Quippy Quill

From Blunder To Blessing By Jan D Thomas

Born at the edge of an open-pit copper mine in New Mexico, Jan Thomas comes from a background of working-class people, cultural Christians, but not committed believers. Growing up, he had influences and experiences causing doubts about himself and his ability to become more than his environment would have predicted.Influenced by teachers, Air Force buddies, and others, he began to trust God to do in him what he could not do for himself. As a youngster he thought he had no academic ability, but got BA and MDiv degrees. As a pastor he felt like a failure and began a career working in prisons. Struggling with life, he continued to try to serve.He married Fern, a widow with two children, and they had another child together. He became an administrator after only a few years; but his codependent nature, the desire to fit in, and to be liked at any cost nearly cost him his life. An old alcohol issue came back, at a time he was involved in two of the most amazing ministries of the twenty-first century, Celebrate Recovery and Kairos. Retiring in 1997, he began using CR in the prison he retired from. He was asked to help get the program into jails and prisons and became the first national director of Celebrate Recovery Inside.Celebrate Recovery Inside stretches across the United States and Canada as well as in many nations elsewhere. His own struggles have helped him become dedicated to the purpose God intended for him from the beginning. His ministry was not as a pastor but to those, like him, who struggled with life's issues. When he stopped teaching and started the healing process for himself, God helped him to stop blundering and begin to see more of God's blessing.

Beyond Discipleship to Relationship: Developing Intimacy with the Lord By Barbara a F Brehon

Anyone who wants to grow and wants to help others to grow in the Lord will find a practical approach within Beyond Discipleship to Relationship. Are you interested in growing a more intimate relationship with Christ?
 
Think about how you first decided seriously to follow Jesus. Was it initiated in the midst of a crowd or during an intimate talk with one or two other believers?
 
Beyond Discipleship to Relationship was written to:
 
Inspire individual intimacy with the Lord.
Initiate shifts or revitalize your lifestyle as an imitation of the Gospel story.
Delve into particular events in the Bible, pausing for further reflection.
Nurture the desire that others will see Christ in the lives we live.
 
Psalm 100:5 And His truth endureth to all generations. God's truth dwells in you. It is my belief that to God's glory, your work will magnify Him. Thank you for allowing me to be a small part of that process.
 
 
Raymond Whitaker, Deacon Board Chairman and
Sunday School teacher, Angel Visit Baptist Church;
Essex County School Board Chairman

The G-Connection: Harness Gravity and Reverse Aging By Dr. Joan Vernikos

The G-Connection is written in down-to-earth and understandable language. Peppered with firsthand anecdotes from astronauts and interesting stories of Vernikos's own voyage of discovery, this book is both a fun and credible resource. The excitement for her work and ideas comes across clearly and is contagious. The reader finishes the book knowing what to do differently in his or her daily life to slow down or even reverse the aging process.
"It is a treasure trove of ideas to a geriatrician"--Harold J. Guy, M.D., Professor of Geriatric Medicine, University of California San Diego Medical School, San Diego, California
"The premise is plausible and the contents are thoroughly referenced and well documented. It is written in a flowing style with humor and self-assurance and with language that never patronizes the reader."--Ralph Pelligra, M.D., NASA Ames Chief Medical Officer Moffett Field, California.

The Shade of Generosity: A Berry's Tale By Berry Robinson

This is a story of differences between berries. It’s essential to learn and know that although they’re different berries they have a direct reference to humankind. The story is about acceptance, understanding, and connection. The berries learn a lot from one another through the intrigue of differences and not of distrust or dislike.
It is a wondrous concept of a mind state and intellect of reason. Meaning life is a mysterious and glorious adventure of discovery, that captivates the mind if you don’t block your mind off to something or someone different from us. It is a great opportunity to continue one’s growth in life and see life in an exciting opportune way!
Let us understand we are all Actors in the same play, we didn’t write the script, but we significantly affect the script. All of us are born with a purpose and differences only make a person’s mind stronger and can enlighten everyone around them. If they would just have an open mind and think.

Two Years Journey By Derrick Harding - Part 1

On February 16, 2014, a fellow elder quietly prayed for me: Lord, give my brother a new bone marrow. The next day, a Hematologist diagnosed that I had a bone marrow disease. This unbelievable news with no obvious sign or symptom was true. I had an aggressive acute Leukemia. Graphically, the Lord assured me, three times that I would be healed and the disease would not return (Nahum 1, 9).

Ox In The Culvert by Gerald Brence - Part 1

Texas Ranger Ray Andrews was tired of hearing about the California gold rush. His best friend and fellow Ranger, Tom Jenkins, constantly badgered him about it. Tom wanted to quit the Rangers and head west, but Ray wasn't interested.
 
Both their lives changed forever the day they entered a shooting contest in Austin. Samuel Colt had just developed the new Colt Navy revolver. He sponsored a competition to promote his product. Ray won the contest. Tom finished fourth. The top ten Ranger shooters received one of the new revolvers. They also received a mission to guard a payroll wagon into the Indian country of deep Southwest Texas. Ray and Tom didn't know about the payroll mission when they entered the contest.
 
A ruthless outlaw named Sores Aguilar was watching. Dressed as a friendly observer, Sores obtained all the information about the payroll wagon. He was already devising a master plan to rob it.
 
Ox in the Culvert is a historical fiction novel about the true Wild West. The story travels from Central Texas through the great Southwest and into California. It continues on to Hong Kong and then back to San Francisco. Take an adventure into the early 1850s. The great western expansion of America was accomplished by both the good and the bad. It was a time that hasn't received its proper respect.

The Wounded Breed By James S. Kelly

TRUE TO HIS WORD, Joseph Horn Cloud presented White Bird to the Pine Ridge Indian Council for a Trial on Behalf of the four soldiers. Their verdict, which Joseph and his brother feared, was a lifetime ban from the Sioux Nation and all its followers. It was to commence in ten days, White Lance and his brother had expected a similar fate for their younger brother, but not one of that length.
 
Their parting was one of sadness. They loved their white brother and would miss him forever. but they knew in their heart that this was just verdict and not as great as the court in Santa Barbara had pronounced.
 
White Bird vowed to his brother that he would devote the remainder of his life to being a good man and one they could be proud of. He spent the next week in meditation at his parents' grave and at the monument at Wounded Knee. He then left the area and headed south toward Sidney. He found Rosita Riley in a dirty saloon on the outskirts of the town and asked her to forgive him. He learned that he had a son who was four years old.
 
He told her what he'd done and what the verdict laid down by the Pine Ridge Council was. He told her he was still hunted by the authorities, but if she and the child were willing, he would marry her and take then with him. "Jacob, we've had a miserable existence the last three years, but I don't know if I can trust you. You left me once; why wouldn't you do it you?"
 
"I understand your reluctance, but I'm a difference man today and I promised my brothers that I would be a good man. My name is not Jacob Light; it's Raymond O' Caliegh. I researched records of the many wagon trains that were lost and found out who my real parents were."

Streetcar Sandwiches by Curt Orloff

Streetcar Sandwiches is a screenplay showing the efforts the owner of a sandwich shop in Uptown New Orleans undertakes to keep her business running. Not only does she have to deal with a menagerie of all types of employees, she has to comply with onerous and often conflicting regulations from several government bureaus. How she handles what turns into an ordeal threatens to change her naturally optimistic and pleasant personality. It leads directly to an outcome that could only have occurred in the Big Easy.