Flirting with Trouble

Last week I drove out to visit the Baptist Bible College that has been established on the other side of Hartford (I can't remember which town). Brian went with me.

I was expecting a sober environment, not stale, but a health sober. Instead the leadership had arranged a series of childish games. It started with a version of musical chairs and ended with the random selection of six "strong" young guys. Three of them sat in chairs placed at the center of several hundred youth inside the gymn, while the other three were told to sit on their laps. They were then given baby bottles... a contest to see which pair could drink down their bottle the fastest.

Disappointment does not begin to describe my feelings upon walking out of there. I kept hearing the passage in Scripture running through my head: "...exort the young men to be sober..."

If the leadership of that school cannot see the foolishness that they allowing, then they are blind. And if they do not realize that it is foolishness, then I would say this: ask the pastor of that church to sit in that chair in the gymn, with a respected deacon or assistant pastor in his lap, and feed him with a baby bottle. Or, why not Christ with Peter on his lap?

I do not mean this as a joke; it is no laughing matter. If those Christian youth cannot behave with sobriety and both consider and treat each other with respect, then they are on a fast track downhill, away from spiritual maturity.

Consistency! It is essential in our lives if we are to share the gospel effectively. Now I am not saying that I am always consistent, far from. But I do strive to be so and I am fighting. Let's be examples of righteousness, and thus we will have the strength to lead people away from this godless society... instead of melding into it.

"Sword of the Dragon" Re-scheduled for first week of October

Oh my! Dan Penwell just informed me that they will be meeting the first week of October to discuss my book.

That's all I wanted to say. I'm nervous, excited, filled with anticipation, hoping for the best... you name it; I'm waiting to see what happens.

Butterflies

Of all creatures in God's creation, butterflies hold a special fascination for me.

Today, Mom and I went to the butterfly conservatory in MA. The picture above is my favorite, shot with my digital SLR. This little fella (or gal... I don't know which) was the ideal butterfly model. Quite photogenic!

The butterflies are everywhere and unafraid of people. They landed on us several times.




Denying God's handiwork is foolishness. I am reminded of that every time I witness another miracle of His creation. Many people today, especially in the younger generation, neglect to look at nature, to explore it, to study it, and to simply enjoy it. Perhaps this is part of the reason why evolutionary philosophy has gained such a foothold in America.

I praise God for the creatures He placed on this world for us to enjoy. No wonder He finished his work and declared it good! It is good!

Poll Removal

Regrettably I had to remove the poll from my blog. Today I found a sixth rating on there and that is not physically possible since only seven people have received Offspring and two of them have not had the opportunity to put in their votes yet (besides which they told me they loved the novel and the vote I found today was a bad one).

Maybe there was a little confusion as to what the pole was for. I hope so, because otherwise someone voted with malicious intent.

I want this site to have a reputation for honesty. Therefore the pole has been removed.

We'll just have to wait until I have a website with discussion forums so that we can get honest opinions on the novel. I'm sure that there will be plenty of negative views as well as positive ones (every book has those who love and those who hate it--even the Bible). (-:

Thanks to the readers of Offspring who posted votes. I'll be sending you Swords of the Six as soon as it is done.

"Swords of the Six" prelude

With all the new work I've done on the first Sword of the Dragon novel many people have expressed the hope that they will be able to read it soon. Unfortunately it will take a few months longer--at the very least--to finish this rewrite. But it will be worth it.

I'm posting the prelude on my affiliate blog page. So if you want to read it: feel free to do so. Be forewarned, however, that the formatting did not transfer smoothly into the blog so the paragraphs are a bit obscure in places.

And, of course, your feedback would be nice!

Swords of the Six Prelude: Blood of the Innocent @ http://www.theflamingpenblogspot.com/

New Product Meeting

Dan Penwell, fiction acquisitions editor for AMG Publishers, notified me that their next new product meeting will be held on November 15th.

This may seem like a long ways off but I'm glad I have a few months remaining. It will give me time to work with Jennifer Miller on more illustrations and will also give me the time I need to finish writing the expansion for the novel and to revamp the original.