Historical Fiction That Grabs Your Heart and Feeds Your Soul
One of the first historical stops on my long research journey this spring was in Little Falls, New York. It is where the home of Nicholas Herkimer is found.
So who is Nicholas Herkimer, you might ask?
You can find out by reading my blog at Colonial Quills. 🙂
Click here.
“What’s with that truck? Its trailer is weaving back and forth!”
As my husband, Steve, and I pulled into the left lane, the problem became obvious: The truck was hauling THREE trailers!
This was not the only one like it that we saw on our 3,000-mile historical research/ book-signing road trip. We learned very quickly to steer clear of the three-trailered-trucks!
We learned many things while driving from Iowa to Massachusetts and back, via Vincennes, Indiana. While Steve drove on one of our boring stretches of highway on this journey, I made notes and thought I’d share them with you. I hope you find them helpful.
1 – Before you ever leave home, invest in comfy seat cushions. We bought the Aylio Coccyx Orthopedic Comfort foam seat cushions. Steve merely called them our “butt savers.” Whatever you name them, they will save the day for your back and rear end!
2 – If you’re feeling tired and looking for stronger coffee from a well-known coffee shop, get the “blonde” roast. There is more caffeine in the less processed coffee beans.
3 – When driving through New York State on a toll road and the sign says “No Cash,” this translates into “they ONLY take cash.” I can’t explain it…
4 – Carry healthy snacks in the car like almonds, peanuts and dried fruit. You will be less inclined to buy “goodies” whenever you stop for gasoline.
5 – Bring plenty of plastic bags for trash and laundry. You’ll be amazed at how quickly both items accrue.
6 – Don’t wear white blouses or shirts when drinking coffee in the car. I have personal experience with this.
7 – If you eat a donut and drink coffee from a well-known donut chain four days in a row, you’ll never want to eat a donut again. You may feel like you’re turning green for days afterwards every time you look at their sign. I also have personal experience with this.
8 – If you’re staying in a motel and want to know the forecast, don’t bother with the weather cable channel. They seem to be too busy running specials in the evening to let you know there might be a tornado on the ground nearby. Watch the local channels.
9 – Carry a small cooler for drinks and quick meals like yogurt. You will save time and money.
10 – Watch out for mother otters—carrying their babies in their mouth—scurrying across the road. (They are SO cute!!)
I hope you find these tips helpful. Although it took lots of planning and occasionally, was incredibly boring, driving across the miles through these United States is the best way to see this gorgeous country we call home. I highly recommend it.
The flight attendant’s voice pierced through the crowded jet cabin as we neared our destination: “Ladies and gentlemen, after we have landed, please remain in your seats until we have rectified…the situation.”
As a frequent flyer to visit my grandkids, those were words I never recalled hearing before.
What exactly was the situation that needed to be “rectified?”
Most of us were in complete ignorance of any problem. But we knew that we needed to go along with the crew’s instructions. All we could do at that moment was stay in our seats, follow the directives and wait for the airline personnel to deal with the “situation.” It took faith and obedience on our part to cooperate with the big plan that, ultimately, could protect our lives.
After we’d landed and sat quietly in our seats with our belts still buckled, we all gasped at the sight of armed police walking down the aisle and removing a passenger. Rumor filtered towards the back where I was sitting—murmurings that this passenger had tried to open the emergency exit inflight.
More than one set of eyes widened with disbelief as we realized that we had been in danger—yet one man sitting nearby had witnessed the event and interceded. He likely saved us all.
It somehow seemed a fitting incident to occur on Easter week.
Most of us walk through our day, oblivious to danger. Many sail through life, unaware that there is a situation that needs to be rectified—namely, our sin.
We can be so caught up in our journey that we fail to notice that the flight is nearing its destination. Had it not been for the one passenger who interceded on our behalf, for our safety and concern, none of us knows what the outcome might have been.
Humanity has our own intercessor in the spiritual world of darkness. His name is Jesus Christ. And on this Holy Week of remembering His death, burial and triumphant resurrection, let us not forget that He has rectified our sin situation. But it is up to us to cooperate with His plan and, by obedience, acknowledge our need for His salvation.
May your Easter be blessed.
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.” 1 Peter 1:3-5 NIV
I never go to a movie based on a Biblical story expecting complete accuracy. Even when written and directed by believers in the Scriptures, there are often storylines that, for the sake of time or creativity, change details.
So with an open mind and a love for God’s word, I carried my notebook into the matinee to watch the new release, “Noah.” With all the controversy about this movie, I was expecting there to be troubling themes that would not support the important subjects such as man’s fall and God’s provision and protection. In these areas, I was pleasantly surprised.
The storyline began with Noah’s father teaching him about the fall of Adam and Eve (the parents of us all, the script says). The audience sees Satan’s disguise as a snake and witnesses how he tempted men’s hearts and led us into sin. Noah’s father also teaches the son that our strength comes from the Creator. Noah is exhorted to “walk along side the Creator in righteousness.”
As an adult, Noah struggles in this movie to protect his family from the wicked sons of Cain—the first murderer—and is aided in protecting them by angels called “The Watchers.” (more about them later)
His grandfather, Methuselah, is his spiritual mentor who, in cinematic style, allows Noah to envision direction from the Creator to build the ark to save not just the animals of the earth, but mankind itself. The wickedness of people has reached such proportions that judgment time has come.
And thus the building of the vessel that saves Noah and his family begins, showing the accurate shape of the ark as a long oblong box, which is according to the instructions in the Bible that God gave.
For the most part, I loved this movie. Cinematically, it was beautiful with the benefit of CGI that lent itself perfectly to this creative depiction. One of my favorite views was during the flood, showing the view from the sky. The entire earth is shown as if it was a satellite image, with storms swirling over the whole world. Very dramatic and a surprising view of what it must have been like.
I also loved the theme of the middle son, Ham, who struggled with his belief in God from childhood. Very effective.
One of the most memorable lines of the movie was the King of Canaan staring into Noah’s face, spitting out the words, “And you stand alone.”
Noah looks at him and replies, “I’m not alone.”
Indeed, he was not.
Many believers struggle with the fact that the title “God” is not used in this movie. But the repeated references to The Creator made it quite clear to me exactly Who the characters are speaking about. I have no problem with this and wonder why Creationists would.
One of the more dramatic scenes shows Noah, dressed in disguise, seeking wives for his sons in the enemy camp. He is so overcome by the depravity of men’s hearts, he returns to the nearly built ark in shock. His family presses for an explanation to his silent behavior. He says in a frantic whisper, “The wickedness is not just in them—it’s in all of us.”
This revelation for Noah of his own sin nature impacts much of the ensuing scenes in the ark itself. The writers took a few astonishing liberties with the Bible story, causing this reviewer to groan. The problem is, since so little is known about the actual events on that journey, the writers seemed to be grasping for dramatic conflict. Most writers understand the importance of keeping the action moving to retain one’s audience—but the plots that ensued disappointed this viewer since they were not consistent with the story as a whole.
Still, the events on the Ark—listening to the screams of the dying in the flood as well as trying to discern God’s will and plan for his family—did provide explanation for Noah’s behavior in a later scene on land, actually depicted in the Genesis account.
An aspect of the movie that rated “Five Groans” on a scale of five, was the Ent-like animated creatures who portrayed the Watchers. It was like imagining “Lord of the Rings” meets “Star Trek” in the Old Testament. Can’t we use a phaser and get rid of those images?
Despite my disappointment about the scenes on the Ark and the images of the animated creatures, there was much to celebrate about this movie. They showed the door of the ark being closed by the hand of God. They emphasized the pride of man and the need for mercy. They didn’t mince words about sin, evil or temptation.
And it was a movie about an actual Bible story.
If you are a person who believes any depiction of a Biblical story should be straightforward and accurate in every detail, you will not like this movie. Much artistic license is taken with many scenes and in the fabricated plot lines. However, it is the creative composite of visuals, storyline and message that make this a fascinating retelling of the Bible story of Noah.
Even if the motive of the producers was just to make money, God can still use it to draw people into reading the actual story in Genesis—a true story about pride, sin and redemption. A true story that we all need to hear.
As I scrolled down my Facebook feed one morning, I did a double take.
There was a Christian author friend, posing next to a cover model for romance novels. She was dressed in a modest dress. He was shirtless, six-pack rippling, pants on the edge of too low, with his arm around my friend. My author friend had just come from a secular romance writer’s conference and had posted this photo.
It was the same day her Christian devotional posted on her blog to which I subscribe.
Is there something wrong with this picture?
I checked out the conference she had attended. The featured authors ran the gamut from Christian to VERY edgy. When I checked out the books of one of the authors in attendance, I discovered numerous titles with such words as “devil,” “temptation,” “sin” and “virgin.” I’ll give you this much: Even secular writers know the correct terminology. In this PC world where many want to deny the evil one and the existence of sin, at least it was good to know the secular writers know they are real.
This issue of Christian romance authors side-by-side with the pornographic romance writers has bothered me for some time. And many times it is not the authors themselves who put themselves in such company. Their publishers do.
A wonderful Christian author with a beautiful historical novel was recently a finalist in a contest frequented by secular romance writers. This Christian author knew nothing about how her book was even entered.
This same romance organization that sponsors the contest has a publication that prints book reviews. As a newbie historical romance writer a few years ago, I subscribed to this magazine. To my surprise, it arrived in a dark cellophane wrapper. Only after opening the magazine did I realize why: The abundance of sexually suggestive covers displayed were enough to cause even this romance writer to blush.
I looked for the “Inspirational Romance” section for reviews. It was a few short pages, surrounded by page after page of book covers with scantily dressed lovers in various poses. The activity of the paramours was obvious. After reading the reviews in subsequent issues, I soon realized I was not going to be able to read them without the visual assault of one book cover after another tempting my libido at every turn of the page. I started dropping the unopened magazine into the trashcan upon arrival. Needless to say, I no longer subscribe.
There has been a growing trend among women supposedly trying to revitalize their sex lives by reading a recent series of books about “Forty-Nine Plus One Derivations of A Dull Shade of Black.” I refuse to name the title due to internet search engines. 🙂
What is shocking is that a recent survey revealed many of the readers of the aforementioned series are Christian women. What is even more troublesome is that there has also been a dramatic increase in women delving into pornography.
A recent book, “Pulling Back The Shades” by Dr. Juli Slattery and Dannah Gresh, addresses the concern. In an article in Christianpost.com, Dr. Slattery (who read the trilogy of books) describes not only the kinky nature of the explicit sex in the popular series, but the frequent Satanic symbolism. The latter agenda in these books shocked Dr. Slattery, a Christian psychologist. To read the full article in Christianpost.com, including details about the survey, check it out here.
So here is my question: As Christian authors do we have an obligation to distance ourselves from the organizations that promote lustful images? Or should we hang out with the sinners, hoping our offerings of less-explicit romance novels will influence the buying public to reform their reading habits?
I don’t have clear-cut answers. But I will say one thing: if you ever see me posing with a shirtless man other than my husband, send me a virtual slap.
Today my post at Colonial Quills talks about a winter even MORE severe than the winter of 2014.
At least we don’t need to shovel out our upstairs windows to escape our homes. 😉
Click here to read.
