The Invitation

Visit Rhonda's website to check out The Invitation, her newest book and my most recent editing project.  It won't let me pull the cover image off her site, so just pretend I posted a picture with this entry.

Eliana is a loyal fan of Sean Cochran when it comes to foosball.

In case you wondered what our last month has been like, here is Eliana putting an ice pack on her neck -- just like Grandma.  My mom was using ice packs so constantly that Eliana started asking for one for Grandma and one for "Ana".  She loves wrapping and unwrapping the ice pack, talking about how cold it is, and sitting on her little couch and icing her neck just like Grandma.  Perhaps in this case imitation isn't so much flattery as it is a heartfelt attempt to connect with Grandma in the midst of a situation far more difficult than her almost-2-year-old brain can understand.

Thanks to everyone for your prayers for my mom.  She is slowly doing better, although we'd still love your prayers for her complete healing.

What do you have to offer?

Attention all Kingdom Living poets, writers, artists, and prose-producing thinkers:

You are invited to participate in the first edition of the community literary magazine, The Circadian.

We will be accepting submissions in the following categories: short stories, essays (creative nonfiction, passionate theological essay, comic blog post, etc.), short plays or screenplays, poetry, graphics and visual art (most likely black and white print capabilities only).

Submit in as many categories as you’d like. Please limit yourself to two submissions per category.  All poets are requested to include three poems per submission, unless your poem is extraordinarily long.  If your writing doesn’t neatly fit into one of the three categories, submit it anyway and suggest your own category. Full theses or dissertations will not be accepted, however, due to space considerations. All further questions can be addressed to Susan or Kait via email.

The deadline for submissions is January 1, so get to it.

A thought after listening to Dan's messages again:

Many Americans come from a variety of ethnic and cultural backgrounds.  For families who have been in America for multiple generations, a distinct heritage separate from being "American" often doesn't really exist. Or at least that's how it is in my family.  My brother has done some family lineage to find our English and -- to our surprise -- Irish roots.  But that really has little to no influence on how we think of ourselves.  So, for people with this melting pot heritage (and I suppose they could be from any country, although America certainly has a good number of mutts like us), what role does this non-heritage have in how people respond to discovering their Jewish roots?

We've talked about how, for those of us from non-denominational backgrounds, part of the allure of Jewish studies is the rich history, the tradition, the grounding in something older and larger than ourselves.  But I wonder if it isn't just a time issue or a non-denominational issue.  Maybe it also taps into our lack of connection to a unique ethnic culture.  How can you be excited about being one of the nations when you have no strong ethnic identity?  Which of the nations would you belong to?

So a mutt who grew up in a non-denominational church might be doubly susceptible to ignoring the Gentile/Jew distinction.  What do you think? How do you relate to being one of the nations?

From Wikipedia:

literary magazine - a periodical devoted to literature in a broad sense. Literary magazines usually publish short stories, poetry and essays along with literary criticism, book reviews, biographical profiles of authors, interviews and letters.

Coming soon.

I'm not sure it gets any better than this.

(Photo is the fabulous work of Jessica Youmans)

A quick update on Peter Loth and his book, Peace by Piece:

Peter has been doing a lot of ministry in schools lately and has been seeing amazing results, like rival gang members forgiving each other.  Also, his book has been published in German and Spanish.  You can buy the book at Peter's website or online at BarnesandNoble.com or Amazon.  The book has also been translated into French and Korean, and they're just waiting for the finances to be able to publish in those languages as well.

It's still hard to believe that the L-rd blessed me with participating in Peter's book. It's humbling to think that four translators have used our work as the foundation for these new editions.

"There are many who want to do great things for the King, but there are few who want to make Him great."

This might be my favorite quote from the book I'm editing.

Here's Eliana using her words.  I think "Grandma" is my favorite.

Picture Update

Lunch with Opa and Nana

Dancing and dress up with Cass

Falling asleep at lunch

Dance, dance, dance

As you might have picked up from my immersion post, I feel like my whole journey into knowing Jesus as a Jewish rabbi and understanding the centrality of Israel has been a life-altering experience.  When a Christian is giving their testimony about getting saved, sometimes they will call it their "Damascus Road Experience", alluding to Paul's encounter with Jesus in Acts.  I recently heard (thanks to First Fruits of Zion for this gem) a comparable, Biblical phrase that seemed far more applicable to my own journey - I've had an "Emmaus Road Experience." 

After Jesus' death and before His resurrection was confirmed, He appeared to two of His disciples who were walking to Emmaus. "Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures" (Luke 24.27).  The continuity of Scripture, opening their eyes to verses that had been there all along, Jesus as the Jewish Messiah, their hearts burning with them -- it's all there.  He put the pieces together for them, pieces they'd been holding in their hands but couldn't bring together.  

He found me on my way to Emmaus, too.  I wasn't even looking for Him in that way, but He showed up and caused my heart to burn within me.   And I'll never be the same.

This isn't her longest time, but in case you haven't seen it in person. . .

About a month ago, I laid Eliana down for a nap.  This is what her crib looked like when I laid her down.

When she woke up, she happily played for quite some time.  Finally, my curiousity won out, and I had to see what was so entertaining.  This is how I found her.

I love it.

Now she has book time in her crib almost every morning.  A girl after my own heart.