In the Hall of the dragon King

Today I am rereading In the Hall of the Dragon King again.  I finally got the other two books, so I thought I'd reread the first one before I went on.

I'm amazed (again) by how much I like Stephen Lawhead's writing.  I like how he weaves in God through his high fantasy.  I think that that's a difficult thing to do.  How do you write of God in a book that is taking place in a made up world?  I think that it would be easy to come across preachy if it wasn't done well.  Or, the spiritual element could be nonexistent, which almost is just as bad. 

Everyone (even characters in a book) has thoughts of God, faith, and immortality.  If you eliminate that from your characters' thoughts, it could make them flatter, and less real.  And, for a Christian writer, there should be elements of God and characters that have found the hope of God, because they should be trying to keep God in the center of their writing lives.  

Anyway, I thought that Lawhead wrote about God very well.  He made Him seem real to the culture and the setting of his book, and it added another depth to it as well.  I can't wait to read the next two!

-Aylin

Only Hope

OK, so lately I've been having an issue. When I have hard times, God generally isn't the first place I look. Most of the time, I turn to a (godly) friend for advice, then to God.

Does anyone else have this problem?

The issue with doing this, however, is that people can (aside from not always being in your life) easily become corrupted and give you bad council.

God is our only hope. He is the one that we can turn to and get guidance--hey, sometimes get guidance from God even when we don't ask for it!

God knows our past, our present, and our future... Why wouldn't we turn to Him?

This is a song from one of my favorite bands (Switchfoot)...

~Elizabeth

Dreams

Everyone has dreams.  I don't mean nighttime dreams, but the ones that we make.  Our hopes.  Our plans.  The stuff that fuels our passions and defines our goals. 

In American society, people are always saying that we can "grow up to be anything" that we want to be.  To some degree, that's very true.  If a person would like to be a crocodile wrestler, than they can (but I wouldn't recommend it, personally).  The truth is, that if a person has a dream, there most likely can be found the resources to accomplish it.

The question, then, is if we should.  I mean, just because I want something -- have always wanted it -- doesn't make it something that I should expend my life's energy accomplishing.  The dream doesn't have to be something inherently bad.  It could be a good thing, like getting married and having a family -- but does that mean that it is a goal that we should strive for with our lives?

It is difficult for me to see what God has planned for me.  I do not know the reality of how my life will play out.  I have ideals that I've dreamt about.  They are things I've always thought would happen.  And yet, what if it becomes clear that God wants something very different from me?

The thought of my dreams, scattered to the wind, left and broken, is not a happy prospect.  The scary reality that God might clearly show me that He wants the course of my life to take a different direction than I want, is not something that I would look forward to.

And yet He may call.  He might direct me differently, and that is when I will have a choice.  I will have to decide if I should still try to fight tooth and nail for the way I want things to be, or if I will let go of what I want and let my dreams dart away... released to the wind.

I need to take my dreams now, bringing them before my Lord.  I need to surrender unconditionally.  I need to understand that my plans will fall so short of the reality of His perfect plan.  I need to let Him have His way with me.  And, maybe, at the end of it all, my dreams will have crept back up and fallen back into place.  Maybe He had a place for them in His plan anyway.  Who knows?

And maybe what I'd wanted will disappear in the light of the One I gave them up for, and I won't care if I see them again...

   "Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and he will establish your plans."  Proverbs 16:3

-Aylin

My Compassion Sunday Web Page

Remember me? I'm Lizzie. I posted here, here, and here. Anyway, here I am again :) As some of you know, I love Compassion International. I correspond with three kids and sponsor one lovely young lady. I invite you to look at My Compassion Sunday Web Page. There I tell how I got involved in Compassion. And, you can learn about sponsoring a child too! I encourage you to consider becoming involved Compassion, 'cause they are just amazing.



-Lizzie :)

Today is a day for warm, cinnamon apple tea. It's a day for warm sweaters and old books... for blueberry muffins and fires in the fireplace...

Oh, and music...




-Aylin

CMS 2012

Calling all Christian musicians!!!

Ever heard of Christian Music Summit? It is a weekend of workshops, speakers, and musical worship for anyone involved in the music or production teams at their church. It's a great way to connect with other musicians and organizations. CMS is held in Buffalo, NY; Sacramento, CA; Nashville, TN; and Seattle, WA.

Although I've never been before, I've heard a lot about CMS and I know several people who went last year. This spring, I'll have the opportunity to go myself. I'm really excited about it, so I'll let you know how it goes after I go! I would encourage you to check it out, too :)

This video is for the one in NY - I don't think that the other promo videos are out yet...



-Aylin

Confession--Part Three

I probably should have made this my first post on Confession, as opposed to my last, but oh well.

Before we confess to anyone else, we need to confess to God. Sure, God already knows what we've done, but He doesn't like it when we try to hide it. Pour out your heart to God, so that you can spend less time wondering how He'll judge you, and more time on how He's healing you.

You see, it's like a child with a bloody wound. If they try to simply cover it up with clothing, it won't get healed and the blood will seep through the fabric. But, on the other hand, if the child comes to their parents and shows them, they can properly cover it with a bandage so that it will heal.

Because, without that bandage, we'll never get healed. And if we never get healed, the wound can only get worse, and the healing more painful.

~Elizabeth

Confession--Part Two

Alright, so this is just a video, but it fits well with my series on Confession. I personally find this very encouraging, and I hope you will too.

~Elizabeth

Fallen Angels

Yesterday I finished reading Fallen Angels, by Patricia Hickman. It's the first book in her Millwood Hollow series:



The story takes place in the South during the Great Depression. A man accused of murder is on the run from the police when he finds three children in the back of his truck. Through a series of circumstances where the man, Jeb, begrudgingly must care for the kids, he lands in the town of Nazareth, where he is mistaken for the long-sought preacher who was supposed to finally be coming to town.

Jeb, then, decides to live a lie - preaching to an unsuspecting congregation and pretending that the three abandoned children he found are really his own.

I liked this story a lot. It raised hard questions about truth and redemption. I got to see church and the Gospel through the eyes of a cigarette-and-whiskey-addict criminal... a man who, normally would not step into a church.

The story ended well - not too sweet, but satisfying, because we're all fallen in some way or another. We may not have murdered someone. We probably have not pretended to be a learned preacher when really we couldn't read at all. But we are all frauds. We're all hypocrites. Not one of us is righteous, not one.

Yet there is God! The truth that Jeb comes to understand in Fallen Angels, and the wonderful reality that we must all perceive is that there is God. He loves you. He is perfect, and He chose to save you and make you new. That's enough.

-Aylin

Top Ten Monday!!!

OK, I know that in order to make it alliterate all the way, it should be Top Ten Tuesday, but I'm posting today, so it's going to have to be Monday :)

Here is my list of top ten Newsboys songs. If you do not agree with me in their order, I will come to your house in the middle of the night and whack you on the head with my mother's broom. (insert evil laughter here)

#10 Go - This song is amazing - it talks about how we should go out into the world and be there for people.

#9 Boycott Hell - First of all, I love the title to this song. The song itself is invigorating and encouraging.

#8 Shine - You have to read the lyrics to this one - they are so true, yet really funny, too. I mean, seriously - "Teach the poor origami"?

#7 Breakfast -Another song which you have to read the lyrics in order to catch them all, but it's great. It's a sort of analogy between living as a Christian and eating breakfast.

#6 Wherever We Go - Up beat, happy - it must be amazing at a concert.

#5 One Shot - My sister did a baton routine to this one, so that's partly why I like it. besides that, it is amazing, encouraging...

#4 When the Boys Light Up - This song is awesome - it has awesome rhythm, awesome lyrics, awesome everything :)

#3 No Grave - It's eery, but that's why I like it! I'm still not sure what a Ghostgum tree is, though...

#2 In the Belly of the Whale - Oh my goodness! You have to watch the Veggietales movie, Jonah, which has this song in it. It's the best! <3

#1 Jesus Freak - OK, this song is technically DC Talk's, but Newsboys does it, too - and I LOVE it. So, here you go...

Huh, I looked on youtube, and I couldn't find Newsboys' version of Jesus Freak anywhere (actually, I did find one, but the quality was terrible). Oh well, folks :(

Until next time -

Aylin