Category Archives: That’s Life

What’s happening in the world, or at least in my world

Footprints on Our Lives

Posted on by
4

Photo of a red roseYesterday family and friends celebrated the life of Clara Euker, who went home to the Lord at age 95. Naturally, this woman who walked the earth for nearly a century left many wonderful memories.

I knew Clara primarily from church. She laughed along with my son and his puppet pal, raved about my daughter’s singing (Clara loved music!), and patted me on the back when I conducted a worship service. Praise and encouragement  for an effort made—even if not a hundred percent successful—flowed from her freely.

But I consider Clara a kindred spirit because of a rather different quality. She knew what to take seriously and what not to. Her faith in the Lord was strong but not blind. She examined everything with intelligent, critical eyes and challenged whatever didn’t sit just right. The pastor, the church administrative board, even the Lord God himself did not escape her questioning. I wouldn’t be surprised to find her grilling one of the scripture writers at this very moment!

All who knew Clara Euker bear the imprint of her loving heart, truth-seeking mind, and heaven-bound soul. Looking around at the loved ones gathered for her memorial service, I could imagine her farewell words sounding much like this … 

May my footprints on your heart be deep and lasting

and remembrance of my presence never fade.

May your heart be ever warmed

by the bond of love we formed

and comforted by memories we’ve made.

I’ve left my footprints on your life.

They remain, though I must go.

Look inside yourself and know,

I’ve left my footprints on your life.

 

May my footprints on your mind always inspire

you to search for what is right and what is true.

As you meet life’s twists and turns,

may the echo of my words

encourage you and guide you safely through.

I’ve left my footprints on your life.

They remain, though I must go.

Look inside yourself and know,

I’ve left my footprints on your life.

 

May my footprints on your soul lead you to heaven,

like a treasure map that I have left behind

in the hope one day you’ll be

with our Father God and me,

together once again and for all time.

I’ve left my footprints on your life.

They remain, though I must go.

Look inside yourself and know,

I’ve left my footprints on your life.

 

My Footprints on Your Life — Linda Bonney Olin

 If you love music as much as Clara did, you might enjoy listening to the melody as you read the words. Click here.

 This song is one of twenty-four in my Songs for the Lord collection. The Kindle version (which can be read on computers and other devices, not just Kindles) can be downloaded on Amazon. And it’s FREE through February 6, 2013. Clara would like that!

 

Just a Chalk Outline on the Ground: Iain Edward Henn Interview

Posted on by
2
Photo of thriller author Iain Edward Henn

Thriller author Iain Edward Henn

Author Iain Edward Henn lives in Sydney, Australia, halfway around the globe from me. We “met” in the Suspense/Thriller Writers Facebook group, where I was impressed by his low-key humor and thoughtful, positive attitude.

As part of The Next Big Thing blog-hop, Iain answered 10 questions about his novel-in-progress. You can read those on his blog Take It As Read.

But I, of course, had more nosey questions to ask him …

Iain, I read your first two thriller novels, The Delta Chain and Disappear. Good stuff. How would you describe them?

Disappear concerns a man missing 18 years, who turns up as an accident victim in the same place he was last seen, his body still the same age as it was almost 2 decades earlier.

The Delta Chain is about young drowning victims, whose identities cannot be traced – who were they?

Without spoiling any surprises for those who haven’t read them yet, I’ll just say that both books incorporate elements of research science. Is that going to be the “brand” or hallmark of Iain Edward Henn novels?

No, I am interested in all aspects of the mystery/suspense genre. Science, forensics and high-tech may resurface from time to time.

Growing up in the 60’s I loved thrillers set just slightly ahead in time that envisaged future gadgetry and scientific developments. Forty years later I’m living in a world where many of those far-out concepts exist and are taken for granted in our day to day lives – cell phones, the internet, space stations, DNA. I’ve followed and researched scientific developments through the years.

Do you think it’s harder to write a convincing thriller or mystery nowadays? I mean, it’s a pretty short novel if the good guys can track down a crook in three pages, using the Internet and all that scientific technology.

Continue reading →

Taking It to the Streets ~ Human Trafficking Awareness Day

Posted on by
7

Black-eyed susans trapped behind wireMichelle Sweeney

When I interviewed social activist Ruth Jacobs here on Faith Songs in November, I joked about a nice church lady like me blogging about prostitution. Well, today Ruth clued me in to a nice church lady in Coventry, England, who’s really taking it to the streets – her faith, that is.

Michelle Sweeney says, “I was listening to a late night radio show one night in November 2011. As I listened, I quickly found out that not only did human trafficking happen in our world today but that it happened in the city I lived in. That was it, in that moment, I was convicted that I should be doing something about this.”

But what to do?

Michelle’s research led her to a church-sponsored mission project, which helps young girls, women, and boys exploited by sex trafficking in her local area. With her church, she also does weekly outreach work with a charity named Embrace. “We drive around the local red light area. We offer the women hot and cold drinks, hygiene bags, food, and also condoms. And we offer friendship. We listen to them, we talk with them and we try to help them with their practical issues. Embrace also offers spiritual support for the women, so if they ask for it, we would pray with them.”

To read more about Michelle Sweeney’s many and varied activities on behalf of victims of human trafficking, and about what drives her to serve them, read her full interview on In the Booth with Ruth. 

William Eberle

Human trafficking and sexual exploitation aren’t issues that concern only women or only European communities. American William Eberle advocates for trafficking victims here in the USA. What motivates him?

“Too often these people find themselves with little to no hope for bettering their situation. I remember a time when I had lost hope and it was through the caring of friends and family as well as my faith in God that I found hope again. I believe that God will use my efforts to help people, I don’t need to understand how that happens, but it is my faith that says that it will happen.”

Read more about William Eberle’s fight against trafficking, and how you can get involved, in this interview In the Booth with Ruth. 

Kimberly Benson

And if you feel unmoved to help victims of sex trafficking because you aren’t too sure the “victims” really are victims, or you doubt slavery could happen in this day and age in your home town, please pay close attention to Kimberly Benson’s reason for becoming an anti-trafficking activist:

“My passion stems from being a victim once myself. When I was 18, I thought I knew it all – enough to keep me from trouble, but didn’t know that trouble would come looking for me. I left home to live on my own. After having been in several negative and abusive relationships, I was all alone. A young lady and I became friends. She was the best, was always there, encouraged me, bought me clothes, took me to get my hair and nails done. We were great friends.”

Until her “great friend” left Kimberly at a house party to be drugged and raped, then tricked her into attending an “innocent, all-girl” party where she handed Kimberly over to a powerful man. For money. In a major American city.

Read the details, and how Kimberly has been working against trafficking since her own escape from enslavement, In the Booth with Ruth.

 

 

Angels Cried: A Sandy Hook Tribute

Posted on by
6

Cover of Angels Cried anthology by Indies in ActionToday’s mail brought my paperback copy of Angels Cried, a new anthology dedicated to the memory of those lost at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14, 2012, and to their survivors. Proceeds are going to the Sandy Hook School Support Fund, which is managed by the United Way.

The book is a collaborative effort of Indies in Action, a Facebook group of writers and artists, thirty-nine of whom donated work to the project. Poems, short stories, bits of memoir, and drawings fill over 150 pages. Some pieces reflect directly on the Sandy Hook tragedy. Others, like my poem “Through Two Unblackened Eyes,” express the awfulness of violence and fear intruding where security should be a given. Still others are sweet homages to childhood.

Stephen L. Wilson masterminded the book’s production, completing the ebook version within two weeks of the tragedy. The paperback version quickly followed. It is available through several outlets, but it’s my understanding that purchases made directly from CreateSpace yield the best percentage of the purchase price to the charity fund.

Now, I won’t add to the hoo-hah about gun control or funding for mental health treatment. I won’t sermonize about God calling the little ones home.

I just want to express how very, very sad I am for all those whose loved ones were wrenched away.

When my mother lost her favorite sister, she was distraught because she no longer had her dearest friend to talk to. I tried to console Ma with the fact that Aunt Annette was living in heaven, so we could still talk to her. Ma cried, “It’s not the same,” and wept even harder.

Ma was right. It’s not the same.

So, no platitudes from me about my faith in a happy forever home with the Lord. Just my heart weeping with the survivors. For them, it will never be the same.

 

Love, Truth, Purpose, Freedom: Pat Bertram

Posted on by
14
Photo of Pat Bertram, photo supplied by Pat Bertram

Author and blogger Pat Bertram

I first encountered Pat Bertram in her role as administrator of the popular Suspense/Thriller Writers group on Facebook. Pat is, not surprisingly, an author herself, but her work ranges far beyond the suspense/thriller realm.

Detecting in Pat a kindred spirit I would like to know better, I asked her a few nosey questions …

Pat, why do you write what you write? For example, why did you choose to write A Spark of Heavenly Fire?

A Spark of Heavenly Fire came about because of a Washington Irving quote: “There is in every true woman’s heart a spark of heavenly fire, which lies dormant in the broad daylight of prosperity; but which kindles up, and beams and blazes in the dark hour of adversity.” When I read those words, I could see her, a drab woman, defeated by life, dragging herself through her days in the normal world, but in an abnormal world of strife and danger, she would come alive and inspire others. And so Kate Cummings, the hero of my novel A Spark of Heavenly Fire was born. But born into what world?

Continue reading →

Pick Up a Pen and Celebrate “I Love to Write Day”

Posted on by
Reply

Poster announcing November 15, I Love to Write Day

Ten years ago, Delaware author John Riddle had the bright idea to hold the world’s largest party for writers. That idea quickly evolved into an annual day dedicated to encouraging everyone to write. Thousands of schools and libraries—even the governors of nine states—have joined the celebration.

John says: “My goal for I Love To Write Day is simple: people of all ages are encouraged to write something. A poem, a letter, an essay, start a novel, finish a novel…the possibilities are endless!”

Edward Bulwer-Lytton famously said, “The pen is mightier than the sword.”

I would add my own soon-to-be famous saying: “The sword has no power at all unless you pull it out and use it. Same goes for your pen!”

Continue reading →

Faith and Freedom ~ Veterans Day

Posted on by
4
Photo of Corporal Clarence Bonney in uniform

Corporal Clarence Bonney at Camp Crowder, Missouri, before deployment to Burma

My father, Clarence Bonney, served his country for four years during World War II, much of it at a jungle airfield in Burma. As the man in charge of maintaining the field’s electric generators, he worked under dangerous circumstances to support airplanes “flying the hump” to deliver supplies to our troops in China.
Today I want to thank Dad and all the other veterans of our armed forces, who sacrificed their time, their health, and in some cases their lives, that others might live in freedom.

Faith and Freedom

As a Lay Speaker/Servant in the United Methodist Church, I had the opportunity to lead Sunday worship services this morning at my home church and our sister church a few miles away. Preparing for my Veterans Day message, I was struck by the parallel between the service men and women who put their lives on the line so the rest of us can live in freedom, and Jesus Christ, who gave up his own life so that we might live eternally in freedom from sin. Workers in Christian missionary service, as well as those in the military service, can be called into harm’s way, even to death.

To make that point more personal, in place of the traditional Gospel reading and sermon I chose to portray the Apostle John speaking as a traveling preacher in the year 44 A.D., eleven years after the crucifixion of Jesus. In this dramatic monologue, John reflects on the recent execution of his brother James, the first of the twelve apostles to be martyred, and on what James’s death meant to their family’s faith.

Continue reading →

Soul Destruction ~ Ruth Jacobs

Posted on by
28

Question: Why would a nice church lady discuss prostitution on her blog?

Answer: To support author Ruth Jacobs’s mission to dispel the “happy hooker” myth and expose the “soul-destroying” reality of prostitution.

Photo of author Ruth Jacobs

Ruth Jacobs, author of the Soul Destruction novels

 

I recently read Ruth Jacobs’s book In Her Own Words… Interview with a London Call Girl and her blog, Voices of Prostitution Survivors.  To be honest, I half expected to find lurid pornography masquerading as social commentary. Instead, I found authentic reflections from “Q” and other real women caught up in the trade (often as very young girls). I was so moved by their experiences that I contacted Ruth, and she graciously agreed to answer my questions.

Continue reading →

Frightful Wind and Waves

Posted on by
5

The disciples went and woke him up, shouting, “Master, Master, we’re going to drown!”
When Jesus woke up, he rebuked the wind and the raging waves. Suddenly the storm stopped and all was calm. Then he asked them, “Where is your faith?”
The disciples were terrified and amazed. “Who is this man?” they asked each other. “When he gives a command, even the wind and waves obey him!”
—Luke 8:24–25 (NLT)

Photo of ducks swimming on a large expanse of water

See the ducks? They’re swimming on our cornfield during the 2006 flood. This scene was repeated in 2011. The banks of the Susquehanna River normally are behind that row of large treetops in the distance.

Hurricane Sandy is bearing down on the northeastern USA, bringing tree-toppling winds, unprecedented tidal surges, and inland flooding from heavy rainfall. Victims of the so-called hundred-year floods of 2006 and 2011 in New York and Pennsylvania have good cause to fear this new threat to their safety and possessions.

Continue reading →

Eddie Jones ~ Author & Publisher

Posted on by
10

 

Photo of Eddie Jones
Author/Publisher Eddie Jones

Today’s Faith Song is a duet with guest Eddie Jones. Eddie claims he can’t carry a tune, so we’ll settle for hand-clapping and foot-stomping in the “joyful noise” pew. 🙂

I met Eddie at the 2011 Montrose Christian Writers Conference. Couldn’t help but love the humor-filled, down-to-earth way he lives out his passion for the Lord and for the written word.

Eddie is the author of eleven books and over 100 articles. He also serves as Acquisition Editor for Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas. He is a three-time winner of the Delaware Christian Writers’ Conference, and his YA novel, The Curse of Captain LaFoote, won the 2012 Moonbeam Children’s Book Award and 2011 Selah Award in Young Adult Fiction. He is also a writing instructor and cofounder of Christian Devotions Ministries. His “He Said, She Said” devotional column appears on ChristianDevotions.US (not “dot com”). His humorous romantic suspense, Bahama Breeze, remains a “blessed seller.” When he’s not writing or teaching at writers’ conferences, Eddie can be found surfing in Costa Rica or some other tropical locale.

Now, try to imagine Eddie answering the following questions with a grin and a charming slightly-southern accent:

Continue reading →