Prince Caspian

All right, I didn’t read it—I listened. A while back, I purchased the complete dramatic Narnia series from Focus on the Family. So, I decided to listen to Prince Caspian before I see it in the theater. It was a complete delight.

I highly recommend purchasing this set of CD’s for a great summer listen. The whole set of CD’s runs about $45.00 and makes for 22 hours of entertainment. They include all seven of books in the Narnia series, including The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. If you are planning a road trip this summer, the miles will slip by. If you are flying, download them onto your MP3 player and enjoy the flight.

Focus on the Family did an amazing job with C.S. Lewis’s stories. They are dramatized, so the characters come to life. These unique stories will mesmerize your kids. And you will experience the magic of childhood yourself—what a way to begin the summer!

Blogger Summer Book Club

Book Addiction

After blogging about the book The Shack, I got to thinking about other great books that I have read recently. Then, I thought, “I bet there are a lot of fabulous books out there that others could share about with me.”

So, here my thoughts for the next couple of weeks. I am going to share with my thoughts on some the books that I have read recently. And you can share with me! For the next two weeks lets share about fiction books that we have adored, hated, or just didn’t understand. The do not have to be Christian books.

One of my all time favorite books is The Kite Runner. It is a sad intense book, but so moving. It’s a book set in Afghanistan about two boys and their friendship. It reveals the brutality of the human heart in so many ways, but it also shows that love does win out in the end. I have not seen the movie, but everyone told me it doesn’t hold a candle to the book.

So summer is just days away. What books are out there that will make for a great summer read?

The Shack

As I wrote in my previous blog the book, The Shack, impacted me a great deal. I feel jump-started to start writing my own book again. Let me quote a snippet from the back cover.

“In a world where religion seems to grow increasingly irrelevant The Shack wrestles with the timeless question, “Where is God in a world so filled with unspeakable pain?””

Author Eugene Peterson endorsed the book by saying, “This book has the potential to do for our generation what John Bunyan’s Pilgrim Progress did for his. It’s that good!” Those are strong words from one of the great Christian theologians of our time.


The Shack is not a theological treatise. It is a fiction book, with a fresh telling of God’s love for us—a love and compassion that we cannot ever fully understand this side of heaven. I thank God for granting artists, musicians, and authors the gifts and talents to reveal afresh the goodness of God.


“To prepare God's people for works of service,
so that the body of Christ may be built up.”
Ephesians 4:12 (NIV)

Glory!

Now I Understand

Now I Understand . . .

By nature I am not a procrastinator. Well, until I signed a contract in January to write my next book.. The book’s working title is “Dancing with Abba” and it is about developing intimacy with God. My life message is “Learning to trust God” by examining His nature and characteristics—His intrinsic goodness.

It just sometimes life circumstances seems to dictate otherwise. I know that “all things work to good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose.” I believe that with my whole heart, soul and mind.

But in 2007, I watched as two of my friends dealt with horrific tragedy in their lives. I was stunned by the enormity of sadness in my own heart. Thoughts of how unfair life is hung in my as gray clouds above my me. I dealt with a feelings of inadequacy as I struggled to find ways and words to comfort my beloved friends. Cancer plagued one friend. My other friend endured the discovery of the murder of her oldest child.

These two incidents created in me a major writers’ block. I held no desire to write. I had friends praying for me. A dear friend in Nebraska, who helps me with editing, finally emailed me and said, “We’ll just have to see what God is up to in your life.” So I sat and waited as my manuscript deadline crept closer.

Suddenly last week, I felt an urge to write again. Thoughts popped into my head that needed to be jotted down. Feelings, anecdotes, and Scripture verses were scribbled on index cards, so I wouldn’t forget them. However, I couldn’t find the time to actually sit down to write. Last week was busy with company, weddings, etc.

Then . . .

I went to church on Sunday and a friend showed me a book. “Have you read it yet?”

“No, but I have it at home. My mom told me to read it about a month ago. I just haven’t had time.”

“Read it,” she said. “We have to discuss it.”

So, I read The Shack. Amazing! Now I know that God wanted me to read The Shack before I began in earnest the writing of my own book. This book allowed me to get past the shock and pain of what happened in my friend’s lives. The Shack is a fiction book, but it reveals the story of God’s love like no other book, other than the Bible, that I have read.

Please find a copy and read it. You can buy it at Amazon.com or your local bookstore. I would love to hear your comments on the book.

But beware--it's unlike anything that you've read before.

Susanne

Life in Las Vegas--Continued

Recently I read one of my favorite bloggers, Tony Woodlief. He wrote a blog about Las Vegas and titled it “The City Where No One Smiles.” The link is http://www.tonywoodlief.com/archives/001340.html#001340. It was an excellent commentary about the tourists who visit the Strip and the emptiness in their hearts. He wrote of the people sitting in the casinos, “All had flown to Las Vegas, the sleepless city; the city that knows how to keep a secret, the city of lights and fortunes, and every blessed one of them looked liked someone waiting execution.” He goes on to say they are trying to fill the “great Empty.”

Unfortunately, what Mr. Woodlief says is quite true. Fortunately, Las Vegas does have hundreds of thousands of people who smile, because they have found the great Fulfillment—Jesus Christ. Although this is a dark city of sin, we also have the some of the brightest lights in the world—our Christian churches. Our churches love God and love people.

For those people who are empty, they just might discover the smile of their soul. Because when the empty hearts step into the light of World, smiles illuminate their souls even in Las Vegas.

Life In Las Vegas

I spent last week in chilly Minnesota. Spring time is just beginning and the trees were just starting to green up.

Last night I flew home to Las Vegas. As we were flying across the Nevada desert I looked at my husband and said, “Tell me again why we live in Vegas?” (My husband is a native Las Vegan and his entire family live here.)

But it’s all in person’s perspective. As we left the plane, everyone began talking on the cell phones. I heard a man say, “This city is unbelievable. It’s great.” His perspective of flying over the city was one of wonder. The glittery neon lights were not even on yet. It only late afternoon, but the Las Vegas wowed him.

Actually, I don’t mind living in Las Vegas. (I do wish it was greener. But hey, I can fly to Minnesota.) When you live in Vegas it is just like any other community. OK, we do have slot machines in the grocery stores. I live 25 miles from the Strip. The only time my husband and I go down there is when we have visitors who insist on seeing “Vegas”.

More than thirty years ago, I moved to Las Vegas. I remember thinking to myself, “This is the most God forsaken place I have ever seen. But, I was in for a surprise. God has not forsaken the people of Las Vegas. His Light shines bright here.

There is that saying, “Bloom where you are planted.” Underneath the Light of Jesus, I have bloomed in the Nevada desert. I raised my children here and they bloomed, too. Would I choose to live in Las Vegas? Hmmmm . . . No. But I want to be where God wills for me to be. And for right now, it’s to live in Vegas. That’s why we live here.

Another Day in Computer life

OK, so I get my emailed problems resolved, then I receive a notice that the "higher powers" have locked my blog because it looks like suspicious spam. Now my question is why would they pick me out of a bizillion people who blog? Or why can't they block the real spammers who send me unwanted stuff everyday?

Wait, I feel my indignant self climbing on a soap box. I'll stop and just say, "I am back." As of this moment, I think I can email, blog, etc. We can only hope . . . as I said, "Computers you can't live with them and you can't live without them."


Susanne