and the Inspirational Readers Choice Award. Kim is active in her church, where she leads women's fellowship and participates in both voice and bell choirs. In her spare time, she enjoys drama, quilting, and calligraphy. Kim and her husband, Don, reside in central Kansas, and have three daughters and six grandchildren.<br /><br /><br /><br /><b><span style="color: #ffcc00; font-size: 100%;">ABOUT THE BOOK</span></b> <br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJuTbOkAG_yC0AyKWaNJcVGalPWV1HO3xv6ELVahxmjC1XukCtiKgmHwW1ob_PJ_UsfNg4iOAPGnPhiuUQD4_knN0jYhqTxun6zWB9lliUQP4aCFpOqDvLlgfMwUak_7QnvEVoP-RPa2GG/s1600/In+Every+Heartbeat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJuTbOkAG_yC0AyKWaNJcVGalPWV1HO3xv6ELVahxmjC1XukCtiKgmHwW1ob_PJ_UsfNg4iOAPGnPhiuUQD4_knN0jYhqTxun6zWB9lliUQP4aCFpOqDvLlgfMwUak_7QnvEVoP-RPa2GG/s320/In+Every+Heartbeat.jpg" /></a></div><br /><br />As three friends who grew up in the same orphanage head off to college together, they each harbor a cherished dream.<br /><br /><br /><br />Libby Conley hopes to become a famous journalist. Pete Leidig believes God has called him to study to become a minister. And Bennett Martin plans to pledge a fraternity, find a place to belong, and have as much fun as possible. <br /><br /><br /><br />But as tensions rise around the world on the brink of World War I, the friends' differing aspirations and opinions begin to divide them, as well. And when Libby makes a shocking discovery about Pete's family, will it drive a final wedge between the friends or bond them in ways they never anticipated? <br /><br /><br /><br />If you would like to read the first chapter of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0764205102">In Every Heartbeat</a>, go <a href="http://thestorybeginnings.blogspot.com/2010/09/in-every-heartbeat-chapter-1.html">HERE</a>.<br /><br />This one, while it had a good story line, didn't really float my boat. It did keep me reading, but I didn't walk away with that, 'I'm so glad I read this!' feeling. Please take the time to read the first chapter - and see if you can change my mind! I really adore Kim Vogel, and have enjoyed her books in the past - but perhaps I just wasn't in the right season for this particular book.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3232800776022811345.post-88967873301244004912010-09-09T10:07:00.000-07:002010-09-09T10:12:50.368-07:00for CFBA "The Thorn" by Beverly Lewis<div align="center"><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5500/1432/1600/CFBAreviewer_gif.0.gif"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5500/1432/320/CFBAreviewer_gif.0.gif" style="margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px;" /></a></div><center><span style="font-size: 130%;">This week, the</span></center> <br /><br /><center><a href="http://www.christianfictionblogalliance.com/"><span style="font-size: 100%;">Christian Fiction Blog Alliance</span></a></center> <br /><br /><center><span style="font-size: 100%;">is introducing</span></center> <br /><br /><center><span style="color: #993300; font-size: 130%;"> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0764205749">The Thorn</a></span></center> <center>Bethany House (September 7, 2010)</center> <br /><br /><center>by</center> <center><span style="color: #006600; font-size: 130%;"><a href="http://www.beverlylewis.com/">Beverly Lewis</a></span></center> <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="color: #ff6600; font-size: 100%;">ABOUT THE AUTHOR:</span> <br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKL7Ke1YVTTw5BRqPV9r-VtJPmAwAFee0dC_XuKVhWw_DGMLbCcHa00Ul99JC1Lq8Tl9P-tkwj8Uo1n_DY-XYw3v-pgr-QhlXujFVRkPVOqT4CkhiNx26p_x9SYzxs4rwfxftV99FP4E0/s1600-h/bev-homepage.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5324735931676389250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKL7Ke1YVTTw5BRqPV9r-VtJPmAwAFee0dC_XuKVhWw_DGMLbCcHa00Ul99JC1Lq8Tl9P-tkwj8Uo1n_DY-XYw3v-pgr-QhlXujFVRkPVOqT4CkhiNx26p_x9SYzxs4rwfxftV99FP4E0/s320/bev-homepage.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 133px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 98px;" /></a>Not until her own children were well into middle school did Bev seek to publish her work, first in magazines such as <i>Highlights for Children, Dolphin Log</i>, and <i>Guideposts for Kids</i>. Her first book followed in 1993—<i>Mountain Bikes</i> and <i>Garbanzo Beans</i>—presently retitled <i>Big Bad Beans</i> (book #22 in the popular CUL-DE-SAC KIDS series of chapter books—see list of Bev's children's books). <br /><br /><br /><br />Beverly's first venture into adult fiction is the best-selling trilogy, THE HERITAGE OF LANCASTER COUNTY, including <i>The Shunning</i>, a suspenseful saga of Katie Lapp, a young Amish woman drawn to the modern world by secrets from her past. The book is loosely based on the author's maternal grandmother, Ada Ranck Buchwalter, who left her Old Order Mennonite upbringing to marry a Bible College student. One Amish-country newspaper claimed Beverly's work to be "a primer on Lancaster County folklore" and offers "an insider's view of Amish life." <br /><br /><br /><br />Booksellers across the country, and around the world, have spread the word of Bev's tender tales of Plain country life. A clerk in a Virginia bookstore wrote, "Beverly's books have a compelling freshness and spark. You just don't run across writing like that every day. I hope she'll keep writing stories about the Plain people for a long, long time." <br /><br /><br /><br />A member of the National League of American Pen Women, as well as a Distinguished Alumnus of Evangel University, Lewis has written over 80 books for children, youth, and adults, many of them award-winning. She and her husband, David, make their home in Colorado, where they enjoy hiking, biking, and playing with their three grandchildren. They are also avid musicians and fiction "book worms." <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><b><span style="color: #ffcc00; font-size: 100%;">ABOUT THE BOOK</span></b> <br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghj1T5oExmtk3aYiI_5UBrUbaF_ARb2hTLxkBl2fhLC0wCFlAs0kiIopxaqimR-sL-kXuYSXYRKkr21osPGDl-VhdXDZ2Kj7olP8wPc7F5GaJAOPjpRwgiWIIhwiU1xi0xxrxz4A2Iu7Vc/s1600/Thorn,+The.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghj1T5oExmtk3aYiI_5UBrUbaF_ARb2hTLxkBl2fhLC0wCFlAs0kiIopxaqimR-sL-kXuYSXYRKkr21osPGDl-VhdXDZ2Kj7olP8wPc7F5GaJAOPjpRwgiWIIhwiU1xi0xxrxz4A2Iu7Vc/s200/Thorn,+The.jpg" width="128" /></a></div>Lancaster County, with its rolling meadows and secret byways, may seem idyllic, but it is not without its thorns. THE ROSE TRILOGY is the stirring saga of two Amish sisters on the fringes of the church, and the unforeseen discoveries that change their lives. <br /><br /><br /><br />Rose Kauffman, a spirited young woman, has a close friendship with the bishop's foster son. Nick dresses Plain and works hard but stirs up plenty of trouble too. Rose's sister cautions her against becoming too involved, but Rose is being courted by a good, Amish fellow, so dismisses the warnings. <br /><br /><br /><br />Meanwhile, Rose keeps house for an English widower but is startled when he forbids her to ever go upstairs. What is the man hiding? Rose's older sister, Hen, knows more than she should about falling for the wrong man. Unable to abandon her Amish ways, Hen is soon separated from her very modern husband. <br /><br /><br /><br />Mattie, their young daughter, must visit her father regularly, but Hen demands she wear Amish attire--and speak Pennsylvania Dutch, despite her husband's wishes. Will Hen be able to reestablish her place among the People she abandoned? And will she be able to convince Rose to steer clear of rogue neighbor Nick? <br /><br /><br /><br />Watch the book trailer:<br /><br /><br /><br /><object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/8Ay98FMlLnw?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/8Ay98FMlLnw?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />If you would like to read the first chapter of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0764205749">The Thorn</a>, go <a href="http://thestorybeginnings.blogspot.com/2010/09/thorn-chapter-1.html">HERE</a>.<br /><br /><br />I am still reading this latest work by Mrs. Lewis, and let me tell you it is very, very good! I have found that as I get older (and wiser?), I'm less fond of romance novels - though never a big fan of them to begin with. However, unlike a lot of 'Amish-based books', Mrs. Lewis does a fine job of relating more about relationship than romance, which I appreciate. This book also has her signature twists and turns in the plot that will keep you guessing with every turn of the page! Thanks, again, Mrs. Lewis for a wonderbar gut book! *smile*!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3232800776022811345.post-24157722792363397792010-04-02T07:04:00.000-07:002010-04-02T07:04:00.876-07:00for The B&B Media Group Book Tour - 'Storylines: Your Map to Understanding the Bible' by Mike Pilavachi and Andy Croft<p align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:180%;color:#cc0000;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1434764753">Storylines: Your Map to Understanding the Bible</a></span></strong><br /></p><p align="center">David C. Cook; New edition (March 1, 2010) <br /></p>***Special thanks to Audra Jennings - Senior Media Specialist - of The B&B Media Group for sending me a review copy.***<br /><br /><div align="left"><strong><span style="font-size:130%;color:#333399;"><span style="color:#cc0000;">ABOUT THE AUTHORS:</span> </span></strong></div><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMQ8YhG59Oo2aBZa25H9Stx1LUS8UE9b3sSYTC_QHUqYOXxcGR4G1q8N8F7ltO-YGWZLVU7v04I57ACK45c0gdi0qXssqYGriGNQ70uA7tVM74WwM6RIjsDreXJMwrSqPAUeSET7vpcJc/s1600/Pilavachi+speaking.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMQ8YhG59Oo2aBZa25H9Stx1LUS8UE9b3sSYTC_QHUqYOXxcGR4G1q8N8F7ltO-YGWZLVU7v04I57ACK45c0gdi0qXssqYGriGNQ70uA7tVM74WwM6RIjsDreXJMwrSqPAUeSET7vpcJc/s200/Pilavachi+speaking.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5452799807239935714" /></a>Mike Pilavachi is the founder and public face of the U.K.’s biggest Christian youth event, Soul Survivor (25,000 annual attendance), and senior pastor of the Soul Survivor church in Watford, North London. He is the author of Live the Life, For the Audience of One, Wasteland?: Encountering God in the Desert, and Worship, Evangelism, Justice.<br /><br />Visit the Mike's <a href="http://www.myspace.com/mikepilavachi">MySpace</a>.<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLl0KNIAtlXV0sJQggCJmIufZxtORnlaQqtwPvFs9CmqFTK1hZxwQUbtZO8MtNzYp54jHgnu6PdP4L3z-Jh1YyVMInwc-ABcnZcSsJqLxcszIwt2NXJyh2Q3Kiosspsj7jsMq1X6WK_wc/s1600/Croft+photo.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:10 0px 0px 10;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLl0KNIAtlXV0sJQggCJmIufZxtORnlaQqtwPvFs9CmqFTK1hZxwQUbtZO8MtNzYp54jHgnu6PdP4L3z-Jh1YyVMInwc-ABcnZcSsJqLxcszIwt2NXJyh2Q3Kiosspsj7jsMq1X6WK_wc/s200/Croft+photo.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5452799708829132274" /></a><br /><br />Andy Croft is a young twenty-something who has just been awarded a First Class Theology degree from Cambridge University. He is due to be the next leader of Soul Survivor.<br /><br />Visit the authors' <a href="http://www.soulsurvivor.com/uk/index.html">Website</a>.<br /><br /><br />Product Details:<br /><br />List Price: $12.99<br />Paperback: 208 pages <br />Publisher: David C. Cook; New edition (March 1, 2010) <br />Language: English <br />ISBN-10: 1434764753 <br />ISBN-13: 978-1434764751 <br /><br /><span style="color:#cc0000;"><strong><span style="font-size:180%;">AND NOW...THE FIRST CHAPTER:</span> </strong><br /></span><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzBX8drSLcpgqCjc5xDPXSWRaiIAIJYiFZ-BirOT8tM1UiZ_gCn7EK9381xMwXhF91geWE95aTvNd4kcl1YULux-qbrv7x0LiYQUvx14q_JNCG8AV8bai4YCs4C-DAenL_CAaIC-s4by0/s1600/Storylines+cover-Pilavachi-Croft+for+email.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 134px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzBX8drSLcpgqCjc5xDPXSWRaiIAIJYiFZ-BirOT8tM1UiZ_gCn7EK9381xMwXhF91geWE95aTvNd4kcl1YULux-qbrv7x0LiYQUvx14q_JNCG8AV8bai4YCs4C-DAenL_CAaIC-s4by0/s200/Storylines+cover-Pilavachi-Croft+for+email.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5452799592119081202" /></a><div style="OVERFLOW: auto; HEIGHT: 307px">The Jesus Storyline <br /><br /><br />Years ago, when I was in my teens and Mike was having his first midlife crisis, a series of very popular picture books came out. Perhaps you remember them: They were called Where’s Waldo? The basic idea was you would look at a big picture that would tell a story; there’d be loads of characters in it and tons of stuff going on. Waldo (a little bloke in a red-and-white shirt) was hiding somewhere in the picture. Sometimes he’d be up a tree, sometimes under water, sometimes he’d be in a massive crowd, often he’d be peering out from behind a corner, and almost always he’d be hidden from plain view. The challenge was to find him hidden in the story the picture told. <br /><br /><br />Two thousand years ago Jesus said to a bunch of Pharisees, “Where’s Waldo?” But he said it like this, “You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life.<br /><br />These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life” (John 5:39–40). Jesus wasn’t talking about the New Testament, because his biography hadn’t been written yet, so he must have been talking about the Old Testament. But how could he have been? Everyone knows the Old Testament was about Israel and Moses, David, Abraham, Joshua, and others. Did Jesus get this one wrong? Had he eaten a rotten fig for breakfast? Or …have we all been missing something? Could it be possible that, like Waldo in the picture books, Jesus appears hidden all over the Old Testament? <br /><br /><br />You probably already know that Jesus is all over the Bible; in the Old Testament he’s concealed, in the New Testament he’s revealed. Finding Jesus in the Old Testament is not just a game, like finding Waldo. It’s more like a treasure hunt, and it brings the story of God to life in a whole new way. Throughout the Old Testament we see strong hints, images, and prophecies about Jesus. In the New Testament those hints, images, and prophecies are unveiled; the curtain is ripped apart, from top to bottom, to reveal the star of the whole show. Let’s go on a journey together to find Jesus in the crowd of Old Testament heroes. <br /><br /><br />Noah <br /><br /><br />The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. So the LORD said, “I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth—men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air—for I am grieved that I have made them.” But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD. (Gen. 6:5–8) <br /><br /><br />The human race was so messed up there was no way to straighten it out. God decided to bring a flood and wipe out every creature. There was just one problem. Noah. <br /><br /><br />Noah and God were friends, and Noah was a righteous man. To destroy every living creature would have meant the unjust of killing his friend. God longed to save Noah, and so he commanded him to build a massive ark. We’ve been to the Middle East, and in case you hadn’t realized, it’s a desert! Despite how stupid he looked, Noah obeyed God to the point of humiliation. But it meant that, when the rains hit, Noah was saved. What’s more, his whole family came with him. Why was Noah’s family saved? Were they righteous? No. Noah<br /><br />was the only righteous one around, but because they were attached to him, his family got to come along! <br /><br /><br />The first hero of the Old Testament is our first signpost to Jesus. The flood didn’t solve the problem of humanity’s wickedness. God’s righteous judgment is still that humanity deserves to die in its wickedness and be cut off from him forever. However, God has found one totally righteous man, even more righteous than Noah. This righteous man obeyed God to the point of utter humiliation, dying on a cross. What’s more, all the unrighteous people who attach themselves to him are saved. After the flood a rainbow was the sign of God’s promises; today it is the cross. All who shelter in Jesus, the ark of salvation, are not wiped out but given eternal life. Sometimes when we read about the cross, it can seem mysterious—something that’s difficult to get our heads around. Discovering things like this throughout the Old Testament on one level helps us to understand it better—the patterns of salvation often reoccur. But on another level it speaks of the wonder and increases the mystery. Thousands of years before the birth of Jesus, God was carefully laying out the foundations for his master plan … <br /><br /><br />Abraham and Isaac <br /><br /><br />Several chapters later in Genesis, we come across a strange scene. In Genesis 22 we find an old man holding a knife over the chest of a young boy he’s about to sacrifice. Years ago God had promised the old man that he would have a son, and after an age of waiting, Isaac was born. The baby became a boy, and Abraham loved him dearly. It was at that point God said to Abraham, “Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about” (Gen. 22:2). <br /><br /><br />How could God command someone to sacrifice his own son? And yet—“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son …” (John 3:16). The words of John, describing God’s giving of his beloved Son, deliberately echo those of Genesis 22:2. God asked no more of Abraham than God himself was willing to give. God gave up his only Son, whom he loved, completely out of choice and love for us. <br /><br /><br />The old man obeyed God: “Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey” (Gen. 22:3). Father, son, and donkey headed to the region of Moriah. When Mike and I visited Israel, we were amazed to discover that the region of Moriah is where, hundreds of years after Abraham, Jerusalem was built! And so when we read about Jesus entering Jerusalem riding on a donkey, we’re reading about another father, another son, and another donkey riding into<br /><br />exactly the same area Abraham had been told to head to. In little, subtle ways—ways that we wouldn’t notice unless we looked for them—God is laying down hints in the Old Testament of the plans he has for his Son in the New Testament. <br /><br /><br />When Abraham and Isaac arrived, we read that the father placed the wood for the sacrifice on the back of his son: “Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife” (Gen. 22:6). Isaac then carried the wood for his own sacrifice up a hill in the region of Moriah. Isn’t this amazing? Centuries later,the Father placed the cross, the wood for the sacrifice, on the back of his Son. Jesus then carried the wood for his own sacrifice up a hill in the region of Moriah. <br /><br /><br />Upon reaching the top of the hill, Isaac said to Abraham, “The fire and wood are here … but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” (Gen. 22: 7). “Abraham answered, ‘God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son’” (Gen. 22:8). Abraham then tied his son to the wood and was about to kill him when the Lord cried for him to stop. God told Abraham to sacrifice a ram he saw caught in a hedge. Rejoicing, Abraham took it and sacrificed it in the place of his son. “So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, ‘On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided’”(Gen. 22:14). Two thousand years later<br /><br />on a mountain in the region of Moriah, the Lord did provide. He provided not a ram but a lamb for the offering … the Lamb of God. He is “my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased” (Luke 3:22). This provision of Jesus for us was something God had planned and intended from the beginning, before any of us were born. The storyline of Jesus running through the life of Abraham and Isaac shows us that even before most of the people in the Old Testament had been born, God knew what was going to happen, and he knew what it was going to cost him. He knew what you were going to cost—and then he went ahead anyway. <br /><br /><br />Joseph <br /><br /><br />So we move on to Joseph. Jesus is everywhere in his story. God’s plan from the beginning, revealed to Joseph in his dreams (Gen. 37), was that he would achieve a high status and bring blessing and salvation to many others through that ruling status. Jesus was born to rule. He<br /><br />was born to be King, and because of his kingship many would find salvation. <br /><br /><br />Joseph’s brothers became jealous and did what many of us want to do with our siblings: They sold him into slavery. Joseph was sold to merchants for twenty pieces of silver. Years later Jesus was sold to the Jewish leaders for thirty pieces of silver. Just think—if only it had been the same price, it would have been a perfect parallel … what a shame … But wait! The Bible tells us that Joseph was sold for the going price of a slave in 1900 BC and Jesus for the going price of a<br /><br />slave in AD 30. The price had gone up, but God had accounted for inflation! <br /><br /><br />Joseph was eventually sold to Potiphar, a high official in Egypt, and soon became his right-hand man. Mrs. Potiphar tried to seduce Joseph. She was very subtle—“Come to bed with me!” she begged. “No way, José!” Joseph replied, and when Mrs. Potiphar came in one door, he ran out the other. Jesus was tempted in the desert by the Devil. The Devil offered him all the kingdoms of the world if only Jesus would bow down and worship him. In response to the Devil’s seduction, Jesus said, “Get lost!” (or words to that effect). By not sleeping with Potiphar’s wife, Joseph resisted abusing the power his master had given him; by not “getting into bed” with the Devil, Jesus refused to abuse the power God had given him. <br /><br /><br /> Mrs. Potiphar accused Joseph of a crime he did not commit. He was unjustly sentenced and thrown into the deepest dungeon. Jesus, years later, was accused of crimes he did not commit and was unjustly sentenced. While Joseph was serving his sentence, two criminals came to join him. Years later, while Jesus was serving his sentence on the cross, two criminals joined him. You can read in Genesis 40 about how Joseph, through the interpretation of a dream, spoke words of life to one of those criminals. Joseph promised he would be saved, and the criminal was later released. You can also read in Luke 23 about how, as he was dying between two criminals, Jesus spoke words of life to one. Jesus promised he would be saved, and we can be sure that criminal is now with Jesus in paradise. <br /><br /><br />Joseph was eventually released from prison. From the lowest pits of jail, he became Pharaoh’s prime minister, the highest position in Egypt. He named his second son Ephraim (meaning “fruitful”) and said, “God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering” (Gen. 41:52). Egypt was an alien land that was not his home. When God became man, he was born into an alien land that was not his home, and yet it was in this land of suffering that God made Jesus fruitful. He was raised up from the lowest point—death—and is now seated at the right hand of God. <br /><br /><br />Famine struck the whole area, and Joseph’s brothers came to Egypt to buy food. They were reunited with Joseph, the brother they’d sold into a life of slavery. Instead of having them killed, Joseph forgave them, assuring them, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives” (Gen. 50:20). He went on to save the lives of all his brothers, of those who had sinned against him. He brought them from a place of famine and death to one of abundant life. <br /><br /><br />The Jewish religious leaders, Pilate, and the Roman soldiers—as our representatives—accomplished what they intended in harming Jesus to the point of death on the cross. Jesus, as he was dying, cried out, “Father, forgive them” (Luke 23:34). We, the human race, meant the death of Jesus for harm, but God meant it for good. He intended it to accomplish what is now being fulfilled, a passage from certain death to abundant life, the saving of many lives. <br /><br /><br />Isn’t this incredible? Joseph was born to be a ruler, he was sold into slavery, he was severely tempted, he went through great suffering, he predicted the salvation of one he suffered with, he was raised up again by God, he forgave those who’d sinned against him, and he declared it had happened that many might be saved. <br /><br /><br />Jesus’ storyline is central to the story of the Bible, and it runs like a bullet through the story of Joseph. This is more than just an amazing biblical parallel—it carries with it a message for us today. Ever felt insecure about God’s love? Ever been a little unsure as to whether or not he’ll bring about what he’s promised? Ever messed it up and thought, “It’s been one too many; God’s probably going to quit on me this time”? We can draw deep confidence from the fact that God planned his death on the cross. The way that Joseph’s life prophesies Jesus’ shows in an incredible way that God always thought we were going to be worth it—his decision to come to earth wasn’t a last-minute afterthought. John’s gospel tells us that Jesus is from “the beginning,” and Joseph’s story backs that up—he is from the beginning, and he was always going to bring about the ending. This picture is yet another guarantee to our hearts of the love God has—and has always had—for us. <br /><br /><br />Moses <br /><br /><br />Hundreds of years later the descendants of Joseph and his brothers had undergone a population explosion. They were now the people of Israel and were being used and abused as slaves by the Egyptians. <br /><br /><br />God heard the cry of those he loved, now slaves to Pharaoh, and through Moses he set out to do something about it. We read that, at the start of Exodus (chapter 3), the Lord revealed himself to Moses and commanded him to go and save the Israelites. Before he went anywhere, Moses wanted to know who this burning bush of a God was: “Who shall I say has sent me?” he asked. God replied, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you’” (Ex. 3:14). God’s name was “I AM.” <br /><br /><br />Also, Moses was understandably a bit nervous about taking on Egypt single-handedly, and he asked God, “Who am I, that I should go?” This time God ignored his question. He didn’t say “You’re Moses, kung fu champion!” He just replied, “I will be with you” (Ex. 3:12). The only thing Moses needed to know on this account was that God had his back. <br /><br /><br />So God’s rescue operation for a people who were suffering as slaves involved one man. The reason this one man was going to save anyone was because God was with him. Who was this God that was with him? I AM. <br /><br /><br />Hundreds of years later God again heard the cry of those he loved who were slaves to sin, and through Jesus he set out to do something about it. Moses had asked the God of the burning<br /><br />bush who he was. The Pharisees asked Jesus, “Who do you think you are?” (John 8:53). Amazingly Jesus said in response, “‘Before Abraham was born, I am!’ At this, they picked up stones to stone him …” (8:58–59). Some of the Jews responded with outrage; they wanted to kill Jesus. Why? Because he was claiming to be God. When they asked him who he was, he told them he was I AM. The God I AM went with Moses to save a people; the God I AM came in<br /><br />person to save a world. One of Jesus’ titles is Emmanuel. It means “God with us.” <br /><br /><br />Moses confronted the evil powers of Egypt, defeated them—and Pharaoh released Israel. They started the hike out of Egypt, but before long Pharaoh changed his mind; he sent everything he had after them. If we pick up the trail in Exodus 14, we find Israel trapped. In front of them lay the Red Sea, and behind them the Egyptian army was closing in. They had no options. Then God told Moses to raise his staff out over the waves of the Red Sea. Moses obeyed, and the waters parted. Through Moses’ actions a way to freedom and life opened up—Israel now had one option! They passed through the waters and passed from death to life. <br /><br /><br />In front of all of us lies death; in and around all of us is the evil of this age. Do we have any options? Miraculously God provided an option for all who are trapped. Jesus defeated the evil power of this age (Satan); he conquered sin and death. Through Jesus’ actions a way to freedom and life has opened up. We now have one option! In following Jesus we can be saved. Like the Israelites following Moses, on our journey we, too, pass through water in our crossing from<br /><br />death to life: “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit” (John 3:5). Ours is the water of baptism. <br /><br /><br />Moses’ and Israel’s hike through the wilderness went on for years and years. Mike and I recently went hiking down the Grand Canyon. It lasted for hours rather than years. Still, when we walked through the Grand Canyon, it was baking hot and hard work. After an hour or so, Mike started to moan … “I’m thirsty, I want some water!” He’s Greek, so he tends to exaggerate, and he started to whine, “This is the end, I’m going to die!” Throughout the hike down, Mike complained, moaned, and whined at me. First he wanted water. Then he wanted food. After he’d eaten five PowerBars, he wanted a different sort of food … and so it went … <br /><br /><br />Moses was in a similar situation in the desert with Israel. They moaned, they whined, they groaned, and they rebelled. If we pick up the story in Exodus 32, we read that the people of Israel had just built themselves another god! Despite all God’s amazing miracles they still mutinied and wanted to worship gods of their own hands. When Moses discovered this, he exclaimed in horror, “You have committed a great sin. But now I will go up to the LORD; perhaps I can make<br /><br />atonement for your sin” (Ex. 32:30). <br /><br /><br />Earlier, God, knowing what the people of Israel were up to, said to Moses, “Leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation” (Ex. 32:10). <br /><br /><br />What an offer! God told Moses to get out of the way; he was going to destroy Israel and start again with Moses’ own children. Moses had a chance to get rid of the nation that had been a pain in his backside ever since leaving Egypt, and to start his own dynasty! There were moments when, had God appeared to me at the bottom of the Grand Canyon and offered to kill Mike, I would have replied, “Brilliant idea, Lord! In fact I’ll help you!” <br /><br /><br />Moses didn’t respond like that. He didn’t ask for a machine gun. Instead, after seeing Israel’s sin, he said this: “Oh, what a great sin these people have committed! They have made themselves gods of gold. But now, please forgive their sin—but if not, then blot me out of the book you have written” (Ex. 32:31–32). <br /><br /><br />Astonishing! Instead of offering to help God wipe out Israel, Moses asked to be wiped out in their place! God refused Moses’ offer. He had another plan. Moses’ offer was well meant, but he didn’t realize he didn’t have the right qualifications. God didn’t blot Moses out for the sake of Israel’s sin. He already had someone else in mind. About 1,400 years later it was the life of Jesus, not the life of Moses, that was blotted out to make up for sin. <br /><br /><br />Sometimes the Bible can seem a little disjointed—we can read one story and wonder if it’s got anything at all to do with the one we were reading the week before. Jesus is the center and the heart of the Bible; again here we see how the life and actions of Moses point forward to who Jesus is and what he was coming to do. <br /><br /><br />[Note: Mike would like it to be known that he was not allowed to contribute to this section, and in fact disassociates himself from the accuracy of the illustration used above … I, however, insist it’s true, and I’ve got the emotional scars to prove it.] <br /><br /><br />David <br /> <br /><br /><br />David was born in the small town of Bethlehem. Samuel the prophet declared he was chosen by God to be king of Israel. When Samuel poured the oil onto David, God anointed him for this task. Soon afterward David fought the great battle with Goliath. We find the site of the battle in 1 Samuel 17. The people of Israel were lined up against their archenemies, the Philistines. The huge Philistine champion would daily shout to all the Israelite soldiers, “C’mon then, if you think you’re tough enough!” None of Israel’s soldiers thought they were tough enough, and no one would go and fight Goliath. This went on for weeks until David the shepherd boy arrived and volunteered. He went out alone to face the enemy as the representative of his people, Israel. David won a great victory without using the weapons of the world—he refused to wear a sword or armor. Instead he used a sling, the weapon of a shepherd boy, and it was in this apparent weakness that he defeated Goliath. David declared, “All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD’s …” (1 Sam. 17:47). <br /><br /><br />Jesus was born in the same small town of Bethlehem. At Jesus’ baptism John the Baptist declared that Jesus had been chosen by God to be the Savior of the world, and the Holy Spirit was poured out on him (Luke 3:22)—Jesus was spiritually anointed for his task. Having been prepared in this way, Jesus faced the Enemy of the human race, Satan. He entered the battlefield of the desert where he encountered and withstood Satan for forty days. Three years later he went alone to the cross as the representative of the whole world. He won the victory over Satan without using the weapons of the world. Instead Jesus, the Good Shepherd, won the victory in<br /><br />the weakness of the cross; it was not to be by sword or spear that the Lord would save but by laying down his life for the sheep. <br /><br /><br />David was anointed to be king of Israel. Jesus, the Christ (which means “the anointed one”), was called “The King of the Jews” at his crucifixion. Jesus was also called “the Son of David,” and people expected the Messiah to be like David. Many expected a David-type military leader who would arrive to kick the Romans’ heads in. Jesus was like David, but not in the ways that were expected. <br /><br /><br />Of all David’s psalms, Psalm 23 is the most well known, but the psalm that comes immediately before it is an incredible prophecy about the death of Jesus. It is one of the so-called “messianic<br /><br />psalms” (because it points ahead to the Messiah), and it begins with “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Jesus knew his Scriptures, and so when he cried these words on the cross, he knew he was quoting from Psalm 22. Before we go on to look at this psalm further, we suggest you put this book down, open your Bible, and read Psalm 22 for yourself. Where do you see Jesus in this psalm? <br /><br /><br />Now let’s look together: <br /><br /><br />The psalm that begins with the words “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” continues with many other striking references to Jesus on the cross. <br /><br /><br />David says, “But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by men and despised by the people. All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads: ‘He trusts in the LORD; let the LORD rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him’” (22:6–8). The cries of scorn heaped on Jesus by those present at the crucifixion are almost identical: <br /><br /><br />In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! He’s the King of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross and we will believe in him. He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” (Matt. 27:41–43) <br /><br /><br />The psalm continues, “From my mother’s womb you have been my God” (Ps. 22:10). If anyone could say those words with more integrity than David, it was the son of Mary. The psalmist goes on, “My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of death” (22:15). The phrase “my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth” is simply another way of saying “I’m thirsty.” Jesus said on the cross, “I am thirsty” (John 19:28). <br /><br /><br />The next verse is translated, “Dogs have surrounded me; a band of evil men has encircled me, they have pierced my hands and my feet” (Ps. 22:16). David wrote these words hundreds of years before the Roman punishment of crucifixion had even been invented.… <br /><br /><br />He continues, “They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing” (22:18). Luke tells us that at the scene of Jesus’ crucifixion “… they divided up his clothes by casting lots” (Luke 23:34). <br /><br /><br />Psalm 22:22 says, “I will declare your name to my brothers; in the congregation I will praise you.” The stunning thing about this verse is that the writer to the Hebrews in the New Testament tells us that Jesus said it too: “So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers. He says, ‘I will declare your name to my brothers; in the presence of the congregation I will sing your praises’” (Heb. 2:11–12). <br /><br /><br />Perhaps most amazing of all, the psalm that started with the words that began Jesus’ crucifixion—“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”—ends with these five words: “for he has done it” (Ps. 22:31). Only Jesus was able to put these five words into the first person: “It is finished” (John 19:30). For he has done it—it is finished. <br /><br /><br />How amazing that David, without knowing it, should have written these words for the “Son of David,” his Lord, to speak on the cross a thousand years later! <br /><br /><br />~~~~~~~~ <br /><br /><br />We have listed just a few of the references to Jesus in the Old Testament. There are many others. We encourage you to go on a treasure hunt of your own! None of this is to say that the stories in<br /><br />the Old Testament don’t have a power, force, and meaning of their own—they do very much! In this chapter, however, we are only interested in tracing the storyline of Jesus through the Old Testament. It’s like going to an IMAX cinema and being given special 3–D goggles when you go in. Try watching the screen without the goggles, and the pictures are there—though slightly blurred. Once you’ve put on the 3–D goggles, there’s suddenly a whole new, sharp, remarkable<br /><br />dimension that comes into view. We’ve just watched some events of the lives of only a few of the characters of the Old Testament—Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Joseph, Moses, and David—wearing our 3–D goggles; even with only this brief snapshot, some of what was concealed has been revealed. What we need to remember is that this isn’t just a clever joining of dots to make neat parallels—this is rich and glorious truth. It’s the plan of salvation for our lives laid out through the lives of the Old Testament heroes. It’s part of the mystery and wonder of God that he was able to weave the story of Jesus into the lives of his most faithful followers in the Old Testament in such an incredible way. In the same way, he is weaving the story of Jesus into our lives and our individual stories. <br /><br /><br />The Messianic Prophecies <br /><br /><br />There are also over three hundred prophecies in the Old Testament that are fulfilled in the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. As we said at the beginning of this chapter, Jesus identified himself in the Old Testament when he said to the Pharisees, “You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life” (John 5:39–40). <br /><br /><br />At the end of the chapter, we’ve listed tons of the messianic prophecies, and we hope you’ll take the time to open your Bible and discover more of them. But for now, we’d like to look at one of<br /><br />the most significant passages, found in Isaiah 53. Before this chapter Isaiah has been talking about the plight of Israel, how they have turned from their God, worshipped idols, and broken his laws by acting unjustly toward one another. The book of Isaiah begins before the exile in Babylon and then continues during the exile. Isaiah begins to speak hope to a hopeless people. He declares that God has not given up on his people and describes the coming of an anointed<br /><br />one, a Messiah who will bring salvation to Israel. In chapter 53 this Messiah is described in detail. We again urge you, put down this book, open the Bible to Isaiah 53, and read it. Too much explanation of this chapter is unnecessary; it speaks clearly for itself. <br /><br /><br />In Isaiah 53:2 we notice that when God came to earth, he didn’t look like Brad Pitt. We are also told the coming king would be “a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering” (53:3). This is key, as many of the Jews were expecting a victorious and powerful leader. Verse 6 lays out the sin for which the servant of God would die, the sin of human beings choosing their own way instead of God’s. This verse reminds us that the heart of sin is going astray, choosing to live<br /><br />independently from him; the choice made by Adam and Eve. Verse 7 speaks of the fact that when Jesus, the Lamb of God, was brought before his accusers, he did not defend himself. Jesus himself even quotes verse 12 at the Last Supper in Luke 22:37: “It is written: ‘And he was numbered with the transgressors’; and I tell you that this must be fulfilled in me. Yes, what is written about me is reaching its fulfillment.” Isaiah 53 was fulfilled hundreds of years later when Jesus, dying on the cross, “bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors” (53:12). <br /><br /><br />We began this chapter by saying that Jesus is concealed in the Old Testament and revealed in the New. The fact is that Jesus hasn’t been concealed very well—we’ve looked at only a few examples, yet pictures and prophecies of Jesus are all over the place! <br /> <br /><br /><br />What does all this tell us? First, Jesus Christ is the central character of the whole Bible. He does not just appear in the last scene. The person of Jesus is, if you like, the glue that holds the whole Bible together. Secondly, this tells us that Jesus was not Plan B. His birth, life, death, and resurrection were written into the script from the very beginning. Our sin and rebellion did not take God by surprise, and Father, Son, and Holy Spirit did not need to have an emergency<br /><br />cabinet meeting in heaven to work out the rescue plan. Before creation began, God knew that he would have to become part of, and suffer with, his creation. (Take a look at Revelation 13:8.) <br /><br /><br />A wise couple counts the cost before deciding to have a baby. There is the possibility of several months of vomiting followed by hours of agony for one partner. Then years of sleepless nights for both, followed by the expenditure of ridiculous amounts of money on toys, school uniforms, etc. Then more sleepless nights as they wonder where the teenage offspring are at 2:00 a.m. and even more expenditure if they try and send them to college. <br /><br /><br />A couple who has counted the cost of all this, but who has decided to love deeply and with commitment, decides to pay the price. God counted the cost and decided to pay the price. From the beginning he said we were worth it. From the beginning he said you were worth it. The whole of the Bible, the Word of God, is a revelation of Jesus, the Word made flesh. <br /><br /><br />A few years ago a friend of ours proposed to his girlfriend. He went all out. The day before the proposal he went into the countryside and laid an elaborate trail of messages. It began with a note hidden in the branch of a tree. The note was a love letter but also directions and clues as to where the next note was. She soon found, under a rock, another love letter with a clue as to where the next was hidden. Then there was another, inside a bottle concealed by a hedge. This went on for hours until she came to the final love letter. With this love letter, buried in the earth, was a box. When she opened the box, she saw the engagement ring, and he was already kneeling. The fact that he had gone to such a huge effort and carefully laid this elaborate trail was all to show her just how much he desired and loved her. Most women will never forget their wedding day; this woman will never forget the day he proposed. It was spectacular. He planned it down to the last detail; he left the clues everywhere, and it meant the world to her. <br /><br /><br />In the same way, we, as the bride of Christ (and we know this can seem corny), should be rejoicing and know ourselves to be much loved because our God has laid the paper trail throughout the Old Testament. He has hidden the clues of his love and amazing salvation.<br /><br />It is our prayer that as you’ve read this chapter you have gone on a journey of discovery, not simply of Jesus, but of how deep God’s love is for us—of how he loved you before you were even conceived. <br /><br /><br />Jesus Storyline Paperchase: <br /><br /><br />– John 5:39–40 (Jesus asks, “Where’s Waldo?”) <br /><br /><br />Pictures in the lives of the Old Testament characters<br /><br />– Genesis 6–9 (Noah)<br /><br />– Genesis 22 (Abraham and Isaac)<br /><br />– Genesis 37–50 (Joseph)<br /><br />– Exodus 3, 14, 32 (Moses)<br /><br />– 1 Samuel 17; Psalm 22 (David) <br /><br /><br />Messianic prophecies<br /><br />As we said before, there are over three hundred prophecies about Jesus in the Old Testament that are fulfilled in the New Testament. To help you get started discovering the Jesus storyline throughout Scripture, we’ve listed a few of them for you, and we pray that God will reveal wonderful things to you as you study! <br /><br /><br />1. The Messiah will be born in Bethlehem <br /><br /><br />Micah 5:2–5a<br /><br />“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.” Therefore Israel will be abandoned until the time when she who is in labor gives birth and the rest of his brothers return to join the Israelites. He will stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God. And they will live securely, for then his greatness will reach to the ends of the earth. And he will be their peace. <br /><br /><br />2. He will be King <br /><br /><br />Isaiah 9:6–7<br /><br />For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this. <br /><br /><br />Daniel 7:13–14<br /><br />In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was<br /><br />given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed. <br /><br /><br />Zechariah 9:9<br /><br />Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. <br /><br /><br />3. He will be a descendant of David/family lineage <br /><br /><br />2 Samuel 7:12–16<br /><br />When your days are over and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the<br /><br />one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him with the rod of men, with floggings inflicted by men. But my love will never be taken away from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. Your house and your kingdom shall endure forever before me; your throne shall be established forever. <br /><br /><br />Psalm 132:11<br /><br />The LORD swore an oath to David, a sure oath that he will not revoke: “One of your own descendants I will place on your throne …” <br /><br /><br />Jeremiah 23:5–6<br /><br />“The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will raise up to David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which he will be called: The LORD Our<br /><br />Righteousness” <br /><br /><br />Jeremiah 33:15<br /><br />In those days and at that time I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David’s line; he will do what is just and right in the land. <br /><br /><br />Isaiah 11:1<br /><br />A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. <br /><br /><br />Numbers 24:17<br /><br />I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near. A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel. He will crush the foreheads of Moab, the skulls of all the sons of Sheth. <br /><br /><br />4. He will be born of a virgin <br /><br /><br />Isaiah 7:14<br /><br />Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. <br /><br /><br />5. He will be a priest <br /><br /><br />Zechariah 6:11–13<br /><br />Take the silver and gold and make a crown, and set it on the head of the high priest, Joshua son of Jehozadak. Tell him this is what the LORD Almighty says: “Here is the man whose name is the Branch, and he will branch out from his place and build the temple of the LORD. It is he who will build the temple of the LORD, and he will be clothed with majesty and will sit and rule on his throne. And he will be a priest on his throne. And there will be harmony between the two.” <br /><br /><br />Psalm 110:4<br /><br />The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind: “You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.” <br /><br /><br />6. He will be Lord <br /><br /><br />Psalm 110:1<br /><br />The LORD says to my LORD: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.” <br /><br /><br />7. He will be God <br /><br /><br />Isaiah 9:6<br /><br />For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. <br /><br /><br />Jeremiah 23:6<br /><br />This is the name by which he will be called: The LORD Our Righteousness. <br /><br /><br />8. He will bring salvation <br /><br /><br />Isaiah 49:6<br /><br />He says: “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.” <br /><br /><br />Zechariah 9:9<br /><br />Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. <br /><br /><br />9. He will atone for sins <br /><br /><br />Isaiah 53:4–6<br /><br />Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for<br /><br />our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. <br /><br /><br />Isaiah 53:7–8<br /><br />He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken. <br /><br /><br />Isaiah 53:10–12<br /><br />Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand. After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors.<br /><br />For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. <br /><br /><br />10. He will heal the sick/preach the good news <br /><br /><br />Isaiah 61:1 (and whole chapter)<br /><br />The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners … <br /><br /><br />Isaiah 35:5–6<br /><br />Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy. Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert. <br /><br /><br />11. He will teach in parables <br /><br /><br />Psalm 78:2<br /><br />I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter hidden things, things from of old … <br /><br /><br />12. He will be a light to the Gentiles <br /><br /><br />Isaiah 42:6<br /><br />I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles … <br /><br /><br />Isaiah 49:6<br /><br />I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth. <br /><br /><br />13. He will enter Jerusalem riding a donkey <br /><br /><br />Zechariah 9:9<br /><br />Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of<br /><br />a donkey. <br /><br /><br />14. He will be rejected/mocked/suffer and die <br /><br /><br />Isaiah 53:1–3 (and verses 4–12)<br /><br />Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.<br /><br />Psalm 118:22<br /><br />The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone. <br /><br /><br />Psalm 22:7–8<br /><br />All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads: “He trusts in the LORD; let the LORD rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him.” <br /><br /><br />15. His enemies will pierce his hands and feet, divide his clothes among themselves, and cast dice for his garments; and he will be served by future generations <br /><br /><br />Psalm 22:16–18<br /><br />Dogs have surrounded me; a band of evil men has encircled me, they have pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones; people stare and gloat over me. They divide my garments<br /><br />among them and cast lots for my clothing. <br /><br /><br />Psalm 22:30<br /><br />Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told about the Lord. <br /><br /><br />16. He will be betrayed by a friend <br /><br /><br />Psalm 41:9<br /><br />Even my close friend, whom I trusted, he who shared my bread, has lifted up his heel against me. <br /><br /><br />17. He will be betrayed for thirty pieces of silver <br /><br /><br />Zechariah 11:12<br /><br />I told them, “If you think it best, give me my pay; but if not, keep it.” So they paid me thirty pieces of silver. <br /><br /><br />18. The thirty pieces of silver will be thrown to the potter. <br /><br /><br />Zechariah 11:13<br /><br />And the LORD said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—the handsome<br /><br />price at which they priced me! So I took the thirty pieces of silver<br /><br />and threw them into the house of the LORD to the potter. <br /><br /><br />19. He will be beaten, mocked, and spat upon <br /><br /><br />Isaiah 50:6<br /><br />I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard; I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting. <br /><br /><br />20. His bones will not be broken <br /><br /><br />Psalm 34:19–20<br /><br />A righteous man may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all; he protects all his bones, not one of them will be broken. <br /><br /><br />21. His side will be pierced <br /><br /><br />Zechariah 12:10<br /><br />And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him<br /><br />as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son. <br /><br /><br />22. He will be raised from the dead <br /><br /><br />Isaiah 53:8–12<br /><br />By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken. He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand. After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. <br /><br /><br />Psalm 16:10<br /><br />… because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay. <br /><br /><br />Psalm 49:15<br /><br />But God will redeem my life from the grave; he will surely take me to himself. <br /><br /><br />23. He will ascend to heaven <br /><br /><br />Psalm 68:18<br /><br />When you ascended on high, you led captives in your train; you received gifts from men, even from the rebellious—that you, O LORD God, might dwell there. <br /><br /><br />Discussion Questions:<br /><br />• Are you surprised at the extent to which the Old Testament points to Jesus? If so, why? If not, then why aren’t you?<br /><br />• What does this tell us about the way that the Old Testament links to the New Testament?<br /><br />• What practical relevance does this knowledge—that Jesus’ life was foretold in so many miraculous ways—have? <br /><br /><br />©2010 Cook Communications Ministries. Storylines by Andy Croft and Mike Pilavachi. Used with permission. May not be further reproduced. All rights reserved.<br /></div><br /><br /><br />You know, I am sure there are lots of books out there that walk you through the major themes of the Bible, but I have not been privileged to read any of those. This book was a quick read, but packed full of great information. I truly appreciated the end of each chapter where there was a sort of overview of what the chapter contained. I did not appreciate some of the humor the authors used - though this could be a difference between American and British humor? Also, some of the theology was not aligned with our beliefs - it was not 'bad theology' just minor differences in opinion. Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone who wants a concise walk-through of the Bible.<br /><br />Thanks, Audra, for the opportunity to review this one!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3232800776022811345.post-50624334280610945602010-04-01T06:52:00.000-07:002010-04-01T07:03:02.911-07:00for CFBA Book Tour - "As Young As We Feel" by Melody Carlson<div align="center"><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5500/1432/1600/CFBAreviewer_gif.0.gif"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5500/1432/320/CFBAreviewer_gif.0.gif" style="margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px;" /></a></div><center><span style="font-size: 130%;">This week, the</span></center> <br /><br /><center><a href="http://www.christianfictionblogalliance.com/"><span style="font-size: 100%;">Christian Fiction Blog Alliance</span></a></center> <br /><br /><center><span style="font-size: 100%;">is introducing</span></center> <br /><br /><center><span style="color: #993300; font-size: 130%;"> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1434764974">As Young As We Feel</a></span></center> <br /><br /><center>David C. Cook; New edition (March 1, 2010)</center> <br /><br /><center>by</center> <br /><br /><center><span style="color: #006600; font-size: 130%;"><a href="http://melodycarlson.com/">Melody Carlson</a></span></center> <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="color: #ff6600; font-size: 100%;">ABOUT THE AUTHOR:</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisN0vY-kDGEYFEb3Hun6FVJPoAdzUvPTiYKgLPjpBvNaoL3HEh6oDjdowUQx4WyXEgx5nzClwZhGkwGIcKvCWhQjmSb_wknHKPH7f12bSz1CGA11Y_70xGQq5THH59M3rvgIExWxUk9hRA/s1600/melody.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisN0vY-kDGEYFEb3Hun6FVJPoAdzUvPTiYKgLPjpBvNaoL3HEh6oDjdowUQx4WyXEgx5nzClwZhGkwGIcKvCWhQjmSb_wknHKPH7f12bSz1CGA11Y_70xGQq5THH59M3rvgIExWxUk9hRA/s320/melody.jpg" /></a></div>Over the years, Melody Carlson has worn many hats, from pre-school teacher to youth counselor to political activist to senior editor. But most of all, she loves to write! Currently she freelances from her home. In the past eight years, she has published over ninety books for children, teens, and adults--with sales totaling more than two million and many titles appearing on the ECPA Bestsellers List. Several of her books have been finalists for, and winners of, various writing awards. And her "Diary of a Teenage Girl" series has received great reviews and a large box of fan mail.<br /><br /><br /><br />She has two grown sons and lives in Central Oregon with her husband and chocolate lab retriever. They enjoy skiing, hiking, gardening, camping and biking in the beautiful Cascade Mountains.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><b><span style="color: #ffcc00; font-size: 100%;">ABOUT THE BOOK</span></b> <br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8CkQ0mAeEhbaiU1PfJUqBA7KyVwmFDMpq15pMdJsYtrZTIEf8AGCfQy6n1AhhHRJM5YaOtkoyRO_1mlkrAB1WBo9IULZBrP3u3fYr2XYJ7ZDe-uOsbTizuwzQ1Xqd0JPvbaEjSDDMRgEM/s1600/As+young+As+We+Feel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8CkQ0mAeEhbaiU1PfJUqBA7KyVwmFDMpq15pMdJsYtrZTIEf8AGCfQy6n1AhhHRJM5YaOtkoyRO_1mlkrAB1WBo9IULZBrP3u3fYr2XYJ7ZDe-uOsbTizuwzQ1Xqd0JPvbaEjSDDMRgEM/s320/As+young+As+We+Feel.jpg" /></a></div><b>Is there room in one little hometown for four very different Lindas to reinvent their lives … together?</b><br /><br /><br /><br />Once upon a time in a little town on the Oregon coast lived four Lindas—all in the same first-grade classroom. So they decided to go by their middle names. And form a club. And be friends forever. But that was forty-seven years and four very different lives ago. Now a class reunion has brought them all together in their old hometown—at a crossroads in their lives.<br /><br /><br /><br />Janie is a high-powered lawyer with a load of grief. Abby is a lonely housewife in a beautiful oceanfront empty nest. Marley is trying to recapture the artistic free spirit she lost in an unhappy marriage. And the beautiful Caroline is scrambling to cope with her mother’s dementia and a Hollywood career that never really happened. Together, they’re about to explore the invigorating reality that even the most eventful life has second acts … and friendship doesn’t come with a statue of limitations.<br /><br /><br /><br />If you would like to read the first chapter of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1434764974">As Young As We Feel</a>, go <a href="http://thestorybeginnings.blogspot.com/2010/03/as-young-as-we-feel-chapter-1.html">HERE</a>.<br /><br /><br /><br />Watch the Video:<br /><br /><br /><br /><object width="480" height="295"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/P-jRyagR6Iw&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/P-jRyagR6Iw&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="295"></embed></object><br /><br /><br />Melody Carlson does a great job of developing believable characters whose stories intertwine with each other so easily and believably. However, I was disappointed with the depth of character, especially from these 'older women'.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3232800776022811345.post-26460042105282318182010-03-19T07:13:00.000-07:002010-03-19T07:13:00.649-07:00for FIRST WIldcard - "Chosen" by Ginger Garrett<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyd9kX2u4gWwVkJKUDBTSNf1zZERdQOkD_5cxAjH_vI_cBBvwslg1lV72Qp0X4D_Az73RPdqo2VmY8gtPxjmEX89UG4viQb0BG2c4kgdWXq6dl_RKqNrVSHMYv38PvSZ2dtlrG23vk3RJx/s1600-h/wild+card.jpg"><a href="http://firstwildcardtours.blogspot.com/"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5190009307003588530" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyd9kX2u4gWwVkJKUDBTSNf1zZERdQOkD_5cxAjH_vI_cBBvwslg1lV72Qp0X4D_Az73RPdqo2VmY8gtPxjmEX89UG4viQb0BG2c4kgdWXq6dl_RKqNrVSHMYv38PvSZ2dtlrG23vk3RJx/s200/wild+card.jpg" border="0" /></a></a>It is time for a <span style="color:#990000;"><strong><a href="http://firstwildcardtours.blogspot.com/">FIRST Wild Card Tour</a></span></strong> book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured. The reason it is called a FIRST Wild Card Tour is that you never know if the book will be fiction, non~fiction, for young, or for old...or for somewhere in between! <span style="color:#990000;"><strong>Enjoy your free peek into the book!</strong></span><br /><br /><font color="#cc0000"><em>You never know when I might play a wild card on you!</em></font><br /><br /><br /><div align="center"><strong>Today's Wild Card author is: </strong><br /></div><br /><div align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:180%;color:#cc0000;"><a href="http://www.gingergarrett.com/">Ginger Garrett </a></span></strong><br /></div><br /><p align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:180%;color:#cc0000;"><span style="font-size:100%;color:#cc0000;">and the book:</span> </span></strong><br /></p><br /><p align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:180%;color:#cc0000;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1434768015">Chosen</a></span></strong><br /></p><p align="center">David C. Cook; New edition (March 1, 2010) <br /></p>***Special thanks to Audra Jennings, Senior Media Specialist, of The B&B Media Group for sending me a review copy.***<br /><br /><div align="left"><strong><span style="font-size:130%;color:#333399;"><span style="color:#cc0000;">ABOUT THE AUTHOR:</span> </span></strong></div><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRquoOhntYV60bHshpUhNkgIg8VF7W1f5GALEVuVwkPS81iBEQ8-cHiwKdrU6noI6u4CIn1SZ8xIV9bs5gkzhePjGB_8fBNLjhIJEbpNIH4G8fucxNXic6T1QvztU3pQ_JVeTukUwNwKk/s1600-h/Garrett,_Ginger_for_email.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRquoOhntYV60bHshpUhNkgIg8VF7W1f5GALEVuVwkPS81iBEQ8-cHiwKdrU6noI6u4CIn1SZ8xIV9bs5gkzhePjGB_8fBNLjhIJEbpNIH4G8fucxNXic6T1QvztU3pQ_JVeTukUwNwKk/s200/Garrett,_Ginger_for_email.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5449455330860323714" /></a><br />Focusing on ancient women’s history, critically acclaimed author Ginger Garrett creates novels and nonfiction resources that explore the lives of historical women. In addition to her writing, Garrett is a frequent radio and television guest. A native Texan, she now resides in Georgia with her husband and three children. <br /><br /><br />Visit the author's <a href="http://www.gingergarrett.com/">website</a>.<br /><br /><br /><object width="400" height="225"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=9359739&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1" /><embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=9359739&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="400" height="225"></embed></object><p><a href="http://vimeo.com/9359739">Chosen, by Ginger Garrett</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user1251909">David C. Cook</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p><br /><br />Product Details:<br /><br />List Price: $14.99<br />Paperback: 304 pages <br />Publisher: David C. Cook; New edition (March 1, 2010) <br />Language: English <br />ISBN-10: 1434768015 <br />ISBN-13: 978-1434768018 <br /><br /><span style="color:#cc0000;"><strong><span style="font-size:180%;">AND NOW...THE FIRST CHAPTER:</span> </strong><br /></span><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvN-kXkJ3xFnqqpLnq_jrF3B0eGQrm934dG01uBrwUuRYgCSh2hbw8YAdnS9QhWQciaz4YF9x2iO7tJgwg2FVJatHZjH7GodLqG4TiZiPd7BUgIcYSt7Tk4MMNUp2bpC3Kdatkip5P0Yg/s1600-h/Chosen_cover-Ginger_Garrett_for_printing"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 132px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvN-kXkJ3xFnqqpLnq_jrF3B0eGQrm934dG01uBrwUuRYgCSh2hbw8YAdnS9QhWQciaz4YF9x2iO7tJgwg2FVJatHZjH7GodLqG4TiZiPd7BUgIcYSt7Tk4MMNUp2bpC3Kdatkip5P0Yg/s200/Chosen_cover-Ginger_Garrett_for_printing" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5449455197092580242" /></a><div style="OVERFLOW: auto; HEIGHT: 307px">Prologue <br /><br />Fourth Day of the Month of Av<br /><br />Year 3414 after Creation <br /> <br />If you have opened this, you are the chosen one.<br /><br />For this book has been sealed in the tomb of the ancients of Persia, never to be opened, I pray, until G-d1 has put His finger on a new woman of destiny, a woman who will rise up and change her nation. But we will not talk of your circumstances, and the many reasons this book may have fallen into your hands. There are no mistakes with prayer. You have indeed been called. If this sounds too strange, if you must look around your room and question whether G-d’s finger has perhaps slipped, if you are not a woman with the means to change a nation, then join me on a journey. You must return with me now to a place without hope, a nation that had lost sight of G-d, a girl with nothing to offer, and no one to give it to. <br /><br />I must introduce myself first as I truly am: an exiled Jew, and an orphan. My given name was Hadassah, but the oppression of exile has stripped that too from me: I am now called Esther,2 so that I may blend in with my captors. My people, the Hebrew nation, had been sent out of our homeland after a bitter defeat in battle. We were allowed to settle in the kingdom of Persia, but we were not allowed to truly prosper there. We blended in, our lives preserved, but our heritage and customs were forced underground. Our hearts, once set only on returning to Jerusalem, were set out to wither in the heat<br /><br />of the Arabian sun. My cousin Mordecai rescued me when I was orphaned and we lived in the capital city of Susa, under the reign of King Xerxes.3 Mordecai had a small flock of sheep that I helped tend, and we sold their fleece in the market. If times were good, we would sell a lamb for someone’s celebration. It was always for others to celebrate. We merely survived. But Mordecai was kind and good, and I was not forced into dishonor like the other orphans I had once known. This is how my story begins, and I give you these details not for sympathy, but so you will know that I am a girl well acquainted with bitter reality. I am not given to the freedom in flights of fantasy. But how can I explain to you the setting of my story? It is most certainly far removed from your experience. For I suspect that in the future, women will know freedom. And freedom is not an easy thing to forget, even if only to entertain an orphan’s story. <br /> <br />But you must forget now. I was born into a world, and into this story, where even the bravest women were faceless specters. Once married, they could venture out of their homes only with veils and escorts. No one yet had freed our souls. Passion and pleasure, like freedom, were the domain of men, and even young girls knew the wishes of their hearts would always be subject to a man’s desire for wealth. A man named Pericles summed up my time so well in his famed oration: “The greatest glory of a woman is to be least talked about by men, whether they are praising you or criticizing you.” Our role was clear: We were to be objects of passion, to receive a man’s attention mutely, and to respond only with children for the estate. Even the most powerful woman of our time, the beautiful Queen Vashti, was powerless. That was my future as a girl and I dared not lift my eyes above its horizon. That is how I enter this story. But give me your hand and let us walk back now, past the crumbling walls of history, to this world forgotten but a time yet remembered. Let me tell you the story of a girl unspared, plunged into heartache and chaos, who would save a nation. My name is Esther, and I will be queen. <br /><br />1 Out of respect for God, Jews write the name of God without the vowels, believing that the name of God is too holy to be written out completely by a human. God is referred to as either “G-d” or “YHVH.”<br /><br />2 The name Esther is related to the Persian name of Ishtar, a pagan goddess of the stars.<br /><br />3 Esther refers to the king by his Persian name. In the Hebrew texts of antiquity, he is also referred to as Ahasuerus. <br /><br /><br />1<br /><br />Eleventh Day of Shevat<br /><br />Third Year of the Reign of Xerxes<br /><br />Year 3394 after Creation <br /><br /><br />Was it today that I became fully awake, or have I only now begun to dream? Today Cyrus saw me in the marketplace haggling gently with my favorite shopkeeper, Shethana, over the price of a fleece. Shethana makes the loveliest rugs—I think they are even more lovely than the ones imported from the East—and her husband is known for his skill in crafting metals of all kinds. When I turned fifteen last year, he fashioned for me a necklace with several links in the center, painted various shades of blue. He says it is an art practiced in Egypt, this inlaying of colors into metal shapes. I feel so exotic with it on and wear it almost daily. I know it is as close to adventure as Mordecai will ever allow. <br /><br />But as Shethana and I haggled over the fleece, both of us smiling because she knew I would as soon give it to her, Cyrus walked by eating a flatbread he had purchased from another vendor. He grimaced when he took a bite—I think he might have gotten a very strong taste of shallot—and I laughed. He laughed back, wiping his eyes with his jacket and fanning his mouth, and then, oh then, his gaze held my eyes for a moment. Everything in my body seemed to come alive suddenly and I felt afraid, for my legs couldn’t stand as straight and steady and I couldn’t get my mouth to work. Shethana noticed right away and didn’t conceal her grin as she glanced between Cyrus and me. I should have doubled the price of her fleece right then! <br /><br />Cyrus turned to walk away, and I tried to focus again on my transaction. I could not meet Shethana’s eyes now—I didn’t want to be questioned about men and marriage, for everyone knows I have no dowry. To dream of winning Cyrus would be as foolish as to run my own heart straight through. I cannot dream, for it will surely crush me. And yet I can’t stop this warm flood that sweeps over me when he is near. <br /><br />I haven’t told you the best part—when Shethana bought her fleece and left, I allowed myself to close my eyes for a moment in the heat of the day, and when I opened them again, there was a little stack of flatbread in my booth. I looked in every direction but could see no one. Taking a bite, I had to spit it out and started laughing. Cyrus was right—the vendor used many bitter shallots. The flatbread was a disaster. <br /><br />©2010 Cook Communications Ministries. Chosen by Ginger Garrett. Used with permission. May not be further reproduced. All rights reserved.<br /> </div><br /><br /><br />I think this is the very first Ginger Garrett book that I did not care for. Her style is excellent, the story was exciting - however, creating a world for the character of Esther written in this way hinted at 'adding to the Scripture' to me. Creating fictional drama from true historical events is a forte of Ginger Garrett, and I have enjoyed most of her work. However, creating a world for Esther - well, I don't know, it just didn't sit well with my soul. All that said, you WILL NOT be disappointed in the book if you are a Ginger Garrett fan! Neither will you be disappointed in this amazing lady's ability to tell a tale. Just for me, this particular tale was best left in the Bible.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3232800776022811345.post-10218020257479615802010-03-16T06:46:00.001-07:002010-03-16T06:58:07.701-07:00for Random House Blog Tour - 'Start Here' by Alex and Brett Harris<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.randomhouse.com/images/dyn/cover/?source=9781601422705&height=300&maxwidth=170"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 170px; height: 261px;" src="http://www.randomhouse.com/images/dyn/cover/?source=9781601422705&height=300&maxwidth=170" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />Author: Alex and Brett Harris<br /><br />Summary: <br /><br />At the age of eighteen, Alex and Brett Harris wrote Do Hard Things—and launched a movement that would change a generation. Young people around the world were ready to be inspired, ready to move beyond complacency, ready to rebel against society’s low expectations.<br /><br />Now the highly anticipated companion book,<a href="http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9781601422705&ref=externallink_mlt_starthere_sec_0127_01">Start Here</a>, answers the questions Alex and Brett have received from thousands of teens on their worldwide conference tour and popular online community: How do I get started? What hard things does God want me to do? How do I keep from getting discouraged or burned out? What is the best way to inspire others?<br /><br />Filled with stories and insights from Alex, Brett, and other real-life rebelutionaries, Start Here is a powerful and practical guide for young people who are ready to take the next step and blast past apathy. Let the rebelution continue.<br /><br />Author Bio:<br /><br />Alex and Brett Harris are the coauthors of the best-selling book Do Hard Things, which they wrote at age eighteen. Today the twins speak regularly to audiences of thousands on The Rebelution Tour, maintain a hugely popular online presence through their blog, <a href="http://therebelution.com/">The Rebelution</a>, and have been featured on CNN, MSNBC, NPR, and in the New York Times. Raised in Portland, Oregon, the brothers currently attend Patrick Henry College in Virginia. <br /><br />My review:<br /><br />Thanks to Random House for providing me with a copy of the book 'Start Here' for review. Alex and Brett do a great job of answering the question 'Now what?' after challenging the teens of their generation in 'Do Hard Things' with 'Start Here'. The book is short, but full of great ideas of getting young people moving right where God has them now. They remind the young people that the 'hard things' aren't always big and spectacular with lots of pomp - as the world sees, but can be seemingly small, insignificant actions - which the world would hardly notice, but will have lasting impact on the Kingdom. If you enjoyed 'Do Hard Things', and have some questions - this is a great book to help you plow up the ground and dig for the hard thing the Lord has for you. You can order yours today from <a href="http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9781601422705&ref=externallink_mlt_starthere_sec_0127_01">Random House</a>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3232800776022811345.post-23833634733198845162010-03-11T10:06:00.000-08:002010-03-11T10:19:21.652-08:00for The B&B Media Group present "A History of Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years " hosted by Diarmaid MacCullochDiscovering the Surprising History of the First Christians<br /><br />New DVD series examines Christianity’s global roots.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.ambrosevideo.com/resources/documents/AM9910_HOC_3D.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 105px; height: 143px;" src="http://www.ambrosevideo.com/resources/documents/AM9910_HOC_3D.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.ambrosevideo.com/items.cfm?id=1344">Click here to view the trailer!</a><br /><br />Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX—There are two billion Christians in the world today, a third of humanity—Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox, Pentecostal, and many more. Though Christians, by definition, are well-versed in the story of Christ and the apostles, many have given little thought to the details of their Christian heritage—the miraculous transferring of their faith from the first Christians huddled at Golgotha, across two centuries worth of cultures and languages, wars, and the rising and falling of empires. How did this small, obscure Jewish sect that preached humility and personal sacrifice become the biggest religion in the world? The answer will surprise you.<br /><br />A History of Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years is a six-part series co-produced by the BBC, the Open University, and Jerusalem Productions and presented by Diarmaid MacCulloch, one of the world’s leading historians and Professor of History of the Church and Fellow at St. Cross College, Oxford. As MacCulloch reveals the true history of Christianity, he explores the question, “What does it really mean to be a Christian?”<br /><br />While most Christian histories start with St. Paul’s mission to Rome, MacCulloch asserts that the Christianity stayed much closer to its Middle-Eastern roots and that, in fact, the first Christians actually took the eastern road from Jerusalem, spreading their faith across Asia, even to parts of China. <br /><br />“Today, Christianity is seen as a Western faith. Indeed, many in the Muslim world would see Western lifestyles as Christian lifestyles. But Christianity is not by origin a Western religion,” MacCulloch says. “Its beginnings are in the Middle East, where there still exist churches which have been Eastern since the earliest Christian era. The story of the first Christianity tells us the Christian faith is, in fact, hugely diverse with many identities.”<br /><br />MacCulloch is one of the most widely traveled Christian historians, and A History of Christianity is the first retelling of the Christian story that is truly global in scope. Filmed in high definition, A History of Christianity takes viewers on a 2,000-year odyssey that reaches the farthest corners of the world, from Palestine in the first century to India in the third, from Damascus to China in the seventh century, and from San Francisco to Korea in the twentieth. <br /><br />A scholar whose fascination with Christian history was cultivated at an early age, Diarmaid MacCulloch is the last in three generations of Anglican clergy. That personal connection enriches the storytelling, as he describes not only the main ideas and personalities of Christian history, its organization, and spirituality, but how it has changed our views on politics, sex, and human society. <br /><br />“Religious belief can transform us for good or ill. It has brought human beings to acts of criminal folly as well as the highest achievements of goodness and creativity. I tell the story of both extremes,” MacCulloch says. <br /><br />The twentieth century brought what many perceive to be the greatest threat to Christianity—skepticism and spiritual apathy. Still, MacCulloch contends that the future of Christianity is filled with possibilities. <br /><br />The DVD set will arrive in stores, including Sam’s Club, in time for the Easter Season. The series will also be available on Amazon.com.<br /> <br /><br />A History of Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years 6 DVD Set presented by Diarmaid MacCulloch<br /><br />Thanks to the fine folks at The B&B Media Group, I was able to receive and preview Episode 1 of this very interesting look at the history of Christianity. At first I was a little put off by Mr. MacCulloch. While he seemed to know history, and know it well, I could not discern if he knew Jesus Christ personally. However, I continued watching and was glad to hear him say that this series wasn't not about theology or doctrine, but focused primarily on the spread of Christianity. He said a few things that were, in my opinion, unnecessary, but overall the first episode was very interesting. He dealt with the Jews who left Jerusalem around 70 A.D. that went east instead of west. He talked about the Syriac Church, and ended in China. I never really thought about Christianity spreading all the way to China in ancient times, however, our God is a BIG God. The information was fascinating, the scenery was breathtaking, and some of the old cathedrals he visited were enthralling. I am by no means an historical expert, however, I did enjoy Episode 1 and will be looking for the series in a 'store near me'!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3232800776022811345.post-8259952596624531442010-02-04T07:42:00.000-08:002010-02-04T07:42:00.477-08:00for FIRST Wildcard - 'Life of Washington' by Anna C. Reed<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyd9kX2u4gWwVkJKUDBTSNf1zZERdQOkD_5cxAjH_vI_cBBvwslg1lV72Qp0X4D_Az73RPdqo2VmY8gtPxjmEX89UG4viQb0BG2c4kgdWXq6dl_RKqNrVSHMYv38PvSZ2dtlrG23vk3RJx/s1600-h/wild+card.jpg"><a href="http://firstwildcardtours.blogspot.com/"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5190009307003588530" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyd9kX2u4gWwVkJKUDBTSNf1zZERdQOkD_5cxAjH_vI_cBBvwslg1lV72Qp0X4D_Az73RPdqo2VmY8gtPxjmEX89UG4viQb0BG2c4kgdWXq6dl_RKqNrVSHMYv38PvSZ2dtlrG23vk3RJx/s200/wild+card.jpg" border="0" /></a></a>It is time for a <span style="color:#990000;"><strong><a href="http://firstwildcardtours.blogspot.com/">FIRST Wild Card Tour</a></span></strong> book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured. The reason it is called a FIRST Wild Card Tour is that you never know if the book will be fiction, non~fiction, for young, or for old...or for somewhere in between! <span style="color:#990000;"><strong>Enjoy your free peek into the book!</strong></span><br /><br /><font color="#cc0000"><em>You never know when I might play a wild card on you!</em></font><br /><br /><br /><div align="center"><strong>Today's Wild Card author is: </strong><br /></div><br /><div align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:180%;color:#cc0000;">Anna C. Reed</span></strong><br /></div><br /><p align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:180%;color:#cc0000;"><span style="font-size:100%;color:#cc0000;">and the book:</span> </span></strong><br /></p><br /><p align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:180%;color:#cc0000;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0890515786">Life of Washington</a></span></strong><br /></p><p align="center">New Leaf Publishing Group/Attic Books (November 30, 2009)<br /></p>***Special thanks to Robert Parrish of New Leaf Press for sending me a review copy.***<br /><br /><div align="left"><strong><span style="font-size:130%;color:#333399;"><span style="color:#cc0000;">ABOUT THE AUTHOR:</span> </span></strong></div><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAyzU8Lo9QJA2NYpfeIzd1ZaL5yDt-N51ik-5ifAZ3LZ46nxHnxqO02jN30SshpV83cj75pJ4W8roYN-d_P5QY1gMlbVcndsxgg4u6tV4GoyaaJ1SLxrDfi42SYhZrUwV5fEE2Jwe7OaA/s1600-h/Life+of+Washington.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAyzU8Lo9QJA2NYpfeIzd1ZaL5yDt-N51ik-5ifAZ3LZ46nxHnxqO02jN30SshpV83cj75pJ4W8roYN-d_P5QY1gMlbVcndsxgg4u6tV4GoyaaJ1SLxrDfi42SYhZrUwV5fEE2Jwe7OaA/s200/Life+of+Washington.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5433720529391887314" /></a>Anna C. Reed, niece of a signer of the Declaration of Independence, authored this amazing work for the ASSU prior to 1850. Originally translated into over 20 languages, the book was among the most widely read biographies of Washington at that time. The ASSU, now called the American Missionary Fellowship, has been associated with some of America's most prominent citizens and religious leaders. Bushrod Washington, George Washington's nephew and heir of Mount Vernon, was vide-president of the ASSU until 1829. Other ASSU officers include Francis Scott Key, D.L. Moody, Laura Ingalls Wilder, and John Adams (descendant of both early presidents). <br /><br />Product Details:<br /><br />List Price: $16.99<br />Hardcover: 299 pages <br />Publisher: New Leaf Publishing Group/Attic Books (November 30, 2009) <br />Language: English <br />ISBN-10: 0890515786 <br />ISBN-13: 978-0890515785 <br /><br /><span style="color:#cc0000;"><strong><span style="font-size:180%;">AND NOW...THE FIRST CHAPTER:</span> </strong><br /></span><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwz6TrPxCh0QUoPljtNrGS1wT3q8DqLNH0CxW_tvhlwj-nxR6G4Vf1WjMSp72cFNKEWvEjuEZNvTkMbou9vbY89kFxNb7vT4amUaV-wgVlO0u6zmbgjYQ5Qt5DTwPww0Gb-KBRdlDy-nU/s1600-h/life+of+washington2.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 184px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwz6TrPxCh0QUoPljtNrGS1wT3q8DqLNH0CxW_tvhlwj-nxR6G4Vf1WjMSp72cFNKEWvEjuEZNvTkMbou9vbY89kFxNb7vT4amUaV-wgVlO0u6zmbgjYQ5Qt5DTwPww0Gb-KBRdlDy-nU/s200/life+of+washington2.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5433713523479949554" /></a><div style="OVERFLOW: auto; HEIGHT: 307px">The<br />LIFE OF WASHINGTON<br /> <br /><br />CHAPTER 1 <br /><br /><br />1732-1762 <br /><br /><br /> To give us the delightful assurance, that we are always under the watchful care of our almighty and kind Creator, He has told us that He notices the movements of every little sparrow; and as we are ”of more value than many sparrows,” He will surely ever care for us. It was His powerful and kind care that protected and guided Columbus, the once poor sailor boy, to obtain the favour of a great king and queen; and then to pass over the waves of a dangerous ocean, in a little vessel, and reach in safety an unknown land. The same powerful and kind care which protected and guided houseless strangers to a land of freedom and peace, gave Washington to their children, to lead them on to take a place amongst the nations of the earth. His history is as a shining light upon the path of virtue; for he “acknowledged God in all his ways.”<br /><br /> George Washington was the third son of Augustine Washington, whose grandfather left England, his native country, in 1657, and settled at Bridges Creek, in Virginia, where, on the 22nd of February, in the year 1732, his great-grandson, George, was born.<br /><br /> One of the first lessons which young Washington received from his faithful parents, was, the importance of always speaking the truth; and they enjoyed a satisfactory reward for their attention to this duty; for through his childhood, “the law of truth was in his mouth,” so that he was not known in one instance to tell a falsehood, either to obtain a desired indulgence, or to escape a deserved punishment or reproof. His character, as a lover of truth, was so well known at the school which he attended, that the children were certain of being believed, when they related any thing, if they could say, “George Washington says it was so.”<br /><br /> An anecdote is related of him to illustrate this trait in his character, which we introduce without being able to ascertain on what authority it is related. We hope it will not be supposed, however, that we regard such an incident as an extraordinary proof of an ingenuousness on the part of young Washington. We trust there are very few boys who would think of adopting any other course under like circumstances, and those who do generally find that “honesty is the best policy,” to say nothing of a quiet conscience and the law of God.<br /><br /> The story is, that he was playing with a hatchet, and heedlessly struck a favourite fruit-tree in his father’s garden. Upon seeing the tree thus mutilated, an inquiry was naturally made for the author of the mischief, when George frankly confessed the deed, and received his father’s forgiveness.<br /><br /> In all the little disputes of the school-fellows, he was called on to say which party was right, and his decisions were always satisfactory.<br /><br /> It is, perhaps, not out of place to remark in this connexion, that much of the injustice and oppression which are seen in the intercourse of men with each other, shows only the maturity of habits which were formed in childhood. At home, or in school, or on the play-ground, instances of unfairness and fraud are often seen, which, among men, would be regarded as gross violations of law and right. Washington in his boyhood was just.<br /><br /> When he was ten years old, his worth father died, and he became the care of an anxious mother, whose fortune was not sufficient to enable her to give him more than a plain English education. He was very fond of studying mathematics, and applied his mind diligently, in improving all the instruction which he could get in that science. As he grew up to manhood, he was remarkable for the strength and activity of his frame. In running, leaping, and managing a horse, he was unequalled by his companions; and he could with ease climb the heights of his native mountains, to look down alone from some wild crag upon his followers, who were panting from the toils of the rugged way. By these healthful exercises the vigour of his constitution was increased, and he gained that hardiness so important to him in the employments designed for him by his Creator.<br /><br /> Mrs. Washington was an affectionate parent; but she did not encourage in herself that imprudent tenderness, which so often causes a mother to foster the passions of her children by foolish indulgences, and which seldom fails to destroy the respect which every child should feel for a parent. George was early made to understand that he must obey his mother, and therefore he respected as well as loved her. She was kind to his young companions, but they thought her stern, because they always felt that they must behave correctly in her presence. The character of the mother, as well as that of the son, are shown in the following incident. Mrs. Washington owned a remarkably fine colt, which she valued very much; but which, though old enough for use, had never been mounted; no one would venture to ride it, or attempt to break its wild and vicious spirit. George proposed to some of his young companions, that they should assist him to secure the colt until he could mount it, as he had determined that he would try to tame it. Soon after sun rise, one morning, they drove the wild animal into an enclosure, and with great difficulty succeeded in placing a bridle on it. George then sprang onto its back, and the vexed colt bounded over the open fields, prancing and plunging to get rid of his burden. The bold rider kept his seat firmly, and the struggle between them became alarming to his companions, who were watching him. The speed of the colt increased, until at length, in making a furious effort to throw his conqueror, he burst a large blood-vessel, and instantly died. George was unhurt, but was much troubled by the unexpected result of his exploit. His companions soon joined him, and when they saw the beautiful colt lifeless, the first words they spoke were, “What will your mother say – who can tell her?” they were called to breakfast, and soon after they were seated at the table, Mrs. Washington said, “Well, young gentlemen, have you seen my fine sorrel colt in your rambles?” No answer was given, and the question was repeated; her son George then replied – “Your sorrel colt is dead, mother.” He have her an exact account of the event. The flush of displeasure which first rose on her cheek, soon passed away; and she said calmly, “While I regret the loss of my favourite, I rejoice in my son, who always speaks the truth.”<br /><br /> In his fifteenth year, he had so strong a desire to be actively employed, that he applied for a place as a midshipman in the English navy, (for our country was then under the government of Great Britain,) and succeeded in obtaining it. Full of youthful expectations of enjoyment in a new scene, he prepared ardently to engage in it, when he became convinced that by doing so, he would severely wound the heart of an anxious parent, and with a true spirit of heroism he denied himself, and in obedience to the command, “Honour thy mother,” he gave up his fondly cherished plan, and yielded his own inclinations, to promote her comfort. Thus, while his manly superiority to companions of his own age caused admiration, his filial tenderness was an example to them of compliance with the direction which is given to children in the word of God. “Let them learn first to show piety at home, and to requite their parents,” and they are assured that “this is good and acceptable to the Lord.” Washington proved the truth of this assurance; for, to the act of filial regard which “requited” the anxious cares of his mother, may be traced his usefulness to his country, and the glory of his character. If he had crossed his mother’s wish, and entered the British navy as a midshipman, it is not probable, that he would ever have deserved, or obtained, the title of “Father of his country.”<br /><br /> Being unwilling to remain inactive, young Washington employed himself industriously and usefully in surveying unsettled lands; and when he was nineteen years of age, he was appointed one of the adjutant generals of Virginia, with the rank of a major. At that time, the French nation had large settlements in Canada, and in Louisiana, and they determined on connecting those settlements by a line of forts; in doing this they took possession of a tract of land, which was considered to be within the province of Virginia. The governor of Virginia (Mr. Dinwiddie) thought it was his duty to notice this, in the name of his king; and it was very important, that the person whom he employed in the business should have resolution and prudence. Young Washington was worth of his confidence, and willingly undertook the perilous duty; as it gave him an opportunity of being actively employed for the advantage of his native province. The dangers which he knew he must meet, did not, for a moment, deter him from consenting to set out immediately on the toilsome journey, although winter was near. He was to take a letter from the governor, to the commanding officer of the French troops, who were stationed on the Ohio river; and the way he had to go, was through a part of the country that had never been furrowed by the plough, or, indeed, market by any footsteps, but those of wild animals, or ferocious Indians. Many of those Indians were enemies, and those who had shown any disposition to be friendly, could not be safely trusted.<br /><br /> The same day, (October 31, 1753,) on which Washington received the letter which he was to be the bearer of, he left Williamsburgh, and travelled with speed until he arrived at the frontier settlement of the province; and there engaged a guide to show him the way over the wild and rugged Alleghaney mountain, which, at that season of the year, it was difficult to pass. The waters to be crossed were high, and the snow to be waded through, was deep; but persevering resolutely, he arrived at Turtle Creek, where he was told by an Indian trader, that the French commander had died a short time before, and that the French troops had gone into winter quarters.<br /><br /> He went on with increased ardour, because the difficulty of his duty was increased; but he did not neglect the opportunity of examining the country through which he passed; wishing to discover the best situations on which forts could be erected for the defence of the province.<br /><br /> As the waters were impassable without swimming the horses, he got a canoe to take the baggage about ten miles, to the forks of the Ohio river; intending to cross the Alleghany there. In his journal he wrote, “as I god down before the canoe, I spent some time in viewing the rivers and the land in the fork which I think extremely suited for a fort, as it has the absolute command of both rivers. The land at the point is twenty or twenty-five feed above the common surface.”<br /><br /> The spot thus described was soon afterwards the site of the French for Duquesne. It was subsequently called fort Pitt by the English, and from this the name of the town of Pittsburg was taken, which was built near the for, and is not a city, containing 22,000 inhabitants. Washington remained a few days in that neighborhood, for the purpose of endeavouring to persuade the Indian warriors to be friendly to the English. By a firm but mild manner, he gained friends among the inhabitants of the forest, and obtained guides to conduct him by the shortest way to the fort, where he expected to find a French officer, to whom he might give the letter from the governor, as the commander was dead.<br /><br /> He arrived there in safety, and when he had received an answer from the officer, set out immediately on his return, and the journey proved a very dangerous and toilsome one. Some extracts from his journal, which he kept with exactness, will show his disregard of self, when he was performing a duty for the benefit of others. He had put on an Indian walking dress, and given his horse to assist in carrying provisions; the cold increased very much and the roads were getting worse every day, from the freezing of a deep snow, so that the horses became almost unable to travel. After describing this difficulty, he wrote thus:<br /><br /> “As I was uneasy to get back, to make a report of my proceedings to his honour the governor, I determined to prosecute my journey the nearest way, through the woods, on foot. I took my necessary papers, pulled off my clothes, and tied myself up in a watch coat. Then, with gun in hand and pack on my back, in which were my papers and provisions, I set out with Mr. Gist, fitted in the same manner. We fell in with a party of Indians, who had laid in wait for us. One of them fired, not fifteen steps off, but fortunately missed; we walked on the remaining part of the night, without making any stop, that we might get the start so far, as to be out of the reach of their pursuit the next day, as we were well assured that they would follow our track as soon as it was light. The next day we continued travelling until quite dark, and got to the river. We expected to have found the river frozen, but it was not, only about fifty yards from each shore. The ice I suppose had been broken up, for it was driving in vast quantities. There was no way of getting over but on a raft; which we set about making, with but one poor hatchet, and finishing just after sun-setting; this was a whole day’s work. We got it launched, then went on board of it, and set off; but before we were half-way over, we were jammed in the ice in such a manner, that we expected every moment our raft to sink, and ourselves to perish. I put out my setting pole to try to stop the raft, that the ice might pass by, when the rapidity of the stream threw it with so much violence against the pole, that it jerked me out into ten feet water.”<br /><br /> In this dangerous situation he was saved by the protecting hand of God, and enabled again to get on the raft; and by the next morning, the river was frozen so hard, that there was no difficulty in getting to the shore on the ice. The remainder of the journey was very fatiguing, being in the month of December, and for fifteen days it either snowed or rained.<br /><br /> He arrived the 16th of January at Williamsburgh, and delivered the important letter to the governor. The answer of the French officer, which was contained in the letter, was such as to make needful immediate preparations for defending the frontier of the province. The resolution with which Washington had performed the duty entrusted to him, and the judgment he had shown in his conduct towards the Indians, gained the favourable opinion of the people of the province, as well as that of the governor, and he was appointed a lieutenant-colonel of the regiment which was formed to march to the frontier, in order to prevent the French erecting their forts on it. Ardent and active, he obtained permission to march with two companies, in advance of the regiment, to a place called the Great Meadows, he thought that in doing so, he would have an opportunity of getting early information as to the movements of the French, and of forming a treaty with the Indians, to prevent their joining them. On arriving there, he was informed, by and Indian, that the French commander had sent a party to stop the American workmen, who were erecting a fort; and that they were forming one for themselves, called fort Duquesne. The Indian also gave the information, that French troops were advancing from that fort towards the Great Meadows. The night on which this account was given, was dark and rainy; but Washington marched rapidly with his soldiers to the place where the Indian said the French would be encamped; and there he found them, and surrounded them so unexpectedly, that they gave themselves up as his prisoners. The chief officer of that part of the regiment which was marching slowly on, died; and Washington then had the entire command of about four hundred men. They joined him, and he directed them to form a shelter for their horses and provisions; when it was completed, they named it fort Necessity.<br /><br /> After placing the horses and baggage in it, Washington marched with his troops towards fort Duquesne, for the purpose of endeavouring to drive the French from it; but when had advanced about thirteen miles, an Indian told him, that there were “as many Frenchmen coming toward him, as there were pigeons in the woods;” and he thought it was most prudent to return to his little fort, and meet their attack there. He returned, and assisted his men in digging a ditch around the fort, and while they were thus engaged, about fifteen hundred French and Indians made their appearance, and soon began to attack them. The ditch was not sufficiently completed to be of any use. The Indians sent their arrows from behind the surrounding trees, and the French fired from the shelter of the high grass. Washington continued outside of the little fort, directing and aiding his soldiers, from ten o’clock until dark, when the French commander made an offer to cease the attack, if the fort would be given up to him. The conditions he first named, Washington would not agree to; but at last, the French commander consented to allow the troops to march out with their baggage, and return to the inhabited part of the province, and Washington then gave up the fort. He returned to Williamsburgh, and the courage with which he had acted, and the favourable terms he had obtained from so large a force, increased the confidence of his countrymen in his character. This occurrence took place on the third of July, 1754.<br /><br /> In the course of the next winter, orders were received that officers who had commissions from the king, should be placed above those belonging to the province, without regard to their rank. The feeling of what was due to him as an American, prevented Washington from submitting to this unjust regulation, and he resigned his commission. Many letters were written to him, to persuade him not to do so; and he answered them, with an assurance that he would “serve willingly, when he could do so without dishonour.” His eldest brother had died, and left to him a farm called Mount Vernon, situated in Virginia, near the Potomac river; he took possession of it, and began to employ himself industriously in its cultivation. While he was thus engaged, General Braddock was sent from England, to prepare and command troops for the defence of Virginia, through the summer. Hearing of the conduct of Washington as an officer, and of his reasons for giving up his commission, he invited him to become his aid-de-camp. He accepted the invitation, on condition that he might be permitted to return to his farm when the active duties of the campaign should be over.<br /><br /> The army was formed of two regiments of British troops, and a few companies of Virginians. The third day after the march commenced, Washington was taken ill, with a violent fever. He would not consent to be left behind, and was laid in a covered wagon. He thought that it was very important to reach the frontier as soon as possible, and he knew the difficulties of the way; he therefore proposed to General Braddock, who asked his advice, to send on a part of the army, while the other part moved slowly, with the artillery and baggage wagons. Twelve hundred men were chosen, and General Braddock accompanied them; but though not cumbered with baggage, their movements did not satisfy Washington. He wrote to his brother, that, “instead of pushing on with vigour, without minding a little rough road, they were halting to level every molehill, and erect bridges over every brook.” What seemed mountains to them, were molehills to the ardent temper of Washington. His illness increased so much, that the physician said his life would be endangered by going on, and General Braddock would not suffer him to do so, but have him a promise to have him brought after him, so soon as he could bear the ride. He recovered sufficiently, in a short time, to join the advanced troops; and though very weak, entered immediately on the performance of his duties.<br /><br /> General Braddock proceeded on his march without disturbance, until he arrived a the Monongahela river, about seven miles from Fort Duquesne. As he was preparing to cross the river, at the place since called Braddock’s Ford, a few Indians were seen on the opposite shore, who made insulting gestures, and then turned and fled as the British troops advanced. Braddock gave orders that the Indians should be pursued. Colonel Washington was well acquainted with the manner in which the French, assisted by Indians, made their attacks; and being aware of the danger into which the troops might be led, he earnestly entreated General Braddock not to proceed, until he should, with his Virginia rangers, search the forest. His proposal offended Braddock, who disregarded the prudent counsel, and ordered his troops to cross the river; the last of them were yet wading in it, when the bullets of an unseen enemy thinned the ranks of those who had been incautiously led into the entrance of a hollow, where the French and Indians were concealed by the thick underwood, from which they could securely fire on the English. In a few moments, the fearful war-whoop was sounded, and the French and Indians rushed from their shelter on the astonished troops of Braddock, and pursued them to the banks of the Monongahela.<br /><br /> In vain did their commander, and the undaunted Washington, endeavor to restore them to order and prevent their flight. The deadly aim of the enemy was so sure, that in a very short time Washington was the only aid of General Braddock that was left to carry his orders and assist in encouraging the affrighted troops. For three hours, hw was exposed to the aim of the most perfect marksmen; two horses fell under him; a third was wounded; four balls pierced his coat, and several grazed his sword; every other officer was either killed or wounded, and he alone remained unhurt. The Indians directed the flight of their arrows towards his breast, and the French made him a mark for their rifles, but both were harmless, for the shield of his God protected him, and “covered his head in the heat of battle.” His safely, in the midst of such attacks, astonished his savage enemies, and they called him “The Spirit-protected man, who would be a chief of nations, for he could not die in battle.” Thud did even the savages own a divine power in his preservation; and the physician, who was on the battle ground, in speaking of him afterwards, said, “I expected every moment to see him fall; - his duty, his situation, exposed him to every danger; nothing but the superintending care of Providence could have saved him from the fate of all around him.” – This battle took place on the 8th of July, 1755. in a note to a sermon preached a month afterwards, by the Rev. Mr. Davies, of Virginia, (afterwards president of Princeton College) we find mention made by the author of “that heroic youth, Colonel Washington, whom I cannot but hope Providence has hitherto preserved, in so signal a manner, for some important service to his country.”<br /><br /> General Braddock was mortally wounded, and his few remaining soldiers then fled in every direction. But his brave and faithful aid, with about thirty courageous Virginians, remained on the field, to save their wounded commander from the hatched and the scalping knife of the Indians. They conveyed him with tenderness and speed towards that part of his army which was slowly advancing with the baggage, and he died in their camp, and was buried in the middle of a road, that his grave might be concealed from the Indians by wagon tracks. A few years since, his remains were removed to a short distance, as the great Cumberland road made by the government of the United States, was to pass directly over the spot where he had been laid. More than seventy-five years have passed, since the terrible scene of Braddock’s defeat. The plough has since furrowed the ground which was then moistened with the blood of the slain; but it is saddening to see on it white spots of crumbled bones, and to find amidst the green stalks of grain, buttons of the British soldiers, marked with the number of their regiment, even the brazen ornaments of their caps. “Braddock’s road,” as the path was called, which his troops cut through the forest, is now almost overgrown with bushes; and few travellers pass near to it, without stopping to look along its windings, and recall the time when it was filled with animated soldiers, who were soon to be silenced by the destructive weapons of war.<br /><br /> In writing an account of this dreadful defeat, Washington said, “See the wondrous works of Providence, and the uncertainty of human things!” he was much distressed by the loss of the army; and the officer next in command to General Braddock, instead of endeavouring to prepare for a better defence, went into winter quarters, although it was only the month of August. It was thought necessary to raise more troope immediately, and the command of all that should be raised in Virginia was offered to Washington, with the privilege of naming his own officers. He willingly accepted this offer, as he could do so without placing himself under British commanders, who were not really above him in rank. He immediately set off to visit the troops that had been placed in different situations along the borders of the province; and on his return to prepare for an active defence, he was overtaken by a messenger, with an account, that a number of French troops and Indian warriors, divided into parties, were capturing and murdering the inhabitants of the back settlements, - burning the houses and destroying the crops; and that the troops stationed there, were unable to protect them.<br /><br /> Washington immediately used every means within his power to provide for their relief; but it was impossible to defend, with a few troops, a frontier of almost four hundred miles, from an enemy that “skulked by day, and plundered by night.” While he was anxiously doing what he could, he wrote to the governor an account of the distress around him; and added, “I see their situation, - I know their danger, and participate their sufferings, without having the power to give them further relief than uncertain promises. The supplicating tears of the women, and the moving petitions of the men, melt me with deadly sorrow.” – It might have been expected, that the people in their distress would blame him for not protecting them better; but no murmur arose against him; they all acknowledged, that he was doing as much for them as was within his power.<br /><br /> He wrote to the lieutenant-governor the most earnest and-pressing requests for more assistance; but instead of receiving it, he was treated unkindly, as he related in a letter to a friend. – “Whence it arises, or why, I am truly ignorant, but my strongest representations of matters, relative to the peace of the frontiers, are disregarded as idle and frivolous; my propositions and measures as partial and selfish; and all my sincerest endeavours for the service of my country, perverted to the worst purposes. My orders are dark, doubtful, and uncertain. – Today approved, tomorrow condemned; left to act and proceed at hazard, and blamed without the benefit of defence. However, I am determined to bear up some time longer, in the hope of better regulations.” –Though disappointed in all his best formed plans, by the obstinacy and ill-nature of the person who had the power to control him, and pained by the increasing sufferings around him, which he was not enabled to relieve, yet he did not suffer to angry resentment to induce him to give up the effort of doing some good.<br /><br /> He continued his active and humane endeavours, and pleaded for the relief of his suffering countrymen, until his pleadings were called impertinent. In answer to this, he wrote to the governor, “I must beg leave, in justification of my own conduct, to observe, that it is with pleasure I receive reproof, when reproof is due; because no person can be readier to accuse me than I am to acknowledge an error, when I have committed it; or more desirous of atoning for a crime, when I am sensible of being guilty of one. But on the other hand, it is with concern I remark, that my conduct, although I have uniformly studied to make it as unexceptionable as I could, does not appear to you in a favourable light.” – With calm dignity he endured a continuance of such vexations, without ceasing to toil in his almost hopeless work of humanity.<br /><br /> A new commander of the British troops was sent from England, and he listened to Washington’s opinion, that the frontiers could not be freed from the dreadful visits of the Indians, in connection with the French, until they were driven from Fort Duquesne; for that was the place from which they started on their destructive expeditions. When it was determined that this should be attempted, Washington advanced with a few troops, to open the way for the army; but before they reached the fort, the French left it, and the English took possession of it, November 1758, and named it Fort Pitt. As Washington had expected the possession of this fort prevented all further attacks on the frontiers; and when his countrymen were freed from the dangers which he had left his farm to assist in defending them against, he determined on returning to it. His health had been injured by his being exposed to severe cold, and being often, for many days, unsheltered from the falling rain; and he felt that he ought to use means to restore it, as he could do so without neglecting a more important duty. He resigned his commission, and the officers whom he had commanded united in offering to him affectionate assurances of regret for the loss of “such an excellent commander, such a sincere friend, and so affable a companion.”<br /><br /> Soon after his return to his farm, in the twenty-seventy year of his age, he married Mrs. Custis, a lady to whom he had been long attached, and who was deserving of his affection. She had an amiable temper, and was an agreeable companion; and in performing all the duties of a wife, she made his home a scene of domestic comfort, which he felt no desire to leave. Employing himself in directing the cultivation of his ground, and in the performance of all the private duties of his situation, he lived for several years in retirement, except when attending the legislature of Virginia, of which he was a member.<br /><br /> For the benefit of his health, he sometimes visited a public spring in his native state, to which sick persons went, with the hop of being relieved by using the water. At the season when there were many persons there, it was the custom of a baker to furnish a particular kind of bread, for those who could afford to pay a good price for it. One day it was observed by a visitor, that several miserably poor sick persons tottered into the room where the bread was kept, and looked at the baker, who nodded his head, and each one took up a loaf, and, with a cheerful countenance walked feebly away. The visitor praised the baker for his charitable conduct, in letting those have his bread, whom he know could never pay him; but he honestly answered, “I lose nothing, - Colonel Washington is here and all the sick poor may have as much of my bread as they can eat; he pays the bill, and I assure you it is no small one.”<br /><br /> All his private actions were as deserving of the approbation of his countrymen, as those of a public nature had been of their respect and praise; and those who were nearest to him, and know him best, loved him most. <br /><br /> </div><br /><br /><br />If you enjoy studying the life of George Washington - the man behind the acts - then this is definitely one to add to your bookshelf.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3232800776022811345.post-46695761410598850732010-01-09T09:15:00.000-08:002010-01-09T09:17:01.863-08:00FIRST Wildcard Tour - Dinosaurs for Kids by Ken Ham<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyd9kX2u4gWwVkJKUDBTSNf1zZERdQOkD_5cxAjH_vI_cBBvwslg1lV72Qp0X4D_Az73RPdqo2VmY8gtPxjmEX89UG4viQb0BG2c4kgdWXq6dl_RKqNrVSHMYv38PvSZ2dtlrG23vk3RJx/s1600-h/wild+card.jpg"><a href="http://firstwildcardtours.blogspot.com/"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5190009307003588530" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyd9kX2u4gWwVkJKUDBTSNf1zZERdQOkD_5cxAjH_vI_cBBvwslg1lV72Qp0X4D_Az73RPdqo2VmY8gtPxjmEX89UG4viQb0BG2c4kgdWXq6dl_RKqNrVSHMYv38PvSZ2dtlrG23vk3RJx/s200/wild+card.jpg" border="0" /></a></a>It is time for a <span style="color:#990000;"><strong><a href="http://firstwildcardtours.blogspot.com/">FIRST Wild Card Tour</a></span></strong> book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured. The reason it is called a FIRST Wild Card Tour is that you never know if the book will be fiction, non~fiction, for young, or for old...or for somewhere in between! <span style="color:#990000;"><strong>Enjoy your free peek into the book!</strong></span><br /><br /><font color="#cc0000"><em>You never know when I might play a wild card on you!</em></font><br /><br /><br /><div align="center"><strong>Today's Wild Card author is: </strong><br /></div><br /><div align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:180%;color:#cc0000;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/">Ken Ham</a></span></strong><br /></div><br /><p align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:180%;color:#cc0000;"><span style="font-size:100%;color:#cc0000;">and the book:</span> </span></strong><br /></p><br /><p align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:180%;color:#cc0000;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0890515557">Dinosaurs for Kids</a></span></strong><br /></p><p align="center">Master Books (October 15, 2009)<br /></p>***Special thanks to Robert Parrish of New Leaf Press for sending me a review copy.***<br /><br /><div align="left"><strong><span style="font-size:130%;color:#333399;"><span style="color:#cc0000;">ABOUT THE AUTHOR:</span> </span></strong></div><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8hzsV5RgCWjxeapphnvMJRDQsD5YYEG0N2l1Jh0mDCzpDOxl6KwcIJXEdujyFzHTl9IOH8qZGDSv-iyZ5n6AaKdVryttDkWzRmTPcklnLWf3dZauB6msOGa95j4JZGz6MRXzeKrMxJcw/s1600-h/KHam1.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 148px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8hzsV5RgCWjxeapphnvMJRDQsD5YYEG0N2l1Jh0mDCzpDOxl6KwcIJXEdujyFzHTl9IOH8qZGDSv-iyZ5n6AaKdVryttDkWzRmTPcklnLWf3dZauB6msOGa95j4JZGz6MRXzeKrMxJcw/s200/KHam1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5423506641741053842" /></a>Ken Ham is the founder and executive director of Answers in Genesis in the USA and one of the most sought-after Christian speakers in North America. He is the author or co-author of many books and is heard daily on the radio program, “Answers...with Ken Ham,” on more than 300 stations worldwide. Ken is also featured in various videos including the series, “Answers in Genesis with Dr. Gary Parker,” and the 12-part series of 28-minute videos, “Answers...with Ken Ham.” Ken's teaching is clear, true to the Bible, engaging, and challenging. Many have found salvation and others have been encouraged and equipped to reach others with the gospel through Ken's ministry.<br /><br /><br />Visit the author's <a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/">website</a>.<br /><br />Product Details:<br /><br />Price: $14.99<br />Reading level: Ages 9-12<br />Hardcover: 64 pages <br />Publisher: Master Books (October 15, 2009) <br />Language: English <br />ISBN-10: 0890515557 <br />ISBN-13: 978-0890515556 <br /><br /><span style="color:#cc0000;"><strong><span style="font-size:180%;">AND NOW...THE FIRST CHAPTER:</span> </strong><br /></span><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiagUmL2kkxHe1ag_jbLLgFcIwEQKpsM5gfAPvCAtbBDG5KzryLNPmzhVx3xHxkMmQduOmRkd4ZT6W8h7vOFECpS6v5e6Li2DWjxSJPx3SQC-Dp7bY8pSKRNJ_dOBNU36qzndG05PXi5K0/s1600-h/Dinosaurs+for+kids.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiagUmL2kkxHe1ag_jbLLgFcIwEQKpsM5gfAPvCAtbBDG5KzryLNPmzhVx3xHxkMmQduOmRkd4ZT6W8h7vOFECpS6v5e6Li2DWjxSJPx3SQC-Dp7bY8pSKRNJ_dOBNU36qzndG05PXi5K0/s200/Dinosaurs+for+kids.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5423509175637285938" /></a><div style="OVERFLOW: auto; HEIGHT: 307px">Dinosaurs for Kids<br /><br />by<br /><br />Ken Ham, illustrated by Bill Looney<br /> <br /><br /> Dinosaurs can provide a great way to learn about history. You may already be familiar with some of these dinosaurs. These drawings show you what we think they may have looked like. Now, we don’t know for sure, of course, as we usually only find their bones as fossils (and most times, only a few of their bones). Artists use what bones have been found, knowledge about living animals, and some imagination to come up with drawings like these. See if you can pronounce these dinosaur names: <br /><br /><br />Dilophosaurus (die-LOF-o-SWAR-us), meaning “two-crested lizard.” <br />Styracosaurus (sty-RAK-o-SAWR-us), meaning “spiked lizard.” <br />Triceratops (tri-SER-a-tops), meaning “three-horned face.” <br />Megalosaurus (MEG-a-lo-SAWR-us), meaning “big lizard.” <br />Iguanodon (i-GWAHN-o-don), meaning “iguana tooth.” <br />Ceratosaurus (ser-ah-toe-SAWR-us), meaning “horned lizard.” <br />Deinonychus (die-NON-i-kus), meaning “terrible claws.” <br />Velociraptor (vee-LOHS-i-RAP-tor), meaning “swift robber.” <br />Ultrasaurus (UHL-tra-SAWR-us), was so nicknamed because of its enormous size. <br />Seismosaurus (SEIS-mo-SAWR-us), meaning “earthquake lizard.” <br /> <br /><br /> Did you know there are hundreds of dinosaur names? However, there were not hundreds of types of dinosaurs. There were a number of similar ones that should be grouped into categories known by what the Bible describes as “kinds.” Does that sound a little confusing? Well, this book will help to explain this and a lot of other things about dinosaurs you may not know. <br /><br /><br /> (Pictures with names):<br /><br />Dilophosaurus <br />Styracosaurus <br />Triceratops <br />Iguanodon <br />Ceratosaurus <br />Velociraptor <br />Ultrasaurus <br />Seismosaurus <br /> <br /><br /> Before we begin, I don’t want you to miss out on knowing what my very favorite dinosaur is! In fact, I think he deserves this whole page to himself! It is the mighty Tyrannosaurus rex (ti-RAN-oh-SAWR-us-rex), meaning “tyrant lizard king.” I’ll let you in on a secret – I love T-rex because I like his teeth! I use teeth to teach kids and parents some very interesting things about dinosaurs – things that you may not have heard or really understood before. But it is very important to understand the truth about dinosaurs! <br /><br /><br />FOUR FAST FACTS<br /><br />T-rex fossils are found in Canada and the western United States. <br />The first documented T-rex fossil was discovered in 1902 by Barnum Brown. <br />Scientists think T-rex skeletons were made up of close to 200 bones. <br />T-rex had around 60 teeth, which ranged in size based on their placement in the jaw of the skull. <br /> <br /><br /> With a strong tail extended for balance, an adult T-rex could be a little over 40 feet in length, 12-13 feet tall at the hips, and weigh between 5 and 7 tons. T-rex’s jagged teeth could be up to 9 inches long, and like sharks, the T-rex was able to replace teeth when one was lost.<br /><br /> What’s in a name? Remember that the T-rex name means “tyrant lizard king.” But secular scientists are still wondering whether T-rexes were active hunters or clever scavengers, or a combination of both. However, creation scientists are able to explain the evidence in a different way using the biblical account of history, as we will soon learn. <br /><br /><br />FOUR FAST FACTS<br /><br />The word “fossil” is from the Latin word meaning “dug up.” Scientists often make assumptions about dinosaurs based on a few fossilized bones, bone fragments, or other fossil remains, impressions, etc. <br />Only a few thousand dinosaur skeletons have been discovered. <br />The vast majority of fossils discovered are marine invertebrates (creatures that don’t have backbones like clams). <br /> <br /><br /> I’m sure you have lots of questions about dinosaurs. I believe I can answer many of those questions for you because dinosaurs are not a mystery at all. I know someone who was there when dinosaurs came into existence, and was also there when they seemed to disappear from the earth. In fact, this “someone” has written a book for us that gives a detailed account of the history of the universe. He tells us when the earth began, as well as when all the living creatures and the first humans appeared.<br /><br /> Now, you may be asking “Who is this someone you say was there to see the dinosaurs?” He is the Creator of all things. He knows everything because He is all powerful and has always been around. And this Creator had a book written for us to give us the details of how time began, and how the universe and all life came into existence. This book also tells us who we are, where we came from, and why we exist. It also gives us information on what is going to happen in the future! There is no other book like this on earth. It is unique, and it is called…the Bible.<br /><br /> When you understand the Bible, you will understand more about dinosaurs. The Bible helps us to answer questions about dinosaurs and about the world around us today.<br /><br /> Bigger. Among the most widely known type of dinosaurs, the sauropods (“lizard foot”) are some of the largest creatures to ever walk the earth. Many of these dinosaurs are known by only a few pieces of bone fragments, and debate continues on just which dinosaur was the largest ever. As discoveries continue, more will be known about these massive giants. Sauroposeidon (“earthquake god lizard”) was considered the largest dinosaur ever to live, until the discovery of Argentinosaurus (“silver lizard”). Though only a few bones of each creature have been found, many scientists estimate that Argentinosaurus was larger, though Sauroposeidon may have been taller.<br /><br /> Smaller. Compsognathus (“elegant jaw”) is among the smallest dinosaurs discovered. A little bigger than a chicken, this dinosaur weighed around 6 pounds. Some scientists have found smaller creatures, like Microraptors, which they try to use to prove dinosaurs were the evolutionary ancestor of birds – real science and the Bible disprove this idea. Archaeopteryx (“ancient wing”) is another example of a creature once thought to prove this link, but that idea has now been proven false.<br /><br /> Did you know that the Bible is really a collection of books written by people specially inspired by God, the Creator, to write down exactly what God wanted us to know? The Bible tells us more about who God is and why we can always trust Him to tell us the truth:<br /><br />The God of the Bible is the true God: “But the LORD [is] the true God; He is the living God and the everlasting King…” (Jeremiah 10:10). <br />The God of the Bible is infinite – He is all knowing, all powerful: “Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; His understanding is infinite.” (Psalm 147:5). <br />The God of the Bible lives forever – He lives in eternity – He had no beginning and has no end: “Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever…” (1 Timothy 1:17). <br />The God of the Bible is the only true God – other gods people claim to have are false gods: “Therefore You are great, O LORD GOD. For there is none like You, nor is there any God besides…” (2 Samuel 7:22). <br />The God of the Bible is all wise and all knowing: “…in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” (Colossians 2:3). <br /> Wow! What an awesome God. <br /><br /><br /> The Only One.<br /><br /> Only God is a witness to the entire history of the world, including the history of dinosaurs. During the creation week, God created dinosaurs and flying reptiles. Pterosaur (“winged lizard”) like this one, could have wing spans of 30 feet. Stegosaurus (“roof lizard”) is easy to recognize with two rows of large plates running along its arched back, and its multi-spiked tail. Corythosaurus (“helmet lizard”) is a great example of dinosaurs with bony crests on their heads. Scientists think these crests were used in making sounds.<br /><br /> Does any human being (including any scientist) know everything? Has any human being always existed? The answer to both questions is, of course, NO. However, who is the only one who knows everything? Who is the only one who has always been there? The answer to both of these questions is, “the Creator God of the Bible.” <br /><br /><br /> True History!<br /><br /> I call the Bible “The History Book of the Universe.” This is because it is a book that tells us how time and the universe began. And in the very first book of the Bible, the Book of Genesis, we are given a detailed account of not only how God created everything to begin with, but also major events of history that happened after creation.<br /><br /> You might be saying, “Wait a minute, haven’t scientists already found out lots of things about dinosaurs – that they lived millions of years before people and that they lived during the dinosaur age 200 million to 65 million years ago, and then they became extinct?”<br /><br /> Well, not all scientists say that! And though the majority of people today might believe that dinosaurs lived millions of years ago, the majority are wrong on this. And more and more people are now finding out the truth because they listen to and understand God’s Word! <br /><br /></div><br /><br /><br />David really enjoyed this book...so much so, it was out of my hands no sooner than it was out of the mailer it came in! He and Marlee poured over it.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3232800776022811345.post-89479846319486844332010-01-05T07:40:00.000-08:002010-01-05T07:46:06.525-08:00FIRST Wildcard Tour - Raising a Modern Day Princess by Pam Farrel and Doreen Hanna<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyd9kX2u4gWwVkJKUDBTSNf1zZERdQOkD_5cxAjH_vI_cBBvwslg1lV72Qp0X4D_Az73RPdqo2VmY8gtPxjmEX89UG4viQb0BG2c4kgdWXq6dl_RKqNrVSHMYv38PvSZ2dtlrG23vk3RJx/s1600-h/wild+card.jpg"><a href="http://firstwildcardtours.blogspot.com/"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5190009307003588530" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyd9kX2u4gWwVkJKUDBTSNf1zZERdQOkD_5cxAjH_vI_cBBvwslg1lV72Qp0X4D_Az73RPdqo2VmY8gtPxjmEX89UG4viQb0BG2c4kgdWXq6dl_RKqNrVSHMYv38PvSZ2dtlrG23vk3RJx/s200/wild+card.jpg" border="0" /></a></a>It is time for a <span style="color:#990000;"><strong><a href="http://firstwildcardtours.blogspot.com/">FIRST Wild Card Tour</a></span></strong> book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured. The reason it is called a FIRST Wild Card Tour is that you never know if the book will be fiction, non~fiction, for young, or for old...or for somewhere in between! <span style="color:#990000;"><strong>Enjoy your free peek into the book!</strong></span><br /><br /><font color="#cc0000"><em>You never know when I might play a wild card on you!</em></font><br /><br /><br /><div align="center"><strong>Today's Wild Card authors are: </strong><br /></div><br /><div align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:180%;color:#cc0000;"><a href="http://www.seasonedsisters.com/">Pam Farrel </a></span></strong><br /><br />and<br /><br /><strong><span style="font-size:180%;color:#cc0000;"><a href="http://www.treasuredcelebrations.org/">Doreen Hanna</a></span></strong><br /></div><br /><p align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:180%;color:#cc0000;"><span style="font-size:100%;color:#cc0000;">and the book:</span> </span></strong><br /></p><br /><p align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:180%;color:#cc0000;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/158997574X">Raising a Modern-Day Princess</a></span></strong><br /></p><p align="center">Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. (December 3, 2009) <br /></p>***Special thanks to Christy Wong of Tyndale House Publishers for sending me a review copy.***<br /><br /><div align="left"><strong><span style="font-size:130%;color:#333399;"><span style="color:#cc0000;">ABOUT THE AUTHORs:</span> </span></strong></div><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiviKn3DME0s_3lnoyOn4U8rT1jAeejMgzsE4xLHAeTggXrxXZXc_lVy4TX7M5YNXDt-k9hDKlVC1EV5PP_3HZXeDDhJ0DKPUGvOfCGXGbIsGEVpmysANMdgQk_QmPcutrB44kh90o_JI/s1600-h/Farrel_Pam_01.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 134px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiviKn3DME0s_3lnoyOn4U8rT1jAeejMgzsE4xLHAeTggXrxXZXc_lVy4TX7M5YNXDt-k9hDKlVC1EV5PP_3HZXeDDhJ0DKPUGvOfCGXGbIsGEVpmysANMdgQk_QmPcutrB44kh90o_JI/s200/Farrel_Pam_01.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5422347776328433426" /></a>Pam Farrel is a relationship specialist, international speaker, and author of over 25 books, including best selling Men are like Waffles—Woman Are Like Spaghetti. She hs been a pastor’s wife and director of women’s ministries, and is president of Seasoned Sisters.<br /><br />Visit the author's <a href="http://www.seasonedsisters.com/">website</a>.<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ1X8lZMLKnxkZ8oZL3Jduqj-6J5PQdauVAJ9jYCeTp3LvaTE3NsKQb13ugV4Em7iXl32XHIECMPkqKHjhejY7aBz1hPQ40yaRgoV9oXu1VZLCG3Edqt8hiLtT0YocchgxL0PYZC5eFdg/s1600-h/Hanna+Doreen.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:10 0px 0px 10;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 110px; height: 166px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ1X8lZMLKnxkZ8oZL3Jduqj-6J5PQdauVAJ9jYCeTp3LvaTE3NsKQb13ugV4Em7iXl32XHIECMPkqKHjhejY7aBz1hPQ40yaRgoV9oXu1VZLCG3Edqt8hiLtT0YocchgxL0PYZC5eFdg/s200/Hanna+Doreen.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5422347869040921314" /></a>Doreen Hanna is founder and president of Treasured Celebrations Ministries. She is the co-author of Becoming a Modern-Day Princess, a biblically-based rite-of-passage program for teenage girls. She is a faculty member and motivational speaker for CLASS (Christian Leaders, Authors, & Speakers Seminars), and has been a women’s Bible study teacher and trained biblical counselor for more than 25 years.<br /><br />Visit the author's <a href="http://www.treasuredcelebrations.org/">website</a>.<br /><br />Product Details:<br /><br />List Price: $13.99<br />Paperback: 256 pages <br />Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. (December 3, 2009) <br />Language: English <br />ISBN-10: 158997574X <br />ISBN-13: 978-1589975743 <br /><br /><span style="color:#cc0000;"><strong><span style="font-size:180%;">AND NOW...THE FIRST CHAPTER:</span> </strong><br /></span><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqtP_ChjEIaJ35Fkyy8HGdefpPimi6JT456dfwCDT9Jm-kKnKc9sltrP_v6zxiR0ulh0l3aXaKboitilryCJ4bgdynyCu7TRrC6ihbIDjXR3WjpWqXe3MeicpZcb6LKfME5164Vt4N-to/s1600-h/raising+a+modern+day+princess.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqtP_ChjEIaJ35Fkyy8HGdefpPimi6JT456dfwCDT9Jm-kKnKc9sltrP_v6zxiR0ulh0l3aXaKboitilryCJ4bgdynyCu7TRrC6ihbIDjXR3WjpWqXe3MeicpZcb6LKfME5164Vt4N-to/s200/raising+a+modern+day+princess.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5422348331329361506" /></a><div style="OVERFLOW: auto; HEIGHT: 307px">Seeking My Father’s Blessing: What Every Young Woman Longs For<br /><br />‘I’ll be a Father to you; you’ll be sons and daughters to me.’<br /><br />The Word of the Master, God.<br /><br />—2 CORINTHIANS 6:18 (MSG)<br /><br />I am a princess. All girls are. Even if they live in tiny old attics; even if they dress in rags; even if they aren’t pretty, or smart, or young. They’re still princesses. All of us. Didn’t your father ever tell you that? Didn’t he?<br /><br />—A LITTLE PRINCESS (1995) <br /><br /><br />Lying in my bed, I [Doreen] lifted the shade and peeked out the window. Except for a sprinkle of stars and a sliver of a moon, it was now pitch black outside. My sister’s gentle snore let me know she was sound asleep. The TV was off and I had heard my parents’ bedroom door close. It was time for my escape. <br /><br /><br />Earlier in the day I had picked out my best purse for this “runaway.” It was red, rectangular in shape, with hinges on it, like a little suitcase, and a mirror on the lid. It could only hold my hairbrush, two pairs of panties, and a package of crackers. But for an eight-year-old, that was good enough. I was ready to go. <br /><br /><br />However, I began to have doubts. I considered how hard it would be to walk down the hall past my parents’ bedroom without them hearing me because there was a board in the floor of the hallway that creaked. But if I attempted to open the heavy wooden window of our bedroom and tried to remove the screen, I knew for sure that my sister would wake up. <br /><br /><br />Suddenly, or so it seemed, those warm covers felt so good as I heard the wind blow through the trees on that chilly, late winter’s eve. I couldn’t seem to keep my eyes open. I fought it, but it felt like someone was gently closing them. The next thing I knew, it was morning, and once again, I had failed to make my great escape. <br /><br /><br />This scenario played out many times in my elementary years. But it wasn’t until I was in my twenties, seeking help for challenges in my marriage, that I discovered why I continued to replay leaving home but never making my way out. <br /><br /><br />As a child, there were certain securities that kept me there. My mother loved me, food was always on the table, and I had a lovely home to live in. We lived in a middle-class neighborhood where I enjoyed many childhood friendships. I enjoyed spending time with both sets of grandparents who lived close by. <br /><br /><br />I remember the enjoyment of watching Leave it to Beaver and Father Knows Best on TV and wishing my dad was like one of those TV dads. <br /><br /><br />From the age of five well into my teens, I loved watching the Miss America beauty pageants, and wished that I would someday be beautiful enough to be crowned a princess. <br /><br /><br />I wept deeply for the first time in my life as I spoke those words out loud to my counselor. He sat and listened as I began to describe occurrences that clearly displayed the lack of my father’s acceptance throughout my life. This seemed to open the floodgates of memories and hurt and angry feelings I felt toward my father. <br /><br /><br />Seen but not Heard<br /><br />I recollected how resentful I was toward my dad for so often sending my sister and me to bed by six-thirty in the evening so he could have our mother to himself.Many summer nights I would peer out my bedroom window, yearning to be with the rest of the kids on the block who were playing hide-and-seek at dusk while I was supposed to be sleeping; all because my dad thought children were to be “seen and not heard.” I believed that this was just a convenient out for him on many occasions, when those words followed his request that we leave the room. <br /><br /><br />I expressed to the counselor how I was told by my mother every night, for the first 12 years of my life, to “go and kiss your father good night,” no matter how I felt. He most often sat comfortably in his easy chair, watching TV, expectant of my nightly kiss. I could not remember one time in my childhood when he came to tuck my sister or me into bed and kiss us goodnight. That longing was heightened when I saw my friends’ dads do this for them whenever I had spent a night in their homes. <br /><br /><br />I recounted how, in my teen years, I dreaded our nightly family dinners. I would set the table thinking, What will he find fault with tonight? Would it be my acne? Or would I draw his criticism for putting butter on my bread? Or maybe it would be my posture, bringing a threat that he was going to make a wood brace that would force me to sit up straight. <br /><br /><br />His harsh, critical words about my appearance caused me to feel that I would never gain his favor or have boys interested in me. <br /><br /><br />I Will Prove Him Wrong<br /><br />By this time I was becoming rebellious. I was determined to prove him wrong. I would get a boyfriend.<br /><br />I found, in those early teen years, that flirting with the boys brought quick attention and some form of emotional gratification. I was so hungry for them to compliment me or just kiss me—validating me as a young woman. I didn’t understand why all the other girls didn’t flirt with the boys like I did. I thought it was fun. I lost the trust of some girlfriends and made enemies playing that game, luring the other girls’ boyfriends away from them. But the relationships were short-lived so I thought, What’s the big deal? <br /><br /><br />I looked for every opportunity to be away from home—a school football game, a party, a church activity, or anything else that was acceptable to my mother. My dad never minded how much time I spent away from home unless it interfered with the chores he required of me. In fact, I truly believed Dad appreciated my time away from home as much as I did. <br /><br /><br />By the age of 17, I was a senior in high school and had dated almost every guy I had hoped to. However, that had left me very lonely. I didn’t even have a date to the senior prom. I had proved my father wrong, but all to no avail. I had isolated numerous potential girlfriends and was left with no boyfriend. I had a huge hole in my heart and nothing seemed to fill it. <br /><br /><br />The Man of My Dreams<br /><br />Within two weeks of my high-school graduation, the man of my dreams came into my life. He had just finished a three-year term in the army and had returned home to establish himself in civilian life. He was the potential “catch” for every girl between the ages of 18 and 22 in the church where our families had attended for many years. <br /><br /><br />He was 22 years old and very handsome, over six feet tall, blue eyes, a great sense of humor, and—very important to a beach-city girl—a surfer! One night, as I jumped into the backseat of his parents’ car for a ride home from church, there sat Chad. I was excited but jittery, knowing I was sitting right next to the “catch.” I spoke more to his parents than to him because I was so nervous. <br /><br /><br />His dad pulled up in front of my house. As I slipped out of the car Chad said, “Boy, those are some great legs!” My heart leaped—Chad Hanna thought I was pretty! By Friday he’d asked me out and within six months we were engaged. <br /><br /><br />At barely 19 years of age, marriage seemed like the best solution to escape my father’s house. My dad viewed life with a strong work ethic. He did not regard higher education as a necessity and had informed me that if I were to consider going away to college, I’d have to pay for it myself. That seemed impossible. So I was soon working full-time and saving my money for a beautiful wedding. <br /><br /><br />My father was not happy that I was marrying Chad. I remember one day, just weeks before the wedding, he said to me, “I thought this would be a time in your life when you could spend some time with me.” I couldn’t believe my ears! I was instantly angry and thought, He’s ignored me for the last 19 years of my life and NOW he wants to spend time with me? <br /><br /><br />It was the first time in my life that I sensed I had begun to build a wall in my heart—a wall that I thought would keep my father from hurting me anymore. <br /><br /><br />The day of the wedding, as I stood waiting to go down the aisle on my father’s arm, he turned and touched the edge of my veil. I thought for just a second that we were going to share a special moment. Instead he stated, “My mother would have never let this happen.” I looked to see that my veil had been trimmed slightly unevenly. “Your grandmother would have trimmed this in satin,” he stated proudly. <br /><br /><br />Rightly so, my grandmother was a well-known seamstress and had I asked, I’m sure she would have done it for me. Once again, I had failed to meet my father’s standards. <br /><br /><br />Still, that walk down the aisle gave me such hope. I had proven that I could find a man to love me and would finally be free from my father. I believed that saying “I do” would eliminate my frustrated and angry feelings toward him. Yet, there I sat in a counselor’s office 10 years later, dealing with all my “father” issues. <br /><br /><br />Break Down the Wall<br /><br />With kindness and gentleness, my counselor helped me realize that the wall I had built in my heart ultimately never hurt my father; it only hurt me. He continued by saying that I would never be free emotionally or spiritually until I could forgive my father. OFFER forgiveness? I couldn’t believe it. I thought to myself, Shouldn’t my dad be seeking MY forgiveness? <br /><br /><br />As I left the counselor’s office, pondering his advice to forgive my father, I drove to my parents’ home to have a chat with my mother. I was considering the possibility that my memories might be distorted and I wanted to gain her perspective. <br /><br /><br />As we sat and talked, things began to unfold. She told me something I had never really understood before. I was a honeymoon baby. My father was not only shocked that, at 19 years of age, he was going to be a father within months of being married, he was also very disappointed that he was going to have the responsibilities of a father. He had told my mother prior to their wedding that he wasn’t ready for children and had wanted to wait at least five years before starting a family. <br /><br /><br />So, upon my birth he found me an obstacle to having my mother fully to himself. Ah ha! Now I was beginning to understand why I had been sent to bed by six-thirty so many nights of my life! <br /><br /><br />My mom also told me how critical his mother and other members of my father’s family had been toward him as a child, calling him various “pet names” that were very degrading. He, too, at the age of 18 couldn’t wait to marry and flee from his home. <br /><br /><br />Driving home after chatting with my mom, I thought about what she had told me and seriously considered the words of my counselor. His desire was to free me from the inner turmoil that comes from harboring unforgiveness. In addition, he pointed out how this turmoil was overflowing into my marriage relationship—the reason I was there to see him originally! He explained to me that I had put many of my unfilled expectations of my father onto my husband. He then humorously expressed,<br /><br />“It would take at least three men to fulfill all that you are expecting your husband to fulfill!” <br /><br /><br />As I walked through the door of our home that night, I determined that I would seek Chad’s forgiveness for the unrealistically high expectations I had placed upon him during our marriage. That night as we slipped into bed, I expressed to him how I now realized why I had been asking so much of him. I was trying to have him fulfill what I had desired from my father all of my life. He understood my feelings and forgave me. I closed my eyes at peace now with my husband, but still—what about my dad? <br /><br /><br />The Power of the Blessing<br /><br />Within weeks aftermy counselor’s challenge to forgive my father—which I wasn’t yet ready to do—I went to a local bookstore to pick up a gift for a friend. While there, I happened to also pick up a book titled The Gift of the Blessing, authored by John Trent and Gary Smalley (Thomas Nelson, Inc., 1993).My eyes were immediately drawn to the following sentence on the cover: <br /><br /><br />Dr. John Trent tells of his search to receive the blessing from his father and how, with the new insight he received from God through that search, he has sought to pick up the pieces of his shattered dream.<br /><br />Those words jumped out at me. My dreams had been shattered and I was trying to pick up the pieces. And I surely did not want to be like my father. I wanted to do things differently for my daughters. I bought the book and began reading. <br /><br /><br />Chapter after chapter, I remember thinking, Oh, how I wish my father had done that for me. My self-pity was stopped short in the last chapter when Dr. Trent presented this challenge: “If you have not received your parent’s blessing, begin to bless them and see what God will do.” I was again confronted to face my “father” issues head-on. <br /><br /><br />Within days of finishing the book, I called my father and asked if I could take him to lunch—just the two of us. He said “yes” without hesitation, and we met together the next day. I can still remember exactly where we sat at a small Mexican restaurant in Cave Creek, Arizona. <br /><br /><br />As he finished his last few bites of an enchilada, I mustered up the courage to share my feelings. “Dad, I now know that when I was a child you demonstrated your love by providing a home for us, nice clothes, and food on the table. However, I’ve always felt that you didn’t like me.” <br /><br /><br />Those were some of the hardest words I had ever spoken. I felt that by saying this out loud to my father, I was taking the risk of his complete rejection. <br /><br /><br />Conversely, he quickly responded, saying almost word for word what my mother had said about him, “I didn’t want children immediately after marriage, and I was taught that children were to be seen and not heard.” <br /><br /><br />I could sense regret in his words and it was reflected in his demeanor. For the first time in my life I felt sorry for my father, and the wall I had built in my heart began to crumble. <br /><br /><br />When he had finished talking, I said, “Dad, I want to have a good relationship with you; one that also includes my husband and children. With the counseling I have received recently, I’ve come to realize that I’ve had a deep resentment toward you for a long time. I would like for us to have a better relationship from here on and I need to ask for your forgiveness. Will you forgive me?” <br /><br /><br />My father’s eyes welled with tears as he replied, “Yes I will, and will you forgive me?” <br /><br /><br />I wept out those healing words: “Yes, Dad, I forgive you.” <br /><br /><br />Wow! What a huge step in our relationship. While, in all honesty, I had hoped to hear “I love you,” I was satisfied at that time with, “Will you forgive me?” <br /><br /><br />As the years progressed, our father/daughter relationship began to grow. We could laugh and talk together for the first time in our lives. <br /><br /><br />From that day—he in his forties and I in my twenties—we were both seeking to grow spiritually, prompting engaging discussions between us. <br /><br /><br />In addition, at our now numerous family gatherings, I would delight as I watched my father and Chad enjoy each other’s company. <br /><br /><br />The Perfect Father’s Day Card<br /><br />Some years later, I remember searching for several weeks, seeking to find the perfect Father’s Day card. At the end of a discouraging search, I felt prompted to pray and ask the Lord if He had something that He wanted me to write for my father. As I lifted my head from prayer, it was as if suddenly the creative writer that was deep within me came out and my fingers began to speed across the keyboard, typing out a poem for my father. <br /><br /><br />I had never felt that I had a poetic gift until that day! I sat in amazement of my own work as I reread the poem. I quickly printed it out and sent it on its way to arrive by Father’s Day. <br /><br /><br />My father and I were living several hundred miles apart at this time, so the following Sunday I called to wish him a happy Father’s Day. I was so eager to find out whether he’d received the poem and hear his reaction to it that I urgently asked, “Dad, did you get my poem?” <br /><br /><br />He, rather casually, just said, “Yes, it was nice.” <br /><br /><br />My heart dropped. I thought the poem was fabulous and all I got was an “It was nice.” I made every effort to mask my disappointment in his response. We went on to other topics of conversation. But as we were closing our phone call, he said, “I love you, Mija.” <br /><br /><br />Whenever my father called me Mija (a Spanish word of endearment) I always knew I was in his good graces. This was big—very big! I heard an “I love you” coupled with a “Mija!” <br /><br /><br />I quickly responded, “I love you, too, Dad.” I got off the phone and fell into a heap of happy tears. I had heard the words I had yearned to hear all of my life from my father: “I love you.” <br /><br /><br />Several months later, I had a business trip that took me to Phoenix, Arizona, where my parents lived. When I arrived at my parents’ home, only my mother was there. We chatted for a few minutes and then she said, “Before your father gets here, I must show you something.” She took me into their bedroom, and there on the wall hung a 3x5 copy of the poem, done in calligraphy on parchment paper and lacquered to a beautiful piece of wood. I wept with joy, not only realizing how much he valued that gift, but also appreciating how often since that Father’s Day he had told me he loved me. <br /><br /><br />In that reflective moment, the thought came to me that I was living out the last chapter of the The Gift of the Blessing, which stated, “If you want to be a person who honors your parents, you will be a person who blesses them. When you truly honor them and do what is right in God’s eyes, it will even prolong your life; living free of resentment and unforgiveness does prolong our lives, enabling us to live years longer!” <br /><br /><br />Pam’s Search<br /><br />We sat across the table in a restaurant in Canada. My husband, Bill, and I had just appeared on theTV show Marriage Uncensored with Dave and Christie. Over dinner Dr. Dave Currie and his wife, Donalyn, along with Bill and I, were talking about our children and our families of origin. <br /><br /><br />Dave and his wife have two remarkable daughters, whom we had met as they sat in the studio audience that night. As we sat at the table that evening, Dave shared a story that penetrated me to the core. When his daughter Jody was a very little girl, she came home and announced her love interest in a little boy. Dave said to her, “Honey, when you are much older, there will be a day when you will want to give your heart to a man. He will have to be really special, and you will need to feel confident that he is the one God wants you to marry. Until then, I will keep your heart. I will keep it safe.” <br /><br /><br />Dave’s wife made a heart that hung in the Currie home and on it hung two gold keys, one for each daughter. Any time Dave prayed with his daughters, tucked them into bed, or acted out any of the other daily interactions a loving father would have with his daughter, he’d say, “And who has the key to your heart?” His daughters would answer, “You do, Daddy.” Anytime he had to set a rule or make a correction he would begin with, “Remember who has the key to your heart?” And the girls would answer, “You do, Daddy.” <br /><br /><br />Then Dave would explain how because he, their daddy, has their best interests on his heart, he had to make decisions and choices to protect his daughters and provide the very best path for them. Dave would explain, “God has called me to do this because God and Daddy love both of you little girls very much.” <br /><br /><br />Dave shared, “One day Jody met and fell in love with a fabulous man, Chris. She came to me and asked if she could have her heart now because she had found the man she wanted to give it to. I agreed and prayed and released her heart.” <br /><br /><br />The day of their wedding, Dave asked one last time, “Who has the key to your heart?” But this time the answer was different; it was the name of her new husband. <br /><br /><br />Then Dave sang a song he had written for this moment, The Transfer of the Sacred Trust:<br /><br />As man to man, we stand here today,<br /><br />Though the time is so right, I won’t give her away.<br /><br />Yet you are my answer to the prayer for God’s plan <br /><br /><br />Please listen close, Son, as I give you her hand.<br /><br />God gave me a trust as head of my home<br /><br />To look after my family, to protect through life’s storm,<br /><br />To comfort and build these put in my care<br /><br />And cover them daily with a fatherly prayer . . . that’s why<br /><br />I won’t let her go, but I will let you start. <br /><br /><br />To treasure her most, you must carry her heart.<br /><br />I’ll still be her Dad, but relinquish I must,<br /><br />It’s the transfer of the sacred trust,<br /><br />The transfer of the sacred trust.<br /><br />There comes a day in every girl’s life <br /><br /><br />About leaving and cleaving, ’bout becoming a wife,<br /><br />I’ve protected her heart from all other men<br /><br />The depth of this moment, please understand.<br /><br />God gives you this trust now as head of your home<br /><br />To look after my daughter, to protect through life’s storm,<br /><br />Your love dare not waver as you carry her heart<br /><br />Please hold her real close as I did from the start . . . you see<br /><br />I won’t let her go, but I will let you start. <br /><br /><br />To treasure her most, you carry her heart.<br /><br />I’ll still be her Dad, but relinquish I must,<br /><br />It’s the transfer of the sacred trust,<br /><br />It’s the transfer of the sacred trust,<br /><br />I transfer now my sacred trust.<br /><br />(reprinted with permission) <br /><br /><br />Right after he sang the song, he gave Chris, his new son-in-law, the key that had hung in the Currie home, the key to his daughter’s heart. <br /><br /><br />Then six years later, for his second daughter, Keldy, Dave repeated the passing of this sacred trust, and gave the key to her heart to her new husband, also a prince of a man. <br /><br /><br />A dedicated dad holds the key to the heart of his Modern-Day Princess until the day God’s prince of a husband comes to care for the heart of that precious young woman. It is a sacred trust, passing from the two men who should love a woman more than any other: a father, then a husband. <br /><br /><br />I sat at the table weeping because that is the kind of love I had always longed for as a daughter. That is the kind of love that builds courage and confidence into a young woman’s heart and life. <br /><br /><br />Looking for My Key<br /><br />In a nutshell, I grew up in a home that was confusing. One night I might be dancing around the living room with my daddy, but the next night he might be in a drunken rage banishing me to my bedroom in fear. I would slide my chest of drawers in front of the door to keep him from coming in my room while he was so angry. I always thought our family might make the front-page news, but not for a good reason, rather a headline that would read, “Man shoots family then shoots himself.” <br /><br /><br />When I was in high school, one night I was awakened from a deep sleep to my mother screaming, “Help me!” We three kids bolted from our beds, running through a pitch-black house thinking, Oh no! We need to rescue Mom! We broke open the door into the garage and there we found, not my mom in need of rescue, but rather my daddy, trying to hang himself from the rafters of the garage. <br /><br /><br />My brother, Bret, a high-school football player, pulled my dad down and dragged him into the living room, pushing him onto the sofa. I took the noose off his neck and began to pray aloud over my father. I knelt and prayed with my siblings and my mother for hours, singing hymns, praying, and begging God to rescue my father from himself. <br /><br /><br />Abba, Father<br /><br />Later that same day, God spoke to my heart, “Pam, you have been pushing me away. You must think I am like your earthly father: distant, demanding, and demeaning. I am not like that! Open up the Bible; find out who I am.” Shortly after that day, I came upon Romans 8:15, which says we call God “Abba, Father.” I was reminded again of the reason I made the decision to begin a relationship with Him. I recalled in a powerful way that the King of Kings was my Daddy and He loved me unconditionally. My best interests were and are on His heart. It was as if He were saying, “Who has the key to your heart?” <br /><br /><br />You do, Daddy, my<br /><br />Abba Father, I am your daughter, a daughter of the King. <br /><br /><br />For the next three years I kept a journal and I wrote down all the verses I found that showed God loved me and was a Father I could trust. That journey was my personal rite of passage into becoming a woman of God. <br /><br /><br />Those verses placed my tiara on my head as I was crowned a Modern-Day Princess. Because of this journey, I was able to recognize my own prince, Bill, when God sent him into my life. I could see that Bill, a healthy, godly man who loved me fully, was worthy to hold the key to my heart. <br /><br /><br />God sent many people into my life to help me understand what it meant to be God’s princess. You will hear some of those stories, and hear more of my own journey to grasp what it means to be a daughter of the King. <br /><br /><br />Highly Motivated, Greatly Needed<br /><br />You see, the two of us [Pam and Doreen] are highly motivated to help young women learn what it means to be daughters of the King. Somehow girls around the world have lost their way. Consider the following statistics:<br /><br />One in three girls becomes pregnant before age 20. <br />The median age at which young women have their first sexual experience is 17. <br />One in four will contract an STD (sexually transmitted disease). <br />Forty percent of girls at a contraceptive clinic are there without their parents’ knowledge. <br />One third of all teen pregnancies will end in an abortion. <br />We also know that many girls are turning into bullies. Nearly one third of all juvenile arrests are girls, and one-third of all property crimes are perpetrated by girls. About one-quarter of all aggravated assaults are committed by girls. A girl is more likely to be violent at home, and the victim more than any other is her mother. <br /> <br /><br />Dr. Dallas Jackson, professor of educational leadership at Argosy University/Tampa and assistant principal of curriculum at Morgan Fitzgerald Middle School in Pinellas County, Florida, says, “Over 50 percent of the bullying incidences involve one girl picking on another.” Cyber bullying has made picking on each other more common and deadly. <br /><br /><br />On March 30, 2008, high-school cheerleader Victoria Lindsay was lured to a friend’s home in Lakeland, Florida. While two boys stood guard outside the house, six girls attacked Lindsay. They knocked her unconscious by slamming her head against a wall. Then the perpetrators posted the attack on the Internet. After the authorities arrested the teens involved, one asked if she would “make cheer practice,” apparently uncaring of the seriousness of the attack. <br /><br /><br />Cyber bullying can consist of mean or critical comments, sharing personal information in a public setting, or demeaning or undermining another girl’s social standing. Today, this kind of pain can travel at light speed through text messaging, IM chatting, or social-networking postings. <br /><br /><br />And girls pick on the guys, too. On December 5, 2004, the Ottawa Citizen reported: “Considerably more boys than girls say their dates yell at them, demean them, pinch them, slap them, and out-and-out attack them, according to preliminary findings in a study on dating violence.” <br /><br /><br />However, teen girls are hardest on themselves. Teenage girls are more likely to develop depression than teenage boys. (The Heritage Foundation found that those who were sexually active had a much higher depression rate). Depression in girls might also extend to behaviors like cutting, anorexia, bulimia, and other self-destructive behaviors. Girls experiment with drugs and alcohol in higher numbers than boys. Often, girls use drugs and alcohol to lose weight. <br /><br /><br />Girls think about and attempt suicide about twice as often as boys, and tend to attempt suicide by overdosing on drugs or cutting themselves. A new, desperate, self-destructive behavior is “sexting,” which includes text messaging pornographic photos of themselves; over 20 percent of girls have engaged in this risky behavior. <br /><br /><br />Consider the young women around you. Can you think of just one girl you know who seems to have lost her way? When I [Pam] met Emily, she was suffering from the hurt and pain of a dysfunctional family. Her mother, distracted by her own pain, was unable to help her daughter. Emily needed someone to care enough to come alongside her, to reach out and show her God’s love. There are Emilys all around us. <br /><br /><br />My [Pam’s] motivation in writing this book was heightened on September 5, 2007, the day my first granddaughter, Eden, was born. Even while she was in utero, and since, I have prayed she will step into her priceless identity as a daughter of the King. I pray that her mother, Hannah, will have all she needs to impart a godly heritage to her. I know my son Brock will impart a blessing on his daughter because he already does, in the way he gently loves and cares for Eden. But I also know Eden will need more voices, more wisdom—the help of mentors—to help her safely step into, and then walk out, her identity in Christ. <br /><br /><br />Can you hear a host of teen girls crying, asking, and waiting for your help and guidance? Right now, think of a young woman, a tween or teen, you might know. She may be your daughter, your niece, or just a young girl you’re acquainted with. You could be the person in her life to dust off her tiara, place it on her head, and help her see herself as God sees her—a person valued and loved. And you could do this for many girls, moving a multitude of young women into a healthy, whole, and wholesome future as adult women who make a difference for their generation. <br /><br /><br />Out there among you, there are many “Doreens” who are longing for affirmation; “Pams” who are longing for attention; “Emilys” who are longing for affection; and “Edens” who are looking for agreement. One voice to confirm her value can make all the difference in a girl’s life. Every girl deserves a mentor, a mom, and a memorable blessing—a rite of passage to womanhood—and a chance to be a woman who reflects God’s character and lives it out to leave a positive imprint in a world that so desperately needs it. <br /><br /><br />Mentor Moment<br /><br />It’s Mother’s Day, and I [Pam] answer my cell phone often. I have only three sons, but several young women will call me on this special day and thank me for being their “spiritual mom.” Though I am not a biological mom of daughters, I am a mentor to many women. <br /><br /><br />Let me share my journey to becoming a mentor. It first began when a series of women sacrificed their time and energy to mentor me. I, myself, had a terrific mom who came to know Christ the same year that I did. I was 8, my mom, 28. <br /><br /><br />But I grew up in a home filled with the drama of an alcoholic father prone to domestic violence. My first mentors were two women I didn’t even know were mentors until years later because I had no idea what the word mentor even meant! They were two of my mother’s friends, Kathy and Mrs. Beamer. <br /><br /><br />Both of these special women saw the chaos in our family and compassionately invited us to attend church with them. At Kathy’s home, I saw what a healthy marriage looked like and how a healthy family functioned. At Sunday school, Mrs. Beamer taught me about Jesus, the Author of love, and prepared my heart for the personal decision to receive Jesus I would make before my ninth birthday.<br /><br />What I learned most from these women was:<br /><br />• Love lavishly and trust the results to God.<br /><br />• Be faithful in the little things because you don’t know how that little act of kindness, integrity, or wisdom might ripple to impact hundreds, thousands, even millions of people. <br /><br /><br />In college, I was looking for love in all the wrong places, trying to add up awards and accolades in a frantic search for self that was leaving me feeling empty. As I watched my parent’s marriage implode and fall apart, I felt helpless and very alone in life. I was a young woman with a heart to do good but a fatal flaw inside my heart that threatened to destroy my life before it ever really got started. <br /><br /><br />At the time, I had an overstated need for male attention. I was a virgin at 18 but a tease and very disjointed in my personal value system. I just wasn’t sure what I believed about much of anything. It was as if I had been dropped by a plane into a vast wilderness and I was looking for my compass. In my life, Tina, my next mentor, became the compass giver. <br /><br /><br />I met Tina at a Campus Crusade Bible study; she was the woman who, with her husband, organized the event. Tina asked me questions, hard ones at times: Who did I think Jesus was? What did I think my life purpose was? Did I read the Bible? Attend church? Tina also answered my questions, held me accountable to make wise choices, expected me to reach higher and further in my goals, and challenged me to be a better person and leader than I had ever pictured for my life. She encouraged me to dress more modestly, act more lady-like, think more critically about principles, and decide more strategically about my future and my place in the world. <br /><br /><br />Her nurturing of me in the area of what constitutes healthy dating, engagement, and marriage set the foundation for the strong, vibrant marriage I have today. I would have completely missed my godly, amazing husband, Bill, had Tina not entered my world and gotten me unaddicted to men. She pushed me to interview couples with healthy marriages to get a better view of what dating boundaries work best. She pointed me to God and Scripture to form my core relationship values.<br /><br />What I learned from Tina:<br /><br />• Always ask the tough questions.<br /><br />• Expect the best from people and they will rise to meet those expectations.<br /><br />• Be a woman of sure principles in an unsure world. <br /><br /><br />The woman who mentored Tina also mentored me. Her name is Faith. Faith and her husband, Cal, had a vision for building a home across the street from the college campus where students could come and get wisdom, training, and a safe place to make better choices in life as they were launching out on their own. <br /><br /><br />I came to Faith because I was in a dilemma: I had overcommitted myself with extracurricular activities. Faith listened to my heart, prayed with me, gave me some Scripture verses to read, and then said something like, “Pam, you have a pure heart for God. I am sure God will lead you through His Word to the answer your need.” And God did. As I read one of the verses about not “loving the world,” I realized my future was in serving Jesus. I was to invest in that path for my future. It was a clear call.<br /><br />What I learned from Faith was:<br /><br />• Love the Lord and love His Word and you’ll have all the answers you need.<br /><br />• Treat young people with respect, and trust that if you give them the tools God will lead them.<br /><br />• Relationships matter. God uses relationships to expand His work. <br /><br /><br />This last one has an important side-note story. Faith mentored me, but she also had similar meetings with a young college woman named Mary. That same Mary ended up going on staff with Campus Crusade, then was hired to be president of Women of Faith. <br /><br /><br />It was while Doreen was working for Women of Faith that she and I met. Doreen was in Kansas laying the groundwork for Women of Faith. I was speaking at an event in Kansas where she gave an announcement for the upcoming Women of Faith event. I was speaking on Women of Influence and gave a message on mentoring! Now, years later, all those connections (and more) led us to write this book on raising and mentoring young women. <br /><br /><br />In seminary and ministry, I have had a series of women invest in my life. When I look back on these women, and others who poured their time, talent, or trust into my life, I realize God was preparing me for living an adventure with Him.<br /></div><br /><br /><br /><br />This book started out pretty wonderfully. It has some great ideas and insights into raising a 'modern day princess', but for me, it had the feel of being a very long advertisement for the curriculum that the book was written around. I don't know that I would recommend the book - however, I would recommend the curriculum, potentially, for more practical 'how-to's', if you will, for doing what the title suggests.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3232800776022811345.post-24308209198490166352009-12-12T08:00:00.000-08:002009-12-12T08:00:04.599-08:00for CFBA - 'The Familiar Stranger' by Christina Berry<div align="center"><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5500/1432/1600/CFBAreviewer_gif.0.gif"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5500/1432/320/CFBAreviewer_gif.0.gif" border="0" /></a></div><br /><center><span style="font-size:130%;">This week, the</span></center><br /><center><a href="http://www.christianfictionblogalliance.com/"><span style="font-size:100%;">Christian Fiction Blog Alliance</span></a></center><br /><center><span style="font-size:100%;">is introducing</span></center><br /><center><span style="font-size:130%;color:#993300;"> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0802447317">The Familiar Stranger </a></span></center><br /><center>Moody Publishers (September 1, 2009)</center><br /><center>by</center><br /><center><span style="font-size:130%;color:#006600;"><a href="http://christinaberry.net/default.aspx">Christina Berry</a></span></center><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:100%;color:#ff6600;">ABOUT THE AUTHOR:</span><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjopD-w_Ei5p52GKlrBRuJA6bcxgtanXy-8IL-rrw70oMbnrvqU4ijHe2tW3bEc0A51qhvuOg2EF4yEnyv6R8sSTckHS2eIVm52FrtL4FSMAr-I5CGEeYKlziZaKSMM38mIE6vEG5VVmDNj/s1600-h/BERRY-4213-T1%255B1%255D%2520%25282%2529_428x600.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 246px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjopD-w_Ei5p52GKlrBRuJA6bcxgtanXy-8IL-rrw70oMbnrvqU4ijHe2tW3bEc0A51qhvuOg2EF4yEnyv6R8sSTckHS2eIVm52FrtL4FSMAr-I5CGEeYKlziZaKSMM38mIE6vEG5VVmDNj/s320/BERRY-4213-T1%255B1%255D%2520%25282%2529_428x600.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5413824327812166338" /></a>Single mother and foster parent, Christina Berry carves time to write from her busy schedule because she must tell the stories that haunt her every waking moment. (Such is the overly dramatic description of an author's life!) She holds a BA in Literature, yet loves a good Calculus problem, as well. All that confusion must have influenced her decision to be team captain of a winning team on <i>Family Feud</i>.<br /><br />Her debut novel, <i>The Familiar Stranger</i>, released from Moody in September and deals with lies, secrets, and themes of forgiveness in a troubled marriage. A moving speaker and dynamic teacher, Christina strives to <strong>Live Transparently--Forgive Extravagantly!</strong><br /><br />Her work has also appeared in <i>The Secret Place, The Oregonian</i>, and <i>Daily Devotions for Writers</i>.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><span style="font-size:100%;color:#ffcc00;">ABOUT THE BOOK</span></strong><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl_l0EMRyhmedDwMnCujsmhYRLup1vNJpuoMTEO1JgCdcTN1TZ1Ds5hWb1IPR9g0WNdAHwyg9_TMf0m2TyoIbO-f8NyX-pF0K3G06ta5C4NryYHo2lawdAc_v81UH7O92D_UyRfPMJ4351/s1600-h/the+familiar+stranger.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 157px; height: 238px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl_l0EMRyhmedDwMnCujsmhYRLup1vNJpuoMTEO1JgCdcTN1TZ1Ds5hWb1IPR9g0WNdAHwyg9_TMf0m2TyoIbO-f8NyX-pF0K3G06ta5C4NryYHo2lawdAc_v81UH7O92D_UyRfPMJ4351/s320/the+familiar+stranger.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5413822498835745218" /></a>Craig Littleton's decision to end his marriage would shock his wife, Denise . . . if she knew what he was up to. When an accident lands Craig in the ICU, with fuzzy memories of his own life and plans, Denise rushes to his side, ready to care for him.<br /><br />They embark on a quest to help Craig remember who he is and, in the process, they discover dark secrets. An affair? An emptied bank account? A hidden identity? An illegitimate child?<br /><br />But what will she do when she realizes he's not the man she thought he was? Is this trauma a blessing in disguise, a chance for a fresh start? Or will his secrets destroy the life they built together?<br /><br />If you would like to read the first chapter of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0802447317">The Familiar Stranger</a>, go <a href="http://thestorybeginnings.blogspot.com/2009/12/familiar-stranger-chapter-1.html">HERE</a><br /><br />How can I write a review without regretting what I wrote? I just don't know on this one. I was thoroughly pleased with this book - click the link, read the first chapter - and then go out and buy the book! 'Nuff said.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3232800776022811345.post-46737954482821171892009-12-02T07:04:00.000-08:002009-12-02T07:08:40.775-08:00for CFBA Tour - 'The Christmas Glass' by Marci Alborghetti<div align="center"><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5500/1432/1600/CFBAreviewer_gif.0.gif"><img style="margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5500/1432/320/CFBAreviewer_gif.0.gif" border="0" /></a></div><br /><center><span style="font-size:130%;">This week, the</span></center><br /><center><a href="http://www.christianfictionblogalliance.com/"><span style="font-size:100%;">Christian Fiction Blog Alliance</span></a></center><br /><center><span style="font-size:100%;">is introducing</span></center><br /><center><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0);font-size:130%;" > <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0824947762">The Christmas Glass</a></span></center><br /><center>GuidepostsBooks (October 1, 2009) </center><br /><center>by</center><br /><center><span style="color: rgb(0, 102, 0);font-size:130%;" >Marci Alborghetti</span></center><br /><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0);font-size:100%;" >ABOUT THE AUTHOR:</span><br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjogSmY-XTBBnPdbU_oDGR7mb6wBA0mu1ALbPyi_DH7HECPpppviVHgZpmhrsIHLadBOGIdvz1kMoMLDsCpsR3Ahp3k17w-1609hnRLe9oSCfB-0727q9XzjCG9cF6VVIXTC7yb0z7or66l/s1600-h/Marci_Alborghetti_photo.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 383px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjogSmY-XTBBnPdbU_oDGR7mb6wBA0mu1ALbPyi_DH7HECPpppviVHgZpmhrsIHLadBOGIdvz1kMoMLDsCpsR3Ahp3k17w-1609hnRLe9oSCfB-0727q9XzjCG9cF6VVIXTC7yb0z7or66l/s400/Marci_Alborghetti_photo.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5410485969666675858" border="0" /></a>Marci Alborghetti has been writing only slightly longer than she's been reading. In seventh grade she received her first writing prize for a zany Halloween story. The prize? A five dollar gift certificate to a local bookstore. She was hooked. The Christmas Glass is her fourteenth book, and she is currently at work on a sequel as well as a non-fiction book about service. Some of her other books include: Prayer Power: How to Pray When You Think You Can’t, A Season in the South and Twelve Strong Women of God.<br /><br />She and her husband, Charlie Duffy, live in New London, Connecticut and the San Francisco Bay area. While in New London she facilitates the Saint James Literary Club.<br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><span style="color: rgb(255, 204, 0);font-size:100%;" >ABOUT THE BOOK</span></strong><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkNFcN6xd4OCVTGMVjGH-PdG2qb1861A6S3llJKJPcYBhJY3FCp1k01eGk70rzM1djFlFzrvNuTYTu-JczP2B4MwkQGnzntayJzuhcqan15Zuf6JsmkpofVsbIysSnDxkw3z9wHjsIZldE/s1600-h/Christmas_glass.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 166px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkNFcN6xd4OCVTGMVjGH-PdG2qb1861A6S3llJKJPcYBhJY3FCp1k01eGk70rzM1djFlFzrvNuTYTu-JczP2B4MwkQGnzntayJzuhcqan15Zuf6JsmkpofVsbIysSnDxkw3z9wHjsIZldE/s400/Christmas_glass.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5410484190700999618" border="0" /></a>In the tradition of <i>The Christmas Shoes</i> and <i>A Christmas on Jane Street</i>, the heartwarming story of <i>The Christmas Glass</i> shows how, today as always, the Christmas miracle works its wonders in the human heart.<br /><br />In the early days of World War II in Italy, Anna, a young widow who runs a small orphanage, carefully wraps her most cherished possessions -- a dozen hand-blown, German-made, Christmas ornaments, handed down by her mother -- and sends them to a cousin she hasn't seen in years.<br /><br />Anna is distressed to part with her only tangible reminder of her mother, but she worries that the ornaments will be lost or destroyed in the war, especially now that her orphanage has begun to secretly shelter Jewish children. Anna's young cousin Filomena is married with two-year-old twins when she receives the box of precious Christmas glass.<br /><br />After the war, Filomena emigrates to America, where the precious ornaments are passed down through the generations. After more than forty years, twelve people come to possess a piece of Christmas glass, some intimately connected by family bonds, some connected only through the history of the ornaments.<br /><br />As Christmas Day approaches, readers join each character in a journey of laughter and tears, fractures and healings, as Filomena, now an eighty-four-year-old great-grandmother, brings them all to what will be either a wondrous reunion or a disaster that may shatter them all like the precious glass they cherish.<br /><br />If you would like to read the first chapter of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0824947762">The Christmas Glass</a>, go <a href="http://thestorybeginnings.blogspot.com/2009/12/christmas-glass-chapter-1.html">HERE</a><br /><br /><br />This was a very fun read! I think the author could have taken a bit more time at the end, it was still enjoyable. Sis is reading it right now, so I'll get her thoughts on it and post them later. It's hard to find good Christmas literature, at least for me!, so I was glad I took the time to read this one!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3232800776022811345.post-1488600168832826402009-11-19T08:00:00.000-08:002009-11-19T08:00:05.179-08:00for FIRST Wild Card Tour - The Swiss Courier by Tricia Goyer and Mike Yorkey<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyd9kX2u4gWwVkJKUDBTSNf1zZERdQOkD_5cxAjH_vI_cBBvwslg1lV72Qp0X4D_Az73RPdqo2VmY8gtPxjmEX89UG4viQb0BG2c4kgdWXq6dl_RKqNrVSHMYv38PvSZ2dtlrG23vk3RJx/s1600-h/wild+card.jpg"><a href="http://firstwildcardtours.blogspot.com/"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5190009307003588530" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyd9kX2u4gWwVkJKUDBTSNf1zZERdQOkD_5cxAjH_vI_cBBvwslg1lV72Qp0X4D_Az73RPdqo2VmY8gtPxjmEX89UG4viQb0BG2c4kgdWXq6dl_RKqNrVSHMYv38PvSZ2dtlrG23vk3RJx/s200/wild+card.jpg" border="0" /></a></a>It is time for a <span style="color:#990000;"><strong><a href="http://firstwildcardtours.blogspot.com/">FIRST Wild Card Tour</a></span></strong> book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured. The reason it is called a FIRST Wild Card Tour is that you never know if the book will be fiction, non~fiction, for young, or for old...or for somewhere in between! <span style="color:#990000;"><strong>Enjoy your free peek into the book!</strong></span><br /><br /><span style="color:#cc0000;"><em>You never know when I might play a wild card on you!</em></span><br /><br /><br /><div align="center"><strong>Today's Wild Card authors are: </strong><br /></div><br /><div align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:180%;color:#cc0000;"><a href="http://www.triciagoyer.com/">Tricia Goyer </a><br />and<br /><a href="http://www.MikeYorkey.com/">Mike Yorkey</a></span></strong><br /></div><br /><p align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:180%;color:#cc0000;"><span style="font-size:100%;color:#cc0000;">and the book:</span> </span></strong><br /></p><br /><p align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:180%;color:#cc0000;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0800733363">The Swiss Courier</a></span></strong><br /></p><p align="center">Revell (October 1, 2009) <br /></p>***Special thanks to Amy Lathrop of the LitFUSE Publicity Group for sending me a review copy.***<br /><br /><div align="left"><strong><span style="font-size:130%;color:#333399;"><span style="color:#cc0000;">ABOUT THE AUTHORS:</span> </span></strong></div><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC-1kgp7Mj-jh9OhjFY3xhzctXFU-Cm3wsDF1eTsy-bdh_QOwePCfDb5rvRVIX0KSExNPf7PJuqxlfiW23-LjUvhl4uGKqyHfP8iicb2mWXuyivdfhVqfGXNBYizqa82Pvg-LrM1r3RnY/s1600/Tricia2.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 134px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC-1kgp7Mj-jh9OhjFY3xhzctXFU-Cm3wsDF1eTsy-bdh_QOwePCfDb5rvRVIX0KSExNPf7PJuqxlfiW23-LjUvhl4uGKqyHfP8iicb2mWXuyivdfhVqfGXNBYizqa82Pvg-LrM1r3RnY/s200/Tricia2.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5404897575629734178" /></a><br /><br /><br />Tricia Goyer is the author of several books, including <em>Night Song </em>and <em>Dawn of a Thousand Nights</em>, both past winners of the ACFW's Book of the Year Award for Long Historical Romance. Goyer lives with her family in Montana. <br /><br />Visit the author's <a href="http://www.triciagoyer.com/">website</a>.<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8NHEMK6lIm718xG8WBbNLMP6xtK9-nQH8X1gq1S1zeJ3Y9yGKinqTse5WMpL3F5w2i1gKY-ZxXrqX0fnnij3q0uJQdkav0oB1PiZjs9KGnzSnIS0QinLHNtrwHkcLpNJLA50HQ5JJDgU/s1600/mike+yorkey.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 127px; height: 124px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8NHEMK6lIm718xG8WBbNLMP6xtK9-nQH8X1gq1S1zeJ3Y9yGKinqTse5WMpL3F5w2i1gKY-ZxXrqX0fnnij3q0uJQdkav0oB1PiZjs9KGnzSnIS0QinLHNtrwHkcLpNJLA50HQ5JJDgU/s200/mike+yorkey.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5404898482337271362" /></a><br />Mike Yorkey is the author or coauthor of dozens of books, including the bestselling <em>Every Man's Battle </em>series. Married to a Swiss native, Yorkey lived in Switzerland for 18 months. He and his family currently reside in California. <br /><br />Visit the author's <a href="http://www.MikeYorkey.com/">website</a>.<br /><br /><object width="320" height="265"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/2cNPrAArNaQ&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0x5d1719&color2=0xcd311b"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/2cNPrAArNaQ&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0x5d1719&color2=0xcd311b" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="320" height="265"></embed></object><br /><br />Product Details:<br /><br />List Price: $13.99<br />Paperback: 336 pages <br />Publisher: Revell (October 1, 2009) <br />Language: English <br />ISBN-10: 0800733363 <br />ISBN-13: 978-0800733360 <br /><br /><span style="color:#cc0000;"><strong><span style="font-size:180%;">AND NOW...THE FIRST CHAPTER:</span> </strong><br /></span><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimT4zhYZ32l_KOoZRRQSo9xGDnc8AhWJCRChNeGac_OHYvePPSfUH2mPLgAk7ykGNWOhpCsgPnXlHRly1-Jw6rhGfIeVBuavj7c4GJs37sNQUVFw1vlITNUfzjwN16PH_dTFvb8ukGupg/s1600/swiss_courier_sm.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 128px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimT4zhYZ32l_KOoZRRQSo9xGDnc8AhWJCRChNeGac_OHYvePPSfUH2mPLgAk7ykGNWOhpCsgPnXlHRly1-Jw6rhGfIeVBuavj7c4GJs37sNQUVFw1vlITNUfzjwN16PH_dTFvb8ukGupg/s200/swiss_courier_sm.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5404897494689052994" /></a><div style="OVERFLOW: auto; HEIGHT: 307px">To the Reader<br /><br />In the early afternoon of July 20, 1944, Colonel Claus Graf von Stauffenberg confidently lugged a sturdy briefcase into Wolfsschanze—Wolf’s Lair—the East Prussian redoubt of Adolf Hitler. Inside the black briefcase, a small but powerful bomb ticked away, counting down the minutes to der Führer’s demise. <br /><br /><br />Several generals involved in the assassination plot arranged to have Stauffenberg invited to a routine staff meeting with Hitler and two dozen officers. The one o’clock conference was held in the map room of Wolfsschanze’s cement-lined underground bunker. Stauffenberg quietly entered the conference a bit tardy and managed to get close to Hitler by claiming he was hard of hearing. While poring over detailed topological maps of the Eastern Front’s war theater, the colonel unobtrusively set the briefcase underneath the heavy oak table near Hitler’s legs. After waiting for an appropriate amount of time, Stauffenberg excused himself and quietly exited the claustrophobic bunker, saying he had to place an urgent call to Berlin. When a Wehrmacht officer noticed the bulky briefcase was in his way, he inconspicuously moved it away from Hitler, placing it behind the other substantial oak support. That simple event turned the tide of history. <br /><br /><br />Moments later, a terrific explosion catapulted one officer to the ceiling, ripped off the legs of others, and killed four soldiers instantly. Although the main force of the blast was directed away from Hitler, the German leader nonetheless suffered burst eardrums, burned hair, and a wounded arm. He was in shock but still alive—and unhinged for revenge. <br /><br /><br />Stauffenberg, believing Hitler was dead, leaped into a staff car with his aide Werner von Haeften. They talked their way out of the Wolfsschanze compound and made a dash for a nearby airfield, where they flew back to Berlin in a Heinkel He 111. When news got out that Hitler had survived, Stauffenberg and three other conspirators were quickly tracked down, captured, and executed at midnight by a makeshift firing squad. <br /><br /><br />An enraged Hitler did not stop there to satisfy his bloodlust. For the next month and a half, he instigated a bloody purge, resulting in the execution of dozens of plotters and hundreds of others remotely involved in the assassination coup. The Gestapo, no doubt acting under Hitler’s orders, treated the failed attempt on the Führer’s life as a pretext for arresting 5,000 opponents of the Third Reich, many of whom were imprisoned and tortured. <br /><br /><br />What many people do not know is that Hitler’s manhunt would dramatically alter the development of a secret weapon that could turn the tide of the war for Nazi Germany—the atomic bomb. <br /><br /><br />This is that story . . . <br /> <br /><br /><br />1<br /><br />Waldshut, Germany<br /><br />Saturday, July 29, 1944<br /><br />4 p.m. <br /><br /><br />He hoped his accent wouldn’t give him away. The young Swiss kept his head down as he sauntered beneath the frescoed archways that ringed the town square of Waldshut, an attractive border town in the foothills of the southern Schwarzwald. He hopped over a foot-wide, waterfilled trench that ran through the middle of the cobblestone square and furtively glanced behind to see if anyone had detected his presence. <br /><br /><br />Even though Switzerland lay just a kilometer or two away across the Rhine River, the youthful operative realized he no longer breathed free air. Though he felt horribly exposed—as if he were marching down Berlin’s Kurfürstendamm screaming anti-Nazi slogans—he willed himself to remain confident. <br /><br /><br />His part was a small but vital piece of the larger war effort. Yes, he risked his life, but he was not alone in his passion. A day’s drive away, American tanks drove for the heart of<br /><br />Paris—and quickened French hearts for libération. Far closer, Nazi reprisals thinned the ranks of his fellow resisters. The young man shuddered at the thought of being captured, lined up against a wall, and hearing the click-click of a safety being unlatched from a Nazi machine gun. Still, his legs propelled him on. <br /><br /><br />Earlier that morning, he’d introduced himself as Jean- Pierre to members of an underground cell. The French Resistance had recently stepped up their acts of sabotage after the Allies broke out of the Normandy beachhead two weeks earlier, and they’d all taken nom de guerres in their honor. <br /><br /><br />Inside the pocket of his leather jacket, Jean-Pierre’s right hand formed a claw around a Mauser C96 semiautomatic pistol. His grip tightened, as if squeezing the gun’s metallic profile would reduce the tension building in his chest. The last few minutes before an operation always came to this. <br /><br /><br />His senses peaked as he took in the sights and sounds around him. At one end of the town square, a pair of disheveled older women complained to a local farmer about the fingerling size of the potato crop. A horse-drawn carriage, transporting four galvanized tin milk containers, rumbled by while a young newsboy screamed out, “Nachrichten!” The boy’s right hand waved day-old copies of the Badische Zeitung from Freiburg, eighty kilometers to the northwest. <br /><br /><br />Jean-Pierre didn’t need to read the newspaper to know that more men and women were losing their lives by the minute due to the reprisals of a madman. <br /><br /><br />Though the planned mission had been analyzed from every angle, there were always uncertain factors that would affect not only the outcome of the mission but who among them would live. Or die. <br /><br /><br />Their task was to rescue a half-dozen men arrested by local authorities following the assassination attempt on Reichskanzler Adolf Hitler. If things went as Jean-Pierre hoped,<br /><br />the men would soon be free from the Nazis’ clutches. If not, the captives’ fate included an overnight trip to Berlin, via a cattle car, where they would be transported to Gestapo headquarters on Prinz-Albrecht-Strasse 8. The men would be questioned—tortured if they weren’t immediately forthcoming— until names, dates, and places gushed as freely as the blood spilling upon the cold, unyielding concrete floor. <br /><br /><br />Not that revealing any secrets would save their lives. When the last bit of information had been wrung from their minds, they’d be marched against a blood-spattered wall or to the gallows equipped with well-stretched hemp rope. May God have mercy on their souls. <br /><br /><br />Jean-Pierre willed himself to stop thinking pessimistically. He glanced at his watch—a pricey Hanhart favored by Luftwaffe pilots. His own Swiss-made Breitling had been tucked inside a wooden box on his nightstand back home, where he had also left a handwritten letter. A love note, actually, to a woman who had captured his heart—just in case he never returned. But this was a time for war, not love. And he had<br /><br />to keep reminding himself of that. <br /><br /><br />Jean-Pierre slowed his gait as he left the town square and approached the town’s major intersection. As he had been advised, a uniformed woman—her left arm ringed with a red<br /><br />armband and black swastika—directed traffic with a whistle and an attitude. <br /><br /><br />She was like no traffic cop he’d ever seen. Her full lips were colored with red lipstick. Black hair tumbled upon the shoulder epaulettes of the Verkehrskontrolle’s gray-green<br /><br />uniform. She wielded a silver-toned baton, directing a rambling assortment of horse-drawn carriages, battered sedans, and hulking military vehicles jockeying for the right of way. <br /><br /><br />She looked no older than twenty-five, yet acted like she owned the real estate beneath her feet. Jean-Pierre couldn’t help but let his lips curl up in a slight grin, knowing what was<br /><br />to come. “Entschuldigung, wo ist das Gemeindehaus?” a voice said beside him. Jean-Pierre turned to the rotund businessman in the fedora and summer business suit asking for directions to City Hall. <br /><br /><br />“Ich bin nicht sicher.” He shrugged and was about to fashion another excuse when a military transport truck turned a corner two blocks away, approaching in their direction. <br /><br /><br />“Es tut mir Leid.” With a wave, Jean-Pierre excused himself and sprinted toward the uniformed traffic officer. In one quick motion, his Mauser was drawn. <br /><br /><br />He didn’t break stride as he tackled the uniformed woman to the ground. Her scream blasted his ear, and more cries from onlookers chimed in. <br /><br /><br />Jean-Pierre straddled the frightened traffic officer and pressed the barrel of his pistol into her forehead. Her shrieking immediately ceased. <br /><br /><br />“Don’t move, and nothing will happen to you.” <br /><br /><br />Jean-Pierre glanced up as he heard the mud-caked transport truck skid to a stop fifty meters from them. <br /><br /><br />A Wehrmacht soldier hopped out. “Halt!” He clumsily drew his rifle to his right shoulder. <br /><br /><br />Jean-Pierre met the soldier’s eyes and rolled off the female traffic officer. <br /><br /><br />A shot rang out. The German soldier’s body jerked, and a cry of pain erupted from his lips. He clutched his left chest as a rivulet of blood stained his uniform. <br /><br /><br />“Nice shot, Suzanne.” Jean-Pierre jumped to his feet, glancing at the traffic cop, her stomach against the asphalt with her pistol drawn. <br /><br /><br />Suzanne rose from the ground, crouched, and aimed. <br /><br /><br />Her pistol, which had been hidden in an ankle holster, was now pointed at the driver behind the windshield. The determined look in her gaze was one Jean-Pierre had come to<br /><br />know well. <br /><br /><br />One, two, three shots found their mark, shattering the truck’s glass into shards. The driver slumped behind the wheel. <br /><br /><br />As expected, two Wehrmacht soldiers jumped out of the back of the truck and took cover behind the rear wheels. <br /><br /><br />Before Jean-Pierre had a chance to take aim, shots rang out from a second-story window overlooking the intersection. <br /><br /><br />The German soldiers crumbled to the cobblestone pavement in a heap. <br /><br /><br />“Los jetzt!” He clasped Suzanne’s hand, and they sprinted to the rear of the truck. Two black-leather-coated members of their resistance group had already beaten them there. <br /><br />Jean- Pierre couldn’t remember their names, but it didn’t matter. <br /><br /><br />What mattered was the safety of the prisoners in the truck. Jean-Pierre only hoped the contact’s information had been correct. <br /><br /><br />With a deep breath, he lifted the curtain and peered into the truck. A half-dozen frightened men sat on wooden benches with hands raised. Their wide eyes and dropped jaws displayed their fear. <br /><br /><br />“Don’t shoot!” one cried. <br /><br /><br />The sound of a police siren split the air. <br /><br /><br />“Everyone out!” Jean-Pierre shouted. “I’ll take this one. The rest of you, go with them.” He pointed the tip of his Mauser at the men in leather jackets. <br /><br /><br />The sirens increased in volume as the speeding car gobbled up distance along the Hauptstrasse, weaving through the autos and pedestrians. An officer in the passenger’s seat leaned out, rifle pointed. <br /><br /><br />Jean-Pierre leaned into the truck and yanked the prisoner’s arm. Suzanne grabbed the other. “Move it, come on!” <br /><br /><br />Bullets from an approaching vehicle whizzed past Jean- Pierre’s ear. The clearly frightened prisoner suddenly found his legs, and the three sprinted away from the speedingcar. <br /><br /><br />Jean-Pierre’s feet pounded the pavement, and he tugged on the prisoner’s arm, urging him to run faster. He could hear the screech of the tires as the police car stopped just behind the truck. Jean-Pierre hadn’t expected the local Polizei to respond so rapidly. <br /><br /><br />They needed to find cover— <br /><br /><br />More gunfire erupted, and as if reading his thoughts, Suzanne turned the prisoner toward a weathered column. Jean-Pierre crumbled against the pillar, catching his breath. <br /><br /><br />The columns provided cover, but not enough. Soon the police would be upon them. They had to make a move. Only ten steps separated them from turning the street corner and sprinting into Helmut’s watch store. From there, a car waited outside the back door. <br /><br /><br />Another hail of gunfire struck the plaster. Jean-Pierre mouthed a prayer under his breath. <br /><br /><br />“Suzanne, we have to get out of here!” <br /><br /><br />She crouched into a trembling ball, all confidence gone. “They’re surrounding us!” The terror in her uncertain timbre was clear. “But what can we do? We can’t let them see us run into the store.” <br /><br /><br />“Forget that. We have no choice!” Jean-Pierre raised his pistol and returned several volleys, firing at the two policemen perched behind a parked car. <br /><br /><br />“Listen to me,” he said to Suzanne, taking his eyes momentarily off the police car. “You have to go. You take this guy, and I’ll cover you. Once you turn the corner, it’s just twenty more meters to Helmut’s store.” His hands moved as he spoke, slamming a new clip of ammunition into his pistol. <br /><br /><br />“But what if—” <br /><br /><br />“I’ll join you. Now go!” <br /><br /><br />Jean-Pierre jumped from behind the protection of the column and rapidly fired several shots. One cop dared expose himself to return fire—not at Jean-Pierre but at the pair running for the corner. <br /><br /><br />No! <br /><br /><br />Jean-Pierre turned just in time to see Suzanne’s body lurch. The clean hit ripped into her flesh between the shoulder blades. She staggered for a long second before dropping<br /><br />with a thud. The gangly prisoner didn’t even look back as he disappeared around the corner. <br /><br /><br />I can’t lose him, Jean-Pierre thought, remembering again the importance of this mission. <br /><br /><br />Yet to chase after the prisoner meant he’d have to leave his partner behind.<br /><br />Suzanne . . . <br /><br /><br />He emptied his Mauser at the hidden policemen, ducking as he scrambled toward his partner. Sweeping up her bloody form, he managed to drag her around the corner to safety. <br /><br /><br />“Go,” Suzanne whispered. <br /><br /><br />“I can’t leave you. Stay with me—” <br /><br /><br />Her eyelids fluttered. “You need to go . . .” A long breath escaped, and her gaze fixed on a distant point beyond him. <br /><br /><br />Jean-Pierre dropped to his knees and ripped open Suzanne’s bloodstained woolen jacket. Her soaked chest neither rose nor fell. He swore under his breath and brushed a lock of<br /><br />black hair from her face. <br /><br /><br />Jean-Pierre cocked his head. Incessant gunfire filled the air. His colleagues were apparently keeping the German soldiers and local Polizei at bay, at least for the time being. He knew only a few valuable seconds remained to escape with<br /><br />the prisoner. <br /><br /><br />He planted a soft kiss on Suzanne’s forehead. “Until we see each other in heaven,” he whispered. <br /><br /><br />Jean-Pierre darted to a trash can, where the shaken prisoner had hunkered down, covering his head. The resistance fighter clutched the man’s left arm and hustled him inside the watch store, pushing past two startled women. The rear door was propped open, and a black Opel four-door idled in the alley. <br /><br /><br />With a few quick steps, they were inside the vehicle. <br /><br /><br />Before the rear door was shut, the driver jerked the car into gear, and the Opel roared down the tight alley. The door slammed shut, and Jean-Pierre glanced back. No one followed. <br /><br /><br />The car merged onto a busier street, and only then did Jean-Pierre sink in his seat and close his eyes. <br /><br /><br />Soon they’d arrive at a safe house pitched on the Rhine River. And later, with the dark night sky as their protection, a skiff would sneak them into the warm arms of Mother<br /><br />Switzerland—a skiff piloted by the mentor who’d recruited him. His nom de guerre: Pascal. <br /><br /><br />Jean-Pierre’s mission would soon be complete, but at what cost? Another agent—a good woman and a friend—had been sacrificed. <br /><br /><br />He had followed orders for the greater good, to save the life of a nameless prisoner. He only hoped this mission was worth it. <br /><br /><br />Tricia Goyer and Mike Yorkey, The Swiss Courier: A Novel,<br /><br />Revell Books, a division of Baker Publishing Group, © 2009. Used by permission<br /> </div><br /><br /><br />This was a very interesting book. I truly enjoyed it - and it helped me keep my mind occupied so I didn't focus on the flu that was raging through my body!!! I have not read much on WWII or that era. It is amazing the amount of 'stuff' that was going on during this time in history. I found myself praying for the kind of faith people that actually lived during that time must have had. I know that His grace is sufficient, and I believe He gives us the grace we need when we need it. But, I digress from the actual review of the book...it was well written, with lots of twists and turns. Most believable...some not so much - but all in all very good. If you enjoy suspense, intrigue, and WWII history...this is definitely one for you.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3232800776022811345.post-55677603416700897152009-11-10T08:00:00.000-08:002009-11-10T08:00:00.802-08:00for 'White Picket Fences' by Susan Meissner brought to you by WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group<a href="http://www.randomhouse.com/images/dyn/cover/?source=9781400074570&width=142"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 142px; height: 217px;" src="http://www.randomhouse.com/images/dyn/cover/?source=9781400074570&width=142" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />Summary:<br /><br />Amanda Janvier and husband Neil take motherless niece Tally into their seemingly storybook life, all the while refusing to acknowledge that their son Chase is haunted by memories of the horrific house fire no one talks about. Secrets of the past can’t stay hidden forever behind their white picket fence.<br /><br />Author Bio:<br /><br />Susan Meissner cannot remember a time when she wasn’t driven to put her thoughts down on paper. Her novel The Shape of Mercy was a Publishers Weekly pick for best religious fiction of 2008 and a Christian Book Award finalist. Susan and her husband live in Southern California, where he is a pastor and a chaplain in the Air Force Reserves. They are the parents of four grown children. <br /><br />This was a really fascinating book. I so appreciated the steering away from the stereotypical casting of teen that has suffered loss and lived a life that is not 'the norm'. More often than not, these characters (and their real-life counterparts) tend to get the short end of the stick. They are labeled 'troubled', 'rebellious', 'anti-social', and typcially are involved in any number of 'unsavory' activities. I applaud Ms. Meissner for not taking the 'easy route' with the character of Tally. <br /><br />There are multiple stories going on throughout the whole book. The interweave so well, and keep you turning the pages as you cheer for each character. This book deals with hard decisions, real-life temptations, and healing. You won't be disappointed!<br /><br />To learn more about the book, to read an excerpt, and to order your copy, please be sure to visit <a href="http://waterbrookmultnomah.com/catalog.php?isbn=9781400074570">Waterbrook Multnomah</a> today.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3232800776022811345.post-70949903569759398452009-11-02T08:00:00.000-08:002009-11-02T08:00:03.848-08:00for movies!<div align="center"><span style="font-size:180%;"><strong>The Jesus Movie for</strong></span><br /><br /></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:180%;"><strong>the Next Generation</strong></span></div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"></div><p><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 233px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5395146748175439874" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFpFhS9QwqPr_9dblPWoOBA2EXx9zW0HpSZTg2dpOxJL08VCqg0D90vo8eUEWDj2vMl1cfkbyI3c_yfVZGlaKNQ-Qyd5BBQ7G4t_03GcVZqdeCRGZ-D5n6c2gHjff0RyhBMN-XUEXRU2I/s320/JesusLogo_NoGreaterLove+for+email.JPG" /> </p><p align="center"><a href="http://www.newjesusmovie.com/"><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">www.NewJesusMovie.com</span></strong></a><br /><br /></p><div align="center"><strong></strong> </div><div align="left"><strong>Guest post by Bruce Marchiano, </strong><strong>producer of <em>Jesus...No Greater Love</em> </strong></div><div align="left"> <br /><br /></div><div align="left">The truth of the gospel never changes. But Christianity has many faces. They reflect the customs and cultures and the beautiful diversity of the global church. They are lined with the wisdom of age and vibrant with the passion of youth. One gospel for all the world…but how will we deliver it in a way that reaches the whole world? How will we reach the next generation?<br /><br /> <br /><br />Young Christians today are more like St. Francis of Assisi than a circuit riding preacher. “Preach the gospel at all times and when necessary, use words.” This is a generation focused on being the hands and feet of Christ and meeting the physical needs of those in both the local and global community. They are building houses, planting gardens, taking food and clothes to the poor and helping the widows and orphans… and then they are sharing the gospel. And they are using technology like never before. They communicate the message through audio, film, video and the internet, and they strive for excellence within those mediums. They must. This is how they will reach their generation for Christ.<br /><br /> <br /><br />I share their passion. In the film, <em>The Gospel According to Matthew, </em>we were able to capture the heart of Christ that is so often missing in Christian films, but the quality of the film making was constrained by an $800,000 budget. Now we are inspiring a movement that will bring Jesus to film in a version that literally leaps off the screen and into the hearts of viewers.</div><br /><br /><div align="left"><em>Jesus…No Greater Love</em>, the new Jesus movie, (<a href="http://www.newjesusmovie.com/">http://www.newjesusmovie.com/</a>) will be a word for word, verse by verse film adaption of the Gospel according to John. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation. That’s really our concept, that the gospel would go out in the power of the film medium, unaltered by any human script writer.<br /><br /> <br /><br />The budget for a typical Hollywood production is $100-110 million. Actors’ salaries account for much of that cost. Because the new Jesus movie will be not be paying big name actors, our team believes we can produce a world class, state-of-the-art film incorporating the latest cutting-edge technology for just $45 million. The production will be shot on location in Jerusalem and shot digitally using CGI backgrounds and a green screen stage, providing unlimited potential for sharing the gospel for generations to come.<br /><br /> <br /><br />We are inviting people from all nations and all generations to join this movement to bring the gospel to all people. A movement made of 4.5 million people contributing a tax deductible donation of $10 each would fund the cost of the film. The Gospel belongs to everyone, and the new Jesus movie will be produced expressly so it can be accessed by everyone, no matter their financial situation. Our team's vision is to see the film translated into as many languages as possible and supplied to mission organizations and churches all over the world.<br /><br /> <br /><br />You can become a part of the movement to reach the next generation. Please help us spread the word to your friends and family. If you would like to make a donation, you can do so at <a href="http://www.newjesusmovie.com./">http://www.newjesusmovie.com./</a> </div><br /><br /><div align="left"></div>Also, you can keep up with our progress by visiting any of these links:<br /><br /><div align="left"></div><br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/newjesusmovie">www.facebook.com/newjesusmovie</a></div><div align="center"><a href="http://www.twitter.com/brucejesusmovie">www.twitter.com/brucejesusmovie</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/newjesusmovie">www.youtube.com/newjesusmovie</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.tangle.com/newjesusmovie">www.tangle.com/newjesusmovie</a> </div><div align="center"><br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/1aPIyF_Tf0Q&rel=0&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&feature=player_profilepage&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><br /><br /> <br /><br /><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/1aPIyF_Tf0Q&rel=0&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&feature=player_profilepage&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br /> <br /><br />~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</div><div align="center"></div><br /><br /><div align="left"></div><div align="left"><em><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3z8puIdnzbAx-zP9on8sgXHWP_JufVJeQa4MtuJMkcKyRT8Rldf3V-wROhAIrHs12tg4btuIS9QL7hr3TqLTjwaIKdNW7pjKdlF0ypT3nk5MgTJhQvV1Qqtmt0kpGMihX7fIb5190IAg/s1600-h/480+marchiano+photo.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 119px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 130px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5395146182042953042" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3z8puIdnzbAx-zP9on8sgXHWP_JufVJeQa4MtuJMkcKyRT8Rldf3V-wROhAIrHs12tg4btuIS9QL7hr3TqLTjwaIKdNW7pjKdlF0ypT3nk5MgTJhQvV1Qqtmt0kpGMihX7fIb5190IAg/s200/480+marchiano+photo.JPG" /></a>Bruce Marchiano is an actor, author, international speaker, and the founder of Marchiano Ministries, a non-profit organization reaching out to people both spiritually and practically in the USA and across the world. He is best known for his joyful, passionate portrayal of Jesus in the film,</em> The Gospel According to Matthew<em>.</em> </div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3232800776022811345.post-43425905096280944552009-10-29T15:02:00.001-07:002009-10-29T16:01:00.796-07:00for pictures!!!!(These pictures are not in any particular order!)<br /><br />David being David....<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaCVhsqhX0q9USOkEqWXV-LN4_dr1BrGHYSKMSZgbC-w2YdiaVpXgWxTAmblgXZ3mYOTzuxKrgWBEGTrWm4niGwM__O1mIZheNQDDn8nGi9Y9vIDOQ3DVutHnoapKxxjROhgNCjjz7lWVQ/s1600-h/IMG_2003.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5398158206262401170" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaCVhsqhX0q9USOkEqWXV-LN4_dr1BrGHYSKMSZgbC-w2YdiaVpXgWxTAmblgXZ3mYOTzuxKrgWBEGTrWm4niGwM__O1mIZheNQDDn8nGi9Y9vIDOQ3DVutHnoapKxxjROhgNCjjz7lWVQ/s320/IMG_2003.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><br />Why we are not in the Family Portrait business:<br /><br /><br /><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyKAT6Q6MN03Ys28YFH0fn_u9-1RPn5StrnM3F21eAJm0YnXx7jrqW6N5sIdz-hKCgcb46JvCc-bIGAfuVu1dRK7IJWav2lI_uIOyb5o6lUlIq8cDDWYVmhXqNfRioesc6Gs6VtKJAaVWb/s1600-h/IMG_1995.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5398158200608232546" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyKAT6Q6MN03Ys28YFH0fn_u9-1RPn5StrnM3F21eAJm0YnXx7jrqW6N5sIdz-hKCgcb46JvCc-bIGAfuVu1dRK7IJWav2lI_uIOyb5o6lUlIq8cDDWYVmhXqNfRioesc6Gs6VtKJAaVWb/s320/IMG_1995.JPG" /></a></p><p> </p><p> </p><p> Troy's BIG catch of the day...(okay, okay, it's a stuffed fish...but a guy CAN dream!)...</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9UVb1zujMb6pVEPhJWShdZIu2CgMPq0uUe8QlwQNVAB54cjLSHaVHH6IRrZnqdT_O-ZYVFObFImfx-rMYDfZFjkKMyEp-Q33cKho7a8c7zWL7Y4yX_JJ7im7dtgai5_RgdyipYJVzny3Y/s1600-h/IMG_1984.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5398158192149546578" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9UVb1zujMb6pVEPhJWShdZIu2CgMPq0uUe8QlwQNVAB54cjLSHaVHH6IRrZnqdT_O-ZYVFObFImfx-rMYDfZFjkKMyEp-Q33cKho7a8c7zWL7Y4yX_JJ7im7dtgai5_RgdyipYJVzny3Y/s320/IMG_1984.JPG" /></a> </p><p> </p><p>David sliding down a Fire Pole:<br /></p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQIhJ5hxnZEy8BIygsmXTp78iRXEiMuJb3792elP-jl_q8994XMtGE5LVDQh9LEAVR7DcfpdihaAKcQTbrRVNwowMDMciZi-GI2hwPrEOUazjbSX2V8Mv9cnwZq8NzQWc6kN_gTc70I_yv/s1600-h/IMG_1943.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5398158183923323234" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQIhJ5hxnZEy8BIygsmXTp78iRXEiMuJb3792elP-jl_q8994XMtGE5LVDQh9LEAVR7DcfpdihaAKcQTbrRVNwowMDMciZi-GI2hwPrEOUazjbSX2V8Mv9cnwZq8NzQWc6kN_gTc70I_yv/s320/IMG_1943.JPG" /></a> </p><p> </p><p>Climbing on a Pirate Ship toy...<br /></p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYbqwaZG81HpltRKXVpJjFUaCO4caqfcV0iZFdPkd0_syWjagy3amklFpWG2Wj7LtdYOhu6kdP-kxuGQv88-TMLMAPGZ8Yj-jdr3J-m0ehwHVBHxLIzpgbzcjPH_nAmhx7V3senNWrFPgi/s1600-h/IMG_1936.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5398158176727446434" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYbqwaZG81HpltRKXVpJjFUaCO4caqfcV0iZFdPkd0_syWjagy3amklFpWG2Wj7LtdYOhu6kdP-kxuGQv88-TMLMAPGZ8Yj-jdr3J-m0ehwHVBHxLIzpgbzcjPH_nAmhx7V3senNWrFPgi/s320/IMG_1936.JPG" /></a> </p><p> </p><p>Marlee girl finding her way through the hedge maze in the midst of the corn maze:<br /></p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzoBoyWw33ubDgl9uE16_29lxD6PZxCCwpPWQMOpZGF06sTD2XybmjAT9OFXaF5bI-Nnqq_xRzL4duUNeD8fU6Jr8ldDq7RNX6motmqEZM6KSc7AfpvigjT6ChVAOGt9ZLB9y_dl-B9gLt/s1600-h/IMG_1935.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5398150192556027042" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzoBoyWw33ubDgl9uE16_29lxD6PZxCCwpPWQMOpZGF06sTD2XybmjAT9OFXaF5bI-Nnqq_xRzL4duUNeD8fU6Jr8ldDq7RNX6motmqEZM6KSc7AfpvigjT6ChVAOGt9ZLB9y_dl-B9gLt/s320/IMG_1935.JPG" /></a> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Ah ha...the castle!!!<br /></p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh96ln_oHbO3neonoX0fYzWmTV-4ilB9bm0PVqVgo0MVqQiPULgwuCa0R0lzuDj6dQEswR73mBpdmFv2vaT2uf90uqV18Z9sl9o3CeUVESLXHAR19XO51AexynqZltjH1B6tvqBX7C_Az7z/s1600-h/IMG_1932.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5398150185135971570" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh96ln_oHbO3neonoX0fYzWmTV-4ilB9bm0PVqVgo0MVqQiPULgwuCa0R0lzuDj6dQEswR73mBpdmFv2vaT2uf90uqV18Z9sl9o3CeUVESLXHAR19XO51AexynqZltjH1B6tvqBX7C_Az7z/s320/IMG_1932.JPG" /></a> </p><p> </p><p>In the corn maze:<br /></p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi_0KyNQrOCldRhA5X6tbfhhSYxFNN2d_I7_Fi67hAXy1w3s0nxNA77wBwLfMUK2_QRQIQBAXnhOOITktI43ELduPZMrNWGTwGb9M_GK0QzE1Ml28bSXwviDzdHzcp2p_XajzX29Oo2fDH/s1600-h/IMG_1926.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5398150179791866370" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi_0KyNQrOCldRhA5X6tbfhhSYxFNN2d_I7_Fi67hAXy1w3s0nxNA77wBwLfMUK2_QRQIQBAXnhOOITktI43ELduPZMrNWGTwGb9M_GK0QzE1Ml28bSXwviDzdHzcp2p_XajzX29Oo2fDH/s320/IMG_1926.JPG" /></a> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Random picture from home....the fog was moving in!<br /></p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgipSn7PZTWVHq4Wvde59XZdtpSlmqSuYntEo6uJUpLqiY0TsIaFRnWSdJ_3OqU3lDtj7JaScyJAGzzt7SwLa7DKM79tTNyT_RZTUYrotz-rwxFrFooUBVexaXkMiJsE1khQK9hIfzE1BMh/s1600-h/IMG_1916.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5398150169425405986" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgipSn7PZTWVHq4Wvde59XZdtpSlmqSuYntEo6uJUpLqiY0TsIaFRnWSdJ_3OqU3lDtj7JaScyJAGzzt7SwLa7DKM79tTNyT_RZTUYrotz-rwxFrFooUBVexaXkMiJsE1khQK9hIfzE1BMh/s320/IMG_1916.JPG" /></a> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Marlee's nature shot...pretty good, if I do say so myself!<br /></p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjchtYvASxQKDc1NBct3YYmq89sKvXhJM3pNjZY8bzkgT-TMoHUVdidTl1N8j2pL0ffsuO6-fLFLbR_-4xeJmbN1nTXYnrr34kdDhOW7jJ1O2LqjG3QKprMB_v8hKPhID_XAATKqxmj3-fO/s1600-h/IMG_1864.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5398150162571963250" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjchtYvASxQKDc1NBct3YYmq89sKvXhJM3pNjZY8bzkgT-TMoHUVdidTl1N8j2pL0ffsuO6-fLFLbR_-4xeJmbN1nTXYnrr34kdDhOW7jJ1O2LqjG3QKprMB_v8hKPhID_XAATKqxmj3-fO/s320/IMG_1864.JPG" /></a> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Troy pickin' and grinnin':<br /></p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAJlcLtxvR_wTAnt5u1Bd-xxhsetwSYo-_xvrpcj5AcDMKczFP0LVKzeSNIiQP0qVpyUeyv43pwW9d2J5mWvwcuP6NJ-oxG2ucDdgcC0ARsL20eo2UfWO6NG7yqryQRqhVKpk8eQgNHmnW/s1600-h/IMG_1859.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5398148075841386978" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAJlcLtxvR_wTAnt5u1Bd-xxhsetwSYo-_xvrpcj5AcDMKczFP0LVKzeSNIiQP0qVpyUeyv43pwW9d2J5mWvwcuP6NJ-oxG2ucDdgcC0ARsL20eo2UfWO6NG7yqryQRqhVKpk8eQgNHmnW/s320/IMG_1859.JPG" /></a> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Jacob got his birthday present a month early - his 'excited' expression was for his dear old mom!(Thanks, Jacob!):<br /></p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXSmxsk-rGwiW_nsqxqd3_51m7HGeHeM6NSVkgvt1wlz1pxFRtbpzYzsWbwHSKqmnaXAVxSuQOvJDYWlAw304h-mSn_9R2MHXCawyiQ46XoQ96VcA1FI3KmztK-lbLJurBs9WOL7WMgdcz/s1600-h/IMG_1857.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5398148072742347746" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXSmxsk-rGwiW_nsqxqd3_51m7HGeHeM6NSVkgvt1wlz1pxFRtbpzYzsWbwHSKqmnaXAVxSuQOvJDYWlAw304h-mSn_9R2MHXCawyiQ46XoQ96VcA1FI3KmztK-lbLJurBs9WOL7WMgdcz/s320/IMG_1857.JPG" /></a> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Marlee and David's watermelon crop - Dad could have eaten it in one bite!!<br /></p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgifjvN7jVqDgnfkwMcNwwHTdE5HxzZAn8lDhLCxIFKRFCKfQEPu9lThZ5WsUZcJ8-j4r0jJZvZnSGddmhLWptaL3Y3lp-Ntlk_Ka7EkgIr6F9ywJeoYfuad1G9WLKUJFvUV49p-R6yKHoW/s1600-h/IMG_1850.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5398148063259461250" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgifjvN7jVqDgnfkwMcNwwHTdE5HxzZAn8lDhLCxIFKRFCKfQEPu9lThZ5WsUZcJ8-j4r0jJZvZnSGddmhLWptaL3Y3lp-Ntlk_Ka7EkgIr6F9ywJeoYfuad1G9WLKUJFvUV49p-R6yKHoW/s320/IMG_1850.JPG" /></a> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>David being David...<br /></p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdD0kRyE2e7R6alcq0SwTeDtoeCsOWIaTrQnjj6yUcYfwd-wIaYrVcl1sZDu78bXNh1dGM7Q3K5KlqBY9sKf_CGs5JLiGkVbjEw-jd0mD2TLSFDtcUeqTx8Bkp5GeSmqvFsHd3AiCgE-Va/s1600-h/IMG_1848.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5398148057338149506" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdD0kRyE2e7R6alcq0SwTeDtoeCsOWIaTrQnjj6yUcYfwd-wIaYrVcl1sZDu78bXNh1dGM7Q3K5KlqBY9sKf_CGs5JLiGkVbjEw-jd0mD2TLSFDtcUeqTx8Bkp5GeSmqvFsHd3AiCgE-Va/s320/IMG_1848.JPG" /></a> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Laylie, Marlee and Elsie reading 'The Jungle Book' -<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhogF6f9rLjUbiyhvDvZ3Azri9xhgzx9LRNeI-8gdtgOL88HbQRv6FHDWgBTXRAAV5neSG0TllisVEIR77wP6U7npIR-KrTtJ9T99SD0XYjCNAsgj_t3yW1Yf8cOLgCN5L9Z0X2BNUGSlkl/s1600-h/IMG_1818.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5398148048097083650" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhogF6f9rLjUbiyhvDvZ3Azri9xhgzx9LRNeI-8gdtgOL88HbQRv6FHDWgBTXRAAV5neSG0TllisVEIR77wP6U7npIR-KrTtJ9T99SD0XYjCNAsgj_t3yW1Yf8cOLgCN5L9Z0X2BNUGSlkl/s320/IMG_1818.JPG" /></a> </p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3232800776022811345.post-15677102085488114352009-10-29T07:49:00.001-07:002009-10-29T16:00:50.553-07:00for catching upNot sure where I left off...but I'll just fill you in on what has been going on around our house. We have moved to a year-round school year this year as a test drive. So far, everything is going smoothly. Every 9th week we take a week off, and we just enjoyed our first week off last week. We focused on what we had been learning in History and Bible while doing crafts. The kids made a replica of Charlemagne's crown when crowned 'Holy Roman Emperor'. They also made a necklace of Thor's hammer - which also led to discussion of Charles the Hammer. They made mosaic tile coasters (which didn't turn out so well) and finally we made paper mache whales as we talked about Jonah and his trials.<br /><br />The kids and I went to Green Bluff a few weekends ago to enjoy their Harvest Festival. We went through a corn maze - the kids explored a castle - and we picked up some very cool wool hats for the little ones (who aren't so little anymore!). It was a fun day!<br /><br />We have been staying relatively healthy this season. A few coughs and stuffy noses - but nothing too serious - of which we are very thankful!!!<br /><br />Victoria continues with her studies through Whitefield - which she thoroughly enjoys - and I have been reading some of J. C. Ryle's works. If you have not read anything of his, I highly suggest you do. It is very, very good teaching...and though written in another generation - it pertains to ours just as well. Of course - isn't the Lord wonderful in that way? No matter the culture or the society - His word fits all.<br /><br />Troy took a day to go fishing - and has been using his smoker with great success. He and Jacob refabricated an old refrigerator into a smoker - and it works wonderfully! I'm not much of a fish eater - but I have had a few tastes - and it is very good.<br /><br />Pictures will follow soon - I have to track down the camera and get them on the computer!!!<br /><br />So, how are things in your corner of the world?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3232800776022811345.post-60429974951152947912009-10-22T10:29:00.000-07:002009-10-29T16:01:51.539-07:00for getting away from being 'Christian-ish'<a href="http://www.davidccook.com/catalog/Resources/products/106188lg.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 216px; height: 300px;" src="http://www.davidccook.com/catalog/Resources/products/106188lg.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />About the book:<br /><br />Somewhere between cold faith and hot pursuit lies lukewarm spirituality. And in the median between the wide path and the narrow road we find the middle-ground of the spiritual walk. It's something not quite Christian. More like.Christianish.<br /><br />It may feel like authentic faith. It may even look like the real deal. Yet it's often easy to settle for the souvenir t-shirt—the appearance of a transformed heart—instead of taking the actual trip through true life-change. We find ourselves settling for a personal faith that's been polluted by culture, and diluted by other people's take on spirituality.<br /><br />Christianish tells the story of one man's journey to move from the in-between to a life that's centered on Christ. To move forward, author Mark Steele goes back to the beginning, to examine Christ's life and words. Through stories and insights that are sometimes profound, often hilarious, and always honest, Mark delivers a compelling look at what our faith is all about. <br /><br />So rediscover what it means to live like Christ, and ditch the ish. <br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/gJ8yTzqe7Ig&rel=0&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&feature=player_embedded&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/gJ8yTzqe7Ig&rel=0&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&feature=player_embedded&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />About the author:<br /><br /><a href="www.halflifediealready.com">Mark Steele</a> is the president and executive creative of Steelehouse Productions where he creates art for business and ministry through the mediums of film, stage, and animation. Mark is the author of Flashbang: How I Got Over Myself. He lives in Oklahoma with his wife, Kaysie, and their greatest productions: Morgan, Jackson, and Charlie. <br /><br />Mark Steele hits hard in this book as we travel with him through his own journey out of being 'Christian-ish'. I didn't always agree with Mr. Steele's conclusions - but this is definitely a hard-hitting book that looks at what our culture/society has done to 'Christianity' in our today. Isobel Kuhn referred to it as 'The Misty Flats' - Mr. Steele calls it 'Christian-ish', but they both are referring to the same thing - a form of godliness, with missing God altogether. <br /><br />To find out more about this book and to order your copy, please go to <a href="http://www.davidccook.com/catalog/Detail.cfm?sn=106188&source=search">David C. Cook</a> today.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3232800776022811345.post-78398817909429274822009-10-22T09:56:00.000-07:002009-10-29T16:01:51.539-07:00for missions at home<a href="http://www.davidccook.com/catalog/Resources/products/106547lg.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 212px; height: 300px;" src="http://www.davidccook.com/catalog/Resources/products/106547lg.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />What has washing someone’s car got to do with the gospel?<br /><br />Committed to bringing the Christian message to young people to his hometown of Manchester, England, Andy Hawthorne was shocked when a missions partner told him he shouldn’t just preach the gospel but also engage in community projects.<br /><br />It worked. The Message Trust has been recognized internationally as bringing hope and change to the roughest, poorest neighborhoods of Manchester.<br /><br />And it got him thinking: What, exactly, should the priority of the church be? Should it be the lamp on a stand—bold, unashamed gospel proclamation to as many as possible? Or should it be more salt and yeast—serving and blessing the vulnerable and marginalized, with no questions asked?<br /><br />The answer, of course, is both. Christians who truly want to follow Jesus should explain the good news with words—but also make sure to demonstrate the gospel through what’s been described as random acts of kindness. Written in a passionate, nonreligious style, Hope Unleashed is filled with moving true stories and practical ideas and strategies for Christian mission based on word and deed.<br /><br />Andy Hawthorne is an evangelist, author, and founder of the Message Trust, an award-winning Christian mission organization dedicated to bringing the gospel message to the poorest neighborhoods of his hometown and beyond. He is the author of Diary of a Dangerous Vision and The Smile of God.<br /><br />Hope Unleashed: Serving God through Words and Actions by Andy Hawthorne<br /><br />David C Cook/August 2009<br /><br />ISBN-13: 978-1-4347-6448-5/softcover/171 pages/$12.99<br /><br />To find out more and to purchase your copy, go to <br /><a href="http://www.davidccook.com">David C. Cook</a>.<br /><br />I was excited to receive my free review copy of Hope Unleashed from David C. Cook. This is an interesting book - not so much a 'How to...', which I was expecting, but more of a wake up call to what mission could look like in your own neighborhood. It is a rather quick read, and tells the interesting story of what thinking outside the traditional box of mission can look like and how God blesses the work in the process. If you want a new perspective on mission work, you won't be disappointed. However, again, it is not so much a 'How to...' book that spells out how to get something like what they described in the book going in your neighborhood, but it is full of wonderful ideas that the creative mind can put to work for the glory of God.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3232800776022811345.post-35393187004847581642009-10-19T06:37:00.000-07:002009-10-29T16:01:09.510-07:00for thoughts and ponderingsFrom "The Valley of Vision" found at <a href="http://www.banneroftruth.org/pages/dailydevotion_detail.php?2508">Banner of Truth</a>:<br /><br /><blockquote>O God,<br /><br />Though I am allowed to approach thee<br /><br /> I am not unmindful of my sins,<br /><br /> I do not deny my guilt,<br /><br /> I confess my wickedness, and earnestly <br /><br />plead forgiveness.<br /><br /> <br /><br />May I with Moses choose affliction rather than <br /><br />enjoy the pleasures of sin.<br /><br />Help me to place myself always under thy guiding<br /><br />and guardian care,<br /><br />to take firmer hold of the sure covenant that <br /><br />binds me to thee,<br /><br />to feel more of the purifying, dignifying,<br /><br />softening influence of the religion I profess,<br /><br />to have more compassion, love, pity, courtesy,<br /><br />to deem it an honour to be employed by thee<br /><br />as an instrument in thy hands,<br /><br />ready to seize every opportunity of usefulness,<br /><br />and willing to offer all my talents to thy service.<br /><br /> <br /><br />Thou hast done for me all things well,<br /><br />hast remembered, distinguished, indulged me.<br /><br />All my desires have not been gratified,<br /><br />but thy love denied them to me<br /><br />when fulfilment of my wishes would have <br /><br />proved my ruin or injury.<br /><br />My trials have been fewer than my sins,<br /><br />and when I have kissed the rod it has fallen <br /><br />from thy hands.<br /><br />Thou hast often wiped away my tears,<br /><br />restored peace to my mourning heart,<br /><br />chastened me for my profit.<br /><br />All thy work for me is perfect, <br /><br />and I praise thee.<br /><br /><br /></blockquote>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3232800776022811345.post-38536836489654311772009-10-15T08:04:00.003-07:002009-10-29T16:01:51.539-07:00for FIRST Wild Card Tour - 'Already Gone' by Ken Ham<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyd9kX2u4gWwVkJKUDBTSNf1zZERdQOkD_5cxAjH_vI_cBBvwslg1lV72Qp0X4D_Az73RPdqo2VmY8gtPxjmEX89UG4viQb0BG2c4kgdWXq6dl_RKqNrVSHMYv38PvSZ2dtlrG23vk3RJx/s1600-h/wild+card.jpg"><a href="http://firstwildcardtours.blogspot.com/"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5190009307003588530" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyd9kX2u4gWwVkJKUDBTSNf1zZERdQOkD_5cxAjH_vI_cBBvwslg1lV72Qp0X4D_Az73RPdqo2VmY8gtPxjmEX89UG4viQb0BG2c4kgdWXq6dl_RKqNrVSHMYv38PvSZ2dtlrG23vk3RJx/s200/wild+card.jpg" border="0" /></a></a>It is time for a <span style="color:#990000;"><strong><a href="http://firstwildcardtours.blogspot.com/">FIRST Wild Card Tour</a></span></strong> book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured. The reason it is called a FIRST Wild Card Tour is that you never know if the book will be fiction, non~fiction, for young, or for old...or for somewhere in between! <span style="color:#990000;"><strong>Enjoy your free peek into the book!</strong></span><br /><br /><font color="#cc0000"><em>You never know when I might play a wild card on you!</em></font><br /><br /><br /><div align="center"><strong>Today's Wild Card authors are: </strong><br /></div><br /><div align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:180%;color:#cc0000;"><a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/">Ken Ham,</a></span> and <span style="font-size:180%;color:#cc0000;"><a href="http://americasresearchgroup.com/britt.html">Britt Beemer,</a></span> with Todd Hillard</strong><br /></div><br /><p align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:180%;color:#cc0000;"><span style="font-size:100%;color:#cc0000;">and the book:</span> </span></strong><br /></p><br /><p align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:180%;color:#cc0000;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0890515298">Already Gone: Why your kids will quit church and what you can do to stop it</a></span></strong><br /></p><p align="center">New Leaf Publishing Group/Master Books (May 28, 2009)<br /></p>***Special thanks to Robert Parrish of New Leaf Publishing Group for sending me a review copy.***<br /><br /><div align="left"><strong><span style="font-size:130%;color:#333399;"><span style="color:#cc0000;">ABOUT THE AUTHORs:</span> </span></strong></div><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjtDe1VrizaqK-621aOp_uS63io6WC-Qmb_d67l_vwRQCHFpcqR8RpnGzi4LUM_LETbYjFVG0AoeqJlhlRMh4cSd654Zfcyb2CiSRsqVUe1IBr3jyxBMF99m_438qSMdIqEgVLWy9mx_Q/s1600-h/KHam1.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 148px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjtDe1VrizaqK-621aOp_uS63io6WC-Qmb_d67l_vwRQCHFpcqR8RpnGzi4LUM_LETbYjFVG0AoeqJlhlRMh4cSd654Zfcyb2CiSRsqVUe1IBr3jyxBMF99m_438qSMdIqEgVLWy9mx_Q/s200/KHam1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5391891218773574482" /></a><br /><br />Ken Ham, founder and president, Answers in Genesis. He is one of the most in-demand speakers in the world today, representing Answers in Genesis (AiG) at many events throughout the year. <br /><br />Visit the author's <a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/">website</a> and <a href="http://alreadygonebook.wordpress.com/">book blog</a>.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsiF5iU087fnerA8B6BR1pqDpopA8ClSAvHuGx239cAzEPn3XkuMYNDL3D6akvFGXx_ZDZqyPME3jZs1Vn8YzEB1okjIQR3UwCnx7fz8g3v9OxqLd5yp3GPyxwBWXD5VMNZMtasEdQjVM/s1600-h/BBeemer1.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:10 0px 0px 10;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsiF5iU087fnerA8B6BR1pqDpopA8ClSAvHuGx239cAzEPn3XkuMYNDL3D6akvFGXx_ZDZqyPME3jZs1Vn8YzEB1okjIQR3UwCnx7fz8g3v9OxqLd5yp3GPyxwBWXD5VMNZMtasEdQjVM/s200/BBeemer1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5391891084026096402" /></a><br /><br />C. Britt Beemer is chairman and founder of America's Research Group (ARG), a consumer behavior research and strategic marketing firm. He is a speaker at major trade and industry events. <br /><br />Visit the author's <a href="http://americasresearchgroup.com/britt.html">website</a>.<br /><br />Product Details:<br /><br />List Price: $12.99<br />Paperback: 176 pages <br />Publisher: New Leaf Publishing Group/Master Books (May 28, 2009) <br />Language: English <br />ISBN-10: 0890515298 <br />ISBN-13: 978-0890515297 <br /><br /><span style="color:#cc0000;"><strong><span style="font-size:180%;">AND NOW...THE FIRST CHAPTER:</span> </strong><br /></span><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9kXoN3Ebppb9wKmxZjpG9ueXogw_MqA0T2SB7WXOxSxH4jWXYGzNNIF90_hUqqWN1Pl4X6_Hf9m-kVNfUZlMUuD6_a97V8yYsVGO2QUmTuwxNNcOTsO_-l9Esiv7Ng-W-WGyjoK4JrLU/s1600-h/already_gone1.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 130px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9kXoN3Ebppb9wKmxZjpG9ueXogw_MqA0T2SB7WXOxSxH4jWXYGzNNIF90_hUqqWN1Pl4X6_Hf9m-kVNfUZlMUuD6_a97V8yYsVGO2QUmTuwxNNcOTsO_-l9Esiv7Ng-W-WGyjoK4JrLU/s200/already_gone1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5391891334875014610" /></a><div style="OVERFLOW: auto; HEIGHT: 307px">Part 1:<br /><br />An Epidemic on Our Hands <br /><br /><br />Epidemic (Ep-i-dem-ic)1<br /><br />1. A disease or anything resembling a disease; attacking or affecting many individuals in a community or a population simultaneously.<br /><br />2. Anything which takes possession of the minds of people as an epidemic does of their bodies; as, an epidemic of terror. <br /><br /><br /> A majority of twenty-somethings — 61% of today’s young adults — had been churched at one point during their teen years but they are now spiritually disengaged (i.e., not actively attending church, reading the Bible, or praying).<br /><br />George Barna <br />Chapter 1<br /> <br /><br /> Guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding worldly and empty chatter and the opposing arguments of what is falsely called “knowledge” — which some have professed and thus gone astray from the faith. Grace be with you (1 Tim. 6:20–21). <br /><br /><br /> I dare you. I dare you to try it this Sunday. Look to the right, and look to the left. While the pastor delivers his message, while the worship team sings their songs, while the youth pastor gives his announcements, look to the right and look to the left. Look at the children and look at the teens around you. Many of them will be familiar faces. They are the faces of your friends’ sons and daughters. They are the friends that your children bring home after youth group. They are your children . . . the ones who have been faithfully following you to church for years.<br /><br /> Now, imagine that two-thirds of them have just disappeared.<br /><br /> That’s right, two-thirds of them — the ones who go to secular school, even those homeschooled or sent to Christian school, the boys and the girls, the kids who are leaders of the school’s Bible club, the kids who sit in the back row with their baseball caps pulled low over their eyes — imagine that two-thirds of them have just disappeared<br /><br />from your church.<br /><br /> Yes, look to the left and look to the right this Sunday. Put down your church bulletin; look at those kids and imagine that two-thirds of them aren’t even there. Why?<br /><br /> Because they are already gone.<br /><br /> It’s time to wake up and see the tidal wave washing away the foundation of your church. The numbers are in — and they don’t look good. From across Christendom the reports are the same: A mass exodus is underway. Most youth of today will not be coming to church tomorrow Nationwide polls and denominational reports are showing that the next generation is calling it quits on the traditional church. And it’s not just<br /><br />happening on the nominal fringe; it’s happening at the core of the faith.<br /><br /> Is that just a grim prediction? Is that just the latest arm-twisting from reactionary conservatives who are trying to instill fear into the parents and the teachers of the next generation? No, it’s not just a prediction. It’s a reality — as we will document clearly from commissioned professional and statistically valid research later in this book. In fact, it’s already happening . . . just like it did in England; it’s happening here in North America. Now. Like the black plagues that nearly wiped out the general population of Europe, a spiritual black plague has almost killed the next generation of European believers. A few churches are surviving. Even fewer are thriving. The vast majority are slowly dying. It’s a spiritual epidemic, really. A wave of spiritual decay and death has almost entirely stripped a continent of its godly heritage, and now the same disease is infecting North America.<br /><br /> Many of us saw it coming but didn’t want to admit it. After all, our churches looked healthy on the surface. We saw bubbling Sunday schools and dynamic youth ministries. As parents and grandparents we appreciatively graced the doors of the church, faithfully dragging our kids with us, as our ages pushed into the 40s and 50s and beyond. But a vacuum was forming: there were the college students who no longer showed up for the Sunday worship service, the newly married couple that never came back after the honeymoon. . . . Sure, there were exceptions and we were grateful for their dedication. For the most part, however, we saw that the 20- and 30-somethings from our congregations were increasingly AWOL. To be honest, none of us really wanted to admit it, did we? And so we began to justify to ourselves that maybe it wasn’t happening at all.<br /><br /> Recent and irrefutable statistics are forcing us to face the truth. Respected<br /><br />pollster George Barna was one of the first to put numbers to the epidemic. Based on interviews with 22,000 adults and over 2,000 teenagers in 25 separate surveys, Barna unquestionably quantified the seriousness of the situation: six out of ten 20-somethings who were involved in a church during their teen years are already gone.1 Despite strong<br /><br />levels of spiritual activity during the teen years, most 20-somethings disengage from active participation in the Christian faith during their young adult years — and often beyond that. Consider these findings: <br /><br /><br />Nearly 50% of teens in the United States regularly attend church-related services or activities. <br />More than three-quarters talk about their faith with their friends. <br />Three out of five teens attend at least one youth group meeting at a church during a typical three-month period. <br />One-third of teenagers participate in Christian clubs at school <br /> <br /><br /> That’s all well and good, but do these numbers stand the test of time? Is the involvement of churched children and teens continuing into young adulthood? Unfortunately not. Not even close. The Barna research is showing that religious activity in the teen years does not translate into spiritual commitment as individuals move into their 20s and 30s (and our own research, you are about to discover, will illuminate you with reasons as to why this occurs).<br /><br /> Most of them are pulling away from church, are spending less time alone studying their Bibles, are giving very little financially to Christian causes, are ceasing to volunteer for church activities, and are turning their backs on Christian media such as magazines, radio, and television. What does this look like numerically for today’s<br /><br />20-somethings? <br /><br /><br />61% of today’s young adults who were regular church attendees are now “spiritually disengaged.” They are not actively attending church, praying, or reading their Bibles. <br />• 20% of those who were spiritually active during high school are maintaining a similar level of commitment. <br />19% of teens were never reached by the Christian community, and they are still disconnected from the Church or any other Christian activities. <br /> <br /><br /> Shortly after Barna blew the whistle on the problem, individual denominations and churches began to take an honest look at what was happening as their children and teens began disappearing into the young adult years. Their findings confirmed the trends that Barna had found. Dozens of groups have looked at the issue from slightly different<br /><br />angles. Each study yields slightly different results, but their conclusions are unanimously startling. For example, when the Southern Baptist Convention researched the problem, they discovered that more than two-thirds of young adults who attended a Protestant church for at least a year in high school stopped attending for at least a year between<br /><br />the ages of 18 and 22.<br /><br /> There are exceptions, of course. Here and there we find a smattering of churches with vibrant participation from the 20-something age group. In some cities, we are seeing congregations develop that are made up almost exclusively of people from this age group. But unfortunately, these are the exceptions and not the rule. The trends that we are seeing can no longer be ignored. The epidemic is a reality. The abandoned church buildings of Europe are really just buildings, yet they are graphic symbols — warnings to those of us who are seeing the same trends in our local congregations: we are one generation away from the evaporation of church as we know it. Slowly but certainly the<br /><br />church of the future is headed toward the morgue and will continue to do so — unless we come to better understand what is happening and implement a clear, biblical plan to circumvent it.<br /><br /> The trends are known; more and more are finding out about them — but the vital question concerns what is the root problem of why this is happening. We need to know why if we are going to formulate possible solutions. <br /><br /><br />Twenty somethings struggle to stay active in Christian faith.<br /><br />20% churched as teen, spiritually active at age 29 <br />61% churched as teen, disengaged during twenties <br />19% never churched as teen, still unconnected <br /> <br /><br />Who, Why, and What?<br /><br /> I began traveling and speaking in the United States in the 1980s. As an Australian, it didn’t take long before I felt I had a good feeling for the pulse of American Christianity . . . and I saw some tremendous needs. At the time, America could rightly be labeled the greatest Christian nation on earth, the center of the economic world — and<br /><br />although the Church was equipped with nearly every conceivable tool and luxury for developing and expressing its faith — I could see that the Church was in great need.<br /><br /> Since moving to the United States in 1987, I have spoken in hundreds of different churches from many denominations, numerous Bible colleges, seminaries, and Christian conferences on American soil. I have talked with the pastors; I’ve listened to those in the congregations; I have experienced “worship” in almost every conceivable style and form. The ministry of Answers in Genesis is deeply committed to the American church. In fact, the faltering health of the Church in the greatest Christian nation on earth is what motivated my wife and me to move our family to this country in the first place. My wife and I testify that God called us as missionaries to America — particularly the American Church — to call it back to the authority of the Word of God beginning in Genesis.<br /><br /> The Bible calls the Church “the Body of Christ.” Today, over 20 years after our move, the statistics prove that His body is bleeding profusely. The next generation of believers is draining from the churches, and it causes me great personal and professional concern. I’ve sat in the grand, but vacant, churches of Europe. I know where this is headed. Where Europe is today spiritually, America will be tomorrow —<br /><br />and for the same reasons, if the Church does not recognize where the foundational problem lies and address it.<br /><br /> When I began to seriously ponder Barna’s numbers, naturally I wanted to find out more. For help, I called on a trusted and respected supporter of Answers in Genesis. As the chairman of America’s Research Group, and as a leading marketing research and business analyst expert, Britt Beemer specializes in studying human behavior. Over the decades he has conducted dozens and dozens of surveys for leading corporations as well as small businesses. He analyzes the marketplace and the clientele, and makes recommendations that keep the companies excelling in a competitive world. When we were considering building the Creation Museum, we asked Britt if we could reasonably<br /><br />dream of 250,000 people visiting each year. Britt did his research and predicted that 400,000 people would visit the museum in the first year! He was wrong by two days. (The 400,000th visitor entered the museum 363 days after we opened.) Needless to say, when we had questions about the epidemic of people leaving church, we turned to him for answers.<br /><br /> Our goal was simple: We wanted to know who was leaving, why they were leaving, and what (if anything) could be done about it. To that end, Britt and his America’s Research Group initiated a qualified study with probing questions to get powerful insight into the epidemic the Church is facing. To get to the core of the issues, his team studied only those whom we are most concerned about: every person in our<br /><br />sample said they attended church every week or nearly every week when they were growing up, but never or seldom go today.<br /><br /> We selected those between 20 and 30 who once attended conservative and “evangelical” churches. We wanted to look at the churches that claim to be Bible-believing congregations with Bible-preaching pastors. According to Barna, about 6 percent of people in their 20s and 30s can be considered “evangelical.” This is about the same as the number of teenagers (5 percent).4 The results from Britt’s research would<br /><br />undoubtedly have been more drastic if we had considered more liberal congregations. We deliberately skewed the research toward conservatives so that we could all understand that whatever problems showed up would be much worse for the church population in general.<br /><br /> After 20,000 phone calls, with all the raw data in hand, Britt began to analyze the numbers. The things he discovered— as well as the things he didn’t discover — began to shed light (in a quite astonishing way) on this monumental problem facing the future of Christianity. <br /><br /><br />The sample included:<br /><br />1,000 individuals from coast to coast <br />Balanced according to population and gender <br />With just over half being aged 25-29 <br />With under half being aged 20-24 <br /> <br /><br /> First of all, he didn’t discover anything abnormal about the group as a whole. There weren’t an unusual number of homeschoolers, or secular school kids, who were leaving. There wasn’t a significant number of females compared to males that had decided to leave. In other words, the 60 percent plus of the evangelical kids who choose to leave the church look pretty much like the 40 percent who decide to stay — at least on the outside. The breakdown of those who left really fits the profile of the evangelical population in general.<br /><br /> So at first, the who question didn’t seem to give us many answers. So then, why? Why did they leave the church? When we asked them this open-ended question, we got an earful.<br /><br /> At first, we were surprised (and a little disappointed) that there wasn’t a single reason. It would have been nice to find a single identifiable virus somewhere. How simple it would have been to stereotype the whole group and point out one germ that had been causing the sickness to spread. But the numbers didn’t say that. A single identifiable culprit didn’t appear.<br /><br /> Other researchers have come to similar conclusions. When LifeWay did their research for the Southern Baptist Convention, 97 percent of the “dropouts” listed one or more specific life-change issues as a reason they left church. The most frequent reason they gave for leaving church was almost an indifferent shrug of the shoulders. <br /><br /><br />The top 10 reasons were:<br /><br />1. 12% Boring service<br /><br />2. 12% Legalism<br /><br />3. 11% Hypocrisy of leaders<br /><br />4. 10% Too political<br /><br />5. 9% Self-righteous people<br /><br />6. 7% Distance from home<br /><br />7. 6% Not relevant to personal growth<br /><br />8. 6% God would not condemn to hell<br /><br />9. 5% Bible not relevant/not practical<br /><br />10. 5% Couldn’t find my preferred denomination in the area <br /><br /><br /> “I simply wanted a break from church” (27 percent). The transition into college and adulthood also affected many: “I moved to college and stopped attending church” (25 percent), and “work responsibilities prevented me from attending” (23 percent). Others simply “moved too far away from the church to continue attending” (22 percent). In all honesty, these kinds of results just seemed too shallow for us at Answers in Genesis. And they seemed too superficial to Britt as well. We have a massive epidemic on our hands, and researchers seemed to be content with answers that sounded like “I just didn’t feel very good,” or “I wasn’t there because I chose to be someplace else.” Too many researchers accept simple, superficial answers. They acknowledge that there is a massive shift taking place in the spiritual lives of young adults, but when it comes to really figuring out what’s going on, they kind of throw up their hands and sigh, “I guess that’s just the way it is!”<br /><br /> End of story? Not hardly. This is precisely why we teamed up with an expert like Britt Beemer who probes, and probes, and probes until he finds the right reasons. We found the real reasons, though some of them will shake many churches to their very core.<br /><br /> Never content with the easy answers that people give to justify their behavior, Britt is an expert in consumer behavior who taps into their minds as he finds out what people really believe in order to reveal what is driving their behavior. Until Answers in Genesis commissioned this study, never before had this type of research been conducted — and our research was formulated to not just deeply probe what people believe but answer the questions in regard to WHY people believe what they do. We can now identify the real answers as well as the causes affecting young people who leave the church.<br /><br /> As Britt studied his data, it was obvious that multiple issues are behind the exodus from church. The why? question would prove to be more complicated than many expected. But soon, as the numbers became more clear, patterns emerged, assumptions were destroyed, and quirky findings surfaced. One of the most important and startling findings turned out not to answer the why? question, but rather the when? question. <br /><br /><br />Of all the 20 to 29-year-old evangelicals who attended church regularly but no longer do so:<br /><br />95% of them attended church regularly during their elementary and middle school years <br />55% attended church regularly during high school <br />11% were still going to church during college <br /> <br /><br /> I think this is one of the most revealing and yet challenging statistics in the entire survey — and something we didn’t expect. Most people assume that students are lost in college. We’ve always been trying to prepare our kids for college (and I still think that’s a critical thing to do, of course), but it turns out that only 11 percent of those who have left<br /><br />the Church did so during the college years. Almost 90 percent of them were lost in middle school and high school. By the time they got to college they were already gone! About 40 percent are leaving the Church during elementary and middle school years! Most people assumed that elementary and middle school is a fairly neutral environment where children toe the line and follow in the footsteps of their parents’ spirituality. Not so. I believe that over half of these kids were lost before we got them into high school! Whatever diseases are fueling the epidemic of losing our young people, they are infecting our students much, much earlier than most assumed. Let me say this again:<br /><br /> We are losing many more people by middle school and many more by high school than we will ever lose in college.<br /> Many parents will fork out big bucks to send these students to Christian colleges, hoping to protect them in their faith. But the fact is, they’re already gone. They were lost while still in the fold. They were disengaging while they were still sitting in the pews. They were preparing their exit while they were faithfully attending youth groups and<br /><br />Sunday schools.<br /><br /> What a reminder to parents (and Christian leaders) to do exactly what God’s Word instructs us to do — to “train up a child in the way he should go . . .” (Prov. 22:6). And further, “These words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house,<br /><br />when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up” (Deut. 6:6–7; NKJV). What a reminder to teach children from when they are born — and a reminder to be diligent in providing the right sort of training/curricula, etc., for children.<br /><br /> Sadly, I think many see children’s programs as entertainment, teaching Bible stories, and so on, but when they get older we need to think about preparing them somehow for college — but as our research showed, by then they are already gone! For most, it was basically too late!<br /><br /> This topic regarding when we begin to lose our kids is where the study began to get very interesting and very illuminating. For example: <br /><br /><br />Those who no longer believe that all of the accounts and stories in the Bible are<br /><br />true:<br /><br />39.8% first had doubts in middle school <br />43.7% first had their doubts in high school <br />10.6% had their first doubts during college <br /> <br /><br /> Clearly, there is a slightly delayed reaction going on. The doubts come first, followed shortly by departure. Students didn’t begin doubting in college, they simply departed by college. Again, if you look around in your church today, two-thirds of those who are sitting among us have already left in their hearts, it will only take a couple years before their bodies are absent as well.<br /><br /> The Beemer study has a tremendous amount to offer the churches, the pastors, the parents, and the researchers who are sincerely looking into this problem. Britt’s study didn’t look just at behavior; he looked at belief. By making correlations between those beliefs and the behavior and intentions of those who have left the Church, the veil was lifted, powerful new insights were revealed, and very surprising results were<br /><br />illuminated. In the pages ahead we will give you the highlights of some of these numbers. But brace yourself, because in many instances the results are shocking, and they point a finger at many well-intentioned, firmly established programs and traditions of churches that are utterly failing the children who faithfully attend every Sunday morning.<br /><br /> You will need to swallow hard and be prepared to consider things very carefully; Be ready to give up long-held, cherished notions in regard to certain church programs of which perhaps you would never have considered the slightest possibility that there was such a serious problem as this research clearly showed.<br /><br /> First, we will investigate key aspects of the epidemic, including:<br /><br />the effects of Sunday school <br />the two different kinds of kids who are leaving the Church and why it’s so important to know the difference <br />why the Church has lost its value and is now considered irrelevant <br /> Second, we will investigate the solutions that are within our grasp:<br /><br />how to defend the Christian faith and uphold the authority of the Bible from the very first verse <br />what it means (and doesn’t mean) to live by the Bible <br />the revolution that is reclaiming “church” in this culture <br /> Along the way the investigation will be spiced up with a variety of fascinating findings regarding the following:<br /><br />music <br />friends <br />unbiblical church traditions <br />teaching <br />beliefs about Genesis <br /> If you are a parent, a pastor, or a Christian educator, then this research is for you. Or maybe you are one of the millions of students who are thinking about leaving the Church or have already done so. If so, I challenge you to let the numbers speak for themselves and then be ready to allow God to use you in new ways to make a difference for the sake of the next generation and the Church. Even though the results were obtained in America, because it has had the greatest Christian influence in the world and has been an enormous influence on the world (Christian literature, missionaries, etc.), it is likely that such research would show similar (at best) or much worse results in other<br /><br />countries.<br /><br /> Yes, I challenge you. This Sunday, look to the left and then look to the right. According to our research, two-thirds of the children and teens you see will be gone in a matter of years. What can be done about it? Plenty, as you will soon see! <br /><br /><br />Britt’s Bit: The AIG-ARG Connection<br /><br />On behalf of Ken Ham, I want to thank you for picking up this book. I make my living generating numbers and statistics, and they are an important part of my personal ministry. When numbers and statistics are interpreted correctly they mean something. They aren’t just arbitrary measurements for things that don’t matter. Numbers do<br /><br />matter. They represent things that are real, that are measurable, that can be observed, and (in many cases) that can be changed with the right remedies. That’s what America’s Research Group is all about. At ARG we draw conclusions that are meaningful to our clients. We are behavioral scientists who study human behavior. ARG provides each<br /><br />client a foundation built on practical, useful information that ensures their ongoing success.<br /><br /> That’s why I am such a firm believer in Answers in Genesis. Not only is their ministry important, but AIG is a reminder of what God can do through one person who steps out in faith and allows God to use them to defend and proclaim the truth. Ken moved his family to the United States more than 20 years ago, having started a ministry out of the trunk of his car and a few cardboard boxes in his house. I don’t think anyone would have believed (particularly Ken) what God had in store for a ministry of such humble beginnings.<br /><br /> Today, the Answers in Genesis website gets millions of visitors per year. Tens of thousands of resources (books, DVDs, curricula, magazines, etc.) move through AIG’s warehouse year after year. A small army of trained speakers are reaching tens of thousands of people face-to-face on every continent on the globe except Antarctica. (As far as I know, no one has volunteered to go there quite yet!)<br /><br /> I love keeping track of the AIG ministry and what people say about it. I’ve been tracking public opinion religiously (pun intended), and I have a deep desire to protect and to equip this ministry. When the Creation Museum opened, it created a national media tsunami, and at least one-third of the comments voiced about the ministry were clearly negative. The naysayers had their day, but they didn’t last. Today, only 1/20th of the comments about the museum are negative. I think that is an amazing accomplishment. As I projected, 400,000 people came through those doors in the first year.<br /><br /> I make my living studying human behavior and attitudes statistically, which gives me a unique viewpoint of how and why people act the way they do. I sincerely invite you to come along with my friend and ministry cohort Ken Ham as he takes you on a personal tour through my numbers. I’ll be throwing in my “bit” on a regular basis, giving you my take on the statistics and their importance. As you begin to understand the trends of the past, and see where the Church is at present, you will discover highly practical action points that will make a difference in the future. I believe that if you get a handle on a few of the numbers that describe what is happening in the Church today, you will see the potential for change that resides within you as a pastor, a parent, or a Christian educator. And that’s important. The next generation is counting on us.<br /></div><br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3232800776022811345.post-73468516301578789272009-10-13T08:00:00.000-07:002009-10-13T08:00:02.230-07:00for FIRST WildCard Tour - The Blue Umbrella by Mike Mason<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyd9kX2u4gWwVkJKUDBTSNf1zZERdQOkD_5cxAjH_vI_cBBvwslg1lV72Qp0X4D_Az73RPdqo2VmY8gtPxjmEX89UG4viQb0BG2c4kgdWXq6dl_RKqNrVSHMYv38PvSZ2dtlrG23vk3RJx/s1600-h/wild+card.jpg"><a href="http://firstwildcardtours.blogspot.com/"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5190009307003588530" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyd9kX2u4gWwVkJKUDBTSNf1zZERdQOkD_5cxAjH_vI_cBBvwslg1lV72Qp0X4D_Az73RPdqo2VmY8gtPxjmEX89UG4viQb0BG2c4kgdWXq6dl_RKqNrVSHMYv38PvSZ2dtlrG23vk3RJx/s200/wild+card.jpg" border="0" /></a></a>It is time for a <span style="color:#990000;"><strong><a href="http://firstwildcardtours.blogspot.com/">FIRST Wild Card Tour</a></span></strong> book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured. The reason it is called a FIRST Wild Card Tour is that you never know if the book will be fiction, non~fiction, for young, or for old...or for somewhere in between! <span style="color:#990000;"><strong>Enjoy your free peek into the book!</strong></span><br /><br /><font color="#cc0000"><em>You never know when I might play a wild card on you!</em></font><br /><br /><br /><div align="center"><strong>Today's Wild Card author is: </strong><br /></div><br /><div align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:180%;color:#cc0000;"><a href="http://mikemasonbooks.com/">Mike Mason</a></span></strong><br /></div><br /><p align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:180%;color:#cc0000;"><span style="font-size:100%;color:#cc0000;">and the book:</span> </span></strong><br /></p><br /><p align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:180%;color:#cc0000;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1434765261">The Blue Umbrella</a></span></strong><br /></p><p align="center">David C. Cook; New edition (October 1, 2009) <br /></p>***Special thanks to Audra Jennings of The B&B Media Group for sending me a review copy.***<br /><br /><div align="left"><strong><span style="font-size:130%;color:#333399;"><span style="color:#cc0000;">ABOUT THE AUTHOR:</span> </span></strong></div><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOjgJuEzis2EMuZnrDgnyS9ubnYDQQRKCyyKkO7SdtFt2EJkXhF9adqWaQzTLm9iDu59DUwqUOqpvntwQyY4zs8QKzD269TrsAvOvEkng3mctQmkDVIw54m54XOfgKLNUmPfqH2O1zZ7I/s1600-h/444_Mason_author_photo.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOjgJuEzis2EMuZnrDgnyS9ubnYDQQRKCyyKkO7SdtFt2EJkXhF9adqWaQzTLm9iDu59DUwqUOqpvntwQyY4zs8QKzD269TrsAvOvEkng3mctQmkDVIw54m54XOfgKLNUmPfqH2O1zZ7I/s200/444_Mason_author_photo.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5391412167075812930" /></a>Mike Mason is the best-selling, award-winning author of <em>The Mystery of Marriage</em>, <em>The Gospel According to Job</em>, <em>Practicing the Presence of People</em>, and many others. He has an M.A. in English and has studied theology at Regent College. He lives in Langley, BC, Canada, with his wife, Karen, a family physician. They have one daughter, Heather, who is pursuing a career in dance and the arts. <em>The Blue Umbrella </em>is Mike’s first novel.<br /><br />Visit the author's <a href="http://mikemasonbooks.com/">website</a>.<br /><br /><br /><object width="400" height="230"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=6271420&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1" /><embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=6271420&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="400" height="230"></embed></object><p><a href="http://vimeo.com/6271420">The Blue Umbrella, by Mike Mason</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user1251909">David C. Cook</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p><br /><br />Product Details:<br /><br />List Price: $14.99<br />Paperback: 448 pages <br />Publisher: David C. Cook; New edition (October 1, 2009) <br />Language: English <br />ISBN-10: 1434765261 <br />ISBN-13: 978-1434765260 <br /><br /><span style="color:#cc0000;"><strong><span style="font-size:180%;">AND NOW...THE FIRST CHAPTER:</span> </strong><br /></span><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_0yCxCP1DRDadEMpU-bmzYlllmKAxXFoiThdPUMssQPX0I4jR5X0L3Rkj2yqEse-vB_bJzfLvNtkNBjNWWrp7dDoBWy4fiDugvltF8lPioNOkp7hy8K4qpJ7goU-fqkyWD4yc2jTpSZI/s1600-h/The_Blue_Umbrella_Flat_Cover_for_email.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 142px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_0yCxCP1DRDadEMpU-bmzYlllmKAxXFoiThdPUMssQPX0I4jR5X0L3Rkj2yqEse-vB_bJzfLvNtkNBjNWWrp7dDoBWy4fiDugvltF8lPioNOkp7hy8K4qpJ7goU-fqkyWD4yc2jTpSZI/s200/The_Blue_Umbrella_Flat_Cover_for_email.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5391412231763653410" /></a><div style="OVERFLOW: auto; HEIGHT: 307px">FIVE CORNERS <br /><br /><br />Not many people are killed by lightning. <br /><br /><br />Zac’s mother was. <br /><br /><br />Zachary Sparks, though small for ten years old, had a look perpetual astonishment that made him seem larger than life. His eyes were nearly the biggest part of him, round and wide, and his eyebrows had a natural arch as if held up with invisible strings. His voice was high and excitable and his whole body<br /><br />seemed full of little springs. Even his hair, fiery red and frizzy, looked as if he was the one hit by lightning. Everything about Zac Sparks was up, up, up. <br /><br /><br />Until his mother died and everything changed. <br /><br /><br />Zac lived with his mother beside a golf course. Every day after school he picked up balls from his backyard to sell for fifty cents apiece. He was happy and carefree and his mother was good to him. He had no father. At least, he’d never known his father. <br /><br /><br />At night, when there were no golfers, Zac’s mother liked to go walking across the wide, rolling lawns of the course. To her it was like a big park. She never met anyone else out there. This was a small town and it was quite safe (except for lightning). She liked being in nature and she loved all kinds of weather, especially weather that had what she called character, the kind you could feel on your skin: wind, cold, hail, pelting rain, thunder, and lightning. <br /><br /><br />Whenever a good electrical storm happened in the middle of the night, Zac’s mother would wake him up and they’d sit on the veranda listening to the long, almost articulate rumbles and watching the lightning illuminate the great treed corridors of grass. The two wouldn’t say much. They didn’t have to. The sky did the talking for them. Some of Zac’s happiest memories were of sitting up with his mother at night to revel silently in storms. <br /><br /><br />The irony was that Zac’s mother was killed by something she loved. It happened one night when she went walking in the pouring rain, carrying, as usual, her umbrella. Of course, she knew better than to go walking on a golf course with an umbrella in a thunderstorm. But this was not a thunderstorm. On this night there just happened to be one stray bolt of lightning. <br /><br /><br />One was all it took. Her crumpled body was found the next morning in the center of a fairway. The canopy of her umbrella had been completely consumed, leaving nothing but the skeletal metal frame. <br /><br /><br />It was the first day of December, just weeks before Christmas, and Zac Sparks was an orphan. <br /><br /><br />That day and the next were a blur. Even the funeral, on the third day, Zac scarcely remembered—except for the moment when the coffin was being carried outside through the church doors. The weather was unseasonably mild; instead of snow a light drizzle fell. As the coffin moved down the steps and was<br /><br />loaded into the hearse, the rain turned to sleet, then to hail. Small white pellets of ice filled the air and bounced all around like popcorn—one bounce, then still—as though the ground were alive. The clatter, especially loud on open umbrellas and on the wood of the coffin, was like applause. <br /><br /><br />Then Zac saw something he’d never seen before: a hailbow. Though he didn’t know to call it that, he knew it was special. It was one of those days when about five kinds of weather were in the sky at once. There were towering clouds, black ones very black and white ones very white and fierce-looking. Between the two the sun came out and brilliantly illuminated the hail. It was like being inside a living diamond. Then the ice wall began to move away and against its glitter he saw the hailbow. It was like a rainbow but pale, almost white, with just the loveliest hint of ghostly hue. The whole scene was so dramatic—huge clouds, falling ice, sunshine, the bow—and in a few minutes it was all over. But it stayed in Zac’s memory, just as if his mind’s eye had snapped a photograph. <br /><br /><br />After that, everything was swallowed up by the Aunties. Zac didn’t know them; they lived far away in a place called Five Corners. When he first met them at the funeral reception in his home, he began to understand why his mother had never mentioned them. They were horrible. <br /><br /><br />They were very, very old. Auntie Esmeralda, especially, was so ancient she looked ready to crumble away like a frail piece of lace. Her skin, where not obscured by a thick paste of makeup, was an unnatural, papery white, and she was draped in a long white fur coat. Very tall, she carried a cane, held herself rigid as a ruler, and wore her gray hair long and straight like a girl’s. <br /><br /><br />As Zac stood bewildered in the midst of the reception crowd, that gray curtain brushed his face and a thin, metallic voice rasped in his ear, “You poor, dear boy. How tragic to lose your mother. And in such a horrid way.” Auntie Esmeralda sounded as if she had a file stuck in her throat, scraping the human warmth off every word. “But don’t you worry. You’re coming home with us, isn’t he, Pris?” <br /><br /><br />Home with them? Zac’s home was here. With his mother gone, Mrs. Pottinger from next door had been staying with him, just as she had every evening when his mother went walking. <br /><br /><br />“Dear boy, you have nothing to fear. Your Aunties will take good care of you.” This came from Auntie Pris in a voice two octaves lower than Esmeralda’s. Much shorter than her sister, Pris seemed almost as wide as the other was tall. More than fat, she was big: squarish, broad-shouldered, solid as a stump. In contrast to Esmeralda’s fur, Pris was dressed in a short pink skirt with matching polka-dotted blouse. Perched on top of her blockish head was a pink pillbox hat. Zac was torn between amusement and horror. <br /><br /><br />Of course, the Aunties were terribly nice to him, hugging him to pieces, patting his extraordinary hair, crooning condolences, and plying him with cookies. Zac hated it all. These strange women were more suffocating than the stiff collar and suit he had to wear. <br /><br /><br />Sure enough, their tune soon changed. When the reception was over and everyone but the Aunties had left (including even Mrs. Pottinger), they began barking orders: Do this, do that, shut up, stop moping or we’ll give you something to mope about. Finally Zac was sent to his room, where he listened restlessly to a fitful wind that developed into driving rain, horrific lightning, and great claps of thunder exploding like bombs. Amidst this clamor, for some reason the most terrible sound was the occasional tap-tap-tapping of Esmeralda’s cane. <br /><br /><br />Early the next morning he was roughly awakened as the Aunties, each yanking one of his arms, dragged him from the house and shoved him into the backseat of their big black Cadillac. Throughout that long, stormy day they drove, stopping just once for gas and food. Where did these old women get such energy? It was bizarre—their mysterious vitality combined with an appearance of decrepitude. Throughout the trip<br /><br />Zac sat silent, dozing or staring out the window, his left leg jiggling in a nervous tic. <br /><br /><br />Only once did the Aunties speak to him. Esmeralda, who was at the wheel, turned to him and glared. “Zachary”—she spoke his name as if it were a dead rat she held at arm’s length by its tail—“is a ridiculous name. From now on we’ll call you Boy.” <br /><br /><br />And so they did. But his name wasn’t all Zac lost that day. He’d had no chance to pack any of his belongings or toys—not his giant monkey, nor his collection of soldiers, nor his box of interesting bits of metal. Not even a toothbrush or his army camouflage pajamas. All he had was the suit on his back and a<br /><br />photograph of his mother that he’d slipped into his pocket. <br /><br /><br />In this rude fashion was Zachary Sparks uprooted from his childhood home and whisked away to the town of Five Corners to live in a mansion with a plaque by the door that read THE MISSES ESMERALDA AND PRISCILLA HENBOTHER. The Aunties were, it seemed, his only living relatives; there was no one else to take him in. Their house, built of stone—even the floors were marble—had the bleak, dank feel of a castle. No<br /><br />wonder Auntie Esmeralda always wore furs, though Auntie Pris huffed and puffed about in short sleeves, her bright pink skin glistening with sweat. <br /><br /><br />The place was loaded with china. Hundreds of figurines occupied coffee tables, glass cabinets, windowsills, every available surface. Zac noted a preponderance of elephants, but there were also large vases, luridly painted plates, baskets of swollen fruit. All were made of the most delicate-looking porcelain, as fragile as they were ugly. How did two such large and ancient ladies manage to navigate this glass jungle without breaking anything? All Zac knew was that it was no place for him. <br /><br /><br />From the moment they arrived, the Aunties bombarded him with warnings: “Don’t sit there, Boy … Be careful around that lamp … Do try to keep your leg still …” What was Zac to do? At least the Aunties’ silence in the car had left him to sort through his own thoughts. Now every word they spoke froze him tighter until he felt like one of those awful china figurines, condemned to hold one position forever. He was so nervous that, while trying to avoid a row of plates, he backed into a whatnot (a piece of furniture whose only purpose, he decided, was to hold knickknacks in ambush for boys) and broke a small pink elephant. <br /><br /><br />“Idiot! What have you done!” screamed Auntie Esmeralda in a voice itself like breaking glass. Auntie Pris, down on all fours to scoop together the fragments, sobbed as though tears might glue the elephant back together. How strange to see this huge woman crying over a trinket! Meanwhile Auntie Esmeralda, tall as a thunderhead, planted herself directly in front of Zac and croaked, “You … you wicked, clumsy imbecile! Go straight to your room.” <br /><br /><br />Zac didn’t move. He didn’t breathe. <br /><br /><br />“You heard me, young man. March!” <br /><br /><br />Still he didn’t move. He’d turned to stone. <br /><br /><br />“What’s wrong with you?” she demanded. <br /><br /><br />“Auntie,” he finally managed, “I don’t know where my room is.” <br /><br /><br />Esmeralda’s pale head on its long, wrinkled neck turned once to the left and then around to the right, like a bird’s, as though examining him with each eye separately. “Well, we’ll soon fix that. Pris, escort this boy to his room. Something tells me he’ll be spending a lot of time there.” <br /><br /><br />Leaving her precious pile of shattered china, Auntie Pris, with considerable effort, heaved herself to her feet. Drying her eyes with an enormous pink hankie, she growled, “That boy needs a cage, not a room.” Spinning him around with surprising force, and poking him in the back with a finger stiff as a billy club, she marched him out of the parlor, up a broad staircase, and along the hall to a door on the right. There, completely filling the door frame, she panted, “You’d better change your ways, Boy, or you won’t survive long around here.” Thrusting him inside, she shut the door and rattled a key in the lock. <br /><br /><br />So there he was. The room had a bed, an end table, a wooden chair. Its one window was already claimed by darkness. Though the storm had abated, a wind still blew and tree branches scraped against the pane. Rain drummed steadily. <br /><br /><br />For a long time Zac sat on the edge of the bed, his mind numb. Eventually he recalled the picture of his mother, still in his suit pocket. He pulled it out, but it was too dark to see and he couldn’t find a light. Cold, he climbed under the thin quilt and lay there, stiff as a corpse. He returned the photograph tohis pocket but kept his hand on it. <br /><br /><br />And so concluded Zachary Sparks’s first day in Five Corners, the first day of the end of his life. The Aunties might as well have put him in the coffin along with his mother and let the dull rain pound them both into the ground.<br /><br /><br />©2009 Cook Communications Ministries. The Blue Umbrella by Mike Mason. Used with permission. May not be further reproduced. All rights reserved.</div><br /><br /><br />I was surprised at the length of this book. It was pretty long - but pretty entertaining, too. I'm not much of an allegorical type of gal, but I read this one through - and it wasn't even painful *smile*. If you like allegorical tales - I think you will enjoy this one. I walked away from this book having an 'off feeling', but I'm not sure what it was. I can't pinpoint it. However, strictly from a fantastical tale, it was interesting. I would not allow my younger kids (ages 11 and 9) to read this one, but that's just me.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3232800776022811345.post-2318383425213568962009-10-12T08:00:00.000-07:002009-10-12T08:00:01.606-07:00for CFBA Tour - Things Worth Remembering by Jackina Stark<div align="center"><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5500/1432/1600/CFBAreviewer_gif.0.gif"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5500/1432/320/CFBAreviewer_gif.0.gif" border="0" /></a></div><br /><center><span style="font-size:130%;">This week, the</span></center><br /><center><a href="http://www.christianfictionblogalliance.com/"><span style="font-size:100%;">Christian Fiction Blog Alliance</span></a></center><br /><center><span style="font-size:100%;">is introducing</span></center><br /><center><span style="font-size:130%;color:#993300;"> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0764207113">Things Worth Remembering </a></span></center><br /><center>Bethany House (October 1, 2009)</center><br /><center>by</center><br /><center><span style="font-size:130%;color:#006600;"><a href="http://www.jackinastark.com/">Jackina Stark</a></span></center><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:100%;color:#ff6600;">ABOUT THE AUTHOR:</span><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrsbf0siVJ5ODzmtC4_6LxoDptTtxcCFtrxJuCQeofxPsE24dFMgRuuvhX7nyF_S_E7chFJZN1WaLS482mRQT2SIi66mdWCHB9H8zMPNzV4S3aT0v19_AzADxLE7ryU2XME2tqFgnFrcPZ/s1600-h/jackinastark.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrsbf0siVJ5ODzmtC4_6LxoDptTtxcCFtrxJuCQeofxPsE24dFMgRuuvhX7nyF_S_E7chFJZN1WaLS482mRQT2SIi66mdWCHB9H8zMPNzV4S3aT0v19_AzADxLE7ryU2XME2tqFgnFrcPZ/s320/jackinastark.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5391530817837050466" /></a><strong>Jackina</strong> (pronounced with a long “i” to rhyme with China) <strong>Stark</strong> recently retired from teaching English at Ozark Christian College to spend more time writing and traveling. <br /><br />Jackina says: "Although I loved my subjects and my students, I retired to do more writing and speaking, to spend more time with my family, and to travel with family and friends (including trips to encourage two missions in Cambodia). I have also spoken nationally and internationally at many retreats and seminars and enjoy running into many readers and former students. I have written frequently for both <em>Christian Standard </em>and <em>Lookout</em>, periodicals of Standard Publishing. Years ago I wrote two non-fiction books, published by College Press, but currently out of print. These days, I’m exploring fiction. My first novel, <em>Tender Grace</em>, was released by Bethany House January 30, 2009, and <em>Things Worth Remembering</em>, is the second. I’m working on new projects, including a third novel, as time permits. Whether speaking or writing, I love the opportunity to tell about Him whom Jesus called “Holy Father” and “the only true God.” <br /><br />She has been married to her husband, Tony, for forty-two years. They live in Carl Junction, Missouri, and have two daughters and six grandchildren. <br /><br /><strong><span style="font-size:100%;color:#ffcc00;">ABOUT THE BOOK</span></strong><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaXEq7GHoAdaL5SYI5XU9GWDuIoU-1DcBpvtBjhNaAy0i09ZTBc9iiZ5C1-gONl9PznNb7MtnWijevkJZ__5RMXAPgXqz2Tz2ogP4DiwiHayqmpdGZAF9Hfm6mKDHz0OhtL_aWr8HwjMId/s1600-h/thingsworthremembering.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 157px; height: 234px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaXEq7GHoAdaL5SYI5XU9GWDuIoU-1DcBpvtBjhNaAy0i09ZTBc9iiZ5C1-gONl9PznNb7MtnWijevkJZ__5RMXAPgXqz2Tz2ogP4DiwiHayqmpdGZAF9Hfm6mKDHz0OhtL_aWr8HwjMId/s320/thingsworthremembering.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5391529751803081410" /></a>Kendy Laswell and her daughter, Maisey, used to do everything together--until one fateful summer when Maisey witnessed something she shouldn't have, and their relationship fractured. Now, Maisey is back home to get married and Kendy realizes this is her last chance to reconnect with her daughter. Will Kendy and Maisey be able to reclaim the bond they once shared?<br /><br /><em>Maisey asked for a bride doll the Christmas she was five, mesmerized by her aunt's wedding the fall before. Since then I've been dreaming of the day, or days, we would shop for her wedding dress. A mother helping her daughter find just the right creation for that momentous walk down the aisle strikes me as one of life's happiest endeavors. The night she called to tell us she'd bought her "dream of a gown," I sat beside Luke on the couch, a striking contrast to Maisey's exuberance. <br />My dejection seemed a tad inappropriate. "Being hurt because I wasn't included is silly, isn't it?" I asked.<br /><br />"Not so silly," he said.<br /><br />Will I ever quit longing for the Maisey who was once mine?</em><br /><br />If you would like to read the first chapter of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0764207113">Things Worth Remembering </a>, go <a href="http://thestorybeginnings.blogspot.com/2009/10/things-worth-remembering-chapter-1.html">HERE</a><br /><br />I laughed, I cried, I moaned, I learned, and I was given hope. This is a quick read - and Ms. Stark still remains one of my fav authors to read. Her characters are the family down the street. You feel like you know them immediately. This is a story about the root of sin - whether our own or others. You find yourself looking at situations in your own history from a different angle. I enjoyed this book immensely. It is full of wise advice - and real-to-life characters that you can identify with. Have tissues handy! This would be a great fall or winter read as you curl up in your favorite spot with a cup of your hot beverage of choice!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3232800776022811345.post-15474096306793681752009-10-08T09:38:00.001-07:002009-10-12T08:06:47.679-07:00for judging not lest you be judgedI'm sure most Christians, at some point in their walk, have been exhorted with the words found in the the 7th chapter of Matthew. You know the one...about that log in your own eye and the speck in your neighbors? If not, it goes like this:<br /><br /><blockquote>1 "Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, "Let me remove the speck from your eye'; and look, a plank is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. </blockquote><br /><br />...but does this truly say we are not to judge - in some degree - our brothers and sisters in Christ? What of Paul? Was he breaking a holy commandment when he said, "For I indeed, as absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged (as though I were present) him who has so done this deed." <br /><br />How about Jesus? When he told the Pharisees to not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment?<br /><br />It is time for the church of Christ to stand up and once again start using the Word for the purpose it was given to us. We need to stop listening to the vain philosophies of the world...including by not limited to Dr. Phil, Oprah, and the like...but listening to the very Word of God which was given not only to get to know God the Father and His son, Jesus Christ, but also for another very important reason - one that is oftentimes overlooked in today's society. The answer of course, is found, in the third chapter of 2 Timothy, which says:<br /><br /><blockquote>All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. </blockquote><br /><br />Isn't that wonderful? I am incredibly blessed when a brother or sister comes to me with the living Word of the very God that I profess to love and live to correct and instruct me...why?...so that I will be thoroughly equipped for every good work!!! Love doesn't get more complete than that!<br /><br />So, back to our judging. Are we called to judge each other. The answer the Scripture gives me says, 'You bet!'. However, I must remember that with the measure I judge others - this is the measure that the Lord will use on me. So, when I am 'testing myself - to see whether I am in the faith' - my prayer is I will use a harsher measure with myself, than when I approach a brother or sister in Christ in correction or instruction.<br /><br />We need to be quick to listen and slow to speak. If someone comes to us - with an encouraging Word from Scripture, with a correction, or with instruction - let us take the time to search out the answer for ourself. Let us go to our wonderful Couselor in prayer and meditation. Let us not give the rash, 'Oh, judge not unless you want to be judged yourself. You're not God - only God can judge!' With prayer and supplication, let us take all our requests to God. <br /><br />This brings another verse into a new light, as well. In the 15th chapter of John we are told that there is no greater love than to lay down one's life for his friend. My comfort, what others think of me, what others will say about me - aren't those the things this world calls 'life'? But, when we step out and give holy instruction - we are risking this very life. In love, we are laying down what others will think, say, and do - to lead someone back to the Savior and His word. Which leads me to the conclusion of the whole matter...I can say with John that there truly is no greater joy than to hear that my children (my friends, my relatives, my neighbors) walk in truth.<br /><br />What say you?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3232800776022811345.post-1778504715421351822009-10-06T08:00:00.000-07:002009-10-06T17:49:03.544-07:00for CFBA Tour - Though Waters Roar by Lynn Austin<div align="center"><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5500/1432/1600/CFBAreviewer_gif.0.gif"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5500/1432/320/CFBAreviewer_gif.0.gif" border="0" /></a></div><br /><center><span style="font-size:130%;">This week, the</span></center><br /><center><a href="http://www.christianfictionblogalliance.com/"><span style="font-size:100%;">Christian Fiction Blog Alliance</span></a></center><br /><center><span style="font-size:100%;">is introducing</span></center><br /><center><span style="font-size:130%;color:#993300;"> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0764204963">Though Waters Roar</a></span></center><br /><center>· Bethany House (October 1, 2009)</center><br /><center>by</center><br /><center><span style="font-size:130%;color:#006600;"><a href="http://www.lynnaustin.org/ME2/Sites/Default.asp">Lynn Austin</a></span></center><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:100%;color:#ff6600;">ABOUT THE AUTHOR:</span><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9gMFRcb8PV3Ac6BpMCPsOR6xnhewr8vReJEWf9vwvdAPU-cDVvlxiD4F51DHGmVIzmtB6h-y4dR0Ly_bu-sW39LnDjCxsJlfIlGJh_toccwyvDbyfcB0M8bXIEgx-ABrL6M5Aecy79MnB/s1600-h/LynnAustin.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9gMFRcb8PV3Ac6BpMCPsOR6xnhewr8vReJEWf9vwvdAPU-cDVvlxiD4F51DHGmVIzmtB6h-y4dR0Ly_bu-sW39LnDjCxsJlfIlGJh_toccwyvDbyfcB0M8bXIEgx-ABrL6M5Aecy79MnB/s320/LynnAustin.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5388942732660105794" /></a>Along with reading, two of Lynn's lifelong passions are history and archaeology. While researching her Biblical fiction series, Chronicles of the Kings, these two interests led her to pursue graduate studies in Biblical Backgrounds and Archaeology through Southwestern Theological Seminary. She and her son traveled to Israel during the summer of 1989 to take part in an archaeological dig at the ancient city of Timnah. This experience contributed to the inspiration for her novel <em>Wings of Refuge</em>.<br /><br />Lynn resigned from teaching to write full-time in 1992. Since then she has published twelve novels. Five of her historical novels, <em>Hidden Places, Candle in the Darkness, Fire by Night, A Proper Pursuit,</em> and <em>Until We Reach Home </em>have won Christy Awards in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2008, and 2009 for excellence in Christian Fiction. <br /><br /><em>Fire by Night </em>was also one of only five inspirational fiction books chosen by Library Journal for their top picks of 2003, and <em>All She Ever Wanted </em>was chosen as one of the five inspirational top picks of 2005. Lynn's novel <em>Hidden Places</em> has been made into a movie for the Hallmark Channel.<br /><br /><br /><strong><span style="font-size:100%;color:#ffcc00;">ABOUT THE BOOK</span></strong><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRnLTZlksDmnkxPb9_WVqEA1i2g34Wqlgq4x5iKA3eGuitpMxoBjsHcXO7kLm6CzZqBQEtU-hqNWmpx-y316LVqXbTrY7nGyLglfkaCJPqxL0seZ9SZ1fzJHtPXAWzV0wzDBHlHY125lwo/s1600-h/throughwatersroar.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 158px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRnLTZlksDmnkxPb9_WVqEA1i2g34Wqlgq4x5iKA3eGuitpMxoBjsHcXO7kLm6CzZqBQEtU-hqNWmpx-y316LVqXbTrY7nGyLglfkaCJPqxL0seZ9SZ1fzJHtPXAWzV0wzDBHlHY125lwo/s320/throughwatersroar.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5388942521016156066" /></a> <em><strong>"Thank goodness you're such a plain child. You'll have to rely on your wits."</strong></em><br /><br /><em>So went the words of Grandma Bebe. And for all of my growing-up years, I scoffed at the beauty of my sister and what I saw as her meaningless existence. But my wits hadn't served me well in this instance, for here I was, in jail. And while I could have seen it as carrying on the family tradition (for Grandma Bebe landed in jail for her support of Prohibition), the truth is, my reasons for being here would probably break her heart.</em> <br /><br /><em>So how did I end up becoming a criminal? I've been pondering that question all night. Perhaps the best way to search for an answer is to start at the very beginning.</em><br /><br />Harriet Sherwood has always adored her grandmother. But when Harriet decides to follow in her footsteps to fight for social justice, she certainly never expected her efforts to land her in jail. Nor did she expect her childhood enemy and notorious school bully, Tommy O'Reilly, to be the arresting officer. <br /><br />Languishing in a jail cell, Harriet has plenty of time to sift through the memories of the three generations of women who have preceded her. As each story emerges, the strength of her family--and their deep faith in the God of justice and righteousness--brings Harriet to the discovery of her own goals and motives for pursuing them. <br /> <br />If you would like to read the first chapter of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0764204963">Though Waters Roar</a>, go <a href="http://thestorybeginnings.blogspot.com/2009/10/though-waters-roar-chapter-1.html">HERE</a><br /><br />This book sky-rocketed to the top of my 'favorite books of all-time' list. It tells a story over 4 generations - that is applicable no matter the day, no matter the age. It is fantastic! It is the words of advice and an example of living that I did not get from my mother - but one that I hope to emulate for my daughters (and sons). There are so many different angles in this book - it is hard to pinpoint one to focus on. It tells a story, yes. It delves into the age-old 'birth of feminism', yes. It is full of godly wisdom, yes. It points towards using the Word in context, yes. There is so much in this book! Ms. Austin outdid herself on this one! I WILL be reading this one again, and taking notes. It was fantastic! I encourage everyone, everyone, everyone to read this book. It was that good.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0