Forged in the Fire – Shaped by the Master
God wants to do great things through you, but whether or not his will ever comes to completion in your life depends to a great extent on whom you allow to shape your life. Do you insist on following your own patterns, habits, and ideas for change? Are you willing to allow God’s pattern to shape your life into a masterpiece bearing His signature?
David met God personally and intimately through His provision in the wilderness, and it forever changed him into “a man after God’s own heart.” Joseph met God in the dreams of his youth, and when those dreams were finally fulfilled, a self-important young man was transformed into the humble leader of the most powerful kingdom on earth. You could say they were forged in the fire as they were shaped by the Master.
On the other hand, King’s Saul and Hezekiah both started their walk with God with purpose and the Spirit’s power only to fall, miserably. Saul was sent an “evil spirit from God” because he insisted on doing his own will instead of God’s. Hezekiah started his reign surrounded by supernatural miracles, but his selfishness cost him the kingdom.
After unpacking the lessons from these two successful leaders, Forged in the Fire turns to Kings Saul and Hezekiah. Both of these leaders started well, but they finished in defeat. Forged asks “Why?” and then discovers 12 lessons from these 4 kings’ lives to learn and apply as you pursue the purposes of God in your generation.
Self Help Advice for the Rest of Us
Are You Living or Existing? by Kimanzi Constable
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I don’t know about you, but I don’t connect with some of the self-help Experts and Gurus out there. I know they do good work, and if their income is any reflection to the quality of their advice (which is what I’m supposed to think, I think) then their advice is worth its weight in gold. Yet I have a hard time peeling away the pounds of plastic and veneer of their presentations to find something that really feels genuine.
I met Kimanzi Constable at a local conference last year, and he was just finishing this book, Are you Living or Just Existing. Kimanzi, or Z as he liked to be called, had finally reached the end of accepting life as a delivery driver, and was determined to find the life of his dreams. He was focused on a better income, a better career and a better outlook on life in general. His book, Are You Living or Just Existing, is filled with this blue-collar honesty as he talks about his journey, and the principles he’s using today to change his life.
Z is a normal guy, but he’s not average. He’s applying the advice in his book, not just talking about it. I’ve watched him travel from Hawaii to Israel talking to growing audiences, and I’m seeing the words on his pages come to life. I highly recommend Z’s book. It’s filled with self-help advice for the rest of us.
Six Reasons Authors Consider Self-Publishing
This post comes from Christian Literary Agent Rachelle Gardner. It’s the second part of a discussion on publishing, and you can find the other segment here. After a debate on “6 Reasons Authors Still Want Publishers,” here is the other side of the coin. Many writers are still trying to decide which path is right. Or maybe some combination of both approaches might work. So hopefully this post will be helpful.
So here are Rachelle’s six reasons writers consider self publishing:
1. To supplement an established writing career.
It’s a lot of work to be a full-time writer and be able to make a good income. These days many full time writers with traditional publishing contracts are self-publishing both new books and their back list as a way to supplement their income and keep their work out there in front of readers.
2. To revive a lagging traditional-publishing career.
Some writers get the bad news that their publisher doesn’t want to do a new contract with them. But they’re still writers and they already have experience with the whole process. While this situation used to mean a writer was basically finished, nowadays self-publishing opens up new opportunities.
3. They’d like a bigger piece of the pie.
Most self-publishing deals will pay anywhere from 30% to 70% royalties, which is much higher than traditional publishers pay. Many writers prefer to do the marketing and sales work themselves in exchange for a higher royalty.
4. They have the time, skills, and the money to do it well.
Some people have an entrepreneurial spirit and the ability to be a good business person and a great marketer. Not everyone has these skills, but they’re pretty much a necessity for self-publishing. Some people are writing to a niche audience and they have the ability to reach this audience on their own without the help of a publisher.
5. Frustration
Some people can’t get the attention of agents and publishers; or if they are, they’re getting rejections. This is a very frustrating place to be. Many writers get fed up with the “system” and decide to go it alone.
6. Freedom
In self-publishing, you don’t have to listen to anyone’s vision for your book but your own. You get to choose your cover, your title, and everything about your book. You don’t have to wait years to be noticed; you do not have to wait a year or two for your book release after the decision is made to publish it. You set your own pace, answer to yourself, and take responsibility for your own success or failure.
Whether you take the traditional or self publishing route, writing and publishing is hard work. In the past, publishers were the gate keepers, and owned the two essential elements writers needed to become published authors. Publishers had the printing presses, and they had the distribution channels to the public. Both of these now are available to the writer directly. Your book can be printed on demand, and kept as a digital file on some distant hard drive rather than printed hard copies which are boxed in some distant warehouse. Secondly, if you build a good platform, you can create your own distribution channels directly to your tribe, your audience. The only thing left is to sell the books. And whether you are pursuing a traditional or self publisher, this one fact hasn’t changed in the industry. No one will sell more of your books than you, the author.
An International Adoption Goes Terribly Wrong
We’re spoiled here in America. Laws are written to protect us from corrupt officials who use their offices for their own benefit at the expense of the helpless. We rely on just officials to hold our rights as sacred, as gifts from our Creator, as they hear disputes and work toward equitable solutions when inevitable conflict happens. Here between the oceans shores, a place where corrupt governments haven’t yet been allowed to flourish for centuries, we are spoiled.
What happens when fair laws disappear under the whims of men seeking their own power, rather than their citizen’s wellbeing? What does the world look like when the thing you expected, planned and paid for are blocked by a careless, almost flippant disregard for the laws you’ve bent over backward to uphold, when you’re in a foreign country, and the officials are fairly certain you have no resources or recourse.
I met Kim deBlecourt shortly after she returned from the Ukraine, or should I say escaped? The ordeal still embedded in her eyes, she told me the story of being on the run and underground in the former Soviet bloc country, trying to get home with the little boy she’d legally adopted. Kim’s story is one of courage, true love, and a mom’s passion to protect a Ukrainian orphan she and her family grew to know and love during the long process of an international adoption. Somewhere along the way, the conflict between Kim and a corrupt government official became personal – to the official, and Kim’s flight became a race against politics and power in a foreign country.
Until We all Come Home is the story of Kim and her family’s love and passion. In a country for almost a year in which she didn’t speak or understand the language, those who helped her understood the love she had for her son, and a mother’s devotion to her children. Until We all Come Home reads more like a Tom Clancy novel if Mr. Clancy had been a mom. Only then could he have told this true story.
In book stores now, Until We All Come Home tells Kim’s harrowing true story. Kim speaks at conferences, and has recently been on the cover of Today’s Christian Woman. Yet Kim is just a mom from Holland, Michigan, and an adoption advocate for international adoptions. When you purchase a copy of her book, all the profits go to support hundreds of abandoned children, waiting in orphanages like her son was, just two short year ago.
Does God have to Tell You to be Honest?
I listened to a conversation between pastors John Piper and Rick Warren recently. From their theological towers, one can barely see the other’s camp on the edge of the horizon. Piper, a died in the wool Calvinist, wanted to talk with “Whosoever will can come” Warren about Warren’s book The Purpose Driven Life. While the two could have staked out their own territory like medieval lords protecting their castle, they lowered their theological drawbridges and met in the valley to honestly talk about faith and life in Christ.
Greg Laurie – We Preach Jesus
I walked into the auditorium to Laurie’s words “God’s story of 2000 years ago is relevant today. The story of Jesus is relevant today, and God’s Word is relevant today.” Speaking to a room full of pastors and church leaders, Laurie continued. “If you build your church on the razzle dazzle, your people will come expecting it. If you build your church teaching the Word of God, your people will come with their bibles open, ready to learn.”
Laurie spoke for nearly an hour, basing his comments from Paul’s open air sermon on Mar’s Hill in Acts 17. Like Paul, he spoke about our nation as a place that is unfamiliar with Jesus, his claims or his saving power. Laurie didn’t spend time with tradition, doctrine, or talking about his how church does church, because the Resurgence conference isn’t about policy, programs or doctrine. Preaching the gospel of Jesus is about reaching the culture with an eternal message, not a 2000 yr old message, or a few hundred year-old traditions. Laurie concluded his conversation with the attentive audience with these six points.
Resurgence R12 conference – from Mark Driscoll and Mars Hill Church
What does passion look like? I know when I see it. I can see the difference between a sports team playing with passion and one that is going through the motions . . . when I see it. But at its core, what does passion look like? In scripture, I read the gospel writer making specific reference to Jesus face. Maybe passion is something you see when you look into a person’s eyes. What did Jesus communicate with his eyes that made the gospel writer pen, “He looked and had compassion on them?” He wept over his friend’s death, and made such an impact on his friends that they made sure to record it for us. Jesus turned over the tables with a handmade whip as he declared, “My fathers’ house will be a house of prayer.” Maybe that’s what passion looks like.
A True Story Worthy of Tom Clancy’s Byline.
I met Kim shortly after she returned from the Ukraine, or should I say escaped? The ordeal still embedded in her eyes, she told me the story of being underground in the former Soviet bloc country, trying to get home with the little boy she’d legally adopted. We’re spoiled here in America. Laws protect us (most of the time) from corrupt officials who use their offices for their own benefit at the expense of the helpless. Kim’s story is one of courage, true love, and a mom’s passion to help and protect the Ukrainian orphan she and her family grew to know and love. Somewhere along the way, the conflict became personal to a corrupt government official, and Kim’s flight became a race against politics and power in a foreign country.
Until We all Come Home is the story of Kim and her family’s love and passion. On the run in a country in which she didn’t speak or understand the language, those who helped her understood the love she had for her son, and a mother’s devotion to her children. Until We all Come Home reads more like a Tom Clancy novel . . . well . . . if Tom had been a mom. Only then could he have told this true story.
The book releases on November 6th, 2012, so don’t let the election get in the way of your trip to the book store. You can pre-order it now through all the major online book sellers.
Seriously, God? Really – Seriously?
Jenny Smith wrote Seriously God as a way to tell her family’s story. After building the stereotypical American home and career, Jenny and her family experienced a home foreclosure and job loss combined with high gas and grocery prices that twisted the family budget hopelessly out of shape. The title and the message of this book arose from Jenny’s heart-felt prayer.
“Seriously? Really? We’ve been doing everything right, and this is how life is ending up? Seriously God?”
The turmoil in the author’s life is the genesis of this book, and she relates the path she walked to lessons she learned from a small garden in the backyard, and from lessons from Jesus’ life, both of came into clearer focus only as a result of her journey.
Jenny focuses on the “I Am” statements which Jesus made during the final year of his ministry. She paints the picture of his life, the setting in which he spoke, and makes the context come alive for the reader. Even though I’ve read the gospels for decades, Jenny’s scholarship brought to life details with which I was unfamiliar. For example, Jesus stood and declared “I am the Bread of Life” shortly after his first feeding of the multitude, and in the midst of a crowd that had been following him because of the free meal. Were they just looking for bread and fish? Jesus wanted to give them more. Were they enthralled with the itinerant preacher because of the things they received from him? Jesus expected more.
From her personal story throughout the book, Jenny seems to say that she learned through the trials that Jesus wanted to give her family . . . and expected from her personally . . . more. He had more for her than a comfortable, financially stable and prosperous life, and like Job, not until the stability and comfort were taken away could Jenny gain a clear vision of what “more” looked like.
I recommend Jenny’s book highly. Her storytelling and biblical research are both excellent. At the end of each chapter, she includes discussion questions so this book could also be used as the basis for a small group study and discussion.
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