Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Last Month at Elmbrook
No, it's not a poster for "Women in Black." It's me with two of my fave thinkers, Sarah Sumner (left) and Carolyn Custis James.If you are a woman in ministry leadership, mark your calendar for the Whitby Forum's Synergy conference in Orlando, April 11-13, 2008. (The Whitby Forum is Carolyn's brain child.) But don't worry--you don't have to wear a black suit to attend!
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Thanksgiving
It's a beautiful day in Northern Virginia. About seventy degrees. And the leaves still have plenty of color. We watched our daughter rake a huge pile of them for the first time and then do the run/dump thing to her heart's delight.
We also met our grand-nephew for the first time.
Hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving full of gratitude and family and great food!
We also met our grand-nephew for the first time.
Hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving full of gratitude and family and great food!
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Growing Greener
Every time I walk into a Wal-Mart that’s overly air conditioned or see a building lit up at night, I wonder why none of the lists of what we can do to reduce energy consumption include stuff that could seriously reduce business energy. But I can’t control that what those businesses do, so I’ll just do what I can. Here are some new suggestions I discovered tonight while reading an airline magazine:
. Cancel your phone book delivery and use the online directory. About ten percent of dump waste is decomposing phone books.
. Keep your tires inflated. Doing so can improve your mileage up to 3 percent. That’s about 16 gallons per year for the average American.
. Replace incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs. If every American did this with just five of their bulbs, we’d save a trillion pounds of greenhouse gases.
.Give the receipt a pass. Next time you use the ATM, forego the little slip of paper. If everybody in our fair land quit doing this, we’d save a roll big enough to wrap around the earth like an Ace bandage…fifteen times over.
. Wash your clothes in cold water. I’ve been doing this for years, and nobody has ever told me my clothes look dingy. (Or are you all just being polite?) Number of barrels of oil we’d save if we all did this: 100K. Every day.
. Work from home. Ah, the joys of being a freelance writer. If everybody were so lucky, we’d save a billion galls of gas every year. But then, all that competition. Oy!
. Cancel your phone book delivery and use the online directory. About ten percent of dump waste is decomposing phone books.
. Keep your tires inflated. Doing so can improve your mileage up to 3 percent. That’s about 16 gallons per year for the average American.
. Replace incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs. If every American did this with just five of their bulbs, we’d save a trillion pounds of greenhouse gases.
.Give the receipt a pass. Next time you use the ATM, forego the little slip of paper. If everybody in our fair land quit doing this, we’d save a roll big enough to wrap around the earth like an Ace bandage…fifteen times over.
. Wash your clothes in cold water. I’ve been doing this for years, and nobody has ever told me my clothes look dingy. (Or are you all just being polite?) Number of barrels of oil we’d save if we all did this: 100K. Every day.
. Work from home. Ah, the joys of being a freelance writer. If everybody were so lucky, we’d save a billion galls of gas every year. But then, all that competition. Oy!
Saturday, November 17, 2007
I saw a new reviewer's opinion out there about Cappuccino with Colossians. Check it out!
Now...today I want to do something a little different. I met Betsy in Memphis last month, and she told me an amazing story. I asked her to share it, so here goes:
My brother and I grew up going to church for most everything offered, so we had a strong sense that ‘church’ was the ‘right’ thing to do. Yet we also saw much hypocrisy, which undermined any sense that religion was valid.
When we went to college each of us began searching for answers that our church experience had failed to address. And we both turned away from God, each in our own way.
After five years going from college to college, I finally ended up at a Catholic school. I had been so impressed by the lives of some nuns that I knew. I felt they were really living out what they believed. God used this to finally bring me to my knees and begin to see that apart from Him, I really could do nothing well.
My brother tried to hold on to the church longer than I did. But after college he began his own wilderness wanderings. Because we lived far apart in those years I knew little of his personal life. Since I had become a Christian I was full of the joy and wonder a new believer has. But when I tried to share it with him, I noticed cynicism about anything relating to God.
I had married by this time, and we had one child. But as we tried to have a second child, we entered into a seven-year period of miscarriages and infertility. All these years I of course continued to pray for my bother to know Christ.
Eventually we started looking into adoption. We were living in Vienna, Austria, as my husband was pastoring an English-speaking church there. It was difficult to find an agency that would allow Americans living abroad to adopt. When we did, we had to return to the States for the home study before the papers could be finalized.
My brother fell ill to a fairly rare illness the same spring we were to return for the home study. Within two weeks almost his entire body had become paralyzed with Guillaume-Barre’. We flew back as quickly as possible to be with him. I will never forget seeing him for the first time, lying so still in his hospital bed. He had lost much weight and truly looked like a concentration camp victim. And yet there seemed a quiet confidence and joy in him I had not seen before.
As he shared with me the ‘visit’ God had made to his room, just days before, I began to see the reason for the deep changes. A mutual friend of ours from high school days, who was himself a deeply committed Christian, had come by on a Sunday morning on his way to church. He was so faithful to visit Al often, and was never reluctant to share the love of Jesus with him. On that particular morning he explained to Al that a person can come to Christ just as he is. You didn’t have to ‘have your act together’, as it were, to come.
The Spirit was moving that morning in that little room. After our friend left, Al told me that something even more amazing happened. He said, ‘A light entered the room after Ronald left. And God spoke to me, and told me that He was going to heal me.’
I was speechless… My brother was the type to make fun of people who said things like that. And yet I could tell he was deadly serious.
Several days later, when my husband joined us in the States, Al told us the direction his life had taken in the past several years. He said, with tears running down his cheeks, (tears he could not wipe himself), that over the last few years he had ‘experimented with an alternative lifestyle’. He said the doctors were beginning to think that he had AIDS. At that time (1985), AIDS was very new on the scene. I had absolutely no idea my brother was a homosexual. And I knew little about this illness. But I did know that Al had asked for God’s forgiveness. And that even in this prison of a body, Al was experiencing more freedom than he had ever known…the true freedom that comes when you know you have been forgiven.
The ‘rest of the story’ is no less amazing. I became pregnant that summer, and we were forced to cancel the adoption. I, of course, feared another miscarriage. And I was certain that Al was going to recover. But God had other plans…
On the morning of March 1, 1986, God gave us Lily Allison. And about seven hours later He took my brother, Al, home to Heaven. After all those years of praying for my brother and for another child, GOD answered…in His time, and His way.
Her birth announcement and his death notice were on the same page.
THE LORD GIVETH, AND THE LORD TAKETH.
BLESSED BE THE NAME OF THE LORD.
Now...today I want to do something a little different. I met Betsy in Memphis last month, and she told me an amazing story. I asked her to share it, so here goes:
My brother and I grew up going to church for most everything offered, so we had a strong sense that ‘church’ was the ‘right’ thing to do. Yet we also saw much hypocrisy, which undermined any sense that religion was valid.
When we went to college each of us began searching for answers that our church experience had failed to address. And we both turned away from God, each in our own way.
After five years going from college to college, I finally ended up at a Catholic school. I had been so impressed by the lives of some nuns that I knew. I felt they were really living out what they believed. God used this to finally bring me to my knees and begin to see that apart from Him, I really could do nothing well.
My brother tried to hold on to the church longer than I did. But after college he began his own wilderness wanderings. Because we lived far apart in those years I knew little of his personal life. Since I had become a Christian I was full of the joy and wonder a new believer has. But when I tried to share it with him, I noticed cynicism about anything relating to God.
I had married by this time, and we had one child. But as we tried to have a second child, we entered into a seven-year period of miscarriages and infertility. All these years I of course continued to pray for my bother to know Christ.
Eventually we started looking into adoption. We were living in Vienna, Austria, as my husband was pastoring an English-speaking church there. It was difficult to find an agency that would allow Americans living abroad to adopt. When we did, we had to return to the States for the home study before the papers could be finalized.
My brother fell ill to a fairly rare illness the same spring we were to return for the home study. Within two weeks almost his entire body had become paralyzed with Guillaume-Barre’. We flew back as quickly as possible to be with him. I will never forget seeing him for the first time, lying so still in his hospital bed. He had lost much weight and truly looked like a concentration camp victim. And yet there seemed a quiet confidence and joy in him I had not seen before.
As he shared with me the ‘visit’ God had made to his room, just days before, I began to see the reason for the deep changes. A mutual friend of ours from high school days, who was himself a deeply committed Christian, had come by on a Sunday morning on his way to church. He was so faithful to visit Al often, and was never reluctant to share the love of Jesus with him. On that particular morning he explained to Al that a person can come to Christ just as he is. You didn’t have to ‘have your act together’, as it were, to come.
The Spirit was moving that morning in that little room. After our friend left, Al told me that something even more amazing happened. He said, ‘A light entered the room after Ronald left. And God spoke to me, and told me that He was going to heal me.’
I was speechless… My brother was the type to make fun of people who said things like that. And yet I could tell he was deadly serious.
Several days later, when my husband joined us in the States, Al told us the direction his life had taken in the past several years. He said, with tears running down his cheeks, (tears he could not wipe himself), that over the last few years he had ‘experimented with an alternative lifestyle’. He said the doctors were beginning to think that he had AIDS. At that time (1985), AIDS was very new on the scene. I had absolutely no idea my brother was a homosexual. And I knew little about this illness. But I did know that Al had asked for God’s forgiveness. And that even in this prison of a body, Al was experiencing more freedom than he had ever known…the true freedom that comes when you know you have been forgiven.
The ‘rest of the story’ is no less amazing. I became pregnant that summer, and we were forced to cancel the adoption. I, of course, feared another miscarriage. And I was certain that Al was going to recover. But God had other plans…
On the morning of March 1, 1986, God gave us Lily Allison. And about seven hours later He took my brother, Al, home to Heaven. After all those years of praying for my brother and for another child, GOD answered…in His time, and His way.
Her birth announcement and his death notice were on the same page.
THE LORD GIVETH, AND THE LORD TAKETH.
BLESSED BE THE NAME OF THE LORD.
Friday, November 16, 2007
If you have not yet purchased or won a copy of Informed Consent, you can enter here. Oh, and check out today's blog tour stop at Marla's place. Marla specializes in intercultural marriage. While you're at her site, check out what she has to say.
Think about the Kids
Today, like every day, 6,000 children will lose a parent to AIDS. Researchers in a report recently released by UNICEF, UNAIDS and the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief estimated that 12 million children in sub-Saharan Africa alone have lost one or both parents to AIDS. In four years, that number is expected to climb to 15.7 million. The worldwide number of orphans from all causes is now 132.7 million, says UNICEF. And of that number worldwide, 15.2 million children have lost one or both parents to AIDS. That’s one orphan for every active blog in the world. December 1 is World AIDS day. Planning to do anything?
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
South Bend and Back
I spent much of yesterday and today at O'Hare Airport going and coming to South Bend, Indiana, where I did a talk show promoting Informed Consent. You can view my ten-minute segment here for the next couple of days.
Trish was my hostess for the Tuesday segment of my blog tour. And today you can check out Mary DeMuth's site for my thoughts on a number of topics including the role of women.
Trish was my hostess for the Tuesday segment of my blog tour. And today you can check out Mary DeMuth's site for my thoughts on a number of topics including the role of women.
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Pray for the Persecuted
Today is an important day. Not only is it a day when we remember the sacrifices of veterans. It's also the international day of prayer for the persecuted church. Remember our brothers and sisters...
Also, blog tour hostess Heather Goodman asked me what the average person can do about AIDS. You can find some of my suggestions here. If you do just ONE THING you will do more than most Americans.
Also, blog tour hostess Heather Goodman asked me what the average person can do about AIDS. You can find some of my suggestions here. If you do just ONE THING you will do more than most Americans.
Friday, November 09, 2007
Thursday, November 08, 2007
Current Events
What are the limits of human dominion? What can we do about AIDS? Listen in on a radio interview I did about these and many other topics by going here at 7 PM Central tonight.
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
Win a Book, Write a Proposal
Win a book. Here's a link to a reviewer who's giving away a copy of Informed Consent. If you don't have a copy (or want one to give someone for Christmas), head on over. You have a great chance of winning! Also, today's stop on the blog tour is Beth's place.
Write a proposal. Are you ready to write a nonfiction proposal that grabs attention? Guest columnist Mary DeMuth tells you how in this excerpt from her downloadable tutorial on writing nonfiction proposals:
First things first: You need to know a few things before you start.
Know your passion. I’ve alluded to this earlier. A good book proposal emerges from a passionate idea. Examine yourself. Think about the topics you get passionate about when you talk to folks. Talk to others who know you well. Share your book idea and see if they catch your passion for it. It’s a huge undertaking to write a proposal, so be sure you have the passion to carry an entire book.
Know your book. What genre is your book? Where it would be shelved in a bookstore? How well do you know what the book will be about? Do you have access to good research, great interviews? How unique is your book? Will a pub board find it unique?
Know your immediate audience. The first audience of your proposal is actually the agent or publisher you’re querying. Find out everything you can about the agent or publisher. Do they specialize in the genre you’re writing? Do they take new authors? How many? Have you attended a writer’s conference and spoken directly to the editor or agent? What kinds of books are they looking for? Purchasing a market guide is a great first step. Analyzing books already represented or published is another great step. (If an agent already represents three mom authors, chances are he/she won’t want to take on another mom author.)
Know the bookselling industry. Do you know what is selling in the industry? What has oversold? What trends are up and coming? Go to bookstores and walk the aisles, sign up for newsletters and updates from the publishing industry, go to conferences, talk to booksellers. It’s absolutely imperative that you know what you’re getting into before you embark on this journey.
Know yourself. Writing a proposal is the first step in a very long journey. Do you have what it takes to count the cost of bringing a book to fruition? Can you take constructive criticism? Do you have the time it takes to not only write the book, but to edit it in a timely manner and promote it when it releases? Do you have a critique group to support and help you through the process? Author Jan Winebrenner says publishing a book “is like giving birth to an elephant—only more painful.” Are you ready for that?
Excerpted from Nonfiction Book Proposals that Grab and Editor or an Agent by the Throat (in a good way!) by Mary E. DeMuth. You can purchase the download here: http://www.maryedemuth.com/store.php
Mary E. DeMuth helps people to turn their trials into triumphs. An expert in Pioneer Parenting, Mary enables Christian parents to navigate our changing culture when their families left no good faith examples to follow. Her parenting books include Authentic Parenting in a Postmodern Culture (Harvest House, 2007), Building the Christian Family You Never Had (WaterBrook, 2006), and Ordinary Mom, Extraordinary God (Harvest House, 2005). Mary also inspires people to face their trials through her real-to-life novels, including Watching the Tree Limbs (a Christy Award finalist) and Wishing on Dandelions (NavPress, 2006). A pioneer parent herself, Mary and her husband, Patrick, reside in Texas with their three children. They recently returned from breaking new spiritual ground in Southern France, where they planted a church. You can find her on the web here:
http://www.marydemuth.com/
http://www.relevantblog.blogspot.com/
http://www.pioneerparenting.blogspot.com/
Write a proposal. Are you ready to write a nonfiction proposal that grabs attention? Guest columnist Mary DeMuth tells you how in this excerpt from her downloadable tutorial on writing nonfiction proposals:
First things first: You need to know a few things before you start.
Know your passion. I’ve alluded to this earlier. A good book proposal emerges from a passionate idea. Examine yourself. Think about the topics you get passionate about when you talk to folks. Talk to others who know you well. Share your book idea and see if they catch your passion for it. It’s a huge undertaking to write a proposal, so be sure you have the passion to carry an entire book.
Know your book. What genre is your book? Where it would be shelved in a bookstore? How well do you know what the book will be about? Do you have access to good research, great interviews? How unique is your book? Will a pub board find it unique?
Know your immediate audience. The first audience of your proposal is actually the agent or publisher you’re querying. Find out everything you can about the agent or publisher. Do they specialize in the genre you’re writing? Do they take new authors? How many? Have you attended a writer’s conference and spoken directly to the editor or agent? What kinds of books are they looking for? Purchasing a market guide is a great first step. Analyzing books already represented or published is another great step. (If an agent already represents three mom authors, chances are he/she won’t want to take on another mom author.)
Know the bookselling industry. Do you know what is selling in the industry? What has oversold? What trends are up and coming? Go to bookstores and walk the aisles, sign up for newsletters and updates from the publishing industry, go to conferences, talk to booksellers. It’s absolutely imperative that you know what you’re getting into before you embark on this journey.
Know yourself. Writing a proposal is the first step in a very long journey. Do you have what it takes to count the cost of bringing a book to fruition? Can you take constructive criticism? Do you have the time it takes to not only write the book, but to edit it in a timely manner and promote it when it releases? Do you have a critique group to support and help you through the process? Author Jan Winebrenner says publishing a book “is like giving birth to an elephant—only more painful.” Are you ready for that?
Excerpted from Nonfiction Book Proposals that Grab and Editor or an Agent by the Throat (in a good way!) by Mary E. DeMuth. You can purchase the download here: http://www.maryedemuth.com/store.php
Mary E. DeMuth helps people to turn their trials into triumphs. An expert in Pioneer Parenting, Mary enables Christian parents to navigate our changing culture when their families left no good faith examples to follow. Her parenting books include Authentic Parenting in a Postmodern Culture (Harvest House, 2007), Building the Christian Family You Never Had (WaterBrook, 2006), and Ordinary Mom, Extraordinary God (Harvest House, 2005). Mary also inspires people to face their trials through her real-to-life novels, including Watching the Tree Limbs (a Christy Award finalist) and Wishing on Dandelions (NavPress, 2006). A pioneer parent herself, Mary and her husband, Patrick, reside in Texas with their three children. They recently returned from breaking new spiritual ground in Southern France, where they planted a church. You can find her on the web here:
http://www.marydemuth.com/
http://www.relevantblog.blogspot.com/
http://www.pioneerparenting.blogspot.com/
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
Rhonda has an exclusive interview for today's blog-tour stop. Find out what movie star I want playing Devin's role in the Hollywood production of Informed Consent. (Hey, I can dream, can't I?!)
I'm reading about the history of women and welfare in the U.S. More about that soon!
I'm reading about the history of women and welfare in the U.S. More about that soon!
Monday, November 05, 2007
Today's tour stop is here at Jennifer's somanybooks site. If you're a book lover, head on over and browse a while. Michelle also named Informed Consent as her pick for book of the month.
Saturday, November 03, 2007
This Just In
Michelle, a master reviewer, has just finished reading Informed Consent, and she said to send you over to read her opinions.
I Rarely Use This Word
Magnificent! I rarely say it, especially after a concert. I may use words like great, excellent, or the overused incredible. But last night's performance by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra (DSO) had me repeating "magnificent!" aloud. The first movement was great. But when the orchestra finished the fourth and last movement to Beethoven's 5th (the one with a hundred endings), I sat stunned for a moment. Then along with the rest of the packed house, I jumped to my feet to offer wild applause.
My friend Reiko and I took our daughters for girls' night out and thanks to a partnership with the DSO and DTS, we had seats on the eighth row. The DSO is performing all nine of Beethoven's symphonies in sequential order during this five weekend-long festival, and we had the great pleasure of hearing Symphonies 5 and 6 conducted by Jaap van Zweden.
In February the DSO announced the appointment of van Zweden as its new music director. During the 2007-2008 season, he will conduct three weekends as music director designate, and we attended performance number one. What a way to start! (I'm trying to remember when I've had a more enjoyable experience watching a conductor.) He assumes the music director position for the 2008-2009 season. Bravo!
My friend Reiko and I took our daughters for girls' night out and thanks to a partnership with the DSO and DTS, we had seats on the eighth row. The DSO is performing all nine of Beethoven's symphonies in sequential order during this five weekend-long festival, and we had the great pleasure of hearing Symphonies 5 and 6 conducted by Jaap van Zweden.
In February the DSO announced the appointment of van Zweden as its new music director. During the 2007-2008 season, he will conduct three weekends as music director designate, and we attended performance number one. What a way to start! (I'm trying to remember when I've had a more enjoyable experience watching a conductor.) He assumes the music director position for the 2008-2009 season. Bravo!
Sad Day for the Dallas Cowboys
One of Dallas Seminary's grads, John Weber, had served as the Dallas Cowboys' team chaplain since back in the Landry days. But he died suddenly last night after suffering a heart attack while swimming at the YMCA, according to news sources. Just days ago DTS released a short e-video in which the chaplain talked about his work and his connection to DTS. And you can view it here.
Friday, November 02, 2007
Schiavo Revisited?
Picture this case: a patient in a persistent vegetative state (PVS), a spouse moving to remove the feeding tube, and parents arguing otherwise. Sounds like the Schiavo case, right? Well, unlike Ms. Schiavo, this man walked out on his own two feet after fully recovering. That's because in this case his mother prevailed to have food and hydration restored. Check out this article, as well as the new evidence about what people in PVS's apparently understand.
Thursday, November 01, 2007
Love Your Library
Thanks to the libraries listed below for carrying Informed Consent. Thanks also to my readers who have donated copies to church libraries. When you're finished with your copy, consider donating it to a library or a jail. And thank God you can read! About twenty percent of the world population is illiterate.
Dodge City Public Library, Dodge City, KS
Daniel Boone Regional Library, Columbia, MO
Jefferson Country Library Co-op, Birmingham, AL
West Des Moines Public Library, W. Des Moines, IA
Knox County Public Library, Vincennes, IN
Denver Public Library, Denver, CO
Weld Library District, Greeley, CO
Thorntown Public Library, Ft Wayne, IN
Allen County Public Library, Ft. Wayne, IN
Rockford Public Library, Rockford, IL
Dakota County Library System, Eagan, MN
Saint Clair County Library, Port Huron, MI
Nioga Library System Lockport, NY
Toole County Library, Shelby, MT
Alibris, Emeryville, CA
Mesquite Public Library, Mesquite, TX
Salem Public Library, Salem, OR
That last one is especially fun as it's the library where my mom took me every week when I was a kid.
Dodge City Public Library, Dodge City, KS
Daniel Boone Regional Library, Columbia, MO
Jefferson Country Library Co-op, Birmingham, AL
West Des Moines Public Library, W. Des Moines, IA
Knox County Public Library, Vincennes, IN
Denver Public Library, Denver, CO
Weld Library District, Greeley, CO
Thorntown Public Library, Ft Wayne, IN
Allen County Public Library, Ft. Wayne, IN
Rockford Public Library, Rockford, IL
Dakota County Library System, Eagan, MN
Saint Clair County Library, Port Huron, MI
Nioga Library System Lockport, NY
Toole County Library, Shelby, MT
Alibris, Emeryville, CA
Mesquite Public Library, Mesquite, TX
Salem Public Library, Salem, OR
That last one is especially fun as it's the library where my mom took me every week when I was a kid.
Head As a Noun not a Verb
Today on the blog tour we stop by Margo's place, and she (bravely) asks me to tackle the whole marriage thing in Ephesians 5, which has nothing to do with Informed Consent but is certainly worth discussing! And I also do the radio thing this morning, but it turns out they're taping it rather than running it live. Sorry!
In other news did you read about the folks who picket funerals with plackards that say stuff like "God hates fags"? Do you think they're right? And do you think God delights in their approach?
In other news did you read about the folks who picket funerals with plackards that say stuff like "God hates fags"? Do you think they're right? And do you think God delights in their approach?
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