Oh good, now I don't feel so bad.

I recently purchased a new toy; a tablet. One of the first things I did was to download a bunch of free stuff. One of those things was a complete set of Harry Potter. In spite of all the controversy that surrounded these books, they are very well written and tell a good story. So I settled down to read the Philosopher's Stone, which I haven't read for quite a while.

So now I am getting used to an e-reader. It does have its good points, like I can read without having to turn on a light, which makes my wife happy. If I get bored reading, I can always take a break and play a game, check my email or start another book without having to go to the library or book store.

But I was very surprised by the amount of typos this particular e-book contains. It was not just a couple here or there, but a lot. Some of them I put down to bad formatting. but there were quite a few typos in it like on several occasions reading about a character named Fitch instead of Filch. I didn't know there was a character named Fitch in the book.

But this does put it into a bit of perspective for my. I worry about one typo appearing in my work, even though I know they are there. I find that it doesn't matter how many times I read a manuscript and correct it, I will come across yet another typo that I didn't notice the first twenty times I read and edited the manuscript.

Of course it goes without saying that after you have approved the proof and your child is sent out into the world, you will discover several more typos or grammatical no-nos in it and you hang your head in defeat.

I am not saying we should not strive to present our work in the best possible light. The point I am attempting to make is there comes a point when you have to quite quibbling over minutia and let it go; warts and all.

OMG! 50! How did that happen?

The CW blog chain this month chose the theme of "savor." Even before the theme was chosen I had decided to pick today because it is my birthday. What was I thinking?

So now I have been racking my brains on how I could tie the two ideas together in a sort of "savoring turning 50." Still nothing.

There used to be a time when I thought 30 was old, until I turned thirty. Forty was ancient until I reached that milestone. Being fifty was inconceivable, but here I am.

So here I sit on a Saturday morning finishing up my hotcakes and sausage at Mickey D's, attempting to savor the thought of being 50 and what exactly that means. Don't worry, I am not going to wax philosophical about it. After all there is not much I can do to turn back the clock.

For many people this milestone is a shock. We are over the halfway point on our earthly journey. What kind of regrets do we have? Have we made any progress on our bucket list? Is arthritis strength Tylenol on sale?

I really can't take myself seriously. The idea of turning 50 often throws us for a loop. We are ready for the old age home, wheelchairs and dementia and other irrational thoughts. We tend to think that the better part of our lives are over; there is nothing left, and all the assorted self-inflicted mental tortures. But actually getting there is realizing, this is not so bad after all.

To put into perspective:

Dame Barbara Cartland died at the age of 98. She was writing well into her eighties and during her lifetime published over 700 titles. She also had several manuscripts which her son published after her death.

Anne Mcaffery, my favorite author, passed away last fall at the age of 85. her last book, co-authored with her son was published in June of last year. Well actually her second last, The last one is scheduled for release this year. She was the first woman to be on the New York Times best seller for science fiction.

Louis L'Amour was 80 when he died. He had over one hundred published works.

From the Bible:

Noah was 500 when he built the ark.

Jacob was around 100 when he wrestled with God.

Moses was over 80 when he was called to lead Israel to freedom. He was close to 120 when he wrote the first five books of the Bible.

Caleb was also in his eighties when he entered the promised land and fought for his inheritance.

So when you actually think about it, is 50 the beginning of the end or is it a stepping stone towards bigger and better things? It is something that only can be answered when we are at that particular milestone.

Happy birthday.

No, it is not me on the cover...

A few months ago I blogged about the release of book number ten; Xtreme Xianity. Well here is what it looks like.

Sometimes when you plan a project, it doesn't go exactly as expected. In keeping with my writing goals for 2011 I planned to write and publish this book in four months. It actually took 12.

Of course there was the obligatory pause mid way through writing it to give my mind a break from it. But as I worked on this book. I was surprised by how it affected me as I spent time studying the lives of people who made a difference for God.

I started to ask myself what I needed to do in order to make a difference for God. Did I need more faith, more commitment, more perseverance, more attitude.

I discovered the answer is yes. I need more commitment, commitment to carrying out God's plan and not my own. I need more faith instead of skepticism. I need more perseverance to not give up when the way looks hopeless. I need an attitude that reflects the decision to be totally sold out to God and not comfortable with the status quo.

The original idea came to me as I was watching an extreme motorcycle event. The question I asked myself at the time was, "What if I should the same commitment and dedication to God as these athletes do to their craft? How could I affect my world for God?"

I have to agree with Paul. I have not attained were I want to be, but I press on towards the goal; the high call of God in Christ Jesus.

Leaps and Bounds?

If I were to ask Canadians what was significant about this day (February 15) I would get a lot of puzzled looks. Most, including myself until recently, are unaware that today is National Flag Day. On February 15, 1965, the Red and white maple leaf was raised for the first time as our official flag.

Before this, we really didn’t have a flag to call our own. We flew a version of the British Union Jack with the Canadian coat of arms on it. Unlike the rebellious colonies to the south of us, Canada was the good child. We had our moments, but we never had a revolution to overthrow British rule. In fact we didn’t even have our own constitution until 1982!

Well, that is not totally true. Our road to independence started with the British North America Act of 1867, but it resided in Britain and not in Canada. It was only in 1982 it was officially repatriated to Canada combined with our charter of rights. Obviously as a Canadian national Identity, we were not in a hurry to sever those apron strings to good old Britannia. Queen Elizabeth is still our recognized head of state.

So in 1995 Prime Minister Jean Cretien declared the observance. I guess the rest of the country never got the memo.

It seems the only things that gets Canadians really excited are hockey and beer. Some Canadians get excited over curling, but we don’t want to go there…

This lack of awareness about significant national events, and I don’t want to hear any snickering from our southern neighbors, after all it was also Susan B. Anthony Day, is not confined to just issues of national identity. It is not a very far leap to see the parallels in the spiritual realm as well.

Take a look at some data gathered from Gallup and Barn Group Polls over the last several years.

• Only half of adults interviewed nationwide could name any of the four Gospels of the New Testament.
• Just 37% of those interviewed could name all four Gospels.
• Only 42% of adults were able to name as many as five of the Ten Commandments correctly.
Seven in ten (70%) were able to name the town where Jesus was born, but just 42% could identify him as the person who delivered the Sermon on the Mount.
• 38% of Americans believe the entire Bible was written several decades after Jesus' death and resurrection (While this is true of the New Testament, the entire Old Testament was written hundreds of years before the birth of Jesus Christ).
• 12% of adults believe that Noah's wife was Joan of Arc.
• 49% believe that the Bible teaches that money is the root of all evil. (The love of money is said to be the root of all types of evil).
• 75% believe that the Bible teaches that God helps those who help themselves
• 50% of people who identify themselves as Christians believe that the Bible it totally accurate in the principles, but not the facts that it teaches.
• While 68% of Christians have heard about spiritual gifts, only about 30% can identify the gift they claim to possess.
• Only 21% of Christians indicate they are above average in their knowledge of the Bible, while 25% claim they are below average or have no knowledge of the Bible.


One of the surveys also discovered that while 75% of those asked were interested in increasing their knowledge and understanding of the Bible only about 14% were actually involved in some kind of Bible study.

It seems that many of the people who call themselves Christian also lack an awareness of what it to be a Christian and what a Christian believes and practices. For them the Bible has become nothing more than a sound bite in their busy lives.

This is the reason I write Bible study guides. To bring clarity and understanding in an era where there is so much information it sometimes makes it difficult if not impossible to discern truth from error; a line that is sometimes easy to miss. I don’t write them just to tell people what to believe, but to assist them in discovering those truths for themselves.

Many Christian writers are familiar with God’s command to Habbakuk 2:1-2; I will stand on my watch and set myself on the tower, and will watch to see what He will say to me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved. And Jehovah answered me and said, Write the vision, and make it plain on the tablets, that he who reads it may run.

Write the vision. Having a vision has always been important. It is the vision that allows us to take those leaps of faith God asks us to take. It is the vision we have that gives us the desire to share that knowledge with others and inspire them to take their leaps of faith as well.

In writing the vision we are creating the awareness to we can do for God and what He is willing to do for us. It starts with a leap of faith.

An Amazing Book

Many people would have you believe the Bible is just a collection of myths and legends. However, the real fairy tale is told by the people claiming the Bible is not what it claims to be.

The Bible has been recognized as the most historically accurate writing from antiquity or ancient times. The inspired Words of God, it was written by over 40 authors over a period of 1,500 years and shows a continuity and unity of thought and purpose never seen in any writing. It was written by prophets, kings, warriors, farmers, statesmen, doctors, lawyers, and fishermen with widely varying educational and life experiences.

The earliest copies of the Bible begin to appear with 100 years of its completion and over 23,000 manuscripts, in whole and in part exist for the New Testament alone. The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947, some written hundreds of years before Christ, showed us the Old Testament remained virtually unchanged in over 2,000 years. To make a comparison, There is over a 1,000-year gap between Greek Philosopher Homer’s The Odyssey from when he wrote it and the earliest existing manuscript.

Since the rise in the interest of Archeology in the late 1800's, physical evidence of people, cultures and cities that only existed in the Bible were being discovered, establishing the Bible as an historical document. Werner Keller Writes “In Palestine, places and towns which are frequently mentioned in the Bible are being brought back once more....exactly as the Bible describes them...exactly were the Bible locates them.”

He goes on to state archeological discoveries include the palaces of Herod and the pavement where Jesus stood before Pilate. They have also discovered the astronomical tables in ancient Babylon which give the exact date which the Star of Bethlehem was revealed. “Many events which previously passed for “pious tales” must now be judged to be historical.[1]”

The historical accuracy of the Bible was put to the test several years ago when Canadian film producer Simcha Jacobovici did a documentary called the The Quest for the Lost Tribes of Israel. In 720 B.C. The Jewish kingdom of Israel, Which consisted of ten tribes, was wiped out by the Assyrians and the people scattered among the nations of the Assyrian Empire where they just vanished into history.

Using the information contained in the Old Testament, he traced the ancient trade routes and found evidences of most of these tribes The trail led him from present day Israel, India, China, Burma and even Afghanistan, the heart of fundamentalist Islam. What is more amazing is he also discovered people who claim they are Jewish, or Israelites, who have never set foot in modern day Israel. These people’s ancestors have been there for centuries. Many of them realize they are under a curse and one day, God will bring them home. Some of them still observe worship and sacrificial practices which were handed down by Moses.

[1]Werner Keller, The Bible as History. Introduction to the first edition (New York, William Morrow and Company, Inc. 1981) 22-23

When All Else Fails, Read the Directions.

How many of you have had to put something together with instructions written in a language you don’t understand? Or after it is put together, there is a piece left over which either doesn’t appear to fit anywhere or should have been used at the beginning of the assembly?

Even better yet, how many of you know someone who thinks they know everything (Aren’t they annoying to those of us who do?) and feel they don’t need the directions to assemble the whatchamacallit? Of course, when the finished piece doesn’t look, or work like it is suppose to, it is always someone else’s fault. It is a little like the man who is lost but is to prideful to stop and ask for directions.

Many people approach Bible study the same way. They don’t know how, or think they know how and really don’t, but won’t admit it and carry on. The result is the same as putting something together wrong or is missing a piece and not working properly.

We have an amazing book in the Bible. It contains God’s plan from eternity past to eternity future. It is information He wanted to share with us. He did not use a secret language, code or otherworldly rhetoric. He used plain, everyday human language to communicate His plan and His wisdom with us. He also understood that we would not always be able to understand to entire breadth of his plan. But He also indicated His will would be carried out. He gave us this information so that we would display our belief and faith in Him that He would carry out His word.

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,

Nor are your ways My ways, says the Lord.

For as the heavens are higher than the earth,

So are My ways higher than your ways,

And My thoughts than your thoughts.

For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven,

And do not return there,

But water the earth,

And make it bring forth and bud,

That it may give seed to the sower

And bread to the eater,

So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth;

It shall not return to Me void,

But it shall accomplish what I please,

And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.” Isa 55:8-11

God thinks very Highly of His Word. We read in the passage that it will not return void, or empty. He will keep everything He has said or promised. As we look back, we can see that this has been the case all along. Whether confirmed elsewhere in the Bible itself, or confirmed by other historical records, God’s word has rung true time and time again. Don’t you want to know what else He has to say to you?

Hunting Unicorns

The New Year has arrived. It is often considered a fresh slate, a chance to declare a resolution, a desire to make changes in our lives, move in a new direction, or just to recover from the party the night before.

This month the Christian Writers blog chain has chosen the theme "The Quest". I quickly grabbed January one, more out of the sort of pattern I had developed over the last couple of months of my participation (11/11, 12/12, 1/1). I didn't choose 2/2 for February, however. But that is for another month.

I fondly remember this time year as my Alma Mater, Lake Superior State University, releases its annual Banished Words list (http://www.lssu.edu/banished/current.php). It is a list of words that have been misused, overused and abused during the year.

This tradition was started by the Unicorn Hunters. The organization was a publicity campaign for the then Lake Superior State College. It was started by Bill Rabe and some of the college's English professors, most of which I had the privilege of having as instructors during my time there. My guess is it was conceived at their favorite watering hole.

As well as the banished list, they also were responsible for the LSSU's quarterly literary magazine, The Woods Runner. I had my first (and only) short story published in it.

The other activity which endures from this group is the burning of a paper snowman effigy on the first day of spring. For those of you who have experienced the long northern winters, this was a joyous event. When I attended this event in my college days, people would read poetry denouncing winter and welcoming spring's arrival. People would drink mead (hot chocolate) in public and partied that evening.

Other events the Unicorn Hunters were known for were Thank a Teacher Week, Lizzie Borden Appreciation Day. The International Stone Skipping Championship, Shakespeare on the Veranda on Mackinac Island (Pronounced Mackinaw) and the Hunters Ball, held every November. This was the signal for people to start submitting and considering nominations for the list. Just before midnight on the 31st, Bill Rabe would fax the list to newspapers all over the world.

As a Unicorn Hunter, I had a Questing License and a neat Unicorn Hunter pin. You can still get your license on the Web site. Although bow season is now closed for hunting unicorns, the only time of the year you can't hunt them is on St Agnes' Eve; to give the hares a rest from being trampled by stampeding unicorns. You are also requested not to hunt when the tooth fairy is on her rounds. Apparently she once had an unhappy encounter with a disgruntled unicorn.

Other rules and regulations for unicorn questing can be found on the website. They contain all the information you need to hunt unicorns and where you can hunt them. It even gives instructions on the proper hunting outfit - Gawain green or Mordred red. Apparently Unicorns think they are very stylish colors.

Although the Unicorn Hunters have been defunct for twenty-five years, their legacy lives on. As a writer, and I'm sure many of my writing friends would agree, our writing is a quest. Sometimes our efforts to reach our goals seem as elusive as hunting this alleged mythical creature. But when the quest is successful, there is no feeling like it. We proudly display our catch and brag about the effort it took to win it.

Peter Thomas, Poet in Residence during my tenure at the school and the Chief Herald of the Unicorn Hunters said "The pursuit of the unicorn is a lonely quest, but many more embark upon that journey than teachers or publishers may recognize."

That may have been an accurate assessment of pursuing writing over a quarter of a century ago, and still may hold some validity today. Like questing for unicorns, writing is a very solitary profession. You stare at a blank piece of paper or your word processor fingers poised to start your quest. But I think the interment and social networking has done a lot to make the quest a lot less lonely.

You start out on our own, in search of the unicorn. It can seem like you are all by yourself. Discouragement, defeat and failure become your constant companions. They whisper in your ear that maybe you should stop this quest. Your family and friends don't understand the need you have to go on this quest. There are times when you are tempted to abandon it altogether and return to the safety of your comfort zone.

Then you discover others on the same quest. You share ideas and questing stories; victories and frustrations. You compare notes and encourage each other. New life is breathed into your quest and your resolve picks up. You leave your old companions and continue on, working towards completion of your quest.

So instead of talking about our resolutions goals for the New Year, let's talk about the quest. What dreams do you have this year? Is it to finish that novel that has been sitting in your desk or on the computer for the last five years? Is the quest to have your work published? Is the dream to write your first book?

There is nothing stopping you from commencing on your quest this year. You even have a license to do so. So fellow questers; here's to the hunt. Here is to your dreams. We'll sit around the fire and raise a glass of mead. Happy hunting!