Hobbits, You, and the Spiritual World: John 3:16 Marketing Excerpt Tour

What a perfect time for me to be hosting Jill Richardson as a part of the John 3:16 Marketing's Excerpt Tour, with the new Hobbit movie coming out within days! Here's a bit about her new book--and then read on for an excerpt, information about a contest with great prizes, and where to go on the tour for another treasure from Hobbits, You, and the Spiritual World. 

Hobbits, elves, and dragons have become common fantasy characters but do they have more relevance to your life than you think? Are they as real as, or the same as, people you meet every day? Maybe not literally, but J.R.R. Tolkien's famous characters bring to life real character qualities we all can learn from, whether good or bad. What can the bravery of a hobbit, the faith of a elf, or the greed of a dragon teach teens about themselves? How can their stories lead us to the real Kingdom where God is working out way more than a fantasy for his people? Dig in to these familiar characters and relevant Bible passages to find out. Come out understanding how to live your own epic story!

Hobbits, You, and the Spiritual World of Middle-earth—http://amzn.to/16y2p6b

EXCERPT:
FIVE

REALLY GLAD HE’S ON OUR SIDE (BEORN)

Vital Stats
Name: Beorn.
Height: What time of day is it?
Special Talent: Skinchanging. It sounds a whole lot more awesome than “Werebear.”
In His High School Yearbook: Most likely to grow a beard. And two extra legs.

Beorn is the Brando of The Hobbit. Tough, skeptical, secretive, and vicious when provoked. Not someone you want as an enemy. But Beorn will equally viciously protect his friends. You just need to be his friend,
first. OK, nothing sketch about that.
❖
“‘You must all be very polite when I introduce you. I shall introduce you slowly, two by two, I think; and you must be careful not to annoy him, or heaven knows what will happen. He can be appalling when he is angry,
though he is kind enough if humored.’” (The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien, p.118)
❖
There’s a little bit of confusion here. On the one hand, it’s great to have this guy on your side. The dwarves and Bilbo would have starved through Mirkwood Forest without the food he sent with them. They found some much needed rest and food at his somewhat unconventional house. They would have never gotten out of Middle Earth alive without his handy turning-into-a- giant-bear trick in the end. When he’s on your
side, he’s there to the end. There is a lot about Beorn to be grateful for.

On the other hand, he admits to being a little untrustworthy. He implies their chances of being eaten alive are fairly high if they leave his house after dark. They’re not entirely sure for a while if he’s the savior they need or the terror they don’t.

What kind of a role model is this?

Maybe Beorn teaches us how important it is to watch where we put our loyalty. Then, when we give it, he shows us how to keep it. Friendships during the teen years can have complicated loyalties. Has anyone ever
said things like this to you?

If you’re really my friend you would... If you really trusted me you’d...

If you really loved me you would...

Teenagers toss around the words “friends forever” and “I’ve got your back” easily. But, what do those words mean? Do you mean what you’re saying? Do you know what you’re saying?

With some people, it’s a bad idea to promise loyalty. Pippin finds this out when he offers a lifetime of service to Denethor. The guy is certifiably nuts. He even dabbles in filicide. (That’s killing your own kid. It is not normal.) But Pippin jumps in quickly and doesn’t put a lot of thought behind how smart it is to promise you’ll be best buds with a lunatic.

Maybe you know the feeling. A promise of friendship has turned into sticking with someone you know isn’t doing great things. You’re realizing how hard it is to be totally behind a friend who tells lies, harms herself, bullies other kids, or wants you to do things you’re not comfortable with. But what to do? You promised.

With other people, it’s tempting to break a promise to be a loyal friend, even when you know you shouldn’t. She’s not popular anymore; he’s gotten annoying and moody. Sticking with them when they need you is
the right thing to do, but...

Here’s a story that might shed some light on the problem.
❖
After David had finished talking with Saul, Jonathan became one in spirit with David, and he loved him as himself. From that day Saul kept David with him and did not let him return home to his family. And Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself. Jonathan took off the robe he was wearing and gave it to David, along with his tunic, and even his sword, his bow and his belt. . .

Saul told his son Jonathan and all the attendants to kill David. But Jonathan had taken a great liking to David and warned him, “My father Saul is looking for a chance to kill you. Be on your guard tomorrow morning; go into hiding and stay there. I will go out and stand with my father in the field where you are. I’ll speak to him about you and will tell you what I find out.”

Jonathan spoke well of David to Saul his father and said to him, “Let not the king do wrong to his servant David; he has not wronged you . . .”

Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, for we have sworn friendship with each other in the name of the Lord, saying, ‘The Lord is witness between you and me, and between your descendants and my descendants forever.’” Then David left, and Jonathan went back to the town (1 Samuel 18-20).

Yes, the story is a long one. Here is the Spark Notes version: David is King Saul’s “intern.” He does well. Too well. Saul’s son becomes his best friend, and his daughter marries the guy. David becomes more popular than the king. Of course, this does not go over well. So, the king tries to pin David to the wall with a spear. Multiple times. Jonathan doesn’t believe his father has evil intentions and thinks maybe the man is just misunderstood. Until Saul tries to pin him to a wall, at which point Jonathan tells David he’d better get out of town fast. Jonathan stays loyal to his friend, makes his dad mad, and basically ends up losing everything. Wow, great story.

Through all of this, Jonathan struggles. Stay loyal to dad, or keep his promise to David? It’s not an easy Choice. He loves his dad. They have a history, and anyway, it’s safer to remain on the king’s good side. Plus there’s a lot of job security in being the king’s firstborn son.

But, David is his friend, and his friend hasn’t done anything wrong. In fact, he’s being picked on and Threatened for being a good guy. What to do?

1. Jonathan started this BFF pact with David. David couldn’t really have started it. He was a commoner, and this was the king’s son. It would be like you walking into the White House and asking Malia Obama to hang. Not done. So why did Jonathan do it?
2. What do you think it meant for Jonathan, the king’s son, to give David his robe, sword, etc.?
3. What was Jonathan risking by making this friendship?
4. Jonathan is torn between two loyalties. What do you think he considered when trying to make his decision about whom to stick with? Why did he decide to stay on David’s side?
5. What did he lose by making this decision? What did he gain?

God says in Psalm 15 that people who really worship Him will “keep their promises no matter how much it hurts.” So, first, it’s good to keep promises, but second, you’d better be pretty careful before you make one.

The dwarves don’t really know much about Beorn, so they have to make their decision without much info. What they do know is that the smartest person around, Gandalf, tells them he’s a friend worth making. So, they choose to go with listening to someone who knows more than they do, and they befriend Beorn.

But, they don’t keep it one-sided. They live up to their end of the friendship, too. They don’t bring Beorn’s ponies into Mirkwood, even though they’d like to. They respect his boundaries (don’t come outside at night, don’t mistreat my animals), and they are rewarded by a very useful friendship. Friends, chosen carefully and given respect, are some of the greatest gifts we can give ourselves. And hey, if one of them can turn into a giant bear, all the better.

WHAT ABOUT YOU?

Have you ever had to choose between two people? What helped you make your decision? Did you make the right decision or the wrong one? Why?

When you decide on friendships, what matters to you? What would make you keep a loyalty no matter What? What would make you end one? Do you have criteria you think God would like?

WORDS TO REMEMBER

“Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm.” (Proverbs 13:20)

“Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.” (Romans 12:10

Want to read more? The next excerpt can be found on December 10 at http://www.emmaright.com .

Jill's love for hobbits and elves comes from her time as a literature  teacher and as a lifelong reader of great stories. She also loves an epic challenge and a chance for grace wherever they exist. Jill has a BA in English and Education and an MDiv in theology and is an ordained minister who has served as a worship, preaching, and discipleship pastor. She has published four books previously, as well as articles in national magazines such as FamilyFun, Discipleship Journal, and Today's Christian Woman.

Jill enjoys speaking on a variety of topics and has been very active on the MOPS circuit, as well as in junior high and high school classes. She enjoys speaking for retreats for all ages.

With three daughters, three cats, and (thankfully!) only one husband, she keeps busy otherwise with community theater, gardening, reading, scrapbooking, and traveling. Jill loves oceans, cats, chocolate, teenagers, her family, the Cubs, and God, not necessarily in that order.

Contacts:

jills-books@comcast.net

http://jillmarierichardson.com

https://www.facebook.com/jillwrites

http://jill-theimperfectjourney.blogspot.com

http://jillrichardson.blogspot.com

https://twitter.com/JillMarieRichar

http://pinterest.com/jimari/

From December 1 through December 16, the John 3:16Marketing Network is hosting a Christmas Book Launch and Hobbits, You, and the Spiritual World is a featured book. As part of the event, the Network is offering a $200 Amazon gift certificate to one lucky winner. For a chance to win, go to http://bit.ly/Christian_Books and enter the Rafflecopter (toward the bottom of the page). And be sure and pick up your Kindle version of Hobbits, You, and the Spiritual World at http://amzn.to/1eG7u1Y 

Spiralling Out of Control: Excerpt and $200 Amazon Gift Card Giveaway!

Today's guest author in the John 3:16 Marketing Excerpt Tour is Michelle Dennis Evans, with info and an excerpt about her new book, Spiralling Out of Control. Take it away, Michelle!

Robin, thank you so much for hosting me on your blog.

Make sure you read right to the bottom for your chance to win a $200 Amazon voucher.

Book blurb... Temptation, depression, seduction, betrayal ... Not what Stephanie was expecting at fifteen years of age. Uprooted from her happy, all-girl high school life with a dream filled future and thrown into an unfriendly co-ed school, Stephanie spirals into depression. 


When charismatic high school senior Jason notices her, Stephanie jumps in feet first and willingly puts all her faith and trust in him, a boy she barely knows. 

Every choice she makes and turn she takes leads her towards a dangerous path.

Her best friend is never far away and ready to catch her … but will she push Tabbie too far away when she needs her most? 

This novel contains adult themes.
Recommended reading audiences 17+ 
Excerpt - Chapter 2 part a

The front door of their new home was slightly ajar. 

“Hello? Mum? Dad? You in here somewhere?” 

No one was in sight. Stephanie mounted the first step and paused.

Silence. She inched her way up to the next. The house was still. Were her

parents in there? She bit her lip, hoping they were. At the top of the stairs

she walked down a short hallway, checking the rooms on either side. Through the

last doorway, her parents lay on the floor of what looked like the master

bedroom.

Her father rolled over to face the doorway. “Steph, good morning. How did you sleep?”

She ignored the question. “Why didn’t you tell us you got in?”

“Just as it was getting light, your father decided to check under all the pavers and rocks for a spare key.” Her mother chuckled.

“They left a key?” Stephanie spat the words. 

“It appears that way.” Dad yawned, stretching. 

“Why didn’t you check last night?”

 “Is April awake?” Dad asked.

“That’s crazy. We could’ve been inside.” Stephanie spun the doorknob between her thumb and fingers. “That’s so typical of this family!”

“Stephanie!” Her mother sat up.

“Not much we can do about it now.” Her father climbed to his feet.

April pushed the door away from Stephanie’s grasp. “Can we go to McDonalds for breakfast?”

“Good morning, love. Yes, McDonalds sounds good. I could do with a coffee.” Diane pushed herself up off the floor.

Stephanie looked from one to the other. Is this some weird fairytale I’ve woken up in?

~~~

When they returned to the house, Stephanie cheered. Finally something was happening as scheduled. The removal truck doors swung in the breeze and two burly men were ready to unload. 

Stephanie helped unpack box after box. By the end of the day most things were re-homed, so she left the confines of the house. 

Her mind spun with all the changes. Tabbie wasn’t a five-minute drive away. There would be no dance rehearsal this week, she was no longer a student at Hill Top Private College and she no longer lived in Sydney. 

Stephanie took long strides away from the house as dusk approached. Perhaps a walk would clear her mind. The grey sky seemed to hover low, like it was falling on her, choking the voice that wanted to scream. The weight of fear forced her back home and inside. Her heart raced and her head pounded as she darted into her room. 

She found her posters, the ones she’d carefully taken off the walls of her Sydney bedroom. With no order or pattern, she slapped them on the walls—anywhere. Blu-tacking them haphazardly to cover the duck-pond green paint. In her out-of-control state, everything began to spin. 

Stephanie fell onto her bed, smothered her face with her pillow and sobbed. 

Want to read more? The next excerpt from Spiralling Out of Control will be at http://www.lorilynroberts.blogspot.com/ tomorrow, December 9!

Please pop over to the John 3:16 page and enter the Rafflecopter for your chance to win a $200 Amazon voucher http://bit.ly/Christian_Books

Bio ... Michelle Dennis Evans writes picture books, chapter books, young adult contemporary novels and enjoys dabbling in free verse poetry. Her debut novel Spiralling Out of Control and poetry collection Life Inspired both reached #1 in subcategories on Amazon in their first week of release.  

Michelle is passionate about seeing people grow and move forward in their journey. She lives on the Gold Coast with her husband and four super active, super fun and super time consuming children. 

Find Michelle and all of her social media links at MichelleDennisEvans.com

"The Donkey and the King" Excerpt Four: John 3:16 Marketing Tour

Today's post is a part of the John 3:16 Marketing Excerpt Tour for December. It's by Lorilyn Roberts and contains an excerpt and info about her children's book, "The Donkey and The King." Check out these amazing illustrations, folks! And details for entering the raffle for a $200 Amazon card!

From author Lorilyn Roberts:

A donkey longs for an easier life with no heavy burdens and no one to tell him what to do. He runs away and becomes lost, but “good” finds him in the most unlikely of places.

Travel to the Bible lands and meet Baruch, a stubborn donkey, and other lovable animals:  Lowly, the pig; Much-Afraid, a small, lame dog; Worldly Crow, who isn’t as bright as he thinks he is; and a sheep, Little, sent on a special mission by the King. The ending of the story will delight young readers as they discover “good” exists in the world if they look and listen for it. 

When I was young, I hated doing chores. I suppose I was this donkey, rebellious and self-determined, but desperate for a friend—the one friend who would never leave me (or you). 

Here is a short excerpt from “The Donkey and the King.” This is the third stop on the tour. I hope you will visit all the blogs and participate in the John 3:16 Marketing Network Book Launch and win the grand prize. See details below.

“I have to go,” said the donkey. “Someday I’ll come back and we can be together again.”
Baruch slipped away into the darkness.

Several hours passed as Baruch plodded along the unfamiliar road. Night winds blew dust in his face. Bats circled in the moonlit sky. Wild jackals H-O-W-L-E-D.


*~*~*~*~*~*


On every page is the hidden word “good.” Can you find it in the drawings above? If not, you can look below and see where the word is hidden.

The unique quality about Kindle-enhanced books is that the drawings and font size can be enlarged for young readers. And for parents who can’t find the word, a QR code (a free AP is available for smart phones) and link is provided to facilitate the search. Some pages are more challenging than others (for older readers).

If you enjoyed looking for the mouse in “Goodnight Moon” when you were young, your child will delight in looking for “good” in “The Donkey and the King.” The moral:  There is good in the world if you look and listen for the King’s voice.

Details:
“The Donkey and the King” (A Story of Redemption)
99 cents December 1 through December 16
24 reviews, 4.8 stars
Ages 2-6

Book Trailer:  http://bit.ly/Donkey_Video

From December 1 through December 16, the John 3:16 Marketing Network is hosting a Christmas Book Launch and “The Donkey and the King” is a featured book.

As part of the event, the Network is offering a $200 Amazon gift e-card to one lucky winner. For a chance to win, go to http://bit.ly/Christian_Books  and enter the Rafflecopter (toward the bottom of the page). And be sure and pick up your Kindle version of “The Donkey and the King” for 99 cents at http://bit.ly/Donkey_Kindle    

Next stop on Lorilyn Roberts’ Excerpt Tour:  Visit Jill Richardson’s blog on December 7 at:  http://jill-theimperfectjourney.blogspot.com

Lorilyn Roberts is an award-winning author who writes family-friendly books for the young, the young at heart, and all those in between. Visit http://LorilynRoberts.com to learn more.

A Bell Ringer's Epiphany

Today's guest blogger is Linda Wood Rondeau. I asked her to help us usher in the Christmas season because I just read her wonderful feel-good novel, A Christmas Prayer, which has just been released. She is sharing her story "The Bell Ringer's Epiphany" with us. Enjoy! And afterward, scroll down and read more about Linda and her new books.

I wondered why I had volunteered. I had too many things to do. And I hate the cold. It gets into my bones until nothing can make me feel warm again. 

I had offered to be a bell ringer for the Salvation Army’s Christmas drive. I bundled up and trekked to my station at the local grocery store. I donned the blue apron and picked up the emblem of my assignment, a small golden bell.

Then one by one the people came up to the little red bucket dropping in the change or dollars. Sometimes people felt like talking. Other times, they nodded and left. Still others dropped their gift and scurried off to complete the sundry other tasks the season required of them.

“I brought you here to teach you something,” the Spirit said to my heart.

Not to be so quick to volunteer?

 “No. I want you to study these people. Examine the way they give.”

And, I did. To my amazement, I learned the reasons for giving are as varied as the people who donate. Then I began to see similarities in people’s motivation. And, I wondered where my heart would fit among theirs. 

The first lady gave from her sorrow. This was her first Christmas without her mother. Her father had passed away only a year before. Eyes brimming with tears, she pushed twenty dollars into the bucket. “My mother was a bell ringer,” she said. “Thank you for doing this.” Then she rushed off, uncomfortable with her emotions.  

The Spirit spoke again: He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering (Isaiah 52:3).

The next person gave from his abundance. His leather jacket and bulging wallet told all. He plopped a den-dollar bill into the bucket, pleased with his generosity. He straightened his shoulders with pride in his offering and left.

The Spirit spoke again: From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded: and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked (Luke 12:48).

An elderly woman approached. Her threadbare coat and raveled scarf told of her station in life. Her cart also bore testament to her poverty. She stopped before the red canister, pulled out a thin and worn wallet from her purse, and dropped in her last two coins. “Maybe this will bring me good fortune,” she said. She gave from her need, as if investing into generosity would bring better days. 

The Spirit spoke yet again: And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19).

Another elderly woman stopped by the kettle. Her head drooped from her heavy burden. She shrugged her shoulders then reached into her purse for an assortment of change. “I feel guilty if I pass by one of these drums and give nothing.” She trotted off, head slightly higher. Her giving well was a fountain of guilt.

The Spirit spoke anew: For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me (Psalm 51:3).

Lastly, a young man eagerly approached the drum, much akin to Tiger’s Happy Bounce, and tossed his coins with a whistle. “I love this!” he said as he sailed out the door. “God’s been good to me. This is one way I can say, ‘Thank you.’” The young man gave from a spirit of gratitude.

The Spirit spoke once more than fell silent: Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver (1 Corinthians 9:7).

Then I knew what the Spirit wanted me to learn. Christmas is a time for giving. I analyzed my own motivations. Do I give begrudgingly because it’s expected? Do I donate from a feeling of loss? Do I thrive on the hope one day my giving will be multiplied? Do I fear what will happen if I do not give? I hope that from this day on my giving will be from a grateful heart to a Savior who came as the atonement for my sins.

Winner of the 2012 Selah Award for best first novel The Other Side of Darkness/Harbourlight,  LINDA WOOD RONDEAU writes stories of God’s mercies. Walk with her unforgettable characters as they journey paths not unlike our own. After a long career in human services, Linda now resides in Jacksonville, Florida. 

Linda’s best-selling Adirondack Romance, It Really IS a Wonderful Life, is published by Lighthouse of the Carolinas and is available wherever books are sold.  Her next releases were her devotional book, I Prayed for Patience God Gave Me Children and Days of Vines and Roses. 

Joy Comes to Dinsmore Street and A Christmas Prayer have been released in time for the Christmas Season. Songs in the Valley/ Helping Hands Press will be released in late 2013 or early 2014.  

Readers may visit her web site at www.lindarondeau.com or email her at lindarondeau@gmail.com  or find her on Facebook, Twitter, PInterest, LinkedIn, Google Plus and Goodreads.  

Guest Blogger Deborah Heal: Every Hill and Mountain

I'm becoming acquainted with author Deborah Heal through the John 3:16 Marketing Network, and was particularly interested in her Time and Again time travel-mystery book series since I'm writing my own time travel novel, Jordan's Shadow. I've started reading Time and Again, and I'm hooked! Deborah agreed to share some very personal insights from her faith and writing journey. And also the good news that the Kindle version of Every Hill and Mountain is on sale for 99 cents now through the end of November. Click here to buy it at Amazon.



I think of my novel Every Hill and Mountain as an assignment I turned in for the continuing education program I’m involved with. You know, that life-long business of becoming more sanctified. As slow as I’m learning things, I figure God may decide to keep me in school another hundred years or so before he lets me into Heaven.

By that, I’m not saying I will have arrived, become perfect, and thus will deserve to get into Heaven—not even after a thousand years. But apparently, God thinks it’s good for us to come smack up against our ignorance, stupidity, and foulness for a while in this life so we we’ll appreciate His perfection all the more in the life to come.

I have a friend of the New Age persuasion who does believe in the perfectibility of human beings. We had a conversation a while back about racism, in which I said everyone’s prejudiced to one degree or another. He got quite irate and said, “Hey, speak for yourself!” He claimed to be completely free of this fault.

But I know I’m right. No one reaches perfection in any aspect of his being. Not in this life. Whether I like it or not, I’m a racist to one degree or another. But I have come a long way through the years as God continues to work on me.

My first teacher on the subject of race was an aunt (God rest her soul). The lesson came when I was five or six and as a treat, she took me to shop at the Ben Franklin store. When we got out of the car, she called my attention to some people standing on the sidewalk across the street. “See those n***ers over there,” she whispered. “Watch out. They’ll cut your ears off if they ever hear you call them n***er.” The sad thing is, I think my aunt was really trying to help me.

It was the first time I’d heard the “N” word, and taking her teaching as Gospel truth, I solemnly promised never to use that word. For so many years I took it as the literal truth. My aunt’s anxiety was transmitted to me, but here’s the funny part: I couldn’t distinguish those people on the sidewalk from anyone else. I remember being so confused.

My racist education continued in the small rural town where I grew up. I don’t remember anyone slinging racial slurs in the elementary school, but maybe the subject of race never came up because the school was completely 100% bona fide white. My first experience meeting and speaking to a minority came when I reached high school in the late 1960s and was surprised to find four or five African-American students there. During that time, the news on TV was filled with stories about race riots in cities across the country, including nearby East St. Louis. I wondered (a bit indignantly) why those Negroes were so angry. After all, Lincoln had emancipated them, hadn’t he? The Negroes in our school seemed happy. Of course some of them seemed overly anxious to please and the rest just kept their heads down and mouths shut and worked on being invisible.

The African-American students at my high school never mentioned any reasons for discontent, and our teachers were completely silent about race issues. The rumor that Dr. Martin Luther King was a Communist made its way into discussions among students and around the family dinner table. And when he was assassinated, while we didn’t rejoice, we were relieved he wouldn’t be able to spread violence and his evil doctrines any more. I managed to graduate from high school and get on with adult life without ever once hearing anything about Jim Crow, disenfranchisement, “separate, but equal” or any of the other abominations the black community suffered through.

It wasn’t until I went to college that my ignorance began to be chipped away by the power of the written word. I learned a valuable lesson about the importance of using primary sources when I read Martin Luther King’s “Letters from a Birmingham Jail.” With no trumped up rumors and slanted newscasts between the writer and the reader, the truth came shining through on the page. I was astounded by his logic and moved to tears by his eloquence and gentleness. I decided that if he was a Communist, then I was an astronaut.

(Listen to a dramatic reading of Letters from a Birmingham Jail.)

Later my brain was exercised with the biographies of Frederick Douglas, George Washington Carver, and Booker T. Washington. Other books in the curriculum for this white woman’s continuing education were To Kill a Mockingbird and Black Like Me and Growing up Black and The Emancipation of Robert Sadler and Dick Gregory’s autobiography Nigger and Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. The written word had made a powerful impact on my thinking, and I took that lesson into the classroom when I became an English teacher at other small rural, all white schools. I wish I could report that my students were much more sophisticated in their thinking than I had been at that age. The majority of them probably were, but I’m sad to say that in virtually every class that I taught To Kill a Mockingbird and I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, (much less mentioned Black History Month) two questions inevitably would be raised by students:

1. Why do we have to learn this? After all we don’t have any African-American students at our school.

2. Aren’t we the ones being discriminated against now, and isn’t everything hunky dory for Blacks now?

Their attitude caused me to shed a tear or two, but also to be reminded of how much my own sinfulness causes God to sorrow. But like Martin Luther King,

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

In other words, I long for the day when all God’s children will be freed from the bondage of ignorance and sin. On that day, we’ll be past all the striving and--with equal access—turn our attention to where it should have been all along, on God's glory.




Deborah Heal is the author of the Time and Again virtual time travel mystery series, which has been described as “Back to the Future meets virtual reality with a dash of Seventh Heaven thrown in.” She was born not far from the setting of her book Every Hill and Mountain and grew up “just down the road” from the setting of Time and Again and Unclaimed Legacy. Today she lives with her husband in Waterloo, Illinois, where she enjoys reading, gardening, and learning about regional history. She has three grown children, three grandchildren, and two canine buddies Digger and Scout. She loves to interact with her readers, who may learn more about the history behind the books at her Website , Twitter, and Facebook.


These are her literary babies. She's expecting another in the spring of 2014.  

Big Reveal of Upcoming Book Cover: The Captive Maiden!

I'm home sick today, but I have dragged myself out of bed to do this blog, because today is the first day that author Melanie Dickerson is sharing the cover of her upcoming novel, The Captive Maiden. And I get to share it with my readers!

So, without more rambling from me, here it is...

Isn't it beautiful! As an amateur costumer, I adore the dress. It's perfect for Cinderella. Oh, did I mention this is a retelling of the Cinderella story, set in Medieval Europe?

Melanie is known for her inspirational and realistic retellings of classic fairy tales. She's done Sleeping Beauty, Beauty and the Beast, and Snow White to date. Cinderella is one of my favorites, so I'm particularly looking forward to this one. Here is Melanie's description of it:

Happily Ever After …Or Happily Nevermore?

Gisela’s childhood was filled with laughter and visits from nobles such as the duke and his young son. But since her father’s death, each day has been filled with nothing but servitude to her stepmother. So when Gisela learns the duke’s son, Valten---the boy she has daydreamed about for years---is throwing a ball in hopes of finding a wife, she vows to find a way to attend, even if it’s only for a taste of a life she’ll never have. To her surprise, she catches Valten’s eye. Though he is rough around the edges, Gisela finds Valten has completely captured her heart. But other forces are bent on keeping the two from falling further in love, putting Gisela in more danger than she ever imagined.

The release date for The Captive Maiden is October 22, but the book is available for pre-order now. All you followers of The Queen may remember Melanie as a faithful reader and commenter on this blog way before she was published (and a Christy Award finalist!). So I want to help her out by pre-ordering and hope you will, too.

I'm sure it's available other places, but here's where I bought mine at Amazon.

Glimpses of Heaven

Back during the Christmas season, I mentioned discovering some new authors and books that the rest of you have probably been enjoying for years. I asked what else I might be missing, and several of you mentioned Randy Alcorn, particularly his book on Heaven.

It was interesting that several of you brought up this particular book, because my niece, Kristi, and I had been discussing it.

We've been talking a lot about Heaven, particularly how we Americans don't seem to be all that excited about it. Maybe it's because our lives are relatively easy in comparison to the rest of the world. Maybe because we're so grounded in materialism.

I've heard missionaries say that in lots of countries, particularly where there is persecution, Christians focus on Heaven. It's the promise that keeps them going. They picture it vividly and ponder it in their hearts.

I think we need to do more of that, ourselves, to keep up from getting so bogged down in the cares of this world. We need that reminder that the story is going to have a "happily ever after" no matter how bleak things are right now. But to do that, picturing some vague cloudy place where we sit around strumming harps all day isn't what we need.

The Bible is the best place to start, of course, to get the right foundation. But are there other authors and books out there than can help fire our imaginations, help us picture the world to come?

Lots of you mentioned Randy Alcorn's book, Heaven. I have read this book, but it was years ago. I was interested to discover a companion book called 50 Days of Heaven: Reflections That Bring Eternity to Light. Here's the description from amazon.com: "The devotional provides an easy-to-follow, 50-day program that reveals the biblical information on what a Christian's life will be like in heaven. Throughout this journey, the reader will learn and meditate upon the promises, rewards, and expectations that a believer in Christ will enjoy for eternity."

I also remember reading Heaven: Your Real Home, by Joni Eareckson Tada, several years ago. Particularly poignant was a dream she had at one point--which she was convinced was a true vision of heaven--in which she is swimming in a beautiful pool. (As most of you probably know, in this life, Joni is paralyzed.) A man is close by, watching, and she's struck by the complete harmony they feel as they look at one another. No distrust, no disharmony, no sin. (I hope I'm recounting the scene accurately. As I said, I read it years ago.)

Last year I picked up two books, one of which was 90 Minutes in Heaven by Don Piper, who was pronounced dead at the scene of a car accident and had an amazing experience during those 90 minutes. The other was called Glimpses of Heaven: True Stories of Hope and Peace at the End of Life's Journey by Trudy Harris. I found this one to be a little disappointing. Harris is (or was) a Hospice nurse and recounts experiences of patients and family as they reach the end of life, but the few stories I read didn't particularly inspire me about Heaven. Maybe if some of you have read it, you had a different experience you can relate.

A book I'm curious about right now is called The Slumber of Christianity: Awakening a Passion for Heaven on Earth by Ted Dekker, who usually writes thriller fiction. Here's what it says at amazon.com: "Dekker exhorts Christians to wake up and find genuine happiness in cultivating a deep desire for heaven. Although he argues that Christians should enjoy the pleasures of earth as a 'foretaste' of heaven, he cautions that these pleasures should not be mistaken for the real thing. Relying heavily on C.S. Lewis and the Apostle Paul, he makes a case for hope as the 'engine of life.' Satan, he says, has redirected our obsession away from God and heaven by filling our minds with earthly things."

Bingo!

Do you have other books or readings to suggest? Have you read any of the books mentioned and want to chime in? I think this is an important topic, and I'd love to hear from you!

Why Didn't Someone Tell Me?

One thing you will notice about me and my reading habits. I'm always playing catch-up. I'm constantly discovering "new" authors and books that other people were excited about months or even years ago. For a brief period of time I was cutting edge, when I was reviewing books for Novel Reviews, but then I went back to my old habits.

I spent October and November reading all seven of The Chronicles of Narnia books. For the first time! (They're very good, by the way. But you already knew that, right?)

Last week, in my quest to find another Christmas-themed audio book, I picked up The Christmas Secret by Anne Perry. My first Anne Perry book. I absolutely loved it! It's a cozy mystery so it didn't exactly keep you on the edge of your seat with danger and suspense, but the atmosphere--snowbound in an English village in the 1890s--and the period detail kept me riveted. When I finished, I wanted more. And turns out this Anne Perry person has loads of cozy Victorian mysteries out there. Who knew! Okay, everybody but me.

Still, I'm excited to find she has more Christmas books, too. I picked up The Christmas Guest at the library yesterday. So far it's hysterical, with the acid-tongued Grandmama Ellison being sent against her will to spend the Christmas holidays with her former daughter-in-law.

I also ran across the unabridged audio of The Fellowship of the Ring, which I may tackle right after Christmas. No, I've never read Tolkien, either.

What else am I missing, I wonder?

Christmas Traditions for Readers

We hear all the time about Christmas traditions--things that people do every December with their spouse, or their kids. Some people want to hear Christmas songs over and over. I am apparently developing the need to listen to the same audiobook every Christmas.

I've always had books I love to read every December, that help me get into the spirit. I'm a little disturbed about how my habits have changed, though. I seem to have slid from inspiring Biblical fiction to brain candy and fluff.

For a long time, I kept rereading a wonderful book called How Far to Bethlehem. I think it's out of print now, but if you've never read this, check for a used copy on amazon.com or at your local used bookstore. It's written by one of my favorite authors, Norah Lofts, and it follows different characters from the nativity story (each of the Wise Men, Mary, Joseph, Herod, a Roman soldier, the innkeeper, the shepherd) in the months and hours leading up to Christ's birth. All these characters you've come to know separately converge in Bethlehem at the crucial hour, brought together through heart-stopping, dramatic turns of events. Lofts was a secular historical writer, but she had such an amazing way of bringing characters and past times alive, and this book was no exception. So by the end of each reading, I was ready to sing "O Holy Night" and literally fall on my knees!


My tradition for the last three years or so is not as lofty. I've gotten hooked on the audio version of Skippnig Christmas by John Grisham. I'm not sure why I enjoy it over and over. Maybe because Grisham also has a way with characters. By the time you finish this short bit of fluff, you feel as though you know every resident of Hemlock Street, including my favorite, the roving boy busybody, Spike.

Luther Krank is not exactly Scrooge, but he is definitely--well, cranky. In the beginning of the book, I sort of sympathize with his desire to escape the shallow, materialistic mess that Christmas has become. Trouble is, he substitutes another shallow, materialistic pursuit in its place. He and his wife decide to skip Christmas altogether and take a cruise, which involves new clothes, dieting, tanning beds and the like. By the end of the book, the plan has backfired on them in a big way and--you guessed it--Luther learns about true generosity and giving.

Do any other readers out there have Christmas favorites that you're dipping into again this year?

Killer Cargo: A Fun and Exciting Read

I must confess I don't usually read a lot of the category romance novels. I'm not sure why that is, precisely. Maybe I've just assumed they would all be too much alike.

Well, last week I picked up Killer Cargo, a Steeple Hill Love Inspired Suspense novel by Dana Mentink. And I knew I had been wrong. Within about ten pages, I knew this book was going to be different--and in a very good way.

Maria, the pilot of her own private plane, knows she's in trouble when she discovers a package of drugs among the piles of pet supplies she's supposed to be delivering in the wilds of Oregon. The bad guys pull up and know she's discovered their secret, so she has to take off--and not in her airplane. There's no time or fuel for flying. She has to run on foot, then in a borrowed car. Okay, so far, I'd seen it all before.

However, her plane's cargo also contained a three-legged bunny named Hank, who was apparently destined to be snake food. Even in her hurry, Maria decides to rescue him, too. She rents an electric blue 1972 Dodge Demon from a kid working at the airstrip (actually he's keeping it for his cousin, who is currently incarcerated) and tears out of there, with the bad guys in hot pursuit and Hank sliding around on the back seat.

She seems to be doing pretty well at evading the bad guys, until she crashes the car into a creek. She and Hank are rescued and hidden by the handsome Cy Sheridan--the creek is a part of his animal sanctuary. This seems like a pretty good deal, until Maria actually enters his cabin and finds frogs in tanks all over the place. Until she finds mysterious hand-written notes about cyanide. Until she realizes that the animal sanctuary has its own crime problems.

This was a fast-paced, fun read. If you're going to be relaxing by the beach or lake any time soon, grab a copy and take it with you.

Overload Syndrome

God is truly looking out for me. My church's library is fairly small, and yet when I was feeling frazzled a couple of weeks ago and hoped they might have a book that would help, I found two about dealing with overload.

The first is called The Overload Syndrome: Learning to Live Within Your Limits by Richard A. Swenson, M.D. I think Swenson is my long-lost twin brother, because this man sounds exactly like me. Except for being a successful doctor and actually managing to publish a book. But on this overload thing, we're right in tune.

Swenson starts off talking about his own brush with overload and what he did to change things. He goes on to say this kind of busyness is a fairly recent phenomenon, peculiar to western culture (particularly American) in this day and age. I had wondered about that. How, I wondered, could I feel so stressed and overburdened all the time when, frankly, my parents worked a lot harder than I do? And when I don't even have children?

Swenson was quick to explain. Change in society, in the way things are done, came about fairly slowly for hundreds of years. Then suddenly, things started changing at a head-spinning rate. I know this is true. My father tells me stories of how they lived in his childhood on a farm in Florida, plowing with a mule and picking cotton by hand. It's probably not all that different from the 1800s. But how things have changed since then!

You would think all this progress would make things easier for us, and in some ways, it does. But there's a downside, says Swenson. We've been taught to constantly want more and more, faster and faster. We push the envelope. We push our limits as far as debt and time and energy, until we're way beyond them.

Swenson goes on to talk about the concept of margin--a wonderful idea that means you allow some breathing room between your load and your limits. But he says we've been conditioned to think we're being lazy or doing something wrong if our schedules aren't full up with good things. Swenson has a totally different take on it. According to him, if we have overloaded our schedules with our plans, God may not be happy about it.

"Margin allows availability for the purposes of God," says Swenson. "When God taps us on the shoulder and asks us to do something, He doesn't expect to get a busy signal." (p. 18)

Swenson quotes a theologian named Henri Nouwen. "In the spiritual life, the word discipline means 'the effort to create some space in which God can act...." Discipline means to create that space in which something can happen that you hadn't planned or counted on." (p. 18)

Wow! That's completely different from my idea of discipline--that every moment must be productive, accomplishing something I had planned. And what's one of the symptoms of not leaving that margin in our lives? According to Swenson, we start to resent friends or loved ones when they need us, when they interrupt our plans and ask us for help.

The man just described my life!

I'll probably tell you more about this wonderful book as I read on. For now, though, it's a tremendous help to realize that I'm not alone and that it's okay to admit I have limits. That maybe, just maybe, God hasn't wanted me to be pushing so hard, anyway.

Jane Austen, Part II: A Sad Mystery

I teach library research classes to college students. A few days ago I was running some sample searches in literature databases, preparing to teach an English class. Since I was reading Just Jane by Nancy Moser at the time, I used "Jane Austen" as a sample search. In the first item I pulled up, I noticed her date of death: 1817. I felt a little stab of sorrow, as though I'd stumbled across an obituary for an old friend. I had just reached the year of 1811 in Moser's novel. Jane was thriving and in the process of publishing her first book, Sense and Sensibility. She was only in her thirties, finally realizing the dreams of a lifetime. So what in the world happened to her in the next few years?

I read a couple of biographical articles and they frustrated the literary detective in me. They merely said she died of an illness at age 41. So I turned to other databases looking for an answer, including indexes of medical articles.

Apparently I'm not the only one fascinated by this mystery. Doctors and medical experts have been speculating for years. The common story is that Jane Austen became ill in 1816 and struggled with her condition for about a year before passing away. Symptoms, according to a few sketchy letters, included "biliousness," back pain, dark discolorations of the skin, weakness and fatigue. In a British Medical Journal article in 1964, Zachary Cope reached a conclusion that stood for many years. Jane Austen died of Addison's disease, which destroys the adrenal glands. Other doctors today think Jane's condition may have been Hodgkin's disease, a kind of cancer. Annette Upfal, author of an article called "Jane Austen's Lifelong Health Problems and Final Illness," says that "both diseases were unidentified and untreatable in Austen’s lifetime, and the outcome was always fatal." (Medical Humanities, 2005)

Upfal uses scraps of information from Austen's own letters and those of friends and relatives to try to solve the mystery. Upfal also addresses the question of why so many people feel a need to answer this question. "The futility of this death from an illness that now offers recovery, with the image of a dying writer struggling to use a pencil...and above all, regret for the novels that were yet to be written, have added a sense of pathos to Austen’s iconic status."

I myself just felt sadness that Austen died when she finally seemed to be accomplishing all her dreams. I so identified with the struggle, the waiting, the years passing by that she experienced in her journey to become an author. In the final part of Just Jane, Nancy Moser has Austen praying the Bible verse asking for God to "restore the years that the locusts have eaten." Once again, I felt astounded, because I have often prayed that verse--and in connection to my writing!

Perhaps I'm looking at this the wrong way. After all, God did bring her dreams to fruition. Her dreams are still living today, in all of us who read her books and live in the wonderful worlds she creates.

What writer could ask for more?

Jane Austen and Me, Part I

I haven't blogged in days. I feel so guilty. For once, I have a pretty good excuse. I've been working on my novel plus reading a wonderful book. Isn't that great?

I'll spare you the details of my own writing, at least for the moment, but I have to share my experiences reading Nancy Moser's amazing book, Just Jane, a fictionalized account of the life of Jane Austen. I mentioned this book once before, when I had just read a review of it and discovered that Jane Austen actually had a long, difficult journey toward being published. It's taken me this long to get around to reading the book myself, and it's hard to explain the powerful effect this story had on me.

Or maybe it's not hard. I felt a kinship with this woman as I walked through the years with her. I felt we had so much in common. I don't mean the details of her life, or the writing talent. (So you can all stop choking now.) But her temperament, and the overall direction of her life--well, here are a few examples.

From childhood, Jane was a writer. That's how she defined herself, and how most of her family and close friends defined her. She seemed to be working on one story or another practically from childhood, and yet she wrote only a few complete novels. There seemed to be a limited number of stories and special characters that she worked on, writing and thinking and rewriting, throughout her life.

I could have just described myself in that paragraph. I've identified myself as a writer since I was about seven years old. Like Jane, I have four of five groups of characters and stories that I pick up, finish, put down, and then come back to years later. When I signed with an agent a few years ago, the book I had just "finished" was in about its fourth incarnation. I started the first one when I was twelve, and at that time I was in my forties. The book I've been working on this past week is one I conceived when I was a teenager.

I've mentioned this before, but so many modern writers advise that you simply must sit down and crank out a certain word count every day, finish a story in a few months, and move on to the next one. I just can't do that, or at least it isn't natural for me. It wasn't for Jane, either. Not only did she seem to love the characters she created and want to live with them through the years (as do I), but life often intervened so she simply couldn't write for awhile. I know that feeling.

Jane Austen identified herself as a writer but she seemed to assume that she would also be a wife and mother. The years passed. Things happened. The husband and family never came, and the woman who conceived characters that will live forever never gave birth to a child in life. Though she never gave up on publishing a book, she seemed to accept that eventually it was too late for marriage and a family. I went through years of wondering if all that would pass me by. I did marry when I was 30, but I never was able to have the children I had planned.

I must confess that all the above Jane Austen information comes from only two sources: Nancy Moser's novel and a biographical article (which seemed to corroborate the general events in the novel). So I can't exactly say I'm an expert on her life. But I want to say thank you to Nancy Moser for introducing me to this woman, who almost feels like a friend now. Being a librarian, of course I'm so intrigued that I want to do more research.

This is getting a bit long for a blog post, so I'll continue tomorrow. I want to tell you some intriguing things I read about the end of Jane Austen's life.