BlogTour: Christian Writers' Market Guide

I'm participating in a blog tour this week for the Christian Writers' Market Guide 2009 by Sally E. Stuart. This is an annual publication that serves as the Bible for Christian writers. If you have any interest in being published in any Christian market, this book is for you. It's the essential reference tool for the Christian writer. Stuart's research includes 547 pages of priceless information about book publishers, periodicals, greeting card, and gift markets. A CD is also included with contacts for 1000+ markets.

Want to know what magazines might be interested in your article or how to submit it or who to send it to? The Guide will tell you. Wonder how many publishers might be interested in your sci-fi legal thriller romance novel? The Guide will tell you. Looking for a literary agent who specializes in the Christian publishing industry? The Guide will tell you. Interested in joining a writer's group, entering a writing contest, or finding a writer's conference to attend? The Guide will tell you.

Sally Stuart's guide is THE most comprehensive, complete, essential, and highly-recommended resource for beginning and veteran Christian writers, agents, editors, publishers, publicists, and teachers. This is the resource you need to get noticed - and published.

It's simply indispensable if you are seeking to be published.

Moon River

For some reason this scene kept coming to mind yesterday as I anxiously awaited my physical exam with my doctor.

Some Thoughts on Prayer

An excerpt from a book I'm working on...

We allow the busyness of life to cheat us out of quality prayer time. Our calendars, gadgets, and inability to sit quietly to pray and meditate on God allow the gap in our relationship with him to increase. Bill Hybels authored a book titled, Too Busy Not to Pray. It was titled with Martin Luther, the key figure of the Protestant Reformation, in mind who once said, "I have so much to do, that I cannot get on without three hours a day of praying."

We naturally think just the opposite of Luther. We maintain a lifestyle with no margin, little downtime, and constant interruption. We are too busy to pray. Luther understood that the busier he was, the more he needed to pray. He recognized that when he worked, he worked. But when he prayed, God worked.

I confess that I have been aggravated at believers who tell me, "I don't have time for prayer. I don't have time to read my Bible. It's difficult for me to find time to spend with God." Then, when the subject is changed that same person rattles on and on about every show they watched the night before on primetime television. We have the time. We just have to make prayer a priority.

The Oil Next Door

Imagine that you live next to a beautiful field and suppose that one of your neighbors secretly hates you. He is dedicated to hurting you and ruining your life. Your enemy knows that this beautiful piece of land is for sale and in addition to that, this land has oil underground. He cannot afford to purchase the land himself, but because he hates you so much, he is determined to do everything possible to prevent you from buying it. One day, however, he is caught off guard, you discover the land is for sale and buy it.

Your enemy is furious that you've bought the property, but he cannot change the fact. However, his hatred for you is so obsessive that he decides he will do everything possible to prevent you from ever learning that there is oil on the property. One strategy he employs is to keep you occupied with all kinds of activities – social gatherings, ball games, meetings, concerts, and other events. He believes that if you are busy enough on the surface, you will never discover the oil that is underneath. If that doesn't work, he can try to divert you with all kinds of legal regulations and bureaucratic red tape that will bog you down and keep you from doing anything productive with the land.

Whatever his methods, if he succeeds, your enemy will have done almost as much harm as if he had actually prevented you from buying the land in the first place.

That is what the enemy tries to do with us. Once we become children of God, Satan has lost that most important battle. Now his only weapon against us is to try and fill our lives with apathy, ritual, religion, and busyness. He wants to take away our enthusiasm so that we never discover the incredible wealth that we have inherited as children of the living God. Don't let the enemy do that to you. Take the time necessary to enjoy the riches of God's grace. Spend time with him. Get to know him. Bask in his presence. He has given you something incredible - himself. Don't miss your amazing gift.

Penn Says: A Gift of a Bible

Interesting. I saw this at thinkchristian.net. Read this post for more insight. http://www.thinkchristian.net/index.php/2009/01/13/a-magicians-christian-encounter/

Letterman's Top 10 George Bush moments

I love George W. We'll miss him.

Brain Dump

Here's what's been on my mind lately:

• Started reading through the One Year Chronological Bible. It is arranged in the order in which the Bible was written rather than the book order of typical Bibles. Great way to freshen up the way I read it.
  
• Been working on a book that I hope to have available within the next month or so.
• My baby girl turns 19 tomorrow. I'm getting old!
• I thought the first 2 hours of the new 24 was slack.
• Love empty-nesting with my wife!!
• If there is such a thing as reincarnation, I want to come back as Anthony Bourdain.
  
• Our friends in Costa Rica had a bad earthquake last Thursday. Many people killed. Saw some familiar places in the pics and videos in the news. Pray for them.
• I love having services in the NASH auditorium! And listening to my son sing there...
  
• Is interested to see what Obama is going to do.
• Read A Dog Named Christmas the other night. Plan to read Rob Bell's Jesus Wants to Save Christians next. Beth loved it.
  
• I don't believe in reincarnation.
• Can't wait for a new series of Deadliest Catch to start up. That show, my friends, is entertainment!!
• Been working on another blog too - www.blogaboutjocks.com
• Hopes the economy starts improving sooner than the pundits expect.
• We have great volunteers at TNC. What a privilege to be a part!
  

Have an Enthusiastic New Year!

Author Calvin Miller wrote about an antique wooden dynamite box in his home. The box was made in the 19th century. It was carefully constructed to withstand shock as its explosive contents were transported from the manufacturer to its place of use.

On the lid were large red and black letters which said, "DANGER DYNAMITE!" But Miller wrote that the last time he saw it, it was filled with a bunch of junk in his workshop.

Like Calvin Miller's antique dynamite box, we are built specifically to transport God's power into the world. But, if we’re not careful, we will clutter our lives with so many other things that we will have lost our power, passion, and enthusiasm. Our spiritual power will become nonexistent.

What image comes to mind when you think of enthusiasm? I think of cheerleaders, motivational speakers, or super salesmen. It's often something we try to conjure up in ourselves or others. Enthusiasm seems at times superficial like a mood we create to get us past the next challenge. For some, enthusiasm comes naturally. It's a part of their DNA.

The truth is that everyone should be enthusiastic because the word enthusiasm means "God in you." In Greek, the prefix "en" means "with or in you" and "theos" means God. If you have God in your life, you have enthusiasm (i.e., en-theos). So, my wish for you today, my friend, this first day of 2009, is that you will have an Enthusiastic New Year! A year full of hope, love, grace, mercy, and all things GODLY. Because if you have Christ, the hope of glory and God's incredible gift to us that we celebrated last week, then you have enthusiasm.