Religion Of Peace – Not So Much.

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This weekend was just the most recent in a series of attacks against Christianity, freedom, the west, and anyone not devout enough in the long and bloody history of Islam. Before anybody rushes to pull the alarm near the door and label me, let me point out that I’m excluding many of the adherents of that faith from my diatribe.

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It is a reflexive action to say, “But Christianity had the Crusades!” or some other stupid thing that you learned in the 7th grade. The Crusades, just by the by, were a response to Islamic attacks on Christians. But why should facts intrude here?

I’m usually loathe to quote Facebook wisdom, but I saw a rarified gem there yesterday – It said, “Long before the United States existed and Israel was formed, Mohammed drove his armies across the known world to conquer, pillage, and convert others at the tip of the sword.” It is right on the money.

So, having laid out my nifty little bit of pith, I am going to point out, again, that the threat to the entire world at the hands of Islamic warriors is an ongoing thing. These are the people who find justice in attacking shoppers at a mall. Give that a moment’s thought before we move on – you don’t have to be in the military to be a valid target, you just have to be at Target.

The same group of enlightened adherents attacked a Christian church in Pakistan this weekend. They didn’t protest, they didn’t burn Bibles… well, maybe they did in the course of the attack. I guess when you blow down the church goers some Bibles will go up in smoke as well.

Did I mention the ongoing persecution of the Coptic Christians in Egypt? Or perchance the slaughter of Christians in Syria at the hands of Al Qaeda? Maybe my mind was fuzzed by the deaths in Nigeria when they burned down the churches with people inside of them and attacked the Christian school this summer.

It’s so terribly hard to remember which atrocity I’m most concerned with when dealing with the assault on our world by Islam. I mentioned that many adherents of that faith don’t participate in these attrocities – and that’s true. Like many Christians they are adherents in name only. Content to live a peaceful life on their own without donning a bomb vest or gunning down shoppers in a mall. But do they speak out regarding the atrocities? Do they protest against this “perversion” of their religion?

Not so much. And that’s the cautionary tale here. I can be as angry as I can muster but until each and every one of you start to think about the onslaught of violence, the murder of innocents, and the need to defend our way of life against Sharia law, we are doomed.

We will not survive if we do not recognize the threat. Wake up, America. It was a mall in Kenya this time around. But some of the attackers are rumored to have come from a neighborhood just five miles from where I write this blog. It’s a lot shorter trip to the Mall of America.

Are you awake yet?

Sheepdog Multitasking

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In observing my dogs over the years it has become obvious that they multitask just like humans. Or are the a bunch of inattentive spazoids like me?

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The answer is – like me. It’s clear that Stormy focuses on one thing at a time, but flitters of distraction pass across her face as though she just remembered something important on the other side of the house. That’s about as far as it gets indoors.

Take her out in the back yard and all bets are off. It’s tough to do, but she can patrol the yard, void her bladder, and glare at sparrows all at the same time. Once she’s done with the second item she can do the other two with additional tasks in the mix – hating squirrels and listening for garbage trucks. With school back in sesson she’s added schoolbuses to the list of things she despises. Nothing can evoke quite the reaction that a bird covered school bus, full of trash, driven by a squirrel, and driving near her alley would bring. I’m pretty sure her head would explode like she was in the movie Scanners.

We try to deprogram her from time to time, but she’s up to about 5 tasks at once now and any hope of going back to the old days are gone. That’s part of the bargain with her other social skills improving. I pine for the days of Edzell laying on the rug in the living room plotting against Maisie. You could hear the wheels turning as he submerged deep in the pool of thought from whence his greatest hits emerged. He’d get up with purpose and go about laying the trap he’d created.

Stormy? Well, she runs down the back steps and charges around the yard barking to make sure she gets all of her enemies on notice right away. Different dogs, different goals.

I miss Ed’s thoughtful approach to life. I don’t always laugh when Stormy goes ballistic. But I’m blessed to have such creatures in my life.

Thank You, God, for creating such wonderful companions.

Sponsorship Sunday – Week Twenty – Ronaldo

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Post and post again. The great thing is that I’m starting to run out of children that still need sponsors! I love that more than I can tell you.

This weeks child, Ronaldo, is an easy one for one of you – he just needs medical sponsorship and we can tick off that box. Please prayerfully consider taking this last bit of his sponsorship under your wings.

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This week’s child is: Ronaldo.

Ronaldo

Ronaldo lives at Grace Village with his sisters Laika and Blondine, they are happy to be together. Ronaldo is very artistic and loves to draw. Ronaldo would like to be a teacher when he finishes school and enjoys his biology class most of all. Ronaldo likes all of the new vegetables they are eating at the feeding center and he also likes rice and beef. Ronaldo’s prayer request is that he be a good man.

Ronaldo came to Healing Haiti in July, 2008. Ronaldo and his siblings, Laika and Blondine, were abandoned by their mother because she could not care for them. Their father is deceased.

Birth Info
Birthdate: October 7, 1998
Place of Birth: Port au Prince, Haiti

It is my hope that one of you will find your heart touched by this child and take up a bit of Christ’s work by sponsoring them for an extended period. My wife and I are sponsoring a pair of sisters and we took on the commitment based on having to only gave up a fast-food dinner each day to change the life of a child. God came through with a very lucrative bit of voice over work for me that covered the bill that same day, but it really is as easy as skipping a value meal. Healing Haiti will do the right things for these children and I have full confidence in their work. I am not affiliated with them, they don’t endorse this blog, nothing like that at all. I just love kids (can’t be Santa and not love children) and know that Grace Village is the difference between life and death for many of these children. Please open your heart and prayerfully reflect on the opportunity God’s giving us to sponsor these children. Some of them have come out of slavery and have some of the toughest lives you could imagine prior to Grace Village.

Just click the link and it will take you directly to the page where you can sponsor this week’s child. And if God is particularly good and that child is sponsored when you get there, please grab another smiling face and change their life instead. My goal is to put Sponsorship Sunday out of business as quickly as possible and take that day off each week. Thank you. God bless you for your generosity.

Sheepdog Disorder.

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My girl Stormy has had a rough few weeks. I’ve been gone a lot and busy when I’m home. Same applies to my wife, but she can talk to me on the phone – Stormy cancelled her calling plan.

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Rescue dogs have a lot of issues. They are flight risks, they are unsure of their place in your home, and they have histories that shame the human race. Stormy is sometimes joyous, sometimes distant, sometimes fearful. But she’s always my girl.

Stormy

I’m pretty confident in most things. I know who I am and how I think I treat others. I’m insecure about my writing – not being published can do that to you. I’m also insecure about my relationship with this little dog.

I want to bring her joy and love her in such a way that she’ll never doubt her worth in our family. I would like to make her comfortable with my size and deep voice. I’d like to see her own the house like her predecessors did in their prime. Most of all, I’d like a lick on the face and a wag of the tail every time we see each other.

That’s not happening yet. I hope it will one day, but I’m ready to accept it (grudgingly) if it doesn’t. This has to be about her, not me. I consider her a blessing in more ways than I can even list. Starting with her plugging the wound in my heart when Maisie died.

Yesterday was a typical Stormy day. I got home from work and let her out of her cage. She ran around the living room and was obviously glad to see me. That passed in just a few minutes and she became distant by the time we’d walked out the back door to take a walk. Yes, we have taken two walks and a couple of road trips just to broaden her horizons a bit. The walk around the block was better than the last time – less fear, more curiosity.

When we got home she ran up to the back door and wanted to go inside. Not a problem, but she hadn’t done her business. So I stood in the yard at 0600 and waited for her to come down the steps – it was a wait in vain.

Inside we went and she found a spot far away from me with her back turned. A few hours later my wife came down and we got caught up. Stormy came by to assert her place. It seems that I’m taken for granted when we’re together, but if my wife is there it’s jealousy time. Not as bad as Maisie (horrible) but more than Ed (he didn’t care who was around, just don’t step on him.)

While we were talking a strong thunderstorm rolled into the area. The poor dog is badly named – she hates storms. Within minutes she was right there next to me on the floor seeking comfort. I swelled with pride – PACK LEADER!!! Bedtime came quickly and she followed me upstairs. Into the corner, back to me and ignore the dude with the beard.

Then a funny thing happened. My wife came back from her errands and went to release the dog from my room. Stormy hopped up on my bed and wouldn’t leave. I was asleep so my wife stopped just short of dragging the dog off of the bed. When I got up Stormy stuck to me like glue for the remaining time before I went to work.

This morning we repeated the release from the box, wag of the tail, and trip outside. She ran down the stairs and did her thing and then a strange thing happened: She ran right back up and sat next to me on the top step. Touching me. Looking at my face from two feet away. When I put my arm around her I could feel her relax – not tense up as is usually the case.

We sat on that step and talked for quite a while. It is said that dogs have a vocabulary of 250 words. I hope that three of them are in her lexicon, as I said them over and over to her in the still darkness of a fall morning: I love you.

I do love her. I may never adjust to her eccentric behavior. Nor she to mine. But I will keep showing her the love that she obviously needs. And I will give it unconditionally. She’s warming up to that face-lick moment. I can’t wait.

Who will you show unconditional love to today?

Who Are All Those Beautiful Women?

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Yesterday I thanked God that political correctness has not yet completely ruined my workplace. No names, but one of my coworkers said that they’d shared my recent Facebook posts with someone in the office. That someone, a female, asked who all the beautiful women were in my photographs.

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Those beautiful women (and it seems that all of my male friends were either average or invisible in those photos) were my fellow authors at the American Christian Fiction Writers conference in Indianapolis, Indiana. I spent three great days with some of the best authors in fiction.

There is a mistaken perception that all Christian fiction is romantic, pedantic, or just ick. Not so. And the authors are a scream. I know that’s hard to imagine in our culture, but it is often said that any comedian can be funny for a while if they work dirty. Only the brilliant ones can keep it clean and keep you laughing.

That describes my fellow authors perfectly. From Amy Matayo to Rajdeep Paulus, they are fun to hang out with and listen to for hours at a time. Throw in Donald Brobst and Kare Skuland and you’ve got the full range of intellectual pursuits, great writing, and interesting histories.

I’ll skip the name dropping at this point and tell you instead that a couple of the “big guns” at the conference are exactly the kind of people you’d like to hang out with as well. I sat with them in the bar (yes, some other Christian authors drink and smoke, but don’t tell the publishers about it) and laughed a lot over their great tales, engaging personalities, and snide remarks.

What differentiated this bunch from any other group of fabulously handsome and brilliant people? All of them served the same master: Jesus. All of these exceptional people write for him. We opened the conference with a worship service. How many organizations do that? I was in need of it after the previous six weeks getting ready for the conference. I was running on empty before I stood in that room with 500+ of my colleagues and lifted God’s name up high. Tears of joy ran down my face and my heart was light. I stepped outside myself and my own little problems and got ready to work for His glory.

It’s interesting how something like this can impact you as a writer. This is my third conference with that group, fifth in all. Each time I learn something about my craft. Sometimes it’s in a class. Sometimes it’s from one of their conversations – and sometimes it’s just from the spirit of the association. It is a major blessing to go to something like this and learn about your craft with people who share so much in common with you.

I spent my final day wandering the streets of Indianapolis with Kare Skuland. We walked a few miles in our quest to find toys for his children back in Norway. We shared a cab to the airport. And we talked for hours about our lives, our faith, our writing, and the influence of evil on the western culture. I had a new brother that grew up on the other side of the Atlantic but was next to me all that time.

It’s an honor to be in that group. And to fully answer the question of my coworker – those are my sisters. I love them all.