Tired of unreal reality shows? Dive into DEADLOCK

Are you tired of reality shows? When was the last time you read a great Western? Take a trip back to the old west of Colorado where Criminals hold Chief U.S. Marshal John Brockman’s daughter captive, and hold him in a DEADLOCK.

The Zarbo brothers are seasoned outlaws with a reputation for killing. Already wanted in two states, they set their sights on Colorado and a string of bank robberies. They don’t count on running into Chief U.S. Marshal John Brockman.

John arrests Lee Zarbo, but his brothers remain in hiding. Lee’s sentence to death by hanging incites them to desperate measures. They’ll do anything to get him out alive. Even kidnap the Chief U.S. Marshal’s daughter.

When John learns of his young daughter’s captivity and the conditions for her release, he must turn to the Lord for direction. It takes all the faith he can muster to wait for the answer. Without freeing a dangerous criminal, can John find Ginny before they kill her?

Al Lacy is an evangelist and author of more than one hundred historical and Western novels, including the Journeys of the Stranger, Angel of Mercy, and Mail Order Bride series, with more than three million books in print. JoAnna Lacy, Al’s wife and longtime collaborator, is a retired nurse. The Lacys have been married over forty years and live in the Colorado Rockies.

How to improve your prayer life: PRAYER POWER

About the Book:

In the crazy world around us, our prayers may too often seem ineffective. Do you want to connect with God when you pray and receive more direct answers? PRAYER POWER is the tool you need to build a more powerful and dynamic life of prayer.

Intensely practical and straightforward, PRAYER POWER helps you improve on thirty essential facets of prayer such as passion, routine, fasting, praying with others, listening to God, handling distractions, and spiritual warfare. In each brief chapter you’ll be inspired by stories of people whose lives of prayer give us powerful examples.

PRAYER POWER can be used as a month-long devotional, a prayer guide, or a reference for help in specific areas. Whether you’re a new believer or think you’ve heard it all, this book’s refreshing and honest insight will guide you to a deeper connection with God.

Interview Questions

1. Many Christians don’t talk about hardships with prayer. Why do you open up about the struggles you have had drawing close to God in prayer?

My first draft of the book read like an instruction manual of all the things you ought to do to be spiritual like me. I realized that the more spiritual I tried to sound, the less honest I was being. I was hiding behind my words. No reader should have to put up with all that. And besides, it was boring.

So I determined to be totally honest. I rewrote the book and openly shared my doubts, struggles, and failures, because everybody goes through the same things. And if I’m not honest with readers, how can I expect readers to be honest with others or even themselves?

I take sort of an “I mess up and you mess up, but God loves us anyway, so let’s connect with him” approach. Readers often tell me how much they identify with that. And when they read about how God still worked amazing things in my life and in others’, it gives them hope.

I’ve discovered two things: First, honesty is liberating, and I don’t want to live any other way. Second, when we stick with prayer and don’t give up, answers and victories rise from our struggles. Answers and victory never rise from pretending.

I hope to connect with readers so that they’ll in turn connect with me and the victories I’ve experienced—so that they will experience their own victories.

2. What are some of the things God has taught you about prayer over the years – especially from the perspective of your leadership roles?

It’s good to listen before I talk. If I always dive into prayer and never spend time listening, I only dump my own “give-me list” on God. But his word says in 1 John 5:14–15 that when I seek and pray according to his will, my prayer will be answered. So the key is to first get in sync with God.

We’ve got to have a hunger, or thirst, for God. Without hunger, no program or technique or anything we learn will go anywhere. But with hunger for God, we could know almost nothing and still have a great prayer life. Hunger is singularly important—which is why it’s the first chapter.

When I pray with faith and don’t get what I ask for, God will soon show me why. There is always something to learn in unanswered prayer.

3. What do you mean by “praying boldly” and how can Christians learn to do that?

Praying boldly is the opposite of excessively polite prayer and of—I’ll just say it—wimpy prayer. Praying boldly is praying without intimidation, not caring what other people think, expressing ourselves to God without concern for being appropriate or religiously correct but rather with a passion from our guts that pours out, unashamedly. Bold prayer is not arrogant. It’s humble and faithful, because of its self-abandoned focus on God and expectation of what God will do.

People often assume they must be polite or solemn before God. Nowhere does the Bible teach this. Two thirds of the Psalms are complaints, and they are not polite. Most prayers in both Old and New Testaments are bold, expectant, and to the point. When Jesus teaches on prayer in Luke 11:5–10, he talks about an obnoxious guy who bangs on his friend’s door at midnight. Then he says we should bug him the same way by continually asking, seeking, and knocking. I often wonder if God gets tired of diplomatic prayers.

Why else would he actually tell us to be bold and persistent—and use examples that, if we were on the receiving end, most of us would say are obnoxious.

There’s no real method to doing this. It’s a mindset that chooses to free itself from previous assumptions and uses the Bible as a model of how to pray.

4. How can we practice the presence of God and include him in everyday tasks?

Practicing the presence of God primarily has to do with developing an attitude, a continual awareness that God is always with us, and that in turn, we always incline our attention toward him.

The first thing most of us need to do is to slow down or cut unnecessary activities from our calendar. Busyness is an enemy to practicing the presence of God. Jesus repeatedly blew off other people’s agendas for him and continually focused on his purpose for being here. Pastors who do the same are always happier, closer to God, and more effective. And when we practice the presence of God, we increase our ability to be intimate with him when times do get busy.

Here are some practices that may help develop that attitude: My last thought before I sleep and my first thought when I wake up is centered on God. When I get mad or stressed, I try to see things from God’s perspective. When I am waiting for someone, I use that time to pray. I do menial tasks with an awareness and love of God. I often have a praise song on my mind as I go through the day.

5. You’re a proponent for creating a place of prayer and establishing a time of prayer. Why are these important elements for prayer?

These two disciplines are the most important external helps for maintaining a strong prayer life. Without them, our good intentions eventually drown under the assaults of busyness and distractions.

A place of prayer helps us concentrate in the face of distractions. That place could be the church sanctuary, an empty room in the house, a spot in the back yard, or even a rug laid out on the floor, on which the only thing we do is pray. The physical surroundings of a location devoted to prayer tell our brains, “Focus on God.” And if we ever feel bored or in a rut of over-familiarity with a place, a change of location can be stimulating.

Establishing a set prayer time engrains a habit of prayer into our minds, such that if we miss it, we feel anxious because something is missing or wrong—and it is! A set prayer time is not to force ourselves to pray as much as to create a boundary of protection from busyness. That boundary of time is like a protective fence around a garden, where we give ourselves freedom from intrusions to spend unhindered time with God. Preferably we’ll do this as early as possible in the morning, so we can lay the whole day before the Lord. And unlike a prayer place, I have never found benefit in changing my prayer time, so I highly recommend keeping it sacred, especially if we’re travelling or really busy. Whether short or long, this protective fence of a set time must be intentional, because no one else can do it for us.

6. What advice would you give to people who struggle with God when they pray?

True men and women of prayer will sometimes struggle in prayer, as did many figures in the Bible, like Jacob’s symbolic wrestling with the angel and Jesus’ wrestling over his fate in Gethsemane.

Like anyone else, I struggle with unanswered prayer or major decisions to do something by faith, when tragedy strikes, problems of injustice, and healings that take a lot longer than I’d like. The key is to keep struggling—don’t give up and too quickly assume something is God’s will before you know for sure. The angel commended Jacob for not giving up until he got a blessing. God the Father actually sent an angel to help Jesus wrestle in Gethsemane. Sometimes wrestling in prayer is God’s will for us.

Wrestling in prayer is actually a good thing. It draws us closer to God. And it changes us in the process. And that’s what most of us hope for!

9 Ways to Improve Your Prayer Life

1. Establish a designated place to pray.

2. Set a designated time of day to pray.

3. Use written prayers or music to help get started.

4. Repent of the things that hinder your prayer.

5. Pray out loud–this clarifies thoughts.

6. Personalize Bible verses when you pray.

7. Let yourself get in a situation where you have to trust God.

8. Seek the Holy Spirit’s leading–and listen.

9. Be bold and persistent.

Top Ten Reasons Prayer Doesn’t Get Answered

Lack of faith –A much-abused idea, but essentially still true.

Effects of sin separating us from God –The Bible says that God sometimes won’t listen when we wallow in sin.

Unforgiveness / Emotional wounds /  Self-pity –A weird dynamic, but scary in how powerful these emotions are.

Unhealthy lifestyle in disagreement with prayer –Don’t pray to lose weight, then eat donuts.

Demonic affliction –Satan and his demons are deceptive and merciless.

Strongholds in the mind –People allow attitudes and beliefs to block out the truth.

God’s working behind the scenes –Sometimes God is in a process of answering before we can see it.

God’s chastisement –Sometimes people bring punishment upon themselves, and it’s for their ultimate good.

God’s classroom of testing and faith building –The way God answers prayer may test you and build your faith.

Old age or time to die –Sometimes it’s our time to go!

About the Author:

Peter Lundell, a former missionary to Japan, is a pastor at Walnut Blessing Church in Walnut, California. He has an MDiv and DMiss from Fuller Theological Seminary and is the founder of the Walnut Valley Pastors’ Prayer Network. Lundell is the author of two books, and his articles have appeared in magazines such as Guideposts and Pray!

GRAND PRIZE BUNDLE INCLUDES:

(leave a comment for an opportunity to win this great package)

Prayer Power by Peter Lundell

When God Turned off the Lights by Cecil Murphey (Cec is one of Peter’s mentors)

Committed but Flawed by Cecil Murphey

Also includes: Prayer Journal, Pen, and Candle

Romance, knitting, and Southern women…summer reads from Multnomah

The Confidential Life of Eugenia Cooper

by Kathleen Y’Barbo

The future is clearly mapped out for New York socialite Eugenia “Gennie” Cooper, but she secretly longs to slip into the boots of her favorite dime-novel heroine and experience just one adventure before settling down. When the opportunity arises, Gennie jumps at the chance to experience the Wild West, but her plans go awry when she is drawn into the lives of silver baron Daniel Beck and his daughter and finds herself caring for them more than is prudent–especially as she’s supposed to go back to New York and marry another man.

As Gennie adapts to the rough-and-tumble world of 1880s Colorado, she must decide whether her future lies with the enigmatic Daniel Beck or back home with the life planned for her since birth. The question is whether Daniel’s past–and disgruntled miners bent on revenge–will take that choice away from her.

Kathleen Y’Barbo is the best-selling, award-winning author of more than thirty novels, novellas, and young adult books, with more than a half-million in print. A graduate of Texas A&M University, she is currently a publicist with Books & Such literary agency.

The Sweetgum Ladies Knit for Love

by Beth Pattillo

Once a month, the six women of the Sweetgum Knit Lit Society gather to discuss books and share their knitting projects. Inspired by her recently-wedded bliss, group leader Eugenie chooses “Great Love Stories in Literature” as the theme for the year’s reading list–a risky selection for a group whose members span the spectrum of age and relationship status.

As the Knit Lit ladies read and discus classic romances like Romeo and Juliet, Wuthering Heights, and Pride and Prejudice, each member is confronted with her own perception about love. Camille’s unexpected reunion with an old crush forces her to confront conflicting desires.

Newly widowed Esther finds her role in Sweetgum changing and is surprised by two unlikely friends. Hannah isn’t sure she’s ready for the trials of first love. Newcomer Maria finds her life turned upside-down by increasing family obligations and a handsome, arrogant lawyer, and Eugenie and Merry are both asked to make sacrifices for their husbands that challenge their principles.

Even in a sleepy, southern town like Sweetgum, Tennessee, love isn’t easy. The Knit Lit ladies learn they can find strength and guidance in the novels they read, the love of their family, their community–and especially in each other.

RITA Award-winning Beth Patillo combines her love of knitting and books in her engaging Sweetgum series. Pattillo served churches in Missouri and Tennessee before founding Faith Leader, a spiritual leadership development program.

Rose House

by Tina Ann Forkner

A vivid story of a private grief, a secret painting, and one woman’s search for hope.
Still mourning the loss of her family in a tragic accident, Lillian Diamon finds herself drawn back to the Rose House, a quiet cottage where four years earlier she had poured out her anguish among its fragrant blossoms.

She returns to the rolling hills and lush vineyards of the Sonoma Valley in search of something she can’t quite name. But then Lillian stumbles onto an unexpected discovery: displayed in the La Rosaleda Gallery is a painting that captures every detail of her most private moment of misery, from the sorrow etched across her face to the sandals on her feet.

What kind of artist would dare to intrude on such a personal scene, and how did he happen to witness Lillian’s pain? As the mystery surrounding the portrait becomes entangled with the accident that claimed the lives of her husband and children, Lillian is forced to rethink her assumptions about what really happened that day.

A captivating novel rich with detail, Rose House explores how the brushstrokes of pain can illuminate the true beauty of life.

Tina Ann Forkner is the author of Ruby Among Us. Originally from Oklahoma, she now lives with her husband and three children in Wyoming, where she serves on the Laramie County Library Foundation’s board of directors.

Want your kids to be healthy, wealthy and wise? Here’s some scoop on the healthy!

Creating a healthier home is easier than you think, especially when you have the inside scoop from best-selling author Heidi Murkoff.

If only Heidi had been around for me five kids ago…I would’ve known I could toss kid toys in the dishwasher. The good news is, there’s still a payoff! As a Grammy, I’ve learned this reviewing Heidi’s guide for Mom Central. So my precious grandbabies will be as germ free as possible!

To help Moms keep their homes healthy, the What to Expect Foundation (which takes its name from Heidi Murkoff’s best-selling What to Expect series) just developed the “What to Expect Healthy Home Growth Chart” with a grant from The Clorox Company. This follow-up to the “What to Expect: Guide to a Healthy Home” offers insider tips to help Moms keep a healthier home over the course of their child’s first five years. Moms can find tips to coincide with the developmental stages children go through, such as:
•    Disinfecting hard toys at 3 months
•    Baby-proofing the house when they start walking around 1 year
•    Removing allergens from stuffed animals for play dates starting at the age of 2
•    Making hand washing and no-shoes a rule after coming in from playing outside around age 4

Just when you think you have everything under control with your kids, you realize there are always unseen germs to contend with. Here’s the good news— it’s not as hard as you might think. Especially when you get help from Heidi, the mom who wrote “the book” on parenting.

Hands down, there is no better way to help stop the spread of viruses and other germs than hand washing…

Heidi Murkoff, author of the bestselling “What to Expect” series, has written a new 16-page book “What to Expect: Guide to a Healthy Home.” It is full of easy to use tips and practical advice on how to keep your whole family and home healthier.

Some of Heidi’s highlights:

“Water vapor (plus the toilet contents–yes…anything in there) erupts from the toilet like a mini bacteria volcano every time you flush, landing on whatever is nearby (including that toothbrush you left on the sink). Closing the lid before you flush will help prevent you—and your family—from brushing their teeth with toilet water.”

“Your children aren’t the only ones playing with the bath toys. [Bacteria and other germs] are having a party with them too, a party that keeps getting bigger and bigger as the guests multiply. To keep those bugs from breeding on tub toys let them dry in a net or basket after the bath. Toys that trap water (that rubber ducky comes to mind) need to be cleaned regularly with a diluted [disinfecting] bleach solution, [as directed], then rinsed well and left to dry.”

CLICK HERE TO FIND THE LINK TO THE WHAT TO EXPECT HEALTHY HOME CHART

I wrote this review while participating in a blog campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Clorox and the What to Expect Guide and received a gift card to thank me for taking the time to participate.”

Looking for personal growth and leadership? Stop and read EXCEEDING YOUR EXPECTATIONS by Linda Olson

We are thrilled to have Linda Olson, inspirational speaker, author, and leadership coach with us today. Please find a comfortable seat as you join our visit with Linda introducing her new book, Exceeding your Expectations.

LINDA: Thank you! I’m delighted to be with you and your readers today to share about a topic that is close to my heart and something we all need to hear in light of today’s economy.

Linda, you have a strong leadership background. You have served for more than thirty-five years both in Canada and the United States as Dean of Women, Marriage & Family Therapist, Women’s Ministry Director and a Creative Memories Director. Recently you founded a program called, Made for Something More. Share with us how that came about?

LINDA: I served as Women’s Ministry Director at three churches over a fourteen year period. As I was invited on full time staff to entrepreneur a women’s program with over 5,000 attendees, I knew this was more than a position, it was a calling. During that time I searched for resources to develop my leaders and came up empty-handed. It was at that time God laid on my heart to begin developing a program for Christian Women in Leadership. In the program, Made for Something More, I was developing a five-part series with books, teleseminars, DVD’s and other resources. When it came down to getting my first book published, God laid on my heart a sixth book, Exceeding your Expectations.

Why are you passionate about the message in this book?

LINDA: Like many people today, I didn’t have any dreams or expectations.
Growing up on the farm in mid-west Canada, life was more about surviving than it was thriving. It seemed the biggest expectation was to bring in a big enough crop or sell enough cattle to pay the bills and cover basic living expenses. I learned to survive rather than thrive.

When did that change for you?

LINDA: I entered Bible College as a shy, inhibited teenager seeking God’s direction for my life. It was there that I met students with dreams and aspirations. They were enjoying life and had a purpose. It triggered something in me that made me realize I was made for so much more. During those three years at a dormitory college my life blossomed.

So, how did that change things?

LINDA: I knew God had a special purpose for my life. I had gained confidence, self-esteem and many leadership skills. Big doors began to open. At 21 years of age I was invited to become Dean of Women at Trinity Western University on the west coast of Canada. It was the beginning of a 35-year leadership journey where God has exceeded my expectations beyond my wildest dreams.

We are all affected by our present economy in one way or another. Besides a job and enough money to hang on to our home, what are people looking for and how can we help them?

LINDA: Besides the tangible things people are looking for encouragement, hope, peace, health, and security. When the woman at the well said to Jesus, “Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep”, she was looking to the well for practical answers. It’s the same thing we do when we look to our circumstances hoping for changes that will transform our life. The answers are not in the well nor are they in our circumstances. They are in the Almighty. We need to look to Him and trust Him to fulfill the many promises He has given us.

What was the turning point for the woman at the well?

LINDA: The turning point occurred when Jesus brought her face to face with her fear. He said, “Go call your husband and come back.” Jesus knew her struggle with relationships, so why would He ask her to call her husband? He needed to know if she was willing to confess her situation and take responsibility. She needed to face her fear and know she could move beyond it.

How can we learn to exceed our expectations?

LINDA: Before Jesus exceeded this woman’s expectation with living water she had to:
1.    Recognize her need for change
2.    Be willing to take responsibility for herself (take down emotional barriers)
3.    Commit herself to Him (believe in Who He was and What He had to offer)
It isn’t any different for us. We need to be open to change (recognize our need for change), be willing to take responsibility and commit our day and our situation to Him (and leave it in His hands). When we do that He will exceed our expectations.

Where do we often fall short?

LINDA: It’s not in having an expectation we go wrong, but rather in hanging on to our expectations. We want something to happen at a particular time and we hang on like it is our right. The other area where we often fall short is NOT being willing to wait silently. If we are willing to submit our expectations to God every morning and wait on Him, He will far exceed them.
“My soul, wait silently for God alone, For my (personal responsibility) expectation (hope) is from Him. He only is my rock and my salvation; He is my defense.” Psalm 62:5,6

What resources do you have available for us?

LINDA: There are several things available that you can find on my website which is www.madeforsomethingmore.com.
a.    Coordinating Journal, Goliath Challenge – My gift to you.
b.   My new book & DVD, Exceeding Your Expectations
c.    Capturing your Vision – is a program where I will work  with a leadership team and teach them to Capture their vision, Explode their influence and Bring $ back to their organization. As part of that program I speak to their group equipping and empowering women to recognize their value and their potential.
d.   Teleseminar Series – for anyone who wants to go deeper. This series consists of 6 teleseminars as well as time for leaders to ask their personal questions.

TO WIN A COPY OF LINDA’S BOOK, LEAVE A COMMENT BELOW. IF YOUR NAME’S SELECTED, HER BOOK WILL BE ON ITS WAY TO YOU!

About the Author

Linda’s infectious storytelling ability, along with her passion for giving to others, captivates audiences wherever she goes. Linda believes in living life and living it to the fullest.

From a farm in Midwest Canada to the desert in Southern California, Linda has embraced every part of her journey. She has learned strong work ethics, the power of perseverance, and finds her strength through her personal faith in God. Her leadership journey began at the age of twenty-one and has included everything from teaching troubled teens to surviving on an island. She has enjoyed the college life as Dean of Women, counseling men, women, and families in her private therapy practice, empowering women through service in Women’s Ministry, to inspiring women to preserve their photos and memories through Creative Memories.

She has also worked as a counselor and program coordinator at a Domestic Violence Shelter, as a social worker with Visiting Nurses in the Hospice department, and has volunteered many years in children’s and women’s ministry at her church. Linda has encouraged people from all walks of life, equipping them to fulfill their innermost dreams.

Her formal education includes a Master’s in Marriage & Family Therapy, and one in Christian Education. She’s a Certified Life Coach, a member of Toastmaster’s, and has over thirty-five years experience as an entrepreneur and leader–all of which have equipped her to train and inspire leaders to become who they were meant to be. Linda has empowered audiences throughout the United States and Canada since 1973 with her inspirational stories, leadership principles, vulnerability, and call for action.

Linda has a special heart for non profit organizations. She loves to “give back” to the organizations whether it’s a church group or a fundraiser in the community. She speaks to both Christian and secular audiences-both men’s and women’s groups-on anything from inspiration and motivation to developing Christian women in leadership. Her husband, Rick, a counselor, Life Coach, and speaker, often joins her at her events. Together they have raised two beautiful daughters, and make their home in Palmale, CA

26	Blog: The Life of Frances Host: Frances Poindexter Blog: ChurchWatch Host: Craig von Buseck
27	Blog: One Man Revival Host: Frank Jenkins
28	Blog: Find Christian Women Speakers Host: FCWS
29	Blog: Worth More Than Rubies Host: Cheryl Lacey-Donovan
30	Blog: Butterflies & Bullfrogs Host: Kim LaBombard
31	Blog: Mom2Ways Host: Julie Donahue

Not-so-friendly sky? Check out: Guest blogger J.R. Hauptman and THE TARGET: Love, Death, and Airline Deregulation

More than a half-century ago, Ernie Gann authored Fate is the Hunter and The High and The Mighty. There has not been a bona fide blockbuster novel about the airline industry written by a genuine airline professional since then.

THE TARGET: Love, Death and Airline Deregulation by J.R. Hauptman, is set in Colorado and the Rocky Mountain West, and tells the tale of the tumultuous first years of airline deregulation and the effects it had on that industry and the people who worked there. There are many people today who believe it was, in large part, the rush to overall deregulation back then, that led directly to the economic chaos that threatens to overwhelm our entire economy today.

In the nineteen-eighties, Carlo Clemenza was known as “the most hated man” in the airline business, as described by some pundits. A dedicated corporate raider and union buster, Clemenza uses ruthless tactics to crush competing airlines and to bring airline workers to heel. His methods have earned him countless death threats, yet he struts with arrogance, surrounded by his cadre of security toughs.

Virtually thousands of pilots and other airline professionals find themselves forced to start their careers over or to find them at a sudden and complete end. The airline grapevine echoes daily with the cry, “Why doesn’t someone kill that SOB?”

Only one pilot, angered by the deaths of his friends, takes up the chase and he makes Carlo Clemenza THE TARGET! His chase will take him to the far corners of the country as he also finds himself the object of pursuit and murder. The characters merge in spectacular action and settings and the climax of the story ultimately ends in redemption.

GUEST BLOG: How Life Experiences as a Professional Pilot Gave Me Inspiration to Write

THE TARGET: LOVE, DEATH AND AIRLINE DEREGULATION

I got the inspiration for writing my book from my life experiences as a professional pilot. I enlisted in the Army immediately after high school graduation and during basic training. I took the test for Officer Candidate School and scored quite well. With good recommendations from my commanding officers, I was selected for the Infantry School at Fort Benning, Georgia and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant later that year, barely one month after my twentieth birthday.

In the following years I won my wings as an Army Aviator and while flying multi-engine cargo and reconnaissance airplanes, I took part in the Army Air Mobility tests and ultimately, I flew combat missions for two years in the Viet Nam War. Leaving the Army after eight years of service, I went to work for a major airline based on the west coast and settled into California suburban life with my family. After a few more years, we moved to Colorado and made our home there as I flew from my airline’s Denver base. During these times, the airline industry was tightly regulated and although advancement was slow, we were fairly well assured of a steady job.

I served on the Boeing 727 as Second officer and as First Officer but I was with the airline for over eleven years before I checked out as jet Captain. While I never made the top pay levels with the passenger carriers, the pay was still quite good and we enjoyed the many outdoor activities of life in Colorado.

In the late nineteen-seventies, disturbing rumors of plans to deregulate the airlines began to circulate among airline employees. More disturbing were the rumors of how it might affect all of us. Deregulation was intended to increase service and competition and ultimately benefit the American public by lowering fares and using seating capacity on the airplanes more efficiently. The new law hit the industry like a fast moving storm and the airlines and their managements had never experienced anything like this in their careers. One famous carrier entered an aggressive expansion program, buying and leasing dozens of airplanes and hiring pilots faster than their uniforms could be tailored. Unfortunately, this airline had chosen to expand in the face of the recession of the early nineteen-eighties and soon went bankrupt.

Other carriers, some made vulnerable by under capitalization, were circled by corporate raiders, waiting for the opportunity to attack like hungry sharks. My own airline became a target when the stock price suffered during labor strife. The takeover was consummated through the use of “Greenmail” financed by “Junk Bonds”, low quality, unsecured corporate debt securities. Sound familiar? It should because this is where the shoddy securities practices of today began in earnest.

The ultimate vulnerability for airline employees, particularly for those in the unions was the fact that companies undergoing Chapter Eleven Bankruptcy Reorganization were at that time allowed to unilaterally abrogate their labor contracts. For more than a year after the takeover, our union, the Airline Pilots Association, (ALPA) held its collective breath awaiting the inevitable move. We were aware of how the surviving airline had restructured into a maze of separate holding companies but few knew the details how so much of the debt of the parent company was thrust onto our own airline to the extent that it would be impossible to service that debt. In short, my airline was deliberately put into the position where bankruptcy and reorganization were the only course.

Just as certainly, as the bankruptcy occurred, the labor contracts were abrogated. Union employees were allowed to return to work if they would agree to take fifty percent pay cuts and agree to company dictated work rules and schedules. It was an offer the unions had to refuse or lose all credibility. In protest, the leadership of the unions called for a strike and the memberships voted to do so. The airline continued to fly using management pilots and the few union members who decided to cross picket line and fly as strike breakers. The battle began in earnest when outside strike breakers were hired.

There followed a bitter two year struggle that ended with the defeat of the unions. Some of the striking union members went back to work under company imposed rules and others decided not to, citing their inability to work for a ruthless and unethical employer. Some pilots caught on with other airlines and others left the industry entirely, ending their lifelong careers.

For some, it was a matter of life and death as there were several suicides, one of whom was the former CEO of our airline. The CEO of the surviving carrier was called “The Most Hated Man in the Airlines” by more than one pundit. Unsurprisingly, he faced death threats on his person but it seemed that he relished the attention and swaggered about surrounded by security toughs, at least one of whom was known to be an international assassin.

At this time, most of us are repelled by the horrible incidence of mass killings and the fact is, that rational people don’t set out to kill their boss or to massacre the innocent. I wrote my book as a study on how a normally rational person can find himself driven to carry that out, as well as to serve as a cathartic in maintaining my own rationality.

In view of current events, most notably the greedy awarding of billions in bonuses to Wall Street bankers and brokers, and the populist outcry in response to this abuse, raises much darker issues. Airline deregulation was the first act in what has become the unconscionable abuse in the banking, securities and utilities industries that resulted from the general deregulation.

The pundits may joke of the “mob of people with the pitchforks and torches” but what we may be facing are the opening acts of bloody and chaotic revolution. We have to hope not, but hope is not enough; we must act.

THE AUTHOR

J.R. Hauptman (pseudonym) has been a professional pilot for nearly a half century. Barely twenty years old, he began as a military pilot and for almost two years he flew combat support missions in the Viet Nam War. Upon leaving military service he was hired by a major airline and was initially based on the West Coast. His flying career was interrupted by the turmoil that racked the airline industry during the early days of deregulation. In the interim, he worked as a travel agent, a stockbroker and even trained dogs and horses. In the late nineteen-eighties, he returned to aviation, flying jet charters and air freight. He concluded his career flying corporate jets and now lives in Florida. He is completing his second work, a non-fictional social commentary and surfs every day, waves or not. You can visit his website at http://www.caddispublishing.com/.

Debut author Heather Gudenkauf’s: The Weight of Silence

It happens quietly one August morning. As dawn’s shimmering light drenches the humid Iowa air, two families awaken to find their little girls have gone missing in the night.

Seven-year-old Calli Clark is sweet, gentle, a dreamer who suffers from selective mutism brought on by a tragedy that pulled her deep into silence as a toddler. Calli’s mother, Antonia, tried to be the best mother she could within the confines of marriage to a mostly absent, often angry husband. Now, though she denies that her husband could be involved in the possible abductions, she fears her decision to stay in her marriage has cost her more than her daughter’s voice.

Petra Gregory is Calli’s best friend, her soul mate and her voice. But neither Petra nor Calli has been heard from since their disappearance was discovered. Desperate to find his child, Martin Gregory is forced to confront a side of himself he did not know existed beneath his intellectual, professorial demeanor.

Now these families are tied by the question of what happened to their children. And the answer is trapped in the silence of unspoken family secrets.

The Weight of Silence is a tense and profoundly emotional story of a parent’s worse nightmare, told with compassion and honesty. Heather Gudenkauf skillfully weaves an explosive tale of suspense and ultimately, the healing power of love.”
– #1 New York Times bestselling author Susan Wiggs

“Deeply moving and exquisitely lyrical, this is a powerhouse of a debut novel. Heather Gudenkauf is one of those rare writers who can tell a tale with the skill of a poet while simultaneously cranking up the suspense until it’s unbearable.”
– Tess Gerritsen, NYT bestselling author of THE KEEPSAKE

“The Weight of Silence is a beautifully detailed and deeply intriguing exploration of human emotion through the eyes of several different people involved in this story of the disappearance of these two children. The characters are so elaborate that they almost seem real…this is one of the best books I’ve read in a long time. I will definitely keep an eye out for more novels by Ms. Gudenkauf!”
– Review from manicreaders.com

Heather Gudenkauf was born in Wagner, South Dakota, the youngest of six children. At one month of age, her family returned to the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota where her father was employed as a guidance counselor and her mother as a school nurse. At the age of three, her family moved to Iowa, where she grew up. Having been born with a profound unilateral hearing impairment (there were many evenings when Heather and her father made a trip to the bus barn to look around the school bus for her hearing aids that she often conveniently would forget on the seat beside her), Heather tended to use books as a retreat, would climb into the toy box that her father’s students from Rosebud made for the family with a pillow, blanket, and flashlight, close the lid, and escape the world around her. Heather became a voracious reader and the seed of becoming a writer was planted.

Heather Gudenkauf graduated from the University of Iowa with a degree in elementary education, has spent the last sixteen years working with students of all ages and is currently an Instructional Coach, an educator who provides curricular and professional development support to teachers. The Weight of Silence is her first novel.

Heather lives in Dubuque, Iowa with her husband, three children, and a very spoiled German Shorthaired Pointer named Maxine. In her free time Heather enjoys spending time with her family, reading, hiking, and running. She is currently working on her second novel.

Book Two in Andrew Peterson’s Windfeather Saga: NORTH OR BE EATEN

NORTH! OR BE EATEN

THE WINGFEATHER SAGA, BOOK TWO

Readers thrilled to the phantasmagorical adventures in On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness, Book One of the Wingfeather Saga. Now in Book Two, Janner, Tink, and Leeli Igiby, mom Nia, ex-pirate grandfather Podo, Peet the Sock Man, and trusty dog Nugget flee north to rebel headquarters.

Their escape brings readers to the very brink of Fingap Falls, over the Stony Mountains, and across the Ice Prairies, while villains galore try to stop the Igibys permanently. Fearsome toothy cows and horned hounds return, along with new dangers: a mad man running a fork factory, a den of rockroaches, and majestic talking sea dragons.

Andrew Peterson’s lovable characters create what FantasyBookCritic.com says made Book One “one of the best fantasy novels in a very long time,” and Book Two contains even more thrills, exploring “themes universal in nature, ranging from the classic good versus evil, to the importance of family, and burdens of responsibility.”

“Peterson deserves every literary prize for this fine book. It is obvious that his musical talents have been put to good use as his use of words, plot and narrative read like a well scored film script. A very fine book, by a very fine writer and future talent. Amazing – thrilling and well worth reading again and again.”–G. P. Taylor, New York Times best-selling author of Shadowmancer and The Dopple Ganger Chronicles

“Toothy cows are very dangerous. Andrew Peterson convinced me and shivers run down my spine at the very thought of meeting a toothy cow face to face. The author spills characters like Podo and Nurgabog onto the page, then weaves a tale of danger that holds the reader captive. Believe me, you will relish being held captive by this master storyteller. But be sure you don’t get caught by the Stranders. Those people just ain’t civilized.”
–Donita K. Paul, author of The Vanishing Sculptor

“In a genre overrun by the gory and the grim, Peterson’s bite-sized chapters taste more like a stew of Gorey (Edward) and Grimm (the Brothers). North! Or Be Eaten is a welcome feast of levity–and clearly a labor of love. Andrew Peterson has awakened my inner eight-year-old, and that is a very good thing.”
–Jeffrey Overstreet, author of Auralia’s Colors and Cyndere’s Midnight

ABOUT ANDREW

Frederick Buechner said, “The story of one of us is the story of us all.”

Perhaps this explains why we are drawn to great storytellers, why we yearn for connection with those whose own stories seep with imagination.

Singer/songwriter Andrew Peterson fits inside both of those categories. And the most recent chapter for this prolific storyteller includes a stunning new album, Resurrection Letters, Volume II.

Since completing his last album, The Far Country, independently, Peterson recently signed on with Nashville-based Centricity Music for the Resurrection Letters, Volume II release. His career accomplishments, including the Top 10 radio hit “Nothing to Say” and a Dove Award nomination for his song “Family Man,” make Peterson a reputable addition to Centricity’s roster. The respect, according to Peterson, is mutual.

“The thing that first drew me to Centricity was that they like and believe in my music.  That seems kind of silly, like it should go without saying that a label would actually care deeply about your songs, but you’d be surprised how often they just don’t. This new situation feels like I’m part of a team,” explains Peterson. “I wanted to do everything I could to get these new songs into the world to do their work.”

The idea for Resurrection Letters, Volume II came to Peterson unexpectedly last Holy Week while writing a series of meditations for his website, andrew-peterson.com. One of his online readers called those writings “resurrection letters”, and a light went on. “I knew I wanted that to be the title of the album, but I didn’t know why,” says Peterson. “Then I saw that the songs I was writing were mostly connected by that theme.”

The songs flowed in the days and weeks to follow, lyrics mostly about death and rebirth, about the way that picture pervades all of creation. It wasn’t long before Peterson had returned to local Nashville recording spots (with befitting literary names like Mole End Studio and Night Owl’s Nest) to begin tracking.  As with his preceding two albums, Andy Gullahorn and Ben Shive, the co-producers and fellow sojourners he calls the Captains Courageous, accompanied Peterson.

“I’ve been making music with Ben and Andy for years now, and we’ve found a good rhythm,” Peterson says. “They’re both exceptional musicians and songwriters, men from whom I have learned a lot, both about music and about God.  They were around when all these songs were being written, and even co-wrote several of them with me, so there was never really much choice in my mind about who would produce the album.”

Throughout his dozen-year career, Peterson has managed to attract a remarkable cast of musicians to his projects. Alison Krauss and Ron Block of Union Station are previous contributors, and for Resurrection Letters, Volume II he called upon folk artist Pierce Pettis for vocal backing and the legendary Stuart Duncan to bow his fiddle on a song. The recording also features Jill Phillips, Andrew Osenga (Caedmon’s Call), Gary Burnette, Don Chaffer (Waterdeep), multi-instrumentalist Gabe Scott, percussionist Ken Lewis, and of course Peterson’s prodigious collaborator, Shive, who produced, played piano, and conceived the album’s lush string arrangements.

“One of the most exciting things that we were able to do was the choir,” Peterson says.  “Ben [Shive] and I had the idea to record a choir for the end of the song ‘The Good Confession,’ so we put the word out that we were looking for people to sing on the record.  People drove and flew from all over the country, many of them people I recognized from our shows.  We gathered about forty folks who had never heard this song, and recorded them singing, ‘I believe He is the Christ, Son of the Living God.’  It was beautiful.  Hearing that choir enter at the end of the song is my favorite moment on the record.”

During the recording though, Peterson realized that he had more to say.  He recalls, “Folks have asked me over the years if I’d consider putting together an Easter album, something similar to Behold the Lamb of God” (his popular Christmas project and accompanying annual tour). “I’ve resisted that because I feel like Behold the Lamb is in some ways as much an Easter celebration as a Christmas one.  I felt good about this album, the sound of it, and the songs I had written.  But one day I woke up feeling like this was the second half of the story. These songs are about our lives in the wake of Christ’s resurrection.  Not until I was mostly finished with this record did I realize that I still want to write an album about the actual death and resurrection of Jesus.”

For this reason (and because he liked the quirkiness of the idea), Peterson decided to label the project as Volume II. Volume I will be the follow-up, though it has yet to be written.

Peterson’s songs have long centered on family and faith, and Resurrection Letters, Volume II offers no exception. “All Things New”, the first single, is at the heart of the album.  According to the artist, the song offers an invitation to believe in the stories of Christ, in His promise to purify us from the inside out.

“When at Easter we sing, ‘Christ the Lord is Risen Today,’ we’re proclaiming that He is the resurrection and the life.  It isn’t just something that happened, or just something that’s going to happen–it’s happening now.  The sun is always rising somewhere,” Peterson says. “I know that if I’m able to keep my eyes open, to really pay attention to the days as I move through them, there’s a wealth of inspiration.”

That inspiration also found its way into another song, “Windows in the World,” which carries the theme deeper.  “God litters our paths with little moments of truth, signs along the way that speak of His purposes,” he continues. “Sometimes those signposts, or bread crumbs, are general, like the change of seasons, the way a seed falls to the earth, dies, and rises again. Other times those signs are very specific, like the sacraments of Communion and marriage.  These are pictures that God uses to remind us that we are called to a deep and lasting relationship with Him.”

When not pouring imagery into his songs, Peterson focuses on another kind of writing. Last March, Waterbrook Press published the author’s first fantasy novel, On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness, to critical acclaim. Garrison Keillor’s News from Lake Wobegon and The Chronicles of Narnia, along with bedtime tales Peterson spun for his daughter Skye and two sons Aedan and Jesse, inspired the book. In fact, he’s has already begun penning the second installment of the Wingfeather Saga series. In 2007, a richly illustrated children’s book, The Ballad of Matthew’s Begats (Thomas Nelson), became a visual companion to Peterson’s song of the same name. In addition, he’s been lending his diverse talents to the VeggieTales establishment, co-writing three children’s songs with solo artist and friend, Randall Goodgame.

Many would consider the current setting of Peterson’s multi-faceted work somewhat idyllic. Last year, he relocated his family of five to a charming little house on the side of a hill just south of Nashville. The storybook dwelling offers a respite from the artist’s hectic schedule, while also quenching the boyish side of Peterson, always thirsty for a new adventure.

“There are woods to play in, a front porch to palaver from, and rabbits and deer aplenty. We call it the Warren–a fancy name for a rabbit hole–because of the rabbits in the yard and the fact that I had just finished Watership Down when we bought the place,” Peterson says. “Junipers, hackberry trees, and white oaks abound, not to mention the pumpkins, apple trees, and blueberry bushes we planted.  There’s a dried up pond, a tree house, a front porch swing, and our oldest friends in Nashville as neighbors. We’re very grateful.”

Usually found with his hands dipped inside several honey pots at once, Peterson has also launched an online artists’ community known as The Rabbit Room (www.rabbitroom.com). Here songwriters, artists, and authors converge to share ideas. Music can be heard, new and used books from favorite writers can be purchased. It’s a place where imagination roams free and connection is made, two elements that seem to permeate everything Peterson touches.

“To love, to hope, to dream is to exercise the imagination, and the more you use it the bigger and better it becomes,” says the writer. “I try to be constantly aware of the gift it is to be alive, to recognize that the world is full of surprises, that God isn’t hiding behind the curtain like the Wizard of Oz, concealing Himself because He’s smaller than what He projects. Instead, the veil that conceals God’s fullness exists because of his mercy, because our minds couldn’t contain him and would probably fry to a crisp. He shows himself to us in small doses, urging our imaginations to expand that we might find ourselves lost in wonder, truly awake and able to see the world not just as it is but as it will one day be.”

WELCOME HOME by Guest Blogger Kim Woodhouse: One Family’s Journey to Extreme Joy

 

I was weeding my beautiful flower beds this afternoon and thought about this post. Just a few thoughts to get you thinking J

Thank you for allowing me to share here today. I pray that my book Welcome Home will bless your heart and show you the Lord’s joy.

 

 

Weeds

 

I’ve been doing a lot of weeding lately. Both in the yard and in my life.

It’s a funny thing about weeds. They grow without you putting any effort forth whatsoever. And as soon as you pull them up, they start all over again. They don’t need watering. Or pruning. Or just the right amount of sunshine. They just grow and grow and grow and grow…

But to have something truly beautiful, (which here in Colorado could simply be plain ol’ green grass,) you have to work at it. Sprinklers and drip systems have to be set for just the right time of day, the proper soil has to be in place, and those terrible weeds have to be pulled.

The same goes with our lives and our spiritual growth. It takes work and effort and time and energy to grow something beautiful spiritually. But it doesn’t take work to let the weeds sprout up and take over.

We must be diligent. Hardworking. Willing to take the painful pruning and weeding. And always on guard – lest those nasty weeds take over and spread their roots throughout our lives.

Are you willing? Are you ready? It’s not for the faint of heart. Some of our weeds could be our favorite things. Things that are easy to let in or things that we are lazy about.

How much TV do you watch? How much time do you spend sitting around doing absolutely nothing? Do you spend that same amount of time with your spouse? Or your children? What about studying God’s Word? What things are you doing that are of eternal value? Are you doing things to please man rather than God? These are all good and tough questions.

I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to go pull some weeds.

Kayla’s Story:

Meet Kayla, a blonde haired, blue-eyed little girl with a gigantic smile, a tender heart and a disorder so rare that she is the only child exactly like her in the entire world with her particular form of the disorder. This rare nerve disorder is called Hereditary Sensory Autonomic Neuropathy (HSAN). Her body does not signal her brain to regulate her body temperature and she cannot feel pain unless it is extremely intense.

Most recently, Kayla was diagnosed with another rare problem completely unrelated to her HSAN. In March 2006, after over a year of severe headaches, doctors found a malformation in the lower portion of Kayla’s brain. As a result, her brain was growing into her spinal column and to avoid long-term damage and paralysis in September of 2006, Kayla had brain decompression surgery.

She will never be able to play sports, run at recess, or participate in most other normal childhood activities. But, she is surrounded by a loving family and supportive network of friends who always remind her of the things she CAN do. This is her story…

Thanks to being featured on the hit TV show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, the Woodhouse family of Colorado Springs is known across the country. Their poignant, heart-touching story of having a child with a rare medical disorder, which led to a mountain of hospital bills and the loss of their home—and their need for a home that would be safe for daughter Kayla—has put them in the public spotlight and kept them there. The theme that carries through Welcome Home is James 1:2-4. We’re all a work in progress, and it can be “Pure Joy” to be a parent. But, how does joy evolve out of a potentially devastating reality? Kimberley’s candid stories of both failures and successes, and the ultimate resource—the Bible, will point readers in the right direction for establishing JOY in their homes.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY:Kimberley Woodhouse is a wife, mother, author, and musician with a quick wit and positive outlook despite difficult circumstances. A popular speaker, she’s shared at more than 600 venues across the country. Kimberley and her family’s story have garnered national media attention for many years, but most recently her family was chosen for ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, The Montel Williams Show, and Discovery Health channel’s Mystery ER which premiered in 2008. Her story, Welcome Home:
Our Family’s Journey to Extreme Joy, releases in September 2009 from Focus on the Family. Kimberley lives, writes, and homeschools in Colorado with her husband and two children in their truly “extreme” home. www.kimberleywoodhouse.com

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History’s greatest secret could be tomorrow’s greatest threat: THE SACRED CIPHER

History’s greatest secret could be tomorrow’s greatest threat. More historically and biblically accurate than The DaVinci Code and just as adventurous as an Indiana Jones movie, The Sacred Cipher combines action and mystery to draw readers into a world of ancient secrets and international escapades.

When an ancient scroll appears in a secret room of the Bowery Mission in New York City, Tom Bohannon is both stunned and intrigued. The enigma of the scroll’s contents will send Bohannon and his team ricocheting around the world, drawing the heat of both Jewish and Muslim militaries, and bringing the Middle East to the brink of nuclear war in this heart-pounding adventure of historical proportions. The Sacred Cipher is a riveting, fact-based tale of mystery and suspense.

Over the past 35 years, Terry Brennan has accumulated a broad range of experience in both the profit and non-profit business sectors.

His 22-year, award winning journalism career included:

• Seven years as a sportswriter and editor with The Philadelphia Bulletin, at the time the largest-circulation afternoon newspaper in the nation;
• Leading The Mercury of Pottstown (PA), as its editor, to a Pulitzer Prize in Editorial Writing;
• Serving as Executive Editor of a multi-national newspaper firm – Ingersoll Publications – with papers in the USA, England and Ireland.

In 1996 Brennan transferred his successful management career to the non-profit sector and served for 12 years as Vice President of Operations for the Christian Herald Association, Inc., the parent organization of four New York City ministries, including The Bowery Mission.

Now Chief Operating Officer of the National Organization on Disability, Brennan also won the Valley Forge Award for editorial writing from the Freedoms Foundation. His two adult sons and their families live in Pennsylvania. Terry, his wife Andrea and their two adult children live in New York City. The Sacred Cipher is his first novel.