Maureen Lang's Blog, page 7

As you might have guessed if you’ve visited this blog before, my husband and I are on a journey together—one that doesn’t often require us to go far from home, since our handicapped son keeps us close to our safe and comfortable nest. Thankfully, I’m widely traveled through the research I enjoy while writing my books. But life is a journey nonetheless, because my husband and I love to explore, share, discuss and dissect various things we encounter in and through our outside circles. My writing experiences, his academic, and together, our encounters in church, with family, and in our neighborhood (to name a few).

A favorite topic for us is the reasoning behind our faith. We very much want to understand not only what we believe, but why. Have you ever heard people outside a faith claim those inside a faith adhere blindly, checking their brain at the door of their church? They believe some people find faith simply because they were raised in the culture of a certain religion and they’re just following along like the sheep they are.

It’s interesting to note that such an observation rarely comes from inside faith circles. Few people would claim they have blind faith, although some atheists might accuse anyone with faith of being blind because we believe in a God we cannot see face-to-face. But even those with the most wonderfully secure, even child-like faith have a basic understanding of why they believe and are content with that. I admit there are probably some who attend church for reasons other than faith: they could be agnostic or believe in a creator who isn’t involved in anyone’s life; they could attend church for the community it provides, or because they’re coerced (i.e., their spouse guilts them into attending for the sake of the children, for example). But they probably wouldn’t label themselves as having blind faith.

That’s because, at one point or another, most of us question what we believe. It’s often in relation to a crisis of some sort: death of a loved one, disappointment with life, sickness, a challenge from a teacher or friend or even a national disaster or something in the media that strikes spiritual awareness.

Because like it or not, we are both physical and non-physical beings, whether we believe we were created, have evolved, or some combination of creation and evolution. We are more than just flesh and blood. The knowledge we possess, the love we feel, the morality we accept or reject are all examples of the non-physical part of who we are. Atheists do not accept this as spiritual. They believe the non-tangibles are chemical reactions in the brain and no different from other desires we have, such as food to satisfy our hunger or fatigue demanding we sleep.

But if we desire food and food is there to fulfill that desire, and if we desire rest and the ability to sleep is within us, doesn’t that give us an indication that if a such a timeless and universal desire for a spiritual realm exists, there is likely an answer to that desire? The Bible says God put an awareness of Him in us, because He created us for communion with Him.

Over the course of this summer, I’d like to explore the reasons for my faith, which may pique some discussions within your own family or circle of friends. This is a topic I’ve wanted to put in writing for some time. I admit I my goal isn’t to convert anyone, and it certainly isn’t my intention to offend anyone. I also know that faith can be a profound topic, tackled by people far more learned than I. But sometimes it’s those with a simple faith (though not blind) who can help others define the reasons they’ve chosen to believe.

And that, really, is my goal in any of my writing: for a better understanding of this thing called the human experience.

Come along with me, starting next week!

I’ll also be clearing off my bookshelves this summer, so I’ll be giving away some great Christian fiction. Gently used books that I’ve enjoyed, offered to you at the right price. (Free!) Just sign up for a chance to win, and I’ll ship four Christian fiction books to each contest winner. Might as well have a summer filled with faith and reading!

  And I’m not talking about coffee!

Not long ago my husband and I had a conversation about the benefits of grinding away at something. We probably sounded like a pair of old geezers touting the best celebrations only come after the greatest challenges—a line of thought young people might not appreciate, at least in a day when everyone on the pee-wee team gets a trophy and everyone is a winner. We agree it’s important to nurture self-confidence, but what better way is there to achieve lasting self-confidence than to find success after grinding away at something difficult?

Both my husband and I are blessed with jobs that allow creativity, albeit with different results. At the end of our individual grind toward success, my husband will have a working robot, electric car, or new avenue of curriculum making physics more visual and easier understood. When I’m finished, I have a new story, filled with research I enjoyed along the way, different characters I came to know during the course of telling their tale.

But the finished product rarely represents the grind it took to get there. The best athletes, the best teachers, the best leaders and storytellers are the ones that make their task seem easy. That’s because they’ve explored the many avenues of failure; they know the pitfalls firsthand. Success may be achieved via more than one route, but discovering the many dead ends comes with time, effort, repetition, consideration, contemplation—in short, through the grinding experience.

When I start a new story, I know my research into the setting will tempt me into all kinds of tangents and rabbit trails that aren’t essential to the plot I loosely envision when I begin. Still, some of those tangents might be worthwhile to explore, even if it isn’t immediately apparent how they can be successfully used. I do hate to waste time researching something unnecessary, but if there is a promise of deepening my plot or characters, following a new line of research may be invaluable.

Or it may be a complete waste of time.

And yet, I always say no writing is ever wasted, just as my husband says exploring possibilities always teaches him something.

So next time the grind starts to get to you, just remember that’s part of what makes success more likely.

I’m so happy to share the news that my friend Creston Mapes has a new book out! Creston and I first met years ago at a writer’s retreat, and one of my favorite memories was when we had the opportunity to pray together for each other’s career. Here’s the scoop on his newest:

 

Can One Man End His Family’s Terror?

Fear Has a Name from Faith-Building Suspense Author Creston Mapes

When his family’s home is broken into, journalist Jack Crittendon believes it is a one-time invasion. But through a series of haunting circumstances, he begins to fear there is a stalker endangering his wife and two young daughters.

His home life in upheaval, Jack threatens to buy a gun and throws himself into his work, investigating the story of a depressed pastor who disappeared with intentions of taking his own life. With his family’s safety on the line, Jack begins to discover that there are secrets—with painful, deadly implications—even behind “Christian” walls.

As he begins to unravel the mystery, his courage and faith are shaken. What if he can’t protect his family? What if he doesn’t make it through alive? Jack must find the faith to trust a God who allows inconceivable trials, and the courage to guard his family with danger exploding at every turn.

In Fear Has a Name, Creston Mapes creates a faith-building thriller that brings rich, fascinating characters vividly to life. The sharp, character-driven writing for which Mapes is known takes fans and new readers on an edge-of-your-seat journey that explores the harsh, far-reaching consequences of bullying as well as the Christian response to earth-quaking fear.

With clever plot twists and remarkable pacing, Mapes strikes at readers’ hearts by brewing the perfect storm of good and evil, fear and triumph. His ability to pen bold, gritty, fascinating stories is on full, harrowing display in Fear Has a Name.

 

Creston Mapes is the author of Fear Has a Name, Nobody, Dark Star, and Full Tilt. A journalist, copywriter, and editor, he works from his home-office in Atlanta for some of the nation’s top media companies, Christian ministries, and nationally-recognized corporations. His early years as a reporter inspire many of his novels.

 

Creston studied journalism at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, and began his writing career 30 years ago. He has fond memories of his boyhood in Bath, Ohio, where he became enchanted with his future wife, Patty, way back in the fourth grade. His father, Bernie, owned and operated The Weathervane Furniture Shop in town. The whole family lived right upstairs in the century-old house known as “The Shop.”

 

Finally here’s what bestselling author and mutual friend Terri Blackstock says about Creston’s newest:

“It takes a lot for a suspense novel to impress me, but this one definitely did. Anyone who likes my books will love Fear Has a Name. The plot is skillfully woven, and the story has a spiritual depth that will resonate with readers. Creston Mapes is an author to watch in the suspense genre.”

—Terri Blackstock, author of Intervention, Vicious Cycle, and Predator

Happy Reading!

 

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My husband and I were talking about the sad fact that even when we’re warned ahead of time that something might be difficult, we often don’t really believe it until experiencing it ourselves. I guess that’s where another saying comes from, the one about experience being the best teacher.

Here are a few examples we came up with:

Parenting. Everyone says it’s the hardest job on earth, but until we realize just how much love is involved we don’t really know how hard it can be to watch someone we love go through life’s difficulties. (We also start with a lot of expectations, which all too often don’t turn out to be very accurate.)

Bullying. I think at some point almost all of us have been bullied in one form or another. If someone said to us: You’re going to be bullied, so this is how you prepare for it—starting with not giving the bully emotional satisfaction of seeing how much their negative attention can hurt. But when it happens, guess what? It hurts. Not long ago, I made the mistake of using a private driveway to turn my car around—a circular private drive, with two entrances from the street. Just as I was putting my car into reverse, the owner of the home returned, barreling into his driveway from the other direction and aiming his much larger vehicle right at me. If I hadn’t reversed and backed out quickly (so afraid he’d hit me I didn’t even look to see if someone was on the street behind me) I was convinced he’d plow right into me to get me off of his property. Thankfully no one was in the street and I got away, but even in my mid-fifties it reminded me of what it felt like to be bullied. Not fun, even when I assured myself his behavior was at best rude and at worst dangerous. Was my crime of using his driveway so bad? Perhaps it might have been had I run over his lawn, but I hadn’t. So now every time I pass that house I think to myself: “A bully lives there.”

Rejection/failure. This is a broad topic and in our family it takes on various faces. In science, my husband has learned when he’s creating a new project—an electric car, a robot, a new computer program demonstrating one law of physics or another—he’s learned it’s going to take failure first to come out with something that really works. Try one idea, then another and another and another until he gets the result he’s hoping for, even if the original idea need adjusting along the way.

With writing, rejection is similar. I’ve often told newer writers that the first book a person writes, or at least the first version of the first book, isn’t likely the one that sells to a traditional publisher. That’s because, as in science, writing is a learning process. We get better at it the more we do it, but all writers—new or experienced—must work at it to create a story that sparkles.

And yet with both kinds of rejection, neither is personal—for example, if a robot doesn’t work, is my husband failing, or is the robot rejecting its maker? Of course not. And when an editor rejects a proposal he or she isn’t rejecting the person or, often enough, even the talent. They’re making an impersonal business decision that this project isn’t right for their business. Not personal . . . and yet yowsa, it hurts!

This week marks the beginning of summer vacation around here. I already know the added time my handicapped son will be at home will bring new challenges, because we face this every summer. I want to keep him busy yet it’s difficult to interact with him. I also know I won’t get much work done, so frustration is part of the mix. I’m forewarned that time will slow down a little, and not always in a pleasant way.

At least now I know to be forewarned won’t make the frustration go away.

I know the one rule of our culture these days seems to be there are no rules, at least regarding what we wear, and I know it’s old-fashioned, but I still wait until after Memorial Day before donning white.

But of course Memorial Day is more than just a transition day for fashion or even a great day for sales. Memorial Day was first called Decoration Day, since after the Civil War widows and others who lost loved ones during the conflict would decorate the grave site of their fallen soldier. So the day grew out of what was already happening in the South and the North—a need to remember the sacrifices of so many men and their families.

I grew up during the Vietnam War, which was anything but popular, at least during the second half of the 60s. I recall “discussions” after dinner between my oldest brother and my dad when the two of them—equally opinionated and hardheaded—would argue about what was going on. My father, who served in the Navy before, during, and after World War II, knew what duty meant. My brother, on the other hand, was young and passionate and was against the war for all the reasons young people protested the ongoing conflict across the country.

I think those are the hardest disagreements, when both sides have reasons to claim being right. My dad had given a lot to this country, having volunteered for service when he was just 17. He did get to see much of the world, which was why he joined the Navy in the first place. But not long after Pearl Harbor was attacked, he was sent to help defend the Philippines. A defense he and thousands of soldiers lost when Japan invaded and conquered the entire area. My dad was taken in a second wave of the death march, then held prisoner for almost three and a half years. He survived more than I can imagine, but sometimes remembering all he endured still amazes me.

In the 60s, when my brother didn’t like the idea of being drafted into a war to protect democracy in some far, far away place, my dad only saw the idea of resisting the draft as resisting duty—a duty that had demanded several years of my father’s life, filled with hard work, a starvation diet, abominable medical testing, and physical and mental abuse most of us never know (thank God!). He even survived a friendly-fire bombing when Allied forces targeted a nearby ammunition plant and ended up hitting their camp instead. He may not have gone into the Navy knowing what duty meant, but he learned along the way just how much might be demanded—which was why he couldn’t accept that my brother didn’t want to answer the call if his country needed him. My brother ended up going into the National Guard, a compromise of sorts, and eventually their arguments subsided.

So as I consider wearing the white items in my closet today, memories of my dad come to mind. I can’t help but thank God again for allowing me to be his daughter.

Yesterday my family attended a graduation ceremony for our oldest son. There were just five in the senior graduating class, all boys with one form of disability or another. As you know if you’ve read this blog before, our son has Fragile X Syndrome, a genetic form of cognitive impairment. So although he’s nearly eighteen, he functions more like a very tall two-year-old.

As always, the school did a wonderful job of making the event festive. They decorated the gym, posted pictures of the graduates, welcomed the families with smiles and congratulations. When the time came, the kids marched in their robes to the traditional serenade of Pomp and Circumstance, each one guided by their teacher. Two of the five wore their gowns without the caps, because sensory issues made anything on their head an impossibility (my son was one of the two). They were prompted to step up to the stage one by one to receive their certificates of attendance. Soon afterward, they were given a gift by the parent’s association—sensory gifts like squishy balls and light sticks.

Further personalizing the ceremony was a video depicting each of the graduates, many of whom have been in this same school system since they were three. It was that video that reminded each of us of how much our kids have grown, picturing some precious moment and many smiles along the way.

But it was, like all of the adjusted milestones in families like ours, bittersweet. I tried not to imagine what a graduation would have been like had Fragile X not been part of our lives.

Suffering is one of the biggest stumbling blocks toward faith. People wonder how a loving God could allow widespread, unfair suffering in the world. There is likely no answer that will satisfy everyone, but I do know that free will came at a price. If God prevented suffering from those who accepted the truths of the Bible, everyone would accept the truths of the Bible just because it would be practical to do so. Believe in God = no suffering. Obviously that wouldn’t require any faith, and so none of us can be spared.

Yet all I have to do is look out my window to see evidence of a loving God. Spring colors and fragrances abound; flowers and birds and even squirrels are cute (which are, let’s face it, rodents). This and so much more suggests that God wants us to enjoy so much about life. I see God’s love in my son’s smile, too, in the way he laughs when I make a funny face or when I see something beautiful catching his eye, too. He may have the functionality of a two-year-old, but he appreciates creation in fresh air, a warm breeze, even a pretty girl. (He’s all boy!)

I read the many touching comments right here on my blog when people came through on the recent Scavenger Hunt, references to why a Tear Bottle is a good idea. None of us are spared forever from grief, but knowing God counts our tears as precious is an important reminder—something I was comforted by just after this graduation. I wonder if God keeps track of how many times we’ve smiled through our tears?

Next week I’ll be returning to my regular schedule, with blog posts on Monday mornings. Thanks again to all who entered the Scavenger Hunt, and my bonus contest as well. A big welcome to all of the new followers! And if you missed the announcement on Lisa Bergren’s page, Gena was the winner of my Gilded Age series and tear bottle. The package is on its way.

Stay tuned for more contests in the future!

THE CHRISTIAN FICTION SCAVENGER HUNT STOP #8




Welcome to the 2013 Summer Scavenger Hunt! This hunt has 32 stops and runs from noon on 5/17 through 5/19/13. You can make the loop, reading unique content from 31 different authors, and if you complete the loop, and fill out the Rafflecopter form at Stop #32, you’ll be in the running for an iPad Mini (loaded with all our books), or one of two runner-up prizes—all 31 of our new releases in paperback. In addition, some authors (like me, here at Stop #8!) are offering additional prizes, so be sure to read each post to the end to be in the running for all that are available. The contest is open internationally.






If you’ve JUST discovered the hunt, I recommend you begin at the beginning, Stop #1, found at LisaBergren.com. But you can also begin here, and keep on rolling. Just be aware that you must have the COMPLETED phrase in order, which you construct gathering the clue at each stop, within 24 hours of email notification from Lisa Bergren that you won. If Lisa doesn’t hear back from you with the correct phrase within the time limit, she will move on to the next winner Rafflecopter draws. Ready? Here we go…



For my stop, I’m hosting my friend and colleague:



MARGARET DALEY




Many of you have seen Margaret highlighted on my site before. After all, she’s written 84 books! So I’m especially excited to be hosting her for our contest. I loved hearing about her Texas Ranger series, first because the whole Texas Ranger image conjures up all kinds of history and drama. I also know Margaret loves to do research! I hope you enjoy reading about some of the Ranger’s history.


But first, in case you missed previous visits from Margaret and would like to know a little about her, here’s an official bio:

Margaret Daley, an award-winning author of eighty-four books, has been married for over forty years and is a firm believer in romance and love. When she isn’t traveling, she’s writing love stories, often with a suspense thread and corralling her three cats that think they rule her household. To find out more about Margaret visit her website at http://www.margaretdaley.com or on Facebook and Twitter.

The History of the Texas Rangers

By Margaret Daley

Just to be clear, I’m not talking about the baseball team in Dallas called the Texas Rangers. I’m talking about the oldest state organization of law enforcement officers. Sam Austin formed the first version of the Texas Rangers in 1823. The word “rangers” was coined because these men ranged over the land they protected and guarded.

Through the early years the Texas Rangers, one of the main duties of the group was to protect the people against Indians. Then after the Civil War in 1874 the organization was divided into six companies with 75 men and usually a captain. Their duties were partly a soldier and partly a police officer. By the 1900s the organization totally focused on enforcing the law. A Texas Ranger was called in when the case was too risky for the local agency.

Texas Ranger in office.

Today there are 150 Texas Rangers who served the state in many investigative capacities. They are part of the Texas Department of Public Safety. The Texas Rangers’ headquarters is in Austin. There are six companies: Company “A” headquartered in Houston, Company “B” in Garland, Company “C” in Lubbock, Company “D” in McAllen, Company “E” in El Paso, and Company “F” in San Antonio. The companies were adjusted recently.

Texas Ranger rifle

The Texas Rangers handle the usual kind of cases like murder, assault, robbery and kidnapping, but they are also tasked with investigating threats against the governor and other state and federal officials. I used some of these crimes for the stories in my series: The Men of the Texas Rangers (Saving Hope, Shattered Silence and Scorned Justice).

Margaret Daley’s newest release is Scorned Justice, #3 in her Men of Texas Rangers series. It is available at bookstores or online at Amazon  Barnes & Noble Christian Book Distributors and wherever fine books are sold.



AND NOW, YOUR NEXT STEPS IN THE SCAVENGER HUNT:







Write down this clue:  sometimes,


Have it written down? Great! After checking out my contest here, head on over to Margaret Daley’s Stop #9 for the next clue!





BONUS PRIZE!

To join in the fun of the giveaway, I’m having my own little giveaway right here. So if you don’t win the BIG prize of an iPad Mini and the 31 books from all of the authors participating in this Scavenger Hunt, you’ll still have a chance to be a winner right here. What am I offering?







My Gilded Age series, Bees In The Butterfly Garden and All In Good Time. Domestic (US winners) can choose between e-versions or print books, and International winners are eligible for e-versions only.




Plus one of my favorite gifts to give: A Tear Bottle






What’s a tear bottle? It’s my favorite gift to give, accompanied by the following note:

This little bottle was manufactured as a perfume bottle, and can be used as such . . . but that wasn’t my intention in purchasing this for you. Not long ago I was reminded of the verse in Psalms about God keeping track of our tears by putting them in a bottle. Envisioning that, I realized our tears must be precious to Him, precious enough to be stored like expensive perfumes or spices. So I bought myself a pretty perfume bottle that sits on my desk to remind me that God must have a purpose in our tears.

I hope this “tear bottle” for you will be a reminder of God’s love, while I pray that a rarity of your tears (except from laughter) is part of why they’re so precious.

Maureen Lang

 

To enter my contest, in addition to the Scavenger Hunt, simply follow the instructions below. If you haven’t already, you can earn an extra chance if you “Like” my Facebook Author Page.

 

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Enjoy the Hunt! Now off you go, clue in hand (sometimes,) and on to Stop #9!

My family sometimes accuses me of being in a rut. I suppose all they see is that I spend my days writing, I go to be early. . . like 9 pm . . . although I do try to read until I fall asleep, which is sometimes an hour, sometimes ten minutes. I get up early, get my boys off to school, then sit down to write again. Routine, maybe, but a rut? Rut just sounds so dull! Little do they appreciate that during my writing hours I’m traveling through history and the world, seeing through the eyes of characters who always seem to have something terrible happen to them—but never lose hope. Surely days spent doing that can’t be called a rut!

 

Just to assure those who follow this blog that I’m not in a rut, I’m posting new release info on a Monday, something I normally reserve for mid-week. This is a very special announcement, since Kathy Fuller and I have been friends for years. We met way back in our early writing days, and were part of the same critique group. It was an online group that I’m happy to recall used to raise an impressed brow or two as one by one we all celebrated publication. Kathleen Fuller, Tamera Alexander, Jill Eileen Smith and I used to regularly exchange chapters of our work-in-progress. We helped each other polish our craft, sharing plenty of prayer along the way.

 

That history is why I’m especially happy to announce Kathy’s latest book. Here’s a peek about it:

Everything changed between them the first time he called her Katie.
Katherine Yoder has loved Johnny Mullet since the two were children, but he’s never returned her affections.

Now Johnny is trying to forge a new life for himself by purchasing a farm and building a business of his own. But times are tough, and he soon learns that he can’t take anything for granted—especially Katherine.

Before Johnny has the opportunity to tell Katherine his true feelings, she’s struck by a serious illness. While Katherine struggles to recall recent memories of Johnny, a surprise visitor comes back into her life, claiming that his letters speak of a history and a future for the two of them.

With the two men vying for her attention and her memory still elusive, Katherine has never felt so torn. But will the solutions to both Johnny’s and Katherine’s problems lie in places neither one has ever considered?

 

 

Here’s a note from Kathy about the series:

 

Letters to Katie is the third book in the Middlefield Family series. I especially like this book because of the characters Katherine and Johnny. They first appeared in my YA book, A Summer Secret, with Katherine having a crush on Johnny when they were teens. Johnny didn’t know what to do about Katie’s crush on him then, but now that he’s an adult, things have changed. Both he and Katie learn several lessons on their journey to discover God’s plan for them. This book is also personal because it deals with stepping back and reevaluating what’s important–putting God first. Many times we get caught up in the busyness of life, even when we believe we are serving God and following His plan. We can’t mistake our own wants for what God needs from us. Sometimes what we want and what God wants are the same, other times they seem at odds with each other. This can put us at odds with God, but if we remember the verse from Jeremiah: “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” we can rest in His words of love and hope.

 

If you click here you can read the first three chapters of Letters to Katie.

Click here to purchase Letters to Katie.


To continue with my break in routine, I’ll be posting again this Friday when a new Scavenger Hunt opens! I’m happy to participate in another hunt, since the prizes are so great. Not only will the winner receive 31 brand new Christian fiction titles (my own All In Good Time among them) but a free mini iPad! The Hunt opens at noon on Friday, so check back for details then. It promises to be a fun hunt through all of our blog or websites with unique and interesting posts, and a fun way to collect hints toward winning. Once you’ve collected all of the clues, you can put your name in the mix to win. A lot of us are doing separate bonus contests on our sites, too, so look for more opportunities to win other prizes as well.

Hope to see you on Friday, then!

Image from Bing Free Images as seen on http://jackmalcolm.com/blog/2011/09/h...

I must confess these are numbers that meant nothing to me until my husband recounted how he could communicate a single number to a fellow teacher and this other teacher will know exactly what my husband is referring to. So if he says: “42.” the other teacher will fire back: “Jackie Robinson’s uniform number.” (The player who broke through the color barrier to become the first African American to play professional baseball.)

Evidently I’m in the minority not knowing the meaning behind these numbers, because they both warranted enough interest to have movies made about them. “61*” follows the race between Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris as both were hitting so well in 1961 that either one of them could have broken Babe Ruth’s record of 60 hits in a single season. Sounds like enough emotion and competition to be fodder for any compelling story—except it really happened. Roger Maris was the one to go down in history with that number, hitting 61 home runs that year.

What is it about baseball that brings new meaning to statistics? It’s probably one of the happier ways to use numbers, something I never would have dreamed possible while sitting in any kind of math class.

Numbers can be fascinating when associated with intriguing coincidences. Did you notice the year, ’61, was the year the home run record was broken with the same number of home runs? Still, there aren’t many numbers that mean very much to me. Perhaps 3 for the trinity, and for the number of days before Jesus rose from the dead. Sixty-five is another number with meaning for me. I chose to use that number in my email address, since it’s the number of CCG repeats I inherited that makes me a carrier for Fragile X Syndrome. Sixty-five is a relatively low number for a carrier, but it’s nonetheless unstable because that repeat number jumped to something uncountable in my son. So it’s an important number, a number that represents a change in my life, but unlike fun baseball statistics, it’s not a happy number.

Numbers are far more fascinating to people like my husband, whose idea of a refreshing mental exercise is to work on a Physics problem that demands several sheets of paper. Can you imagine? I do understand the idea of numbers being reliable and concrete. There is something to be said for absolutes, and math is a prime example for that. Your math problems are absolutely right . . . or wrong . . . and there’s comfort in knowing you can be absolutely right!

Deep down, if I had a choice, perhaps I might prefer being a mathematician rather than a writer. Wait a minute . . . let me think about that. The security of numbers versus the exploration of endless story worlds. Hmmm . . . On second thought . . .

On a completely different note (or should I say number) I also wanted to mention that next week (May 17th through May 19th) I’ll be involved in another very fun Scavenger Hunt! You may recall that I participated in one last year with Bees In The Butterfly Garden, and it was so successful I’m happy to take part in one with All In Good Time. So look for details starting Friday, May 17th, on how you can enter to win some great prizes, including 31 wonderful new books from various Christian writers and an iPad Mini! I’ll post another reminder next week, but mark your calendars so you won’t miss it!

I was reading about the early Christian church, which of course emerged out of Judaism since Christ Himself was Jewish. Most of the early converts to Christianity were Jews (like the disciples) until Peter and especially Paul was inspired by God to bring the Good News to the Gentiles.

The Roman Empire was in high form, which according to this book I’ve just begun* tolerated the Jews because for the most part they didn’t resist Rome’s expansion and weren’t known for trying to convert others to Judaism—so they weren’t a threat. I’m not sure what happened to the light of the world the Jews were supposed to have been, other than what this book reports: the Jews had learned their lesson when intermixing with people of other faiths. Intermixing led to idol worship and disobeying God. So they might do business with Gentiles, but socializing and marrying outside their faith was rare for fear of diluting their obedience to God.

But there were some in the Roman Empire who admired the Jewish faith. They were attracted to the high moral and ethical standing and the authentic worship of one true God. They liked the idea of being created in the image of God, thereby giving value to life. But for one reason or another (the demand for circumcision among them) many of those who admired the Jewish faith never officially converted. They were called “God-fearers” and lived on the fringe of the Jewish community within the Roman Empire.

Many of these God-fearers ended up converting to Christianity—circumcision wasn’t required but beside that, they worshiped one God who loved them. Such faith inspired moral and ethical living, which was a contrast to the decadence in Roman society. It’s likely that many of these God-fearers went from simply fearing a Creator God to having a relationship with a personal God, but it’s probably also true that some continued being simply God-fearers rather than Christians because they liked living on the fringe rather than committing to any form of religious life wholeheartedly.

So this reminded me of the many God-fearers in our society today. How many people acknowledge a Creator God, one who might prefer we live ethically, but don’t want to accept God’s personal involvement in everyday life? I can’t help but wonder why so many people are okay with simply believing in God, but don’t seem to want to get to know Him very well.

Today I’m praying for the God-fearers around me, that they would know the choice isn’t just ethical or moral. It’s more personal than that, yet being more personal doesn’t automatically equal handing over control with a restrictive result. God wants our lives lived to the fullest . . . so why would He assign us to live an unpleasant life? I can’t imagine living on the fringe of faith being a better place than jumping in!

*Why You Think The Way You Do/Glenn Sunshine/Zondervan