Summer Reading from Local Authors

The dedication, work, creativity, and vulnerability required to publish a novel is simply astounding to me - it seems like the crowning bucket-list achievement {in my mind} for any writer. It's commendable. Risky. Gutsy. Inspiring. 

Two authors local to Northern CO, have recently had their works published, and I would so encourage you to check out their writing and to support them in their creative endeavors - I believe it is no small task to put a dream on paper. 

Below is a quick snapshot of each of their works and where you can find them. I appreciate their heart for why they wrote what they did:

Donna Wichelman, author of "Light out of Darkness":

A prestigious art exhibition turns into a horrific spectacle when a murder sends an art curator and a professor on a hunt for a highly coveted stolen painting.

Jamie Holbrooke came to Italy to escape a painful past in Ohio. But Jamie’s past follows her during an evening stroll along Varenna’s shoreline walk when an assailant, who looks like her dead brother, presses a mysterious riddle into her hand. Still reeling from shock at breakfast the next day and clueless about what the riddle means, she discovers that her long-time paragon Dr. Alessandro Marianni may have a link to the enigmatic riddle. Finding Jamie and her questions intriguing, Alessandro’s answers are cut short when their colleague falls prey to an assassin’s bullet. Convinced the riddle and murder are connected, Jamie and Alessandro risk their lives to discover why an obscure painting has caught the attention of art critics and criminals alike. At stake is a two-thousand–year-old drama, unfolding in the contemporary world of the Northern Italian Alps. Will Jamie and Alessandro stop powerful organized crime figures before the painting is lost forever and with it a secret more valuable than the prized artwork? Will Jamie find the answers to help her reclaim her life again? She will need the courage to face her fears and the persevering faith of Dr. Alessandro Marianni to heal her wounded heart.

"The concept for the book began in the early 2000s after our family took a vacation to northern Italy. The beauty of the landscape made me think it would make a great setting for a novel. But it wasn’t until I read an article in the Biblical Archaeological Review about J.M.W. Turner’s Bible Lands Paintings and more research led me to a little known pre-reformation group of the northern Italian Alps that the story began to take shape around this ancient religious sect called the Waldensians. Their real-life story of valor and enduring faith in the face of Roman Catholic persecution in Europe throughout the second millennium touched and encouraged my heart. I wanted to bring their story to life in a contemporary suspense novel about courage and faith. The title—Light Out of Darkness—comes from 2 Corinthians 4:6 and John 1:5 and is the text written in Latin, Lux lucet in Tenebris, which appears on their emblem dating from the 17th century."

"Light out of Darkness" can be found at
 http://www.amazon.com/Light-Out-Darkness-Waldensian-1/dp/0996187103/ref=la_B00VIUJ1GK 
or visit her website at www.donnawichelman.com. 
You can also read Donna's blog at http://donnawichelman.blogspot.com/.

_______________________________________________________________________________

Marie Evergreen, author of "Quinn":

Quinn Brooks woke in a hospital room with no memory of how she got there; she only knows she must escape or die. Fortunately Samantha Woods was willing to pick up hitchhikers, and the two women became friends.

As they travel across Alaska, Canada, and into the lower 48, Quinn ‘Travels’ uncontrollably in time. 

Pursued in the present and shot at in the past, can Quinn find the answers she needs before time runs out?

"Have you ever picked up a book, expecting it to take you on great adventures, only to have it filled with sex, drugs and swearing? When my daughter was younger, she was a very advanced reader. We both were disappointed to find the teen section over run with these types of books. It was very difficult to find anything worthy of reading. My name is Marie Evergreen. I have been a writer for several years. It was not until my daughter got to this point in her reading, that I felt a desire to write teen fiction. From that desire, Quinn was born."

Quinn is the first book in The Travelers series and can be picked up at 

http://www.electric-scroll.com/index.php?content=book&id=13

A Case for Creativity - Guest blogger Jon Jorgenson

A Case for Creativity

If you’ve ever doubted the importance of creativity, please consider…

God, in all three parts, is divinely and supremely creative. Out of all the possible actions that God could have taken, the very first verb of the Biblical narrative is create. Creation, and creativity, are the divine source, the root, from which anything and everything that ever walked, talked, or inhabited the universe flows from. Where there is no creativity, there is no progress. Where there is no creativity, there isn’t even a beginning from which progress can be born. Without creativity, nothing that has ever existed would have had the chance to exist.

If you’ve ever doubted the importance of creativity, please consider…

God reveals Himself first and foremost as a creative being. Before all-knowing, before all-powerful, before loving, compassionate, awesome, fearful, great, Son, Holy Spirit, or even before Father, we receive a glimpse of Creator God. This description precedes all others.

If you’ve ever doubted importance creativity, please consider…

Creativity is play. It’s recreation. Meaning re-creation. Meaning that when we exercise our creative gifts, in whatever arena, we are truly living as children of God, created in His image, called to be His imitation. Never do we more strongly bear the image of the original Creator, than when we answer the call deep within us to play.

To create for God is to pour out what has been so carefully poured into you.

How can we deny and overlook the need for great art and creativity in the church when from the beginning of time, the number one way to praise God was through the singing of music and the playing of horns and instruments?

If you’ve ever doubted the importance of creativity, please consider…

One does not have to be an “artist” in order to be a creative being. What we consider “art” is not the only form of creativity, but all creativity is artistic in nature. The innovation needed to run a business, the perseverance and imagination needed to raise children, the extra personal touch that makes the ordinary teacher an extraordinary educator, it all stands as it’s own form of art. Creativity is the vital link to unlocking the best we can be in everything we do. We were made to imagine new ideas and to put them to the test.

The world was formed through the creativity of God.
And it will be changed by the creativity of His children.

We were made to create.

Jon blogs about the importance of creativity, and expanding our view of what an artist is. Find more from Jon on his blog (www.jonjorgensonblog.com) and ping him on Twitter @jonjorgenson. He would love to hear from you.

Waves

Why am I discouraged?
    Why is my heart so sad?
I will put my hope in God!
    I will praise him again—
    my Savior and my God!

Now I am deeply discouraged,
    but I will remember you—
even from distant Mount Hermon, the source of the Jordan,
    from the land of Mount Mizar.

 I hear the tumult of the raging seas
    as your waves and surging tides sweep over me.
 But each day the Lord pours his unfailing love upon me,
    and through each night I sing his songs,
    praying to God who gives me life.

Psalm 42:5-8

Waves - Mr. Probz (Robin Shulz remix)

I have tied my heart to Yours - O Rock, my Anchor.

I am set adrift.

Call me back to You

before I float on into the deep.

There is beauty in repetition... the ebb and flow of the tide. At the feel of a pull, the waters turn, summoning all mysteries of the deep to the surface, a churned-up mixture of seawater and debris rising just to fall... again...and again...and again... 

each time the crash exposing and turning over what has been uncovered, what has been called forth from murky depths.

To be made alive, to be given breath, to create, to love and to live sacrificially. 

We are filled in order to be emptied again... and again... and again. This repetition.

The thunderous rise and fall of familiar giants. 

To serve to the point of complete depletion. To then be re-injected with enthusiasm, brought back to life, re-animated, as if a puppet or corpse {dead to itself in this way, to be Used}. To re-visit past territory with a used torch, to withstand shot after shot, arrow after arrow, to receive an ear-ful, to steel myself within rusted armor - to determine to keep standing. To wade through saltwater.

On our own, it's exhaustive.

In Him, it is enough.

Each crash exposing our inadequacy, weakness, and dependence.

Each upturn a reminder of His sufficiency.

Every wave turning over grace.

Three different times I begged the Lord to take it {the thorn in his flesh} away. 

Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” 

So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Paul, 2 Corinthians 12:8-10

This grace is enough.

Perhaps you are my thorn; perhaps I will always carry you with me.
Through weakness and through strength, through the desert and through oceans, through every
season - I will follow You. I am tired, and I am Yours, and that is enough.

As You lead us through uncertain waters, I drift behind, tethered to You, drowning in this grace.

What if we were Jonathan

"David: 90 Days to a Heart Like His"

1 Samuel 18:1-4

This passage, along with some of the author's commentary, has stayed with me for 5 months now. Here is what He showed me.

"By the time David had finished reporting to Saul, Jonathan was deeply impressed with David—an immediate bond was forged between them. He became totally committed to David. From that point on he would be David’s number-one advocate and friend.

2 Saul received David into his own household that day, no more to return to the home of his father.

3-4 Jonathan, out of his deep love for David, made a covenant with him. He formalized it with solemn gifts: his own royal robe and weapons—armor, sword, bow, and belt."

The author notes:

The sacrifice between Jonathan and David is "less obvious than other examples in Scripture, but it is profound... Saul intended for Jonathan to become the second king of Israel", but Jonathan "had other plans" (85). "In David, Jonathan saw character fit for a King. He was so determined that the throne be occupied by God's chosen instrument that he offered everything he had. In this unique covenant, Jonathan sacrificed himself (85)... Jonathan acknowledged David as prince of the Hebrew nation, a position which he could have jealously and vehemently claimed as his own" (86).

A friendship forged from sacrifice. The next line is gold:

"Men like Jonathan are a rarity. Few people we meet in life have 'in mind the things of God' at risk of their own favor and position (Matt. 16:23)" (86).

Is this why we are slow to encourage? What if we could change the story; what if we were Jonathan?
What if we could recognize that we are all on the same team? That we are all running toward the same goal? What if we saw the potential and the gifts, in the people God has given us, as a resource and as a tool - developed and then used for His glory - instead of seeing them as a threat?

We wouldn't have to wonder if we're on track, because somebody has already prayed for this, for you, and said, "this is from Him. Keep running!"

{What if we were Encouraging, in this race, instead of Envious?}

Growth, unity... creativity. Get going!

A Good Reminder {for me & other grudge holders}

Man, studying God's word is always relevant, and it is always timely. Am I paying attention?

Between conviction, circumstances, and when your only spiritual creds are that you are a ridiculously sinful person saved by an infinitely more merciful God - - it prompts you to write things like this.

I needed a reminder tonight.

Bitterness and grudge-holding is often wrapped up in both pride and envy, nasty things with titanium grade roots {how much stronger do I make them when I'm nursing them to grow? Fostering them and encouraging them rather than cutting them off? J. Crider, Genesis this week}. In John chapter 17 (v. 11, 20-23), Jesus speaks repeatedly of His desire for His Church to be 'one'. That's the point of writing this, and it's the only point in sharing it.

Bitterness bites like a snake. This venom is familiar, but I'm determined to not let it make its way through my bloodstream this time; I believe it is possible by God's grace to survive a snake bite.

First, ask yourself: am I bitter? What if it's more than rough feelings, or irritation, or "oh, I just don't like them". With difficult people, stormy interactions, falling outs, un-aired grievances, etc. ... instead of resorting to avoidance or immediate blame-shift {duh, I'm awesome. It's obviously their fault....(um....what's up Pride!}, first perform a heart check. God, deal with me! You see all of this - way more clearly than I do. Where am I sinning? It's only between you and Him in the end anyways, right? From experience, He is generally quick to answer these kinds of prayers, where we are grieved and He is already wanting to grow and change us.

Secondly, genuinely grieve over your sin. It's not something that can be fabricated or manufactured, like, "I acknowledge there is an area of sin in my life, and I am now going to be sad over this". It's not this robotic head-only knowledge (if you even make it to the point where you realize you are sinning). You were created to feel too, and that's okay.

To grieve over your sin, and want to turn from it, you either get that you have sinned or you don't, and you're either remorseful over what you've done, or you're not. It's painfully simple. Has your sin ever made you truly sad ? Sick? That's the beginning of repentance. Repent, and then seek forgiveness. Remember that scene from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade? " Only a penitent man will pass?" You can pass this faith test.

If our sin cuts like a blade, kneel. It's humility; it's required.

Because I've been sick-nasty-bitter towards someone(s) before, I hope this helps.

You may be bitter towards someone if:

*You think about them, see them, or their name comes up in conversation and you instantly cringe, grimace, scoff, or express anger, envy, or disappointment.

*You don't have nice thoughts about them.

*Because of this^, it naturally follows that you don't have any nice things to say about them.

*You are quick to note their hypocrisy and short-comings, which validates (in your mind) why they don't receive {deserve} your respect, attention, love, or affection.

*You align yourself with people who, non-surprisingly, feel the same way - even subconsciously.

*You have consistent feelings/attitudes of anger, passive aggression, ill-will, discontentedness, contempt, or even bewilderment as to why your relationship "isn't working" or "isn't easy".

I don't know about you, but I read the perspective of this^ person {me at times!}, and I'm like, "who do you think you are?" Through all of this though, through all of our gunk, God reaches for pride-filled people. Isn't He awesome!

Some of us hold on to these things so tight, like our hands are white-knuckled fists around these things that happened decades ago, things that make us sick. And the hard truth is, it's sometimes easier to hold on to them than it is to let them go. It's easier to hold than to release. Something is easier than nothing, a steadfast outline is easier to grasp than freedom. Our spiritual reliance, walk, and freedom in Christ is completely counter-intuitive to how we function in our flesh. Oh, how we need Him!

Lastly,

*You remember specific "bitterness-making" times, events, and interactions in your life and allow them to fester in your thought-life. {Are you scarred? Take that pain to the Healer. Let. it. go. And if you can't let it go, ask Him for supernatural help. Believe! Is nothing too hard for Him?}

The anti-venom:

"Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you."

Ephesians 4:31-32

Remember:

"For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses."

Matthew 6:14-15

Am I unforgiving?

"Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled."

Hebrews 12:14-15

Tattoo it on your heart, Lex:

"Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses."

Proverbs 10:12

I am not going to hate you.

The final blow:

"If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless."

James 1:26

{Unresolved anger is the catalyst for bitterness.}

You must change.
The cross is the ultimate symbol and call for reconciliation.
You must be reconciled - if not tangibly, at least in your heart.

Leave your anger at the cross before it eats you alive.

Even old hurts - even aged anger.
Anger does not get better with age; it turns sour.
Give it to Him before it uncoils at your feet and rears for the strike.

Before anger metastasizes into full-blown bitterness.
Life is too short to be bitter.
Freedom awaits.

Ann Voskamp

12/26 Thought

Gareth Emery feat. Christina Novelli - Dynamite

"And its all for you/every spark in every flame/all for you/and all the stars will know your name"

I love this video, because it inadvertently points me to Him.

I want to yell: look up! You don't have to be fed by dark beats or by the music itself. If there is anything good or beautiful in you, it's merely a reflection. Look up with arms raised to the One who made all of this, to the One who made us in His image, to the One who created us to create and to enjoy all things. Music, color, love... life. Anything good or beautiful in you, give back to Him.

{It's all for You/and the stars all know Your name!}

The Reason

Asking "what is the point of Christmas?" draws a variety of responses. An overwhelming victory shout {Jesus}, a mixed bag of beloved traditions, allusions to family and friends, to our time and how we spend it, and even the brutal truth of how this season can simply bury us.

Here are a few points you shared:

"The entire point of Christmas is Jesus. It's sad that we become numb to the fact that the God of all humanity would send His son to earth. Jesus gave up heaven and came down to live and die with us to save us. This is where the path to restoration started. They had no idea who he was. He was God's gift to us."

"The idea of describing the point of Christmas is certainly a daunting task, many have dedicated volumes to this end and certainly many different points could be discussed, all with equal merit, truth and significance. I suppose if you needed to boil it all down to one point, it would be sufficient to find the place of Christmas in the overall message of all of scripture and all of life, which is God restoring his creation to its intended state in order to glorify his name. The place of Jesus is obvious to those who believe, that he is the unblemished lamb that is offered up for the sins of God's people so that the wrath of God might be satisfied and he may dwell with his people and his presence would stir worship for himself. I think of Exodus 12 where we see God command Israel to bring a lamb without blemish into their house for this exact purpose. The rest of Exodus is about the promise of God to dwell with his people and the means he provides for them to do this. The sacrificial system points toward the inevitable arrival of Jesus, toward Christmas, when our lamb comes into the house, not to be tamed, not to be our pet, but to be sacrificed violently so God could establish his people who would worship his name because of what he had done. Praise God for he has provided the lamb on this wonderful day, a lamb that none of us could provide!"

"What is the point of Christmas? While this question has become increasingly muddled in our modern society, for me it is still as simple as a Celebration of the birth of Christ. While Jesus probably wasn't born on December 25th, it seems as good of a day as any to celebrate that. But why is that something we should celebrate? And how is that related to Santa Claus and Christmas trees and the giving of gifts? Those are all legitimate questions, and there are plenty of other great blogs that have written about them, so I will just focus on why this is something we should celebrate.

I love listening to the Hallelujah Chorus. Most people know this piece of music, but I don't know if most people think about it in the context of the entire performance. Handel's Messiah is simply the words of the Bible set to a very moving and riveting score. What begins with the announcement of the Messiah in Part I is culminated in the Hallelujah chorus (from Part II, but often times is played at the end of Part I in a shorter show). The word Hallelujah is defined as "used to express praise, joy, or thanks especially to God". The words in part read:

The kingdom of this world

Is become the kingdom of our Lord,

And of His Christ, and of His Christ;

And He shall reign for ever and ever,

For ever and ever, forever and ever.

This is why we express praise and joy for God; because of His ultimate rule of the world, and the ensuing greatness of Eternity with Him. And this all starts with His first coming, which to me is the ultimate point of Christmas."

***

I want to add that the point of Christmas... is Him.

Since the dawn of creation until the end of days, it has always been about Jesus... and He is love. So really, Christmas... Jesus...Immanuel {God with us}, is an expression of God's love for us, rivaled only by the Cross. God made you; He loves you. He wants you. He sent Himself to Earth in Jesus to free you.

The list of what I wish I could explain to you this Christmas stretches for miles. I want you to know that "Jesus" is not synonymous with "religion". That church isn't a "club" propagated only to the rich or to the gullible. That it doesn't look like maybe what you remember. It's no longer the turned-up noses of our grand-parents and great grand-parents' generations sitting in hard pews. I want you to know that not all Christians act like what you see in the movies, and that just like in all things, people can't be objectively 'defined', at least, not by each other. I want you to know that the church is alive, that God is real and that He is moving. I want you to know that whether or not we 'believe' something doesn't make it true, rather, something is either objectively True or it is not. I want you to know that Christianity transcends terms like "religious preference", "political bias", or even "worldview". It's not a hat worn weekly that can be taken on and off. It's a movement, but rooted in truth, it is not fanatical. It is historical, and it is wholly supernatural. Friend, do you know Jesus?

You've probably been right. You've seen hypocrisy, and are maybe still nursing old wounds. It's bound to happen; we are imperfect people in-progress, and this world is broken. It's not what He wants; this was not His plan. He does not turn a blind eye to us and our mess. He will fix this one day; I promise. I want you to know that authentic Christianity looks like giving grace over and over again. It's the opposite of everything you've ever known. It's giving people what they don't deserve, because we've been given what we don't deserve - His mercy, another act of love expressed by God on the cross. It looks like forgiveness on repeat, a new softness, leaving the past behind in favor of infinite fresh starts.

{A true Christian recognizes his brokenness and brings it to Jesus.}

It's dependence. It's higher thinking; it's looking outside yourself. It's 'the greater good'. It's the ultimate expression of humanitarianism. It's philosophy. It's love; it's the solution. It's everything you've tried, and everything you want to be true. It's being made righteous by a King, not a fabricated righteousness of ourselves. Church is not just a building, it's the collective joining of His people. Church is where we are all patients in a hospital, some of us being revived. He is waiting to lift your burdens, to break all of your chains. Do you know Him?

"Come to me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." - Jesus, Matthew 11:28
"But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life." - Jesus, John 4:14

Friends, did you know that churches are full of people like you and I?

That music for Him can sound like this:

That He speaks to people through visions and dreams? That He loves deeply and is drawing people of every nation, race, gender, religion, and sexual orientation to Himself, to make us whole, even now?

I want you to know that the Bible is the most historically and archaeologically verifiable collection of books ever written. I want you to know that the "Word of God is alive and active" and that it is "sharper than any double-edged sword; it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart." {Hebrews 4:12}

I want you to know that it was prophesied long before His birth that He would come. Not just the details surrounding His birth, but also those of His life, ministry, crucifixion, and second-coming. He was revered by believing Jews as their promised "Mashiach" {Messiah}. A King. The great Deliverer. There are nearly 300 prophetic references to Jesus Christ throughout the Old Testament.

The Bible is a miraculous, focused collection of historical events, moral and civil law, Hebrew poetry (R. Vannoy), and end-times prophecy. The Bible declares how it all began, it exposes who we are, it offers hope and Life in Jesus Christ, and bookends with how it all will end.

I want you to know that there is a reason for this season.

It's Him.

Do you know Him, friend?

Merry Christmas.

Love, Lex Webb