I’m not usually a fan of study Bibles built around a particular author or niche group. (I’ve been using the ESV Study Bible and like it a lot.) But when I got the chance to receive a review copy of the Transformation Study Bible, I was interested. For one thing, it’s the New Living Translation (NLT), which I’ve been interested in learning more about. And I was very interested in the study helps based on Dr. Warren W. Wiersbe’s series of Bible commentaries.

So far, I like this study Bible. The NLT is a good, readable translation and I think I’m going to enjoy using it. It’s a dynamic equivalent translation, which means it’s less formal than the ESV. That makes it a good contrasting version for study. This Bible’s layout is useful — it has two columns, with center references, for the scripture on the top two-thirds of the page. The bottom third (more or less) of the page is the study notes, which are set in two columns in a slightly smaller contrasting font. The text of both is large enough to be easily read. (And that matters a lot to me as my eyes get older.) There’s also a concordance and maps in the back, along with preaching outlines of each book of the Bible (a feature of Wiersbe’s commentaries). Interspersed throughout the Bible are set-off sections labeled “Catalyst.” These sections highlight specific themes in the text. For example, on the page with Hebrews 11 is a Catalyst section about Faith — just a couple of paragraphs of additional thoughts a reader could use devotionally or to spark further study. Each book of the Bible has an introduction that includes an outline of the book, a brief overview, and a section labeled “Be Transformed,” which focuses on the application of the text. Dr. Wiersbe is a respected writer, preacher and Bible teacher and his commentaries have been widely used for years. His doctrine falls squarely within the evangelical mainstream. His commentary in the various helps and study notes is clear and will be easily understood by the average person in the pew, as well as useful to pastors and teachers.

Most study Bibles come with a certain set of theological presuppositions and the reader needs to keep in mind that introductory sections and study notes are helps and not part of the scripture. But a good study Bible can help the reader understand more and dig deeper into the scripture. I think the Transformation Study Bible is another good tool that a student of the Word will find useful.

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.

No, this isn’t going to become a blog celebrating all things Robin Parrish, but I do want to highlight Offworld once again. One of the things I thought Robin did well in this story was the gradual development of faith in the characters. It wasn’t heavy handed, it wasn’t preachy — it was organic. If you came home and found everyone gone, you’d have questions, too! If events so bizarre and unexplainable were happening around you, and to you, you’d wonder where God was in all of the chaos. A couple of weeks ago, Robin commented on his facebook page that some Christians complained that the book wasn’t Christian enough, but to non-Christians it was too Christian. I think that’s a good dilemma for a writer to have — it suggests that the writer is telling the truth and it’s making people uncomfortable.

Of course, a lot of people just want to read a good story. And that’s another way that this novel succeeds. It’s a rousing good tale that keeps the reader hooked from the first page. Robin does a good job of weaving the elements of the story together so the reader learns new things along the way, but not too many new things at once. This is the kind of story that depends a lot on the author’s ability to engage the reader — if the reader can’t buy into the premise of the story, then the author has lost him. Robin never lost me, even at points where I was afraid the story might be headed off the rails a bit. But the story world held together and I rode the roller coaster to the end.

One of Robin’s strengths is that ability to tell a fast-paced, wildly imaginitive story. The flip side of that, though, is that the breakneck pace can leave a reader feeling out of breath. And sometimes the characters can be somewhat less than fully realized. I prefer character-driven stories, so if I don’t like the characters in a book, it won’t hold me, no matter how thrilling the tale. I would say that for the most part, Robin did a good job of pacing in Offworld and the characters developed as the story progressed. I was intrigued by them and wanted to know more about them. I cared about what happened to them.

So, if you’re looking for a good read that doesn’t shy away from the spiritual development of the characters, Offworld is for you. If you don’t normally read Christian fiction, give this one a try — and then find Robin’s Dominion Trilogy and read that, too. Then you’ll understand that good Christian speculative fiction is not an oxymoron.

And if you’re interested in joining the discussion about Christian speculative fiction, visit the other fine blogs listed below.

Brandon Barr
Jim Black
Justin Boyer
Keanan Brand
Gina Burgess
Canadianladybug
Melissa Carswell
Valerie Comer
Karri Compton
Amy Cruson
CSFF Blog Tour
Stacey Dale
D. G. D. Davidson
Jeff Draper
April Erwin
Karina Fabian
Linda Gilmore
Beth Goddard
Todd Michael Greene
Katie Hart
Ryan Heart
Becky Jesse
Cris Jesse
Jason Joyner
Julie
Carol Keen
Krystine Kercher
Dawn King
Melissa Meeks
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Mirtika
Eve Nielsen (posting later in the week)
Nissa
John W. Otte
Lyn Perry
Steve Rice
Chawna Schroeder
James Somers
Speculative Faith
Stephanie
Rachel Starr Thomson
Steve Trower
Fred Warren
Dona Watson
Elizabeth Williams

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

I’m a sucker for memes and facebook quizzes. So when Chris tagged me in a note called 15 Books That Have Shaped You (for better or worse), I had to make my list. It’s on facebook, but I’ll post it here, too, with a little commentary. (And these are probably not in any particular order, other than roughly chronological.)

1. Black Beauty
2. King of the Wind
I read these two horse stories more times than I can count and I loved them every time.

3. Little Women — I think I related to bookish Jo, always the outsider, the most. The four March girls old friends I like to visit now and again.
4. Jane Eyre — I first read this when I was about 13 and I think this is the book that really awakened me to literature. (up until then I read a lot, but I don’t think I’d tackeled anything very challenging) Sure, it’s gothic romance, but it’s gothic romance at its best, with rich characters and thrilling conflict. I was enthralled.
5. The Moon is a Harsh Mistress and Stranger in a Strange Land (both by Robert Heinlein)  — I should probably also mention a book by Andre Norton, but I don’t remember what it was called. But it was one of the first science fiction books I ever read. I was probably about 15 or 16. Then it was on to Isaac Asimov and  Heinlein and Arthur C. Clarke. I was hooked on science fiction.
6. The Left Hand of Darkness (by Ursula K. LeGuin) — I first read this one weekend while I was in college and it was one of those books that so completely sucked me in that when I would come up for air, it was a bit of a shock to find myself in a college dorm room and not on the planet Gethen. LeGuin is a master storyteller and in this book she was at her best. I still love it.
7. The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings — I discovered The Hobbit in high school and had never read anything like it. So then I tackled the Lord of the Rings. It took me a couple of tries to read it all the way through, but I’ve been a resident of Middle Earth ever since.
8. The Chronicles of Narnia — I didn’t discover these until I was in college. We were fond, at my little Christian college, of using passages as devotions. But I think even if you never knew anything about C.S. Lewis or about Christianity, the beauty of the stories would speak to you. They’re all good, but my favorite is The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.
9. To Kill a Mockingbird — I actually read this in high school and I’ve returned to it many times since. I love the voice and the way Harper Lee wove the story. It’s as if someone were sitting on the front porch and telling it to me.
10. Mysteries by Agatha Christie — My mom is a mystery lover, so I suppose it was only natural that I’d start delving into her collection. I’ve read most of her books and enjoyed them a lot, though I have found that they aren’t the kind of books that hold up to rereading. But she was very good at writing mysteries and I don’t think I ever figured out who did it very much  before the end.
11. Mysteries by Ngaio Marsh — I discovered Ngaio Marsh after I was grown and found her stories to be a little meatier, at least in some ways. Her characters seemed deeper than Christie’s. I think I liked her later books better (especially the ones where Inspecter Allyn’s wife appears).
12. Gaudy Night, by Dorothy L. Sayers (as well as her others, but this one’s my favorite) — and then I discovered Dorothy Sayers and most English mystery writers have paled in comparison ever since. I can reread some of Sayers’ books, especially Gaudy Night. I realized that a mystery story could be good literature, too, and I just loved the way she told the stories. Some of them are a little rambling and seem dated, but the characters and scenes are still vivid.
13. Peace Like a River, by Leif Enger — it’s beautiful and what else is there to say. Enger has a way with words and with characters.
14. On Writing, by Stephen King — I’ve read a lot of books about writing, but this is my favorite. And I’m not even a big Stephen King fan. But I liked his approach — telling his story and then telling about writing. It all fits together somehow and it’s entertaining as well as instructive.
15. In This House of Brede by Rumer Godden — I think I first read this in a Reader’s Digest Condensed Book and loved the story of nuns in Britain. I’m not Catholic, but Godden brought that faith tradition alive. But it’s also full of very human characters and it’s a good story.

I could go on and on (and have sometimes). But I would say that these are some of the books that have had the most lasting affect on me. What about you?

My daughter, grandson and dad, with me, as we celebrate Dad's 80th birthday.

As you can probably guess from the picture above, we had a great time celebrating my dad’s 80th birthday in May. Most of my immediate family (siblings, kids, etc.) were able to come and we had a lot of fun. It was chaos at times, but my parents were so glad we all came and I know we were all glad to be there, too. Dad got lots of nice cards from people, too, and he still enjoys them, I think.  It’s a memory we’ll all treasure.

Earlier this month, I got to spend a week in beautiful downtown Des Moines, Iowa (and that’s only a tiny bit of sarcasm you here). I was at a conference for work and it went well, other me forgetting my poster and having to recreate it. Fortunately, the FedEx/Kinko’s downtown was very helpful and I was able to do an acceptable job. I completed the ACE Leadership Institute, too, and I think it will help me in a lot of areas, as well as my job.

Now I think I’m home for the forseeable future. So maybe I’ll do a little more blogging. I know I’m going to do a couple of blog tours this summer for Robin Parrish’s new book, Off World. It sounds good, so stay tuned.

I’m finishing up the layout for Relief 3.1, and I can tell you it’s a good issue. A little edgy, but that’s OK. And I’m working on a time-travel story of my own, so maybe I’ll be able to finish that. But in the meantime, I’m trying to stay cool.

(This is my May 2009 column)
Psalm 77

In the early 1970s my father preached at a church in Linton, Indiana. I was just entering my teens and it was a good place for me. My brothers and I had friends in our neighborhood and there were a lot of kids in our church. What I was not aware of though, was that it wasn’t such a good place for my dad. There were good people there, but it just wasn’t a good fit and after a couple of years he resigned. I think it was the only time my father resigned before he’d been called by another church. I’ll never forget our parents telling us that we were going to be moving, but we didn’t know where or even if we would be serving another church. I think we were all a little scared, but our parents told us that God was with us and we could trust him.

My parents understood, better than my brothers and I, what the psalmist is talking about in Psalm 77. Sometimes God seems far away, sometimes we enter a desert time in our lives when the path is rocky and hard to follow. Those are the times, though, that we can say:

I will remember the deeds of the LORD;
yes, I will remember your wonders of old.
I will ponder all your work,
and meditate on your mighty deeds. (Psalm 77:11-12)

By remembering what God has done throughout history, and in our lives, we’re reminded of what a great God we serve and can be comforted. We know we can trust him because he’s never failed us.

And all those years ago, when we wondered what God had in mind for our family, he proved himself faithful once again. Within a month, my Dad had been called to another church in southern Indiana, where he would have a fruitful ministry and our family would be at home once more. And ever since, when the path seems uncertain, that time in my life reminds me of God’s faithfulness and I know I can trust him.

(this is my April 2009 newsletter column)

Mark 10:17-27

Whenever a group from our church returns from a mission trip to Mexico or Nicaragua, someone always mentions the joy they saw even in the midst of great poverty. Our brothers and sisters in Christ in other countries experience real joy and peace from knowing Christ, maybe because they understand very well what it means to totally rely on God’s provision. When I see the pictures from Nicaragua and Mexico, and hear the testimonies of those who went there, I’m reminded how wealthy I am compared to most of the world. I don’t usually think of myself that way, but I have everything I need and much of what I want.

So when I read the story of Jesus and the rich young man who came to him for guidance, I realize I have a lot more in common with that young man than I usually like to admit. Jesus told the young man that even though he’d lived a good life, there was something lacking. He needed to sell his possessions and give to the poor, and then follow Jesus. The young man apparently found this too hard and went away sad, and without making any changes in his life. Jesus used this opportunity to teach his disciples about what it means to follow him. They didn’t find the teaching any more comfortable than the rich young man did.

It’s not that having wealth is a bad thing, but too often our material comfort leads to complacency. Our possessions can get in the way of our walk with Christ. Jesus told his disciples it was harder for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. The disciples were somewhat dismayed by this statment. In Jewish culture, as in ours, wealth was considered a sign that a person had done everything right. They were blessed. So if a wealthy person couldn’t get to heaven, who could? But Jesus reminds them that nothing is impossible with God.

I, like the rich young man, could say I’ve lived a pretty good life. And I, too, am uncomfortable with the idea that I might have to give up something to follow Jesus. But my salvation isn’t dependent on what I can do or on what I possess. It’s because of the saving work of Jesus Christ. And because of that I need to be willing to do whatever God asks of me. That’s the only way I’ll ever know the true riches that come from a life lived for Christ.

Today is my dad’s 80th birthday. God gave me such a great dad and I’m glad I still have him in this world. He changed my diapers, let me comb his hair, baptized me, walked me down the aisle on my wedding day and then finished the wedding ceremony, and all along the way he has modeled what a Godly father should be.

He served small churches in small towns, but I’m not surprised at how many birthday wishes he’s received all over. He’s touched a lot of lives, either in churches or at church camp or in the communities where he and my mom lived. So happy birthday Dad!

I usually live very much in the present. I reflect on the past and dream about the future, but most of the time I’m preoccupied with what’s going on right now. And though I believe in God’s promise of eternal life, I don’t think about it much. But once in a while, I’m reminded.

Today I learned that a dear old saint in our church has died. I don’t know the details, but I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that Daisy went to sleep and never woke up — or rather, she woke up with Jesus. One minute she’s dozing over her paper, the next she’s hearing “Well done, my good and faithful servant.” And Daisy was a faithful servant of her Lord. She was quite elderly and didn’t get out a lot, but she cut out articles from our local paper about the kids in the church so our youth leaders could post them on the bulletin board. She always asked about our grown children and I know that a lot of kids from our church have been prayed for because of this dear woman. Daisy never married, but she loved her nieces and nephews and the children of her church family. She leaves a legacy of faith and service that puts me to shame.

Here’s another reminder: A few weeks ago my parents made a trip to Tennessee to visit some of my dad’s family there. They went up country to see my dad’s oldest half-brother, Uncle Avon, who’s 87 and dying of cancer. His son and daughter-in-law have come to live with him and look after him and he seems to be doing pretty well most of the time. Mom said they have a baby monitor back in his room (but he’s unaware of it), so they can here if he needs them. Mom said when they got to Uncle Avon’s house, before he knew they were there, they heard him singing old hymns to himself. His son says he does that most of the time these days. It’s pretty clear he’s living more in the next world than in this.

So much of the time I act as if my present problems and pleasures are all there is to life, but I know better. I’m thankful for Daisy and Uncle Avon for reminding me of that.