Christians Read

As a writer, you never know how someone will interact with your book.  Sometimes, it’s in terrible ways, you couldn’t have imagined.  And sometimes, it’s absolutely a God-thing.  More than you can imagine.

A few months ago, a reader’s boyfriend contacted me through Facebook and said that his girlfriend loved my books.  “A Billion Reasons Why” was her favorite and he wanted to propose using the book in his proposal.  So, Kristin being Kristin, I didn’t have any copies of the book — so once my mom rescued me with a copy, I wrote in the book, “XX, Will you marry Dylan?” Then I signed it.  I sent it off to him and didn’t hear anything for a few months.

Last I’d heard, he was planning to propose that month.  So at first, I thought, “Oh no.  He didn’t propose.”  Then I imagined, maybe she said NO!”

I’m happy to report, it was none of those things.  You see, Dylan had quite the elaborate proposal planned that included a trip to the library and a librarian who was in on the ruse.

I should mention that she found a copy of “The Theory of Happily Ever After” and didn’t know I had a new book out.  So my marketing minor failed me there.  I digress.  So our heroine picks up said book and she’s upset.  Because there are no library markings on the book and that’s not right.  So our hero asks her to look inside.  She does and he drops to one knee.  Are you swooning yet?  Because a guy who proposes in a library is Mr. Darcy quality, am I right?

Anyway, the happy couple is engaged now and planning their wedding and I just think it’s a life highlight that my book got to be involved!  I feel a little like “Emma” with slightly better matchmaking results.

I love the fall. I know we are not quite there yet, but we’re getting so close, I can almost smell it. Although you wouldn’t know it by the temperature. I live in Florida and it’s still in the 90s here.

But I am still looking forward to the fall. I always feel that autumn is the time for new beginnings. I imagine the majority of people would say that spring is the season for new beginnings. I can see their point, with new growth on trees, flowers blooming, and birds chirping. But for me, it’s the fall that inspires change.

Perhaps living in Florida has a lot to do with it. The heat does make me feel very sluggish. So when the temperatures finally give us a little break, I feel as though I can breathe again.

So I already have plans on how I want to map out my fall. Last November I held a Gratitude Challenge on my website and social media pages. The participants and I walked through my book Every Day is a Gift, which talks about … yes, you guessed it – Gratitude. It was a big hit, and inspired me to do something similar this fall. During the month of September I am going to hold a Redeemed Challenge on my website and social media pages. This time the participants and I will walk through my book You Are Redeemed which talks about our true identity in Jesus.

I will also be publishing another book over the next few weeks. It is in my editor’s hands, as we speak. (Ok so we are not really speaking, but you get the idea!) I will give you the scoop on the new book soon.

This fall I also hope to catch up on my ever-growing reading list. I have quite a few books I have been itching to dig into. I am sure you know what I mean!

But mainly this fall, my hope is to slow down and savor my time. In the fall I like to do what I call soul harvesting. It’s the perfect time to reflect on what your year has looked like, and what changes God may be prompting you to make in the coming year. For me personally, I have been putting extra time towards my new book over the last several months. So I know I need to give my soul a bit of breathing room. The fall is the perfect time to sit with the Lord and just listen to the things He would like to share. My hope is that I can do just that. Unfortunately I tend to get in my own way sometimes by overfilling my plate. But I am really going to try not to sabotage myself!

So what about you? What will your fall look like? Are you planning any downtime? Or do you have your schedule all mapped out? I’d love to hear!

(Photo by Goran Kolacko.)

A couple of weeks ago I heard a sermon in which the young pastor reminisced about My Space a bit. I do remember this social media platform, but I don’t remember the particular My Space feature he mentioned. He said that My Space would tell you who your top eight friends were. I suppose this was calculated off of who interacted with you the most.

The point he was getting at was to ask – who are the top people in your life? Who can you talk to about your Christian walk? Who can you rely on and trust? We all need friends who have the same values and beliefs that we do.

The Bible has many verses scattered throughout its pages that illustrate what true friendship looks like. One of my favorite verses that deals with relationships is Proverbs 27:17, “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” I think this is a wonderful way to look at two people who are there for each other, they will listen and provide comfort in time of need, and they know one another’s heart. However, they will also help one another grow, they will build one another up, they will strengthen one another, and they will correct one another if needed.

One beloved example of friendship in the Bible is David and Jonathan. The ESV version of the Bible puts it this way, “… the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David…” (1 Samuel 18:1). What a beautiful way to word it! Jonathan was the son of Saul, who was actually out to kill David. Yet Jonathan made a covenant with David and helped him in time of need. They loved one another as though they were brothers. Sadly, one day Jonathan died in battle, but David did not forget him. In fact he found Jonathan’s son, Mephibosheth, who was unable to walk due to an injury as a child. King David ensured that Mephibosheth had his due inheritance and that he always ate at the king’s table.

In the world of social media, we all have hundreds of “friends.” But in reality the majority are not a deep, bonding type of friendship. Unfortunately, in today’s society, many of our friendships are only surface level. Superior relationships in our world should be cherished.

So I wanted to ask you today – who are your people? Do you have anyone in your life with whom you share a camaraderie like we see in David and Jonathan? If the answer is no, then maybe you will consider making that a goal in your life? Start with prayer. Ask God to bring a solid Christian friendship into your life. If the answer is yes, then take a moment today to thank God for your friends. And also thank your friends for being there for you.

(Photo by Brendan Gogarty.)

I like turtles.  I mean, who doesn’t?  But I like my straws too, and I’m struggling with the “no straw” rule that’s happening in California to “Save the Turtles.”  I mean, I recycle.  I’m earth responsible, but I want my straws.  Straws in iced soy lattes are how I start my writing day. It’s not just practical, it’s a ritual.

That’s my dog, Fiona.  She likes straws too.

Yes, I know the new caps at Starbucks are made to drink without straws, but here’s the thing, I have an overbite.  I never had braces, so I want my straw.  Besides, what do they think the caps are going to do for the turtles?  Will they have hats to wear?

So I dislike these new rules.  I dislike that I must live the way people tell me to because a nine-year-old girl did a science project. I’m not a fan of paper straws.  (Is anyone a fan of paper straws?)  The metal ones make the coffee taste weird.  And no one seems to care that McDonald’s and Taco Bell, etc., still have straws.

I only drink Starbucks, FYI, because they have virtually killed the independent coffee roasters.  For most of my life, I went to Dana Street Coffee (where I wrote a large portion of my Ashley Stockingdale series) and Coffee Society.  I moved away from Dana Street and Coffee Society is no more.  A moment of silence.

So while the straw dilemma rages on, I’ll be muddling through with my own straws.  (In restaurants now, you must ask for straws. They cannot give them to you willingly.)  When I went to Colorado, the waitress told me I could keep my straw as a souvenir.   Now, if you’re like most people, this issue has very little impact on your life.  But to me?  To me, it’s one more freedom slowly ebbed away where I must conform or get out…

Maybe I need to write a poem — an Ode to Straws…

As I have mentioned before, my husband has a green thumb. Last week I talked about the vegetable garden and fruit trees in our yard. But my husband also likes other trees, flowers, etc. The only thing he doesn’t like as much are bushes, but that is mainly because he thinks snakes could be hiding underneath. So he usually tries to keep the lower branches of the bushes trimmed.

One of my husband’s favorite things to grow are roses. We have several rose bushes in our yard. He might get this from his late mother, as I remember that she enjoyed getting new roses to root.

Some of the roses we have in our yard, we ordered through a catalog. There is one in particular that my husband was especially interested in planting. It is called a Blue Moon rose. The only problem is that it is not blue. Rather it is more on the pink or lavender side.

This prompted a conversation between my husband and me. “People” named this rose blue moon, even though it is not blue. And I don’t know where moon comes into the picture. I guess in general, it does have a nice name. It just doesn’t really fit.

The following day after my husband and I talked about the not-so-blue rose, we were talking about going to the grocery store for fruit. One of the things my husband wanted was grapes. And again the name issue came up. He said that the grapes he wanted were the green ones, but people usually referred to them as white grapes. Again this name came from “people.”

And the same is true for us. People will call us a lot of things. Some of the things they call us might be hurtful or they might make us feel good. Some things they call us might be accurate or they might be way off base. It can be easy to let other people’s words affect us. Hurtful words will bring us down, and nice words will give us a boost.

But what’s important to remember, especially as Christians, is to compare everything to truth. Truth comes from God, What Jesus did for us, and what the Bible says. Who does God say you are? Who are you in Jesus? And what truth can be found in the Bible? Whether the things said about us are good or bad, it is always best to bring them back to truth.

Most of us who keep up with news might have seen a report about a nine-year-old child being butted into the air by a bison in Yellowstone recently. I saw the footage and was horrified. But I saw how close the crowd was to that bison. Unfortunately, the adults ran away and the bison went for the closest person. That bison was not shown nearly enough respect.

When I say respect I mean you need to do it with fear and trembling, and give the wild animal a wide berth. See the moose above? He’s a big guy. He can cause a lot of damage. As much damage, as the bison. Or worse. If you ever see a mama moose with her baby, you don’t want to be anywhere around, because she will stomp the stuffing out of you.

If you go to Yellowstone this year, or any other place with wild animals meandering through it, please understand that these are, indeed, wild animals. As in, they are protective of their food, their young, their very lives, and you are the intruder.

Mel took a picture of this guy as he was getting nervous. There was a crowd hovering at the road a couple hundred feet from him, which to me was a little too close, but two women decided to get closer. They’d run a little farther, take a picture, then get even farther from the crowd, closer to the moose, until he raised his big head and glared at them and shook his mighty head. Even THAT didn’t deter them. I never heard about a bull moose attack in Yellowstone that day, but there could well have been. A moose is a wild animal.

Mel and I had just driven down into the edge of Yellowstone for a hike, and though it was a thrill to see this bull moose, we didn’t stick around. We also didn’t do much hiking in Yellowstone because of all the bear warnings–grizzly attacks. I love animals but not enough to risk getting mauled by a grizzly.

Last week we drove south into the mountains and went hiking. When we got back into the car Mel said something surprising–something he’d never said before. “I have this strong feeling that we’re going to see something picture-worthy on our way back home.” So he kept his camera out and I kept watch.

Sure enough, I caught sight of this pretty gal in the tree line beside the road.

Mel took this picture from the car. Granted, it was not a good place to stop, but traffic was almost nonexistent, and we weren’t about to find a place to park and come back for a picture by foot. That’s because a moose, like a grizzly or a lion or a wolf, is a wild animal and doesn’t know we’re just taking pictures. She might have thought we were stalking her in some way. Or she might have thought we were after her food or her baby. We have to respect the wild.

Fear and respect can mean the same thing. Take the Bible, for instance. If you’ve read  The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, you’ve seen that Mr. Beaver tells the children that Aslan is not a safe lion. In other words, our Lord is not a pet. He is Lord of the universe, and we do not control Him. He controls us. We owe him more than the respect or fear we would show to a grizzly or a moose we would see in Yellowstone or out on one of our hiking trails. We owe Him total honor, total respect, total love, our total lives.

Unlike with these animals in the picture, we can draw close to Him, but we must know that if we attempt to treat Him with disrespect, with dishonor, without love, then we are taking ourselves out of His realm of protection. And that is not safe or wise in any way. Don’t forget who the enemy is. We need to be in right relationship with our God.