April 2006

For those of you who know me or have read my blog for a while, you know that I am a member of ACFW better known as American Christian Fiction Writers. When I joined the group in September of 2000, we had around 100 members. Today I think our numbers are closer to 1000. Quite a growth spurt in six years!

During that time, ACFW has held what used to be called the Noble Theme Contest for unpublished authors. I entered the contest three times. The first time I missed placing in the semi-finals by one point! (That was hard!) The next two years I placed in the top ten in two categories the first year and one the second. A nice thing to add to my resume, though I did not win.

This year the contest underwent a change, much like ACFW has done in the six years I’ve been a member. The contest’s name changed to the Genesis Contest and the grand prize for the overall top five scorers will be a chance to have their manuscript reviewed by the publishing board at Warner Faith Publishing. So the stakes are higher and the judging tougher.

I wasn’t at all sure I should enter this time because nothing I had to offer had made it past the top ten in years past. But then I did a bit of brainstorming with my new agent, Wendy Lawton of Book & Such Literary Agency, (not my agent at the time – more like a friend), and she gave me some great ideas to fix one of my stories. I worked hard and came up with a new twist on the story, sent the chapters to my critique partners, had my freelance editor, Barbara Warren of Blue Mountain Editorial Services look at it, then mailed it off with fear and trepidation. Actually, I forgot about it and kept writing. :)

In the meantime, those chapters have gone through more changes, despite all the original input, so I was certain they were not good enough to place in the Genesis. Until yesterday.

Yesterday I received an email and phone call telling me that I placed in the first round (top five) of the Romantic Suspense category! I’m still finding it hard to believe, never dreaming I could score so well.

So now it’s on to round two where the initial scores mean nothing – we start back at square one. But whether my work goes any further or not, it feels good to have made it this far when I expected to receive my work back without placing at all.

And Tuesday I sold another article to Spirit Led Writer! I’ll let you know more when it’s up. And Monday, my friend, Maureen Lang (see the Spotlight page) got a two-book deal with Tyndale House Publishers. If you read the interview I had with her, you’ll notice she talks about a story regarding a genetic disorder. This is the story that sold along with a sequel, the story of her heart!

This has been a good week!

There really is nothing new under the sun. Shortly after Jesus’ resurrection 2000+ years ago, His followers found themselves constantly having to guard the truth of what He’d taught them. Even while some of the eye witnesses still lived, people like the Apostle John, who had experienced the Truth first hand, were busy protecting fellow believers from the lies of heretics.

The gospel of John was written in an apologetic fashion, to show his readers that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing we may have life in His name. John wrote so that his readers might believe the truth.

Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me.” (John 14:6)

There were people in John’s day that taught other things, wrote other gospels, and were considered heretics, false teachers, gnostics. Today we are seeing a resurgence of interest in gnostic writings. “The Da Vinci Code” has brought “gnosticism” into the public eye, and “The Gospel of Judas” among others has raised doubts even among the “faithful” to the traditional view of Christianity.

My local paper last weekend titled one article “Most don’t believe in the resurrection.” Apparently Scripps Survey Research Center polled 1,007 adults and asked this question, “Do you believe that, after you die, your physical body will be resurrected someday?” Only 36% of those people polled said “yes.”

Tomorrow the world will celebrate Easter, the traditional celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. But if there is no resurrection, why do we celebrate?

The Apostle Paul told his readers, “But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty…For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.” (I Corinthians 15:13-14, 16-19 NKJV)

Paul didn’t say those things to suggest that maybe we were wrong, that there really was no resurrection. His next words prove that: But now Christ is risen from the dead… (Emphasis mine.)

Some of the proof of Jesus’ resurrection is the fact that hundreds of people saw him afterward, in a resurrected, glorious body. Not a severely broken human body barely recovering from his wounds – as the author of “The Jesus Papers” would suggest when he said that Jesus was alive when they took Him down from the cross. Anyone who could suggest that Jesus survived the wounds inflicted on Him has not studied the facts of the account.

When Lazarus died, Jesus told his sister Martha, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha believed in a bodily resurrection. She knew that Lazarus would someday rise on the last day. But she didn’t know Jesus planned to raise him to life right then. Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

It is the question the Scripps people and many others still ask today. One that demands a “yes” response from anyone who would call themselves a “Christian.” To say that you are a Christian and not believe in the resurrection is to not understand or truly believe the gospel. If Christ is not raised, if you don’t believe that Jesus rose again, you are dead in your sins.

Jesus died on the cross, not because of some conspiracy where He asked Judas to betray Him. (Heresy purported in the “Gospel of Judas.”) No one took His life from Him. He gave it freely. He had the power to lay it down and to take it up again. He suffered on purpose because He chose to pay a debt we could not pay.

Once that debt was paid, when He said, “It is finished,” he gave up His life. The Romans had perfected the “art” of crucifixion to maximize pain and suffering. Most victims languished on the cross for three days. Jesus died a number of hours after the nails pierced His flesh. None of us has the power to tell our spirits to die. We cannot just “give up the ghost” unless we do something drastic to force our own death. Jesus simply chose to release His spirit, once His work on earth was accomplished.

As He had the power to lay down His life, death could not hold Him. He took it back again and rose victorious three days later. Because He lives, we shall live also.

There is a truth out there that is true whether we want to believe it or not. Men and women can deny it, try to change it, rewrite it, falsify it, misrepresent it, or flat out ignore it. Nothing they do can alter it or make it go away. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is one of those truths.

When we come to the end of our lives, we will face that truth head on. Then, when we stand before the risen, conquering King Jesus, only one thought will ring in our minds. “He who believes in me will never die.”

“Do you believe this?”

At long last, the final awaited episode of my sons’ online sitcom What the Muffins? is now live on their website. This episode was two years in the making, not because they spent two years working on it, but because well, life gets in the way. :) The guys don’t look quite like that now – at least where the hair is concerned. They are all less scraggly and more “clean cut”.

Jeff and Chris are working hard at film school, and their friend, Matt, is now a married man.

As far as I know there will be no more episodes of this sitcom, but Jeff and Chris are planning to release other short films now and then. They are currently working to direct/produce a short film on a much higher scale. Like most artists, each project helps them improve their craft. I can easily imagine them on a movie set someday.

Later, I hope to find time to post some thoughts about Easter and the current heretical views that try to discount the resurrection. But for now, enjoy the film by clicking here.

A new “Spotlight” is up today – my visit with author, Maureen Lang! Maureen’s debut novel, Pieces of Silver came out last month and is an excellent read. I’ve had the privilege of having Maureen as one of my critique partners for the past few years. Her expertise has helped my own writing immensely, and I find her writing captivating and engaging. Her new book is no exception. In fact, with all of the polish of the editing process, I was “wowed” as I read it. This truly is an incredible book.

So stop on over and read Maureen’s answers to my interview questions. I think you will enjoy what you discover about this fine new author.

If you read my article on Spirit Led Writer, you know that I don’t always handle stress well. One way I know that I’m under stress is the ache in my shoulders and the tenseness across my back and neck. I recently visited a new chiropractor and discovered that my shoulders are really tight – the muscles are knotted and stiff. But the doctor assured me that he can help. In the meantime, I’m also working on not tensing so much and exercising those muscles by lifting light weights and stretching. I never realized how often I lift my shoulders in tension.

Then as I drove to church this morning, (hubby is sick, so he stayed home), I was listening to an old song that quotes a verse from Isaiah about Jesus. Part of the verse says, “…and He will sit on David’s throne, and the government will be on His shoulders…”

I got to thinking about that last phrase. Jesus has big shoulders – big enough to carry the government of the entire world. But then that doesn’t surprise me because Jesus is God and God can do anything. And then it occurred to me that maybe I try to carry too much on my very human shoulders, when I should really be entrusting everything to His care. Maybe my shoulders wouldn’t be so sore if I did.

But as a wife and mom, I can’t help but carry some responsibility. Not to mention the responsibilities of ministry and career. These are just normal pressures of life. But have you noticed these days that the pressures of life seem to grow worse with each passing year? So many concerns, so many people who need prayer, so many unexpected changes. There is no security in what the world has to offer. Jobs are unstable. Money doesn’t last. Life is fragile. Too much pressure leads to tight muscles and pain and a host of other problems.

Maybe it’s time to do as Peter told his readers when he said, “Casting all your care on Him for He cares for you.” If I could just figure out how to cast this automatic tensing reflex of my shoulders onto His, I would need far less visits to the chiropractor and would not need to consider taking stock in menthol rubs. I’ve even been trying to figure out if we could afford a new bathtub with jet sprayers. Doesn’t that sound heavenly? :) Until then, I will give in to hot showers, hot and cold packs, menthol rubs, and the massage tool. :) And the constant reminder to quit tensing and do as my kids sometimes tell me. “You need to chill, Mom”. Perhaps they are right. :)