The Great Separation

Refrigerator Poetry: My Throbbing Secret Self

Stickin' it to the.... - Here's a fridge poem I just stuck together. Click on the pic to enlarge it.

copyright 2008 by Hal Paxton

Pastor's Son Seriously Injured in Bomb Attack.

They hate you because of me - Here's a news item about Christian persecution in Israel that came to my attention this morning.

A pastor's son was gravely injured in the normally peaceful area of Ariel when a gift basket with a bomb inside was delivered to his home and he opened it.

Julie Stahl reports for CNSNews.com:

Sixteen-year-old Ami Ortiz suffered third degree burns over much of his body, a collapsed lung, two broken arms, and eye injuries. Two of his toes had to be amputated. The blast was powerful enough to blow out windows in the apartment.

Stahl reports that Hamas claims to be the ones to have attacked the Pastor and his family with the bomb.

Say a prayer for this young man and his family. Pray too for the attackers, pray that the Spirit would strive with them and bring them to repentance and redemption through the blood of Jesus Christ.

The Great Separation continues.

For further information on Christian persecution around the globe the Christian Persecution Blog is a good source.

Can You Lose It, So that You Can Get It?

Freedom giving paradox - Have you ever noticed how Jesus used paradox to communicate fundamental truth?

One of the greatest in my opinion is found a couple of times in Matthew (Matthew 10:39, 16:25):

"For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it." Matt 16:25(Niv)

Oddly enough, that mysterious paradox proves not only true for us, but Jesus gave it a huge exclamation point with His own life here on earth. From the beginning of His life to the end when He ascended into the clouds after His resurrection tour, Jesus gave His life over to the will of God the Father.

Jesus lived a life of total abandoment to the Father and the Father not only gave the Son life and the throne over all creation, He gives us life too.

Not just life, but freedom from fear, from death, and from sin that binds generation after generation. That paradox of losing our life to the will of the Lord showers us with peace, joy, and hope of exploring the mystery that is a God who loves us so much that He died for us taking upon Himself the punishment for our sins.

Just how wonderful and mysterious is that?

Quote for the Week: He Loves Us.

Now that's love - The annual celebration of Resurrection Day is past and I pray that you grabbed some time to reflect upon what God did for you.

Here's a quote I read this morning:

While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. I had heard and professed this glorious truth a hundred times. But I hadn't really begun to understand how unfathomable it truly is - while we are hating Him, demanding His death, choosing Barabbas, Christ dies for us. And even when we are something worse than the angry mob, when we are utterly, shatteringly indifferent to Him, Christ dies for us still. This is the deepest mystery of Christ - that He loves us. --Wrestling with Angels: Adventures in Faith and Doubt by Carolyn Arends.

“Wounds”: A Short Story by Me.

For your reading pleasure/displeasure - My short story, "Wounds," is currently available for reading on the online magazine, Mindflights.

Here's the tease for the story:

There's an element that taints creation and exposes man's wounds. Teenager Daniel Louis is the only one who can see it. Or so he thought. When an old man cursed like himself offers to show him the benefits of their ability, Daniel finds himself at a crossroads.

Click over and read it and the other poetry and short stories available for your entertainment and edification.

Let me know what you think of my short story. I hope you will enjoy it.

F.I.R.S.T. - Only Uni.

Crack a good book and take a look. -

It is March 15th, but no need to worry about the Ides of March when we have a special blog tour for one of our FIRST members! (Join our alliance! Click the button!) Normally, on the FIRST day of every month we feature an author and his/her latest book's FIRST chapter! As this is a special tour, we are featuring it on a special day!

The special feature author is:

CAMY TANG

and her book:

Only Uni

Zondervan (March 2008)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Camy Tang is a member of FIRST and is a loud Asian chick who writes loud Asian chick-lit. She grew up in Hawaii, but now lives in San Jose, California, with her engineer husband and rambunctious poi-dog. In a previous life she was a biologist researcher, but these days she is surgically attached to her computer, writing full-time. In her spare time, she is a staff worker for her church youth group, and she leads one of the worship teams for Sunday service.

Sushi for One? (Sushi Series, Book One) was her first novel. Her second, Only Uni (Sushi Series, Book Two) is now available. The next book in the series, Single Sashimi (Sushi Series, Book Three) will be coming out in September 2008!

Visit her at her website.

AND NOW...THE FIRST CHAPTER:

Chapter One

Trish Sakai walked through the door and the entire room hushed.

Well, not exactly pin-drop hushed. More like a handful of the several dozen people in her aunty’s enormous living room paused their conversations to glance her way. Maybe Trish had simply expected them to laugh and point.

She shouldn’t have worn white. She’d chosen the Bebe dress from her closet in a rebellious mood, which abandoned her at her aunt’s doorstep. Maybe because the explosion of red, orange, or gold outfits made her head swim.

At least the expert cut of her dress made her rather average figure curvier and more slender at the same time. She loved how well-tailored clothes ensured she didn’t have to work as hard to look good.

Trish kicked off her sandals, and they promptly disappeared in the sea of shoes filling the foyer. She swatted away a flimsy paper dragon drooping from the doorframe and smoothed down her skirt. She snatched her hand back and wrung her fingers behind her.

No, that’ll make your hips look huge.

She clenched her hands in front.

Sure, show all the relatives that you’re nervous.

She clasped them loosely at her waist and tried to adopt a regal expression.

“Trish, you okay? You look constipated.”

Her cousin Bobby snickered while she sneered at him. “Oh, you’re so funny I could puke.”

“May as well do it now before Grandma gets here.”

“She’s not here yet?” Oops, that came out sounding a little too relieved. She cleared her throat and modulated her voice to less-than-ecstatic levels. “When’s she coming?”

“Uncle picked her up, but he called Aunty and said Grandma forgot something, so he had to go back.”

Thank goodness for little favors. “Is Lex here?”

“By the food.”

Where else would she be? Last week, her cousin Lex had mentioned that her knee surgeon let her go back to playing volleyball three nights a week and coaching the other two nights, so her metabolism had revved up again. She would be eating like a horse.

Sometimes Trish could just kill her.

She tugged at her skirt—a little tight tonight. She should’ve had more self-control than to eat that birthday cake at work. She’d have to run an extra day this week … maybe.

She bounced like a pinball between relatives. The sharp scent of ginger grew more pungent as she headed toward the large airy kitchen. Aunty Sue must have made cold ginger chicken again. Mmmm. The smell mixed with the tang of black bean sauce (Aunty Rachel’s shrimp?), stir-fried garlic (any dish Uncle Barry made contained at least two bulbs), and fishy scallions (probably her cousin Linda’s Chinese-style sea bass).

A three-foot-tall red streak slammed into her and squashed her big toe.

“Ow!” Good thing the kid hadn’t been wearing shoes or she might have broken her foot. Trish hopped backward and her hand fumbled with a low side table. Waxed paper and cornstarch slid under her fingers before the little table fell, dropping the kagami mochi decoration. The sheet of printed paper, the tangerine, and rubbery-hard mochi dumplings dropped to the cream-colored carpet. Well, at least the cornstarch covering the mochi blended in.

The other relatives continued milling around her, oblivious to the minor desecration to the New Year’s decoration. Thank goodness for small—

A childish gasp made her turn. The human bullet who caused the whole mess, her little cousin Allison, stood with a hand up to her round lips that were stained cherry-red, probably from the sherbet punch. Allison lifted wide brown eyes up to Trish—hanaokolele-you’re-in-trouble—while the other hand pointed to the mochi on the floor.

Trish didn’t buy it for a second. “Want to help?” She tried to infuse some leftover Christmas cheer into her voice.

Allison’s disdainful look could have come from a teenager rather than a seven-year-old. “You made the mess.”

Trish sighed as she bent to pick up the mochi rice dumplings—one large like a hockey puck, the other slightly smaller—and the shihobeni paper they’d been sitting on. She wondered if the shihobeni wouldn’t protect the house from fires this next year since she’d dropped it.

“Aunty spent so long putting those together.”

Yeah, right. “Is that so?” She laid the paper on the table so it draped off the edge, then stuck the waxed paper on top. She anchored them with the larger mochi.

“Since you busted it, does it mean that Aunty won’t have any good luck this year?”

“It’s just a tradition. The mochi doesn’t really bring prosperity, and the tangerine only symbolizes the family generations.” Trish tried to artfully stack the smaller mochi on top of the bottom one, but it wouldn’t balance and kept dropping back onto the table.

Odd Story of Woman Spending Two Years on Toilet.

Strike that. Bizarre. - Every-so-often a "odd" news item comes along that makes my mouth fall open. This video news clip from the AP ranks at the top. And it frankly makes my heart hurt for the people involved.

I pray this woman finds complete healing, not just physically but spiritually through Christ Jesus as well.

Quote for Today: Battered into Shape by God?

Thought Food - In reading this morning's devotional from My Utmost for His Highest, I stumbled over this line - and it hurt:

God takes us out of our own ideas for our lives and we are "batter'd to shape and use," as the disciples were after Pentecost.

That whole battered part really brought me up short in consideration of my life and some the things I've endured which seem great to me but I know in the light of what others experience they are small. But it's all for a shaping? What kind of shaping?

A shaping to be used in the design that our Author plans for us. His perfect design.

But are we willing to go through the battering? Am I willing to be battered and shaped thus?

Are we willing to give up our own plans for our lives and heartedly say with Mary:

"I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said." Luke 1:38.

Face Book. Are You Using It?

Just where does this social networking cable plug in? - It's just a quick post, but I wanted to let you, my smart, incredible, erudite, humorous, and stunning readers know that I'm on FaceBook.

So if your on that social network feel free add me. I've added a little badge dohicky to the left side bar there with my picture.

Fire Alarm with Silent Alarm.

Smell this - Here's a cool device that some Japanese lab coats are working to wake hearing impaired people in the event of a fire.

It looks like this could actually be a pretty good fire alarm. But I wonder how the scent is changed in the presence of an actual fire?