Monthly Archives: August 2011

He’s still the Hiding Place

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This summer my two teenagers and I had the privilege of spending some evenings listening together to Corrie Ten Boom’s The Hiding Place (mending clothes, brushing the dog’s matted fur as we listened) and then watching the video.

It had been maybe a few decades since I had read The Hiding Place, so I was grateful to be impressed again at how suddenly life can take terrible unexpected turns . . . at how important it is to be spiritually ready to face these new circumstances . . . and at how, through it all, God is faithful.

He never said He would whisk us out of trouble. He said He would keep us safe through it. He never said the storm wouldn’t come. He said that in the midst of it He would hide us.

Betsy Ten Boom died in that concentration camp. But she never wavered in believing that no matter how deep the pit—and those sisters witnessed depths of depravity that I haven’t yet seen—no matter how deep, our Savior is deeper.

We’re facing unprecedented days in our country. Persecution may be coming, possibly even in our lifetime. But God is faithful, Jesus is deep, and He is worth it all.

Corrie was 53 when she was taken out of her happy home to a concentration camp and her life was changed forever. This summer, when I listened to her book, I was 53. The Hiding Place was one of the things God has been using to change my life forever.

A brief timeline of redemptive history

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In our homeschool Bible teaching with Joshua, we’re emphasizing three levels of learning the Bible:

Level One: Know those Bible stories. Know them in context. Sometimes in detail. (In our daughter Christiana’s college Bible class, she was surprised at how many young people from Christian homes didn’t know the Bible stories.) Know the general course of the progression of the Bible stories. Know where the stories came in relation to each other. Know them. If you don’t, your progress in further understanding will be severely hampered. To this end, I’ve been telling Bible stories to the children for 22 years.

Level Two: Learn life lessons from the stories. Trust God. Show initiative. Be kind. These very basic truths are where most Sunday school programs and character curricula stop. But we can’t stop there.

Level Three: See Jesus. See him in the outworking of all the Bible stories—the sacrifice of Isaac, the wandering in the wilderness, the building of the temple—and then in the outworking of all the history since the Bible stories. See redemption, see the ongoing work of God. This overarching, God-oriented perspective is what not only takes us to higher “learning” but even transforms our lives.

In order to help with Level One understanding, the foundation for Levels Two and Three, I’ve had my children memorize nine points of history, at 500-year increments. They can learn it in about ten minutes, and then we can put everything else we learn in context of those nine points. These are rounded dates, but when it comes right down to it, is it more important to try to memorize the exact date that the historians say Rome “fell,” for example, or to have the big picture of history?

2000 B.C. Abraham

1500 B.C. Moses

1000 B.C. David

500 B.C. Rebuilding of the temple (by the remnant returned from captivity)

0 B.C. Jesus

500 A.D. Fall of Rome (often called the beginning of the Middle Ages)

1000 A.D. High Middle Ages

1500 A.D. Renaissance, Reformation, Discovery (typically called the beginning of the Modern Age)

2000 A.D. Now

This is the schema–the slots into which all other dates fit. I can ask questions like, when did Rome become a world power? (It had to be after the rebuilding of the temple because that was Babylon, and it had to be before Jesus because Romans are all through the New Testament. So it was between 500 B.C. and the coming of Christ.) When did Solomon live in relation to Abraham? (He was David’s son, so about a thousand years later.)

Keeping the timeline in our minds–without memorizing a lot of specific dates–has helped my children a lot in not only seeing the big picture but in keeping our own time period in perspective. In studying the timeline running along our wall in the hallway, Joshua recently observed that the Modern Age isn’t nearly as long as he would have thought.

We’re but a speck on the timeline. But our God is eternal, and His purpose is sure.

Witness Men ch 2

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This is the next installment of the book I’m currently working on, highlighting missions in Irian Jaya / Dutch New Guinea / Papua, Indonesia. (They’re all the same place!)

The time is 1955.

CHAPTER TWO
ACROSS THE WORLD

This chapter was posted for about a week and then removed. As I post a chapter, I’ll notify readers through Twitter and Facebook. You’re welcome to read along as I write and post them. And after that, you’ll be welcome to get the book!

Looking for a publisher for your non-fiction book

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Since several people have asked me for publishing advice, I’ll finally write what I’ve been considering writing for a while. My experience is limited, but I’ll tell you what I know.

When you’re writing non-fiction, first of all, you have to have either some sort of marketable uniqueness, or what is called a “platform.”

Uniqueness: You have to be able to show to the publisher that nobody else has published a book like yours, and there is definitely a market for it. Perhaps, for example, you can show that your book about Amy Carmichael is the first children’s biography of its kind, and that children need to know about this amazing woman. This takes research, but with the internet, the research is far easier to accomplish than it used to be.

Platform: Let’s say you’re writing a book on a topic about which there are already a hundred books, like, for example, a book for women about joy. Not only does your book need to be fresh and different, but also you need to show that you’ll have a significant ability to market the book yourself. Maybe you’re the pastor of a megachurch. Maybe you teach very large Bible study groups. Maybe you write regular magazine articles. You’re creating your own market. (Publishers want the author to be able to sell his own book.)

Second, I recommend getting Sally Stuart’s book The Christian Writer’s Market. A new edition comes out every year, with book and magazine publishers, and now even internet publishers. The market is constantly changing, so Sally keeps it up to date. Study this book and find all the publishers that seem like they would probably be interested in your book. This takes time.

Then, take that list of publishers and go to the internet and study the website of each one. If you’ve done your first assignment, you’ll know which ones have already published a book similar to yours, so you won’t want to pursue them. Look for one that might have a gaping hole in the very area you’re writing about.

Most publishers these days will describe online how authors can submit manuscripts, usually through an Author Information form and a Book Information form. The next step is, from the best publishers that you’ve chosen (probably around five to ten), take time to fill out these forms well and thoughtfully. This will take a lot more time.

Finally, submit these forms. Then wait. This will take more time, but at least you can be doing something else while you’re waiting (like catching up on all the housework that got backed up while you were working on your submission).

These are the basics. I’ll be glad sometime to elaborate on any aspects that aren’t clear. Also, I want to hasten to add that there are REAMS of information about this very topic out here in cyberspace written by people a lot more knowledgeable than I am. But I’m writing this for those people who have come, and will come, to me personally.

All best wishes in your writing. By God’s grace, for God’s glory!

The Witness Men, the chapter that will never be

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For various reasons, this chapter will be scrapped from the book I’m working on, but I decided to post it anyway, to give an idea of the compelling need and the sacrifice involved in the missionary work in Irian Jaya. The scene is 1955 at Prairie Bible Institute. Phil Masters is a man who later gave his life while bringing the gospel to people who had never heard.

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CHAPTER TWO
WHO SHOULD DIE?

“Well, I’m just disgusted, that’s all I can say.” Phil Masters threw the National Geographic on the bed.

“What’s eating you now, man?” his friend asked him.

“It’s no coincidence Mr. Vine came to speak in chapel about those tribes in Dutch New Guinea, same time I was reading about them. But I’ve had it up to here.” Phil jabbed himself so hard he nearly knocked his glasses off.

“Hey cool it, bud,” Jim said. “What’s the stew?”

“The magazines all talk like they’re . . . they’re some kind of prehistoric ape-like creatures. They keep saying things like ‘Neolithic Man’ and ‘a last look at our ancestors.’ Do you get what they’re saying?”

“Well, that they’re living in the Stone Age, but you gotta admit, Phil—”

“That’s just it!” Phil nearly exploded. “That’s just it! They talk about them like they’re not really people, and if they’re not really people, then they don’t really have eternal souls, and if they don’t really have eternal souls, then nobody needs to take the gospel to them. But just like Mr. Vine was saying, they’re people in desperate need, and we’ve got to tell them about Jesus! They’ve been living in darkness for centuries, even millennia!” Phil pushed his glasses up on his head and began to pace around the small dorm room.

“I heard him speak too, you know,” Jim said. “And yes, they need to hear about Jesus. But you know, they’re headhunters, cannibals. It’s dangerous, and you and Phyliss are going to be having a baby. . . .”

“But doesn’t somebody have to be willing to give his life? And look, I know other people besides me felt God calling them when Mr. Vine was talking. It was like . . . it was like . . .” Phil stopped abruptly and leaned in close to Jim. “It’s like the book Mr. Maxwell wrote. If we’re born crucified, if we’re raised with Christ and have intimate communion with Him, then it doesn’t matter if we live or die, does it? I mean, right now, they’re the ones dying, and their death is eternal. Ours . . . what does our death matter?”

He stopped again. “It’s like . . . it’s like D-Day.”

Jim just waited, sure Phil would explain himself eventually.

“It’s like D-Day, ten years ago.” Phil gazed out the window, as if he were realizing this for the first time. “Those first soldiers who landed at Normandy, they knew they would die. They knew it. But they did it anyway, because they had to rescue the world from that . . . that monster.

“And, listen, these people, they need to be rescued too. From the clutches of Satan. And . . . and . . . from evil spirits, and witchdoctors, and who knows what all. And we need an army to go. And in any good army, some of the soldiers have to know that they’re going to die. Didn’t Jesus say it-—to be ready to die?

“It’s war. And I want to be part of the army.”