Robin Lee Hatcher's Write Thinking

the end of the spear

I am home from my four days/three nights with friends, a too-short long weekend. While we worked hard brainstorming three books, we also had lots of fun. One thing we did was go to see the movie, The End of the Spear. Several hundred members of my church went on premier night (January 20), and my pastor said the next Sunday that it was not only the best Christian movie he'd seen but it was one of best movies he'd seen.

I am here to say, I agree. This movie is high quality — the script, the acting, the photography. Everything is wonderfully done. It is a film everyone involved in it can be proud of. I highly recommend it. If you haven't seen it, you should. I was aware going in to see this movie of the controversy over the actor who plays Nate Saint and, as an adult, Steve Saint. To the audience watching the movie, it shouldn't matter. The men he portrayed are who matter. The Nate Saint who died to share his faith matters, and the man Steve Saint became matters. The actor did the job he was hired to do. He showed us the beauty and heartbreak of lives laid down for Jesus.

The documentary Beyond the Gates of Splendor tells this same story. It came out last fall, and I watched it then. I recommend it too. In fact, my friends and I stopped at the video store on the way home from seeing The End of the Spear and rented the documentary to watch again.

As mentioned briefly above, despite how great the film is, there has been controversy about the movie because of the actor who plays Nate/Steve Saint. This controversy has swirled through the blogosphere, untruths and half-truths flung around in all directions. Much of the time, I love this medium. I love the way truth can get out when the mainstream media ignores or twists something. But the blogosphere is just as subject to doing wrong because there is no fact checking much of the time. I'm an author whose books are read and edited thoroughly, and mistakes still make it into my books, despite everyone's hard work and effort. But there are no editors looking over the shoulders of we who blog. We must take responsibility for what we say and the information we put forward.

Randy Alcorn, a dear friend and author, has taken his time to speak personally with the producers of this movie and with others involved, and he has written an article (Perspectives on End of the Spear and the Chad Allen Controversy) that believers should take the time to read. Please do so, and if you can help reach others with this information, all the better. Randy says:

My main reason for writing this relates to the issue of slander and false witness, and the Christian community's participation in these matters, which I consider to be wrong, dishonoring to Christ and nonnegotiable. However, before I address that, I need to make clear that I sympathize with some of the concerns about the effect of Chad Allen's part in the movie, even though I understand and believe my brothers with ETE as to what happened and why.

There is also a link from Randy's article to the full transcript that producers Mart Green and Steve Saint submitted to Christianity Today Movies, most of which is not in the final published article. It is worth reading as well. 

Read these, shares these, and please go see The End of the Spear.

-rlh-

 

what we read

Pam posted a lengthy comment to my DiVinci code post. She had questions about participating in neighborhood book clubs that may choose to read and discuss books that would not necessarily be what she would choose to read. Two books she mentioned were My Sister's Keep and the DiVinci Code.

Well, I probably shouldn't tackle this right now. I'm at a friend's home in another state, and we are supposedly headed out for a day trip in just over an hour. So I will shoot from the hip and may need to revisit.

First, it is really up to you. I know a number of Christians who participate in neighborhood book clubs for the reason of getting to know their neighbors and perhaps being salt and light among people who don't know the Lord. When it is their turn to choose a novel, they choose a Christian novel. When it is the choice of others, then they read some books they may not like or may have trouble with the spirituality that might be included. I think this can be a wonderful way of speaking truth into situations, but only the believer can know if they can do this.

As it happens, I have read both of the books named above. Another one that I read several years back that was such a huge hit was The Red Tent. I tend to listen to most mainstream bestsellers in audio books, and both The Red Tent and DiVinci Code had me shouting at the tape, "That's not scriptural!" or "That's untrue!" I enjoyed DiVinci Code as a novel. I liked My Sister's Keeper but wasn't enthralled with it.

I went to a Christian women's retreat shortly after reading The Red Tent, and there were some women raving about the book. I had to speak up and remind them that the Bible certainly does not portray Jacob and his sons the way that novel did. While there were tidbits of the Old Testament story included, it was very fictionalized, written from a strong feminist "most-men-are-weak-worthless-no-goods" POV. Was it well written? Yes. But did it give a skewed view of what the Bible says? Absolutely. And I discovered that even some Christians (those who were not well-versed in the Old Testament) simply thought it must be true.

Maybe I've talked in circles, but there are now four people talking in the kitchen and I've lost my train of thought. Hopefully, I've answered the question a little. Perhaps I'll revisit later.

-rlh-

4th blogiversary

Four years ago today, at 4:28 a.m., I posted my first blog entry:

The Journal Begins

It's early. All my days start early. It's just the way I'm wired, I guess.

I am in the beginning stages of writing a new novel. This stage is always hit and miss for me. My mind scrambles to grasp what the book will actually be about. I'm trying to "get inside" my characters. I'm reading research books and trying to assimilate all the new information.

Since readers often ask what it's like to write a book, I thought I'd try my hand at on-line journal keeping and let you have a peek inside.

So pop back every so often and see how things are going.

Here are a few items of note about "the book":.

(1) The new novel is Book #4 in the Coming to America series from Zondervan. In this journal, I'll refer to it as PTM..

(2) PTM is an historical romance set in 1908, featuring German immigrants who settle on a farm in eastern Idaho..

(3) The hero is Jakob. The heroine is Karola..

Today is Saturday. This morning is my bi-weekly woman's bible study, held here in my home. I'll probably use the afternoon for more research about wheat harvesting.

I never envisioned that I would blog about more than my w*i*p's. I'm not sure I believed I'd still be blogging four years later or that people would make a point to visit it on a regular basis (thanks, everybody). Amazing!

A few months after I'd begun keeping my on-line journal, my blog (which has had a few different names) evolved naturally into one that incorporated my faith-life along with my writing life. Actually, this blog is more often about things of faith than writing. Here's an entry from June 2002:

relying on His strength and not my own

Paul writes in Ephesians 3:16: "I pray that from His glorious, unlimited resources He will give you mighty inner strength through His Holy Spirit."

That's my desire. To tap into His glorious, unlimited resources so I can accomplish what He has for me to do. I sure can't do it on my own. When I wrote books under my own power (during my pre-CBA career), I definitely used the talent God gave me, but I didn't write the books He wanted me to write. Now, if I hope to use the talent for God's purposes, I have to have His power to go with it or I am lost.

Florence Nightingale said: "Life is a hard fight, a struggle, a wrestling with the principle of evil, hand to hand, foot to foot. Every inch of the way is disputed. The night is given us to take breath and to pray, to drink deep at the fountain of power. The day, to use the strength that has been given us, to go forth to work with it till the evening."

God doesn't ask us to walk in our own strength. If Jesus is our Lord, we can walk in *His* strength. That's a good reminder for me on this Saturday morning.

Since beginning my blog, I've made 818 entries (including this one): 369 on Diaryland between January 2002 and October 2004 and another 449 on Typepad between October 2004 and today. Of course, there are bloggers out there who post daily and frequently during the day, so those numbers don't seem all that enormous, but it's an average of 204.5 posts per year. Not too shabby.

So anyway, happy blogiversary to me. Thanks for joining me as I do my Write Thinking.

In the grip of His grace,
Robin

the davinci code movie cometh

I read the Dan Brown novel, The DaVinci Code, a couple of years ago. Entertaining suspense fiction, to be sure. But the reader must remember to place heavy emphasis on the word fiction. Heavy emphasis. The novel is made up, created out of the author's mind.

Years ago, I read a couple of novels written on the premise of "what if the South had won the Civil War?" It explored what happened to a defeated Abraham Lincoln who, of course, no one bothered to assassinate, what happened to Robert E. Lee who was a major victor but who also never wanted to see the nation divided, etc. These two books were also entertaining reads and obviously fabricated.

The odd — even frightening — thing about Dan Brown's roaringly popular novel (something like 30 million copies sold) is that so many people are accepting the concepts of the novel as fact. For those who have studied the reliability of the Scripture translations and so much of the history of the Christian faith, it's disturbing.

George Barna of the Barna Group (aka research, pollsters, etc.) has an excellent article about this movie and the church's response to it. Here's a clip from the piece:

Many followers of Christ fear that the movie, which will be even more accessible to the public at-large than the book, will distort people’s theological perceptions. This fear is well-founded. Americans already possess an unorthodox profile of religious beliefs, indiscriminately blending biblical and cultural views. Among adults who are aligned with a Christian church, 59% do not believe that Satan exists, 42% contend that Jesus Christ committed sins during His earthly tenure, and just 11% believe that the Bible is the source of absolute moral truth. In fact, millions of Americans are confused about the Bible. On the one hand, six out of ten (61%) believe that “every word in the Bible is true and can be trusted.” On the other hand, only half as many affirm that the Bible is “totally accurate in all of the principles it teaches.” Americans admit that they are more likely to seek theological clarity from friends, family, experiences and even media input than from diving into biblical texts.

So it is in the midst of this environment of confusion that this blockbuster movie will offer attractive heretical propositions. Entering theaters essentially as biblical illiterates, millions of adults are vulnerable to the seductive religious arguments it will propose.

Take a moment and read the entire article. We need to be prepared to speak calmly, truthfully, and with grace to those who will wonder about the fictional parts of this movie, taking them as facts.

I do so hate revisionist history.

-rlh-

 

 

words of warning

This afternoon, in more of my 90 day reading, I came across 2 Kings 17:41. It gave me chills.

Even while these people were worshiping the Lord, they were serving their idols. To this day their children and grandchildren continue to do as their ancestors did. (TNIV)

So while these nations feared the LORD, they also served their idols; their children likewise and their grandchildren, as their fathers did, so they do to this day. (NASB)

What a warning for Christians today. What a warning for me. I love, fear, and worship God. But do I have idols in my life that I'm serving at the same time? (Money? TV? My work? Gadgets? Busyness?) A good reminder to walk my talk 24/7. Especially since I don't want to pass on such things to future generations.

In the grip of His grace,
Robin

procrastination post #2

This weekend I got a bee in my bonnet to update the look of my web site. I'm trying to stream line it a bit as well as to make it visually appealing. While I was at it, I decided to give my blog a similar look and color scheme. Ah, what I won't do to avoid rewrites!

No, seriously, I wasn't procrastinating. And web site design is a part of marketing (a necessary evil in the publishing business) that I actually enjoy. Pop over if you have a moment and let me know what you think.

I'm off at the end of the week to brainstorm books with a couple of writing buddies. Oh boy! Am I looking forward to this. We'll eat lots, laugh lots, talk lots, and in-between having fun, we'll work hard.

This morning, I finished Day 27 of the 90 Day reading challenge. I'm almost through with 2 Kings. Man, all I can say is that there weren't very many of the kings that followed David who lived well, and some who started well didn't finish well, including Solomon. Yesterday's sermon at church was about ending well. That's my prayer: Lord, let me run the race all the way to the finish line and end well.

I must say that I feel very blessed that my church is doing this challenge. It is so helpful to hear the sermons each Sunday that wrap up the previous week's reading. The Boise Vineyard posts both the audio and video of the sermons to their web site, so if your interested, visit their site, too. Oh, and you'll find participant's guides there as well. The videos are particularly good because of the Power Point presentations.

Well, time to stop blogging and start working.

-rlh-

#48 releases

ANOTHER CHANCE TO LOVE YOU
by Robin Lee Hatcher

Now Available

THE TIME HAD COME TO END THE LIE ...

Sustained by her faith, Monica Fletcher finally had the courage to tell the only man she ever loved the secret that burned in her heart for eleven years.

THE TIME HAD COME TO HEAL OLD WOUNDS ...

When celebrity Daniel Rourke revisited Boise, Idaho, the local beauty who was his college girlfriend turned his world upside down with the revelation that he was a father!

THE TIME WAS NOW TO START OVER ... IF THEY COULD

Could his hometown sweetheart and newfound daughter find a place in the fast-paced Chicago milieu that was now Daniel's world? Only time would tell if it was possible for him to reclaim the life they should have had — and the family he had belatedly come to cherish.

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"Robin's stories are always an adventure of the heart! She is one of the premier storytellers of our day" — Karen Kingsbury, bestselling author

"Robin is a gifted writer whose novels unfailingly stir and challenge readers' hearts." — Francine Rivers, bestselling author

"I'd like you to know the reason I started collecting your books included the following: (1)  Your books are well written, intelligent presentations based on well designed plots and story lines. I appreciate books which include excellent use of vocabulary and the English language. (2) Your characters are real people — they could be my neighbors — some closer friends than others. (3) The apparent integrity of your historical research makes the stories more interesting and acceptable." — a reader email to Robin, January 2006

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From Her Heart ... To Yours!

AI returns

Paul N. left a comment under my Anatevka post that said: "I stopped by today figuring you would have a little something to say about American Idol."

LOL! This picture of Simon says it all.

Truly, they showed us a few talented souls, but a lot of Tuesday night's show was just painful. Not even funny. As I write this, the Wednesday evening show has been on for 15 minutes, and I'm left to wonder how many of these tone deaf young people really think they can sing. I mean, are they that delusional?

Will I be around to catch most of American Idol this year? Yes, I will. It's great mind candy!

-rlh-

anatevka

"A little bit of this. A little bit of that. Nothing much. Only Anatevka." Fiddler on the Roof is a favorite musical of mine. I guess that's why, as I thought about writing this post, the words from Anatevka popped into my head. Yes, this is going to be a little bit of this and a little bit of that.

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I finished the revisions on A Carol for Christmas on Monday afternoon. It was an intense weekend as I worked toward the finish line. Now I wait breathlessly for the response of the editor to the changes I made. I should have the line edited manuscript back in two weeks she said, so it won't be a long wait.

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My last post was a link to a post that referenced the James Frey controversy about his "memoir," A Million Little Pieces. I have not read the book, but because of my own experience as someone affected by the alcoholism of a loved one, I have thought I might. But this Publisher's Weekly article by Heather King makes me think I would prefer to read her memoir, Parched, instead. Here's a clip of the first paragraph:

I first read about James Frey's A Million Little Pieces in a New Yorker review. I was working on my own memoir, Parched (Chamberlain Bros.), at the time, so I scanned the piece with interest. Frey and I had a couple of things in common: we'd both had major substance abuse problems; we'd both been to Hazelden (him for six weeks, circa 1992; me for four weeks, six years earlier). But there the similarities seemed to end. It wasn't so much that we were of different genders, that I was a teensy bit older than him, that we'd chosen different approaches to staying sober. No, it was that Frey was angry. The whole tenor of the review was that Frey was angry. The testosterone-fueled rage! The studly ire! In light of my own 20 years as a falling-down blackout drunk, it struck me as an odd stance. The people who really had cause to be angry, it seemed to me, were the ones I'd trampled, cheated on, stolen from and lied to on my way to the nearest bar.

I wrote my novel, Beyond the Shadows, to show alcoholism from the POV (point of view) of the people who love the alcoholic, the people who are "trampled, cheated on, stolen from and lied to," those who watch the decline and live through the disaster and chaos. I have more than a passing knowledge of the 12 Steps of recovery, and I believe Ms. King has a better grasp on alcoholism and recovery than Mr. Frey. And so I hope her book sells many more copies.

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Friend and author Deb Raney has been collecting a list of social issues that are covered in Christian fiction. Criticisms often leveled at this market include the one that says these novels give a sanitized view of the world we live in. People who say that are woefully uninformed and haven't read much fiction from CBA publishers in recent years or they would know better.

Deb gave permission for other writers to post the list to their blogs. Angela Hunt beat me to it, so I am going to point readers to her blog. Angie is adding to the list as other writers inform her where their books belong on it, so check back every now and then, especially if you want to see what today's Christian novelists are writing about — or if you're simply looking for another great read.

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This morning I completed Day 21 of the Bible in 90 Days reading challenge. I am deep into 1st Samuel, reading about David on the run from Saul. The last thing I read was about Saul visiting the medium/witch of Endor who calls up the spirit of Samuel. Spooky and something I need to check into a little more.

I am enthralled with reading the Bible in this fashion. I was afraid that it would seem like speed reading (almost disrespectful to the word of God) and that I wouldn't get as much out of it as when I read the Bible in a year, four times as long as this challenge takes. I was wrong. I'm just getting a different picture. I would encourage everyone to try this at least once.

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Well, with the revisions off of my desk, it is time for some office clean-up and a return to the rewrites of my next "redeemed" novel. I'd love to have those rewrites done by next week so that I can get to work on my July 2007 release the first week of February.

In the grip of His grace,
Robin

a million little pieces controversy

Terry Whalin at The Writing Life has a great post today about creative license and the controversy over James Frey's A Million Little Pieces. Worth reading.

-rlh-

charis connection post #4

I forgot to mention that I blogged over on Charis Connection on Thursday. Drop by if you want to read my Publishing 101 post.

-rlh-

nations in the land

This morning, I completed reading Day 17 of the Bible in 90 Days, and I was struck by Judges 3:1-2:

The LORD left certain nations in the land to test those Israelites who had not participated in the wars of Canaan. He did this to teach warfare to generations of Israelites who had no experience in battle. (Judges 3:1-2, NLT)

I felt like the Lord was telling me (reminding me) that there are "certain nations" in my life that were left there by God so He could teach me the art of [spiritual] warfare. Okay, the truth? I'm not crazy about warfare. I don't much care for battles and confrontations. I would much rather be w-a-a-a-a-y in the back of the army, maybe working as a cook or a water carrier. And God knows (and I have often told Him) that I get weary of the warfare. I'm ready to move in and occupy the promised land in peace.

So here I am, back at a truth I learned long ago and have used in more than one of my novels: Nothing enters my life that isn't caused or allowed by God, nothing happens in my life that isn't first filtered through His loving hands. He causes or allows it to chip away another flaw, to continue to make me more like Christ. Like thousands and thousands of believers before me, I can say that I am not yet what I want to be, but thank God, I am no longer what I used to be. I can press on toward the goal.

So I'm showing up this morning, wearing the armor of God and wielding the sword of the Spirit, to get a little more battle experience.

In the grip of His grace,
Robin

faith feet

When I was young (20's), I'm sure I thought I would have it all together when I reached the half-century mark. Well, to be honest, I thought anyone over 40 had one foot in the grave already, but beyond that youthful foolishness, I really did think older people must have the puzzles of life figured out by 50.

Sigh. The truth, I've found, is that once we figure out one thing, God takes us to the next lesson. Life is a school that's always in session. I will never have all the answers. Mysteries abound, as do trials that force me to grow and change. I see through a glass darkly.

The January 12th reading from Streams in the Desert says:

Reckon it nothing but joy ... whenever you find yourself hedged in by the various trials, be assured that the testing of your faith leads to power of endurance. (Jamess 1:2-3)

God hedges in His own in order to protect them. Yet often they only see the wrong side of the hedge and therefore misunderstand His actions. And so it was with Job when he asked, “Why is life given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in?” (Job 3:23). Ah, but Satan knew the value of that hedge! He challenged the Lord by saying, “Have you not put a hedge around [Job] and his household and everything he has?” (Job 1:10).

Onto the pages of every trial there are narrow shafts of light that shine. Thorns will not prick you until you lean against them, and not one will touch you without God knowing. The words that hurt you, the letter that caused you pain, the cruelty of your closest friend, your financial need—they are all known to Him. He sympathizes as no one else can and watches to see if through it all, you will dare to trust Him completely.

Trusting God completely. That's what I want to do.

I've reached the book of Joshua in my 90 Day reading. The introduction in my audio TNIV Bible says Joshua is a book of faith, a story of Israel's both having faith and lacking faith. I've always loved the part about the priests stepping into the flood stage waters of the Jordan first, in faith, and then the waters backed up so that all could walk across. I want to walk in that kind of faith, that kind of trust.

So here I go. I'm putting my faith foot in the water. How about you?

In the grip of His grace,
Robin

the three-sixteens

Back in the late 1970's, as I read through the New Testament several times, I noticed how often certain verses that spoke to me were numbered 3:16. So in the front pages of my Bible, I made a list of them and the point that spoke to me. Here they are:

John 3:16 - God's love for us in Jesus Christ
Luke 3:16 - the baptism in the Holy Spirit
2 Tim 3:16 - the validity of the Bible
Matt 3:16 - the Trinity of God revealed
1 Cor 3:16 - we are the temple of the Holy Spirit
1 John 3:16 - we know Love
1 Tim 3:16 - the mystery of godliness revealed

Are there other 3:16's that have spoken to you?

-rlh-

soapbox

I got up on my soapbox today as a guest blogger at fallible.com. Hope you'll drop by.

-rlh-

revisions report

I am neck deep in revisions at the moment. Ack! I wrote a new opening for the story which then will require rewriting throughout the entire manuscript. My head feels like it might explode as I try to keep things straight, and I am prone to whining about how hard it is. Yet even when I'm whining, I'm loving the way ideas keep popping into my head. I like what I am cutting and what I am adding and what I am changing. The story is definitely getting better because of it. But that doesn't mean it's easy.

What a crazy life this is!

-rlh-

90 days, week 2

Great teaching at church this morning. If you care to hear what the preaching was from a church that has taken the 90 day challenge, you'll find the links for both the audio and video in a day or two at the Boise Vineyard web site. If they post the Power Point from today's sermon as they did for last week's, that will be worth viewing too.

The overall feeling many have come away with from this reading through the word is that if these people in Genesis and Exodus could be used by God, some of them even being listed in the Faith Hall of Fame in Hebrews, then there is hope for anybody. It also makes me thoroughly grateful for grace and for the sacrifice of Christ for my sins.

I have enjoyed this so much that I've read ahead and am almost finished with Numbers. I am not trying to analyze deeply but to just allow God to speak to my heart where He wills.

And so begins Week 2.

-rlh-

it's true!

Hat tip to Barbara at Church of the Masses for leading me to this quiz. And I am a '60's kid!

what decade does your personality live in?

quiz brought to you by lady interference, ltd

I am valuable

Last Sunday, when Pastor Tri issued the 90 Day Bible reading challenge to the congregation, he held an old Bible (New American Standard) in his hands. It was the Bible his wife gave to him after he accepted Christ back in the late 1970's. The cover had fallen apart sometime in the past, and he'd made a new cover for it. It looked pretty battered and well-used.

I don't know what happened to my first Bible (1976 - 1980). I lost a lot of my Christian library during a move back in the mid-1980's, and I assume that first Bible was among the books lost. However, I still have the NASB that I started using in May 1980. I've owned many other Bibles since then, but this was the Bible I used during what I would call some of the formative years of my faith. I thought it might be fun/interesting to start a new category of posts that look at notes in the margins and on blank pages from this old Bible.

So here's what I chose for my first post in this category:

Five Reasons Why I'm Valuable

1. Because I was created in the image of God.
2. Because I am loved by my Creator God.
3. Because of the price of my redemption.
4. Because I have a great mission in life.
5. Because of my destiny.

Wow! I don't know about you, but I need that reminder every now and then: I AM VALUABLE. God says I am, and it is impossible for God to lie. I cannot do anything to make Him love me more or to make myself more valuable to Him. From the very start, I was created in His image. He has a purpose for my life. I was born for such a time as this.

Here are the scriptures that support the above: 1 John 3:1-2; Gen 1:26-27; Eph 2:4-5; 1 John 4:16-17; 1 Cor 6:2-3; 1 Peter 2:9-10; John 3:16; 1 Cor 6:20; Jude 14-15; Heb 2:11; Rom 5:8; 1 Cor 7:23; Rev 20:4

Next time you're down on yourself, take a look at these reasons why you are valuable.

In the grip of His grace,
Robin

Bible in 90, update

I came to Christ during the Jesus Movement. For those of you too young to remember, that was a powerful time in the history of the American church. It was an enormous spiritual movement in the '60's and '70's. Young people by the droves came to Christ. Folk music style performers played before large audiences. Worship was powerful, real, anointed. And there were Bible studies in homes every night of the week. Back then, you got saved, you got a Bible and started reading it all the time.

I find myself rather stunned by how often I've heard from Christians of a substantial length of time that they have never read the entire Bible. Some of these people are even involved in ministries, including writing Christian fiction. It blows me away that anyone who has experienced the saving grace of Jesus Christ would not then fall in love with the written word of God and want to read it from cover to cover.

I don't hold myself out as a Bible scholar or anything close to it, and there have certainly been times during my Christian walk when I allowed dust to gather on the cover of my Bible. But that hasn't been the norm, thank God. And I don't say any of this to shame anyone. "So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus." (Romans 8:1, NLT) I say it only because I don't understand. Why aren't believers more in love with the Bible? Why are there believers in foreign lands like China or Egypt who are willing to die to get to own a Bible while believers in the west go days without feeding upon something that is sitting on their bookshelf or night stand?

I've read through the Bible in a year about eight times, but I have never tackled it in 90 days. I found the idea quite daunting when I first heard it. But how many of us take a year to read a big, fat juicy novel? Do we read our novels a page or even a few paragraphs at a time? I happen to be a slow reader because I do my pleasure reading at bedtime. I can tell you, that isn't as enjoyable as back in the old days when I used to lay on the sofa on a Saturday and devour an entire book in a day.

All that to say that I am loving this one hour of reading each morning. I started on 12/31/05 so today I completed the reading for Day 5. I am listening to the Bible on my iPod while also reading the 90 Day Bible with my eyes, and this is helping enormously. I am amazed at how much more of the *big picture* I'm getting.

If you haven't started, give it a try. It isn't nearly as daunting as you might think. If you have started but have fallen behind, keep going and remember Romans 8:1. If you struggle with reading, the Bible on audio book is terrific (but it can be expensive). I understand you can listen to the KJV through Bible Gateway. You might give that a try.

Ask the Lord to make you hungry for His word. Keep asking until it happens. The Lord loves to answer the prayers of His children that are in His will, and this is definitely in His will. He wants you to hide His word in your heart.

Here are some reading tips from the Boise Vineyard who has taken the challenge as a congregation:

• Memorize your mission, which is: to read, attentively, every word of the Bible in 90 days.
• Don't expect to consciously recall everything you read. Focus on what you can recall and don't worry about the rest.
• Don't expect to understand everything you read. Pay attention to what you do understand and don't worry about the rest.
• Consider breaking up your daily reading into two or more sessions.

In the grip of His grace,
Robin

prejudiced for pride & prejudice

Yes, I should be writing/revising, but there are times when a mom should set aside the work and go with daughters to the movies. This was one of those days.

Daughter #1, Daughter #2, and Grandson #3 (age 8 weeks) met me at Edwards 21 (yes, 21 theaters all in one building) to see the new Pride & Prejudice. This happens to be a favorite book and movie of mine. This new film version, starring Keira Knightley, is visually stunning, and the soundtrack is lovely. Keira is able to show a lot of emotion with just a glance. I wasn't prepared to like Matthew Macfayden in the role of Mr. Darcy, but by the end of the movie, he'd won me over. Time and again as I listened to the dialog, I found myself wishing, *Oh, to be able to write like that.* My daughters and I laughed frequently.

I would give this movie a 5 out of 5 ... except for the ending. Totally lame last few minutes. Definitely not written by Jane Austen. When Elizabeth Bennett is telling her Mr. Darcy what he can call her and she says something about a "goddess," I about choked. So 2005 and so not Regency England. Gag me with a spoon. Sorry for that cliche, but it is the only fitting description. Why couldn't the filmmakers and/or screenwriters stick with the perfect prose of Ms. Austen? Anyway, that lack of judgment on someones part results in my rating dropping to a 4.5 out of 5.

Yes, I will own this version when it comes out on DVD. It will go into my video library between the 1995 six hour BBC version starring Colin Firth (be still, my heart) and the 2004 fun, contemporary, Bollywood version, Bride & Prejudice. I will watch them all at different times, listening to those wonderful turns of phrases written by Ms. Austen so long ago and find myself helplessly falling in love with Mr. Darcy all over again.

Tomorrow, I write and revise some dialog of my own.

-rlh-

potpouri

My goal to declutter my life in 2006 is off to a good start. I spent the weekend working in my walk in closet (and my walk in is huge, all the better to collect more *stuff*). I have bags and bags of clothes ready to go to charity and still more to go through. But I feel good about what I've accomplished. I can't believe how much stuff was hanging in my closet that either won't fit (too big or too small) or is so out of date that it gets past over even if it does fit. So out it went!

I got up this morning, intent on returning to my revisions of Carol. However, I decided to take care of my year end business bookkeeping first. My writing business is a corporation, so there is quite a bit of work to be accomplished at this time of year. Hours later, I was done, and I felt wonderfully light, knowing it's behind me. Okay, another couple of weeks and I will be neck deep in preparing everything to go to my CPA, both personal and corporation receipts.

The next thing I did was the best part of my day yet. I made reservations to fly to see two of my dearest friends for a long weekend at the end of this month. Yes!! I'll get lots and lots of hugs and be loved on and be silly and drink lots of coffee and sleep little and talk until I'm hoarse. I can hardly wait!

I've read a lot of blogs with their year in review. I did a review of my blog posts. But the best thing I've read yet was from BJ Hoff's Grace Notes where she writes about her Not So Favorites of 2005. I particularly loved her "Much Ado About Nothing."

Okay, more work to be done.

-rlh-

the Bible in 90 days, day 1

Hey, is God good or what? I've been eagerly awaiting the start of the 90 Day Bible challenge. In fact, she who has no life and was all alone on New Year’s Eve (that would be me) couldn’t wait until today to begin, so I am already done with Day 2.

So I show up for church this morning and guess what? Our entire church has been issued the challenge. Our sermons for the next three months will be on what was read the previous week in our 90 days through the Bible. (Can you imagine a pastor preaching on both Genesis and Exodus in 30-45 minutes? That's what Pastor Tri will be doing next Sunday!) They have posted a Leaders Guide on the church web site and participant guides will be available each week (those aren't active yet, but week 1 should be posted today or tomorrow; I got the hard copy of the week 1 guide at church). If you’re interested in getting any of these materials (or later, listening to the recap sermons after the fact), go to this page on the Boise Vineyard website.

I’m so excited that this is a challenge my church is taking on. Pastor Tri and Pastor Mike both spoke today, talking about the importance of the word hidden in our hearts, to have fun while doing this, to not worry about what we are retaining, that God will put it to work in our hearts. This is the big picture, not a minute study (the way we usually do studies, i.e. it took us about three months to complete the study of 1 & 2 Thessalonians).

So instead of just doing this reading the Bible in 90 Days with some of you blog readers who took the challenge as well as some Christian novelists on a couple of writer's email groups I'm on, now I’m doing it with about 2000 or more congregants of my church. How cool is that?

Could this be the start of Victory in 2006?

-rlh-