Life Everlasting

“Though Alexia's client's life no longer hangs in the balance, eternal questions linger.
The music stopped, the room emptied, and Baxter Richardson opened his eyes for the first time in months. He should have died from his involuntary plunge off a cliff. But he's alive, and mortal danger remains. Familiar enemies stalk him. New ones hover close at hand.
Meanwhile, haunted by accusing apparitions and the tightening dragnet of criminal investigation, Baxter's wife, Rena, is losing her patience. And quite possibly her mind.
Caught in the middle of it all is Alexia Lindale, a lawyer forced to find her way through deceptive alliances, uncertain romances, and courtroom intrigue. It's a struggle of life, death . . . and life everlasting.”
If this synopsis is the type that catches your attentions, then you will enjoy Life Everlasting, by Robert Whitlow,  Thomas Nelson Publishing.  It is the second book in what I can only perceive is a two book series, as I cannot find a third book in the series as of yet.  The main character, a attorney in South Carolina, is faced with defending a woman whom she is beginning to doubt.  At the same time, the man whom she is developing a romantic interest in, a music pastor, is ministering to her comatose husband, who she says tried to murder her.  As he begins to awaken, elements of truth begin to emerge, but who is telling the truth?     I thoroughly enjoyed the book, once I got a few chapters into it, and it only took that long because I had not read the first book.  Mr Whitlow, a practicing attorney, fills his book with enough legal drama to make the plot exciting, characters who have enough dimension to make them likable, but not plastic, and spiritual truth without dipping into preachiness.  He finds balance, which is not an easy thing to do.  I will definitely pick up more titles by this author.
I received this book free from Booksneeze in exchange for this review, but the opinions expressed are my own.

The Final Summit Book Review

The Final Summit, by Andy Andrews, is the second in a series of which I have not had the privilege of reading the first.  Fortunately you can jump right in and be riveted by the great storytelling of Mr. Andrews, for he captures your attention immediately.  David Ponder is a Traveler, one who goes through time and meets the Greats throughout history.  In this book they all meet in Heaven where they are given a chance to save humanity.  They are given five chances to answer a question. “What does humanity need to do, individually and collectively, to restore itself to the pathway toward successful civilization?”  We get to hear from a few great people from history, King David, Joan of Arc, and one Erik Erickson, a man few of us have ever heard of but will research after reading this book. 

Theologically many of us will struggle with this book, as we wonder how a few of these agnostics even got beyond the pearly gates.  It is a very politically correct book, and there is some very thought provoking conversation that goes on for sure.  The research Mr Andrews has put into the book was thorough and thoughtful, and again the story-line is creative and riveting.  Not one to be taken all too seriously as far as theology goes, but a fun read, and I would definitely pick up a sequel.

DISCLAIMER: I received The Final Summit free from Thomas Nelson Publishers in return for a review of the book. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Charlotte's Birthday

Last weekend my Uncle Jerry had a birthday celebration for my Aunt Charlotte.  A celebration of her first birthday, anyway.  I’m not entirely sure of when her second birthday was, her spiritual birthday.  At this point in her life, in the merciless clutch of Parkinson’s Disease, I’m not sure that she knows any more.  I’m absolutely positive that my Uncle Jerry could tell you though.  He can tell you everything about her.  He has known her close to all of their lives.  They fell in love somewhere in elementary school, I think.  Her daddy was her Sunday School teacher and he told him very solemnly when he was a very young boy, “I’m going to marry Charlotte.”  And marry her he did.  He loved her all the way through Junior High and High School.  Dated her and courted her through college and then fulfilled his promise to her daddy all those years ago and married her. 

Jerry and Charlotte were always my favorite Aunt and Uncle. (my apologies to all of the rest)  They were young, energetic and oh, so much fun.  Jerry made everyone laugh, and still does.  Charlotte was so beautiful and sweet.  When I was a little girl I decided I wanted to grow up and be just like her. When my parents divorced and my daddy went to Vietnam ,and we went to live with my grandparents, they were a steady presence in our lives.  They were childless for years.  Later they would adopt three incredibly fortunate children.  When I was nine years old at my very first trip to camp, Charlotte was the one who knelt down in the sawdust with me as I prayed and asked Jesus Christ to come into my heart and be my Saviour.  After my dad remarried, we moved away.  When we came back from a three year tour in Germany, we all spent a week at Myrtle Beach.  There Jerry and Charlotte spent hours with my older sister Christie and me mentoring us spiritually.  I didn’t realize then that they were awakening a spiritual hunger and thirst in me that would set the course of my life and determine the outcome of my children’s futures as well.  Over the course of my life, I’ve been able to pay that investment forward many times over as we spent 18 plus years working in youth ministry.  I believe that is how Jerry and Charlotte wanted it to be.  I even chose the name that my grandchildren would call me because that is what Charlotte is called by hers.

Jerry is the younger brother of my dad.  The two of them fought and argued with the best of them.  They were champions at it, as a matter of fact.  They were as different as night and day.  If one said up, the other said down.  They argued for the sake of argument.  But they were brothers, and they loved each other.  When my dad died and we went to North Carolina for the memorial service we were able to spend some time with my dad’s little brother.  There we discovered how much the Parkinson’s was stealing away our sweet Charlotte from us.  It broke my heart.  Sitting on their back porch, holding her hand on the porch swing, we were reminiscing about old times.  I asked her if she remembered being with me when I got saved.  She smiled at me, squeezed my hand and said, “Why yes, I think I do remember that.  It was up at camp, wasn’t it?”  I kissed her cheek, and nodded, tears in my eyes.  One year later, when we made another visit, she not only didn’t remember that event, she wasn’t even sure that she remembered me.

Three months has passed since that visit, and Jerry lets us know she is declining very rapidly.  My heart is heavy for him.  I pray for comfort for his heart and for his children.  She’s still a beautiful woman, just 68 years old.  When we were there last, he humbly told us the story of his journey to this place where he is.  How that God spoke so clearly to his heart, telling him that he was about to embark upon a journey that he was not prepared for.  Jerry said God warned him, quite clearly, that he would need to be ready to release it all.  Face the facts that he would have to be as humble as he could be, let go of all of his pride.  Realize that this was not going to be about him, and not going to be his way.  He said, “All of my life I have had a godly woman in my life taking care of me.  First my mother, then Charlotte.  I’ve never had to take care of myself.  Now I have had to watch my precious Charlotte slowly become more and more helpless.  And I have had to step up and be the one to take care of her.  I have to trust God that He will carry me and comfort me and support me.  And lay aside my pride, my ugly pride that says I don’t deserve this. God, why me?”  He went on to tell us that in all of their struggles, Charlotte had maintained her beautiful testimony and love for Jesus.  Whenever she would start to act ugly, Jerry would just remind her of how Christ would want her to act, and she would calmly say, “Oh, Jerry.  Jesus wouldn’t want me to act that way, would he?” 

Jerry now is praying that God will be merciful and take his sweet, beautiful wife home soon.  I can barely write now for the tears.  What a homecoming that will be.  I know we all believe we have two birthdays: our physical and our spiritual.  I’m beginning to believe that we can have a third:  our heavenly birthday also.  We get a new body, a new home and a new future.

This was not the most eloquently written, nor the best structured.  But it is a heartfelt testimony to what a difference a person can make in the life of another.  It is a picture of God’s grace in the darkest part of our lives.  It is a reminder that what we are living now is just for a moment, but eternity is our true reality.  We are only here but for a moment, what we do while we are here will impact others long after we are gone.  From one Nonni to another:  I love you.  You impacted my life.

Story Engineering Book review

I just finished reading Story Engineering, a book by Larry Brooks  on “Mastering the 6 Core Competencies of Successful Writing.  I am currently enrolled in an Effective Writing Course at a local college and this book could easily be a text book for any course on creative or effective writing.  While it is full of practical exercises, insights, and tips for the beginner, I believe it would be helpful and challenging for the seasoned writer as well.  Mr. Brooks makes the reader want to reach deeper to be a better writer.

This book is not a once-read book, but rather one to be kept as a go-to book for the serious writer.  This book will stay in my library for years to come.

I received this book free from Booksneeze.com as part of their book reviewer bloggers program.  The book was not given in exchange for a good review, the opinions expressed are my own

No Need for Greed

The desire of the slothful killeth him; for his hands refuse to labor.

He coveteth greedily all the day long:

but the righteous giveth and spareth not.

Prov. 21:25, 26

When we envision the greedy, what is the image that comes to our mind?   Are you like me with a picture something like Scrooge McDuck swimming gleefully through mountains of money in his vault?  That is the picture I have in my mind from my cartoon watching days.  Or maybe those were my children's cartoon watching days, I'm not sure.  Nonetheless, that is the image the word greed conjures up.  Or maybe it is of  the idle wealthy reclining back in lavish opulence while some snobbish servant caters to their every whim.  Either way it involves one with excess of wealth.  Not the poverty stricken.  Yet if we read the verses above, the writer alludes to the fact that the slothful can be greedy.  I'm not sure about you, but I've yet to know one lazy rich person.  Now, don't misunderstand me.  I've come across idle people who had money. It most likely came from the hands of another, though.  They inherited it, or won it, or had a fortunate windfall, but over the course of time  if they maintain their lazy ways the money  has a way of dwindling down to a bare minimum.  It takes hard work to keep wealth.  It may not be manual or physical labor, but I guarantee you Donald Trump, or Bill Gates, or anyone with a large empire to watch over is a busy person, and if they are negligent or slothful they will not sustain their wealth for long.

If you doubt me, listen to what God has to say:

The soul of the sluggard desireth, and hath nothing:

But the soul of the diligent shall be made fat.

Proverbs 13:4

The sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold;

Therefore shall he beg in harvest and have nothing.

Proverbs 20:4

Slothfulness casteth into a deep sleep;

And an idle soul shall suffer hunger

Proverbs 19:15

I have a pretty basic principle which I tend to live by: I believe God.  These are not punishments handed down by God, nor pronouncements of doom or judgments, just cause and effect observations.  Laziness will result in you losing what you have. What does this have to do with greed?  Simply this:  we are not exempt from it just because we have little, and in fact may become more prone to it because of having less.  

We tend to think of greediness as being limited to those with much in the way of material possessions, like our mental images we mentioned earlier.  In reality, though, we can be greedy over much more subtle things.  What is it that we cling to jealously?  What do we clutch tightly and guard vigilantly?  It can be our time, our privacy, our homes.  For some it is deeper: our emotions, affections, honest feelings.  For others still it even seems noble when we guard our families, children and spouses.  But when we look at what we are guarding these things against, it takes on a different look.  For example, what happens when God asks you to yield something to Him?  What happens when your plans and God's plans collide?

Recently, I was brought to a place in my life where I was forced to evaluate my own greediness in light of God's liberality to me.  It was humbling and devastatingly eye-opening.  Face-to-face with God, I saw where I had drawn a line in the sand of my life.  Had you asked me, I would have told you everything I had was His, I would hold nothing back.  But in those tearful, honest moments alone with Him, He showed me what I was holding tightly in my clenched fists.  And when I laid it out next to what He had sacrificed for me, it was paltry and pale in comparison.  

When I look at where I am, who I am and what I have to look forward to in my future, I know it is all because of what Jesus did for me on Calvary.  When I consider where I ought to be, who I could be and what my future should hold for me, I can't think of one thing in my life I hold dear and precious that compares to what was done for me.  What sacrifice could He ask of me would be too much?  What do I hold in my tightly clenched fists that is worth saying 'no' to the one who has given me so much?  Where is there room in my life for greed?  When I finally opened my hand to Him and released what was in all honesty His already, I felt peace and His comforting arms.  Do I believe I won't have to have this conversation with Him again?  I'd like to think not, maybe just a gentle reminder.  But I'm not vain enough to believe that I will never falter or struggle with my natural human emotions.  Gratefully His grace is boundless and endless, and He is patient beyond my human failings.  And He loves me so.

Do you want to hear the greatest irony?  The element that man for so long, in so many different cultures, based their monetary system upon; gold, that we hold so precious and value so highly, have sought, and fought for, killed over and warred over, God is paving the streets of Heaven with.  Imagine:  what women have sold their bodies for, men slit others' throats for, kingdoms fell for lack of and the Bible declares the love of is the root of all evil, God will one day show us the true value of by allowing us to spend the remainder of eternity walking upon.  We have counted it great gain, He considers it no more than cement or concrete.  So what does He count as great gain?

But godliness with contentment is great gain.

I Timothy 6:6

Oh to be content and godly at the same time, indeed that would be great gain.  In the verses following, Paul goes on to tell Timothy that the rich fall into a trap, that riches tend to suck them in and keep them from following after Godly things.  He tells Timothy to flee these things.  But then he gives Timothy some great counsel, he gives him some things to follow after instead.  I love it when someone does that.  When you tell a child, for instance, that such and such is not a good thing to have in their life, give them a decent and viable substitute.  And that is what Paul did for Timothy.  Read on:

For the love of money is the root of all evil:

while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith,

and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

But thou, O man of God, flee these things;

and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith,

love, patience, meekness.

I Timothy 6:10,11

There is a viable substitute for greed: righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience and meekness.  If I pursue these, seek these and follow after these, then maybe, just maybe, I can do away with the greed and stinginess that naturally permeates my life.  If I practice daily these attributes, there may not be room in my life for greed.  There certainly is no need.

 

Does Your Speech Betray You?

In the 12th chapter of Judges there is an interesting story.  Jephthah leads the men of Gilead into battle against the Ammonites, only they neglect to ask the Ephraimites to join them in the battle.  Now maybe it's because I'm a girl, but I believe I would breathe a sigh of relief to that.  But no, the men of Ephraim come to Jephthah rather peeved, threatening to burn down Jephthah's house in retaliation for being left out of the fun.  And just to add insult to injury they are going to leave Jephthah inside the house.  While it is burning.  Well evidently the Gileadites were still feeling the rush of the victory over the Ammonite battle, for they just turned and went to war with Ephraim.  Many of the men of Ephraim fled from the battle and so the men of Gilead cut off their path of retreat where they were to cross the river Jordan.  If, when they went to cross over, they answered the question "Are you an Ephraimite?" with "Nay", then they were told to say, "Shibboleth".  I gather, not unlike the notorious Bostonion  "R", the Sh blend was not easily pronounced in the Ephraim dialect.  Therefore it came out 'Sibboleth', and at that point the man was promptly killed.

There is another incidence in the Bible where we read of a man's speech giving him away. In the 26th chapter of Matthew we are with Peter as he is standing afar off while Jesus is being questioned, beaten and readied for his crucifixion.  After he denies several times being one of the followers of Jesus, in verse 73 a man actually says to him, "Surely you are one of them, for your speech betrayeth you."  Whether it was his dialect or his manner of speech, Peter sets out to disprove them by promptly swearing and denying even knowing Jesus.  We all know the rest of the story, for the rooster then crows and Peter is reminded, heartbreakingly so, of Christ's prediction of Peter's upcoming denial at His greatest hour of need.

Jesus had, in Matt. 12:34-37, told the people that out of the abundance of the heart man speaks.  What is in our hearts will show itself by what comes out of our mouths.  That is such a blatant condemnation, that most of us are in immediate denial.  Words spoken in a moment of anger surely don't count, do they?  Emotions get the best of us and before we have a moment to think about it the words are out.  Surely no one is going to hold us to those words, are they?  What about times when we just aren't thinking?  Carelessness shouldn't count should it?  Are we to be condemned for out and out stupidity?

Think about what the core of each of these episodes were about.  They revealed who the men were.  The speech of the men of Ephraim clearly exposed them as being Ephraimites.  Peter, even though he tried to disguise his speech could not hide who he truly was from the people around him.  Read exactly what Jesus said:

O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things?

for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.

A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things:

and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.

But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, 

they shall give an account thereof in the day of judgment.

 Mt. 12:34-36

Frankly, we do not like the sound of this because we are appalled at how often what proceeds out of our mouths is not a positive reflection of what would be in our hearts.  The truth of the matter is it is much easier to clean up the outside, to polish the outer image, than it is to clean up the inside.  The outside can be faked, can't it?  We can put on an artificial facade much more easily than we can change the inner man.  But God is very clear that this won't work for very long.  Eventually the truth will be known.  But if you've tried it, you know that cleaning up the inside yourself is an exercise in futility.  We try, but it doesn't seem to work.  It's not unlike the gesture of washing a child's mouth out with soap for using bad language.  The mouth isn't the issue; the issue is the heart.  And the fact of the matter is that at the heart of us all is a sin nature that should be crucified, right?  But it continues to raise its ugly head and seek its way over and over, trying to gain dominance and power in our lives.  We feel powerless and frustrated over it.  And in a sense we are powerless, but there is an answer.

 The answer lies not in us gaining control, but in releasing control, in surrendering control.  As we allow God to purify us and sanctify us through His Word, through walking in His Spirit and growing in grace, we find we begin to diminish, and He will increase.  As we surrender more and more of our hearts and lives to control of the Holy Spirit, as we walk more and more in the light of His Word; as our lives yield more and more of the fruit of the Spirit we will see the impact of it in our speech.  As we yield control of our lives to the Spirit of God, our mouths will follow.  

I believe our speech does matter.  Idle words as well as words forethought with malice.  It is easy to point fingers to those who go around spewing venom and hatred as the ones with speech problems, those with vulgar, ugly language as the ones with the problems.  The gossipers, the brawlers, the ones with the uncontrollable tempers.  But the Irish proverb, "words are like an arrow let fly" is applicable here, for it matters not if the string of the bow was released while being aimed at a target with deadly intent, or haphazardly with no thought of where the arrow would land.  If the arrow hits a soft spot, the pain of impact is the same, regardless of intent.  Thoughtlessness is wrong as well.  We must apply wisdom to our words, at all times.  When we cause injury or harm with our words, we need to take responsibility for them.  If malice or purpose was in play, forgiveness may not come as easily, but must be sought just the same.  Words matter, God said so.  He is teaching me some important lessons here....and I have much to learn still.