Tears and Graduations

May 22, 2013 By Maureen Lang Leave a Comment

Yesterday my family attended a graduation ceremony for our oldest son. There were just five in the senior graduating class, all boys with one form of disability or another. As you know if you’ve read this blog before, our son has Fragile X Syndrome, a genetic form of cognitive impairment. So although he’s nearly eighteen, he functions more like a very tall two-year-old.

As always, the school did a wonderful job of making the event festive. They decorated the gym, posted pictures of the graduates, welcomed the families with smiles and congratulations. When the time came, the kids marched in their robes to the traditional serenade of Pomp and Circumstance, each one guided by their teacher. Two of the five wore their gowns without the caps, because sensory issues made anything on their head an impossibility (my son was one of the two). They were prompted to step up to the stage one by one to receive their certificates of attendance. Soon afterward, they were given a gift by the parent’s association—sensory gifts like squishy balls and light sticks.

Further personalizing the ceremony was a video depicting each of the graduates, many of whom have been in this same school system since they were three. It was that video that reminded each of us of how much our kids have grown, picturing some precious moment and many smiles along the way.

But it was, like all of the adjusted milestones in families like ours, bittersweet. I tried not to imagine what a graduation would have been like had Fragile X not been part of our lives.

Suffering is one of the biggest stumbling blocks toward faith. People wonder how a loving God could allow widespread, unfair suffering in the world. There is likely no answer that will satisfy everyone, but I do know that free will came at a price. If God prevented suffering from those who accepted the truths of the Bible, everyone would accept the truths of the Bible just because it would be practical to do so. Believe in God = no suffering. Obviously that wouldn’t require any faith, and so none of us can be spared.

Yet all I have to do is look out my window to see evidence of a loving God. Spring colors and fragrances abound; flowers and birds and even squirrels are cute (which are, let’s face it, rodents). This and so much more suggests that God wants us to enjoy so much about life. I see God’s love in my son’s smile, too, in the way he laughs when I make a funny face or when I see something beautiful catching his eye, too. He may have the functionality of a two-year-old, but he appreciates creation in fresh air, a warm breeze, even a pretty girl. (He’s all boy!)

I read the many touching comments right here on my blog when people came through on the recent Scavenger Hunt, references to why a Tear Bottle is a good idea. None of us are spared forever from grief, but knowing God counts our tears as precious is an important reminder—something I was comforted by just after this graduation. I wonder if God keeps track of how many times we’ve smiled through our tears?

Next week I’ll be returning to my regular schedule, with blog posts on Monday mornings. Thanks again to all who entered the Scavenger Hunt, and my bonus contest as well. A big welcome to all of the new followers! And if you missed the announcement on Lisa Bergren’s page, Gena was the winner of my Gilded Age series and tear bottle. The package is on its way.

Stay tuned for more contests in the future!

Filed Under: Maureen Lang, That's Life Tagged With: special needs children, special needs graduation ceremonies

Christian Fiction Scavenger Hunt Stop #8

May 16, 2013 By Maureen Lang 83 Comments

THE CHRISTIAN FICTION SCAVENGER HUNT STOP #8

Welcome to the 2013 Summer Scavenger Hunt! This hunt has 32 stops and runs from noon on 5/17 through 5/19/13. You can make the loop, reading unique content from 31 different authors, and if you complete the loop, and fill out the Rafflecopter form at Stop #32, you’ll be in the running for an iPad Mini (loaded with all our books), or one of two runner-up prizes—all 31 of our new releases in paperback. In addition, some authors (like me, here at Stop #8!) are offering additional prizes, so be sure to read each post to the end to be in the running for all that are available. The contest is open internationally.

If you’ve JUST discovered the hunt, I recommend you begin at the beginning, Stop #1, found at LisaBergren.com. But you can also begin here, and keep on rolling. Just be aware that you must have the COMPLETED phrase in order, which you construct gathering the clue at each stop, within 24 hours of email notification from Lisa Bergren that you won. If Lisa doesn’t hear back from you with the correct phrase within the time limit, she will move on to the next winner Rafflecopter draws. Ready? Here we go…

For my stop, I’m hosting my friend and colleague:

MARGARET DALEY

Many of you have seen Margaret highlighted on my site before. After all, she’s written 84 books! So I’m especially excited to be hosting her for our contest. I loved hearing about her Texas Ranger series, first because the whole Texas Ranger image conjures up all kinds of history and drama. I also know Margaret loves to do research! I hope you enjoy reading about some of the Ranger’s history.

But first, in case you missed previous visits from Margaret and would like to know a little about her, here’s an official bio:

1-Margaret Daley photo-jpg

Margaret Daley, an award-winning author of eighty-four books, has been married for over forty years and is a firm believer in romance and love. When she isn’t traveling, she’s writing love stories, often with a suspense thread and corralling her three cats that think they rule her household. To find out more about Margaret visit her website at http://www.margaretdaley.com or on Facebook and Twitter.

The History of the Texas Rangers

By Margaret Daley

Just to be clear, I’m not talking about the baseball team in Dallas called the Texas Rangers. I’m talking about the oldest state organization of law enforcement officers. Sam Austin formed the first version of the Texas Rangers in 1823. The word “rangers” was coined because these men ranged over the land they protected and guarded.

Through the early years the Texas Rangers, one of the main duties of the group was to protect the people against Indians. Then after the Civil War in 1874 the organization was divided into six companies with 75 men and usually a captain. Their duties were partly a soldier and partly a police officer. By the 1900s the organization totally focused on enforcing the law. A Texas Ranger was called in when the case was too risky for the local agency.

Texas Ranger in office.

Today there are 150 Texas Rangers who served the state in many investigative capacities. They are part of the Texas Department of Public Safety. The Texas Rangers’ headquarters is in Austin. There are six companies: Company “A” headquartered in Houston, Company “B” in Garland, Company “C” in Lubbock, Company “D” in McAllen, Company “E” in El Paso, and Company “F” in San Antonio. The companies were adjusted recently.

Texas Ranger rifle

The Texas Rangers handle the usual kind of cases like murder, assault, robbery and kidnapping, but they are also tasked with investigating threats against the governor and other state and federal officials. I used some of these crimes for the stories in my series: The Men of the Texas Rangers (Saving Hope, Shattered Silence and Scorned Justice).

Margaret Daley’s newest release is Scorned Justice, #3 in her Men of Texas Rangers series. It is available at bookstores or online at Amazon Barnes & Noble Christian Book Distributors and wherever fine books are sold.

AND NOW, YOUR NEXT STEPS IN THE SCAVENGER HUNT:

Write down this clue: sometimes,

Have it written down? Great! After checking out my contest here, head on over to Margaret Daley’s Stop #9 for the next clue!

BONUS PRIZE!

To join in the fun of the giveaway, I’m having my own little giveaway right here. So if you don’t win the BIG prize of an iPad Mini and the 31 books from all of the authors participating in this Scavenger Hunt, you’ll still have a chance to be a winner right here. What am I offering?

My Gilded Age series, Bees In The Butterfly Garden and All In Good Time. Domestic (US winners) can choose between e-versions or print books, and International winners are eligible for e-versions only.

Plus one of my favorite gifts to give: A Tear Bottle

What’s a tear bottle? It’s my favorite gift to give, accompanied by the following note:

This little bottle was manufactured as a perfume bottle, and can be used as such . . . but that wasn’t my intention in purchasing this for you. Not long ago I was reminded of the verse in Psalms about God keeping track of our tears by putting them in a bottle. Envisioning that, I realized our tears must be precious to Him, precious enough to be stored like expensive perfumes or spices. So I bought myself a pretty perfume bottle that sits on my desk to remind me that God must have a purpose in our tears.

I hope this “tear bottle” for you will be a reminder of God’s love, while I pray that a rarity of your tears (except from laughter) is part of why they’re so precious.

Maureen Lang

To enter my contest, in addition to the Scavenger Hunt, simply follow the instructions below. If you haven’t already, you can earn an extra chance if you “Like” my Facebook Author Page.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Enjoy the Hunt! Now off you go, clue in hand (sometimes,) and on to Stop #9!

Filed Under: Contests, Maureen Lang, New Release

My friend has a new book out!

May 13, 2013 By Maureen Lang Leave a Comment

My family sometimes accuses me of being in a rut. I suppose all they see is that I spend my days writing, I go to be early. . . like 9 pm . . . although I do try to read until I fall asleep, which is sometimes an hour, sometimes ten minutes. I get up early, get my boys off to school, then sit down to write again. Routine, maybe, but a rut? Rut just sounds so dull! Little do they appreciate that during my writing hours I’m traveling through history and the world, seeing through the eyes of characters who always seem to have something terrible happen to them—but never lose hope. Surely days spent doing that can’t be called a rut!

Just to assure those who follow this blog that I’m not in a rut, I’m posting new release info on a Monday, something I normally reserve for mid-week. This is a very special announcement, since Kathy Fuller and I have been friends for years. We met way back in our early writing days, and were part of the same critique group. It was an online group that I’m happy to recall used to raise an impressed brow or two as one by one we all celebrated publication. Kathleen Fuller, Tamera Alexander, Jill Eileen Smith and I used to regularly exchange chapters of our work-in-progress. We helped each other polish our craft, sharing plenty of prayer along the way.

That history is why I’m especially happy to announce Kathy’s latest book. Here’s a peek about it:

Everything changed between them the first time he called her Katie.

Katherine Yoder has loved Johnny Mullet since the two were children, but he’s never returned her affections.

Now Johnny is trying to forge a new life for himself by purchasing a farm and building a business of his own. But times are tough, and he soon learns that he can’t take anything for granted—especially Katherine.

Before Johnny has the opportunity to tell Katherine his true feelings, she’s struck by a serious illness. While Katherine struggles to recall recent memories of Johnny, a surprise visitor comes back into her life, claiming that his letters speak of a history and a future for the two of them.

With the two men vying for her attention and her memory still elusive, Katherine has never felt so torn. But will the solutions to both Johnny’s and Katherine’s problems lie in places neither one has ever considered?

Here’s a note from Kathy about the series:

Letters to Katie is the third book in the Middlefield Family series. I especially like this book because of the characters Katherine and Johnny. They first appeared in my YA book, A Summer Secret, with Katherine having a crush on Johnny when they were teens. Johnny didn’t know what to do about Katie’s crush on him then, but now that he’s an adult, things have changed. Both he and Katie learn several lessons on their journey to discover God’s plan for them. This book is also personal because it deals with stepping back and reevaluating what’s important–putting God first. Many times we get caught up in the busyness of life, even when we believe we are serving God and following His plan. We can’t mistake our own wants for what God needs from us. Sometimes what we want and what God wants are the same, other times they seem at odds with each other. This can put us at odds with God, but if we remember the verse from Jeremiah: “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” we can rest in His words of love and hope.

If you click here you can read the first three chapters of Letters to Katie.

Click here to purchase Letters to Katie.

To continue with my break in routine, I’ll be posting again this Friday when a new Scavenger Hunt opens! I’m happy to participate in another hunt, since the prizes are so great. Not only will the winner receive 31 brand new Christian fiction titles (my own All In Good Time among them) but a free mini iPad! The Hunt opens at noon on Friday, so check back for details then. It promises to be a fun hunt through all of our blog or websites with unique and interesting posts, and a fun way to collect hints toward winning. Once you’ve collected all of the clues, you can put your name in the mix to win. A lot of us are doing separate bonus contests on our sites, too, so look for more opportunities to win other prizes as well.

Hope to see you on Friday, then!

Filed Under: Book News

Do the numbers 42 and 61 mean anything to you?

May 6, 2013 By Maureen Lang Leave a Comment

Image from Bing Free Images as seen on http://jackmalcolm.com/blog/2011/09/how-to-present-numbers/

I must confess these are numbers that meant nothing to me until my husband recounted how he could communicate a single number to a fellow teacher and this other teacher will know exactly what my husband is referring to. So if he says: “42.” the other teacher will fire back: “Jackie Robinson’s uniform number.” (The player who broke through the color barrier to become the first African American to play professional baseball.)

Evidently I’m in the minority not knowing the meaning behind these numbers, because they both warranted enough interest to have movies made about them. “61*” follows the race between Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris as both were hitting so well in 1961 that either one of them could have broken Babe Ruth’s record of 60 home runs in a single season. Sounds like enough emotion and competition to be fodder for any compelling story—except it really happened. Roger Maris was the one to go down in history with that number, hitting 61 home runs that year.

What is it about baseball that brings new meaning to statistics? It’s probably one of the happier ways to use numbers, something I never would have dreamed possible while sitting in any kind of math class.

Numbers can be fascinating when associated with intriguing coincidences. Did you notice the year, ’61, was the year the home run record was broken with the same number of home runs? Still, there aren’t many numbers that mean very much to me. Perhaps 3 for the trinity, and for the number of days before Jesus rose from the dead. Sixty-five is another number with meaning for me. I chose to use that number in my email address, since it’s the number of CCG repeats I inherited that makes me a carrier for Fragile X Syndrome. Sixty-five is a relatively low number for a carrier, but it’s nonetheless unstable because that repeat number jumped to something uncountable in my son. So it’s an important number, a number that represents a change in my life, but unlike fun baseball statistics, it’s not a happy number.

Numbers are far more fascinating to people like my husband, whose idea of a refreshing mental exercise is to work on a Physics problem that demands several sheets of paper. Can you imagine? I do understand the idea of numbers being reliable and concrete. There is something to be said for absolutes, and math is a prime example for that. Your math problems are absolutely right . . . or wrong . . . and there’s comfort in knowing you can be absolutely right!

Deep down, if I had a choice, perhaps I might prefer being a mathematician rather than a writer. Wait a minute . . . let me think about that. The security of numbers versus the exploration of endless story worlds. Hmmm . . . On second thought . . .

On a completely different note (or should I say number) I also wanted to mention that next week (May 17th through May 19th) I’ll be involved in another very fun Scavenger Hunt! You may recall that I participated in one last year with Bees In The Butterfly Garden, and it was so successful I’m happy to take part in one with All In Good Time. So look for details starting Friday, May 17th, on how you can enter to win some great prizes, including 31 wonderful new books from various Christian writers and an iPad Mini! I’ll post another reminder next week, but mark your calendars so you won’t miss it!

Filed Under: Maureen Lang, That's Life

Know Many God-Fearers?

April 29, 2013 By Maureen Lang Leave a Comment

I was reading about the early Christian church, which of course emerged out of Judaism since Christ Himself was Jewish. Most of the early converts to Christianity were Jews (like the disciples) until Peter and especially Paul was inspired by God to bring the Good News to the Gentiles.

The Roman Empire was in high form, which according to this book I’ve just begun* tolerated the Jews because for the most part they didn’t resist Rome’s expansion and weren’t known for trying to convert others to Judaism—so they weren’t a threat. I’m not sure what happened to the light of the world the Jews were supposed to have been, other than what this book reports: the Jews had learned their lesson when intermixing with people of other faiths. Intermixing led to idol worship and disobeying God. So they might do business with Gentiles, but socializing and marrying outside their faith was rare for fear of diluting their obedience to God.

But there were some in the Roman Empire who admired the Jewish faith. They were attracted to the high moral and ethical standing and the authentic worship of one true God. They liked the idea of being created in the image of God, thereby giving value to life. But for one reason or another (the demand for circumcision among them) many of those who admired the Jewish faith never officially converted. They were called “God-fearers” and lived on the fringe of the Jewish community within the Roman Empire.

Many of these God-fearers ended up converting to Christianity—circumcision wasn’t required but beside that, they worshiped one God who loved them. Such faith inspired moral and ethical living, which was a contrast to the decadence in Roman society. It’s likely that many of these God-fearers went from simply fearing a Creator God to having a relationship with a personal God, but it’s probably also true that some continued being simply God-fearers rather than Christians because they liked living on the fringe rather than committing to any form of religious life wholeheartedly.

So this reminded me of the many God-fearers in our society today. How many people acknowledge a Creator God, one who might prefer we live ethically, but don’t want to accept God’s personal involvement in everyday life? I can’t help but wonder why so many people are okay with simply believing in God, but don’t seem to want to get to know Him very well.

Today I’m praying for the God-fearers around me, that they would know the choice isn’t just ethical or moral. It’s more personal than that, yet being more personal doesn’t automatically equal handing over control with a restrictive result. God wants our lives lived to the fullest . . . so why would He assign us to live an unpleasant life? I can’t imagine living on the fringe of faith being a better place than jumping in!

*Why You Think The Way You Do/Glenn Sunshine/Zondervan

Filed Under: Faith in the works, Maureen Lang, That's Life Tagged With: early church, faith

It was taught . . . but was it caught?

April 22, 2013 By Maureen Lang Leave a Comment

What is faith? In this Year of Faith, as Catholics we are asked to …

My sister visited the other day and we were talking about our family. (What else do you do when not all of your siblings are present?

We talk about those not there, of course.) We were lamenting that not all of our nieces and nephews have followed in the faith they were taught, despite being raised by parents of faith.

When most of our family was together recently, my sister asked a few who aren’t known to go to church why so many young people seem to have no desire to attend church. She received answers like: “I know what I believe, I don’t have to go to an organization like church to sort that out.” Or: “I work all week and want my days off to do what I want, start to finish.”

Going to church may not be the best measure of true faith, but the fact is there must be some evidence of faith for it to appear important enough in someone’s life to be true.

Which led my husband to recall something he’d heard when a former president came to speak at his school. It isn’t often that I quote President Clinton, but when he said there had to be more to education than just to be taught, that it had to be caught, that phrase stuck with my husband because it’s so true. If there isn’t any interest, involvement or effort on the student’s part, a teacher can be wasting his or her time trying to teach.

That’s sadly true with what we try teaching our own kids. We can raise our children in a faith-filled home, pray for them and teach them the truths of the Bible. But their faith must become their own. To offer a cliche: God has no grandchildren.

So what’s the answer? As we sat talking, my family didn’t come up with one. We’re already committed to prayer, but after our talk we determined to make more effort to lovingly represent our faith so those in the next generation won’t trip over us if they look for God on their own.

That’s my prayer this week: to do more than just not get in the way of God’s love, but to show His love to others, especially those in my family. After the week this world had last week, between the Boston bombing and its aftermath, the Texas explosion, the earthquakes in China and the floods right here in the Midwest, even a smile might go a long way.

Filed Under: Maureen Lang, That's Life Tagged With: faith, faith in the family

And the winner is . . .

April 15, 2013 By Maureen Lang Leave a Comment

I’m happy to report the winner of my giveaway basket is Tammy H.! I’ve been in touch with Tammy, and the giveaway box will soon be on its way.

Congratulations, Tammy!

It’s been a fun week checking in on the progress of the contest—so much that I’m sure I’ll be doing another soon. I’ve always enjoyed shopping for gifts, and collecting items for this basket was a bit like doing that. So I’ll keep that up!

I was glad to read in the comments that many people enjoy slice of life posts. The ones I’ve written usually come from discussions with my husband, during what we call our “debriefing” sessions. We’ve been doing this every day for more than a decade, mainly because we’re blessed to be similar in many ways. Oh, he’s a science guy and I’m a writer, which means what we do have in common is displayed in different ways. But we’re both creative, and both generally curious people. When we come across something interesting, we keep it in mind to talk about with each other. It’s amazing how much we enjoy discussing something that, on our own, we probably wouldn’t have thought about without the other one of us bringing it up.

Just yesterday I was recounting how I’d seen a portion of a debate on the television and that the format tallied the opinion of the audience coming in and then, once the debate ended, if any minds were changed on that particular topic. It’s difficult to change your thinking on things, particularly if you’ve held certain views for some time. Even when presented compelling arguments, there are some beliefs that are hard or even impossible to let go.

When I mentioned this to my science-teacher husband, he just laughed and said every school year in his class shares that format. He teaches Physics, and tells the students that the way they understand something may not be the way things really are.

Huh?

Physics must convince the students how things really work, not necessarily what they see. Case in point: if you slide a hockey puck across the floor, eventually it stops. Why? Because it runs out of energy from the push? Nope. The kids are surprised to learn that without other forces on this hockey puck, such as friction and air resistance, once that hockey puck was set in motion it would have continued going . . . forever.

So you wonder what would happen if you slapshotted that puck off a table? It would hit the ground and once again come to a stop due to those previously mentioned forces. This is where Einstein and his thought experiment ideas prove useful, something Isaac Newton understood. Newton said if you hit that hockey puck fast enough and could do it off the ground and outside our atmosphere, it would still try to fall to earth—but if the hockey puck were given just the right speed, the path of the puck would trace out a circle and match the earth’s shape. That’s how satellites work, by the way. If you shoot that puck this way, you would have humanity’s first hockey puck in orbit (along with thousands and thousands of other orbiting debris).

All I did was mention a bit of a debate I watched, and was reminded that sometimes it’s hard to change your mind, even if what you learned was incorrect. Relearning something might be harder than learning something for the first time!

Thanks again to everyone who participated in my contest this time around, and I hope you’ll check back when I do this again!

Filed Under: Contests, Maureen Lang, That's Life

Contest!

April 7, 2013 By Maureen Lang 62 Comments

I’m celebrating the release of my new book, All In Good Time, with a new contest!

Whenever I come across a little item that reminds me of the book I’m writing, I add it to a collection for a giveaway. The result may be fun to win, but it’s every bit as much fun to give the collection away! Here is a fuller picture of what my new giveaway items looks like:

And here’s a list of what’s inside, since it was hard to get it all in the photo:

My two Gilded Age Books:

All In Good Time
Bees In The Butterfly Garden

Garden tote bag

Butterfly Meadow Mug, by Lenox
with packet of Adagio loose tea designed by Maureen Lang

Replica vintage items:
Drawstring pouch (perfect for my Gilded Age heroine!)
(2) Necklace watches: butterfly and banker’s watch (one that would have looked just right on my heroine, Dessa Caldwell, and the other reminded me of something my hero might have)

Ring case
Make-up Pouch

Decorative tear bottle*

Butterfly necklace
Earrings (pierced)

Assorted paper goods:
Sticky Notes
Flower Garden Notecards
Magnetic List Pad
80-sheet journal
Personal pack of decorative tissues

All packed in a Decorative Box

Retail Value: over $100.00

Here’s a picture of the decorative box everything’s tucked inside:

*What’s a tear bottle, you ask? This is my favorite gift to give, and I include with it this note:

This little bottle was manufactured as a perfume bottle, and can be used as such . . . but that isn’t my intention for you. Not long ago I was reminded of the verse in Psalms about God keeping track of our tears by putting them in a bottle. Envisioning that, I realized our tears must be precious to Him, precious enough to be stored like expensive perfumes or spices. So I bought myself a pretty perfume bottle that sits on my desk to remind me that God must have a purpose in our tears. I hope this “tear bottle” for you will be a reminder of God’s love, while I pray that a rarity of your tears (except from laughter) is why they’re so precious.

Winners limited to continental USA. Thank you. If you’d like to enter via Facebook and would rather go directly to my Author Page, just click on the Red Ribbon in the center where it says “Rewards and Giveaways.” This way, you will not have to allow a Facebook app to run through your profile. If you do not mind using apps, click the connect button below on the left. Your choice!

Filed Under: Contests, Maureen Lang, New Release Tagged With: contest, giveaways

April Fool’s Day!

March 31, 2013 By Maureen Lang 1 Comment

Image compliments of Bing Free Images

Today is April 1st—an international day for playing pranks that actually dates back many centuries. In the 16th century the Gregorian calendar was changed to reflect the New Year to start on January 1st rather than April 1st. News traveled slow in those days, as you might imagine. Those who hadn’t heard and still celebrated on April 1st were laughed at and called April Fools. Thus began a tradition that’s lasted all these years . . .

I don’t know about you, but there aren’t many pranks I’d welcome. Good humor does go a long way, though, and it’s only the prideful who can’t take a joke. Still, it depends on the spirit of the joke if it really deserves a laugh or not.

I only ever played one practical joke on anyone, and that was to a very good friend of mine. (Hey, who else could you trust than your very best friend?) It was her birthday, and I went to a carpet store for a few scraps of carpet padding. I cut them into neat round circles to match an 8″ cake pan size, piled them high to resemble a cake, then carefully stuck them together and frosted the whole thing. It was probably one of the prettiest cakes I’d ever made. (I’m more of a cookie connoisseur myself.) A group of us got together to surprise her for her birthday, but when she tried cutting into her lovely cake . . . well, needless to say she wasn’t sure whether to be embarrassed over a dull knife or my poor baking skills. We finally put her out of her sawing misery and told her the cake wouldn’t be cut, at least not with a cake knife.

We all laughed but she was already in good spirits because she was being celebrated, secure in our affection. Now that’s my kind of prank!

So . . . if anyone plays a prank on you today, I hope it’ll be put forth in the same positive spirit.

And now here’s something that isn’t a prank! Today only, 4/1/13, my brand new book, All In Good Time, is being offered by Tyndale House as a free e-book download. All you need do to take advantage of the offer is to act quickly! The free price ends today, Monday. But if by some chance you miss today’s deal, Tyndale will be offering special pricing of 2.99 on Tuesday and Wednesday, 4/2 and 4/3, then 4.99 on Thursday, Friday and Saturday (4/4, 4/5 and 4/6). Regular pricing of around $9.00 begins next Sunday.

Happy April Fool’s Day, be safe and positive, and Happy Reading!

Links to buy All In Good Time:
(Special pricing is in regard to e-books only.)

CBD

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

PS I’m visiting my friend Lyn Cote’s blog today, where I talk a little about some of the research I did for All In Good Time. Click here to visit with me there!

Filed Under: Book News, Maureen Lang, New Release Tagged With: All In Good Time, April Fool's Day, free e-book, new release

Easter’s Coming!

March 25, 2013 By Maureen Lang 1 Comment

Image from Bing Free Images and
http://easterwallpaper.blogspot.com/2009/02/religious-easter-wallpaper.html

This year winter is still gripping the Midwest like it’ll never let go, so it’s hard to feel like Easter is nearly here. Of course, Easter is arriving a little early, but still—March is supposed to be one of those “slushy” months, with at least a few transitional days as a promise of what’s just around the corner.

Not so this year. Cold, snow, and wind, all of which feels much like February.

Perhaps that’s why this year we can concentrate more on the spiritual side of this, the holiest of holidays. I’ve been watching the History channel’s presentation of The Bible, which has also been a nice supplement to the season. Even with its various skips and a few flaws in interpretation, it’s been wonderful to see the series received by such a wide audience.

Last night I watched the old movie The Robe. I can’t imagine Hollywood making such a pro-faith movie these days, but back when this released most of our country’s population was at least affiliated with one Christian church or another, even if they didn’t regularly attend. Times most definitely have changed.

Even to non-believers, Easter is a holiday of renewal, mainly because it comes in the spring—the season for renewal. For me, it’s a time to revisit all of the reasons I believe what I do, and that starts with why I accept the Bible as the word of God. My husband and I have discussed this over the years and here, briefly, is why we believe in the Bible’s authenticity:

The history as revealed in the Bible is supported by many outside sources, such as Josephus and Pliny the Younger and many others. (Just search “historical support for the Bible”)

The prophecy in the Bible. Before the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947, many skeptics said the portions of the Bible that referred to prophecy were written after many events took place. The Dead Sea manuscripts are dated from approximately 200 BC to 69 AD, predating many of the manuscripts skeptics have tried denouncing.

The science of the Bible. The more science uncovers about the incredible design of our universe, the miracle of creation, the more science proves the Bible is true. It even revealed the expansion of the universe, discovered in the last century, by talking about the “stretching out of the heavens” in such places as Isaiah, Job, Psalms and Jeremiah. There is a sad divide within the Christian community as to the age of the Universe, and while it’s true the Bible is mostly concerned with “why” we’re here rather than “how we got here,” such places as Reasons to Believe does an excellent job of uncovering all the ways science and the Bible do not contradict.

The philosophy in the Bible understands the heart of man in a timeless fashion, one that stands today like no other document. Because God created us, His book understands us.

Personal experience as described in the Bible is still happening today, with the Holy Spirit speaking to us in ways that support the consistency of God’s character.

So there you have it: my Easter refresher course of why I believe what I believe. How about you? Why not take a moment to reacquaint yourself with what you truly believe . . . and why?

Filed Under: Maureen Lang, That's Life Tagged With: Easter, faith, the Bible, why do you believe