Twas the Night Before Christmas

I received this via email. The author is unknown. Enjoy!

Twas the month before Christmas
When all through our land,
Not a Christian was praying
Nor taking a stand.
See the PC Police had taken away,
The reason for Christmas - no one could say.
The children were told by their schools not to sing,
About Shepherds and Wise Men and Angels and things.
It might hurt people's feelings, the teachers would say
December 25th is just a 'Holiday'.
Yet the shoppers were ready with cash, checks and credit
Pushing folks down to the floor just to get it!
CDs from Madonna, an X BOX, an I-pod
Something was changing, something quite odd!
Retailers promoted Ramadan and Kwanzaa
In hopes to sell books by Franken & Fonda.
As Targets were hanging their trees upside down
At Lowe's the word Christmas - was no where to be found.
At K-Mart and Staples and Penny's and Sears
You won't hear the word Christmas; it won't touch your ears.
Inclusive, sensitive, Di-ver-si-ty
Are words that were used to intimidate me.
Now Daschle, Now Darden, Now Sharpton, Wolf Blitzen
On Boxer, on Rather, on Kerry, on Clinton!
At the top of the Senate, there arose such a clatter
To eliminate Jesus, in all public matter.
And we spoke not a word, as they took away our faith
Forbidden to speak of salvation and grace
The true Gift of Christmas was exchanged and discarded
The reason for the season, stopped before it started
So as you celebrate 'Winter Break' under your 'Dream Tree'
Sipping your Starbucks, listen to me.
Choose your words carefully, choose what you say
Shout MERRY CHRISTMAS ,
not Happy Holiday!


Please, all Christians join together and
wish everyone you meet
MERRY CHRISTMAS
Christ is The Reason for the Christ-mas Season!

CFRB Tour of Talking to the Dead

“I hear dead people!” A newer version of the Sixth Sense? Not quite, but Bonnie Grove’s Talking to the Dead is close enough to give you the heebie jeebies. Kate Davis keeps hearing her dead husband Kevin’s voice. Is she going crazy or has Kevin come back to haunt her? But Kate isn’t just hearing Kevin’s voice, she’s also uncovering secret things about him that she wished she hadn’t. How does she reconcile the husband she knew with the one she is now discovering?

This novel is intense, moving, heartbreaking, funny and a million other things! There is only one word for it - superb! Bonnie Grove has done a masterful job of showing us how easy it is for one to lose their grip on reality. I’m sure her experience in the psychological field helped in writing this novel and it shows. I can’t begin to tell you how many emotions I experienced while reading this book. If you have lost a loved one you’ll know that “feeling” as soon as you start reading.

While I’ve never experienced the depths of despair that Kate did, I believe that Bonnie has managed to give me a greater understanding on the fragility of the human mind. The love and support of family and friends is essential for those dealing with mental illness but the knowledge that there is One who knows and loves you makes recovery a blessed thing. When Kate discovers God in her healing it is so moving and tender I dare you not to cry!

Kudos to the author! Talking to the Dead will be talked about for a long time!

Purchase Talking to the Dead at
Barnes and Noble, and Amazon.

Check out these other member blogs this week for more info.

Talking to the Dead

Starting tomorrow, the Christian Fiction Review Blog will be featuring Talking to the Dead by author Bonnie Grove, for one week. Stop back here on Friday for my take on the book, but in the meantime, here is a taste on what it is all about.


About the Book:
Twenty-something Kate Davis can't seem to get this grieving widow thing right. She's supposed to put on a brave face and get on with her life, right? Instead she's camped out on her living room floor, unwashed, unkempt, and unable to sleep-because her husband Kevin keeps talking to her.

Is she losing her mind?

Kate's attempts to find the source of the voice she hears are both humorous and humiliating, as she turns first to an "eclectically spiritual" counsellor, then a shrink with a bad toupee, a mean-spirited exorcist, and finally group therapy. There she meets Jack, the warmhearted, unconventional pastor of a ramshackle church, and at last the voice subsides. But when she stumbles upon a secret Kevin was keeping, Kate's fragile hold on the present threatens to implode under the weight of the past. And Kevin begins to shout.

Will the voice ever stop? Kate must confront her grief to find the grace to go on, in this tender, quirky story about second chances.


About the Author:
Bonnie Grove started writing when her parents bought a typewriter, and she hasn't stopped since. Trained in Christian Counselling (Emmanuel Bible College, Kitchener, ON), and secular psychology (University of Alberta), she developed and wrote social programs for families at risk while landing articles and stories in anthologies. She is the author of Working Your Best You: Discovering and Developing the Strengths God Gave You; Talking to the Dead is her first novel. Grove and her pastor husband, Steve, have two children; they live in Saskatchewan.

Purchase Talking to the Dead at
Barnes and Noble, and Amazon.

Check out these other member blogs this week for more info.

From Beauty to Ashes

My good friend Cathi Hassan at http://cathischatter.blogspot.com has posted an interview she did with me recently over Skype. Hop on over and take a look. She has also posted a review of my book Come to Me.

Thank you Cathi!

The Jesus Movie for

the Next Generation

www.NewJesusMovie.com

Guest post by Bruce Marchiano, producer of Jesus...No Greater Love

The truth of the gospel never changes. But Christianity has many faces. They reflect the customs and cultures and the beautiful diversity of the global church. They are lined with the wisdom of age and vibrant with the passion of youth. One gospel for all the world…but how will we deliver it in a way that reaches the whole world? How will we reach the next generation?



Young Christians today are more like St. Francis of Assisi than a circuit riding preacher. “Preach the gospel at all times and when necessary, use words.” This is a generation focused on being the hands and feet of Christ and meeting the physical needs of those in both the local and global community. They are building houses, planting gardens, taking food and clothes to the poor and helping the widows and orphans… and then they are sharing the gospel. And they are using technology like never before. They communicate the message through audio, film, video and the internet, and they strive for excellence within those mediums. They must. This is how they will reach their generation for Christ.



I share their passion. In the film, The Gospel According to Matthew, we were able to capture the heart of Christ that is so often missing in Christian films, but the quality of the film making was constrained by an $800,000 budget. Now we are inspiring a movement that will bring Jesus to film in a version that literally leaps off the screen and into the hearts of viewers.

Jesus…No Greater Love, the new Jesus movie, (http://www.newjesusmovie.com/) will be a word for word, verse by verse film adaption of the Gospel according to John. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation. That’s really our concept, that the gospel would go out in the power of the film medium, unaltered by any human script writer.



The budget for a typical Hollywood production is $100-110 million. Actors’ salaries account for much of that cost. Because the new Jesus movie will be not be paying big name actors, our team believes we can produce a world class, state-of-the-art film incorporating the latest cutting-edge technology for just $45 million. The production will be shot on location in Jerusalem and shot digitally using CGI backgrounds and a green screen stage, providing unlimited potential for sharing the gospel for generations to come.



We are inviting people from all nations and all generations to join this movement to bring the gospel to all people. A movement made of 4.5 million people contributing a tax deductible donation of $10 each would fund the cost of the film. The Gospel belongs to everyone, and the new Jesus movie will be produced expressly so it can be accessed by everyone, no matter their financial situation. Our team's vision is to see the film translated into as many languages as possible and supplied to mission organizations and churches all over the world.



You can become a part of the movement to reach the next generation. Please help us spread the word to your friends and family. If you would like to make a donation, you can do so at http://www.newjesusmovie.com./

Also, you can keep up with our progress by visiting any of these links:

www.facebook.com/newjesusmovie

www.twitter.com/brucejesusmovie

www.youtube.com/newjesusmovie

www.tangle.com/newjesusmovie

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bruce Marchiano is an actor, author, international speaker, and the founder of Marchiano Ministries, a non-profit organization reaching out to people both spiritually and practically in the USA and across the world. He is best known for his joyful, passionate portrayal of Jesus in the film, The Gospel According to Matthew.

Checking In

I know I don't get on here enough. Interviews & Reviews keeps me pretty busy. Writing also keeps me busy. So I thought I'd stop in and say hi, just to let you know what is going on with me.

Currently, at http://cathischatter.blogspot.com Come to Me is being featured. Thank you Cathi! Stop by and check it out.

We had Thanksgiving here in Canada last week. The leaves are all turning into those glorious colours only God can create and there is a crisp feeling in the air that you know is going to lead to something white and fluffy in the near future. Fall is my favourite time of the year, so the white, fluffy stuff can hold off for as long as possible as far as I'm concerned!

I went to see the Dead Sea Scrolls at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto at the beginning of the month. What a treat! It really deepens your faith when you are staring at scriptures that have been around for thousands of years. What really made an impact on me were the scrolls not included in the Bible that talked about the Messiah. If you get a chance you should stop by and see them.

I'm currently leading a bible study at a local retirement home. My oldest student is 96! They are lovely ladies and I have found my time with them to be quite enjoyable.

I'm working on a new novel, called Finding Claire. It deals with suicide and depression in Christians. It's a coming of age novel and I hope to have it finished soon.

That's about it for now. I'll try to touch base soon.

Laura