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The Jevlir Caravansary

Month: February 2008

  • Christian Carnival #213: Bookstore Edition

    And no, this is not an edition designed to sell books, but rather according to sections of the bookstore. I had several ideas for this carnival. One was to call it the “Complete Confusion Edition,” after the server problems of yesterday, but God is not the author of confusion, so I thought it better not to name the carnival after the other guy. Then I thought of using just fiction categories, since this is my fiction blog, but I suspect I might be accused of bias regarding posts placed in say a Fantasy or Horror category.

    Thus, I’m going to use the rather open-ended bookstore edition. I’m also going to quote some texts from the Lenten lectionary readings with each category I create. Before someone asks, these are my own translations. I use my them a great deal both because I generally do draft a translation of any text I’m studying, but also because of copyright considerations, given the large amount of scripture quotation I do.

    Finally, why is this on this blog? Well, I won’t have fully restored the Participatory Bible Study Blog until somewhat later today, and I don’t want to delay that long. Originally, I had just one blog, Threads from Henry’s Web, which also suffered a nasty day yesterday, and I divided it into three to keep from inflicting things on my readers they weren’t so much interested in. Threads now contains politics, social issues, and generally religion and society issues, Participatory is for Bible study, and is usually where I host, and this blog, Jevlir Caravansary, is for playing around with fiction, both reviewing books and such writing as I attempt.

    So, welcome to the Bookstore Edition!

    Biblical Studies

    1The hand of YHWH grabbed me and took me by the spirit of YHWH and set me down in a valley. The valley was full of bones. 2He made me pass over them all around, and there were very many of them all over the valley and they were very dry.

    3And he said to me, “Human! Can these bones live?”

    And I said, “My Lord YHWH, you know.”

    4And he said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, ‘Oh dry bones, hear the word of YHWH! 5This is what YHWH says to these dry bones, “Look! I’m bringing breath among you and you will live! 6And I will put sinews on you and I will bring up flesh on you, and I will cover you with skin, and I will give you breath and you will live and you will know that I am YHWH.”’”

    7So I prophesied as I had been commanded, and there was a sound while I prophesied and a clatter, and the bones were gathering together, one bone to another. 8And I looked and sinews were placed on them, and flesh rose up on them, and skin on top of that, but there was no breath in them.

    9And he said to he, “Prophesy to the breath! Prophesy human! Say to the breath, ‘This is what the Lord YHWH says, “Come from the four winds, oh breath, and blow into these dead bodies that they may live!”’”

    10So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath went into them, and they lived and they stood on their feet, and very, very large crowd. — Ezekiel 37:1-14

    Ali presents Jesus in Genesis 3. posted at Kiwi and an Emu.. Types and hints and parallels of Jesus in the Fall.

    Weekend Fisher at Heart, Mind, Soul, and Strength presents The Son of God and the sons of God, looking at all the people and groups called “son of God” in Scripture and finds that Scripture keeps using that phrase, and it means more than we think it means.

    Richard H. Anderson presents Rewriting Abraham posted at dokeo kago grapho soi kratistos Theophilos.

    Update: I forgot my own entry! I present Testimony – John 4:39-42 discussing the impact of the testimony of the woman at the well. We only need to bring them to the point where they can hear from the Master. We don’t have to have all the answers ourselves. (As you will see below, I also forgot my wife’s entry–bad me!)

    Christian Living

    24They called the man who had been blind again, and they said, “Give glory to God, we know that this man is a sinner.” 25Then he answered and said, “I don’t know if he is a sinner or not, but I do know one thing: I was bind but not I see.” — John 9:24-25

    Jennifer in OR presents A Habit of Peace posted at Diary of 1. I’m trying to replace my worrisome habits with habits of peace.

    the bloke presents There are only three types of soil posted at …in the outer…. a re-reading of the Parable of the Sower within the context of Mark 4 provides insight into the lessons that we can glean from this very familiar story. The question to ask is not so much “Am I the kind of person represented by the seed that fell on good soil?” but a slightly different question that helps us to direct our attention at the areas in our lives that need attention.

    Ronnica presents Emotions are Nothing to Get Emotional About.

    Health

    Life. Money. Development. presents Diet Tips for Preventing High Cholesterol Levels posted at Life. Money. Development A neat collection of diet tips for keeping cholesterol in recommended levels.

    Jody Neufeld presents Depression . . . Win, Lose, or Draw, discussing what depression is and a Christian response.

    Money

    FMF presents How To Take Market Turbulence In Stride posted at Free Money Finance. Details appropriate Christian response to the recent stock market turmoil.

    Divine Guidance

    Chasing the Wind presents God’s Will Be Done Despite Us posted at Chasing the Wind. When we do God’s will, He blesses us. Or we can do it our way and make our lives chaos – but God will accomplish His will anyway. A study of Genesis 25-27 and Isaac, Rebekah, Esau and Jacob.

    David Porter presents Knowing God’s Will posted at A Boomer in the Pew.

    Marriage and Family

    Mark Olson presents Confusion and a Divorce posted at Pseudo-Polymath. Some thoughts on marriage and modern culture in the context of American political practice.

    Tom Gilson presents A Dying Man’s Demand for Definite Answers posted at Thinking Christian. In a widely viewed clip from the TV show ER, a dying patient was seeking forgiveness. He didn’t want maybe, didn’t want doubts, didn’t want what-ifs; he wanted certainty. What do we make of that kind of demand? Could anybody legitimately say they know the one true answer?

    Theology

    1Since we have been made right with God by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2through whom we also have access by faith to this grace in which we now live and we boast in the hope of God’s glory. — Romans 5:1-2

    Logic

    Rey from the Bible Archive, with nothing written this week, decides to include a poem about the One-Hoss Shay.

    Epistemology

    Chaplain Mick presents To Be, or not to Be – Futility of Human Thinking posted at Romans 15:4 Project. Two news stories caught my attention today and remind me of the futility of human thinking apart from God.

    Soteriology

    Ken Brown presents Inclusivism and the Atonement posted at C.Orthodoxy. If Jesus’ death was sufficient to save everyone, can it save even those who never hear of him?

    Rodney Olsen presents The Cross posted at RodneyOlsen.net.

    This week at Light Along the Journey John finishes his blogging through John Piper’s book Future Grace with the post God’s Glory & Our Joy.

    Jeremy Pierce presents Supererogation and Christian Ethics posted at Parableman. Some people think Christian freedom means there are ethical options, i.e. good things that we aren’t morally required to do. This post argues against that view. Morality requires being perfect, as God is perfect.

    Matt Rawlings presents A Brief Break from My Vision for a Church to a Dialogue with Luther posted at River City Redemption Project.

    Apologetics

    Elgin Hushbeck, Jr. asks Is Christianity a Religion? Is telling people that Christianity is a relationship, not a religion, an effective response?

    Church

    35Jesus heard that they [the religious leaders] had thrown him [the man born blind whom Jesus had healed] out, and he found him and said to him, “Do you believe in the son of man?”

    36He answered, “And who is he, sir, so I can believe in him?”

    37Jesus said to him, “You have seen him! He is the one speaking to you!”

    38He said, “I believe, Lord!” And he worshiped him.

    39Jeus said to him, “I have come into this world for judgment, so that those who don’t see might see, and those who see might become blind.”

    40Some of the Pharisees who were with him heard these things, and said to him, “We aren’t also blind, are we?” 41Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin. But because you say, ‘We see,’ Your sin remains.” — John 9:35-41

    e-Mom presents Why Men Hate Going To Church posted at C h r y s a l i s. Where are all the fathers? Discussion includes quotes from David Murrow (Why Men Hate Going to Church) and Leon Podles (The Church Impotent: The Feminization of Christianity), plus a previous commentor.

    William Meisheid presents Lent 2008: Day 16 – Weekend Warriors posted at Beyond The Rim…. A few thoughts about how God gets the short end of our efforts during the week and how we try to make up for it on the weekend.

    Peter Anderson presents The Bible and tithing: To give or not to give – Part 1 posted at Bible Money Matters. A post series talking about tithing and whether or not is biblically commanded to tithe. I will look at both sides of the issue, and then talk about my own feelings on the subject.

    Thom presents The Miracle of Dirt posted at Everyday Liturgy. Thom comments on the recent NYT article about a small desert sanctuary in New Mexico famous for its miraculous dirt.

    Christian Fiction

    Annette presents Tiger Soup posted at Fish and Cans. Though perhaps not a Christian article, the author is a Christian and I thought it might be fun to share a bedtime story I made up for a little boy with lots of stuffed cats, one of which is called “little cat”.

    Final Note

    If you were left out, it is almost certainly inadvertent. I only left out one submission intentionally, and that poster should consider that this is not the swim suit and lingerie carnival. So if there’s nothing on your blog that would make me say that, and your post isn’t here, put a link in a comment and I’ll promote it into the post as soon as possible.

  • Book: Will the Last Person to Leave the Planet Please Shut Off the Sun

    This is a lovely collection of 28 short stories by Mike Resnick. I blogged previously about getting the inspiration for a devotional from one of them, but I’ve now finished the whole collection. It’s available in a Kindle edition, hard cover, and paperback.

    My favorites were <em>Kirinyaga</em>, <em>For I Have Touched the Sky</em>, and <em>Watching Marcia</em>.   That’s a weird selection, I suspect, but the first two I find particularly challenging.  The concept is simple, but it has very profound implications.  It sets me to thinking what the universe they are set in would be like and how well it would work.

    Novels are great, but short story collections work so well as bedtime reading.  I heartily recommend this one – numeric rating of 5.

  • The God-Talk Club – Including the Waitress

    [This is a work of fiction, and is part of my God-Talk club series. For more information follow the link.]

    Ellen McDonald set the extra large Coke on the table in front of Mark Morton and then sat down herself.

    “I hope you won’t get fired for sitting down here with us,” said Mark.

    “Oh, I’m not on the clock.”

    “So what about this?” Mark pointed at the Coke.

    “It’s a Coke, just like you like.”

    “Why are you working if you’re not on the clock?”

    “Well, I’m not really working. I’m just getting you your drink.” Ellen paused. “I listen to bits and pieces of your conversations, but I can’t really join in. I’d like to hear more.”

    “You might even say something once in a while,” said Jerry Simonson. The whole group was gathered, though they hadn’t really gotten started on any topic. There was a long pause in the conversation, as though they couldn’t decide what to talk about.

    “If you’re not comfortable with me being here, I’ll go,” said Ellen.

    “Oh, absolutely not,” said Jerry.

    “Well, we have treated her like part of the furniture,” said Justine. “Sorry, Ellen. We know you’re a person, but it’s easy to ignore the waitress.”

    (more…)

  • Resnick Inspired Devotional

    It is perhaps a bit humorous that my devotional this morning, Sticking with the Familiar was inspired by Michael Resnick’s short story “Over There” which I read just last night from his collection Will the Last Person to Leave the Planet Please Shut Off the Sun?. The thought came to me how often we go with who we are and what we do even when all the indications are against it.

    I like short stories, and Resnick has that wonderful quality of writing stories that I don’t entirely like, but are so good that I have to read anyhow. I’m not sure just how to express that properly. I felt that way before about his book A Hunger in the Soul, and he even dropped by to comment and explain, but the thing is there was nothing wrong with the book. In fact, it was superbly written as one would expect of Mike Resnick. Yet I really didn’t like the story.

    In any case, there are any number of short stories in this book that annoy me while at the same time are really wonderful. That may indicate some sort of mental problem. The Kirniyaga stories, of which I’ve read two so far are no fun at all and yet superbly set and written. In case you’re wondering, I recommend this collection, even though it is only available used. There are plenty of used copies. Look one up.

  • Scheduling Your Writing

    There is a great post at Study Hacks about how professional writers schedule their writing.

    I find all the suggestions quite useful. I would differ on the precise time of starting, because I have found that doing my morning devotional reading first always helps, and that takes a bit longer. I also have to dedicated the first 45 minutes to an hour of my morning to some business related activities that start my day, including posting the morning devotional, and so forth. This usually starts before 7 AM, and on many days before 6 AM.

    Immediately following that I do my devotional reading, which for me can be up to a couple of hours. Thus I get to actual writing, beyond small posts like this, by about 9-10 AM or so. I have tried writing first, but it doesn’t work. I definitely can’t move it to the afternoon, however, or it just plain doesn’t get done.

    (HT: the evangelical outpost.)

  • Kris Longknife Series Added

    I have added Mike Shepherd’s Kris Longknife Series to the Energion.com Book Store. That means books are now tagged to series and author.

  • Tlisli’s Escape

    Tlisli waited tensely for the animal sounds around her to die down. It was some time before the jungle noises settled back to normal. She was pretty sure that someone else was disturbing the jungle-perhaps many someones.

    If there was one thing she could do well, however, it was being quiet. Soon her silent waiting was rewarded. She knew that at least two, and maybe three groups of people were pursuing her. And they were close, too close!

    Her choices were limited. She was about to enter the forbidden ground. It was clearly the intention of her pursuers that she have no choice–she’d either have to surrender or die in the forbidden ground.

    It wasn’t just the taboo. There were the tribesmen, carrying bows and arrows that were poison tipped. The local tribe of Tlazil was not terribly well equipped, nor were they particularly skilled, but they made up for that in numbers and ferocity. The townspeople claimed the taboo was due to some religious proclamation or another, but the tribesmen seemed to be the most effective enforcement.

    Tlisli thought for a few moments. It would be tough enough for her to evade the pursuing groups. Her father’s men might be stuffy, traditional, and otherwise annoying, but they knew their way around a jungle.

    It had been a foolish idea for her to run away. She should have known it wouldn’t work. For a moment she thought of surrendering. She was so tired. But the thought of surrender brought her back to the reason she was running.

    There had been the troops of the grand emperor, who had quickly overwhelmed the town’s defenses. Her father had long been an advocate of resistance to the Grand-Emperor. Yet when the troops entered the city, her father had gone to greet them.

    She wasn’t sure whether her father had been a traitor all along or whether he had just changed sides quickly. He had always been a bit indulgent with her. But her husband had remained cool toward the invaders. He wasn’t any sort of rebel: he just didn’t flatter them and butter them up. He had also remained indulgent with his wife.

    She, in turn, wasn’t able to hide her contempt, and had finally publicly confronted her father. It had been a minor issue, simply a matter of skirt length. Her father had told her she was not fit to appear in public dressed like that. She should have realized she needed to back down with the Grand Emperor’s governor-general watching. It was obvious now. But she had challenged her father and then called on her husband to back her up.

    She almost wished now that he had agreed to punish her for her insubordination. The Grand Empire’s laws merely required that she be whipped. But he had stood by her, still the sweet boy she had married only three months before and still in love.

    The governor decided to make an example of him. He was stripped naked, shackled just tightly enough to slow his movement adequately, and whipped through the city streets until he died.

    Her father had then whipped her like a child. But he had made a fatal mistake–he didn’t think she would defy him. She had cried pitifully and promised obedience. But she was only watching for her chance.

    It had come almost immediately. Her father put her in her own childhood room, from which she had discovered dozens of exits as a teenager. The escape had been trivial. Yet pursuit had been almost instant. Only many hunting trips with cousins and uncles prepared her to get this far.

    And now she faced the choice. Either she must surrender, or she must face certain death in the forbidden ground. Trying to run past her pursuers would be the equivalent of surrender.

    She hesitated only a moment. She ran slightly north and east, then plunged into the stream that marked the boundary.

    To be continued . . .

    [Next episode]

    From the Tlisli Series; Set in the Energion world. This particular entry was composed entirely on my Palm Centro.

  • The Decision

    [The following is a work of fiction. I made up the community and the church. But many, many churches are facing similar decisions, though often not as clear as this one. I wonder how the elders will vote?]

     

    Celia looked around the table as she finished her presentation. She’d done more work than she had been paid for and had gone further in making recommendations than she had been asked. Still, she had been able to see the possibilities. She braced herself to conclude:

    “In summary, with your membership falling you will be able to continue to operate your church for approximately five years. That is only due to the previous members who have provided unusual financial reserves for your church. With your current programs, you will continue to decline in membership.

    “On the other hand there are several opportunities. First, you have the Hispanic community. There are a large number of Spanish speaking people in the neighborhood now. Hiring a Spanish speaking associate pastor would allow you to reach out to that community. Second, despite the impression of some church members that they cannot reach out to the African-American community, there are a substantial number of families who would appreciate your pastor’s style. We could identify those for you and help you contact them. Finally, you have cut out services for young couples and youth, and that has forced your remaining young people to leave.

    “Your decision will have to be whether to spend your financial reserves to hold on, in which case I cannot give you any hope that things will change. The demographics for your community will get worse, not better for the style of church you have had all these years. If you choose to spend your resources on preparing yourself to serve your community as it is now, there is plenty of room for this church to grow and continue to serve.

    “If I could speak from a personal perspective for a moment. This is not me speaking as a consultant, but as a Christian. You have an unusual opportunity. While you have a declining membership, you have resources that nobody else can. ‘Raise your eyes and look at the fields, because they are already ripe, ready for harvest.’ Jesus said that about a Samaritan village. I say it about your community.”

    Celia sat down. She looked at the pastor. He was well educated, but not very forceful. Nonetheless, he was the one who had arranged to get her firm to survey the community and see what could be done.

    Then the chairman of the board of elders spoke.

    “I know that we have to do these things you’re talking about if we want to grow, but then we cannot have the church we grew up with and one in which we can feel safe and comfortable as we worship. I don’t think God is calling us to make this church unpleasant for the members who have fought for it over the years. I contributed a great deal of that money that our visitor has spoken of, and I contributed it so I could have a church to care for me in my old age. I think that the people here deserve to be cared for. That is what Jesus would do.”

    There was silence in the room as everyone looked at one another. Finally the oldest man in the room moved to stand up.

    “I’m 94 years old,” he said. “I have worked in this church longer than any of you. You could say I need someone to take care of me more than anyone. But when I signed on with Jesus when I was just 11 years old, I didn’t sign on to get taken care of.” He was speaking slowly, but clearly. “The people who live in this neighborhood now are the ones God has called us to care for. And you, brother,” he continued after a moment, looking at the head elder, “that money you gave the church isn’t yours. It belongs to God.”

    He sat down again.

    The pastor looked around the room. “Let’s not stand on formal rules. Let’s just take our pulse. How many of you would like to start working based on our consultant’s report?”

  • Psalm 121: A Translation and Poetic Response

    OK, this is playing around. The first is a translation with some freedom, but with an effort to convey just a little bit of the rhythm of the Hebrew. It needs some more work. The second is just me having some fun with rhyme and meter, a practice I can always use.

    I look up to the mountains,
    Where can I find help?
    My help comes from Yahweh,
    The maker of heaven and earth.

    He won’t let your foot slip.
    Your guardian won’t sleep.

    Not sleeping,
    Not slumbering,
    Israel’s keeper.

    Yahweh is your guardian.
    Yahweh is your shelter.
    Right there with you.

    By day the sun does no harm,
    Nor the moon at night.
    Yahweh keeps you from all injury.
    He preserves your life.

    Yahweh watches when you go out or come in,
    Today, and every day hereafter.

    And now the response:I gaze as mountains bar my way,
    With pinnacle and rock and peak.
    I ask myself whose help I seek.
    Whence guidance comes I can obey.

    To God I look when fears assail,
    From right or left, by day or night.
    When arrows fly from left or right,
    My shield’s my Lord he will prevail.

    No matter when I fear not sleep,
    My Lord protects and guards my life.
    Mid toil and trial, stroke or strife,
    He stays awake, my guard to keep.

    If battle call the trump should sound,
    He watches every step I take.
    And if a misstep I should make,
    He puts my foot on solid ground.

    He is my guard, he’s ever near,
    So never danger must I fear.