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TechnoratiPOST PUBLISHED INFebruary, 2011
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Look Back to Look Forward
February 28th, 201111:23 PM ETI've often heard it preached that it's in looking back at your life when you can clearly see the hand of God working in you, in situations, and in other people. In hindsight the blinders are off, the vision clears, and the emotions have mellowed. Suddenly it's easy to figure out how the hand of God has directed, provided for, and protected you. You... -
Review of The Last Cordate, a Highly Imaginative Epic
February 28th, 201111:16 PM ETThe Last Cordate is a highly imaginative allegorical tale that spans the gamut of human existence from pure innocence to unspeakable depravity and human experience from sublime ecstasy to utter despair. Striving for a suitable literary comparison, I found myself dithering somewhere between JRR Tolkien's Lord of the Rings and John Bunyan's A Pilgrim... -
The Woman with No Name
February 24th, 201108:39 PM ETShe was an outcast half breed, shunned, despised...the lowest of the low. She'd given up trying to belong...well, for the most part. To avoid abuse and insults, she did outside chores in as much anonymity as possible. The household needed water, but she waited until others left the city well. One man remained, but she could wait no longer. With eye... -
Daddyhood: Some Thoughts from the Light Side
February 22nd, 201111:59 PM ETIt was September 29, 1997. My wife Jeanette's friend, Jennifer, arrived in time to help me with the "coaching," and I felt mightily relieved since I still didn't know how to "coach" a woman whose communications had reached the decibel levels of "Screaming Mimi's." Jeanette's contractions were about a minute apart. Our doctor, an effervescent, alway... -
A Story to Tell: Like a Bird Wanders, by Sharon Smith, Rosanne Croft, and Linda Reinhardt
February 22nd, 201111:53 PM ETA sordid history is about to repeat itself, save for the cryptic note of a dying woman. Grace Rose McFarland leaves a single message for her beloved granddaughter: "Julia, the lion will destroy you." Nettie and Eva Jo, Grace's sisters, honor her last request by leading Julia to her grandmother's heritage chest in the attic. In it, she discove... -
Chaplains and Spiders
February 21st, 201110:35 PM ETChad and Marie sat in Pastor Lance's office and their hearts fell through the floor. Chad had served the church for five years in a wide range of capacities. He was a skilled and enthusiastic pastor whose job description had chopped and changed with every development in Lance's vision for the church. But today Chad was sharing his own heart and vis... -
When God Says Wait
February 19th, 201111:38 PM ETI don't understand boredom. My life has always been so full of so many things, how could I have time to be bored? Being a wife, a Christian, a stepmom to three rowdy active boys and a teacher for exceptional children in rural North Carolina should have been plenty to juggle on my overflowing plate. But I had to add one more layer. A layer I have ch... -
The Disease of Negativity
February 18th, 201111:20 PM ETWe live in a world where people feel like they are always being wronged and never getting the just rewards they deserve. In some cases they may be right, but more often than not there are no grounds for people feeling this way. I say this to myself more than anyone else. In my experiences working in American culture we have this notion that the wor... -
The Far Reach of a Memory
February 17th, 201102:54 PM ETValentine's Day comes and goes in a few days, but the fingers of a special memory have stretched across the long expanse of passing years. I was eighteen and full of excitement for my first skiing trip. My long, reddish hair was lifted high in a saucy ponytail with a vitality that even my sophisticated receptionist's attire couldn't tame. I was le... -
I Got You, Lord
February 17th, 201112:08 PM ETNo pun intended, but I watched Groundhog Day again this month. In the movie, Bill Murray's character is perfectly obnoxious until he finally gets his life right by living the same day over and over, but learning from each rerun. Paying closer attention to his actions and reactions was tough for him, and it is often the same with me. My heart might ... -
Making NY Times Bestsellers
February 16th, 201102:00 AM ETLaura Hillenbrand's book Unbroken, about World War II POW survivor Lou Zamperini, is an enthralling read that filled my Christmas vacation. It's the story of the son of Italian immigrants who qualified for the 1940 Olympics in the mile--the year the Olympics were canceled in the wake of Hitler's push to conquer Europe. Lou joined the Army Air Corps... -
’Cause You’re Gonna Love Me Anyway!: The Beauty of Unconditional Love
February 14th, 201110:51 AM ETA memory is etched in my mind of the most profound statement that fell out of my youngest son's mouth when he was 13 years old when I picked him up at school. Let me preface this with saying that he would typically get in the car in a good mood and share stories about his day at school. However, there was one day when I picked him up and he jumped ... -
That's a Novel Idea!
February 14th, 201109:11 AM ETI recently attended a book club where the 15 or so attendees had read my debut novel, The Last Fall (www.thelastfallbook.com). It was nice to hear the favorable reviews, the constructive criticism, and the way it touched readers in different ways. But beyond the feedback were the questions that the novel generated. One of the more interesting quest... -
A Rose By Any Other Name…
February 14th, 201108:50 AM ETAs you know, Valentine's Day is a day set aside for showing love to someone special. Friday evening I had just walked in the door from a grueling day helping my husband at the bookstore when our doorbell rang. Rick was already in the basement, and I had just hung my coat, so I went to the door. A gentleman in a brown uniform handed me a long brown... -
Tragedy in Our Tucson Neighborhood: The Day U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords Was Shot
February 13th, 201104:50 PM ETOur Safeway grocery store here in Tucson is in a complex of nice little shops behind a big, now empty Blockbuster. In the past few years the complex has gotten more upscale—and a lot of old-timers think it's now too rich for their blood. Safeway itself got remodeled a few years ago and now has a fancy coffee shop, gourmet cheeses, and a wine sect... -
Struck Down, But Not Destroyed
February 13th, 201104:03 PM ETI just came from a Messianic Jewish women's retreat where I had the privilege to be one of the speakers. I didn't have long—ten minutes—as there were so many presenters. I had been praying and mulling over those ten minutes on and off since October and was less than thrilled that my message remained unformed when I arrived at the snowy inn in t... -
The Power of a Cover
February 13th, 201102:02 PM ETA few months before my novel, Restored Hearts, was released, a woman approached me, anxious to know when the book would be ready. The woman's son was grief-stricken and angry over his father's homosexual lifestyle. This mom was concerned that her ex-husband's behavior would destroy any hopes for a relationship between her son and his dad. Whe... -
The Lord Is My Author
February 12th, 201112:35 AM ETA psalm of David. (kjv) 1 The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.2 He makes me lie down in green pastures,he leads me beside quiet waters,3 he restores my soul.He guides me in paths of righteousnessfor his name's sake.4 Even though I walkthrough the valley of the shadow of death,[a]I will fear no evil,for you are with me;your rod and your... -
The ADHD Dilemma, and What To Do About It
February 11th, 201111:59 PM ETThe diagnosis of ADHD in North America has escalated to such an extent that some would call it epidemic. With as many as 6 million children, in the U.S. alone, on mind-altering drugs for ADHD, we must ask what is behind this behavioral disorder, and how is it affecting our children? Why does North America diagnose more children with this disorder t... -
Family
February 09th, 201111:16 PM ETAs we gathered with other family members to celebrate my mother's ninetieth birthday, I sensed God was with us in a special way, although many of us were not believers. He was there, blessing the day, blessing the gathering, and pouring his grace and love into our time together. We gathered on a January afternoon between storms as multi-gray cloud... -
Elmer the Tree
February 09th, 201111:13 PM ETElmer was a smart little tree. So smart, in fact, that he planned his life while still a seedling just tamped into the soil at Shady Acres Tree Farm. He and several thousand others were set into neat rows. It was a lot more spacious than the greenhouse where he had sprouted, and he liked it. "This is GREAT! 'Lotta sun, room to grow, and even—wh... -
Where Are You Going?
February 09th, 201111:10 PM ETWhen I worked as a police officer, in uniform, in a marked black-and-white patrol car, we were issued a small book called a street guide. It listed the hundred blocks of all the streets in Long Beach, California, and it was meant to help us find our way to any location in the city. (This was before GPS.) Of course, as a new officer, I didn't think... -
Memories of Tunisia
February 07th, 201111:19 PM ETI lived in Tunisia, the small North African nation now in the news for its civil unrest, from 1997 to 2000. I served at the U.S. embassy in Tunis, the capital city. At that time, a tour there was an enjoyable assignment for U.S Foreign Service officers choosing the sometimes unsettled Middle East. Young women dressed in the latest Paris fashions. ... -
Clear Ground
February 07th, 201111:12 PM ETThe farms across America have fed and sustained this country for generations. Sadly, fields of farms all around the country are standing idle and many are being overgrown as thorns and thistles reclaim once fertile ground. Sure, the soil beneath the briars and brambles still holds the life-giving potential and rich nutrients, but due to years of ne... -
God vs. Science
February 06th, 201109:20 AM ETMore times than I can remember people have tried to remove God from the subject of science. We've been inundated by media, teachers, and establishments that the two are exclusive. Well, what if they aren't? What if they are intricately woven together, and you couldn't have one without the other? The older I get, the more stories I hear of scientis... -
Delight
February 06th, 201109:14 AM ETRecently on the way to work I heard the radio DJs discussing the concept of "un-resolutions." They explained that a pastor had come up with idea that instead of making a list of resolutions, people should choose a word that represented what they want to work on during the year. He calls his idea "My One Word," and says the "process provides clarity... -
Beauty or Beast
February 06th, 201109:10 AM ETMost all of us have met someone so drop-dead gorgeous that we couldn't tear our eyes away. It's difficult to reconcile how some can be so lovely and others so ordinary or even downright plain, isn't it? And if we're honest, most of us have to admit to just a bit of jealousy when one of those beautiful creatures has been sighted. I've heard comment... -
One Author's Path
February 06th, 201109:06 AM ETI loved the fantasies by C. S. Lewis, Tolkien, E. Nesbit, and others. At age sixteen, I wrote a fantasy of my own. I made a list of publishers without doing any research and had my father wrap the manuscript in brown paper, tie it with string, and send it off to New York City. Thus began the first of what would be three bulging volumes of rejection... -
Where to Start?
February 05th, 201101:01 AM ETI've had the pleasure of talking to lots of fun people while at book signings or at speaking events. Many people have expressed their own desire to write a book. I get so excited for them because, well, it's obvious: I love to write stories. The big question I get is always, "How?" Oftentimes it can be very hard to be standing at the beginning of... -
A Tender Story of Love, Faith, and Redemption: A Review of From Dust to Ashes, by Tricia Goyer (Moody)
February 05th, 201112:51 AM ETIn May, 1945, advance elements of the 11th Armored Division rolled into St. Georgen, Austria. What awaited them there would be gouged into the soldiers' memories for the rest of their lives: the Gusen concentration camp. Sergeant Peter Scott is among the first to arrive at the front gates. The skeletal remnants of men and women cling to the fence ... -
Out of the Comfort Zone
February 05th, 201112:39 AM ETI grew up in the Texas Panhandle, where cotton reigned as king and small-town drama was his queen. In the fifties and early sixties it was a time when small towns and farms still thrived, as did the comforting presence of extended families. Everybody knew everybody else's business. And that comes to my point. How often today do we find ourselves li... -
Welcome to Bindings, the OakTara Authors Blog!
February 04th, 201104:13 PM ETIf you're looking for thought-provoking blogs by vibrant, published Christian authors on a variety of topics--including faith, life, current events, good books that are must-reads, and so much more--you've come to the right place. So grab your tea or coffee and settle in for some mind-stretching, spirit-growing, and heart-connecting reads that you ...
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