Great Need? Great God!

Corrie Ten Boom's book The Hiding Place is one of the most influential books I've ever read. If you haven't read it, I urge you to do so. It is utterly compelling, and will transform your thoughts on forgiveness.

Yet as well as The Hiding Place Corrie wrote several other books, one of which was a collection of short devotionals for each day of the year.

You know a book is saying something of value when it stands the test of time.  Each New Day was originally published thirty-six years ago.  It has been reprinted more than a dozen times since. 

Corrie wrote of it, "A person is either a missionary or a mission field.  Sometimes I wrote for Christians who know that they are called to be a light of the World.  On other days God gave me a message about what it means to come to him...  I know that the Lord gave me these words.  They are from him who loves you and who spoke through me to you."

Here is the entry for 9 October (the date on which I prepared this post):

There are great lessons to learn concerning faith and the nature of character of faith when you read in the Bible about the disciples.  I am grateful for the record of every mistake they ever made and for every blunder they committed.  I see myself in them.  The Bible speaks the truth and shows and pictures every human frailty.

And he said to them, "Why are you afraid, O men of little faith?"  Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.

Matthew 8: 26 RSV

Lord, thank you that you do not ask a great faith, but faith in a great God.

Encouragement for Your Heart. For When You're 'Just Not Feeling It'

Are you struggling with finding the motivation to chase your dreams? I know that I've been there.  When even the things I love to do, and want to do more of - my own 'God-sized dreams', seem to take more energy, perseverance and ability than I have.  But sometimes it's when we least want to do something that we just have to do it anyway. 

Holley Gerth looks at this very issue in her latest book.  I usually mention the title here (and I will, further down), but at the top of this post, I'm going to mention the sub-title instead: 40 Days of Encouragement for Your Heart.  Does your heart need a little encouraging today?  If so, read on for some helpful words from Holley.

When You're Just Not Feeling It

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
Galations 6:9

She sends me an email.
Or walks up to me at a conference.
Maybe whispers it across the table at lunch.
It starts with something like, "I know I'm called to write or speak or cook or do spreadsheets" - her voice gets lower here - "but what about the days when I'm just not feeling it?"
I nod.  Because I know.  Oh, how I know.

What I don't know is how our culture has convinced us that any other skill is okay to practise, but if it's spiritual or art or both, then you have to feel it every time.

As I'm writing this, the Olympics are still fresh on our minds.  I'm picturing an interviewer asking an athlete, "How often do you practise?" And the reply being, "When I feel like it."
We don't ever hear that from athletes at that level.

As Aristotle said,"We are what we repeatedly do.  Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit."
What do you do when you don't feel it? You do it anyway.

***

There is no such thing as a God-sized dream that doesn't have seasons that are just plain ol' hard, unglamourous work. 
(Emphasis added by the blog poster!)

When we persevere through those times, we honour God, because that is when we're dying to ourselves.  We're saying, "I will obey even when all my flesh wants to do is sit in the corner and eat a cookie."  When you choose to be disciplined in the pursuit of your dream, even when you don't want to, you do a lot to destroy the work of the enemy.  And even though it doesn't feel like it, your faith is probably even stronger than when you have all the warm, fuzzy emotions that we like a lot better.

So keep going, friend.
You're doing better than you know.
You're growing more than you realise.
You're making a difference even if you can't see it.
And someday soon, you will.

Extracted from Day 16's reading in Opening the Door to Your God-Sized Dream.
ISBN: 9780800722807
Price: £8.99
Available through your local Christian bookshop, or any other bricks and mortar or online bookshop.

For more short and thought provoking reading, Holley's blog is well worth spending a little time browsing, as are her books You're Already Amazing, and You're Made for a God-Sized Dream.

Here Comes Award Number Three!

Fantasy fiction, while having a very long and established track record, is frequently dismissed as not fitting the Christian fiction mould, and it is often difficult to find the audience.  Partly because many Christian readers of fantasy do not look for them or expect to find them in Christian bookshops. 

So here is a reason to take note of this series, and an opportunity to talk about it.  Starflower, book 4 in The Tales of Goldstone Wood series, has just won the Clive Staples Award for Christian Speculative Fiction.  Earlier books in the series won two Christy Awards, including the 2012 Award for Visionary Fiction.  So the series now has a hat-trick of awards.  Not bad going, especially when you consider that Heartless, the first in the series, was the author's debut novel.

* * * * * * *

 

The Black Dogs Are on the Hunt, But Who Is Their Prey?

 

When a cursed dragon-witch kidnaps fairest Lady Gleamdren, the Bard Eanrin sets boldly forth on a rescue mission... and a race against his rival for Gleamdren's favor. Intent upon his quest, the last thing the immortal Faerie needs is to become mixed up with the troubles of an insignificant mortal.

But when he stumbles upon a maiden trapped in an enchanted sleep, he cannot leave her alone in the dangerous Wood Between. One waking kiss later, Eanrin suddenly finds his story entangled with that of young Starflower. A strange link exists between this mortal girl and the dragon-witch. Will Starflower prove the key to Lady Gleamdren's rescue? Or will the dark power from which she flees destroy both her and her rescuer?


"Fans of Tolkien...will be drawn into Stengl's effusive prose and wonderfully scary worlds...a series to stretch your imagination..."
USA Today

"...readers will enjoy this romantic adventure story, which is subtly laced with legends and Christian allegory akin to C. S. Lewis' Narnia series."
Elizabeth Ponder, Booklist (on Veiled Rose, Bk 2 in the series)


Starflower is available now.
Price: £8.99
ISBN: 9780764210266
You can order the book via your local Christian bookshop, or any other bricks and mortar or online bookshop.
For digital readers, this is also available in ebook format.

Review: Rules of Murder

Julianna Deering set out to write a book influenced by the classic mysteries of the 1920s and 30s, and thought it would be fun in the process to break or bend the 'rules for mystery writers'*.

The result is an entertaining English Whodunit, with a good dash of gentle humour sprinkled through the pages.

Drew Fathering arrives back at his Hampshire manor to discover it full of guests. Including the very unwelcome Mr Lincoln. The guest list at Fathering Place is increased with the arrival of Drew’s step-father’s American niece, who turns out to be far more welcome and catches Drew’s eye, and very quickly his heart. Unfortunately, an early opportunity to spend some time with Madeline is nastily interrupted when they discover a body. Then a second death follows...

This is a very engaging story. Deering keeps the pace up throughout, and her characters are interesting. Complicated enough to keep you wondering whether you’ve really guessed what’s happened (twice I’d got it right, and once I hadn’t), it’s a light and easy read, perfect for whiling away time enjoyably. Drew and Madeline are likeable leads, though there didn’t seem to be much any ‘courting’ between them meeting and being a couple. In less than a day they go from total strangers to being romantically involved which is a bit too sudden for me.

 

As an English reader, I was on the lookout for American outtakes in this novel, and must congratulate the author on their scarcity. Most of her conversation reads true to both the setting and the period, and she correctly uses ‘mum’ and ‘holiday’! Oh, and the book contains one of my favourite Marmite related paragraphs: “The door, appropriately marked MANAGER, was opened by a stubby little boy of perhaps ten. Bespectacled and fussily dressed, he looked annoyed at being disturbed when more than half of his Marmite sandwich was yet to be eaten.” 

 

The oddities are few. The most irritating for me was the use of the phrase ‘to be sure’ by Drew. It just isn’t right, and makes the English Gent sound Irish! Sedan is not an English term for any kind of car. Hired on is not right, nor is quarter after – the English say ‘taken on’, and ‘quarter past’. I have never in all my life heard or read anyone say a ‘trig little frock’. I had to Google that one! Homicide is not used in general conversation in the UK either in the way it is in Rules of Murder – we would say murder. However, these ‘nit-picks’ wouldn’t have stopped me reading this book, and didn’t stop me enjoying it. 

 

Recommended, and I am looking forward to the next one in the series.

 *The 'ten commandments for mystery writers' were outlined by Ronald Arbuthnott Knox (1888-1957), and English priest and theologian, in his 1929 Decalogue.

Review by Anne Rogers, and all views expressed herein are my own.

Rules of Murder is released in the UK in September 13
Price: £8.99
ISBN: 9780764210952
Full book information and a sample chapter is available here..
You can pre-order the book via your local Christian bookshop, or any other bricks and mortar or online bookshop.
For digital readers, this is also available in ebook format.

 

Books With Bite: For Such a Time (Sneak Peek)

Working in publishing I see a lot of books, and I tend to see them a long time before they are actually published.  Sometimes so far ahead that when the actual, physical (sorry, I'm an old fashioned sort of girl) book lands on my desk I think 'but hasn't that been out for ages already'?  In general, I try not to talk about things too early but every now and then something comes along which I just have to shout about early.

And this week, something has.

The 'something' in question is For Such a Time, a wonderfully engaging and compelling novel from an author with a bookselling background.

It turns out that I am not the only one who is already loving this book.  Here's a review from Debbie Macomber.  Someone with a bit of a wider audience than myself!

"I absolutely loved this book.  For such a Time kept me up at night, flipping the pages and holding my breath wanting to know what would happen next.  Based on the biblical book of Esther, the story takes the reader to a concentration camp inside World War II Czechoslovakia, where a young Jewish woman has captured the attention of the Kommandant and has the opportunity to save her people, much as Esther did in the biblical account.  The story is gripping, compelling, and I dare anyone to close the cover before the last suspenseful page."

There are lots of re-tellings of Bible stories, and some work better than others.  Being an old fashioned kind of reader, I like my novels to just tell a great story which hooks me in.  My favourite books are those you read in so completely engaged a way that when you close the covers you have to pull yourself back to the day to day reality from the world you've been engrossed in with an almost physical effort.

This is one of those books.


ISBN: 9780764211607
Price: £9.99
Publication Date: May 2014 (UK)
You will be able to order this book in the UK via your local Christian bookshop, or any other bricks and mortar or online bookshop.
It will also be available as an ebook.

Interrupted By God

It's Festival Season!  Soul Survivor and New Wine both begin this weekend, and one of the speakers at both festivals is Robby Dawkins.  

Robby believes that the powerful and life changing things Jesus and his disciples did were not just for Bible times.  In his ministry to hurting people, Robby sees ordinary people touched by God's power, through simple faith in God's Word.  He has seen this time and again, but it wasn't always so.

When God reached out to Robby, he was a discouraged youth pastor working in a small, dysfunctional church.  He believed God could do miracles (in theory), but the truth was that he was thoroughly turned off by the hype, manipulation and abuse surrounding many ministries.  He was stuck, resigned to a faith which mainly involved trudging from day to day without expecting too much.

* * * * * * *

The day that God chose to interrupt me, I wasn't thinking of anyone but myself.  I had been hired as a youth pastor, but my vision of ministry had pretty much been brought to its knees by the reality of answering phones and doing the menial tasks that consumed my days.  That particular day, I was in a terrible mood.  I felt deeply unappreciated by my senior pastor and his family.  I felt far from God and from all of the things He had called me to.  I was angry and hurt.  This was not in any way my shining moment as a Christ follower.

 

The phone rang, and I answered it halfheartedly.  Probably another sales call, I thought, or maybe a message for me to deliver.

 

The woman on the phone introduced herself hesitatingly.  "Look, I don't really know what to ask," she began.  "I don't go to church.  As a matter of fact, I'm not even a Christian," she offered apologetically.  "I just picked a church from the phone book because my father's going in for heart surgery right now.  He's in bad shape, and the doctors say they really don't think he's going to make it.  We had to press them to go ahead with the surgery."

 

She sounded fragile and worn as she explained this was her father's third bypass surgery, and it most likely meant the end of his life.  She didn't know where else to turn, but it had crossed her mind to call a church.  She hoped someone would burn a candle, rub some beads for her father, sing a hymn or say a prayer for him in his final stages.

 

As she tried to rationalize to herself and to me why she had reached out to us, I could tell she was a little embarrassed.  Maybe she even regretted that she had bothered to call at all.  What could I do?  I offered to pray for the surgery with her, though I didn't really want to.  It sounded as though her father definitely wasn't going to make it.

 

"Well..." I paused reluctantly, "I could pray for him..."

 

* * * * *

 

The prayer which followed began with little hope or expectation of this man's recovery.  Yet as he prayed,  he felt God speak to him: "Get out on a limb."  Then, "Take a risk."  With no real idea of what he was about to say, he found himself saying that God was going to heal the woman's father and give him a new heart!  He was horrified and tried to pull back what he had said...

 

* * * * *

 

"What you need to know is that I've never prayed for anyone and seen them healed before.  You should know that most of the time when I pray for people, they get sicker, and some have even died.  I know that God can do things like what I just prayed, but He's never used me to do them.  What I just said probably won't happen."

 

I was panic-stricken.  What if this woman got her hopes up and wound up terribly disappointed?  It would all be my fault.

She interrupted me.  "You said God is going to give my dad a brand-new heart?"

I gulped out, "Yes, but -"

 

She cut me off with a brief "Thank you!" and hung up the phone.

 

When the woman called again crying hours later, my heart sank...  "Your dad," I said, "he's ...dead?"

 

She said, "No - he's doing great!"

 

Nobody was more surprised to hear that than me.

 

"Yes, that's right..." She pressed out the story through her tears.  "When the doctors opened him up, they said my father had a brand-new heart!"  She explained how several years ago her father had had a valve replacement.  The doctors had implanted a heart valve from a pig to save his life.  All of that was gone.  All the scar tissue from the previous surgery was gone.  The doctor said it was like the heart of a thirty-year-old man.

 

I was absolutely stunned.

Do What Jesus Did will be available at all Soul Survivor and New Wine venues, through bookshops, and on line.
It is also available as an ebook.

ISBN: 9780800795573
Paperback
£8.99




"Robby does a marvellous job of letting the reader know that if he can walk in a miracle lifestyle, anyone can.  He acknowledges the reality of the dead not always getting raised, the bills sometimes barely getting paid and healing not always manifesting as we think it should.  It is honest and without hype.

Then there is the fact that miracles sometimes happen in spite of faithless prayers.  It was this experience that sent Robby on a dive into a Gospel that does what it says it will do."
Bill Johnson, Bethel Church, Redding - from the foreword.

"I loved the inspiring stories, as well as the practical insight into how to hear from God and relay what He is showing you to others.  A very interesting, inspiring and encouraging book."

Randy Clark, founder and president of The Apostolic Network of Global Awakening

Jim Wallis to visit the UK from 23 August to 4 September

Lion Hudson is delighted to announce that Jim Wallis will be visiting the UK from 23 August to 4 September to launch his new book, ‘On God’s Side’. After appearing as a main speaker at Greenbelt 2013 in Cheltenham, Jim’s tour itinerary will include a large number of events in London, Manchester and Edinburgh, as well as many high-level meetings and interviews.

Jim Wallis has met with Gordon Brown, George Bush, Tony Blair, Rowan Williams, Bono and other high-profile figures on many occasions to discuss global issues. A man who is not afraid to stand up for what he believes in, he has been arrested around 20 times for 'non-violent civil disobedience'. The president and CEO of Sojourners (an American network of Christians working for justice and peace), Jim is a public theologian, social activist and an international commentator on ethics and public life. He has been interviewed on Newsnight, Today, The Daily Politics, HardTalk, The Simon Mayo Show, Radio 4’s Sunday and BBC World Service’s Newshour, among other programmes, and featured in the national press. In the States, he has written for major newspapers including The New York Times, Washington Post and Los Angeles Times, and appears frequently on CNN, MSNBC, Fox News and NPR. He teaches at Georgetown University and has taught at Harvard. He lives in Washington with his wife, Joy Carroll (the real-life inspiration behind The Vicar of Dibley), and their two young sons.

Jim’s new book, ‘On God’s Side’, is subtitled ‘What Religion Forgets and Politics Hasn’t Learned About Serving the Common Good’. In the preface to this timely and provocative book, Jim writes that:

‘The prerequisite for solving the deepest problems the world now faces is a commitment to a very ancient idea whose time has urgently come: the common good. How do we work together, even with people we don’t agree with? How do we treat each other, especially the poorest and most vulnerable? How do we take care of not just ourselves but also one another? Only by inspiring a spiritual and practical commitment to the common good can we help make our personal and public lives better.’                           

On God’s Side shows us how to reclaim the ancient and compelling vision of the common good. This is a vision that should influence and inspire not only our politics but also our personal lives, families, churches and neighbourhoods, and our vocational and financial choices. It is these individual and communal choices, writes Wallis, which will ultimately create the cultural shifts and social movements that really change politics in the long run.

Up to date information about events on Jim Wallis’ UK tour will be posted to the Lion Hudson website as they are confirmed.

For more information about Jim Wallis or to discuss author events, interviews and articles linked to the book, or to request a review copy of ‘On God’s Side’, Lion Hudson PR on marketing@lionhudson.com.

Praise for Jim Wallis and his writing:
‘Jim Wallis is compelling, provocative and inspirational, with the kind of faith that can move mountains and can certainly move people and communities.’
Archbishop Desmond Tutu

‘Wallis is a wrestler of values, ideas, and policies and how they interact to shape the world we live in. His deep, melodious voice is easy to listen to, but what he says takes a harder commitment to live by.’
Bono, lead singer of U2; cofounder of ONE.org

‘Two great issues of our time are addressed by Jim Wallis and his thought-provoking answers make powerful reading for anyone interested in social change; Jim Wallis challenges us to create a society which both addresses injustice and stresses personal responsibility and his call for a global covenant through which rich countries meet their obligations to the poor will have a resonance across the world.’
Gordon Brown, in his endorsement of God’s Politics by Jim Wallis

‘Jim Wallis and I have a variety of differences on domestic and international policy, but there is no message more timely or urgent than his call to actively consider the common good.’
Michael Gerson, The Washington Post

Chapter Headings for ‘On God’s Side’:

Part 1: Inspiring the Common Good
 1.A Gospel for the Common Good
 2.The Lion, the Word, and the Way
 3.Who Jesus Is and Why It Matters
 4.Lord, Help Us to Treat You Well
 5.The Good Samaritan Goes Global
 6.The Beloved Community Welcomes All Tribes
 7.Surprising Our Enemies

Part 2: Practices for the Common Good
 8.Conservatives, Liberals, and a Call to Civility
 9.Redeeming Democracy
 10.Economic Trust
 11.A Servant Government
 12.Making Things Right
 13.Healthy Households
 14.The World Is Our Parish

On God’s Side – Jim Wallis
Current affairs, paperback (216mm x 138mm), 320pp, 978-0-7459-5612-1, £9.99