Travel to Holland this Summer for Free!

Economy got you down? Wish you could just put all your worries behind you and hit the road for some R&R? Well, I can't afford to send you across the pond on a jet airliner, but I can send you on a literary trip to Holland with a copy of Robin Jones Gunn's new novel "Sisterchicks in Wooden Shoes".

If you've ever wanted to see the land of tulips and windmills you will love this book. It recounts the meeting of Summer and Noelle, life-long pen pals, who finally meet in person and spend a week together crisscrossing the Noelle's adopted homeland. These two women learn a lot about each other and themselves as they visit the sites and get into a little trouble along the way.

This is a fun book filled with zany travel experiences and interesting visits to places like Corrie Ten Boom's Hiding Place. If you are interested in traveling to foreign lands but don't have the time or money or both this is a great way to "see" the sites and get wrapped up in a wonderful story of friendship and God's love.

Be sure to leave me a comment if you'd like to be in the random drawing to win this book.

You can purchase this book online at RANDOM HOUSE

Here's some more helpful info:

Book: Sisterchicks In Wooden Shoes

Summary: When a mammogram result comes back abnormal, midlife mama Summer Finley makes a snap decision to relegate fear to the back burner and fulfill a lifelong dream. Summer heads for Holland where she meets up with tulips, wooden shoes, and her best friend, Noelle.

Pen pals since fourth grade, Summer and Noelle have never met face-to-face. Through decades of heart-level correspondence, they have sustained a deep friendship. A week of adventure helps both women trade anxiety for a renewed and deeper trust in God. When Summer confides in Noelle about the abnormal medical report, Noelle finds the freedom to share a long-held heartache, and both women discover they needed each other more than they realized.

Women ages 35 and up, readers of Christian Boomer Lit, and fans of books such as The Yada Yada Prayer Group will enjoy Robin Jones Gunn’s humorous and uplifting style. True-to-life characters and moments of poignancy bring a deeper understanding of the value of life and the gift of true friends. Readers guide and bonus material included.

Author Bio:

Robin Jones Gunn is the best-selling and award-winning author of over seventy books, including the Glenbrooke, Christy Miller, Sierra Jensen, Katie Weldon, and Christy and Todd: The College Years teen series. The Sisterchicks® series has sold more than 300,000 units, bringing her total sales to more than 3.5 million books worldwide. A Christy Award winner, Robin is a popular speaker, both at home and abroad, and is frequently interviewed on radio and on television. www.robingunn.com

www.sisterchicks.com

It's time for summer reading! Win a free copy of THE NIGHT WATCHMAN by Mark Mynheir

Summer has unofficially started with the Memorial Day weekend behind us and warmer weather upon us. It's time to start thinking about what you are going to read this year at the beach, lake, river or in your back yard.

May I suggest a great read to get you started - "The Night Watchman" by Mark Mynheir. If you like crime dramas then you don't want to miss this well written novel by a former detective. The characters are well established and the story has plenty of twists and turns to keep you anxiously turning the pages until the very end.

Ray Quinn is a protagonist worth following and I look forward to more stories with him in them. (This is the first book in a series featuring Quinn.) He is flawed and dejected but also intelligent and feisty. It's what made him a great cop and a fighter to the end.

I have one copy available to giveaway. Please let me know if you are interested and I will randomly draw a name on June 1 from the comments left.

Here is the official book summary:

Ray Quinn is a tough, quick-witted homicide detective in love with his partner, Trisha Willis. She gives Ray something to live for—something to hope in. Until a barrage of bullets leaves Trisha murdered and Ray crippled.

Struggling with his new physical disability and severe depression, Quinn turns to whiskey, scorn, and a job as a night watchman to numb the pain. But when a pastor and dancer are found dead in an apparent murder-suicide, the pastor’s sister approaches Quinn for help.

Reluctantly, Quinn takes the case and is plunged into the perilous Orlando. Soon he discovers that, not only was the pastor murdered, but the case may be linked to his and Trisha’s ambush. Torn between seeking revenge or responsibility, Quinn is thrust into the case of his life.

Author Mark Mynheir gives readers his most profound police thriller to date with The Night Watchman (first book in The Night Watchman Private Detective Agency Series). Readers of all ages will devour this gripping murder mystery that bristles with tension and intrigue. In a taut cop-style all his own, Mynheir delivers an inside look at the thoughts, feelings, fears, and challenges police officers experience while investigating violent crimes and the lost souls who commit them.



And a little about Mark Mynheir:
A detective with the Criminal Investigations Unit of the Palm Bay Police Department, Mark Mynheir investigates violent crimes and writes riveting Christian fiction. A U.S. Marine with a passion for martial arts and firearms training, Mark has worked on narcotics units, SWAT teams, and myriad high-risk situations. His four novels offer a realistic glimpse into the gritty world of law enforcement and the rarely seen raw emotions behind the badge. Mark lives in Florida with his wife and three children.

You can purchase this book directly from Random House.

Book Reviews are coming to The Funki Planet

I've got several blogs going now, all for different purposes and am working to organize and prioritize the purposes of each one.

Starting in the next few weeks this blog will become a place to get information about good reads. I was recently asked by Multnomah Publishers (now WaterBrook Press) to be a book reviewer and have started receiving books from Random House.

If you like books but don't know what to buy or get from the library or just want to find some good summer reads be sure to check out this blog for my recommendations.

Coming next week is a review of a great crime drama / murder mystery. Come back to see what I think of the latest book by Mark Mynheir entitles "The Night Watchman."

You may win a copy of your own!

Life = Control....God = ??

We've been studying Genesis, as you may or may not remember, this year and we are in the home stretch for finishing the book. It's been a wild ride, to say the least. Last night my deep thought from the mind of the Funki Planet was as follows:

We spend a lot of time in life trying to figure things out and then adjust ourselves to it. Think about when you move into a new house or go on vacation you always have to figure out how the new (or different) oven cooks. Fast, slow, hot, not hot enough and then you make adjustments (usually after an undercooked or overcooked meal!)

As a fisherman I always have to make adjustments on the river. I try a fly and if it doesn't work I tie on another and go through the run again, change up my drift speed, try to reach a little farther out with my cast and constantly adjust to the changing air and water conditions.

Think about driving across town. There is always a new driver in front of you, you have to adjust to their speed, stopping distances, foot feed off the line, etc. Then they turn off and there is someone new in front of you. You have to adjust all over again. Every day is a series of small and large adjustments.

Life = Control. There is a constant battle that we wage to stay in control, to stay on top, to keep from tripping, falling (just think about walking) adjust, adjust, adjust.

Now take a look at Genesis 43. Joseph's brothers return home with grain for the clan and all their money but without Simeon, who is still in jail in Egypt, and tell Jacob / Israel that they can't go back and get more grain or their brother without taking Benjamin. Benjamin is Joseph's blood brother, Jacob / Israel's most treasured son and the youngest in the family.

Watch the progression here - first, Jacob / Israel begins hemming and hawing, blaming his sons for even mentioning that they had a brother, then Judah offers his own life up if anything should happen to Benjamin, finally Jacob / Israel makes an elaborate plan that involves best fruits, a little balm, a little honey, spices and nuts (pistachios and almonds to be exact), double money and his youngest son Benjamin. His last words are "If I am bereaved, I am bereaved!" He complains, he gets a back-up in Judah, he elaborately plans and only then does he finally surrender. CONTROL!!

Now I don't know if I can say that this is the best way to go about it, but I do know that I spend a lot of time complaining, looking for a back-up and laying out detailed plans. You should come drive with me sometime. I get behind some lame driver and complain, look for an alternate route and then think of all they ways I can get away from this irritation on four wheels. I think of all the other streets I can take, even drive out of my way, just so I don't have to follow him or her. I can assure you that I very very rarely surrender and follow quietly. If I do it means I'm within feet of my destination (but I'm still complaining on the inside!!) CONTROL!!

How often do we go through life like this with God? We ask Him to bless us or show us what He wants us to do, then we complain about the circumstances, look for a backup in case He doesn't come through on our timetable and make elaborate plans to make Him love us. We go to church 6 Sundays in a row, read our bible for a week straight, pray for starving children, give a beggar a dollar or two, say nice things to our siblings, our spouses....you get the picture.

But you can never adjust enough to control God. This is a hard pill to swallow. He is so big, so powerful, so faithful that we can never figure Him out. Just about the time we think we've got it He swerves left and we dodge right. Right off the cliff in most cases.

This got me to thinking. Am I in control or is God? I don't have an answer to be honest with you. I feel like I'm currently in a position of trying to surrender first then being available for His leading, but I don't do a very good job of it most days - I constantly find myself adjusting,
adjusting, adjusting to that I can outmaneuver Him. It doesn't work all that well actually.

So, where are you? Let me know.

Today in the DRCongo.....

Hundreds of traumatized child soldiers return home in Congo
UPDATED: 2009-03-04 11:49:12 MST


By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS


KIWANJA, Congo — Some beat their heads against the wall until doctors inject them with tranquillizers. Others remain mute for days, their eyes darting around like frightened animals.

In recent weeks, hundreds of child soldiers in eastern Congo’s catastrophic war have returned home, sometimes to the same villages where they killed and pillaged. Some have been forced back out with threats of vengeance, and even ostracized by their own families.

These children were kidnapped by rebels and used as fighters, labourers, porters and sex slaves in a war that has torn the mineral-rich region apart for years. Children helped slaughter some 150 civilians in a two-day massacre in Kiwanja in November, one of the latest atrocities in a relentless cycle of ethnic warfare.

But in January, President Joseph Kabila invited troops in from neighbouring Rwanda to help end the conflict. Rebel leader Laurent Nkunda was arrested and his fighters integrated into the army — and child advocates are seizing upon the relative stability to persuade militias and rebels to let go of those under 18. At least 478 children, including 15 girls, were demobilized in eastern Congo in January and February, according to UNICEF.

Stripped of their camouflage uniforms, guns and machetes, many of the youngsters still have raw aggression programmed into them through years of being pumped up with drugs and thrown into battle. Some have scars on their arms from knife cuts where herbs and other concoctions were rubbed under the skin to convince them that bullets would ricochet off their bodies.

READ MORE HERE

What I've learned about Genesis so far

I gave a little speech this morning about what I've learned about Genesis so far this year in CBS. Here is what I told the group:

Adam was walking around the Garden of Eden feeling very lonely, so God asked Adam, "What is wrong with you?"

Adam said he didn't have anyone to talk to.

God said, "I was going to give you a companion and it would be a woman. This person will cook for you and wash your clothes. She will always agree with every decision you make. She will bear your children and never ask you to get up in the middle of the night to take care of them. She will not nag you, and will always be the first to admit she was wrong when you've had a disagreement. She will never have a headache, and will freely give you love and compassion whenever needed.

Adam asked God, "What would a woman like this cost me??"

God said, "An arm and a leg."

Adam asked, "What can I get for just a rib???"

And now you know (as Paul Harvey would say) ...the rest of the story.



But seriously, I’m here today to whet your appetite for your study next year of the book of Genesis.

Genesis is so much more than the creation story or the story about two people and a snake who messed it all up.

Genesis is filled with firsts. The first day, the first night, the first animals, the first people, the first children, the first murder, the first (and last) worldwide flood, the first rainbow, the first sacrifice, the first twins, the first fire and brimstone, the first incest, the first kidnapping, the first covenant, there are more firsts than you can even imagine.

It is also filled with love, passion, friendship, anger, resentment, contentment, joy, fear, and with people who were fatally flawed, devious, deceitful, cruel and completely loved by God.

I asked some of the people in my core group what they would say to describe this book to someone else. I got these statements:

It’s about God reconciling us to Him.
I see Christ on every page.
It’s the root of our Christian beliefs.
There are rewards for being faithful.
It’s about hope.
The women are all pretty and the men are all very very old
It’s filled with imperfect people.
And my favorite – Be sure to turn on the light on your wedding night.

Personally, I have discovered a rich tapestry of lives that I have spent years placing up on a pedestal. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. The founding fathers of my faith. Each one had deep character flaws that by today’s standards would place them on the fringes of our churches, small groups and friendship circles. And yet God considered these men righteous. He called them friends.

While I idolized these men and their general stories I missed the bigger picture. In this study of Genesis I have found the birth of a plan so big, so complete and so incredible it would take God himself to bring it to fruition.

Abraham was a liar and he needed a Messiah. Isaac played favorites with his children and tried to thwart God. He needed a Savior. Jacob was a cheater and a thief and he needed a Redeemer.

The plan of salvation was put into motion way back in Genesis and no one, not even the great men and women of the Bible, was exempt from needing Christ and the gift of salvation he brought to the world.

If you are sitting here today and think you’ve got it all together. You don’t. Genesis will rock your world and God will become more real and more powerful in your life than you ever though possible.

If you are sitting here today and thinking that God can’t use your broken, beaten up, bruised life. You’re wrong. Genesis will give you the confidence to share your story, your experience and your life with someone else who is hurting and broken. God uses imperfect, flawed people for glorious purposes.

Don’t miss Genesis. Don’t miss the chance to learn about the beginning so you are prepared for the end.

Don't be an Esau!

I've been studying the book of Genesis since early September. Last week I read the story of Jacob and Esau. As I studied it and got deep into the meat of the story I suddenly saw something new. I think that there are a lot of people in the world and in American in general who are running around like Esau.

Genesis 25 says that Esau gave up his birthright to his younger brother, Jacob, for a meal. It says Esau "despised his birthright." He gave no thought to what it really meant to be the firstborn in his family and he completely turned his back on the significance of his position. Then in chapter 26 it says that Esau took two Hittite wives and that they "were a grief of mind to Isaac and Rebekah."

So here is Esau, out living his life with no regard for his place in the world, his family or his actions. He is banking on being Isaac's favorite son. He bets his whole life on it. He completely expects his father to give him the blessing of the firstborn because he makes really good stew.

But when Isaac is fooled by Jacob, who poses as Esau, and Isaac gives Jacob the blessing of the firstborn Genesis 27:34 says, "[Esau] cried with an exceedingly great and bitter cry, and said to his father, "Bless me--me also, O my father!"

This reminded me of a passage in the New Testament - Matthew 7:21-23:
Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'

My first response? "DOH!"

How many people out there are running around with no regard for the gift they have been given by God through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ? They think that because they were born in America, because their parents are Christians or because they have been so "good" that when they stand before the Almighty God he will just automatically bless them and send them on their merry way through the pearly gates.

Oh, what a tragic day that will be!

This is it folks. There will be no second chance. There will be no blessing to bestow on those who have not accepted the gift of eternal life through Christ Jesus. The only way to enter heaven is to get on your knees, offer God your very best - the very best of you which is actually your dark and dirty heart - and allow Him to give you the blessing of the firstborn, which can never be taken away. There is nothing you can do to be "good enough". There is no work that can guarantee your place. There is only grace.

Esau missed it. He "despised his birthright." Don't be an Esau! Accept the gift but don't delay. There is no time to waste. The Father is waiting for you today.