BookTuesday: Shameless self-promotion

No, that is not the title of a book, although perhaps I could write one as a companion volume to my book on humility when I get around to it. Seriously, who writes a book on humility? You would have to write it, stick it on the shelf with a note that you are nowhere near qualified to publish it, and then have it published after you're dead.

Actually, I'm using my own blog to push my own effort at a book. No, it's not published by some of the great publishers that you see me review books for. Rather, it's self-published through Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing.

Here's the whole story: we started listening to Christmas music a little bit after Canadian Thanksgiving, so that the age-old rule of "No Christmas Music Until After Thanksgiving" could be followed. Then, in early November I was thinking about the Advent season as we prepare to celebrate the birth of Christ.

And how we always seem to have trouble finding a devotional guide to use for our church. They are either too fluffy or too intense, too wordy or too much outline. Never quite "just right." So I decided that, since my main job as a church leader is teaching, I would write one.

So I did. Now I have much greater respect for people that finish full-length books, because this short one nearly killed me. I wrote a small piece titled Advent Reflections 2011: The Gift Cycle. I intend to do this again next year, but I will most likely start sooner. Like February.

The goal is present a Bible-centered devotional for six days a week for the four weeks of Advent. It's the goal of several other books, so it seemed like a good goal for mine.

How can you get this book? Here are your options:

If you have a Kindle, I would greatly, greatly appreciate it if you would go through this link and purchase it for 99 cents. That is the lowest I could price it on Amazon. I would love for anyone who likes it (or loves it) to rate it on Amazon as well, but you don't have to. I will personally guarantee you this: if you buy it and do not think it was worth the money, email me through the address in the book and I will mail you a dollar. You'll get your money back and a penny for your thoughts.

Advent Reflections 2011: The Gift Cycle

Some of you do not have Kindles. I understand that. Some of you do not have 99 cents. I understand that, too. So, in a move destined to be panned by marketing folks the world around, here is the link to the full document in PDF format. The webhost I use gives me free storage and access up to a certain point, and if I pass that point (it's like 5 GB a month) I'll have to hope for enough Kindle sales to break even.

I do ask this: if you have kind, helpful feedback, send it to the email address in the book. I want to do this again next year, but I want to improve from this year. You can see the spots I miss.

And if you like it, whether PDF or Kindle, will you go to Amazon and review it for me? A little buzz this year might help me for next year's project.

Thank you very much for reading my blog and my little book. Have a great day!

Sermon Round-up November 27 PM

Audio link here

1 John 4:7-11

I. Love?

     Looking out for another above yourself.

     Treating others as God has treated you.

II. Love shown at Christmas

     Not in presents

     In the manger

III. Love shown in Christians

     Guess who does the work now?

     God does through us.

Find someone to love, to show love to, to be the reflection of the incarnate God this year.

Make it a habit.

Thankful for…Day 5

Here's another brief list of things I'm thankful for, building on this list from earlier.

11. I'm thankful to live in farming country. We get to see the process of how rice, soybeans, and corn go from seed to field to combine to trailer. Then we eat the stuff we buy in stores.

12. I'm thankful for grocery stores. A friend and I were due to go hunt yesterday morning. It was raining. We stayed home. Guess what? Neither of us will go hungry for that, because we can buy cows. That's a good thing.

13. I'm thankful for meat processors. Well, maybe. If I shoot a deer, I'm glad that all I really have to do is haul that thing to a guy who will turn dead deer into usable meat, instead of me doing it.

14. I'm thankful for the Internet. Good job, Al Gore. Oh, wait…all of the people at DARPA, not Al. We get the opportunity to interact with people that we can't see or be with since we can connect digitally.

15. I'm thankful that, in the midst of all the chaos and commercialism, it is not only advisable to slow down and thank God for what He's blessed us with, it's possible. It's simply a matter of choosing to do so.

16. I'm thankful that our one basic Thanksgiving tradition remains unchanged: the menu can and should change every year. This year? Cheap seafood! That's right, not that fancy "fresh salmon" or "fresh shrimp." These salmon patties were caught, canned, uncanned, chopped, and refrozen last year by a mega-commercial operation. And we're going to eat them this year! The shrimp were caught and frozen who knows how long ago---but they have no skin, which is probably why they were easy to catch.

17. I'm thankful that we have endless, pointless debates to pick whatever candidate we think thinks and acts better than the other ones. After all, we could have to take to the streets to depose crackpot dictators, only to have to take to the streets to depose the people that replaced them.

18. I'm thankful that there are people who try to do what is right, even if they're undertaking a task that makes Sisyphus look successful.

19. I'm thankful that freedom is so prevalent in this country that a nut who puts on a Bigfoot costume to scare people, then takes it off to interview people about what seeing Bigfoot felt like, then posts the videos online is told to get a permit for that. And then gets angry because getting a permit violates his free speech. Take a look around a globe, dude. Free speech isn't about performance art stunts for YouTube for most people. Buy the permit.

20. I'm thankful for maps. I'm in a room with four maps on the wall, with more to come. I can learn about places I'll probably never go. But it's fun to know.

BookTuesday: December 1941

There are some great and wonderful book reviews out there. Then there’s a few that aren’t so good.This one is hopefully better than the not so good, but, honestly, it’s a little clichéd. Essentially, my review of this book is this: this is a great book for those of you who like books like this but if you don’t like books like this book, you won’t like it.

Now, would you care for some details? I thought you would…

December 1941: 31 Days that Changed America and Saved the World

The book is December 1941 by Craig Shirley. It is an historical work, non-fiction. It runs to 544 pages of text, followed by nearly a hundred more of footnotes. That’s the place I’d like to start.
Shirley’s goal with this book is to present the state of America and the world during, surprisingly, December, 1941. The month starts with the United States not in World War II and ends with the US in it. There, I’ve given away the whole plot.

Actually, what Craig Shirley has accomplished is what most history writers are striving for. He’s taken the story that he assumes his readers know and made it interesting enough to read 544 more pages about it. His work here addresses the mindset of the people of the US and the world in those times.

A large portion of his research, based on his own words and the copious endnotes, is from the news reports of the time. It’s not just the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times, but the Emporia Daily Gazette from Kansas and the Bismarck Tribune from North Dakota
.
The work moves steadily, but the reader can feel the chaos. The country was mostly expecting to get involved in the war, but the feeling was that we would decide when, probably 1942, and where, most likely Europe first. The bombing of Pearl Harbor changed that notion, and it took time to sort out how to respond.

Further, the reader can draw from this book the sense of despair in the nation. Early December reflects a country that was doing better after a decade of depression, and that perhaps expected to enter a Great War like they had a generation before: on our time, to get in it, finish it up, and get home. By December 31, there was practically no reportable good news.

Shirley, though, finds some of the good news to report. He reports how the manufacturing turned quickly to full-steam war production, how the American people began to make the greater sacrifices necessary, and how recruiting and the draft swelled the ranks. He also highlights the beginning of technology development and shifts in tactics to modern warfare.

In all, for the history buff or World War II student, this book is excellent. Does it have a broad-market appeal? Perhaps not a giant one. It does help put a fuller face on the events of the time and presents history that melds cultural, biographical, and military, which is no small task. I think it would appeal to anyone with a curiosity for the time frame.

I highly recommend it.

Edit: Forgot this link:  Craig Shirley appears on @Morning_Joe to 
discuss the book. http://t.co/Bch7O8dX
Free book received from the publishers in exchange for the review via the Booksneeze program.

Sermon Wrap Up

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AM:  http://bit.ly/tOy2By (preferred) or http://bit.ly/u66X2l (alternate)

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AM Outline: 1 John 3:18-24

Thankful for:

1. Assurance of Salvation: found not only in word but in our hearts

2. Assurance of truth: that we know that we can know something, that's something to know, you know?

3. Assurance of provision: that we know that we will always have what we need to do what He wants

4. Assurance of direction: that we know that He wants us to do certain things and that we ought to do them!

5. Assurance of completion: that He will finish the work and come back for us.

PM Outline: 1John 4:1-6

Don't believe everything....or everybody

1. There are deceptive spiritual forces involved.

2. There are deceptive people involved.

3. There is only one source of truth:

The Lord Jesus Christ.

1. Test what you hear: against the Word of God.

2. Test what you feel: against the Word of God.

3. Test what you plan: against the Word of God.

Thankful for…Monday Morning

No, I’m not really thankful for Monday Morning. Well, maybe I am.

You see, Sundays are big days for me. As a pastor, much of my week is about being ready for Sunday. First of all, there’s the study and preparation to preach two services. Then there’s the fact that many times, I don’t know of a problem either in church organization or church family matters until Sunday. So, being ready for Sunday takes some effort.

Honestly, though I love it. But I am thankful for Monday mornings. Not because I sit here and gloat over how great a day it was yesterday. I think it was, most of the time. I preached what I thought I should preach, did my best to answer people forthrightly and honestly, and tried to adjust plans as appropriate. There’s no undoing any mistakes or errors I may have made. I can apologize for them and then try to do better.

I’m thankful for Monday mornings because I get to do it again. I head back to the Bible for coming messages. Back to the books for learning. Back to preparing for the week’s challenge. It’s a good thing. Because Monday Morning means the slate is mostly clean.

Plus I’m thankful for this, as I always ought to be: we had church yesterday. Anybody that wanted to come, could come. The police weren’t watching for us, the army didn’t stop us. There were no major restrictions on what I could say, what I could preach, or what we sang.

And that is something to be thankful for. For those of you who didn’t go to church, guess what? You can be thankful that nobody made you go. There’s places that you can’t do that. You don’t get to choose to not participate.

Now, I think you ought to go to church. For lots of reasons. But there’s no way that I will say anybody ought to make you.

And that’s a freedom we should be thankful for.

Thankful for…Day 3

There's a difficulty when it comes to writing up Thanksgiving posts. If you leave out the obvious, people wonder if you're really thankful for the basics of life or if you are assuming you're entitled to them. List them and you can seem disingenuous at best and smug at worst…

I've only rarely had problems worrying about being called smug. I don't list these to be arrogant or to say that I'm a better person than you are for these. I am a better person than I would have been without these things. So, here we go:

1. I'm thankful I was raised in a home with my two biological parents who were married the whole time.

2. I'm thankful that I grew up with a church habit that required multiple trips a week. Even if I consider whether the church I lead would be ok without a Sunday night organized service, my brain immediately starts to suggest ways to use that Sunday night for church stuff.

3. I'm thankful that I have never lacked for owning a Bible.

4. I'm thankful that I have never lacked for books. Ever. Real books, and now Kindle books, but books in general.

5. I'm thankful that, alongside that lack of lack for books, I was shown that reading was both fun and profitable. I still love to read.

6. I'm thankful for the Atari 2600 we had and the hours spent playing Missile Command with Dad.

7. I'm thankful for the Commodore 64 with its cartridges and tape deck and amazing 8-color printer. There's a lot I don't grasp in computing these days, but I don't fear the digital.

8. I'm thankful for the saxophone that I never should have gotten rid of. I never played sports. Well, except that one baseball game that landed me in surgery, I didn't play. I played sax. I was a Boy Scout. Those things were enough.

9. I'm thankful to have grown up in a home with firearms. I was raised with an awareness of the danger, the power, and the proper use of a handgun, rifle,and shotgun. I am not terrified by prospect of teaching my kids to use them, either.

10. I'm thankful for being forced to get an education. I didn't want it most days…but I'm glad I wasn't given a choice.

That's the first 10 I can think of…there are dozens more.