Some of you know that we published our first e-book, The Rejected Blessing, on the Amazon Kindle and Barnes & Noble Nook platforms in late August. During September, especially during my lonely bachelor existence for the last 11 days, a lot of work has gone into current and near-future publications. For instance:
- The Rejected Blessing is now also available for the Kobo Reader, also for US$2.99. (Kobo is a popular e-book platform outside the United States.)
- The first in our 99-cent Kernels of Wheat Bible Study Single series became available just yesterday: That Uncomfortable Word—Conviction! It’s available immediately for Kindle, and will be available for Nook and Kobo by the first of the year. (Sorry, Nook and Kobo fans, but the Kindle platform — besides “owning the market” — has so many advantages that it would amount to poor [click to continue…]
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That Uncomfortable Word--Conviction!,
The Gospel of the Glory,
The Rejected Blessing
What He says, we will do,
Where He sends, we will go;
Never fear, only trust and obey!
Often when we’re obedient to what God tells us to do, when we’re obedient to go where He tells us to go, when we’re obedient to give when He tells us to give, exciting things happen because we’re flowing in the stream of God’s purposes. A lot of you were encouraged by the blog post entitled Bye-Bye Bible! I want to share another story in that same vein, from material that is (mostly) someone else’s testimony. She doesn’t mention me by name, for which I’m glad (but you’ll be able to figure out my geeky part in the chain of obedience anyway), and I mustn’t mention her by name, because she is off to the 10/40 Window for some tent-making ministry time.
Let me bring you into her story just after she has felt a confirmation that she was to return to the 10/40…
We came to the realization that I would need a laptop to Skype back home with my family. E-mail is great, but it doesn’t come close to talking to each other “for real.” So, we took the need to the Lord in prayer. I counted my money that I had saved, and it came to an amount that gave me hopes of a start towards a laptop computer.
However, while we were at Holiness Camp, I felt prompted to give that money to the Lord. [click to continue…]
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Iowa Holiness Association (IHA),
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We’ve been hard at work, laying the foundation to take our teaching assets and move them into the digital age. Last year about this time, we improved the delivery of our audio messages by starting the Kernels of Wheat and Grains from Gutteridge podcasts.
But what about all the Bible-teaching articles over at FinestOfTheWheat.org? Well, starting with our most popular book, The Rejected Blessing, we’re beginning to reach out to e-book readers. TRB, as we call it around here, is now available for purchase for $2.99 for Amazon.com Kindle readers, as well as Barnes & Noble Nook readers.
As always, TRB is also available for free at FinestOfTheWheat.org. Because of licensing stipulations, the online version lacks the photos of the book editions; but other than those, and the omission of [click to continue…]
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Listen, Obey, and Blessings Follow
Wednesday, 1 August 2012
Naomi (left), Pastora Cristina (center), Pastor Oscar (right)If you read yesterday’s entry, right down through the postscript, then you’ll know I mentioned a Bible the Lord had impressed me to give to someone. That act of obedience is now accomplished, and the full story can be told. (And I didn’t know the full story until after I obeyed and gave it away!)
My family feels a certain amount of frustration with me before Christmas and my birthday, because they don’t know what to give me, and I can never think of anything to put on a “wish list.” I pretty much have everything I need, and there’s not a lot I want. I have prayed over the years that Hebrews 13:5 would be true in me, and the Lord seems to have answered that prayer. (In that verse, did you ever notice at the end the satisfying why behind the exhortations at the beginning? Yes, I’m [click to continue…]
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¡Feliz cumpleaños a mí!
Tuesday, 31 July 2012
Dear Deni,
Map of Costa Rica (courtesy of Google.com)Had another good day today, but it would have been better if I could have Skyped you again. Oh, well, I can’t have everything. No sense being greedy, as I’ve had quite a bit on this my 44th spiritual birthday.
We had an outstanding time of ministry this evening. Pastor Virgilio Zamora-Fernández, his wife Kattia, their two small kids, and several people from their church, along with Luis Diego Segura-Alvarado (the young English teacher who was “supposed” to be my translator on Sunday), picked me up and off we went Sarchí, 90 minutes away. In addition to the fact that the pickup time had been moved from 15:00 to 17:15, we were 20 minutes late in leaving because they were waiting for me at the front desk. The clerks claim to have called me in my room. They may have called somebody, but it wasn’t my room, since I was sitting four feet from the from the room phone. The second call (my first) sent me running [click to continue…]
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Breathe on Me, Breath of God!
King David, as depicted in stained glassEven though I’m writing this as I sit here in Costa Rica, I wanted to point out that over at our FinestOfTheWheat.org site, there’s a “new” poem/hymn this month. (We make it a habit to present a new hymn on the first of each month in our Powerful Poetry section over there.)
Drawing from John 20:22 and Ezekiel 37:5-6, lyricist Edwin Hatch offers up a poignant prayer for the infilling of the Holy Spirit. See the full text on its own page at Breathe on Me, Breath of God.
Since yesterday was my 44th spiritual birthday, I feel duty-bound to offer a “bonus” poem, namely, Charles Wesley’s wonderful Hymn to Be Sung on the Anniversary of One’s Conversion. It’s a long title, but a wonderful poem — and it contains a hymn you already know, if you keep reading…
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hymns,
Powerful Poetry
From My 2012 Costa Rica Journal
Flag of Costa Rica
Dateline: Sunday, 29 July 2012, Los Guido, San José
Have you ever been so caught up in what God gave you to do that you almost missed what He was doing? Especially when what He was doing was right under your nose? I came close to falling into that trap on this fine Sunday morning. Aviso (Notice/Warning): My story may look like it’s developing into a finger-pointing criticism, but bear with me to the end and see (like I did) what God was really up to.
Ostensibly, my assignment was to preach at Iglesia Centro Misionero (Central Missionary Church), a congregation of several hundred on the edge of the very poor, violent, and [click to continue…]
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missions
Guatemala Diary, Days 4 & 5 — What a Weekend!
Day 4, Saturday 5/12
Not much to report today. Perhaps it’s the quiet before the storm. I spent several hours out on the covered terraza waiting on the Lord and reading in my Bible. I’m glad to be able to spend some “down time” with the family. And this evening we began working on the conversion of Tirsa’s old Asus Eee PC, one of the early, smaller netbooks. It came with Windows XP and it has become useless, either due to “Windows rot” or viruses. She has asked me to convert it to Ubuntu Linux, and I just may try the latest version. That would be a challenge, because this unit only has a 4 Gb “hard drive” (an overglorified SD card) and 512 Mb of RAM, with a very underpowered processor. Tirsa has been working on a “slideshow” for the anniversary tomorrow (on another computer).
Annie Cerritos (Jorge's wife, left) praying with Olga (right) as Olga dedicates her life to Christ
Day 5, Sunday 5/13
Today is the fourth anniversary of the day that Atilio’s church met in their new building for the first time. Strange to say, I remember seeing the building, a concrete shell of a place, on my first visit here in March 2008. How time flies! On that first visit only the Lord would have known that I would be the speaker for this anniversary. With Gladys translating for me, I ministered about the importance of focusing on listening in prayer, rather than speaking.
Pastor Atilio followed up with a narrative of God’s provision and faithfulness in their new building, although for him there seemed to be a shadow over his heart. A few feet from where he stood on the platform (and from where I had been standing just moments before) a young worship-team musician had been murdered in cold blood by [click to continue…]
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Ciudad de Refugio,
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John 4,
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missions
Guatemala Diary, Day #3 – A Day of Three Oportunidades
No, these have nothing to do with today's story, but I thought they were pretty, so I thought I'd include them. Gladys tells me they're called "camarones" (shrimp), and I guess I see the similarity. There are all sorts of flowers, fruits, and vegetables growing in the garden here!
Time-Sensitive Prayer Request: Dr. Gladys de Chávez, my hostess and translator for most of my time here, has been sick con gripe (with the flu) ever since I arrived, and she seems to be getting worse, not better, despite repeated times of prayer for her. She is to translate Sunday morning and for two two-hour sessions on Monday and Tuesday. (Her sister-in-law, Lilian [yes, no double “l”] will translate for me Thursday and Friday.) Please pray for complete healing for Gladys. And as a matter of prevention, please pray that I won’t catch este gripe from her. ¡No lo quiero! (I don’t want it!) Now back to our regularly scheduled daily blog post…
Me gustan las oportunidades de Dios. I love it when God gives us opportunities. That should be even more true when those opportunities are beyond our means to seize, and we have to rely on Him. I had three opportunities today, one pequeña (small), one mediana (medium), y una oportunidad grande (large).
My Teaching Materials Are Finished: The day started early, as days do around here at Casa Chávez. Maybe the six singing canaries outside my bedroom [click to continue…]
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Guatemala Diary, Day #2
Our planning meeting at Hamburguesa del Rey. Following the "U" from left to right -- Dr. Gladys de Chávez, Pastor Jorge Cerritos, Pastor Jorge Perez, Superintendente y Pastor Atilio Chávez
I got to bed at 22:30 local time (half past midnight home time) last night, and were I still in the habit of praying my childhood prayer of “Now I lay me down to sleep,” etc., I would have gotten as far as “Now I lay m….” At 4 AM it seemed like the whole neighborhood, maybe the whole city, erupted in fireworks. I woke up for an instant, processed the noise as a celebration of “el día de la madre” (Mother’s Day is today, whereas in los estados unidos, it doesn’t occur until Sunday), then I passed out for another two hours or so.
Gladys fixed un desayuno (a breakfast) of homemade granola, huevos con queso (eggs with cheese), refried beans, and sliced plantains boiled with cinnamon sticks. Then we were off to our morning appointment at Hamburguesa Del Rey [click to continue…]
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That Uncomfortable Word — Conviction! is now available for purchase as Kindle e-book.
