A Writer's life: Juggling books and characters!

Are authors just normal human beings or is there something slightly off about them? You know what I'm talking about. They carry on conversations with invisible people all around them, they can remember twenty character names but forget their own, they pretend to listen to your every word, but you can see that behind their eyes they are plotting the world's demise. Yes, we were once normal like you, but then we got our first contract. And the world as we knew it imploded.

Today's questions come from Diane S:


1) What happens to your social/family/church life when you're in the midst of writing? Especially since the characters become like friends, as you say, is it difficult to leave the desk and give your attention to other activities and responsibilities? Do you find ever find yourself so psychologically connected to your books that it becomes a stumbling block to your "real" life?

www.hueinasu.com

I should let my husband and kids answer that one!  I would say that if you asked my family and friends what I'm like when  I'm in the middle of writing a book, they might say kinda spacy.  It's really hard to pull myself from 1811 back to 2012 in the snap of a finger. Or get my characters to stop play acting their roles!  They usually continue on in the scene whether I'm there to write it or not.  Brats!  So,  my family will probably tell you that I'm sort of in a daze much of the time. I'm hanging out with them, but my eyes are glazed over and I'm actually in my book, listening to my characters squabble. This becomes a real problem when I have to leave a scene unfinished and in particular if that scene contains a lot of action and suspense.  To you, it would be like leaving your best friend hanging by her fingertips off a cliff.  It's very hard to do! But life calls. I'm a housewife and mother. I have to cook and clean and deal with all the normal issues of the day. Sometimes, my characters are left hanging.

It's when they start yelling at me that it becomes a problem. Normally, I can handle shifting my persona from author to mother or author to wife or author to friend, pretty easily. But there are moments when the story sort of takes over my thoughts and I'm really no good to anyone until I finish the scene I'm working on.

Another time when the characters drive me crazy is when I don't know the next scene in the story. Imagine play actors on a stage not knowing their next lines or what they are supposed to do next. When this happens, my characters stand there, twiddling their thumbs, leaning against trees and sighing, yawning, tapping their fingers over tables, and making me feel horrible as if I'm wasting their time! I actually feel pressure from them to give them something to do!!  Of course when I try and explain this to my husband, he simply stares at me with that I-hope-you're-not-going-nuts-cause-we-can't-afford-an-asylum look.






2) How do you juggle concentrating on several books at once? It sounds like you have at least three in the cooker at the present moment: one you've just recent done the marketing/publicity for as it came out, one just off to the publishers (which I assume you may still have to do some work on?), and another that you're actually writing at the moment. Is it hard or complicated to go back and forth among them all, especially with the same amount of enthusiasm for each project? 

Great question!. This is one of the hardest things I do and something I hadn't even thought about before I got published. I think part of the problem is I've been on such a short publishing schedule. Six months is not a very long time to write a full length novel. Many authors take a year.  To illustrate this mad juggling act, let's just look at the past 3 books I've written. For ease of clarity we will call them Books 1,2, and 3.

• I turned in Book 1 three months ago and already went through the edits from my editor
• I turn in Book 2
• I immediately start Book 3
• I get the galley proofs for Book 1 which means I stop work on Book 3 and read over galleys   
• I start back on Book 3
• I get edits back for Book 2, so I have to stop work on Book 3 and take a 2-3 weeks to go back and work on Book 2
• Book 1 is released so I have a ton of work to do for marketing. Meanwhile I'm still writing Book 3 and editing Book 2
• I finish edits for Book 2 and start back on Book 3

Then the cycle starts all over again!!   

Savvy?  So, this is why Veil of Pearls just released last month but I'm now working on the second book beyond that one, book 2 in the Escape to Paradise series.

Is it hard to do this? YES!  It drives me insane. When I am writing a story, I'm REALLY into that story. I'm in the time period, the setting, in the character heads... then to have to time warp myself out of there to a different set of characters in a different setting in a different time can really mess with my mind.  It takes me a few days, sometimes a week, to transition between books before I'm actually writing productively again.

Hence, yet another reason why my aforementioned husband thinks I may need an aforementioned asylum. Sometimes, I tend to agree with him.  

Keep the questions coming!! And have a Great Weekend!

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Grace Darling - Lighthouse heroine!

I came across the story in my search for heroines from our past. So often only heroic men get mentioned but there were many women throughout history who performed heroic feats.  This one in particular must be considered within the context of the time. Women simply didn't do such things. It was unheard of for a genteel woman to risk her life in such a courageous way. Especially a lady so young. Here's Grace's story.

The Farne Islands lie off the coast of Northumberland, England. They are not really islands but more a collection of rocky outcrops. When the tide comes in, many of them are wholly submerged making them extremely dangerous for passing ships. In 1826 a new lighthouse was built on the outermost island, Longstone.  The lighthouse was a round tower 85 feet high containing 7 circular rooms. A man named William Darling became the keeper and moved to the lighthouse with his wife, Thomasina and 9 children.  By 1838, however, most of the children had grown up and only one girl, Grace, and her younger brother were living with their parents in the tower.

Young Grace was 22 years old and was described as having  "a comely countenance. . .rather fair for an islander. . . and with an expression of benevolence and softness mot truly feminine in every point of view."

The accident that would bring this young lady notoriety happened on September 5th 1838. The Forfarshire, a steam ship, was bound for Dundee with a mixed cargo of hardware, fine cloth, soap, boilerplate and spinning gear. Captain Humble had his wife on board, along with 55 passengers and crew. As the ship headed north up the coast, the winds increased and the seas roughened.  Regardless, the Captain decided to continue onward rather than seek shelter. At approximately 6:00 pm they passed the Farne Islands, steaming between the inner sound and the mainland. But as night fell, the conditions worsened and a damaged boiler forced Captain Humble to shut down the engines. Setting the fore-and-aft sails, he decided to turn back and run before the gale, passing by the Farne islands again.  But the storm overcame them and the 400 ton vessel drove hard into the end of Harker's Rock. Within 15 minutes, the deck opened up and the ship split in two. The stern section swept away and sank, drowning Captain Humbel and his wife and 41 passengers and crew. The forward section was stranded on the rocks with twelve people surviviing, including one woman two children, a clergyman, a fireman and the ship's carpenter

As dawn broke, they mananged to seek shelter on the rock, but the freezing wind and sea spray threatened to kill them off with hypothermia.  When the ship struck at 4:15 AM, Grace was on watch in the high tower. At 4:45, she could barely make out the ship in the pre-dawn glow. She immediately woke her father and for the next few hours, he used his telescope to see if there were any survivors. Finally around 7:00 AM, William Darling spotted men on the rock.  He had to get to them straight away but his 20 year old son was on shore, and William could not row a boat by himself.

According to the legend, Grace had to persuade her father to launch the boat and insisted she join him. The gale was still raging and the passage to the survivors would have been extremely turbulent and dangerous. With Grace heaving on one oar and William on the other, they rowed toward the wreck with Mrs Darling watching from the lighthouse. They finally reached the survivors, but the cold had killed the clergyman and the two children, who died in their mother's arms. While William crawled on the rock to assist the survivors, Grace was left to manage the heaving boat on her own and to hold it off the rocks. The woman and four of the men clambered aboard the boat and they set off on the mile long trek back to the lighthouse, an equally treacherous journey, especially now with the extra weight. Finally they made it ashore and headed back out to get remaining survivors 

It was several days before the story became public. Somehow it caught the ear of the Duke of Northmberland and exploded from there into a series of newspaper articles, interviews, even a play. Grace became a national heroine. Artists painted her picture, poems were written about her exploits, Staffordshire figures were made in her likeness and hundreds of engravings were produced to commemorate the rescue.  Yet Grace always took this in stride, refusing to accep the praise and even quietly blushing at the attention.

A true heroine.

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Wordless Wednesday!

This is from a video game, I believe, but I thought it was cool!

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The White Knight Hero

Last weekend, my husband and I went to see Borne Legacy.   Good movie. It started out slow but once it got going, it GOT going!  Lots of action and suspense.. and a touch of romance.  But what always gets my heart pumping are scenes where the strong, confident hero swoops in to rescue the heroine.  I'm just a sucker for rescue scenes!!  (You could probably tell from my books)   To me, there's nothing more romantic, more thrilling than a man risking his life to save his lady love.  To me, it defines the exciting differences between men and women.. the masculine protector and the soft, feminine damsel in distress. Now, I know this goes against women's liberation and everyone who says women are just as capable and strong as men, but I'm sorry, my heart doesn't swoon when a leather-clad woman barges in with machine gun in hand to rescue her man. It just doesn't do it for me. :-)

Yet, you would think from most of the TV shows and movies today that the tough I-can-take-of-myself females are a huge hit.  You see them everywhere from popular shows like Falling Skies to hit movies like The Avengers.   I do like strong female characters... but when I say strong, I mean internally. I like women with spunk and inner strength, smart, wise, and who know what they want and how to get it. But I don't like women who can overpower men or who have a macho, independent attitude. It's not feminine. And I'd bet most men don't like that either.  God made us uniquely feminine and masculine. Let us celebrate the differences rather than try to meld the two together and take out all the fun!

I guess I'm just an old-fashioned romantic, but I will never get enough of the knight on the white horse galloping in and fighting off the bad guy to rescue his princess.  My heart will always beat a little faster. I will always utter a little sigh and long to be in the heroine's shoes.

What are your thoughts?

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Eternity and Provision in Every Step!

The steps of a man are directed and established by the Lord when He delights in his way [and He busies Himself with his every step]. Though he falls, he shall not be utterly cast down, for the Lord grasps his hand in support and upholds him.  Psalm 37: 23-24 Amplified.

dontsettle.org

I'm currently reading through the Psalms and came across this verse the other day. I love the Amplified version because it expounds on the Hebrew and Greek so you can get the full meaning of the words.  What struck me was "He busies Himself with his every step"   That is, God busies Himself with my every step.. with your every step. Isn't that absolutely shocking? I had to read it over and over before it began to sink in that God, the Almighty Creator of the Universe is busy making sure that every step I take is in the right direction. Not only that, but He's laying those steps for me, making sure they are good and solid. He's that involved in my life!  

I picture Him bending down and carefully placing every stone in the path He wants me to take through life. A path that leads through a beautiful garden.  He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul  Psalm 23

For we are God's own handiwork (His workmanship), recreated in Christ Jesus, born anew that we may do those good works which God predestined (planned beforehand) for us (taking paths which He prepared ahead of time, that we should walk in them (living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us to live)"  Ephesians 2:10 Amplified

www.theilluminators.com

He has arranged a good life for us. Maybe not an easy one. Not a struggle free one. But a good one! A victorious one, an adventurous one. Yet how often do I wander off the path, enticed by something I see that seems more exciting, or led astray by a lie of the enemy,  or perhaps my own selfishness or my impatience to see God's promises fulfilled?  How often do I find myself in the middle of a dark stressful place by my own doing?  Yet that doesn't throw God off. I believe He meets us where we are at and starts laying stones one by one to bring us back to the original path He had for us.

Look at II Timothy 1:9: "He has saved us and called us to a holy life, not because of anything we have done, but according to His purpose and grace. This grace was given to us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time..." (in the Greek: 'before times eternal')

All God's provision for our entire lives has already been given to us!  That's everything you'll ever need to live, to work, to be married, raise a family, to endure hardships and heartaches, to do God's will, to accomplish whatever He puts on your heart to do, everything has already been provided, prepared for you since times eternal - And as you walk with Him, He will reveal what has already been planned at the appropriate time. Step by step. 

I don't know about you but this really brings me incredible peace. My future is set, planned for, laid out and everything I need is provided. All I have to do is follow Jesus. I pray you think about that today, really ponder it and allow it to sink into your soul. And may the truth of it flood you with peace. 

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When and how to bring a novel to a grand conclusion!

Happy Friday, everyone! Just to let you know where I'm at with my writing. I'm working on a book called Elusive Hope. This is book 2 in my next series, Escape to Paradise. Book 1, Forsaken Dreams, is done and in my publisher's hands and will be released next February. You may remember the gorgeous cover to the left.  Elusive Hope is due to my publishers on November 1st and I'm nearly done with Draft 2. That means I only have one more time reading and editing the entire thing before I hand it in.  I know it must seem weird to you that I'm already almost done with 2 books past Veil of Pearls, my release last month,  but that's how the industry works. 

This week's questions come from Brenda!



1)  Either before or during -- writing a novel, how do you know when to end it ?   
2)  Are you told how many pages or words to write, a limit so to speak (by your Editor or Publisher) ?   Like, let's say in your very next book -- could you possibly write 1,000 pages "if" you wanted to ?    
3)  And, when you are writing the conclusion ... do you yourself find it difficult to stop?   

Great questions!  

Let me answer number 2 first. Yes, I'm told by my publisher how many words they expect my novel to be. Generally for a full length fiction title, they expect anywhere from 80,000 - 100,000 words. However I'm told I should shoot for 100,000 words. For many authors, this is difficult to reach, but for some reason, I ALWAYS go over that amount. I don't have a single novel that is at or below 100K. Some of my bigger ones are around 115-120K words. 

So, do I know when to end the story? Yes and No. Before I even start writing, I have a general idea of the ending of the book.  I know my characters, I have ideas of what they are going to go through (or what I'm going to put them through! *Evil smirk*). I know the lessons they will learn, and how the story will end. Of course in a romance, part of that ending has to involve the hero and heroine ending up together. Which brings me to a pet peeve of mine: Reviewers who claim my books have a predictable ending!  Like, Duh. You think? Grrrr. Anyway, I digress. 

The real challenge lies in filling in the gaps from the beginning of the story to the end while making the word count come out to around 100K.  The best way to do this is to have check points, which are certain events or crises that you pre-plan. For example, 

• In the beginning of the novel you show the hero and heroine in their natural worlds and then have the first crises which gets them into the action/adventure/problem.
• Somewhere in the middle from the beginning to the halfway point, you have another major event that makes things even worse.
• Then in the middle of the book, another catastrophe that makes the situation even more dire. 
• About half way from the middle to the end, the final crises occurs which is a point of no return situation where the hero or heroine must take a step and preform some action from which they know they can never go back.
• Then the ending which wraps everything up. 

I normally have more than just 4 crises, but these are the main ones.

Let me just say that I hate formulas and typically don't use them, but if I lay out the crises I want my protagonists to face in the order I want them to face them in, then I can check my word count when I reach each one to make sure I'm on track.  

Savvy?
Anyway, cool story about my very first book, The Redemption. When I wrote it, I had NO IDEA how long a novel should be. I especially had no idea how many words a publisher expected. I was just answering God's call to write a story about a Christian pirate.  Guess how many words I ended up with?  106,000.  Yup. God was looking out for me. 

From the looks of things, it seems my current novel, Elusive Hope, is going to be a bit over 100K. 

Last but not least, do I find it difficult to end the story?  Am I too connected to the characters and their lives to say Good-bye?  Yes. Absolutely. You cannot imagine how close I become to my characters. I'm in their heads every day, thinking their thoughts, experiencing their fears, their heartaches, worries. They become my nearest and dearest friends.  I love to see them happy in the end but saying good bye is difficult. I normally take a couple weeks off to recover and get them out of my head before I can write anything else. But they never truly leave me. Each character is added to my group of best friends that I carry around with me wherever I go.

That's why we authors are so crazy! 

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Christopher Columbus - Man of Science or Prophet?

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Of course we all remember learning about Christopher Columbus in school, the expert navigator and sailor who founded the New World. We envision him as a kind of dare-devil, hard-headed navigator, a man ahead of his times.  But did you know that ole Chris was also deeply religious and very interested in apocalyptic prophesies?  In fact, the entire reason for his journey across the sea was not just to find a pathway to India and China, nor was it simply to acquire gold for Spain. No Columbus had a Biblical reason for his journey. He believed it was his destiny to find the new land and acquire gold to wage a holy war against the Muslims inhabiting Jerusalem and to win back the Holy City before Christ's return, thus ushering in the millennial age.   He believe his discovery of the New World was necessary to fulfill an ancient prophecy.

He wrote of America in 1500 AD:  "God made me the messenger of the new heaven and the new earth of which he spoke in the Apocalypse of St John after having spoken of it through the mouth of Isaiah; and he showed me the spot where to find it."

Christopher Columbus was an avid student of Biblical prophecy. He studied them very carefully and put together his own book entitled Book of Prophecies, which he used to sell his  voyage to Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain.  This book is a compilation of an entire range of prophecies from both the Old and New Testaments as well as more modern prophesies of the day.  He particularly liked one of the prophecies from the early 14th century which said that there would be a final world emperor, a Spanish ruler who would conquer Jerusalem.

The gold Columbus would find in the West Indies was to be used to mount the military expeditions that would reconquer Jerusalem and issue in a universal messianic rule in which Christianity would triumph under the leadership of a Spanish monarch.  

Columbus's Book of Prophesies was written between 1501 and 1505 and aspires to the belief that in order for the world to end and Jesus to return, these events must take place:

• Christianity must be spread throughout the world
• The Garden of Eden must be found. It was thought to be hidden atop some mountain where it had been safe from Noah's flood. 
•  A Last Crusade must take back the Holy Land from the Muslims - It was also believed that when Christ comes, he will come back in the place he lived and died; Jerusalem.
•  A Last World Emperor must be chosen - Columbus had chosen, at least in his mind, that the Catholic Monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella, would fulfill this position due to the vast imperial power and religious conviction the Spanish monarchs claimed. A last world emperor would be necessary to lead the aforementioned crusade against the Muslims and to greet Christ at Jerusalem once the previous steps had been completed. 

 As we all know Columbus died without seeing any of his prophecies come to fruition. 

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Wordless Wednesday!

Beware the Sea Dogs!

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How to spot a False Prophet!

shanetarpley.blogspot.com

But there were also false prophets in Israel, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will cleverly teach destructive heresies and even deny the Master who bought them. In this way, they will bring sudden destruction on themselves.  Many will follow their evil teaching and shameful immorality. And because of these teachers, the way of truth will be slandered.  In their greed they will make up clever lies to get hold of your money. But God condemned them long ago, and their destruction will not be delayed.  2 Peter 1:1-3 NLT

We find many warnings in the Bible about False Prophets. My fear is that many of them have infiltrated the church today and we don't even know it!  They twist Scripture ever so slightly here and there so that the average Christian, who doesn't really know the Bible, cannot detect the deception. Besides, this guy is a minister. He's got a doctorate in Theology! What do I know??

Well you do know. And you can know. First and foremost, you must be close to God and know your Bible well. And you can't do that unless you spend time with Him and read His Word.  But in 2 Corinthians 11, Paul expounds on some telltale signs of a false prophet that might be good for us to know.

But I fear that somehow your pure and undivided devotion to Christ will be corrupted, just as Eve was deceived by the cunning ways of the serpent. 2 Corinthians 11:3  NLT

i-heart-god.com

Deception.  Look for a leader who elevates him or herself. Look for a form of the gospel that makes the message more complicated. In the garden, Eve was deceived from the simple 'don't eat' by going deeper and more complicated into--you'll be like God, and before long she found herself being drawn slowly into a convoluted understanding of God's instructions. 

Beware of formulas:  Fasting x days to bring revival, praying certain Scriptures over your life for x number of days, offering certain amounts of money to see your prayers answered.  This is all complicated faith. And deception.

UnChristlike Character:
In verses 4-12 Paul describes a Godly minister as transparent, humble, lacking any pretense of greed, and actually loving and knowing the people. The false is opposite - secretive, treated like royalty, proud, eager to take people's money.

Numb to the needs of people
 And when I was with you and didn’t have enough to live on, I did not become a financial burden to anyone. 2 Corinthians 11:9 NLT
We know that Paul worked as a tent maker so as to not be a financial burden to the church.  But the word "Burden" is katanarkao in Greek which means "to grow numb".  In other words, Paul wasn't numb to the needs of the people. A false prophet will pretend to care but not care at all.

Hypocrite
So it is no wonder that his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. 2 Corinthians 11:15 NLT

A false prophet will live one way in the pulpit but act differently in real life. If you hear about a minister or pastor who claims great annointing and miracles but then find out he does drugs and is unfaithful to his wife, he's a false prophet.

After all, you think you are so wise, but you enjoy putting up with fools! You put up with it when someone enslaves you, takes everything you have, takes advantage of you, takes control of everything, and slaps you in the face. 2 Corinthians 11:19-20  NLT

Appeal to the Ego

A false teacher will tell you that you must follow him to be on the cutting edge of what God is doing. He'll deliver a personal prophecy just to you to make you feel good. He'll try and make you feel special, more spiritual than others as he promotes a more touchy emotion-laden gospel that's more about God blessing you with money and possessions than crucifying the flesh and becoming more like Jesus.

Brings you into Bondage

^{By appealing to your Ego and your search for excitement, this teacher brings you into bondage to him and his teaching as a necessity for your growth in Christ}

^{Steals your Money}

www.gospellyfe.com

When you give to God, give out of your heart because you love God and want to help His church. Give as the Spirit leads you to give. Never give out of guilt or pressure. As an example there are 'prophecy of the month' clubs where if you partner with a ministry financially, you get a personal prophecy monthly. These poor people eagerly await the next letter from such and such minister to find what they must do next for answered prayer. It's pure manipulation and bondage.

Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves. Matthew 10:16  NASB



Do any names come to mind??  They do for me! 

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Book Signings - an author's nightmare or pleasant dream?

Last  Saturday I, along with four other authors, gave short talks on themes in stories and signed books at our local Bereans Christian Book store.  Book signings can either be very humbling for an author or very encouraging.  Most for me have been quite humbling.  I've lost count on how many book signings I've been on. In the beginning of my career, my publisher sent me all over the place, mostly throughout California, but they also sent me to Michigan for a week and then on another trip to Minnesota.   Let me tell you, those were humbling experiences. 

Most of the time, I sat behind my little table stacked with books, smiling and trying to engage passers-by in conversation, letting them know I'm an author and what my book is about etc.. And most of the time, I sat there alone while people hurried past, averting their eyes.  There must be something very frightening about authors! I kept checking myself in the mirror to make sure my make up was in place and I hadn't grown fangs!  I remember at one point after nearly two hours of sitting there drumming our fingers and eating up all of our free chocolate, Kelly Hake and I put up a sign on our table that read "Don't feed the authors"  just for fun. We still didn't get any interest!! or laughs!! What's wrong with people? Take pity on the poor, unknown authors!

Since then my publisher has discovered the futility of book signings, and they've stopped sending me. Thank God because I was starting to get a complex and probably would have needed therapy for my low self-esteem. However, every once in a while a few of us local authors get together at our Christian Book store and have a signing. So, bearing extremely low expectations, I grab my pen, my glasses (or I can't see my own signature), put on my smile, and head on over to the shop, looking forward to chatting with my author friends more than anything.

This Saturday was no different. At least it didn't start out that way. Now, mind you, we authors aren't beyond begging or bribing. We had assembled a huge gift basket with 5 free books, candles, chocolate, and lots of other goodies to be raffled off to one of the people attending. Not to mention that each of us planned on giving a free talk on how to incorporate theme into your manuscript!  Did I mention free? Where can you get five writing lessons from five well-known authors for free? You would think that would draw a crowd.

orangelic.org

Still at half an hour after the start, we had only 1 person there.



But before you start feeling sorry for me, it wasn't a complete bust. We gathered our chairs in a circle and started our talks. Then slowly one by one, more people trickled in. One here, another there, three more (friends of one of the authors!) here, a few there.. until at the peak, we probably had about 8 or 9 people! Now, that's a crowd for a book signing.  I actually had a pretty good time. I got to chat with some really nice people, some who write and hope to get published, others who are just readers. One lady approached me carrying a copy of The Restitution and told me she first started reading my books back when my pirate series came out and she's read every one since. How cool is that?

I didn't sell a ton of books. I didn't make a name for myself in San Jose. But God was gracious as always and I had a great time with old friends and new ones. I will never complain about my life. You should have seen that deep, dark pit I was in when God reached down and pulled me out! After that, everything is gravy! I feel extremely blessed to be signing any books at all! Especially books that I have written. God is so good.

Here's a picture of the authors at the signing:  From Left to Right. Shelly Bates, Dineen Miller, ME!, Susanne Lakin, and Kristin Billerbeck.

By the way, all these author's books are fabulous!! You should check them out!   And yes, I'm short. I know I'm short. And I even had heels on!

Here's another couple shots of the actual signing.

So, what are your thoughts on Book Signings? Have you ever attended one? Do you think they are valuable? Would meeting an author be important to you?   And more importantly: DO AUTHORS FRIGHTEN YOU?    

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Wordless Wednesday!

FIRE!

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What is the church supposed to look like?

I want to thank you all for going on this journey with me as we examined our modern church practices, compared them to how the early church operated, and discovered how each ritual came to be so implanted in our church traditions. It has definitely been interesting! As well as somewhat controversial!  But as I've said before, don't believe me, please do your own research. I recommend Pagan Christianity by Frank Viola and George Barna, where most of my posts have come from. In that book, they list their references and give more proofs than I was able to share here.

So, we're finally at an end to the series. I hope it has opened your eyes and caused you to question some of the practices you've partaken of your entire life. Many of you have asked me what can we possibly do about it? What should we be doing? Should we call our pastors and tell them what we've discovered? Should we storm out of churches, never to return. Absolutely not!  However, now that you do have this information, God may require you to do something with it. What that might be, is between you and Him. For me, I'm going to pray and seek His guidance and see where He leads me.

We've been rather negative in these posts, so I thought I'd close out the series by listing all the things that a true New Testament church should be, as evidenced from Scripture.

• The New Testament Church made Jesus central and supreme in all things. He was the head of their church, the object of their worship, and the content of their discussions
• The early church met in open participatory meetings that had no fixed order or program for the service. No one was a spectator. All believers exercised their gifts to edify one another. There were informal gatherings led by the moving of the Holy Spirit used to build up the believers and bring glory to God
• The early Christians lived in community. They didn't just met once or twice a week as scheduled but they cared for one another and shared in one another's lives.
• For 300 years, Christianity was the first and only religion in the world that was devoid of ritual, clergy, and sacred buildings. There was no concept of a "sacred" place or building where they would meet.
• The early church would never call a building a church or house of God. They were the church
• The Early Church did not have a clergy. They had traveling apostles who planted and nurtured churches, but these men were not part of a special elevated caste. 
• Every Christian in the early church possessed different gifts and different functions. Eldering and Shepherding were just two of these functions. They were not special offices and they did not control or run the meetings. They were simply mature believers who cared for the members of the church.
• In the early church, decisions were made by the entire assembly.
• The New Testament church did not have programs, rituals, or a top-down chain of command structure. The church was a living, breathing organism, subject to growth and change, just like the bride of Christ!
• The Early Church did not tithe. They gave according to their ability, not out of guilt, duty or by a certain percentage. The funds were used to help the poor and the apostolic workers who were spreading the gospel. No one received a salary in the church.
• Early Christians were baptized immediately after conversion. The Lord's supper was a joyful feast that reaffirmed their faith in Jesus and their thankfulness for His sacrifice.
• The Early Christians did not build Bible Schools or Seminaries. Christian Elders were educated by mature Christians in a sort of on the job training.
• The Early Christians did not divide themselves into denominations.  Though they met in different homes and were scattered throughout the empire, in their minds, there was only one church and one body of Christ. The unity of the Spirit was well-guarded.

Wow, that's quite a list! You may agree with it, or you may not agree. Either way, I do suggest you go to the source, the New Testament, strip away your predisposed ideas of how church should be, and read and study on your own.  Then pray and sincerely seek to know the truth. For the Lord says that The truth will set you free!

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Seven Military attributes of God!

I love You fervently and devotedly, O Lord, my Strength.  The Lord is my Rock, my Fortress, and my Deliverer; my God, my keen and firm Strength in Whom I will trust and take refuge, my Shield, and the Horn of my salvation, my High Tower. Psalm 18:1-2

I always take note when I find Scriptures that list 7 things. 7 is God's divine number and you'll often see things listed in 7's in the Bible. So, this verse stopped me. How often do we skim over a verse like this, read the words, and go "That's nice." and then move onto the next verse.  If we've been a Christian for awhile, terms like the ones highlighted above are common place. They are found throughout Scripture. And we've even made songs saturated with them. But what do they really mean?? 

God is a Rock! But what is a rock? It's something solid, heavy and hard, right? And if it's big enough, it's immovable. When you call someone you know a rock, you mean they are dependable. You can count on them. They don't change their mind or their moods.

Deuteronomy 32:4 gives us some insight into what the Scriptures mean by Rock. 

He is the Rock, His work is perfect, for all His ways are law and justice. A God of faithfulness without breach or deviation, just and right is He. 

God is a Fortress! - according to the dictionary, a fortress is a large fortified place; It is any place of exceptional security. A Stronghold. So, God surrounds us with thick fortified walls to protect us from our enemies. Like a fortress, He keeps us safe.

I will say of the Lord, He is my Refuge and my Fortress, my God; on Him I lean and rely, and in Him I confidently trust! Psalm 91:2

God is a Deliverer!  A deliverer is someone who rescues or frees you from confinement, violence, danger, or evil. He is your Knight in Shining Armor. Your hero. The one who rides up on the white horse, fights off the enemy, places you atop his steed and charges into the sunset!!  

God is your firm Strength! Strength is physical power. It is  moral power, firmness, and courage.   Of course we all know God is Strong. But the verse above says that He is your strength! So, when you feel weak, defeated, lonely and frightened, God comes along and boosts you up with His strength and courage!

God is your Shield!  A shield is a broad piece of armor, varying widely in form and size and used as a defense against swords, lances, arrows and other weapons.  In other words, when the arrows and swords of life come speeding toward you, God leaps in front of you to receive the blows in your stead!

God is your Horn of Salvation!

A horn is a sign of power (Deut. 33: 17)—literally of an ox (Num. 23: 22) or metaphorically of a people (1 Kgs. 22: 11). In Dan. 7: 8 the horns refer metaphorically to kings. So the ‘horn of salvation’  indicates the saving power of the king. The four horns on the corners of Jewish altar (Exod. 27: 2) were used as sanctuary to a fugitive who ran to them and clung to them, this saving him from his due punishment. The horn of salvation in Luke 1: 69  denotes royal saving power as with a king saving his people.

God is your High Tower! - We all know what a high tower is. It is a sturdy structure that is higher than anything else. In ancient days, castles were fortified with high towers from which people could rain arrows down on their advancing enemies. A high tower is not only a place of defense, but it is a place where you can see for miles in all directions, thus giving yourself an advantage over your enemies. 

The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe, high above evil and strong. Proverbs 18:10

If you put all these incredible attributes together, you can't help but be amazed!  God is immovable. God protects us. God rescues us. God gives us strength. He leaps in front of us when we are attacked. God saves us from eternal punishment and brings us to His high tower where we reign above all our enemies!!  God is so awesome! He is all these things for us!  You have only to believe them and call upon his name.

I will call upon the Lord, Who is to be praised; so shall I be saved from my enemies.  Psalm 18:3

 

 

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Health and Hymns!

This week I have two questions from Emma! And then I have some questions for you!!

Emma asks:  I know that you have said before that you are a health food nut, and I was curious about what types of food do you normally make for yourself? What are your favorite things to eat?

Okay, probably to most of the country, I'm a health food nut, but out here in California, there are a lot of nuts running around!  I'll tell you what a typical day's diet is for me.

• Organic coffee with organic cream and Xylitol sweetener
• Breakfast; 1 fruit/veggie smoothie ( Organic orange or apple, organic berries, organic coconut milk, Kefir, kale, spinach and Spirutein)  Yum!
• Mid morning snack:  Handful of almonds or some fruit
• Lunch:  Organic yogurt or Gluten free bread with organic Peanut butter and jam
• Afternoon snack: Organic corn tortilla chips with organic avocado  (10 or so)  or Popcorn!
• Dinner:  I always eat a good sized bowl of green salad with all kinds of organic veggies in it, including broccoli and cauliflower, carrots, cucumbers, mushrooms, peppers.. whatever I have around.  Then I have a piece of whatever meat I'm cooking for my hubby. I buy only Grass fed, hormone free beef and free range chicken and wild fish.  I also love Sweet potatoes and Yams, rice, and corn pasta. Sometimes I'll make spaghetti or homemade soup or meatloaf.. hamburgers, natural hotdogs, tacos.. pretty much the normal stuff, but I make it with mostly organic ingredients.  



www.eating-in.com

• Dessert:  This is where I cheat. I usually grab a cookie, brownie or piece of chocolate. But only 1! 

I drink lots of water during the day. I never drink soda or fruity drinks. In the winter I'll drink tea. 
I also take a tablespoon of Acidophilus after dinner.  

My favorite things to eat are chocolate and popcorn!! Or Cake. I love any kind of cake!!  I'm looking forward to the Wedding cake in Heaven at the great feast!

So there you have it!!  The truth of the matter is I really enjoy all these healthy foods, so it's not a huge problem for me to eat them. Don't get me wrong I do love a good burger and fries now and then. I just don't eat them very often!


 
Emma asks: I was also curious what Christian songs and hymns happen to be your favorite?  My favorite Christian bands are Third Day and Kutlass. But honestly, I don't listen to Christian Radio very much so I"m not up with the latest and greatest. I love the old Hymns like "Holy holy holy, Lord God Almighty. Early in the Morning, my song shall rise to thee!" Do you know that one?  And my all time favorite hymn is "Amazing Grace". I cannot sign that without crying!  

So what about you? 
What is the healthiest thing you eat on a regular basis
What is your favorite thing to eat?
What is your favorite Christian song? (either a popular tune or an old hymn) 

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The US President's desk made from a tall ship??

en.wikipedia.org

Yes, it's true!  The ship was the HMS Resolute that sailed  from Britain in April 1852 as part of a 5-ship squadron. Their mission? To find the fabled Northwest passage through the Canadian Arctic and search for a missing expedition that had left 7 years earlier.  The HMS Resolute, under Captain Kellett's command sailed west and spent the fall of 1852 through the summer of 1853 sledging across the Arctic in search of the missing ships. Though they never found any trace of the ships, they did find and rescue the crew of the HMS  Investigator, a ship sent out two years before. Afterward, Resolute along with another ship sailed east but got stuck in pack ice all winter. In fact 4 of the 5 ships in the squadron also became frozen in ice. Consequently, the commander of the squadron ordered the ships abandoned and their men to gather on Beechey Island.  Under severe protest, Captain Kellett left the HMS Resolute locked in the slowly moving floe ice, and led his men in a hard march to reach the other ships of the expedition at Beechy Island. From there they returned to England on rescue ships.

Upon returning to England, Belcher, the commander of the squadron, along with Captain Kellett and the other captains of the ships were tried by court martial for abandoning four worthy sea vessels.  All were acquitted but Belcher never received another commission.

wattsupwiththat.com

Meanwhile Resolute had moved 1200 miles in the pack ice from where she had been abandoned, and in September 1855, an American Whaler found the ship, split up his crew, and sailed her to his home in New London Connecticut. At the time tensions were quite high between the United States and Great Britain and some people were predicting a third war. So when a senator proposed a bill to buy the Resolute, refurbish her and return her to Britain as a gift, President Franklin Pierce agreed.  The Resolute was sent to Brooklyn Navy yard where she received a complete refitting, and Commander Henry Hartstene USN, sailed her back to Britain, arriving at Spithead on December 12, 1856 where the ship was presented to Queen Victoria as a gesture of good will and peace.  Talk of war soon ceased and the return of the Resolute soon became hailed as an instrument of peace between the countries.

The British sailed the ship for several more years until she was laid to rest at Chatham dockyard in 1879. After the ship was dismantled, Queen Victoria commissioned that four desks be built from it's timbers. One she gave as a gift to President Rutherford B. Hayes in 1880. Another smaller lady's desk was presented to the widow of Henry Grinnell. Two more the queen kept herself, one of which is the exact replica of the one presented to Rutherford, which currently resides in Windsor Castle.

The plate on the front of the desk presented to President Hayes reads:

greatseal.com

H.M.S. RESOLUTE forming part of the expedition sent in search of SIR JOHN FRANKLIN IN 1852, was abandoned  (74°N 101.367°W) in latitude 74 degrees 41 minutes N longitude 101 degrees 22 minutes W on 15th May 1854. She was discovered and extricated in September 1855 in latitude 67 degrees N (67°N 58.7°W) by Captain Buddington of the United States Whaler GEORGE HENRY.

The ship was purchased, fitted out and sent to England as a gift to HER MAJESTY QUEEN VICTORIA by the PRESIDENT AND PEOPLE of the UNITED STATES as a token of goodwill & friendship. This table was made from her timbers when she was broken up, and is presented by the QUEEN OF GREAT BRITAIN to the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES as a memorial of the courtesy and loving kindness which dictated the offer of the gift of the RESOLUTE.


Pretty awesome, huh?

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Wordless Wednesday!

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Are we teaching Pastors right?

The New Testament church had it's leaders. Teachers, prophets, apostles and elders. But where did these men get trained? I mean you can't be a church leader without training, right?  Actually, yes you can! And yes, they did. Absent from the early church was college training, seminary, and even Sunday school. They all came about hundreds of years after the apostles.

lifechristianchurch.org

But surely these leaders had to receive some training? Yes. They did. The best kind. Hands on training!  They learned the essentials of Christian ministry by living out their calling and living their lives among a group of other Christians. At the same time, they also learned under the tutelage of a seasoned worker. It was a matter of apprenticeship rather than intellectual learning. It was a matter of the spirit rather than the brain.

R. Paul Stevens states :The best structure for equipping every Christian is already in place. It predates the seminary and the weekend seminar and will outlast them both. In the New Testament no other nurturing and equipping is offered than the local church. In the New Testament church as in the ministry of Jesus, people learned in the furnace of life, in a relational, living, working and ministering context.

es.wikipedia.org

Now, that's something to think about, isn't it? Yet, how many of us will judge a pastor or teacher on his  credentials? Oh my, if he has a doctorate in Theology, he must know what he's talking about, right?  He may have a ton of head knowledge about the Bible, but what about his spirit?  How is his spirit trained? Not in a classroom, I can tell you.

Without boring you with a ton of details on how training church leaders began and how it evolved over the centuries, let me just say that like most everything else in the church, it became highly steeped in Pagan philosophy, Greek oratory skills, and intellectualism found at Universities. In fact, most universities grew out of cathedral schools.  Theology was regarded as the "Queen of the Sciences" in universities.

Even Martin Luther knew what occurred with this type of training when he said. "What else are the universities than places for training youth in Greek glory?"

stanleystiver.com

Out of all this grew the professional seminary. Thomas Aquinas, one of the fathers of the seminary, and who had the greatest influence on theological training believed that it was through the intellect that one could know God, not the heart. Hence, the more trained a person was, the more he could know God.  This type of theological training produced a new profession--the trained pastor.  By 1860, there were 60 Seminaries in America.

Today we also have Bible colleges, which are a more recent invention and a cross between a Bible institute and a Christian liberal arts school. There are currently over 400 in the US and Canada.

The question is, is this the right way to train our pastors and leaders?  We fill them up with a ton of knowledge and them let them loose to run a church. I'm not saying that knowledge of the world, church history, theology, philosophy and the Scriptures isn't valuable. It is! But does it qualify a person to lead a church? Does it make a man a strong man of God? Does it help him to know God in a deep way spiritually?  Does it prepare him to deal with different kinds of conflict, communication issues, counseling,  teaching all types of personalities, dealing with drug addictions, adultery, as well as a host of other situations he will have to deal with?

As one pastor so succinctly put it, "I came through the whole system with the best education that evangelicalism had to offer, yet I didn't really receive the training that I needed..... it didn't prepare me to do ministry and be a leader.  I began to analyze why I could preach a great sermon... but people in my church were still struggling with self-esteem, beating their spouses, struggling as workaholics, succumbing to their addictions. There lives weren't changing.. . we were taught that if you just give people information, that's enough!"  

What are your thoughts?

Taken from Pagan Christianity by Frank Viola and George Barna

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