Into the Fire

The quiet afterglow of Christmas . . . remembering Jesus is, was, and always will be the same. He saves, is Love, forgives, redeems, and never wastes a life yielded to Him.

                "Today, if you hear His voice,

                  do not harden your hearts." (Hebrews 4:7 NIV)

JESUS IS THE REASON FOR THE SEASON. MAY YOU BE BLESSED TO KNOW THE SAVIOR OF THE WORLD. 

     And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. And angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in strips of cloth and lying in a manger." 

Luke 2: (8-12) NIV 

It's Christmas Eve and the Reason for the Season, the Lord Jesus Christ, came to us as a baby, grew up strong in body and Spirit, began His ministry at 30 years of age, and offered Himself as the sacrifice for the sins of mankind to make peace between God, His Father, and His creation – that peace damaged in the perfection of the Garden. Jesus gave His life to take on those multitudes of sins for you and me, in our place, the horrible debt paid in full.

So let us rejoice at the celebration of the supernatural way He came to dwell among His people before dying a cruel death for all of us – His redemption still remains for the asking. Confess your sins, yield your life to Him. Become a member of the Kingdom of God and make it your best Christmas ever. He's real! And He loves you! Forever. 

May the Holy Spirit lead you to Jesus and introduce you to the greatest Kingdom of all. Yours for the asking. In the Name of Jesus. Amen.

I love Mary and Joseph, the imperfect but perfectly placed human parents for the Son of God. I love them and appreciate them because they knew God, they watched for His signs, listened to His voice, obeyed His instructions which, as is sometimes the case, could not have been easy since His supernatural power was fully engaged in their lives. To trust that Almighty God sent His ministering spirits to speak to them as individuals and as a couple requiring some extremely difficult decisions and moves are incredible, admirable, and fascinating acts of obedience. They were a model family where the brunt of the decision making rested on Joseph, and from the first to the last one was neither simple nor easy.

To watch the splendor of God's plan unfold in their lives must have been both awesome, strange, and challenging. When the young Jesus stayed behind to discuss matters of God with the Rabbis and was discovered missing in their family crowd later in their journey, they were rightfully shocked and visibly – and understandably – upset upon retracing their steps to find Him. His explanation about being in His Father's house must have – to use a modern slang term – blown them away, but it had to remind them of all His history that had transpired and that they couldn't escape their own humanity.

I love those two, hand-picked by God, parents of the "Son of man", the man and woman of God who responded to His call and hold an esteemed position in the Kingdom of God. Ordinary people made extraordinary by the Hand of God for His purpose.

Just as He asks of us all . . .

Father, may it be to me as you determine . . . In the Name of Jesus, Amen. 

     Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the Gentiles, by the way of the sea, along the Jordan —

     The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.

Isaiah 9:1-2 (NIV)

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to his own town to register.

So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 

Luke 2:1-7 (NIV) 

As you know I'm an author. A writer. I'm a Christian author who writes Christian Fiction who doesn't need to do all the finagling of trying to describe myself with any other "spiritually correct" terms for me or my work.

So let's talk Christian fiction once again. I'm going to start by saying I have read more general market/secular fiction in the last two years than I have since before I was saved/redeemed/became a Christian. I had to ask myself why that was. More than once.

Here's what I determined. There are some fantastic Christian authors writing in the Christian Fiction genre. If you've read any of my reviews, you know I have high praise for many Christian authors (regardless of whatever they choose to call themselves). There is no shortage of talent in the Christian writing realm. None. Now here comes the "however" or the "but" part of my last statements. Traditional Christian publishers often subdue that talent by appealing to their core buyers. I've said it before multiple times and I'm reiterating it here: it's their privilege, decision, choice to demand certain "qualifications" from those writers in their stables in order to not offend that core group of readers because that core group are vociferous readers and they bark loudly when a word, a statement, an inference, or any other manner of "offense" riles their rather self-righteous tastes in Christian fiction.

Some authors have no trouble meeting these demands, but I can tell you this from the multitude of reading I've done in Christian fiction, some of those demands degrade the quality of the literature. It makes the prose basic, the conflicts predictably described, the results sometimes mundane, and always formulaic. Some of those authors are capable of far greater writing in the larger scope of storytelling.

There are publishing houses that allow exceptions to the "rules" and a reader can find some of those novels from their bestselling authors. Because of their appeal and notoriety, they might be allowed to cross that invisible but recognizable line and take freedom in portraying a sometimes starker, sometimes more real, and sometimes just plain exercise their writing prowess in less structured and/or rigid characters, storylines, and language.

Authors such as myself do not meet the criteria for many of the traditional publishers. This facilitates the boon in indie (independent/self/vanity) publishing because there aren't any other real options for stubborn writers like me. Compromising to the degree often asked, suggested, or required won't work with our manner of storytelling, and because some of us write faith-based storylines, general market publishers aren't interested.

So. Getting back to why I've read a lot of general market/secular literature in the last couple of years . . . The reason for this has been to familiarize myself with what's out there in that realm, the quality of the writing and stories, and to assess the philosophical approach of various authors. It's been an interesting journey. I've found a couple of authors whose work I've enjoyed but not enough to read all of it – just a certain series. The bad language is often annoying in the quantity used, any graphic sexual scenes are definitely unnecessary and get skipped, and a few of the novels were abandoned after a few pages. Some characters have been atheists, some exhibit foxhole religion, and some don't seem to ever address anything spiritual. Which leads to a missing link in the fullness of character development and storyline – a vacancy in depth that is clearly either ignored by the author or assumed to be irrelevant.

I don't want to waste my time when I read. I want a good story with good writing. Ideally, there is a truthful spiritual element which is usually absent in general market fiction. My favorite novels are definitely in Christian fiction by some amazingly talented authors who dare to include spiritual truth in their work. Those are the authors and novels I want to read, but the supply hasn't reached the demand in my reading world because most of my favorites can't produce them as fast as I want to read them. So I fill in with the occasional secular novel by the authors I've discovered who've written some entertaining stories with quality characters and decent skills.

That's it.

Father, thank you for your writers. Thank you for those who honor you with their work. Thank you for every word, story, inspiration. We're all desperate for you whether we know it or not. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

Can't get enough of the beauty of Christmas . . . 

Rejoice, Rejoice, Emmanuel will ransom captive Israel! Thank you, Jesus! 

There's something especially beautiful about a lone tree lit up all by itself. I love its simple beauty. 

Father, all Christmas beauty in its purest form belongs to you. When we recognize the true significance of our celebration, it touches the heart deep. Thank you is never enough for the gift of Jesus. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

    Amazing renditions of these two beautiful Christmas songs. 

Father, we honor you, Jesus, Holy Spirit. Amazing King of Kings, Lord of Lords, God Almighty, Redeemer, Savior of the World, Holy One of Israel. Thank you is never enough. In the Name of your Son, Jesus Christ, Amen.