"Mother of Pearl" blog Day 2 - Shelia Walsh

Joy Comes from Perseverance | Shelia Walsh

One of the most important lessons I have learned in my own life is the joy that comes from perseverance. Eugene Peterson, borrowing a phrase from Friedrich Nietzsche, wrote his book  “A Long Obedience in the Same Direction …Discipleship in an Instant Society.” He points to the Psalms as the way believers have always learned to pray what they live and live what they pray but it is not a short journey. It is an intentional commitment to keep walking even when you are worn out.

*If we want to see lasting results in any area of life it’s important to keep walking in that direction.

*If we want to have a better understanding of the Gospel of John then it takes time and commitment to dig deeper day after day.

*If we want to be thinner this summer than last summer then the work begins now not then.

So too in our relationship with Christ…..

*If we want to know Him at a more profoundly intimate level, that also takes an intentional seeking after Him every day.

As a grown woman I have come to love the beauty of this gift. Passing this “mined treasure” onto my son on the other hand has been an interesting challenge.  We live in such a fast paced, attention-challenged culture where the latest thing can be delivered to your doorstep by tomorrow for a few dollars more. But, as you know, by the time it is delivered it has already been replaced or updated!

How do we speak then into the lives of our children to help them understand and value perseverance?

For me…part of the puzzle meant a large piece of poster board, scissors, some photos and a bottle of Elmer’s glue. My son, Christian and I spread everything out on a sheet in the game room as I explained our project. “We’re going to make a family faith-tree,” I said. “These are photos of family on your dad’s side and on mine. Many of them have gone on to be with Jesus but the seeds they planted into our family continue to grow.” Then we wrote down their names and when they came to faith in Christ (as many as I knew).  It was quite something to see when we were finished.

“Your life matters Christian. Running your race well matters.”

That night we read these words from the writer to the Hebrews,

“We are surrounded by a great cloud of people whose lives tell us what faith means. So let us run the race that is before us and never give up.”

Hebrews 12:1 (NCV)

"Crazy Dangerous" Giveaway and Author Chat Party!

Celebrate with Andrew by entering his Crazy Dangerous giveaway and connecting with him during the Author Chat Party on 5/29!

One fortunate winner will receive:  

• A $100 Visa Cash Card
• A copy of Crazy Dangerous by Andrew Klavan for YOU and 5 of your Friends!

Enter today by clicking one of the icons below. But hurry, the giveaway ends at noon on May 28th. Winner will be announced at the"Crazy Dangerous" Author Chat Facebook Party on 5/29. Andrew will be hosting an Author Chat, testing your survival trivia skills, giving away books and gift certificates to iTunes and Amazon.com! Don't miss a second of the "danger"!

Grab your copy of Crazy Dangerous and connect with Andrew on the evening of 5/29/12 for an author chat and lots of giveaways.

Don't miss a moment of don't miss this chance to connect with Andrew and enjoy an evening of chat, trivia, prizes, and more RSVP today. Tell your friends via FACEBOOK or TWITTER and increase your chances of winning. Hope to see you on the 29th! 

  

"Crazy Dangerous" by Andrew Klavan

Andrew Klavan is back with an exciting, action-packed YA adventure. Sam Hopkins is a normal kid. He does the things he is supposed to, most of the time. However, the choice to hang with the wrong crowd puts him into many situations where Sam has to consciously make good decisions, which becomes increasingly difficult. When Sam sees his "friends" harassing Jennifer, one of his schoolmates, his choice is to help her. What does that do to his "friendship" with the group?  Will there be repercussions?

Jennifer is quirky. Soon Sam finds out that she sees and hears things, things that truly scare her. She tells Sam about seeing death, the devil, and demons, and he thinks she may be crazy. But, is she? Or, is she seeing things that are truly happening or will happen in the future? As Sam starts to put the pieces together and begins to believe, he finds himself trying to prevent oncoming events. Will he be successful? How dangerous will it become? What will happen to Jennifer and Sam? Pick up this book and let Sam tell you the whole story!

Wow! "Crazy Dangerous" is a great title for this book. It had my attention from the beginning and kept me reading. I was drawn to Sam, the preacher's son who made a bad choice in friends but wants to make it right; and Jennifer, the quirky girl who is terrified by the sights and sounds she witnesses. They could be any of us. This is a great YA novel and I recommend it to anyone who loves action-packed YA literature. I think it would be a fun discussion for teen groups, with many topics to discuss. I received my review copy from Litfuse for participation in the blog tour.

The Blog Tour Schedule can be found here:
 http://litfusegroup.com/blogtours/13492426

About the book:

Crazy Dangerous

| Andrew Klavan

"You probably want to hear about Jennifer and the demons and how I played chicken with a freight train and-oh yeah-the weird murder . . . you're definitely going to want to hear about that." 

Sam Hopkins is a good kid who has fallen in with a bad crowd. Hanging around with car thieves and thugs, Sam knows it's only a matter of time before he makes one bad decision too many and gets into real trouble. 

But one day, Sam sees them harassing an eccentric schoolmate of his named Jennifer. When Sam finds the courage to face the bullies down, he loses a bad set of friends and acquires a very strange new one. 

Because Jennifer is not just eccentric. To Sam, she seems downright crazy. She has terrifying hallucinations involving demons and the devil and death. And here's the really crazy part: Sam is beginning to suspect that these visions may actually be prophecies--prophecies of something terrible that's going to happen very soon. Unless he can stop it. 

With no one to believe him, with no one to help him, Sam is now all alone in a race against time. Finding the truth before disaster strikes is going to be both crazy and very, very dangerous.

About Andrew: 

Andrew Klavan was hailed by Stephen King as "the most original novelist of crime and suspense since Cornell Woolrich." He is the recipient of two Edgar Awards and the author of such bestsellers as True Crime and Don't Say a Word. 

His books and screenplays have been turned into films directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Michael Douglas, Ed Burns, Michael Caine among others. 

Hometown: Santa Barbara, CaliforniaBooks Sold to Date: over 1.5 million.

"Mother of Pearl" Blog Series - Day 1 Cindy Stiverson

Priceless Treasures | Cindy K. Stiverson

We've heard it said and often find it true:

You don't know the value of a treasure until you're without it.

We take for granted the things in life that seem so readily available.

   A paperclip or rubber band, to hold things together.

   A tissue or napkin, to wipe our nose to clean our face, to absorb our tears.

   A Bible to speak words of wisdom and instruction and life and love.

And a Mother, who is all these things and more.

   She is readily available.

   She holds things together.

   She wipes our nose, cleans our face (and our fingers, and, well…everything else!)

   She absorbs our tears and calms our fears.

  "She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue." (Proverbs 31:26)

   She loves.

Within hours after my mother passed into the gates of our heavenly home, I was missing her. Her quick wit…humor…charm. Her warm smile and melodious laughter, which served her well to the very end, as did our Lord Jesus Christ, who so graciously allowed her to slip quietly and peacefully into His arms.

She simply stopped breathing.

As I stood at her bedside in those priceless moments after her passing, I wanted to touch her skin as much as possible while there was still warmth in her body; to nuzzle my nose against her head and breathe in the scent of her hair while she was still there. Priceless treasures I was guilty of taking for granted, clouded by unmet needs. I was so consumed with what she was not, that I never fully appreciated who she was. It’s like I was blind, but now I see!

I see her strength, her commitment. Her perseverance…sacrifice…her unspoken love. I see how much she meant to me, how much she did for me, how much she taught me, and how much of the good in me was modeled by her.

She was a virtuous woman, as described in Proverbs 31 of the Bible.

“Her children stand and bless her… a woman who fears the Lord will be greatly praised. Reward her for all she has done. Let her deeds publicly declare her praise (vs. 31).”

This last verse of the poem serves as an epitaph for the woman of virtue. It speaks of the legacy she leaves in her passing. It spurred me to write a personal epitaph for my mother, which I read at her funeral.

We publicly declare your praise today,

and in the days to come,

for you deserve to be praised and blessed,

"We honor you, Mom, for all you have done!"

In my earliest of memories,

You worked so hard, striving for the rest.

You persevered through great trials

and did your very best.

I know you are being rewarded

in ways far beyond our reach.

We honor you now by practicing what you've taught,

and even what you preached!

You've stood for us for all these years,

Today, we stand for you!

I pray that our applause on earth

will reach your heavenly ears.

With the reading of this poem, I asked everyone to stand. We clapped our hands in celebration and praise of the life of my mother, Margaret Alice Stiltner.

Imagine our surprise to discover that she had left a poetic epitaph for us! She had clipped it from an old magazine and framed it. I found it when I was cleaning her home, on a nightstand by her bed. My mother was never versed at expressing emotion. This was her sweet way of kissing us good-bye: a priceless treasure to remember her by.

"Crater" by Homer Hickam

A new trilogy begins with this book by Homer Hickam. The setting is the future, the 22nd century to be exact, where readers will find mining on the moon is a common profession due to the destruction on the Earth. While the life it hard, Crater Trueblood enjoys his job mining for Helium-3. But, there are dangers, and when he saves the life of another miner. others notice him. It is then that Crater is to undertake a dangerous assignment. At 16, Crater doesn't think he can really do it, but decides to say yes anyway.

The mission: simply recover an object that could be necessary for the survival of everyone on the moon. Sounds easy enough and uncomplicated, right? While he does have help, Crater encounters situations of unimaginable danger that will test his resolve and his survival skills. There are tests like ruthless long-haul truckers, a slime mold that thinks, mutants, and more as Crater works to retrieve the object. Will Crater be successful? If not, what will happen to the colonists? How does Maria figure into things? Who is Colonel Medaris, and what dangerous/complicated situations accompany him? The answers to these questions and more await you as you turn the pages.

"Crater" is an interesting YA novel. As the beginning of a trilogy, the reader is introduced to the moon colony and lifestyle as well as some characters you will hope to see in the next books. This book has action, adventure, a love story, an interesting plot, and wonderful characters. This book left me wanting to know more and I look forward to reading the next installment when it comes out. I think it will be a hit with YA readers and recommend it. I received my free review copy from the Book Sneeze program for an honest review.

"Catching Fire" by Suzanne Collins

Katniss and Peeta are living the lives of champions. They have their own houses, can help their families, and can also help others in their town. But, what about the love story from the Hunger Games? Katniss thinks she can live her own life now, but a stolen kiss, and a visit from the president change all that for her. Then, everyone finds out that the special 75th iteration of the games will be comprised of past champions. As the arena awaits her once again, Katniss must face her choices. She has angered the president and he seems set on revenge. Can she thwart his plot? Will she be able to kill any of the other champions in the arena? And, what about a rebellion? Is there really one in the air? "Catching Fire" is a fitting sequel to "The Hunger Games."

This is another "can't put it down" kind of book. Following the themes of "The Hunger Games," readers are first given a glimpse of life as a champion only to have it ripped away from those champions so they can once again visit the arena. The characters I didn't like in the first book, reappeared more despicable than ever. Then there were the characters I love, and I won't give any of that away. I highly recommend this book and am now moving on to "Mockingjay!"

"Tandem" by Tracey Bateman

Two women with unexpected, unsettling things happening in their lives are drawn together in a small town. Abbey Hills is the setting for this new suspenseful tale from Tracey Bateman. Lauryn McBride is not only working to settle the estate of Marcus Chisholm, but she is also taking care of her father. Her father has Alzheimer's, which makes Lauryn's work at the auction house that much harder. Amede Dastillion comes to town because she receives a letter from Lauren about some family heirlooms. Could this be the clue she needs to find her sister?

People and animals begin dying, but not of natural causes. It seems that there is ritualistic killing going on, just as there had been in the past. What does this have to do with Amede's arrival in Abbey Hills? How is Lauryn involved, if at all. It seems that evil has returned threatening everyone in the small town. Are vampires really there?  Will Billy, a missionary, be able to help? Tracey Bateman takes us into a world where vampires exist and good sets out to conquer them.

Interesting book! It held my interest and kept me glued to my seat at times. "Tandem" follows "Thirsty," the first book of this genre for Ms. Bateman. She proves that readers never tire of the classic struggle of good versus evil. Fiction readers of all types will enjoy this and Ms. Bateman's other work. I received my free review copy from the Blogging for Books program in exchange for an honest review.