(Used by permission from Forthright Magazine (www.forthright.net).  Copyright © 2008 Richard Mansel.)

We love babies. We gather around them in wonder and coo in total bliss. Purity and innocence radiate from their tiny bodies as they remind us of what is best about humanity.

As Christmas time nears, the baby Jesus becomes a very important part of our society. People proclaim that Jesus [specifically, the baby] is the reason for the season and when the packages are unwrapped and the decorations stashed away, the baby fades back into obscurity for another year. /1

Why are we so enamored of the baby and so hostile to the adult Jesus? The answer lies in the fact that the baby grew up and with his growth came responsibility and consequence on the part of mankind.

Accordingly, people love the baby Jesus far more than they do the adult Lord.

Herod wanted to destroy Jesus for political reasons ( Matthew 2:1-9, 16-18). However, the baby Jesus was not a threat to anyone spiritually. He was just a Jewish baby who had issued no commands or forced men to choose spiritual life or death.

The baby Jesus unites, while the man Jesus divides ( Matthew 10:34-36). His doctrines force people to put away sinful practices and relationships ( Romans 5:6-11). Despite his offer of grace and mercy, most will refuse to come to him ( Matthew 7:13-14).

Jesus is Lord and God, whether as a baby or an adult ( John 1:1-5). Yet, people want to divide them up into the dear Jesus and the dangerous Jesus.

In this confusion, we find man’s destruction.

The Colossians fell into a similar trap. They were worshiping angels because they asked nothing of them and appeared to fill a spiritual void ( Colossians 2:18). Likewise, people are enamored of the baby Jesus because he is not speaking against their sinful lifestyles. In the manger, he offers the warm glow without the fear of being burned.

People have greatly misunderstood the baby Jesus. He is the God of love and grace ( John 3:16; Ephesians 2:8-9). We can find no better alternatives, so we better not let this one go by ( John 6:68; Matthew 11:28-30).

In doing so, we humble ourselves before him and have our sins washed away, so we can be transformed ( Acts 2:38; Romans 12:1-2). As a result, we will see the baby and the adult Jesus as the true Savior of the world.

When will we accept our sins, so we can give them up? When we do, we can stop playing mind games designed to rationalize away God’s will. Let us make peace and accept him today ( Acts 22:16).

1/ There isn’t any scriptural authority for a religious holiday focused on the birth of Jesus. But we can honor it as a family holiday. http://www.forthright.net/square_one/the_real_truth_about_jesus_birth_1.html

For the record, I am a Christian.  Our family does enjoy December 25th, but as a family day, not a ”holy day”.   We do celebrate Jesus–just not as a newborn baby on one day a year, but every Sunday when we participate in communion with our Christian family and with Christ Himself.  According to the Bible, this is the only memorial He instituted for Himself.  Nowhere in the pages of that Book can I find Him asking us to celebrate His birth.

So, I don’t want to fuss and fight over how we greet people for the holiday, or any of the rest of it.  Insisting on “keeping Christ in Christmas” is insisting on putting Him where He never asked to be.

Are we honoring Christ if we make up our own celebrations from bits of paganism and fantasy and lack of Biblical knowledge; if we call it a “Christian” holiday, and don’t proclaim Him in the one way He asked?

Do we honor Him when we celebrate Him one day a year and spend the rest of the year totally ignoring Him and His commands?

Do we honor Him when we do only what makes us feel good in our religious service and don’t look in the Bible to see the way He wants us to worship and live?

Am I being a legalist?  I don’t know.  I only know I want to please my heavenly Father and His Son.  Please consider these verses:

John 14:15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”

2 John 1:9 “Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.”

It makes me sad that the one day of the year our country set aside for giving thanks has degenerated into orgies of overeating and football games, with rarely a mention or thought of giving thanks.  Even the name is changing.  “Turkey day”?  What?  We’re turning the day into a day to honor the turkey?

But I guess it’s only to be expected.  When humanism trumps theism in people’s minds, the One responsible for all of our blessings is booted out.  Why would people give thanks to a being they refuse to believe in.  What a sad, sad state of affairs for our country and for each individual who is suffering from that delusion.  When a soul refuses to acknowledge God and thank Him for blessings given, what hope does that soul have?

For Christians, everyday should be a day of giving thanks.  On Thanksgiving day we get to focus even more deeply on our blessings and the Source of them.  Enjoy the day.  Enjoy the feast and the fellowship.  Those were part of the original day of Thanksgiving that our forefathers celebrated.  Enjoy the football (even if the Pilgrims never heard of it).  But let’s don’t forget the reason for the day and the reason for our hope of an even better life beyond this one.

Let’s don’t celebrate “Turkey Day”.  Let’s celebrate Thanksgiving Day.

Enjoy and pass it on!

See what problems the inability to outline causes! (Trying to convince my ornery inner writer here.)   I’ve said before that I’ve tried all kinds of “methods” to outline a novel, but none of them works for me.  Either I have a weird brain or a great lack of self-discipline.  Whatever the cause, I start a book with a vague idea of its main point and a fair amount of certainty about where it will end.  That’s it.

I must admit, this one is coming a bit differently than some of the others.  I’m getting scenes that aren’t in chronological order.  (The challenge will be to put them together in a way that makes sense and doesn’t bore the reader to death.)

But I still don’t know who pulled the trigger of the gun in the first scene.   Will I figure it out before Danny and Constancy do?  I sure hope so!

I’ve known for most of my life that I’m an introvert, but I didn’t realize that fact explained so much about who I am and how I react to life.  The blog quoted a book titled THE INTROVERT ADVANTAGE by Marti Olsen Laney, Psy. D.  The quote intrigued me so much that I bought the book.  As I read it, I had one “Aha!” moment after another.  Some of it brought tears to my eyes.  It was such a relief to discover why being in large groups of noisy people made me progress from feeling irritable to “must escape or explode”.  I learned why I crave a lot of time alone, why I’m uncomfortable in new surroundings, why I dread talking on the phone, why I have to rehearse what I want to say before I get up enough nerve to say it–even in normal conversation, and much, much more.  I’m not crazy.  I’m not anti-social or a snob.  I’m an introvert.

Somebody recently said to me: “You’re an introvert and proud of it”, which hurt a little.  I’m neither proud nor ashamed of it.  It just is. There’s no way an extrovert can imagine the struggle and mental agony it sometimes takes introverts to do even little things extroverts can do automatically and well.

Three-quarters of the people in the world are extroverts.  While the rest of us can learn coping mechanisms which will help us to survive and even thrive in this extroverted world, we cannot totally change our inner selves into extroverts.

To me, the most enlightening part of Dr. Laney’s book was the science behind being an introvert.  Her explanation is long and involved, and to see a full explanation, please get a copy of the book.  It boils down to studies which show that extroverts’ brains and introverts’ brains process information in entirely different ways and rely on different neuro-transmitters.  Introverts also have shorter copies of  the D4DR gene, the “novelty-seeking gene”.

It’s quite a relief to learn that I don’t need to turn myself into something I’m not.  I just need to learn the coping mechanisms, practice them and do the best I can.

If you are an introvert, please do some study on this topic.  Dr. Laney’s book might be a huge help, but there are other books out there, too.

If you are an extrovert, you also need some study–if for no other reason than you need to understand why your introverted friend or relative can’t fully function the way you do.  You will both be glad you took the time to learn.

Our world needs both kinds of people.  Appreciate each other’s strengths and help each other’s weaknesses.

Here is Dr. Laney’s website, a good place to start. Her books are available on Amazon.  Links to that on the website.

Another good article.

REVIEW

In my view, the test of a successful science-fiction or fantasy novel is simple. Can I believe in the world created by the writer? Do the fantasy elements ring true? To both of these questions, when applied to D. H. Parker’s Dullahan Mountain Breakdown, my answer is a resounding ‘Yes’.

From the first pages of Dullahan Mountain Breakdown, we know that we’re in a different world, one inhabited by Fair Folk or fairies.  Here there are secret places unseen by mortals, veils of invisibility, jewelry with magical powers, and a mysterious cave that holds unimaginable secrets. Ms. Parker makes them all so real that you think they really do exist in some small, dark town in the Ozarks.

As an adult, Maura Tasgall returns to Amberwell, a town described by Ms. Parker as a place where “the air of it seemed fogged with fear as well as evil”. Maura is determined to unravel the mysteries that darkened her girlhood. When she was a child, her mother, Aislin, shunned as a witch, supposedly ran away with her lover. Soon after, Maura’s father died in a cave-in, or breakdown, leaving her with a legacy of unnatural nightmares and self-doubt.

But Maura has always been convinced that her mother was murdered and the killer, never punished for the crime, is alive and well in Amberwell, planning to kill again. Maura has a plan of her own: To unmask this murderer.

Ultimately, Maura discovers the truth about Amberwell’s dark secrets, but not without being drawn into an age-old battle between Good and Evil, a struggle made more difficult as she learns that things aren’t what they seem.

Dullahan Mountain Breakdown is a rare enchanting fantasy novel. For all its darkness, it works its way to a redeeming brightness, rather like a shine of fairy gold.

Dorothy Bodoin, author    http://www.dorothybodoin.com/

Enter this book:  Sticks and Stones: A Study of Hurtful Words and Helpful Remedies by Jeff Abrams.  Jeff is a gospel preacher, so the book is written totally from a Christian viewpoint.  The Bible has much to say about the use of words.  In the beginning, God spoke our universe into being.  “And God said, ‘Light is to be.’  And light proceeded to be.”  [translation by Hugo McCord.]

Only two chapters later we find words being misused.  The use of words is an old topic.  As old as it is, though, Jeff’s fresh treatment of it–including some light moments–help emphasize the continuing deadly seriousness of it.

Grab a copy of Sticks and Stones and meet some “blabaholics” (and learn how NOT to be one). Learn the difference between “chocolate words” and “broccoli words”. Learn the best response when somebody says, “I’ve got to tell somebody about this!” Learn how God expects us to use His great gift of words.

From the “Welcome (With a Warning)” beginning to the final chapter concerning “Your Tongue on Judgment Day” this book is written in a way that’s easy to read, hard to put down. It contains a discussion and study guide and would make excellent Bible class material for any group of teens or adults.

If all of us read and acted on the lessons in Jeff Abrams’ Sticks and Stones, the world would be a better place.

Sticks and Stones is now available from  http://SticksandStonesBook.com and is also available in paper and for Kindle from Amazon.   Go over and take a look at it, and at the other comments and reviews, then do yourself–and the world–a favor and buy a copy.

“What your eyes have seen do not hastily bring into court, for what will you do in the end, when your neighbor puts you to shame?”           ( Proverbs 25:8, ESV).

An old, anonymous poem states:

There is no nourishment in verbs,
Nouns don’t have much flavor.
Prepositions are quite flat;
Pronouns have no savor.
Adjectives have little spice,
Adverbs haven’t any
Words are pretty tasteless things
I know — I’ve eaten many.”

Perhaps the surgeon general should print the following:

“Warning: Thoughtless words have proved hazardous to health. It causes guilt to the user, and heartbreak for the second hand user!”

Beginning a conflict is a very serious thing indeed. There are times when it must be done, I suppose, but careful consideration should precede the decision to do so. Don’t launch hastily into court against someone; don’t repeat the newest, juiciest gossip.

Consider the facts. What if your information is wrong? What if you’re shamed in public for acting on unreliable information?

If you’re hungry, eat something nutritious like fruit and vegetables. Eating one’s words brings humiliation, and its aftertaste leaves you still hungry!

Used by permission from Forthright Magazine (www.forthright.net). Copyright © 2011 Stan Mitchell

read a preview here

“It doesn’t take much to turn fine dreams into nightmares.” Constancy Egan’s seat-mate on the flight to Grandpa George Fraser’s ranch would make a perfect Santa–except for his icy eyes and those discouraging words. All her life Constancy has dreamed of celebrating a Christmas gift-wrapped in layer upon layer of precious family. She’s determined to enjoy every minute of this first Christmas with her newly-found relatives, but the man’s pronouncement comes back to haunt her when a secretive shepherd goes missing and fossil rustlers threaten to shatter the joy of Constancy’s long-awaited family Christmas.