I recently had the opportunity to look at a writing program geared toward the homeschool community — The Writing Course — Educator’s Version. The course consists of a set of 21 audio lessons, with an accompanying ebook (a transcript of his seminar), workbook, answer key, and a few handouts. There’s also another course for learning to write essays. The author, Fred Lybrand, is a pastor, author and teacher who has used this approach with his own five children (some of whom are now grown and in college). Lybrand uses a conversational tone in the audio and written materials, and it’s a very accessible style. His approach doesn’t focus on grammatical terminology (though he does talk about correct grammar), but instead on building confidence through practice. He does a good job of addressing many people’s initial fear of writing and teaches ways to overcome it. He recognizes that it’s OK to write something that’s less than perfect, then revise and rewrite to make it better. I think if I were teaching my children to write, I might find this course helpful, though I would probably supplement it with other English materials to help with grammar and spelling.Visit Lybrand’s company, Advanced Writing Resources, to find out more.
Uncategorized
September 12, 2009
July 27, 2009
This week’s featured book for the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is one I’m excited about. I’ve been a fan of Robin’s since he started and edited the late, lamented online magazine, Infuze. His first three books, the Dominion Trilogy, were fast-paced, thrilling and wildly imaginitive takes on super-hero fantasy. I called it a “new mythology for a post-modern generation.”
So I was pretty interested to see what he would do with more straight-on science fiction. Once again, he’s told a story that grabbed me from the first page and didn’t let me go until the last. Check out the book blurb and first chapter and I think you’ll be hooked, too. (FYI, I’ll probably do a little more detailed review in a couple of weeks or so, when this book is featured for the Christian Science Fiction and Fantasy tour.)
This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing
Offworld
Bethany House (July 1, 2009)
by
Robin Parrish
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Robin Parrish had two great ambitions in his life: to have a family, and to be a published novelist. In March of 2005, he proposed to his future wife the same week he signed his first book contract with Bethany House Publishers. They contracted him for the rights to not only that first book, Relentless — but two sequels including Fearless and Merciless. A trilogy that unfolded in the consecutive summers of 2006, 2007, and 2008.
Robin Parrish is a journalist who’s written about pop culture for more than a decade. Currently he serves as Senior Editor at XZOOSIA.com, a community portal that fuses social networking with magazine-style features about entertainment and culture. He and his wife, Karen and son live in North Carolina.
ABOUT THE BOOK
“Every Person on This Planet Has Disappeared.”
Commander Christopher Burke and his crew are humanity’s greatest explorers. They’ve finished their mission on the red dirt of Mars and now they just want to get back to Earth. To see friends, family, and loved ones. To be home. But even with communication to ground control cut and a perilous landing, nothing could prepare the crew for what they discover when they step foot back on planet Earth.
Everyone…everywhere…is gone.
It’s not a dream. It’s not a trick. Now Burke and his team have one mission:find out who or what is behind the disappearance of all mankind.
If you would like to read the first chapter of Offworld, go HERE
March 5, 2009
I’ve decided to move my blog over to Word Press and be a little more focused in what I write about. I haven’t decided whether or not to move all my blogger entries over here — they’re fine where they are I guess. By the way, the old blog is Musings from the Windowsill.
February 21, 2009
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matt. 6:19-21 ESV)
Throughout our busy days, it’s often easy to lose sight of what’s truly important. While taking care of our families, doing our jobs, volunteering at church or service organizations, and even enjoying leisure activities are all fine, these things are not our sole purpose in life. Jesus laid out a different system of priorities in the Sermon on the Mount. And the apostle Paul is a good example of putting Christ and his purpose first in life.
The apostle Paul certainly did not lay up earthly treasure for himself. Instead, he traveled the known world proclaiming Christ and often suffering because of it. And yet, in Philippians 1:21 he says that for him “to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”
Paul’s passion and purpose were focused on serving Christ and his church. Paul’s letters to the churches were full of encouragement and exhortation to remain firm in their calling in Christ. These churches — not physical buildings but the body of Christ — were Paul’s treasure. And when he died for the cause of Christ, I have no doubt that he heard his Lord say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
~Eutychus
February 21, 2009
“We are plain quiet folk and have no use for adventures. Nasty uncomfortable things! Make you late for dinner!”
(Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien)“Is he—quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.”
“That you will, dearie, and no mistake,” said Mrs. Beaver, “if there’s anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they’re either braver than most or else just silly.”
“Then he isn’t safe?” said Lucy.
“Safe?” said Mr. Beaver…”Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”
(C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe)
I think God likes to keep us uncomfortable. Remember, our God is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob — and not a one of them led a comfortable life. David became a king, but it wasn’t a comfortable life. The apostle Paul was beaten, shipwrecked, imprisoned — not exactly comfortable circumstances. And Jesus, God’s own son, lived his life on earth as an itinerant rabbi, without a settled home or material wealth.
If the champions of the faith lived in often unsettled and uncomfortable circumstances, why do we think our lives should be any different? The truth for most of us is, when we get comfortable, we forget about God. We trust to our own understanding, instead of acknowledging God in all our ways. But when our lives become less comfortable, we are more inclined to call out to God and remember that we have nothing apart from him.
In the life of our congregation, we’ve had few times that could strictly be called comfortable — we’ve seen a lot of change and growth, which is inherently uncomfortable. It can’t have always been easy for the older folks who, 30 years ago, prayed for families to come. Yes, their prayers were answered, but with those young families came new challenges, new music, new ways of doing things, a new building — uncomfortable. Those prayers continue to be answered and our church has continued to grow, which inevitably leads to more new, uncomfortable things.
But there’s a reason I quoted two of my favorite books above — we were not really made for a comfortable life. If we heed the call to an adventurous, uncomfortable life in the Lord, we will also be reminded that he is good. In all the difficult, uncomfortable circumstances we experience in our lives, God is with us and never forsakes us. One of my favorite scriptures is Romans 8: 31-39, especially the last part –
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? …
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
If Paul could rejoice in this assurance from his Roman prison, surely we can remember it in our daily lives.
~Eutychus
February 21, 2009
God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way,
though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,
3 though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah
4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy habitation of the Most High.
5 God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved;
God will help her when morning dawns.
6 The nations rage, the kingdoms totter;
he utters his voice, the earth melts.
7 The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah
(Psalm 46: 1-7 ESV)
These days the news seems to be all bad, both at home and abroad. So Psalm 46 is a good one to meditate on today. It tells us that no matter what happens in the world around us, God is bigger. He offers a place of refuge in the midst of trouble, he refreshes with streams of living water.
The problem is, sometimes it’s hard to remember that. The bad news of a fallen world intrudes on our lives at every turn. How can we be sure that God is really there and really hears our cries? The Psalmist gives us further reminders of God’s faithfulness and then he says:
10 “Be still, and know that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!”
11 The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah (Psalm 46:10-11)
Get that? “Be still and know that I am God.” In the midst of the world’s clamor, God is there — we just need to listen. It’s hard — very hard sometimes — to be quiet and listen for God’s voice. But it’s there and it never ceases. Spend some time alone — go outside some evening and listen to the night noises and watch the lightning bugs, or find a quiet place to meditate on God’s word — God will remind you of his presence. And you’ll remember that God is bigger than all the world’s troubles and he is faithful.
February 21, 2009
“You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. These things I command you, so that you will love one another.” (John 15:16, 17 ESV)
One of the adult summer Sunday School classes is watching a new set of “That the World May Know” videos. The first one in the series tells about the culture of discipleship that already existed when Jesus began to teach in Galilee. Those with the aptitude to advance in their education would ask to follow and study under the rabbi they wanted to emulate. Sometimes he would say yes, but most often he would say no. In contrast, Jesus chose his disciples, as he reminded them in John 15.
There are lots of lessons to learn from Jesus’ model of discipleship (and there are lots of good lessons in the video), but what struck me was how different it was from the way we like to do these things. I believe we are wired to want to follow somebody. But, we want to pick who we will follow. We find a teacher or preacher or author we admire and try to build our faith on that. Unfortunately, this usually leads to disappointment, division, and maybe even disaster.
Paul had to reprimand the Corinthians (in 1 Cor. 1:10-17) for arguing about who to follow: Paul or Peter or Apollos or Christ. He reminded them that Christ is not divided and they shouldn’t be either. In John 15, Jesus told the disciples that he chose them and that they were to love one another.
There are many fine teachers and writers we can learn from. But only Christ was crucified for our sins. Only Christ has chosen us so that we will bear fruit for him. So we should follow only Christ.
~ Eutychus
February 21, 2009
There is none like you among the gods, O Lord, nor are there any works like yours. All the nations you have made shall come and worship before you, O Lord, and shall glorify your name. (Ps. 86:8-9 ESV)
But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth. (John 4:23-24 ESV)
When Jesus spoke the words in John 4 to the Samaritan woman, he was ushering in a new era of worship. Worship was not just to be done in one place, by one chosen people, but by all nations, in all nations. We read these words in the Psalms and the Gospels, and talk about them, but do we really understand that we are part of a vast body of Christ, worshiping together?
Sometimes on Sunday morning when we’re singing and praising God, I think about the people all over the world who gather on Sunday to worship. It’s almost more than I can imagine — a continuous stream of worship from all parts of the world for 24 hours, in countless languages, in all kinds of settings, from grand cathedrals to straw-thatched huts to clearings in the jungle. And I think about what a delight it must be to God to hear his people offering their worship to him, in all its many forms. And then I realize that this stream of worship has been ongoing throughout the centuries. We are not one group of about 400 people worshiping God all by ourselves — we’re part of the whole body of Christ, the church universal, that is so much more than the sum of its parts.
Of course, worship is more than what we do on Sunday morning, but as I worship God and find my thoughts drawn to other believers around the world, it encourages me in my own walk, and also reminds me to lift other believers up in prayer. And it helps me gain perspective on the kinds of things that divide Christians — music choices and worship styles or sermon length seem much less important when I remember the risks many believers take just to gather on Sunday.
I hope, the next time you’re in church, you’ll remember that you’re part of the larger body of Christ and join your voice with the millions around the world in praising God.
~ Eutychus
March 14, 2008
Hear my prayer, O Lord;
let my cry come to you!
Do not hide your face from me
in the day of my distress!
Incline your ear to me;
answer me speedily in the day when I call!
Psalm 102:1-2 (ESV)
Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and all that is within me,
bless his holy name!
Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits,
who forgives all your iniquity,
who heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit,
who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
who satisfies you with good
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
Psalm 103:1-5 (ESV)
This is the time of year when I start longing for spring. I’m tired of clouds, cold, and confinement. I want a warm breeze, sunshine, the smell of green and growing things.
And yet, I wonder if I would appreciate spring as much if I hadn’t just come through winter? The first green of spring, the first mild breezes are so much more delightful after the gray of winter.
I think this is true of my Christian walk, too. When times are hard I long for some relief from the Lord. When his refreshing comes, it is so welcome and appreciated because I know how much I needed it. See the contrast in the two Psalms? We need both — we need to cry out to God in our times of darkness, and we need to praise him when he renews us. As Switchfoot sings, “The shadow proves the sunshine.”
I used to think that someday I’d have my life all together and nothing bad or hard would ever happen again. But as I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized that won’t happen this side of heaven. On my own I can’t get my life together. It’s only in Christ that I can experience renewal and healing.
Even though everything seems dark and dead in the winter, the earth is only waiting for spring’s renewal. It’s a reminder for me that God’s time of refreshing will come, too.
January 31, 2008
Lucy Van Pelt: I know how you feel about all this Christmas business, getting depressed and all that. It happens to me every year. I never get what I really want. I always get a lot of stupid toys or a bicycle or clothes or something like that.
Charlie Brown: What is it you want?
Lucy Van Pelt: Real estate.
(Charles Schultz, A Charlie Brown Christmas)
Paul: Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. (Phil. 4:11-13, ESV)
Too often I’m a lot more like Lucy than I am like Paul. It is very easy to be discontent and to feel sorry for myself. And yet, I have a lot to be thankful for: a happy marriage, a healthy family, friends, a good job, many small comforts that would be luxuries in much of the world. But instead of focusing on the ways God has blessed me and how I might live in gratitude, I think about things I want and circumstances that I wish were different. So I have to remind myself that I don’t have to give in to discontent.
Many years ago, when we moved to Kansas, we were in much worse circumstances than we are now. We really were in need, in many ways, and we were far from my parents and friends. But I realized that I could either be miserable or find a way to make the best of the circumstances. I started a women’s Bible study at the church we belonged to at the time — a study of Philippians. I got to know some people better and the study of Philippians helped me learn to accept my circumstances. Our situation didn’t change overnight, but my attitude improved and that made a big difference in my ability to cope. I had to trust God to provide, just as Paul did, and I saw how God does keep his promises to care for his people.
This is the time of year when it’s especially easy to let our circumstance get us down. But do you remember what happens in A Charlie Brown Christmas? Charlie Brown gets a sad-looking little tree for the Christmas program and everyone makes fun of it. Then Linus reminds them all of what Christmas is all about and by the end, everyone — even Lucy — makes the best of the little tree. So let’s remember what Paul teaches and trust in the God who strengthens us to rise above the circumstances.
Eutychus
