Robin Lee Hatcher's Write Thinking

Carol of the Bells - Celtic Woman

If this doesn't put you in the spirit of the season, you're a hopeless case.

~robin

A Christmas Quiz

Here we are at last. Christmas week. Are the stockings hung by the chimney with care in your house? They are in mine. But Christmas will be a bit different for me this year. Mom is in long term nursing care. Oldest daughter and her family will be elsewhere. My family won't be having our annual Christmas Eve gathering. Life is always changing, isn't it? I can take it during the rest of the year, but I do hate changes at Christmas. I want my traditions to remain, year after year after year.

That really bad cold I came back with from my supposed-holiday turned out to be a very nasty flu/upper respiratory infection. It put me into bed for all of the last week. I had coughing fits that would last two hours, and there were times I felt like I would never be able to draw another decent breath. No fun, especially since I had revisions that were supposed to be done. But as of this writing, the antibiotics seem to be doing their job and I finally had a night of good sleep. I didn't wake up once from coughing last night. Thank You, Jesus.

I have many wishes for all of you this Christmas. I pray that you will be surrounded by those you love and who love you. I pray that you will stop in the hurry and bustle and remember that Jesus is the Reason for the Season. I pray that your hearts will overflow with the wonder at the gift God gave to us in His Son. And may that wonder and joy fill your lives throughout the coming year.

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And now, for silliness sake, here is a holiday quiz, just to keep your wits sharp as you do all the last minute shopping and baking. Don't worry. It won't tax your brain too much. (Answers at the bottom of the post.)

1. Counting Rudolph, how many reindeer are there?
2. Where did there arise such a clatter?
3. What holiday film annually appears on television more than 300 times?
4. After red and green, what are the two most popular Christmas colors?
5. Where was Mommy when she was kissing Santa Claus?
6. What parade was first held on January 1, 1886?
7. What is the biggest selling Christmas single of all time?
8. What was the gift my true love sent to me on the 6th day?
9. What one reindeer is never mentioned in The Night Before Christmas?
10. What did the Grinch use as a substitute for a reindeer?

Let me know how many you got right in the comments section.

Answers: (1) Nine; (2) On the lawn; (3) It's a Wonderful Life; (4) Silver and Gold; (5) Underneath the mistletoe; (6) Tournament of Roses; (7) "White Christmas"; (8) Six geese a laying; (9) Rudolph; and (10) His dog.

Noel with the Novelists, a Holiday Homes Blog Tour

Welcome to the 2009 Noel with the Novelists Holiday Homes Blog Tour. The tour officially kicks off December 15 at 7:00 AM EST. If you enjoy Christian fiction, you're going to find some familiar friends along the way. A few blogs will have two homes to share so be sure not to skip any.

I'm going to be following the tour from blog to blog and house to house right along with the rest of you. Just keep going until you find yourself back at the blog you started with.

Merry Christmas from Robin Lee Hatcher:

Merry Christmas from Sunni Jeffers:

Thanks again for dropping by to visit our homes.
Once again, Merry Christmas from Robin and Sunni.

Next on the tour: Deborah Raney. Enjoy!

40 Loaves: Breaking Bread with Our Father Each Day

Need a new devotional for the new year? Here's one to consider:

40 Loaves: Breaking Bread with Our Father Each Day

Why don’t I have more faith?
Why am I so bored with Jesus?
Why don’t I feel connected at church?

These are the types of questions the religious establishment often makes it uncomfortable, if not impossible, to ask. And by asking them, C. David Baker, author of 40 Loaves: Breaking Bread with Our Father Each Day hopes to start a conversation in people’s hearts, then with others, and ultimately with God. Many circles of Christianity have led us to believe that certainty and confidence are the proof of true spirituality; questions are discouraged.

But Jesus offered his followers an ongoing conversation—a relationship built around a free, open-ended discussion. Questions were encouraged. They were often impertinent, sometimes alarming, and the religious establishment was distinctly uncomfortable with them … just as it is today.

“40 Loaves is something of a collection of the kinds of questions I felt finally free to ask of myself and of my relationship with Christ,” says Baker. “It’s my belief that these questions are shared by many others who long for the freedom to simply ask them out loud. I hope this book becomes a platform that frees others to search their hearts more deeply and be fed with the Bread of life.”

Each “loaf” here is a big question that stimulates discussion, investigation, and contemplation; it will take hours—or days—to digest. Conversational, inviting, disarming, and real, 40 Loaves nourishes self-examination and offers validation for those who feel discouraged, guilty, or even shamed when the realities of their lives don’t match up with the ideals of the Christian establishment.

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C. David Baker founded an award-winning business before redirecting his career to write full-time from his small farm in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. He is the author of eight books, including six novels, one of which was nominated for a Christy Award. He has contributed articles to the Christian History Institute’s international publication Glimpses, and to Christian Singles magazine. Baker has a Master’s degree in theological studies from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.

Horatio Caine & the Storefront Santas

I get a kick out of Steven Crowder's videos, but this one really had me laughing. I watch CSI: Miami on Monday nights, and Steven really nailed Horatio.

Steven promises that "No Target employees were actually shot during the making of this video… Except for the one."

~robin

A. W. Tozer on Trials and Pain

A.W. Tozer is among my favorite Christian authors, and it never fails to amaze me how current his words from the mid-1900s are to today. Each morning I receive a devotional by Tozer from Literature Ministries International. Here is a post from Wednesday's email:

Trials and Pain: It Works!

...Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
—2 Corinthians 12:9-10

Ten thousand enemies cannot stop a Christian, cannot even slow him down, if he meets them in an attitude of complete trust in God. They will become to him like the atmosphere that resists the airplane, but which because the plane's designer knew how to take advantage of that resistance, actually lifts the plane aloft and holds it there for a journey of 2,000 miles. What would have been an enemy to the plane becomes a helpful servant to aid it on its way....

If this should seem like a bit of theorizing, remember that always the greatest Christians have come out of hard times and tough situations. Tribulations actually worked for their spiritual perfection in that they taught them to trust not in themselves but in the Lord who raised the dead. They learned that the enemy could not block their progress unless they surrendered to the urgings of the flesh and began to complain. And slowly, they learned to stop complaining and start praising. It is that simple--and it works!
(We Travel an Appointed Way, 32-33)

"Lord, I wish I could more readily 'stop complaining and start praising.' I pray for Your grace to work within me that I might allow the trials to lift me aloft rather than press me down. I'll do it in Your strength today. Amen." 

To which I add my Amen.

~robin

Christmas Homes Tour coming soon

Just a reminder that the Noel with the Novelists Christmas Homes blog tour is coming soon. Beginning on December 15th, you can visit my Write Thinking blog to see both my home video as well as Sunni Jeffers' video. Then you can follow the link to the next blogger's home and make your way from blog to blog and home to home, seeing our Christmas decorations and learning a little more about the authors.

Mark your calendars! This is a great way to get into the Christmas spirit.

~robin

Fit for Service

When I got home from my 6:30 am workout at Curves, I got to thinking about my 2009 New Year's resolution to get physically fit this year. After all, this is the last day of November. Before we know it, 2009 will be a thing of the past.

I started off great, thanks to the Wii Fit and my stationary recumbent cycle. I worked out five mornings a week. I dropped several pounds and was feeling stronger and less easily winded. Then I injured my right elbow. The pain was bad. It took regular massages and regular chiropractic visits and several months for the pain to fully subside. I couldn't do any exercises that used my arm. Even riding the cycle while gripping the handles that measure heart rate was painful. You guessed it. I slacked off. I got softer. The weight came back, plus some thanks to a change in medication.

This fall, I finally returned to using the Wii Fit and my cycle on a more regular basis, but I soon realized I needed to add weight training to the mix. And so I hauled myself off to Curves. I fell in love with the 30 minute circuit training method when my oldest daughter owned a Slender Lady studio. I've completed seven weeks now and am enjoying feeling stronger and more fit.

Which got me to thinking about being fit for service to the Lord. He's called us to be His soldiers. Having good physical health is important. So is being mentally fit. But if we aren't spiritually fit we'll find ourselves doing KP duty instead of being in the thick of the battle against the evil of this world. I don't know about you, but I want to be right on the front lines. I want to do my part to defeat the plans of the enemy and be fit enough to still swing my sword when the Lord calls me home.

I want to be a vital part of God's Army, the Army that brings good news to the afflicted, that binds up the brokenhearted, that proclaims liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners, that comforts those who mourn, and that gives garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and the mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting. I want to be among the people who will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified. (Isaiah 61:1-3) Amen.
~robin

Happy Thanksgiving!

It's here. The day of the big feast. I'm up early and hoping I can manage to get everything done that needs done before the family begins to arrive. I'm hosting our Thanksgiving dinner for the first time in four or five years. Since the last time, I've downsized my home, so we'll be a close bunch. But we love one another so it'll be fine.

One of the best things for me about Thanksgiving is the tradition of the meal. The holiday to me means turkey and dressing, green bean casserole, a favorite-style Jello salad, rolls, mashed potatoes and gravy, deviled eggs, a relish tray, hot spiced cider, coffee with flavored creamers, and pies. Mmm, mmm, mmm.

I hope you're able to be with those you love on this Thanksgiving day and that you'll get to eat your favorite foods. And if you eat too much (and even if you don't), make sure you get back to your exercise routine come Friday!

~robin

Live Relationally, Live Deeply

Not Your Grandmother’s Bible Study

I'm a big fan of Lenya Heitzig's and Penny Pierce Rose's Bible studies (I've used them in my personal study time as well as in the women's Bible study group I led 8 to 10 years ago), and I'm pleased to tell others about their Fresh Life Bible study series published by David C Cook. Perfect for every age, appropriate for groups or individual study, and intended for today’s on-the-go woman, the Fresh Life series requires just 20 minutes a day for a meaningful contemplation of God’s Word. The two most recent books in the series are Live Relationally and Live Deeply (June 2009). The first two books, Live Intimately and Live Fearlessly, were released in the summer of 2008.

Live Relationally offers a fresh look at the important women of Genesis. Though women in the Bible are sometimes overlooked or downplayed, this fascinating Bible study curriculum reminds readers that women are central to God’s story—and His plan. Genesis alone is peopled with women who experience death, marriage, divorce, rape, and family tragedy. And if that sounds like something out of Desperate Housewives, it just goes to show that the Bible has a message for women—today.

With probing questions, insightful sidebars, and meaningful life-application exercises, Live Relationally offers the vivid lessons and rich wisdom of Israel’s founding mothers. From the complicated Tamar to the often oversimplified Eve, they are wives and mothers, slaves and owners, sinners and saints … and each woman’s story will touch hearts for God.

           

Live Deeply is for anyone who has ever read one of Jesus’ parables and asked, “What is He talking about?” Now women—alone or with a small group—can dig deeper into the meaning of these parables to uncover their important meaning for their walks with Christ. Designed with today’s busy woman in mind, each lesson can be completed in as little as 20 minutes per day, but will leave her with a lifetime of valuable insights.

Based on the inductive Bible study method, each lesson conjures vivid imagery of the sights and sounds of Ancient Israel alongside poignant application questions for today. The Fresh Life Bible study series offers something for Christian women of all shapes and sizes; everyone will leave with a more profound understanding of the important women of Genesis and Christ’s amazing parables.

~robin

Grasping God's Word through Bible Software

Two months ago, I began a new study using the textbook, Grasping God's Word. I've learned a lot in the past eight weeks about going deeper and deeper in my reading and studying of the Bible, although I'm afraid I'd get a failing grade if I had to turn in homework or take any tests. Week before last, the lesson was on word studies, and something really terrific came out of that lesson: I'm actually learning to use my wonderful Logos Bible Software for Mac the way it was meant to be used.

In my pre-Mac existence, I had the PC Study Bible software program. For the most part, what I used it for was to find, copy, and paste Bible verses. As a Mac user, I invested almost a year ago in the Bible Study package of Logos Bible Software for Mac. But again, what I've mostly used it for is looking up Bible verses and taking an occasional peek into a commentary.

But when I was doing the Grasping God's Word lesson on word studies, a chapter that calls for the use of an exhaustive concordance with a Hebrew/Greek to English dictionary, not to mention suggestions for other study helps such as lexicons, dictionaries of theology and exegesis, etc., necessity sent me to my computer. Holy smoke! I knew my Logos for Mac had a lot in it, but I didn't have a clue how I should be using it. Now I'm smacking myself in the head and saying, Duh! It's like having a top of the line computer and never using it for anything except to use the built-in calculator to add and subtract. What a waste of technology and resources!

But why waste time with woulda, coulda, shoulda when I can spend it instead doing an exegetical study of one of my favorite verses of the Bible.

~robin

PS The new Logos 4 has released in the Windows version and will soon be coming to the Mac. If you like to go deeper in your study, you can't go wrong with Logos.

May we always remember and be thankful

To all the Veterans out there, thank you.

I hope you vets know how grateful so many Americans are for your service, past and present and future. I pray that this Veteran's Day will be a blessing to you.

When I was at Curves this morning, one lady told me she'd had a foreign exchange student (forget from what country) living with her family who had never heard of the Holocaust. That really grieved my heart. It is so much easier to repeat such horrors when we keep young people ignorant of what has happened in the past. History is so important. And is equally important that we reject revisionist history.

I wrote my 2005 novel, The Victory Club, as a way of saying "Thanks" to those who serve and to their family members who are left behind to carry on without them. I hear from readers on a regular basis about this book, and it never fails to elicit stories from the past, from when the reader served or when the reader's spouse served or when the reader's parent served. I treasure the stories they share with me.

In my 1999 release, Whispers From Yesterday (the 2000 winner of the Christy Award which is now available for the Kindle), I wanted to pay tribute to the people of Denmark who rescued 90% of the Jews living in that country, spiriting them away before the Nazis could send them to death camps. By contrast, 90% of the Jews living in other countries were murdered by the Nazis.

I pray for the absence of wars. I pray for safety for those who serve and protect. Until such time that God's perfect peace reigns over the earth, may we seek to bring what peace we can to our corners of the world.

~robin

Visit Your Favorite Novelists' Homes for Christmas

Okay, you won't really be coming to our homes. But via the wonders of video, you can get a glimpse. Come join the tour, beginning December 15th.

Oh, man. I feel the sudden urge to bake Christmas cookies.

~robin

God's Thumbnail & the Bright Morning Star

Not sure I've mentioned this on my blog, but on Monday of this week I decided I had to do more in my goal to get healthy this year. I need to lose weight, get back down to where I was in 2005, but mostly I just want to get stronger and more flexible. Use it or lose it. So, in addition to three days a week of Wii Fit Yoga (30 minutes each) and five to six days of Wii Fit aerobics or cycling (20-30 minutes each), I've joined Curves for the much needed resistance (aka weight) training combined with cardio. I'm still feeling those extra pounds I put on over the summer, but I'm also feeling more energy after a week in my new routine. Always a good thing.

On my return home yesterday morning, maybe around 7:15, after my stop at Moxie Java for a non-fat chai tea (yum), I turned into my subdivision and saw a beautiful crescent moon and the morning star hanging low in the sky. By the time I could drive into the garage, run into the house and get my camera, and get back outside, the sky had lightened a bit more, but I think you can still see what a beautiful sight it was (click photo for larger version).

Isn't God's handiwork amazing? And, of course, I look forward to the day when I will see the true Morning Star face to face.

“I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.” (Rev. 22:16)

~robin

PS Can anyone tell me the movie where I heard the crescent moon called "God's thumbnail"? I can hear a kid's voice saying it, but I can't for the life of me remember the name of the movie where I saw/heard that line.

aha moments

I'm taking a class on Sunday mornings called "Grasping God's Word," using the textbook of the same name. It's about digging deeper into the Scriptures.

The first four weeks have taught us to observe what we're seeing, noticing pronouns and lists and the tense of verbs and conjunctions and cause & effect and contrasts, etc. In chapter 2 we learned to look at sentences. In chapter 3 we learned to look at paragraphs. In chapter 4 we learned to look at discourses.

So I carefully listed the various things I'm supposed to look for on pretty colored index cards, and I've been using them while doing my homework. But I've been struggling. I can see why the authors want us to do these things, but something just wasn't clicking. In class Sunday I mentioned my index cards, and there was some good-natured teasing about legalism and needing to shred or burn those cards. But how else, I wondered, could I remember all that I need to look for? Especially since I didn't seem to be "getting it."

Then halfway through the class, I had an "aha moment." I'm an intuitive writer rather than an analytical one. I feel my stories far more than I see them. I create by the seat-of-the-pants (pantser for short) rather than plotting/outlining in advance. Analytical and plotting workshops make me want to bang my head on the desk and cry, "Mercy!" When I try to create that way, I freeze up entirely. My brain goes dead. I had to learn this about my creative process and become okay with it.

In that "aha moment" during the class on Sunday, I realized that I was trying to apply the textbook study techniques in an analytical-seeing-plotting approach rather than an intuitive-feeling-pantser approach. No wonder I was freezing up and not getting it. And I was reminded that it's okay to be me, to learn the way I was created to learn. God made me this way. He made each one of us unique and special, down to the smallest details.

For You formed my inward parts;
You wove me in my mother’s womb.
I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Wonderful are Your works,
And my soul knows it very well.
My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth;
Your eyes have seen my unformed substance;
And in Your book were all written
The days that were ordained for me,
When as yet there was not one of them.
(Psalm 139:13-16)

I'm going to open my textbook and learn and think the way God gifted me. Oh, and I got rid of those index cards.

~robin

Four Things You Can't Recover

I found this on Randy Alcorn's blog and just had to share it with my readers. It's too good not to.

Four things you can't recover...

 

 

 

 

If God is Good by Randy Alcorn

Let me begin by saying, there is no writer that I respect more than Randy Alcorn, personally or professionally. Whenever I've had a question for him, he's answered it based on biblical principles and with a deep understanding of God's word. His responses are never rushed but thoughtful and detailed. I love both his fiction and his non-fiction. My favorite Alcorn novel is Safely Home. That book shook me to my core. My favorite Alcorn non-fiction release, to date, is Heaven. It opened my eyes to all the Bible has to say about my eternal home.

Now comes his brand new release, If God is Good: Faith in the Midst of Suffering and Evil. I haven't had a chance to read the entire book (it's a big one and not something to rush through). But I know that it's giving me much to ponder because who hasn't asked that question at some point in their life: If God is good, why...?

If God is good, why do people have to suffer? If God is good, why do bad things happen to good people? Or for that matter, why do good things happen to bad people?

IF GOD IS GOOD

Every one of us will experience suffering. Many of us are experiencing it now. As we have seen in recent years, evil is real in our world, present and close to each one of us.

In such difficult times, suffering and evil beg questions about God--Why would an all-good and all-powerful God create a world full of evil and suffering? And then, how can there be a God if suffering and evil exist?

These are ancient questions, but also modern ones as well. Atheists such as Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, and even former believers like Bart Ehrman answer the question simply: The existence of suffering and evil proves there is no God.

In this captivating new book, best-selling author Randy Alcorn challenges the logic of disbelief, and brings a fresh, realistic, and thoroughly biblical insight to the issues these important questions raise.

Alcorn offers insights from his conversations with men and women whose lives have been torn apart by suffering, and yet whose faith in God burns brighter than ever. He reveals the big picture of who God is and what God is doing in the world–now and forever. And he equips you to share your faith more clearly and genuinely in this world of pain and fear.

As he did in his best-selling book, Heaven, Randy Alcorn delves deep into a profound subject, and through compelling stories, provocative questions and answers, and keen biblical understanding, he brings assurance and hope to all.

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Randy Alcorn is the founder and director of Eternal Perspectives Ministries and a bestselling author. His novels include Deadline, Dominion, Edge of Eternity, Lord Foulgrin’s Letters, The Ishbane Conspiracy, and the Gold Medallion winner, Safely Home. He has written eighteen nonfiction books as well, including Heaven, The Treasure Principle, The Purity Principle, and The Grace and Truth Paradox. Randy and his wife, Nanci, live in Oregon and have two married daughters and four grandsons.

Girl #146

I have no words to add besides this: Join the fight. Make a difference in this fallen world.

~robin

grasping God's word & His vision

I'm ready to see God move in amazing ways. Aren't you? I'm tired of hearing all the bad news. Besides my God is bigger than the problems that beset our world. Do you ever have that feeling, deep in your spirit, that God is about to do a work and you're going to be a part of it? That's how I'm feeling.

Early (really early) on Tuesday, I'll be flying to Baltimore to attend the Re:form Conference with about 20 other members of the Boise Vineyard. A few weeks ago, when the senior pastor announced that he'd like to put a team together to attend the conference, I felt God say, "Go." While taking care of Mom for the past few years, I've had to let opportunities like this one pass. This time I could say, "Yes!" So I did.

Here's what Re:form is about:

RE:FORM is a non-profit, local church-based agency established to facilitate Christian reformation on local, national and international levels in order to meet the escalating worldwide crises in seven areas: Environmental Decline, World Hunger, Human Injustice, Illiteracy and Lack of Education, Poor Health & Disease, Immoral & Corrupt Leadership, and Confusion & Spiritual Deadness.

RE:FORM seeks to do the following:
1. Develop ministries and partnerships with existing ministries to provide solutions for reformation in each arena of crises.
2. Form a peace-making agency between secular and Christian organizations to build relationship and provide forums of collaboration between the two groups in order to share expertise and resources to alleviate these crises.
3. Provide an agency of spiritual equipping and skill training for those who desire to become physically involved in these areas of crises.
4. Become the voice to the church and the nations, communicating both the areas of crises and solutions.

This year's conference is focused on three areas of crisis: Environmental Decline, Human Injustice, and Spiritual Deadness. I'm praying for lots of things about this trip, not the least of which is for me to be attuned to the voice of God as He reveals where I am to join Him in His work. I want to catch His vision!

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Speaking of hearing God's voice, I have also begun a new in-depth study called Grasping God's Word. The book is a college text book, and I can see from week one that I'm going to be working hard from now into December. That's when the class will end, but there will be more of the book to do on my own in the months to follow.

From the back cover: "This hands-on approach to studying Scripture helps students and serious readers get a grip on how to read, interpret, and apply God’s Word. This book equips readers with principles of interpretation, then moves on to apply those principles to specific genres and contexts."

I love getting into God's word, and I'm really excited about this class and learning new tools for going deeper and applying what I learn to my life.

~robin

You Were Born For This by Bruce Wilkinson and David Kopp

His New York Times phenomenon The Prayer of Jabez changed how millions pray. Now Bruce Wilkinson wants to change what they do next.
 
Anyone can do a good deed, but some good works can only happen by a direct intervention from God. Around the world these acts are called miracles—not that even religious people expect to see one any time soon. But what would happen if millions of ordinary people walked out each morning expecting God to deliver a miracle through them to a person in need? You Were Born for This starts with the dramatic premise that everyone at all times is in need of a miracle, and that God is ready to meet those needs supernaturally through ordinary people who are willing to learn the “protocol of heaven.”
 
In the straightforward, story-driven, highly motivating style for which he is known, Wilkinson describes how anyone can be a “Delivery Guy” from heaven in such universally significant arenas of life as finances, practical help, relationships, purpose, and spiritual growth.

You Were Born for This will change how readers see their world, and what they expect God can do through them to meet real needs. They will master seven simple tools of service, and come to say with confidence, “I want to deliver a supernatural gift from God to someone in need today—and I expect to!”

One of the world’s foremost Christian teachers, Bruce Wilkinson is best known as the author of the New York Times #1 bestseller The Prayer of Jabez. He is also the author of numerous other bestsellers, including A Life God Rewards, Secrets of the Vine, and The Dream Giver. Over the past three decades, Wilkinson has founded several global initiatives, including organizations that recruited and trained thousands of Americans to address hunger, AIDS, and poverty in Africa. Bruce and his wife, Darlene, have three children and six grandchildren. They live outside Atlanta.

David Kopp has collaborated with Bruce Wilkinson on over a dozen bestselling books, including The Prayer of Jabez. He is an editor and writer living in Colorado.

The Book That Made America, by Jerry Newcombe

I've got another great non-fiction book to tell you about.

Revisionist history, which is so often taught to our school kids these days, leaves a very bad taste in my mouth. It is one thing for a nation's people to change the way they think and/or act and/or believe. It is another to make up their history to match what is happening today. Here is a book that reminds us of our Christian roots and how it has impacted our nation for the past 230+ years.

THE BOOK THAT MADE AMERICA: How the Bible Formed Our Nation
June 2009

The Book That Made America is a definitive volume on the Christian roots of our nation. Those who want to restore knowledge of our Christian heritage have their work cut out. As secularism continues its stranglehold on American education, we move further and further away from retaining our Christian roots. The Book That Made America will challenge anyone to know the true origin of our Nation and to fight to keep it. Newcombe hopes to educate Americans by providing the facts of history, proving that America began as a Christian nation and American’s have every right to preserve and uphold that heritage.

All that is positive in our foundation can be traced back to the Scriptures. Recently, President Obama declared that America is not a Christian nation, while Newsweek announced the demise of Christian America. This book is the answer to America’s critics with the facts of history.

About the Author:

Jerry Newcombe, D. Min., is senior producer for Coral Ridge Ministries and has produced or coproduced more than fifty documentaries. The host of two weekly radio shows, he has also been a guest on numerous television and radio talk shows - including Fox Business News, C-Span, USA Radio and Moody Radio. He is the author or coauthor of twenty two books, including with Dr. Kennedy, What If Jesus Had Never Been Born?, How Would Jesus Vote?, and The Presence of a Hidden God.

 Coral Ridge Ministries is a media outreach founded by Dr. D. James Kennedy. Its programming reaches a national television, radio, and Internet audience at www.coralridge.org.

how time flies

My brother Rick flew into Boise from New York for a brief visit with Mom over the weekend. He wanted to stay another day, but all the Labor Day flights were sold out. So we only had Friday evening and all day Saturday with Mom. I took him to the airport at 6:15 this morning. The visit was over in a flash.

We picked up Mom at 8:30 AM on Saturday and spent the full day with her. We sat on the patio in the beautiful morning hours, we ate Mexican food for lunch at On the Border, and then we went out again to meet the extended family (14 of us this time) for dinner at a great Boise restaurant called Jakers. Such fun, and Mom loved every minute of it. She'd said she didn't want to return to the care center until 9:00 PM, but we were at the restaurant for two hours and she was worn out by the time we left at 7:30. She didn't mind a bit going back a little early. [The photo at top left (click for larger version) is just part of the dinner group: my daughter Jennifer and her husband and kids, my brother, my cousin's youngest son, my aunt, and my mom (in wheelchair).]

When I returned from dropping Rick off at the airport this morning, the house felt so empty, so silent. I missed him. So did Poppet because Rick played with her constantly while we visited. And, sadly, Mom was feeling blue today too, the let down after the joy. Please, if you think of her, say a prayer.

Rick and I talked a lot about when we were kids and what a wonderful childhood we had, and Mom took great pleasure in listening to us, in between her little catnaps. I loved reminiscing with Rick about the "good old days" of our youth. What sweet times they were. Boise was much smaller then, and kids were able to have a freedom that no right thinking parent today would allow. The world has changed so much.

Mom was widowed when I was just four months old, and while we missed having a dad and while we didn't have a lot (materially speaking) as we were growing up, we had an abundance of love from our mom, grandma, aunts, uncle, and cousins. God knows, we were blessed. I'm so thankful.

When I was in my early thirties and first published, I used to wish away the months. From the time a book is turned in, it usually takes around a year for it to go through editing and the cover to be designed and the marketing to be done, etc., etc., before it arrives in stores. Back then I was so eager to get to see my cover art, to see my books on store shelves, to see what the reviewers and readers thought that I would wish away all the months in between a book's completion and its release. But it wasn't long before I learned how quickly time passed without my wishing. It is fleeting. It's but a breath and so are we. God tells us so.

“LORD, make me to know my end

And what is the extent of my days;

Let me know how transient I am.

Behold, You have made my days as handbreadths,

And my lifetime as nothing in Your sight;

Surely every man at his best is a mere breath."

(Psa. 39:4-5, NASB)

May we all make the most of our days while we are able, in Jesus' name.

~robin

Deadlines are just like they sound

I've been pounding away at the keyboard every day as my deadline bears down on me. I seem to hear the ticking of the clock 24/7. I've had a string of pretty good writing days, word-count-wise (not outstanding but good), but I've also had a few days that were pathetic. Like the day I spent so much time on the phone and finding records regarding my mom's care center residence. (That stuff really takes the creativity right out of me.)

You know the opening scene of Romancing The Stone? Writer in a fog. Cupboards bare. No toilet paper or tissues. Well, my pantry and refrigerator are just about empty. I won't even confess in public what my diet has consisted of for the past couple of weeks. I'm pretty sure it would give a nutritionist a heart attack.

Anyway, when I stopped writing yesterday because my brain was fried, I was feeling a bit of panic and despair. How on earth was I going to end this book? It didn't seem there was any possible resolution to the story as it's been written. (Yes, this is one of the downsides of being a seat-of-the-pants writer.) I was about ready to blow up my hero and heroine in some sort of terrible accident. However, that kind of ending isn't generally considered a good one in a romance. What to do? What to do?

Nothing came to me while I did some mindless computer files clean up.

Nothing came to me as I ate my dinner.

Nothing came to me when I tossed the squeaky ball for Poppet.

Finally I called it a night.

Then, as I was just finishing brushing my teeth I had one of those wonderful-but-all-too-rare aha moments. I raced to my office to grab my "rolling plot" journal, and I began scribbling in it as fast as I could. A set up for the climactic scene. Bits of dialogue. Several key components to bring the story to a satisfactory end. Best of all neither the hero or the heroine have to be blown up for it to work.

Despite not going to sleep until 11:30 pm, I was wide awake at 5:00 am. Even better, I had a few more things to scribble in my journal, as well as a note to send to my editor about additional places to add certain content. Oh man. It really felt good.

I am still too far from typing THE END, but at least I feel satisfied that I actually have an ending. That's always a good thing.

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My brother flies in from New York today for a very quick visit with our mom. Of course, this couldn't have come at a worse time. With my bare pantry, he may starve to death. No, wait. I've got eggs. He won't starve. But I'm going to have to ignore him for a few hours on Saturday and keep writing. That's okay. Mom's the person he's coming to see anyway. We've got a big (18 people) extended family dinner planned for Saturday evening. That will be great fun. I love my fam!

And somehow, by hook or by crook, this book will be finished soon.

~robin

Surrender All by Joni Lamb

Earlier this summer, I received a copy of Surrender All: Your Answer to Living with Peace, Power & Purpose by Joni Lamb. Unfortunately, I haven't had the opportunity to read the full book yet, but I want to take a moment to share it with you because I've read enough to let me know that it's a book worth reading. And if you don't believe me since I haven't finished it, believe Francine Rivers who said:

"Surrender All is a book to be savored and saved. During a trying time in my life, Joni's words and the stories blessed me and reminded me that I can trust the Lord with everything. I can continue to cling to Provers 3:5-6. I know this book will greatly encourage everyone who reads it, and I hope thousands will!"

I had the pleasure of meeting Joni in the fall of 2004 when I appeared on her show to talk about alcoholism in the Christian home. When I wrote my novel Beyond the Shadows, I thought God wanted me to tell the story in order to help those who love an alcoholic to know they aren''t walking that path alone, to encourage them to keep trusting God in the midst of chaos. But when I reached the end of writing that book, I knew that God had also called me to write it in order to bring me to another place, a deeper place, of surrendering to Him.

In the preface to Surrender All, Joni writes:

"I share my story and the stories of others who have surrendered to the Lord in hopes that you will grasp the simple yet profound importance of surrendering your life to the One who created us all. Surrender doesn't guarantee a worry-free life. We are still faced with struggles and trials along with our daily victories and moments of great hope. My desire, most of all, is to help you find your place in a world full of chaos and human suffering. There is a place of peace, power, and purpose in this world—and it begins with one word. Surrender."

Amen. That's a priceless lesson for believers to grasp hold of.

I encourage you to read Surrender All. I know that I am going to be reading the remainder of the book very soon. It is, indeed, a book to be "savored and saved."

~robin

Doing the work

Authors try lots of different ways to stay in touch with their readers. In the "old days," it was through postcards and printed newsletters. In recent years, it's been blogs, social networking sites (Facebook, Twitter, Shelfari, ShoutLife, MySpace, etc.), and e-newsletters. But one thing I've learned over the 25+ years I've been a published novelist is that the absolute most important thing an author can do is to write her books.

I can't speak for others, but one thing I don't seem to have enough of is time. Always more to do than time (or maybe it's energy ... or both) to do it in. I'm particularly feeling the squeeze right now as I try to finish my next book.

Last week, after several days in a row of getting spammed by "porno girls" on Twitter (all of whom I blocked immediately, but taking the time to block each one steals valuable time away from what I want or need to do), I'd had enough. I removed my Twitter account. Then, feeling slightly euphoric in my newfound freedom, I also closed my accounts on Shelfari and ShoutLife. I think I felt 10% lighter.

Many years ago, God spoke to me through a verse in the Bible when I was feeling overwhelmed by life and by deadlines:

"Be strong and courageous, and do the work. Don’t be afraid or discouraged by the size of the task, for the LORD God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. He will see to it that all the work ... is finished correctly."
1st Chronicles 28:20 [The portion that is represented by the ellipsis says "related to the Temple of the LORD".]

I look at this verse often. It's taped to my computer display. God called me to write fiction for Him, but I'm the one who has to "do the work."

And that's true of all of us who belong to Christ, whatever God has called us to do (writing, parenting, earning a living with our hands, etc.). We don't need to be afraid or discouraged. We can be strong and courageous. We just need to do the work. He won't fail us or forsake us. And as we work, as we are about His business, he'll see that the work finished correctly.

Isn't that a wonderful promise?

~robin

PS I didn't abandon the Internet completely. I'm still on Facebook and I'll still be blogging here and on Writes of Passage. And if you would like to get my occasional e-newsletter, be sure to sign up here (and follow the directions; it's a double opt-in subscription).

RE:FORM

Two or three years ago, the senior pastor at my church, told the congregation about a vision God had given him on ways to address seven world crises. All of these crises interact with each other. For instance, poverty and hunger cause people to do desperate things, including giving their children to strangers who promise to get them work in another country when what they really are doing is selling them into human trafficking. The vision on ways to address these issues has since been named RE:FORM.

The seven world crises as defined by RE:FORM are:

• Immoral and Corrupt Leadership
• Confusion and Spiritual Deadness
• Environmental Decline
• World Hunger
• Human Injustice
• Illiteracy and Lack of Education
• Poor Health and Disease

This year the RE:FORM conference is being held in Baltimore, and I have felt God nudging me to go. Each year, the conference will add another of the crises listed above. This year, the conference is addressing three: Environmental Decline, Human Injustice, and Confusion and Spiritual Deadness. I haven't a clue what God wants me to take away from this conference. Will it be more active involvement locally or elsewhere? Will it become a book? Perhaps both? I don't know. Anyway, my reservations are made and I'm looking forward with expectation to discovering whatever follows.

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This morning, I began another Beth Moore Bible study. I have thoroughly enjoyed all five of the previous studies of hers that I've completed since 2002/2003 and so decided to plunge back into one. Since my word(s) for 2009 that God gave me at the start of the year are Press in/Press on (press in to Jesus; press on in faith), I decided to do the Jesus, the One and Only study. I like the idea of spending several months immersed, mind and heart, in the life of Jesus. I can already tell that I'm going to thoroughly enjoy the coming weeks.

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I am racing to meet the deadline with my final book in The Sisters of Bethlehem Springs series. I may be officially certifiable by the time I'm done with it. So many words yet to write. But at least I can say that I'm thoroughly enjoying writing this couple's story.

And now it is time I set to work.

~robin

His Name is Jesus by Max Lucado

I have been enjoying Max Lucado's writing for many years, and a few years ago, I used one of his small daily devotional books in my morning quiet time. Those pages were highlighted and highlighted and highlighted. I was completely blessed by that devotional.

Recently, I've had the pleasure of going through His Name is Jesus, The Promise of God's Love Fulfilled. It follows the life of Jesus from birth to resurrection, according to the publisher the first of Lucado's books to do so. Here is the official blurb:

Drawing from his classic writing on Jesus combined with new reflections and breathtaking art, Max Lucado again opens our eyes—and hearts—to the life and work of the Savior in a way that will change lives forever. “Jesus was, at once, common and not; alternately normal and heroic. One minute blending in with the domino players in the park, the next commanding the hell out of madmen, disease out of the dying, and death out of the dead.” Who was this man who spoke as easily with kids and fishermen as widows and waves? It is the question that has echoed down through the centuries to us today, and here is a visually stunning book that answers aspects of that question.

This is, unsurprisingly, a wonderful book from a wonderful author. It's a small coffee-table book, and should be left out for others to see and open and read. Here is a sample that jumped out at me:

The next time you are called to suffer, pay attention. It may be the closest you'll ever get to God. Watch closely. It could very well be that the hand that extends itself to lead you out of the fog is a pierced one.

Isn't that beautiful? And oh-so-true. I know. I've taken hold of that pierced hand in more than one trying time in my life.

Treat yourself to this book. You'll be glad you did.

~robin

Brilliant blog posts ... and perhaps more

I just returned from seeing the movie Julie & Julia. Let me tell you two things: (1) Don't miss this movie. Go see it and go see it soon. And (2) don't go to see it hungry. You will be ravenous for food, in particular French food ... even if you don't like French food. Oh, one more thing. This movie is not a chick flick. It is safe to take the man in your life to see it. Lots of men were in the theater today and they were laughing right along with the rest of us.

If you want another opinion, I posted Charisma Magazine's review of the movie to my personal blog on Friday of last week.

The other thing this movie made me want to do was to start writing brilliant and meaningful posts on my blogs. Not sure I know where those ideas for brilliant posts might come from. I promise you, I am not going to cook my way through Julia Child's cookbook (although I am sorely tempted to go buy a copy, just so that I can say I own it).

Have you ever felt like your life is in a kind of limbo? That's how I've felt for a time. Taking care of my mom has put a lot of my life on hold. It's kept me from joining in and participating in places I wanted to join in and participate, because I never knew what Mom would need or if I would be available. (I'm not complaining; it has been a season of life and a joy in so many ways.) But now that it appears Mom won't be able to come home to live with me again, I think it's possible some doors may be about to open for me in other ways. Part of this morning's sermon at church was about having a vision, about seeing the world from a heavenly and eternal perspective. That's what I'm asking God for now. A new vision, for new ways to serve Him. I'm no spring chicken. I hear the ticking of the clock and am reminded I'm not a kid anymore. But I believe in a God of purpose and that His purpose is for us to live for Him until we draw our last breaths. So I'm convinced it is never too late to get a new vision and walk in it.

There is something, an area of ministry that, every time it comes up in a sermon or in a conversation, causes my heart to stir. It's been like that for over two years. I keep thinking this is something God wants me to write about. So far that's all I understand, but I'm feeling an anticipation, an expectation that I may get a bigger glimpse one day soon. I'll let you know when I'm no longer seeing "in a mirror dimly" (1 Cor 13:12).

~robin

the sweet fragrance of friendship

Six years ago, I received an invitation from an acquaintance to join her and some other writers she knew at her home in northern Idaho. I came very close to declining. After all, I knew only a couple of people slightly and most not at all. Wouldn't I feel a bit awkward and out of place?

Oh, how awful it would have been if I'd not joined this group of women. Through the years, they have become the sweetest and dearest of friends. They are my sisters in Christ who I would trust with my very life. They have prayed me through the darkest days I've ever known and held me up when I was too weak to stand on my own power. They have loved me when I felt so unlovable. Being with them is a highlight of every year.

Wasn't it good of God to give us the body of Christ so we would not walk alone?

As I write this, our annual Plot, Play & Pray Retreat is at an end. When I awake in the morning, we will all be in a rush to pack our bags and head to the airport where we will fly off in different directions to our homes, to our families, to the work that awaits us. But we will each treasure our many wonderful memories of these five days and four nights together. And eventually (some soon, some later) we will all get to work on the stories we brainstormed over the past few days, and we will treasure the laughter that echoes in our memories.

Thank you, Lord, for the blessing of friendship. May the stories that come out of this weekend go forth and bless others beyond all of our hopes and dreams. Amen.

~robin

Michael Hauge Hits the Mark

I'm in Denver at a Christian novelists' gathering before ICRS (International Christian Retail Show), and today we had a full day with Michael Hauge who teaches screenwriting and uses movies to help writers understand story and structure. I have listened to his CDs on screenwriting and some of his DVD on the Hero's Two Journeys. Great stuff. But hearing him in person was a real treat. I have eight pages of single spaced notes that I plan to put to good use when I get home and am back to work on my WIP.

And there is nothing, absolutely nothing like being with my brothers and sisters in Christ who are dedicated to writing stories that honor God. The support we give to one another and the laughter we share is a beautiful thing.

Here are a few shots from last night and today (click to see large version):

My roommates, Tamera Alexander and Sunni Jeffers

I said, "Pose for your photos, Brandilyn Collins." And boy, did she. {{grin}}

Clockwise from lower left, Brandilyn Collins, Nancy Moser, Kim Vogel Sawyer, Patti Hill, Carol Cox, Mindy Starns Clark (facing away), and Lori Copeland

The lovely Deborah Raney leading us in some icebreaker games.

Harry Kraus leading us in morning devotions.

Michael Hauge teaching away.

That's all for now. I'm headed to bed.

~robin

Lest We Forget What the 4th of July is About

When was the last time you read the Declaration of Independence? Perhaps it is time we look again so that we'll be reminded what we don't want to lose, the freedom that is slipping away from us in many, many ways.

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IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776.

THE UNANIMOUS DECLARATION OF THE
THIRTEEN UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

WHEN, in the Course of human Events, it becomes necessary for one People to dissolve the Political Bands which have connected them with another, and to assume, among the Powers of the Earth, the separate and equal Station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's GOD entitle them, a decent Respect to the Opinions of Mankind requires that they should declare the Causes which impel them to the Separation.

We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their CREATOR, with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate, that Governments long established, should not be changed for light and transient Causes; and accordingly all Experience hath shewn, that Mankind are more disposed to suffer, while Evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the Forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long Train of Abuses and Usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a Design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their Right, it is their Duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future Security. Such has been the patient Sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the Necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The History of the present King of Great-Britain is a History of repeated Injuries and Usurpations, all having in direct Object the Establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid World.

HE has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public Good.

HE has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing Importance, unless suspended in their Operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

HE has refused to pass other Laws for the Accommodation of large Districts of People, unless those People would relinquish the Right of Representation in the Legislature, a Right inestimable to them, and formidable to Tyranny only.

HE has called together Legislative Bodies at Places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the Depository of their public Records, for the sole Purpose of fatiguing them into Compliance with his Measures.

HE has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly Firmness his Invasions on the Rights of the People.

HE has refused for a long Time, after such Dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining, in the mean Time, exposed to all the Dangers of Invasion from without, and Convulsions within.

HE has endeavoured to prevent the Population of these States; for that Purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their Migrations hither, and raising the Conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

HE has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

HE has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the Tenure of their Offices, and the Amount and Payment of their Salaries.

HE has erected a Multitude of new Offices, and sent hither Swarms of Officers to harrass our People, and eat out their Substance.

HE has kept among us, in Times of Peace, Standing Armies, without the Consent of our Legislatures.

HE has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

a worshiper of God

 One of the novelists email groups I take part in has been discussing worship and praise music today. It's been interesting to learn how different people feel about different songs that we sing in church on Sundays. A song that one person finds meaningful another doesn't want to sing because they feel it doesn't treat God with the proper respect.

One of my favorite worship songs is Blessed Be Your Name by Matt Redman:

Blessed Be Your Name
In the land that is plentiful
Where Your streams of abundance flow
Blessed be Your name

Blessed Be Your name
When I'm found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness
Blessed Be Your name

Every blessing You pour out
I'll turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say

Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name

There is more but those are the first verses. This song helped carry me through a time of intense grief and helped me focus on the blessed name of the Lord, even in the desert place.

This morning, I was reading in Acts 16 and came across this verse:

16:14 A woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, a worshiper of God, was listening; and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul.

In the margin, I've written: If we worship God and listen, He will open our hearts to respond.

It's so true. When I live in a state of worship of God Almighty and pay attention to what He says to me, He will open my heart in so many ways. I want my life to be like a love song to Him. I can think of no better way to live.

~robin

Making a Difference in a World in Crisis

I love being a part of a church that is seeking to make a difference in the world. The Boise Vineyard is one such body of Christ, and they are attempting to make a difference in seven areas of world crisis. Here's an article that was in Charisma Magazine that shares more information:

Idaho Church Launches Global ‘Reformation’
Friday, 12 June 2009 00:00 Adrienne S. Gaines News - Featured News

Idaho Church Launches Global ‘Reformation’After years of advocating creation care, Vineyard Boise is broadening its focus to address seven areas of world crisis

A Vineyard church in Idaho is calling on local congregations to launch a reformation.

Through a ministry called RE:FORM, Vineyard Boise church is helping local congregations learn ways to address seven areas of “world crisis,” which include environmental decline, world hunger, poor health and disease, corrupt leadership, and spiritual confusion.

“I call it Isaiah 61 ministry,” said Boise Vineyard pastor Tri Robinson, who launched the program in 2005. “It’s really setting captives free and healing broken people and ministering the gospel to the poor. I just see it as the ministry of Jesus.”

Vineyard Boise has long advocated for church-based creation care, even hosting a conference on the topic annually. But Robinson said he recently realized that issues such as human trafficking and world hunger also have environmental roots.

“If people can’t grow food, they can’t make money,” said Robinson, a former science teacher and author of Saving God’s Green Earth. “... Then they get desperate, and desperate people do desperate things. Pretty soon they start selling their daughters into slavery.”

Although the idea of working to alleviate world hunger or assisting victims of human trafficking overwhelms many pastors he meets, Robinson said it can be done. He points to his own congregation, which has a medical clinic and an organic vegetable garden that generated 13 tons of produce last year to give to the needy. Both ministries serve as tools for teaching members how to do similar work elsewhere.

Earlier this year, a church team visited Thailand to assist a ministry working to aid victims of sex trafficking. The church’s efforts coincide with the national Vineyard Anti-Slavery Team, which seeks to develop safe houses for sex trafficking victims in each of the Vineyard’s eight regions.

Last year Vineyard Boise relaunched its creation care conference as RE:FORM. This year’s event will be held Sept. 16-18 in Baltimore. “If the body of Christ would unite around this,” Robinson said, “... if we would just put down our picky differences and take on these crises that are in the world right now where people are suffering and dying, we could make a difference.”

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And here's a great video, too:


Maybe some of you can attend and share your thoughts when it's over.
~robin

Painting Revelation

If you have a small group meeting in your home or if you meet in someone else's home or if you want a unique study tool for your own use, I have a recommendation. I've had this DVD for six or eight weeks but life has been a bit hectic and I just hadn't found time to pop it in and watch it. Oh gracious! I should have stayed up an extra ten minutes for several evenings in a row rather than delay watching it. It would have been worth it. I'm so glad I finally took the time, and I'm delighted to recommend Painting Revelation to others. If you're an artist, this will truly stir up those creative juices. Best yet, the DVD is on sale on their web site for $15.00.

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A Colorful Way to Come to Grips with the End Times

One-of-a-kind DVD study portrays Revelation’s prophecy in a whole new light

Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX—Revelation is one of the most difficult books of the Bible. Most of us can’t really picture the images the Apostle John describes. We’re often left scratching our heads: Who are all those strange characters?  What do they have to do with my life?

Because Revelation is primarily a vision, we need more than words to understand it—we need pictures. Artist and teacher Debby Topliff has painted the scenes described in the last book of the Bible on a 5 x 7 foot canvas in her Saugatuck, Michigan studio. In the DVD study Painting Revelation: A Visual Exploration of the Last Book of the Bible, Topliff tells the story of Revelation by taking the viewer through 29 scenes from the book. The fascinating—and sometimes frightening—visions described in Revelation are unlocked in unique ways as Topliff depicts the apocalypse of John with a spectacular array of colorfully rendered scenes. The DVD-ROM also includes downloadable study guides and discussion questions for individuals and small groups who wish to spend more time with the book.

Debby Topliff holds a master’s degree from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Illinois.  Painting Revelation began as an expression of her own personal study of Revelation. “Several years ago, I challenged myself to dive in and swim around in the murky waters until I could sort things out and ‘take the dragon by the tail.’ When I emerged—with charts and drawings in hand—I thought it would be fun to put what I’d learned down on canvas,” she recalls. The resulting work of art, with its vibrant colors and primitive folk art style, is a modern icon that will speak to children and theologians alike. (Click image at right for larger version of painting.)

Purity in Ministry

Yesterday, I did an hour long radio interview on KBXL in Boise (Inspirational Family Radio). The host was Deb Krum, and I really enjoyed her questions and getting to know her. We talked about how I once felt I had damaged my testimony and therefore God would never be able to use me, of how (after a period of healing and restoration) God called me into a ministry of writing for Him and later of leading women's retreats, and of how God has used lessons in my life to help others. We actually covered a lot of territory in those 60 minutes, but those were the key points I remember.

This morning, my lesson in Beth Moore's A Woman's Heart, God's Dwelling Place Bible study was on the holy calling of the priesthood, and I the following really spoke to my heart:

Jesus' words that we read earlier in John 17:13-21 reflect the spirit of the Nazirite—separated to God yet not separated from the people. We are the light of the world! We cannot hide our lampstands under the bushels of spiritual monasteries. Yet we cannot let the darkness rub off on us. How do we accomplish such a balance? The answer is found in Matthew 10:16: "I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves."

. . . Sanctification is not about long hair and abstinence. It is about purity—purity maintained in the midst of an impure world. Understand this vital precept: Maintaining purity in ministry is the result of nothing less than deliberate devotion. For those really fulfilling their calling of evangelism and ministry, purity is neither easy nor accidental. We must guard our minds and put on our armor. A war rages out there. And we are Satan's favorite prisoners.

. . . In the world but not of the world. As shrewd as snakes but as innocent as doves. Are you up to it? The power to live this way was made available the moment Christ prayed that prayer in your behalf. You see, God's precious Son gets anything He wants.

I couldn't help thinking about the things I said during the radio interview yesterday and know how very much I want to be living that sanctified, pure life in this ministry of writing that God called me to. I want to be deliberate in my devotion to Him. I want to press into Jesus and press on in the faith (my words for 2009: press in and press on). And I certainly never again want to be taken prisoner by Satan. Not even for a moment. Been there, done that. Thus I'd better be wearing the full armor of God so that I can do battle.

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. (Ephesians 6:10-17, NASB)

May I be dressed in the full armor of God as I go about my business today. And may the same be true of you, dear reader.

~robin

creation & creating

Before I post anything else on this Memorial Day, I want to say a word of thanks to all of our men and women in uniform. This holiday was first established to honor the Union soldiers who died during the Civil War, but after WWI it was changed to recognize American casualties from any war. To those serving our nation today, may God keep you safe, grant you victory in your mission, and bring you home to your loved ones soon. Please know that you are appreciated and supported by the majority of Americans. (Photo is of Poppet on our patio on Sunday.)

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About five years ago, I participated in a systematic theology study with a group of novelists. We used Wayne Grudem's abbreviated version, Bible Doctrine, and I loved reading the portion on the Doctrine of Creation:

It seems that God created the universe, then, to take delight in his creation, for as creation shows forth various aspects of God's character, to that extent he does take delight in it.

This explains why we take spontaneous delight in all sorts of creative activities ourselves. People with artistic, musical, or literary skills enjoy creating things and seeing, hearing, or pondering their creative work. God has so made us that we enjoy imitating, in a creaturely way, his creative activity. And one of the amazing aspects of humanity — in distinction from the rest of creation — is our ability to create new things. This also explains why we take delight in other kinds of "creative" activity ... Even children enjoy coloring pictures or building houses out of blocks. In all of these activities, we reflect in small measure the creative activity of God, and we should delight in it and thank him for it."

Wow! As a writer, I certainly could relate to what Grudem wrote. I enjoy creating something new, but it wasn't until the past fifteen years that I truly came to understand God made me to enjoy imitating His creativity.

What do you enjoy creating? Do you realize that God takes delight in your enjoyment of creative endeavors? Go ahead. Get out those crayons and coloring books or that set of building blocks and make something today!

~robin

We need one another

This morning, my Beth Moore study was about our need for others. The main verses looked at were Exodus 17:8-16, the story of Aaron and Hur holding up Moses' arms & his staff which gave the Israelites the victory in battle. I loved these two paragraphs from Beth:

God delights in allowing us the privilege of experiencing spiritual victories. When we refuse to allow anyone to share our personal battles, we risk two negative consequences: (1) We often lengthen the battle. Can you imagine how many days the Israelites would have needed to slay the Amalekites if they were victorious only when Moses could muster the energy to lift his staff? Without a doubt, teamwork hastened the victory. (2) When we do not ask for support, we cheat others of the joy of victory. Some of the greatest moments of ecstasy I have experienced in my Christian journey have been others' victories....

As much as you may wish you were, you are not autonomous. God has chosen that our victories are sweetest when shared. You are a gift to the body of Christ. The body of Christ is a gift to you.

In the summer of 2003, I felt God nudging me to form a team of prayer warriors to pray for my writing ministry. Some months before, God had called me to write a book about alcoholism's affect on a marriage. I knew it would be a difficult book to write. I know what that particular "disease" (sin-choice) does to a family. I had also come to understand how many people are sitting in our pews with secret heartaches weighing them down. This book would be for them, to let them know they aren't alone, and I had a sneaking suspicion that the enemy of our souls wouldn't be any too happy about this book.

God knew how much I would need my prayer team and for much more than just praying about the writing of Beyond the Shadows. Over the next few years, I felt like I was attacked in a million ways. The words of encouragement I received from members of my prayer team were rays of light in a difficult time. I often felt the prayers of others carrying me through the day. And every so often a member would send me an email saying that praying for me had blessed them in numerous ways. Isn't that just like God? To bless those who pray and those they pray for.

Come September, my prayer team will be entering it's 7th year. Over the years, new members have been added, some members have stepped away, and there are some who have been praying for me from the beginning. Soon it will be time to invite people to commit to pray for another year. All I know is, I wouldn't ever again want to do what I do without a prayer team standing in the gap for me.

Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor. For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up ... And if one can overpower him who is alone, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart.
(Ecclesiastes 4:9-10, 12)

Thank You, Father, for the wonderful brothers and sisters in Christ who have stepped forward to pray for me and for the books that I write. Thank You for the special friends You have brought into my life so that they can lift me up when I fall. Thank you for the two women who have joined with me to form a cord of three strands. Bless them for their many kindnesses to me. Give all of them the desires of their hearts. Help them to draw ever closer to You in times of adversity. No matter what they want most in life, cause them to want You even more. In the mighty name of Jesus, Amen.

~robin

falling into the arms of Jesus

You can make many plans, but the Lord's purpose will prevail. (Proverbs 19:21, NLT)

As I write this post, I'm meditating (as I have done in the past and will undoubtedly do again in the future) on trust and God's will. He is in control. He has given me free will and He allows me to learn the easy way or the hard way. But ultimately His will prevails because He is God and He is all-powerful. Because of His love for me, I will get to the place He wants me. What awesome patience He exhibits.

Let go, Robin, and let God!

Jesus stands behind me, His arms outstretched. He smiles gently and His gaze is tender. I release a long, slow breath and feel my body relax. I close my eyes. Then I allow myself to fall backward, like those people in that old iced tea commercial who fall backward into a swimming pool. Only I fall into the strong, loving, trustworthy arms of Jesus, my Lord. Ahhhhh.....

The name of the LORD is a strong tower; The righteous runs into it and is safe. (Proverbs 18:10, NASU)

"Jesus, Your name is my strong tower. I run into Your name, and I am safe."

What an awesome truth that is!

~robin

Today I Choose . . . to Follow Jesus

relying on His strength and not my own

I've been going through some old writing and came across the following from June 2002:

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 all of us.

~rlh~