A Spark Serves: Soul Food and the Heart-Weary Christian by Vicki Hinze

Photo Credit: canstockphoto.com

 

 

 

It’s Holy Week.  Almost Easter.  A revered time for people of faith.  The most revered time for Christians.  Today, I need to chat.  That’s right, to chat.  I need to talk with like-minded people—people who believe.  My soul needs food.  

 

Most Christians go through times of sheer weariness.  We tire of the faith struggles in our own lives and in our society.  Our freedom of religion is being interpreted by some as freedom from religion, and we’re frustrated by it and weary of it.

 

How can we not be?  We look around and see children exploited, young girls being programmed that sexy is better than virtuous (look at the magazine covers targeting teens).  We see a barrage of attacks against even Christmas trees with governors wanting to call them holiday trees, and Christmas break being tagged winter holiday.  We see our leader insist that Christian statues be covered during a speech at a Catholic college and yet he speaks beneath a banner that includes a photo of the father of terrorism.  We know important things seem, well, upside down, and now comes a push to rename an Easter Egg Hunt a Spring Egg Hunt.

 

What?  We have Christians being crucified for their faith (literally and figuratively) and we (as taxpaying citizens) are giving them billions of dollars.  Why?

 

All this is just the tip of the heap, as you well know, but it’s sufficient to relay the reason for the weariness.

 

We trust God, we celebrate Holy Week and Easter.  We do not waiver on it being the holiest of holidays in Christendom.  The Resurrection…  It’s awe-inspiring and humbling.  And even those who are not Christians should respect that.

 

If they did, I doubt we’d be living in a culture of deep corruption.  In a society where half—yes, half—of the children born are born to unwed mothers.  Our values have eroded and our ethics along with them.  We’ve buried our moral compass.  Allowing it to happen, doing nothing to prevent it, condones it.  And what we condone, we own.

 

I’m not an idealist or standing on a soapbox or suggesting we become raging zealots, but I am suggesting that I’m weary and I know other believers are, too.  For me, I’m battling it, determined to follow our beliefs and to refuse not to support them.  In other words, the PC police can forget it.  They have their vision of PC and I have mine, and this weary soul is opting for faith.

 

The weariness is not to the bone.  Close, but not to the bone.  In part, I thank Roma Downey and Mark Burnett for that.  Yes, the star of Touched by an Angel and the reality show guru.  They did the five-part series The Bible that’s airing on Sunday nights on the History channel.

 

Okay, so there’s been a lot of controversy on the show itself.  Of course, there has.  But considering how many don’t and never have read the Bible, and considering that this series is the only exposure they’ll get to the Bible, can’t we see the good in it?  The series is like a missionary to the U.S.  And if you’ve seen the religious decline (which has been actively sought by factions within and outside this country), you know we need a revival of spiritual matters and food for our spirits.  Give us that and the other problems decline.  We know it.  Our country was built on the premise of putting God first.  Through diligent effort, particularly in the past forty years, we’ve had our identity muddied and now we’re muddled.  For that reason, while some might find fault with The Bible’s production, I’m celebrating it.

 

It’s said to be #1—most watched.  The Examiner  had an article on it that said Hollywood didn’t understand why the series was so popular.  It confounded them.  We, of course, know exactly why it’s popular and why other films or series like it will be popular, too.  People are three-dimensional—physical, emotional and spiritual—and our spiritual selves are starving!

 

Simple.  So very simple.  We need soul food!  We don’t just want it, we need it.  We need  a spark to recognize what we need.

 

So last night, I’m watching the fourth part of the five-part series, and I notice the commercials.  Christianbooks.com had one.  Walmart had one.  Advertising the Bible.  I’m sure there were others, but these were on when the advertisers caught my attention and snagged my thoughts.  And I sat there feeling extremely emotional.  An ad for the Bible.  The BOOK.  The Word of God.  I’m choking up again now.

 

This is good.  Even if you disagree with exactly the way this or that is done in the series, you’ve got to see that this series and these kinds of commercials (which are wholly suitable for viewing by all ages [and that certainly can’t be said for many, many ads or shows]) are good.   Sparks!

Sparks!
Photo credit: canstockphoto.com

 

I hope that this series spurs an avalanche of films with spiritual themes that get people to thinking and talking and exploring and searching.  I hope it spurs a mountain of ads that are constructive and respectful.  But most of all, I hope it touches hearts.  The weariness and emptiness and longing that crushes so many in our society can be filled by faith.  We know it can, and I pray soon those who didn’t know it discover it, too.

 

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be able to watch an early evening program with your family and not have to change the channel because of inappropriate content?  To have shows with content that is constructive and inspiring to viewers?

 

I boldly dare to dream that this starts a trend.  One that renews faith, depletes weariness in believers, and offers all who want it a path out of the darkness and into the light.  Wouldn’t it be terrific to see a swell of enthusiasm that leads to truth and contentment replace the current destructive behaviors that assure the absence of both?  Who knows?  Maybe, just maybe, that spark will ignite a flame and those who choose to walk and live outside the light will at least respect the rights of those who choose to walk in it.  That would be refreshing, and constructive, too.

 

What I know is this.  I write books to help the broken heal.  I read books that inspire and enlighten.  I view films for the same reasons.  And I know that this morning my heart is less weary.  A series and some commercials and because of constructive, faith-filled content, my soul is less weary.

 

And I know that without a spark, there is no flame.  A spark serves. If we recognize hunger and what we’re hungry for, we can seek it.  It doesn’t take much to recognize it, just a little spark.  If you think about it, doesn’t it kind of remind you of the mustard seed…

 

Blessings,

Vicki

 

A New Year’s Resolution: Follow Your Bliss by Vicki Hinze

It’s New Year’s Eve.  A chance for new beginnings.  We can have them any time, of course, but there’s something about a new year that engages our minds in greater opportunities.  Maybe it’s focus, or resolve.  Maybe it’s that we spend more time thinking about our lives–how they are and how we want them to be.  Regardless of the reason, it seemed like a good time to share a bit of wisdom gleaned from the past.  I hope that it helps you look forward with enthusiasm and eagerness, with joy.

FOLLOW YOUR BLISS:  Loving What You Do

©2011,2013 Vicki Hinze

Recently, I spent the entire day doing background work on a fabulous new series: creating settings and the rules of the realm, characters and developing plot lines. I love those days because the flush of enthusiasm burns like a welcome fire, the interest level is sky high and focus is tight–so tight that the mind is snapping with possibilities: Oh, oh, include this! Ouch, forget that–oh, wait, what about this!  See where it goes– if this happens? Dang. Hit a wall, a mud puddle, a panacea!

The birth of fiction is energizing on a writer and that makes it energizing on a book. On a series, it’s like live wires cracking and whipping in a storm. And the writer gets to experience all the emotion of creation and feel that warm glow that lets him or her know they are definitely onto something special. It’s an awesome experience.  And a rewarding one for a writer.

Backside to leather requires discipline, and on warm, sunny days, it can be hard-won discipline. So immersing in this polar opposite of unbridled creative energy is a wonderful experience on its own–and a perfect balance to the disciplinarian.

The difference?  Loving what you do.  Whether you write or do something entirely different, if you do what you love, you experience that same unbridled enthusiasm and zest for what you’re doing.  (Secret:  that’s a sign that you’re on your right path in life.)

By the time I stopped working that night, I felt as if I’d run a marathon and I was totally drained. I fully expected that when I shut down and relaxed, my mind would continue to whirl for hours. It often does.  But what actually happened surprised me.

My mind didn’t whirl. Instead, my mind was calm–and on a different, though related, topic.  And that was on analysis and how much time we (meaning you and me—the human beings and not you and me, the writers) spend analyzing everything.  So much time that too often we don’t have time to experience life!

We think about what happened, why it happened, how it happened, who it happened to, why it happened to them specifically, of all the other people indirectly impacted, and what will trigger it happening again–if it can happen again, and if it can’t, why it can’t and if that can be altered.  Or how to keep it from happening again, who’d have to do what to make sure it was stopped… See what I mean?

I’m not saying that analysis isn’t valuable, it is. But it’s like anything in excess, it’s, well, too much, and we lose the good in it under the weight of the excess. If we are moderate, we know what we need to know and we are content with that, then we have more time to actually live life rather than be distracted from it by excess analysis or anything else.

It happened. Does it matter why? Will it change circumstances to know why? If so, explore the reasons. If not, live instead.

It doesn’t pay to rehash the past for the sake of rehashing it. If you’re paralyzed on forward mobility because of the past, then revisit it.  But get what you need and then get back to forward momentum because each day spent dwelling on the past is a day spent not living in the present with an eye toward the future. Days such as that cannot be recaptured or regained.

I thought about this for a long time that night. And I thought of all the events I’ve rehashed in my mind time after time–good events and bad ones–and what a waste of life that rehashing really was. Memories are great, but to have them you have to make them. And if you’re stuck rehashing the past, well, the only memories you’re making are memories of memories. Living life has so much more to offer!

I awakened the next morning and this ran through my mind again–analysis or life–only this time, the thought was about what religions and philosophers throughout time have said on the subject. I had to smile. Had I thought of this topic in this context first, the answers were there waiting for me. But there is good that comes in working through something in your mind until you explore it fully and determine what you think about it, and in your mind, resolve it–provided you’re not avoiding a solution because it requires an action you don’t want to take.  That’s avoidance, pure and simple, and you always come out on the losing end in that.

Joseph Campbell, bless him, nailed it in short order. “Follow your bliss.”

I am smiling here. Follow your bliss kind of sums it all up and punctuates the point with a bright red bow.

If you do that–follow your bliss–you’re going to be spending a lot more time loving what you do and living, and a lot less time analyzing that which changes nothing.

Living . . .?  Changing nothing . . .?

Yes, definitely follow your bliss…♦

_____________________________

Vicki’s latest releases:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Readers Touch Lives by Vicki Hinze

 

Photo Credit: canstockphoto.com

Most writers write because they have something to say they want others to hear. Something that the writer deems significant enough to sacrifice time doing other things—children and family and hobbies—to say. Writing requires sacrifice. That’s pretty common knowledge among writers, but I’m not sure if readers are aware of it. More importantly, and this is the focus of what I want to share here, is that readers touch writers and impact them in ways readers probably aren’t aware. Touched, these writers take the insights and wisdom shared with them by readers and incorporate that wisdom and insight into future stories the authors write—and the circle of interaction between readers and authors continues and the reader’s ripple of influence broadens.

Many readers never realize that they’re a significant part of the process, but they are. An extremely significant part of the process. Let’s look at how.

1. Publishers buy books readers want to read. If reader reaction to a book is good, then publishers want more books of that type. If reader reaction isn’t good, then no matter how much a publisher loves a book, the editor won’t buy it because the editor has to buy books s/he loves and books s/he can sell. That’s essential to the health of the publisher. So readers define the types of books made available to them by their reactions to the books they read and support.

2. Booksellers stock the books its customers want to buy. It’s simple supply and demand. If a bookseller doesn’t have the books readers want, then that bookseller won’t sell books, which it must do to stay in business. So readers tell the bookseller what they want, and the bookseller seeks out those books and makes sure they’re available in his/her store. Readers influence what books are in their bookstores and available to the readers.

3. Readers through word-of-mouth influence other readers. When a reader loves a book and speaks well of it to other readers, then other readers are more likely to develop interest in a book—whether or not the other readers are familiar with the author. There is nothing better for a book than a strong “buzz” among readers. “Buzz” is word-of-mouth, a personal recommendation, and a reader’s personal recommendation is the strongest recommendation. It’s personal, trusted, seated in the personal relationship between readers.

4. Readers have amazing influence over writers. This is largely under-reported and under-realized, but readers’ responses and reactions directly to authors are probably the most influential in directly impacting what authors write and why they write what they write.

As stated earlier, writers write because they have something to say they want others to hear. The vehicle for saying what they want to say is the story. So when a reader reacts to that story, the author’s desire is fulfilled and validated—provided the reader reacts in the way the author hoped. That’s a blessing to the author, who spends much time alone creating and hoping that exactly this will happen. Let me share a personal example.

When my dad died, my mom went into shock. She couldn’t stay alone and so came to live with my family. I focused on helping her cope, helping my three children cope with the loss of their grandfather and its impact on their grandmother. I really didn’t have the luxury of time to mourn. I wrote a book about this. The book was delayed in being made available to readers—for six years.

That was a long delay that I really didn’t understand at the time. Maybe it wasn’t meant to be shared? Maybe it had served its purpose in helping me get through grief? But it did sell and then publishing was delayed two years, making the total six years between writing and publication. Shortly after it was published, the reason for the delays became clear.

Photo Credit: canstockphoto.com

I received a note from a reader asking me to call her, and I did. I had no idea what to expect—but I couldn’t have imagined what she said.

The reader told me a story of death and loss in her own family and her utter desolation. She felt hopeless and despairing and couldn’t see a way forward; she too wanted to die. But when in a store with her young daughter, her daughter grabbed my book off the shelf and said, “Mom, you need to read this.” When asked why, the girl told her, “It will help you.”
And so the mom bought the book and then read it.

She wanted me to know that, grieving and mourning and lost, she read the book and found encouragement and hope and that it helped her see that a way beyond grief existed. The characters found it and she could, too. She wanted to say thank you—and to let me know that the book had made a difference in her life. Now she could see her way to keep living.

As you can imagine, I was in tears. At the affirmation and confirmation the reader had gifted me with as an author, but in sheer gratitude that this woman who was hopeless had found hope. The dark tunnel of grief had lost its death grip on her. God is so good!

It was in this reader’s feedback that I found my mission to write books with constructive solutions to difficult challenges many of us face. This reader influenced me and my work. She gave me insight to my personal purpose. She touched my life and all of my future works. She will continue to influence me forever.

My story isn’t unique. I spoke with Robin Lee Hatcher about this, which led to an interesting exchange that might surprise readers. Robin said, “It is so easy for a writer to get discouraged. We spend a great deal of time alone with our own thoughts and imaginations. A dangerous place. And the present turmoil in the publishing industry can make this discouragement even worse. But then a reader reaches out and tells you something like this message that I received this summer:

‘I am an avid reader and have been for many years, but I’ve never contacted an author before. But, I wanted to share how the book Beyond the Shadows changed my life … When I read your book in May, I did so with sobs. I didn’t quite realize why I could identify with the main character, her husband being an alcoholic, mine just angry. I felt hopeless and for the first time could relate to someone, even if it was just a fictional book … [description of a troubled marriage and the reconciliation and healing that has followed] … Throughout this process many people have asked me what made me seek change, and I say, God sent me a little fictional book that desperately made me want to get beyond the shadows of the emotional pain. So, I want to say how grateful I am. I’ll always remember your book and the pain I felt when reading it, but now it’s only a Remembrance. God has provided a miracle for us.’”

I listened with a knot in my throat. And Robin went on to add, “An email like this provides me with enormous encouragement. It reminds me that I am doing what God called me to do, and that I must look beyond the discouragement and persevere. I never know how God will use the words I write. My job is to be obedient. The end results are up to Him.”

Now not all reader feedback is positive or constructive. Some readers don’t like a book and feel compelled to say so. There’s no surprise in that; if we all liked the same type of book, we’d collectively need fewer books and fewer authors. But that doesn’t mean that the reader’s negative feedback is without value. Often readers see an author veering off-track, so to speak, and let him/her know. This can be a welcome wake-up call to the author.

Of course there is also feedback that isn’t constructive. But that is easy to spot and given the weight it is worth. It’s amazingly easy to discern constructive versus destructive feedback, and most authors don’t judge. They differentiate between constructive and destructive feedback. In all feedback, they seek the good. Rarely have I encountered an author who neglects the gems of wisdom and insight in constructive negative feedback.

My point is that readers touch lives. They touch authors, influence them, and their feedback is cherished. Let me share a bit of a discussion had with my fellow Christians Read author, Kathi Macias. (I feel a special affinity with Kathi since we both have written books warning about human-trafficking and its dangers.) When asked, Kathi recalled a specific reader and a specific event:

“I will never forget this one. I was sitting at a book-signing when a young man (about 17) came up to me and said, “Mrs. Macias, I just wanted to come here and tell you that I read all four books in your Extreme Devotion series, and they made me want to lead a noble life.” It really doesn’t get any better than that, does it?”

A noble life, I thought. Constructive. Solutions. Elevating and entertaining. Encouraging. Inspiring. No, it really doesn’t get any better than that. And it would be utterly impossible not to expect that this reader encounter wouldn’t influence future Kathi Macias’ works.

Photo Credit: canstockphoto.com

Readers are a treasured, significant part of the entire process. From preferences on what they want to read to supporting and purchasing the books they prefer, from sharing their opinions through word-of-mouth and in their feedback to authors on what they’ve read, readers influence . . . because readers touch lives.•

© 2012, Vicki Hinze

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Vicki Hinze is the award-winning, bestselling author of 30 novels, 4 nonfiction books and hundreds of articles. She sponsors The Book Club Network and Christians Read. Her latest release is Christmas Countdown, the second book in her new Love Inspired Suspense, Lost, Inc. series, which follows Survive the Night www.vickihinze.com. Subscribe to her Newsletter here.

Christians Read December Newsletter

Just released is Elizabeth Goddard’s latest Love Inspired Suspense, Treacherous Skies!

Beth: I’m very excited about my latest romantic suspense release about a test pilot turned Learjet recovery man who retrieves a jet only to find the kidnapped daughter of a Colombian drug lord concealed inside. I had great input from two pilots on all the maneuvers in the story. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Blurb:
After years of peace and quiet, Maya Carpenter thinks she’s safe—that her drug-lord father’s world will never catch up with her. Then she’s abducted and secretly stashed on a plane. And once she and the test pilot who finds her land in the Keys, the real threat begins….

Daredevil pilot Connor Jacobson is no one’s hero. And this time, he’s in way over his head. Yet he can’t leave Maya to face danger alone. Besides, he has a few tricks up his sleeve that might keep them safe…as long as he’s willing to put everything at risk, including his heart.

Order at Harlequin.com, Amazon, BarnesandNoble.com, or Booksamillion.com.

Kristen Heitzmann’s new novel The Breath of Dawn is now available!

A grieving widower, and a courageous woman oppose a conman who plays a prophet—but he’s no saint.

Corporate turnaround specialist Morgan Spencer, dubbed the “success guru” has a Midas touch in business. But losing his wife sent him to the brink, and his two-year-old daughter, Livie, is all he’s living for—until they encounter a woman whose trouble just might draw him out of his own.

Four years ago Quinn Reilly did the right thing. Now the man her testimony put in jail is getting out. Though she has put up barriers to protect herself and those around her, she has come to care for the Spencer family, especially the winsome Livie and her mercurial father. Unwilling to put them at risk when the threats begin, she requests something she hopes the super-successful Morgan might be able to deliver.

Fixing problems is what Morgan does best, but his counterproposal takes them in a direction neither is equipped to handle. Determined to confront the past, will they survive to build a future?

Order at Amazon, BarnesandNoble.com, or Booksamillion.com.

Christmas Countdown, the second book in Vicki Hinze’s Lost, Inc. series just released!

A simple trip home for the holidays is all former FBI profiler Maggie Mason wants. But a serial killer has other plans. Trapped in a deadly game of cat and mouse, Maggie finds an ally in Lost, Inc. with private investigator Dr. Ian Crane. The handsome widower is reluctant to love again, and the last thing Maggie wants is to put Ian in the line of fire, too. Love could cost them everything…unless they can find their way to each other, in time for Christmas.

Click here for the book page on Vicki’s website.

Order at Harlequin.com (click for print book, Large Print book, or ebook), Amazon, BarnesandNoble.com, or Booksamillion.com.

Maureen Lang’s novel, Bees in the Butterfly Garden, is a finalist in the USA Best Book Award contest! Woohoo! Congrats, Maureen! (And isn’t that a gorgeous cover, too???? Camy is slightly envious in a loving Christian way.

Here’s the back cover blurb:

“A young lady of impeccable decorum never appears outside her home unchaperoned, uncoiffed, ungloved, or unhappy.” —MADAME MARISSE’S HANDBOOK FOR YOUNG LADIES

Raised at an exclusive boarding school, Meg Davenport has everything she needs but none of what she’s wanted most—like the love of a family, or a future not dependent on following etiquette and marrying well. So when she receives shocking news of her father’s death, Meg seizes the chance to break every rule that has governed her life. Especially when she learns John Davenport wasn’t the wealthy businessman she thought, but one of the Gilded Age’s most talented thieves.

Ian Maguire knows that John—his mentor—would never have wanted his beloved daughter to follow in his footsteps. Yet she is determined to carry on his legacy, and her talent for garden design has earned her an invitation to stay with one of Fifth Avenue’s wealthiest families. With friends like those, Meg could help Ian pull off his biggest heist yet.

But living in both worlds is more treacherous than Meg imagined. And as Ian’s concern for Meg turns to love, he finds himself torn between greed and guilt. Can they find the legacy they both long for, or in trying to gain everything, will they end up losing it all?

Order at Amazon, BarnesandNoble.com, Kobobooks.com, or Booksamillion.com.

Camy Tang’s latest romantic suspense release is A Dangerous Stage! Here’s a short blurb from Camy about writing the book:

I really enjoyed writing about Tessa and Charles again for multiple reasons. Tessa’s struggles with forgiveness parallel some of my own struggles with forgiving people who have hurt me, and I hope readers can relate and also find hope that the hurt can be healed with God’s help.

I hadn’t written that much about Charles’s character in Protection for Hire, but I knew I needed to reveal more about his heart and his spiritual walk in A Dangerous Stage, and I was strongly impacted by Psalm 90:7-12:

We are consumed by your anger and terrified by your indignation. You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.  All our days pass away under your wrath; we finish our years with a moan. Our days may come to seventy years, or eighty, if our strength endures; yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away. If only we knew the power of your anger! Your wrath is as great as the fear that is your due. Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

I thought it was an important reminder to me that I am flawed but Jesus has saved me, and I need to remember God’s power and respect Him rather than taking Him for granted. It made me look at my life differently and make different choices, trying to follow God’s will rather than my own.

Charles struggles with these types of choices and whether he is truly passionately committed to Christ. My prayer is that his struggles will help readers make their own decisions to follow Christ with intensity and passion.

Backcover blurb:
Tessa Lancaster worked for her uncle in the Japanese mafia until she was sent to prison for a murder she didn’t commit. Now, after finding God behind bars, she takes odd jobs as a bodyguard to keep her distance from the family business.

In A Dangerous Stage, the second book in Camy Tang’s Protection for Hire series, Tessa gets caught up in the web of lies surrounding a shady singing competition. Hired by one of the contestants, she works with Charles Britton—the lawyer who sent her to prison—to discover the dark figures manipulating the contest from behind the scenes.

Tessa’s abilities will be tested like never before as she’s forced to balance the safety of her client’s family and her deepening relationship with Charles. In the midst of the chaos, she holds on to her faith to keep her safe and bring down the shadowy organization.

Check out the webpage for A Dangerous Stage!

The Truth About Thanksgiving by Vicki Hinze

Photo Credit: canstockphoto.com

 

 

While this isn’t an article on books, it is a reminder to readers (and writers) that history, storytelling, and reading stories has power.  All can change lives, open closed minds and hearts, offer different perspectives that might be just what’s needed to see things more clearly.  We’re also reminded, since the heart of story (fiction or nonfiction) is squarely on people, even if they’re fictional characters, it’s imperative that we understand people, their goals, motivations and conflicts.  In those insights and revelations, we grasp and shape identity—that of the storypeople and of our own.  And with that collective wisdom, we comprehend and appreciate the treasure in tradition. 

What we learn from those who came before us, how embracing those traditions served us, gives us a firm hold on who we were, are, and who we choose to be.  That solves a lot of potential crises.  So what can we learn about Thanksgiving?  What in it is significant?

To answer those questions, we must ask, “What does Thanksgiving really mean?”

Time typically confuses things, and right now we’ve an abundance of confusion.  Many say we’re neck-deep in a national identity crisis.  So rather than discuss the confusion, let’s call on the wisdom of truth.  Reacquaint ourselves with it—unfiltered—by returning to the man who officially established our nation’s Thanksgiving holiday.

In 1789, on Thanksgiving Day, George Washington issued the following Thanksgiving Day Proclamation, beginning a tradition in the United States of America that is celebrated still today.

George (G.O.) Washington
Photo Credit: canstockphoto.com

Washington’s 1789 Thanksgiving Day Proclamation

 

“Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor – and Whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me “to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.

“Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be – That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks – for his kind care and protection of the People of this country previous to their becoming a Nation – for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his providence, which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war –for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed – for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted, for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us.

“And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions – to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually – to render our national government a blessing to all the People, by constantly being a government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed – to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shewn kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord – To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and Us – and generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.

“Given under my hand at the City of New York the third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789.

“G.O. WASHINGTON.”

 

Insight. Truth.  Tradition.  Wisdom.  Great fodder for characters in stories, and great character fodder for people. 

May the traditional spirit of Thanksgiving be a blessing to you and yours.  And in times that try souls and make us weary, may we remember to hold fast to our traditions—our identity—and to attitudes of gratitude.

For all our flaws and challenges,  ours is an exceptional nation of exceptional people.  We might lose our way at times and we forget who we are.  But we are fortunate.  We have the treasures of traditions and history to remind us.

This Thanksgiving, may we recall who we are, whose we are, why we are who and whose we are.  And may we feel to the depths of our souls the value of knowing each and every day.

 

 

Christians Read newsletter

The first book in Vicki Hinze’s Lost, Inc. series released October 1st:

Lost, Inc. Series, Book 1
Mass Market ISBN: 978-0373445097
Large Print ISBN: 978-0373675302
Love Inspired Suspense

THE DARKEST HOURS
After losing everything, Della Jackson tries to begin again as an investigator. But she can’t forget the past . .. and neither can someone else. Someone who won’t let anyone–even Della’s best friend, former special operative Paul Mason–stand in the way. As Della is stalked and those closest to her are targeted, both Della and Paul realize there’s only one way to survive. They each have to face their greatest fears, overcome the scars of the past and dare to love again . . . before it’s too late.

LOST INC.
By finding and helping the lost, these broken investigators heal.

Watch the video

Check out the Lost, Inc. website

Kathi Macias’ Unexpected Christmas Hero released October 1st!

Here’s my latest release! FYI: The guy on the cover is Willard Parker, a guy who looks amazingly like the homeless Vietnam vet/unexpected Christmas hero in my book. Willard is also homeless and hoping having his picture on the cover will help him find his family, particularly his grown daughter. I’m posting this all over the net and talking about it on radio/TV in hopes of helping make that happen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jim Rubart’s newest novel, Soul’s Gate, releases November 6th!

My latest novel, Soul’s Gate just released! Here’s a couple of opinions of the novel from Publishers Weekly and RT Book Reviews:

• PW- “Readers with high blood pressure or heart conditions be warned: this is a seriously heart-thumping and satisfying read that goes to the edge, jumps off, and “builds wings on the way down.”
• RT- “Rubart’s novel is enthralling and superlative. Truly a story about freedom from things that we hold onto, this tale will captivate readers and encourage a more active, dynamic spiritual life. The original plot and well-drawn characters elevate this book to “must read” status.”

What’s really fun about this novel is I’ve partnered with Barnes & Noble to release along with the regular version, an exclusive Barnes & Noble only version which contains three extra chapters and an author’s note.

The rest of November I’ll be working on the sequel to Soul’s Gate and looking forward to having my college age son Taylor home for Thanksgiving!

 

Camy Tang’s latest romantic suspense release is A Dangerous Stage which released November 1st (yesterday)!

Tessa Lancaster worked for her uncle in the Japanese mafia until she was sent to prison for a murder she didn’t commit. Now, after finding God behind bars, she takes odd jobs as a bodyguard to keep her distance from the family business.

In A Dangerous Stage, the second book in Camy Tang’s Protection for Hire series, Tessa gets caught up in the web of lies surrounding a shady singing competition. Hired by one of the contestants, she works with Charles Britton—the lawyer who sent her to prison—to discover the dark figures manipulating the contest from behind the scenes.

Tessa’s abilities will be tested like never before as she’s forced to balance the safety of her client’s family and her deepening relationship with Charles. In the midst of the chaos, she holds on to her faith to keep her safe and bring down the shadowy organization.

Check out the webpage for A Dangerous Stage!

In God We Trust: A Lesson from Light by Vicki Hinze

IN GOD WE TRUST:  A Lesson from Light

Last night, I heard a very short snippet of a sermon made in a public forum.  I didn’t know the speaker and unfortunately do not recall his name now.  But what he said touched me.

 

Not in the soft, gentle knowing kind of way.  No, what he said struck me like a thunderbolt.  It resonated so strong and deep that it carried the force of a physical blow that rocked me back in my seat and left me with the sensation of blown out eardrums.

 

You know the kind of reaction I’m talking about.  You’ve no doubt had it, too.  When something so profound, so significant bears down on you and says, “Hey you, hear this.  Know this.  Be certain of this!”

 

Maybe you got that feeling on being told a loved one had unexpectedly passed away.  Or when the person you loved asked you to spend the rest of your life with him/her.  Or when you were told you were going to have a baby, or that you couldn’t ever have a baby.  Or when you were told that you had a lethal disease for which there was no cure.  Or when you read—or wrote—something in a book.

 

I’ve experienced all those things and this was that kind of moment.  That important and significant and carried that kind of weight, only . . . more.  And still this morning it reverberates and applies itself to everything else that goes through my mind, to everything upon which I focus.

 

IN GOD WE TRUST.

 

We’ve seen the phrase a million times.  We’ve noted it being used in all kinds of context on all kinds of subjects.  And yet in his simple delivery, those words will never be viewed the same—at least, not by me.

 

His sermon was a short, simple one based on Genesis 1:3:  “And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.” (NIV)

 

Then he went on to speak about light and how fast it travels and has traveled without ceasing or slowing or easing, or growing weary or faltering through time and distance for a minute, hour, month, and year.

 

“Light is because God said, and light obeyed.”

 

That’s the part that knocked me to my knees.

 

Now the reverend or pastor or whatever this bearer of truth was, stopped there.  My mind and heart and spirit didn’t.  I had been profoundly impacted, and am still processing.  I have a feeling I will be processing for a long time to come.

 

Some thoughts on this that I know are significant, but not all the ways this is significant (there is much more to be learned):

 

Light didn’t question its purpose, its identity.

 

When God created Light, Light didn’t spark and fizzle or fade in and out.  God created it and—boom!—Light was and it shone.  It knew what it was and did what it did.  Light was, is, and will always be Light.  It shone then, since then, and will shine forevermore.

 

Light didn’t and hasn’t experienced an identity crisis.  It doesn’t wonder if it’s on the right path, fulfilling its intended purpose.  It is, and it is because God spoke it into creation and deemed it good.  Light knows what it is and whose it is, and that it is good.

 

That’s a powerful, powerful knowledge, and in it is a wealth of wisdom.  Light is a mentor to us, if we choose to be mentored.  Like Light, God spoke us into creation.  He fashioned us with His own hands, infused us with gifts—abilities, insights, skills or the ability to attain them—and breathed life into us, claiming us as His own.  He gave us the wisdom of His Word, revealing His character and traits which prove to us that He cannot abide evil or that which isn’t pure, and because we know that, we know that He considers us good.  We’re flawed, yes.  No surprise to Him; he created us exactly as we are.

 

He gifted us with free will, knowing that we would goof up and make mistakes and burden ourselves and our souls but also with His promise to be there with us every step of the way and giving us His instruction book—the Bible—revealing how we can make less of a mess with our lives by following His ways.  He was for us the ultimate trailblazer, and when we muddied things up anyway, He sacrificed His son to show us the way.  By grace, not works, we’re saved and remain His forever.

 

These days, as in many days gone by, remembering at all times who and whose you are isn’t popular.  Some will demonize you.  Satan will let loose with all the demons in hell to oppose you, tempt you, do any and everything to pervert and dissuade you.  Spiritual warfare is the worse warfare because the ultimate prize is your soul, your eternity.

 

Think about it.  We’re here in this life for such a short time.  But eternity is, well, eternity.  It lasts a lot longer.  So whatever trials we face in life pale to those of battling for our eternity.

 

Mixed messages and muddled directives from other human beings can manipulate or confuse or deliberately steal our eternities—but only if we neglect to take this lesson from Light.  And that lesson is:

 

We are the children of God.  We are and always will be children of God.  We might choose to ignore it, to rebel against it, to deny it, but we are who we are.  We are whose we are.

The closer we walk with our creator, the better able we are to endure and face constructively life’s challenges and trials.  We’ll have them, but we’ll also have the tools to cope with them.

 

Conversely, if we exercise our free will to walk away from God, we’re closing the proverbial toolbox.  He won’t stop us from walking the wrong path, but He’ll walk it with us, patiently waiting for us to return to Him, to call upon Him, so that He can remind us of who we are and that we’re His.

 

As people, as a society, as a nation, we are in a spiritual war over our purpose for our identity.  Over and again, we hear the problems.  We know them.  We live them and they manifest in our lives every day.

 

Over and again, we hear they’re complex, and intricate, and too big to handle.  But if we look at Light, we know that’s simply not true.  We know that anything man does is a flawed bandage and to solve the problem we must go to the root source.  That’s where the lesson from Light offers the solution.  We need only remember who and whose we are.

 

Embrace that, and we have the tools we need to resolve our issues no matter how complex or tangled.  Reacquainted with our instruction manual, we rediscover that He specializes in making crooked places straight.

 

We don’t have to struggle with identity or who we are or how to fix what’s broken.  Like Light, we just have to be who and whose we are.  In that are all the answers to all our questions.  To claim them, in God we trust.

There’s so much more, but more must wait for another day and another post.  For now, I’m holding on to the lesson in, “Light is because God said, and light obeyed.”

Blessings,

 

Vicki

P.S.  The first book in my new Lost, Inc. series of Love Inspired Suspense novels has been released, SURVIVE THE NIGHT.  Wanted to mention it in case that’s a type of book you enjoy. FMI visit vickihinze.com or the Lost, Inc. website.

Powerful Messages

The most powerful messages are often those simply spoken from the heart…
I saw this video for Mary’s new book and it was so real, so powerful…  I just had to share it.

 

WHEN YOU DO WHAT YOU DO, WHAT DOES GOD FEEL by Vicki Hinze

I just finished Karen Kingsbury’s Just Beyond the Clouds.  The story is a good one about two broken people having a difficult time moving on in their lives.  But it was a secondary element that fascinated me.

 

In it, the heroine was a schoolteacher with a little sister who has Downs Syndrome.  The heroine, after being left at the altar, becomes a teacher at a center for adults with Downs.

 

The part that fascinated me wasn’t that she loved what she did.  We all hope for and shoot for that.  It was that her joy and purpose in what she did raised a question in my mind.  That question was:

 

c2012, Vicki Hinze

 

That wasn’t stated in the book, but the book did trigger the thought in my mind, and I found myself asking if when I do what I do, do I feel God’s joy in it?  Is He happy, sad, proud or disappointed?

 

To be utterly honest, I’m not sure what made me make that connection.  But it stuck in my mind and I find now that I’m asking myself that a lot.

 

I believe that God gives us all skills and gifts that He hopes we will use wisely.  To me, wisely means to honor Him.  To glorify Him, so that those who happen upon or benefit from what we do, see it/us as examples of Him at work in our lives.  That they will be intrigued enough to want it/Him in their lives, too.  And that hope for the effort begs the question of His reaction to what we do.

 

Sooner or later in every life, a person asks what his or her purpose is and how s/he can go about filling it.  Some stumble over it, some search most of their lives for the answer to that question.  And some seem to know exactly their purpose from the cradle.  There’s insight in whatever the case might be for each of us.  Insight into God, and into His trust and His faith in us.

 

 

c 2012, dreamstime.com

There’s also a key insight lurking there about His respect for the free will He gave us.  He honors it.  Even when the parent in Him wants to warn us off, or redirect our destructive behavior into constructive channels, He honors his free will gift.

 

So the “why am I here?” and “what am I supposed to be doing?” are normal questions.  But I think the deeper question is the one revealed:  When I do what I do, is God joyful? 

 

Does He celebrate or mourn?  Is he proud or ashamed?  Does he laugh or weep?

 

You see my point.  It kind of makes us see things just a little differently, doesn’t it?  It did me, and I hope sharing it will do the same for you.  Oh, I know we all crave parental approval, but this is the ultimate and eternal parental approval—far more significant and enduring.

 

And so I walk away, carrying this revelation with me. As I move through my actions and deeds and even my thoughts, I’ll be asking myself that deeper question often in planning what I can plan in my life.  I think there is much to be learned in the responses.

Blessings,

 

Vicki

 

Christians Read newsletter – what we’re reading

News from Vicki Hinze

Christians Read Blog is now available on Kindle.  Great News for CHRISTIANS READ readers.  If you prefer to get blogs on your Kindle, the CHRISTIANS READ blog is now available. It’s $.99 per month and you can sign up so posts will automatically forward to your Kindle at:  http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008QEOTGI .  There’s a two-week free trial. Just click the icon.    You can, of course, still read the blog on www.christiansread.com, on WordPress, or on Facebook.

New Love Inspired Suspense series.  Lost, Inc. (www.lost-inc.com) will launch in October.  So far, there are three books written in this series.  The first is Survive the Night.  You can preorder a copy now.  There’s a list of booksellers here.  In December, Christmas Countdown releases, and in February, Torn Loyalties.

I just finished reading Karen Kingsbury’s Just Beyond the Clouds.  A very touching story about families and adults with Downs Syndrome.

What’s on my nightstand?  James Rollins’ Map of Bones.  I’m about three chapters in, and hooked.

Since school starts in a couple weeks here, I’m spending some time with my angels (the grands).  We’ve visited the Pensacola (Florida) Naval Aviation Museum, had Girls Days Out, seeing movies and shopping and doing lunch, and did a day trip to Marianna Caverns.  It’s been a good summer—if too short!

News from Maureen Lang

My newest book released just in July and is titled Bees In The Butterfly Garden, set in New York City during the Gilded Age of the 1880s. Ian Maguire is determined to stop Meg Davenport from following in her father’s footsteps. He was, after all, a thief. But considering Ian learned everything he knows from Meg’s father, he may not be able to convince her otherwise, not even when they both end up over their heads in the biggest heist of Ian’s unlawful career. In trying to gain everything, will they end up losing it all?

I’m happy to share that Bees In The Butterfly Garden has received some wonderful reviews. 4 Stars from Romantic Times, saying: The grandeur of the era is evident in the story, the charming characters, the beautifully descriptive prose and even the cover! And Library Journal said: This character-driven historical set in the American Gilded Age represents Lang (Look to the East; Whisper on the Wind) at her best.

Right now I’m in the revision stage of my next Gilded Age novel, All In Good Time, which will release early spring of 2013, also from Tyndale House. Set in booming 1880s Denver, my hero has built his successful bank on an illegal fortune. And despite my heroine’s own secret, she is determined to do all she can to rescue the many women who’ve found only hard times in the Rocky Mountain state—even if she must get ahead of God’s schedule by garnering a bank loan. Will the secrets of their pasts ruin their future?

As far as what I’m reading now, I’m busy! I’ve been in a classic mood this summer, having just finished Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter and am now taking up My Name Is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok. I’m also reading Kaye Dacus’s upcoming book, Follow The Heart, as well as a debut novel that a friend of mine, Jane Steen, meticulously and boldly self-published, The House of Closed Doors. Lots of wonderful titles to satisfy my reading pleasures!

News from Elizabeth Goddard

Oregon Outback, a four-in-one novella collection, just released in July. The harsh, yet peaceful Oregon Outback molds the lives of four rugged brothers who stumble into love. FBI agent Jonas Love has brought trouble back home, endangering his life and that of an old flame. Cattle rancher Carver Love finds himself falling for the sheriff in the midst of chasing down modern-day rustlers. Thrill-seeker Lucas Love fears nothing—until he meets a beautiful bookkeeper. Justin Love is trailing a fugitive who’s heading too close to home—and one particular lodge keeper. How will God protect these men as they risk their lives to defend the ones they love?

Hearts in the Mist (Heartsong Presents) releases in October. I’m currently working on the second book in a Love Inspired Suspense Series. The first book, Treacherous Skies, releases in December.

I just finished reading When the Smoke Clears by Lynette Eason, and I’m starting on Firethorn by Ronie Kendig. I’m also trying to make a dent on my never-ending TBR pile and have started  Almost Forever by Deborah Raney, and a historical, The Rose of Winslow Street by Elizabeth Camden.

I’m gearing up for another year of home schooling three boys and that includes shopping for curriculum and organizing my office after a big move from Texas to Louisiana.  Never a dull moment.

News from Hannah Alexander

Right now I’m getting ready to read Secretly Smitten by Colleen Coble, Diann Hunt, Kristin Billerbeck and Denise Hunter. I’m also reading two books for review, but none of them are available right now, so shouldn’t give the titles of them.

No exciting news for me except we’re getting ready to start building Mel’s new clinic. It’ll be an exciting change from ER to family practice.

News from Camy Tang

I’m writing a few books for some Guideposts series (Patchwork Mysteries, Miracles of Marble Cove, and Secrets of Mary’s Bookshop). I never realized how fun cozy mysteries are to write until I started writing them for Guideposts. Now I love them!

I’m also gearing up for the release of the second book in my Protection for Hire series, A Dangerous Stage, which is out in November. I honestly think A Dangerous Stage is one of the best books I’ve ever written, and I really felt God’s hand on me as I wrote some key scenes in the book. I’m praying He uses the book to touch the readers He wants to reach!

I just finished Angel Eyes, a Christian young adult novel by Shannon Dittemore. It was like a God-centered mix of Twilight and This Present Darkness by Frank Peretti, and I think Christian teens will love it.

The Movie Massacre by Vicki Hinze

First, my apologies. I posted this first thing this morning–on the wrong blog.

 

The Movie Massacre

I wrote this on the morning of the massacre. Like everyone else, I was emotional, so I withheld releasing it until now. It was, I thought, prudent to wait for facts. Prudent to give time for the truth to surface. Prudent to not rush to judgment but to give events time to sort out and emotional reactions to them time to settle.

When something happens like the Movie Massacre, we all are impacted. Some are in shock, some grieving, some stunned and overwhelmed with a need to pull loved ones close, some angry at someone fame-seeking being willing to destroy so many others lives.

The closer one is personally involved, the more severe the impact. Loved ones died. Families were changed forever, devastated and broken. Lives were taken, and for those left behind, altered forever. The pain and grief and mourning are unrelenting, and the one question that penetrates the inevitable shock is why? Why, why, why?

The hardest part to accept is that there is no why. We seek to understand and yet we do not. It is normal and natural then to seek the peace that passes understanding. That comes in spite of not understanding. The peace we find in that which is bigger than us who does understand.

It goes without saying that our thoughts and prayers are with the victims of the families. We say and mean it. But that barely scratches the surface of the maelstrom of feelings that such a senseless tragedy conjures in us all. We offer to do anything we can to give those directly involved what they need. And we do it knowing that no matter what we give or do, the one thing that will mend their battered hearts is the return of their loved ones, the return of that which they personally lost that has forever altered them and their lives, and that we can not provide.

We mourn and grieve with them, for them, and the maelstrom ripples outward. We mourn and grieve for ourselves, and for our loved ones. We mourn and grieve that our innocent children are exposed to and touched by this type of thing when everything in us desires to shield and protect them from all harm. We mourn and grieve that this type of thing happens in our town, our city, our nation, our world. We mourn and grieve.

Some of us see this event and get stuck in the event itself. Reliving it over and over. When and where we were when we heard news of it the first time. What we felt and thought and our emotional reaction. Some are so focused on the horror of the incident that they can’t move or think beyond that initial moment to anything that came after it. Some will never recall the time or events immediately following that fateful moment.

We all process shock differently and react to crises differently. We naturally try to figure out why it happened—and doing what we can toward that end is important. It helps us to avoid similar future crises.

Yesterday, I heard every conceivable emotional reaction. Stunned, outraged, terrified, sad, and angry. I also heard attempts to politicize and advocate for personal preferences that could be co-opted to further agendas. These attempts were deliberate and lacked a level of compassion and respect that was unacceptable. The season was for mourning and grieving, not for pursuing agendas of any kind, and that some would pursue speaks to a collective confusion in decorum and personal behavior that should concern us all.

Those more distant from the event will process and adjust more quickly than those directly involved. The distant will see and suffer with the victims and all those who loved them, but they’ll also see the others. Those who were different kinds of victims and what happened with them next. I’m referring to those who escaped death and severe injury in the incident itself.

Those secondary victims, if you will, suffered the event and all that comes with it, but discovered how they would react in this type of emergency situation. They discovered whether they were all about saving themselves, or saving others and themselves. They looked into the face of their darkest nights and saw reflected their deepest selves, their own character.

Story upon story is coming out about people escaping from the theater who put others’ safety before their own. Who delayed their own escape to help others who needed it, who paused or stayed to comfort strangers, to shield others younger and weaker or beloved with their own bodies. Some were quite young and yet when a higher calling presented itself, they answered in ways that can only be respected and admired. In ways the untested can only hope that they would react. As the day wore on yesterday, more stories emerged of those who met the hero within and those who shunned that hero and were feeling the weight of doing so.

In the days and months ahead, no doubt there will be much self-reflection on these discoveries, and I pray that these people will be gentle with themselves and take what they learned and apply it for their greater good, whatever they innately know it to be. That, by grace, is the path to that peace that passes understanding.

For those more distant, this event makes you want to hold your loved ones extra close, to shield and protect them. Yet you can’t live in a world of fear and become paralyzed by it.

I thought about this a lot yesterday and learned a lesson from my daughter. Earlier this summer my eldest angel was out in the boat and saw a shark. On subsequent outings, she no longer wanted to swim in the water. My daughter told her that we couldn’t live our lives afraid. The child now swims and enjoys the water while keeping watch for what’s around her. Yesterday afternoon, this same daughter took my angels to a movie.

Fear confronted is fear diminished.

That is the lesson. And it harkened me back emotionally to the attacks on 9/11. Fear is normal and, if managed, healthy. But if you let it run unchecked, it will paralyze you and rob you of life.

Fear itself isn’t evil or good. Like many things, it is both. It can harm or protect, and which it does depends on the person.

The stories about the man who inflicted this tragedy—I refuse to speak his name since I am convinced fame is what he sought—are swirling. Bits and pieces of his life are known and this morning, I heard there’s an insanity defense coming.

It’s early yet, but I have to say that doesn’t work for me. While perpetrating a tragedy of this nature and considering yourself a character in a fictional film is insane, it doesn’t mean you’re truly insane. It does mean that when you couple trashed out nonsense you put into your mind with drugs, you get out what you’ve put in. Lesson: guard your mind.

Extreme lengths were gone to by this individual to protect himself—all the tactical protective gear: he didn’t want to die. He wanted to survive this while he felt perfectly fine killing many, many others. That took preparation and planning. It took clear thought. It took time–months. He didn’t snap. He planned and prepared. That’s not insane, it’s evil.

Call it what it is. Evil.

He was methodical in purchasing weapons at different stores in different areas. That took time. Not a snap judgment. He decided what to do, created a plan for doing it, went to each different area to each different store and did it. He acquired all his weapons and ammo and tactical gear and all the essentials needed to do what he did in trip-wiring his apartment with unknown “liquids” which leave authorities with no choice but to deem them chemical. No simple snap judgment, this. No, for the complex and sophisticated treatment, intense detail and management of the processes were required. Insane? On a level, yes. But legally? When taking on the personae of the joker? Doubtful. Actually, it strikes me more like an excuse to behave badly.

I don’t know why this happened. I don’t know what made this joker want fame so much that he was willing to destroy and devastate others to get it. I do note that he went to great lengths to make sure that he survived it so he could hear all about the fame he’d generated. And what comes to mind is that his actions were cowardly, cruel and malicious. To his victims, to his family, to himself. To everyone impacted by his actions. His lack of respect for all those others is evident, and when more details emerge, we’ll no doubt learn of all the seemingly little events that led up to this big event.

One so self-absorbed and disrespectful just doesn’t wake up one day and decide to cause calamity. Most often, they’ve caused minor incidents over and over and over. (Heads up lesson, parents. That’s a big clue for you to handle the little things so they don’t become big things.)

He had family—wasn’t facing the world standing alone. He was an honor student and had college—something many would love to have but lack the opportunity. He withdrew from med school and enrolled in a Ph.D. program—again, an opportunities many would love to have but just don’t. And he chooses to stoke up on Vicodin and make his joker fantasy into a self-indulgent reality, protecting himself and becoming others’ nightmares?

What will come of him legally, I have no clue. But I wouldn’t be quick to say the man snapped his crackers or went off his rocker. Initial evidence doesn’t support it and it’s an insult to those poor souls who really do snap and crack. What is supported is that he sought fame and found it at the expense of others. As for the rest, we’ll see.

So we wait, and yet the wisdom gleaned from the incident doesn’t have to wait. We can begin gathering it from the moment of the event.

If we let only evil into our lives, then that’s what we’ll get out of our lives. We must guard our minds as much as our bodies. Fill ourselves–body, mind and spirit–with good things, respectful things, things that inspire the least and worst inside us to rise higher and embrace the best inside us.

Share that best in us with our children and nurture it. If we plant good seeds, we harvest good crops.

Lastly, be gentle with yourself and others now. Let your compassion rise and be your personal filter. Looking at someone from the outside doesn’t tell you where that person is inside. And today, many are fragile. Handle with care.

Blessings,

Vicki

 

AWARENESS BOOKS by Vicki Hinze

Awareness Books

 

 

STOP HUMAN TRAFFICKING by Mypokcik

Not too long ago, I wrote a book called Deadly Ties.  It was the second book in my Crossroads Crisis Center series and it dealt with human trafficking.

 

That was a subject that had been on my mind for a long time.   It was one of my readers who elevated it on my personal radar.  She wrote in and shared with me a personal encounter she’d had—read that, a near miss at being abducted—and frankly, it scared the fool out of both of us.  It also set me to researching.

 

What I discovered chilled my blood.  Until then, like many I’ve spoken with since the book’s release, I related human trafficking to distant places and other cultures.  I didn’t realize that was so prevalent in the United States.

 

Now I know better.

 

And that’s why I wanted to write the book.  I thought if I was that uninformed on the very real dangers, then a lot of others were, too, and that was dangerous for us and worse, for our children.

 

You see, the average age of trafficked victims proves they’re not adults but children.  Girls and boys.  That made the book a mission.  We have duties and obligations to protect our kids—and we want to do that—but to do so effectively, we need to be informed.

 

We teach our kids not to talk to strangers, and yet many do.  They’ll help find a missing kitten or puppy.  They’ll help a man with a broken arm or on crutches get to his car.  One such man was notorious serial killer, Ted Bundy.

 

Deadly Ties by Vicki Hinze

In Deadly Ties, I didn’t use random abductions because even uninformed specifically, we tell our kids to be wary and watchful and aware of who and what is going on around them.  But there are other abductions that are deliberate, targeted, and just as devastating, and those are even less spoken of or written about, so those are the ones I focused most intensely on in the book, though there were victims of random trafficking as well.

 

Deliver Me From Evil by Kathi Macias

My fellow Christians Read author, Kathi Macias, has done a trilogy of books on trafficking also.  Deliver Me from Evil is the first.  Others too have written on the subject and awareness seems to be increasing.  I pray that it is.

 

Because our kids are relying on us, and we’re relying on each other.  In my book, the women weren’t in bad neighborhoods or places they shouldn’t have been when they were abducted.  One was putting gas in her car.  One was in a shopping mall parking lot, about to get into her car.  Normal places we go, doing things we normally do.

 

On a trip to south Texas, my husband and I were traveling early one morning.  It wasn’t yet dawn.  We stopped at a convenience store for gas, and on the window of the store was a sign.  It was about human trafficking, about it being a crime and if you were being trafficked or knew someone who was to call a number.

 

I immediately remembered that reader’s letter to me and the fear I’d felt on reading it.  But seeing that sign in that window made trafficking even more real and immediate, and that’s when I decided I’d write that book not one day but that day.  Start it, at least.

 

I’ve heard from a lot of readers on Deadly Ties.  How it had shocked them, made them aware that this doesn’t just happen other places.  It happens here, in our places.  And that they hadn’t talked to their kids about trafficking, typically trying to protect them from the seediness and depravity in it, but now realized that not talking about it was leaving their children vulnerable and unprotected.

 

Some have written that the book was hard to read because of the subject matter.  I understand that totally.  It was hard to write for the same reasons.

 

I wish we lived in a world where slimy things like human trafficking didn’t exist.  Oh, how I wish it.  But we don’t.  And so if I need to be uncomfortable and readers need to be uncomfortable to discover what we must to protect our kids, then I believe we must endure that discomfort and in a real way be grateful for it. Our kids count on it.

 

Over the years, I’ve written many books on many subjects with the hope of raising awareness.  Abuse. Domestic violence.  National security issues that impact our daily lives.  And now on human trafficking.  I don’t know the impact of the book.  Kathi Macias or any of the other authors who write awareness books know the impact of their books, either.  There’s no way to measure it.   But I do know that authors of awareness books dare to hope the potential for good from them far exceeds the discomfort endured in writing them.

 

And that leads me to ask:

 

Have you read a book that elevated your awareness of something significant, or that could be significant to you personally?

 

If you have, I hope you’ll share it.

 

Blessings,

 

Vicki

 

PS.  Be sure to sign up for our CHRISTIANS READ MEGA CONTEST at The Book Club Network.  16 books by Christians Read authors.  Click HERE for details.

 

 

The Appeal of Amish Books by Vicki Hinze

The Appeal of Amish Books

@2012, Vicki Hinze

 

I’m a suspense writer who loves faith-affirming thrillers with a light romantic element.  But I’m also an eclectic reader.   I like something in most genres of books, though I’d not read Amish novels.  That was soon to change.

 

My agent got a call from an editor who expressed interest in me writing some Amish novels.  Since I hadn’t read any, I let the possibility slide.  Then came a second editor, and then a third—all wanting Amish novels.  By this time, I figured out I was getting nudged.  There was something I was supposed to do, learn, or know regarding these books.

 

Aware that I like variety and writing new-to-me books or blending genres that haven’t yet been blended to create new sub-genres, my agent asked if I was interested.  On this third approach, I still hadn’t read any Amish novels, so I answered him with a question.  “Who are the best writers of this type of book?”  He recommended several, gave me a list of names, and so I read them.

 

Then I did some research to determine what about this type of book readers loved.  At first, I thought it was the unfamiliarity.  Readers love to be armchair adventurers, and delving into a world that is so different from the one most walk in everyday holds a great deal of appeal.  Some would say charm.  I would say it elevates curiosity and holds intrigue, kind of like going around the next bend when canoeing on the river.  You never know what you’re going to run into there.

 

But as I read more and more of the books, I deduced that unfamiliarity is only some of the appeal of Amish novels.  I think there are two other things that make these books just as appealing, though to different types of readers.  Those two things are:

 

1.  Simpler times.

2.  A structured society.

 

The Amish are “plain” people.  They aren’t into adornment and the pace of life is slower.  Some settlements are no electricity, no computers or TV or phones (cell or landlines), and no complicated lifestyles.  They’re busy, industrious people who ban together to do what needs doing in their communities, but the harried pace of most of our lives is absent in theirs.   This slower pace, more family and community focused lifestyle appeals to many.  It seems the more harried the life, the more appealing we find this simple lifestyle.

 

It’s a common thing to imagine the grass being greener on the other side, isn’t it?  Often we wish for less complex, less hectic lives.  With so many single parent households—more than married couple households for the first time in our nation’s history—and the fact that many of us don’t interact much with others physically (apparent from the Internet and its conversations), we feel that separation and isolation.  Some enjoy it.  But for many of us, the absence of a sense of belonging and those family-and-community connections create a yearning in us that these books nurture and feed.

 

These are strong emotions inbred in us, and our reactions to them are also strong.  Historically, being a part of a community wasn’t just a yearning, it was critical to survival.  To grow food, to protect and defend against those intending harm.  The reasons for this community necessity are many, and they encompass not only physical needs that alone we are not able to fulfill but also emotional needs.  These community-and-family-centric novels do that.

 

Amish novels also offer readers a structured society.  For many of us, daily life is awash in confusion.  We’re nudged on what to think, told who and what we are, directed in our thoughts and actions by others who have “skin in the game.”  Be politically correct, be strong or weak, be silent or speak up.  This goes for the big questions on the direction of our country down to the little things.  Does a man open a door for a woman or not?  He doesn’t want to be rude, or to imply she’s incapable of opening the door for herself.

 

Simply put, the everyday ordinary is complex and confusing, and that makes a simple lifestyle with structured rules appealing.  Everyone knows the rules.  Everyone is expected to abide by them, and if they don’t, they know the consequences and that they will pay them, whether those consequences are to admit the flaw or crime publicly before the community or, if the offense is deemed worthy, being shunned.  Excommunicated, so to speak, not so much as looked at by the rest of those in the community.

 

To some, this sounds harsh.  To others, it appeals.  They know the rules, what’s expected of them.  This is a welcome respite from the confusion of readers’ normal, daily lives.

 

So those are the three main reasons I think Amish books hold such appeal to readers:  they venture into an unfamiliar world without risk, the simple lifestyle is a sharp contrast to their complex lives, and there is an absence of confusion, the structured community makes the rules clear.

 

Of the books I read, I most enjoyed Beverly Lewis’s The Shunning, which was book 1 in her Heritage of Lancaster County series.  I read many novels that were good, some that were excellent, but this book stood out for me personally.

 

What about Amish books do you like?  Have you read many of them?  What’s your favorite?

 

 

Blessings,

 

Vicki

 

VICKI HINZE

Fated to Thrill. Destined to Heal.

Latest Release:  Not This Time

Next Release:  Survive the Night

P.S.  On me writing Amish books?  I don’t know.  My fondness for nail-biting suspense might be at odds with my findings.  But I’m open to being convinced that suspense would layer in nicely.  I still haven’t decided.

 

 

Mommy Wars by Vicki Hinze

© 2012 , Vicki Hinze

This round in the Mommy Wars began pitting women against women.  Specifically, stay at home moms against working outside the home moms.

It received a fair amount of visibility and discussion but didn’t strike the intensity perhaps anticipated.  Why?  Because all moms know exactly what it takes to raise a child and work in or outside the home–they all do it.  So the bottom line was it was a moot point with those who actually do it.  The needs and abilities of the mother and the child and the family dictate what’s best, and moms are wise enough to know it.  Our families and their needs are not one-size-fits all.

So the debate fizzled and the wall-to-wall coverage moved on–to the next battle in the Mommy Wars.  Instead of stay-at-home versus working-outside-the-home moms, this battle was in the form a magazine cover of a three-year-old standing on a chair breastfeeding.

The debate slivered and took several shapes.  Should a child three still be breastfeeding?  Should a mother bare her breast on a national magazine cover?  Should a mother exploit her child by baring his face on a national magazine cover in an act that is (and many say, should be) an intimate bonding time between mother and child?  Is baring the face of a young child breastfeeding in a national magazine on its cover exploitation of the child?

The battle splintered into aspects and was extremely controversial.  Yet moms, being moms, have formed their own opinions and settled their own minds.  In other words, they’re not as subject to outside influences telling them what to think as others might believe.  Moms walk in this world; they know what to think on their own. Some debate-shapers and battle-planners tend to forget that.

As women and mothers and Christians, we read all kinds of things.  We comprehend.  We form opinions and we decide.  We won’t always agree on specific issues, but we do agree that we and our children deserve respect.  We want our children cared for, nurtured, loved and taught all they need to become healthy, happy and well-balanced, productive  human beings (as we define those things).

So I’m reading information on these battles in magazines, news articles, online–those with opinions with whom I agree and disagree (there’s a lot of information on both)–and all the while there is a question in my mind that isn’t being addressed.  It niggles then nags and I realize that it’s the one thing I think should be a Mommy War.  It rises to that level of importance.  So I’m sharing it:

Banning together to assure kids have parents.  Now that’s a Mommy War worth fighting.

Blessings,

Vicki Hinze

The Line Between Fair and Foolish by Vicki Hinze

The Line Between Fair and Foolish by Vicki Hinze

 © 2012, Vicki Hinze

Sometimes in writing books for others to read, it’s hard to find the line between fair and foolish.  Actually, sometimes the line is as clear as a sunny day but most often, it’s just as murky as the muddy Mississippi after a hurricane.

 

We think, as writers, that we’re being too obvious, too fair, and yet when others read, their feedback is as diverse as we were mixed minded in the writing.  Some felt we were too fair, some just fair enough and some foolishly fair and our handling diminished the suspense or message in the book.

 

I went to an online retailer and read all the reviews on five current bestsellers.  Then I went to a second retailer and read all the reviews on the same five books there.  Afterward, I went to a third retailer and read the reviews available on those same books posted there.

 

The results were that some liked one thing, some another, and still others liked nothing.  The mix was evident.  And it proved what writers have always known:

 

Readers are diverse, and writers are and should be grateful for it.  Otherwise, we’d need one writer and one book and that’d be the end of it.  Because readers are diverse, some will love what we write, some will hate it, and unfortunately some will also be indifferent.  Loving or hating is great.  Indifference stings.

 

The results also prove that the line between fair and foolish is fine.  It has earned its place.  Readers of one work will not be touched, but will be deeply touched by another work.  And those readers will hate, love and be indifferent to a third, fourth and fifth work.

 

This convinces me that writers should never hope for all five-star reviews.  They should aspire to a mixed bag of reviews and reader feedback.  Love, hate, and indifference is evidence that the writer is walking that fine line—and doing it well.

 

As I write this, I’m thinking of books that touched me deeply—both positively and negatively—and I’m having to search my memory hard for those books that left me feeling indifferent.  I’m not sure if that means I’m too opinionated or normal.  Maybe it means it’s normal to be opinionated.

 

Or maybe it means that we write books and trust that the right people will find them at the right time when the message in the book resonates for them—when this specific book is what the reader needs to read at that moment, in his/her current circumstance.

 

I’ve written a lot of books and I’ve always written each book for a purpose.  Sometimes it takes a while, but always someone will write me a note or an email and say that the book was just what they needed—and then go on to disclose why it was perfect for them at that time.  That perfect reason relates to the purpose for which I wrote the book.  It’s humbling to receive notes like those.  But it’s reassuring, too.  Because the indifferent rarely write.  They might post a review, but they rarely message the reader that the book did nothing for them.  Those who love or hate the book are far more apt to write the author.  They’re more invested.

 

In reviewing books I didn’t care for, I discovered that they hit hot buttons inside me.  And while that wasn’t fun, it was often helpful.  It gave me the opportunity to revisit that hot button and to make choices again on it being a hot button.  To explore why it was a hot button and reevaluate.  Even though I didn’t care for the experience, it was a beneficial experience, and now I wonder if that initial negative reaction wasn’t surface clutter, because beneath it there lay a great opportunity for me.   One tied to spiritual and/or emotional growth.

 

Now that potential fascinated me.  So on went the reviewing books that left me indifferent.  What I discovered was that they just didn’t speak to me at the place I was standing at the time I read them.  Later, when I reread them, some of those books actually spoke to me—and my second reaction was far different from the first!

 

And that’s my point.  The fine line isn’t just fine, it’s also tied to time.  Sometimes the timing is right, sometimes it’s not.

 

Have you looked at the books that you’ve loved and hated and been indifferent to?  Why did you love or hate them?  Did you later find an indifferent work, well different?  Relevant to you in a way it hadn’t been during the first read?

 

After all this, I’ll tell you.  My attitude has changed.  Some books I love and feel I’ll always love.  Some I hate for now and may or may not hate later.  Some are just plain not for me but more of them are snagged in shades of gray.  And of the ones I reacted to with indifference, I’ll say, “indifferent for today” and I’ll set them aside to read again later.

 

Because the line between fair and foolish is thin and tied to time.

 

And it seems we really only know if we’ve walked the line or crossed it in hindsight.

 

Blessings,

 

Vicki