Buy My Wife’s Book

It’s official: My boycott of Christian Book Distributors is over, because they have done a good thing and redeemed themselves.

My wife’s new book, Survival Instinct, due out in 2010 (Steeple Hill, Love Inspired Suspense), is available on Christianbook.com for pre-order.  Please pre-order a copy today, and it will be shipped as soon as it becomes available in January.

Survival Instinct is an inspirational (i.e., Christian) romantic suspense novel set on Devil’s Island, near Bayfield, Wisconsin, where we used to live.  I am very proud of my wife!  Please, buy her book, tell your friends, and be blessed by her story.

Also, look for her second book, the riveting sequel to Survival Instinct, tentatively titled Troubled Waters, due out in June 2010.

Please Boycott Christianbook.com

Monday, June 29, 2009

So I got my paper catalog from Christian Book Distributors today.  My wife and I have purchased many books and resources from CBD over the years, especially during seminary (who could imagine getting an entire TDNT set for $99?).  But I am thinking about kicking the CBD habit, because of their ugly bias.  Let me explain.

On the front page of today’s paper catalog was a colorful box featuring the King James Kids’ Study Bible.  First of all, the mere idea of a KJV kids’ Bible is absurd.  No offense to the KJV-only crowd out there, but the KJV belongs in a college English literature classroom and not in the hands of little kids in church.  Try explaining the meaning of 1 Samuel 25:22, 34 to a 7 year old (go ahead; click on the link and read those verses; I dare you!).  Pandering to the KJV-only sects is spineless on CBD’s part.

On the other extreme, CBD often promotes the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible.  In their annual Bibles catalog, an entire page is devoted to The New Oxford Annotated Bible (NRSV), the HarperCollins Study Bible (NRSV), the Wesley Study Bible (NRSV), and the New Interpreter’s Study Bible (NRSV)–none of which would qualify as remotely conservative or evangelical.  The Oxford is basically a secular, non-religious resource.

But in all this, where is the Today’s New International Version (TNIV) of the Bible?  You remember: the evangelical update of the all-time best-selling New International Version (NIV)? The translation that largely improved its predecessor?  The one that was boycotted by a group of reactionary windbags who spoke without reading a word of it?  Nope, the TNIV is not in the newest paper catalog.  Not in the Bibles catalog. Not in any of their paper catalogs that I’ve ever seen.

So why, pray tell, would CBD promote the very conservative KJV Kids’ Study Bible and at the same the very liberal New Oxford Annotated NRSV Study Bible but completely shun the mainstream, evangelical TNIV translation altogether?

Unless someone out there has a better explanation, I’m left to believe that it’s just ugly bias against the TNIV and capitulation to those who called for its boycott.  Maybe it’s time for a different boycott.

I’m Proud of My Wife!

Monday, April 6, 2009

I just wanted to point out that the world is finally beginning to recognize the sheer genius that I have seen in my wife since the beginning.

My incredibly beautiful and talented wife recently sold an inspirational-romantic-suspense novel that will be published in February 2010 by Steeple Hill.  It is (so-far) titled Survival Instinct, and I just read the final draft over the weekend.  Let me tell you, there’s a little something for everyone: heart-fluttering romance and thrilling action, interwoven with the faith journey of the hero and heroine.  It’s a real page turner that even choked me up a little bit.

Make sure you pick up a copy; our royalties depend on it!

In addition, to celebrate the official inauguration of her professional writing career (which I have always told her was a matter of “when” rather than “if”), she is launching her author’s blog Rachelle McCalla.  Stop on over and check out a sample of her writing.

And may you be blessed by her writing.

Happy Anniversary to Me

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

No, it’s not my wedding anniversary yet, but it is a significant mile marker in my life.  Four years ago, on Valentine’s Day, we left our former town in Wisconsin to move to our current town in Nebraska.  We loaded up our silver minivan with our remaining stuff, our two-year-old son, and our four-month-old daughter, and headed south.  We drove nearly non-stop 13 hours until we reached my in-laws’ house where we were going to crash for a few days until we moved in to our house.

And this is a great opportunity to reflect on the many blessings we have enjoyed since coming here.  We have been blessed with:

• a wonderful congregation that cares about us and responds to my ministry,
• a comfortable house (although since coming here we’ve added two more kids, which makes it feel nice and full!),
• great friends–for us and for our children,
• sufficient income to take care of our needs,
• a supportive, friendly community,
• stability (during our first five years of marriage, we moved five times; during the second four years, we have moved none, thank you, Jesus!),
• a safe, leisurely-paced town, and
• meaningful relationships and work.

This is also a great opportunity to dream of the things I would like to accomplish in the coming years.  Over the next four (or so) years, I would like to:

• help our kids to thrive in school, in their character development, in their faith journey, and in their friendships,
• nurture my marriage relationship, which is one of the highlights of my life,
• see our church thrive deeper and wider (but without being hung up on numbers; please refer to my previous post), watching participants be transformed into disciples and evangelists,
• witness unbelievers come to faith through the efforts of our congregation, blessed by the Holy Spirit,
• become a better preacher,
• find creative ways to reach men with the gospel message, and
• further my education and grow in my own knowledge, character, faith, and relationships.

Some Football Thoughts

Saturday, December 6, 2008

You would think replacing the goal posts would get kind of expensive for a smallish university.  This afternoon, my alma mater Northwest Missouri State University Bearcats handily beat the University of North Alabama Lions in Maryville, 41-7. Next week they will travel to Florence, Alabama (ironically, the home of the Division II championship game at the Unviersity of North Alabama’s Braly Stadium), to face the University of Minnesota-Duluth for the title.  Last year, Northwest won the dubious distinction of making it to the championship game three years in a row…and losing all three times.  Let’s hope this year they don’t add to that distinction.

In other football news, Jourdan Brooks, a running back for Rutgers University, learned the hard way why offensive players–especially running backs–don’t wear long hair that hangs out the back of their helmets.  Perhaps someone on the coaching staff should explain to him that he wants to be like a swimmer: sleek and slippery, with as few handles as possible.  With a haircut, that’s six points.  Check out this little video clip:

A Sabbath Rest

Monday, June 2, 2008

Sinaiticus will be on vacation this week, so no real post for you.  We will be celebrating our 8th wedding anniversary Tuesday and going to family camp this weekend at Calvin Crest.

God’s blessings to all of you.