Serials and Scenarios - 12 Gifts of Christmas - Honesty - M. Littleton

I thought this looked fun, festive and meaningful. As you read each of the 12 Christmas gifts, prepare yourself for less print worthy moments from me as I try to produce something with the same theme to add a moment of levity, insanity or head-scratching to the day. I'll post in red.

Celebrating the true meaning of the Christmas season, Glass Roads Public Relations is proud to introduce to you the twelve days of Christmas. Twelve inspired devotional thoughts written by some of the best and brightest authors in the Christian industry.

On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me....

The Gift of Honesty

God's Gift of Honesty
by Mark Littleton

As a new Christian, I wasn’t really prepared for the stark truth about my previous life. Rummaging in my closet, I came across several shirts I had shop-lifted a couple of years before. I immediately remembered several items from the same heist.

Standing there trembling, I was unsure about what to do. I prayed, “God, what should I do about this?” It seemed the inner voice spoke immediately: “You need to return them to the store.”

I didn’t need to reflect much on it. I knew that was the right thing to do.

I packed up the items, drove to the nearby Bamberger’s store at the Cherry Hill Mall and found security. I explained what I’d done and offered to pay for the items. The guard smiled. “Every now and then we get one of these,” he said. “I’ll find out the prices and you can pay.”

A few days later, I got the call. Over sixty-five dollars in charges. In 1972 dollars, that was a lot of money. I sucked it up, though, wrote out a check and dropped it by. The guard thanked me for my integrity, saying, “I wish there were more like you out there. But shop-lifting costs us big-time. Just the same, I respect what you did.”

I went away feeling like I’d pleased God. There were other things I would return in the coming days, and it was always difficult. And costly. But the peace of mind and heart I received were all worth it. To say nothing of the witness to unbelievers, one of whom invited me to come visit him his family in Switzerland after I sent him back the stamps I’d stolen while babysitting his children years before.

Mark Littleton is the author of The Ten-Second Prayer Principle: Powerful Prayer As You Go (Howard Books, 2007) and many other books. For more information visit life-ology.townhall.com or here.

And now an honesty moment from Kelly.

I’m glad I didn’t have to return shoplifted shirts. Instead, my shoplifting bug was crushed early in life.

One day my friend and I went to the grocery store with her mom. Not unusual in itself. What was unusual was the whispered comment as we passed the Brach’s display. “Grab one and put it in your pocket.”

My friend was taller than me and had three older brothers. She’d proven her superior whupping skills before, so I grabbed. As the chocolate cream drop slowly softened in my pocket, all sorts of yucky rumblings were taking place in my little six-year-old psyche.

It ended up being a bittersweet relief when my friend’s mom caught us huddled by the fence with sticky wrappers in hand and chocolate breath. We were hustled back to the car and driven to the store. Each of us carried two pennies and a candy wrapper to the cashier under the watchful eye of “mom.”

Wonder if that little incident branded my friend’s soul? I’ll never forget it.

Details...

I remember reading and pondering the details that detained people from getting to work on time on September 11, 2001. One woman got a run in her pantyhose so she ducked into a drug store to buy another pair. Someone else missed a ride, another had a child care issue.

Simple, mundane annoyances. Little tweaks in our well-made plans. Is there a day that goes by that doesn't have its share of script changes? Some chafe and make us grit our teeth -- others are just mere bumps that we barely notice.

Those little bumps saved several lives on September 11th.

I'm very aware that those who died or were injured weren't saved by minute details and that maybe they were in the the line of fire because of a tedious series of circumstances and choices. I also struggle with the eternal weight of that statement.

When a September 11 happens, when a December 5th happens, I can't help but stop and wonder about the details in my life and the God behind them. How many situations have ended up benign by mere seconds? On the flip side, how many things have gone bad because one foolish choice eventually rolled into a huge snowball hurtling down the mountain of bad ideas?

Life is in the details. Yes. Never more true than while pondering the circumstances of a tragedy.

Friends and relatives shared the following stories. I know at least one person in each story. Two of the people, if circumstances were been different, would've left large holes in my life.

A mother feels the sudden need to pray for her grown son -- specifically that he'll be sensitive to God's prodding. Minutes later the son wanders in the men's department at Von Maur. After speaking with a salesman, the son wanders toward suits. The thought that the suits will be too expensive flits through his mind and he reverses his course and heads toward the mall entrance. As he walks down the corridor he hears construction noise. A nail gun? But the reality of the sounds soon becomes very clear.

A doctor spends her morning off running errands and looking for Christmas gifts. The hospital pages her yet again. A patient, anxious to get home, needs to see her as soon as possible. She calls the hospital and tells them she'll make one more stop and be right there. Across the crowded store, the doctor sees an old friend. Torn by the decision -- strike up a lengthy conversation or get to her patient -- she chooses to leave and take care of her patient.

A twenty-two year old girl's cell phone rings. Normally, she doesn't answer when she's in a hurry, but she does on December 5th. A friend, wondering if they could get together. It works for both their schedules, so the friend puts off going to Von Maur. Christmas shopping was Plan B, but since her friend answered the phone, Plan A won out for the day.

Three people who weren't in the line of fire because of little details. Circumstances that seemed so insignificant may have saved their lives.

Thank you, God, for being mindful of little details. Help us to trust you. And comfort those who mourn.

Serials and Scenarios - Virginia Smith - Princesses & Peril

Ginny Smith dropped by with her secret fiction fantasies. If you like sci-fi or YA you've got to read her scene....ha, ha, ha.

Fiction character you would most like to be or most identify with and why?

I would most like to be Princess Leia of Star Wars fame. Okay, not the hair, unless it’s the hair she had in Episode VI, when she had that long braid. And I’d love to have the body that could pull off the metal bikini she wore when she was a slave to Jabba the Hutt. I want to go zipping through the galaxy with Han Solo, zapping bad guys with cool laser pistols. And she’s a princess! Who doesn’t want to be a princess?


If you could ask any person, living or dead, a random question -- what question would you ask of whom?

I would ask the Apostle Peter why he fell asleep in the garden while Jesus was praying. I have this (totally unspiritual) theory that it’s because he was full from the Passover dinner he just came from. When God gave the Jewish people the rules for the Passover dinner, he told them to serve a lamb and eat it all. They had to clean their plates. Okay, so that means if the cook misjudged, everybody had to eat more than they wanted. Well, around my house when we have a big family dinner and everybody eats too much, the guys all go off into the other room and fall asleep in front of the television. And the Passover celebration also included several ceremonial cups of wine, not just one. So I just wonder if a full belly and several sips of wine might have had something to do with Peter’s uncontrollable dozing. (I am totally aware that there’s no spiritual basis for this at all, but I do wonder!!!!)


Some out there in writing land have strange rituals. Share yours.

I don’t have any strange rituals, but I do require complete silence. I can’t listen to music, and even having a television on in the other room drives me nuts. It helps that my kids are grown and gone, so the major noisemakers have left the house. But my husband sometimes makes enough noise for a dozen kids. Even a door slamming in the other part of the house jerks me out of my story and sends a jolt of teeth-grinding irritation through me. I tend to be fairly grumpy when I’m interrupted during writing, so my poor husband has learned some self-preservation skills. He tiptoes all day long, God bless him.

Favorite turn of phrase or word picture, in literature or movie.

This isn’t really a “turn of phrase” but one of my all-time favorite book openers is from The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. “There once was a boy named Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it.” I just love that! I immediately know Eustace’s personality without reading another word. That’s great characterization!

What period of history intrigues you the most?

I love British history, especially the time of Henry VIII. So much happened during that era that reverberated through the entire world and across the centuries since. Henry was the first monarch to split from the Catholic church. He created the protestant Church of England and made himself the head of the church, all because he wanted to dissolve his marriage so he could marry his mistress. He fathered Britain’s most famous monarch. I’m just fascinated by that era, and my favorite city in the world is London because there is so much history from that time period there.


What would you write if there were no rules or barriers? (epic novels about characters in the Bible, poetry, greeting cards, plays, movies, instruction manuals, etc.)

I’d write epic fantasy novels of adventure and daring-do. I absolutely love the Lord of the Rings, but I want my fantasy novels to have a futuristic feel instead of an old-world atmosphere. I want to create entire worlds with their own cultures and societies, where the people are human enough that we identify with them but alien enough to be intriguing. And oh yes – I want there to be a princess who gets to flit around the galaxy… oh. Never mind. That’s been done.


What makes you feel alive?

My family makes me feel alive. The way my husband locks eyes with me across a room full of people and I know exactly what he’s thinking because we have shared so much of our lives together. The way my daughter calls me every day because I’m an important part of her life. The way my son hugs me by picking me up and swinging me around, just like I used to do to him when he was little. And of course, I love the way God lets me know that He’s always right beside me, showing me where each step goes and assuring me that He knows what’s around every corner on the path in front of me.

What word annoys you more than any other?

You’uns. It’s a Kentucky hillbilly term meaning the plural of ‘you.’ Even educated people from the hills of Kentucky hang on to this term after they’ve learned better, and I think it is the most ignorant-sounding words I’ve ever heard. It sets my teeth on edge.


Grammatical pet peeve…sound off.

Ooooh, I absolutely hate it when people use the past tense of verbs incorrectly. For example: “The grass needs mowed.” No, it doesn’t need mowed, it needs to be mowed. Or it needs mowing. My husband does it, and even though we’ve been married 17 years I have not been able to train it out of him. Sometimes I think he does it on purpose just to irritate me.

Societal pet peeve…sound off.

People who walk through the grocery store talking loudly on their cell phones. I don’t want to hear about your date last night, or what you’re fixing for supper, or the contents of your spice cabinet. This is even worse when people use that Bluetooth earpiece, because then they feel the need to shout. You know the movie What Women Want? When Mel Gibson (be still my heart!) is walking through the shopping mall and hears the thoughts of every woman he passes as though they were normal conversation, it just about drives him insane. I’m afraid that’s what our society is coming to – only we won’t be thinking, we’ll all be walking through the mall shouting into our cell phones. When that happens I will become a hermit. I will buy a piece of mountain property somewhere and dig a cave beneath tons of rock and dirt where the satellite signals won’t reach, and I’ll live there.


CREATIVE CORNER:

Pick a Genre - Describe a kiss….

Sci-Fi/Fantasy -

THE FIRST KISS
By Virginia Smith

“Hold still while I kiss you,” Jake whispered.

“Yeah, well, that’s easier said than done,” I snapped. The gravity generators on the ship were deactivated for one third of each twenty-four hour period along with the artificial sunlight panels. The officers had a dual purpose for cooking up that crazy scheme: to save energy and to simulate an earth-like routine during our five year journey to our new planet. We were supposed to be safely cocooned in our anti-grav nets, sleeping. If my daddy found out I’d snuck out, I’d be grounded from the entertainment vids for a month.

I swam through the air in the direction of Jake’s voice, thankful that he couldn’t see my inelegant movements in the darkness.

Fingers entwined themselves in my hair and jerked me forward. “There. I have you.”

“Ouch! Let go, you big spacer.”

“Sorry.”

His hand dropped to my arm and grabbed a fistful of my shipsuit. I could just make out his silhouette in the dim glow of the instrument panel.

“Here, hold onto this.”

He guided my arm toward the panel, and I felt around. There. My fingers grasped the cold metal of a protruding lever. Now I could focus on Jake.

“Okay, I’m ready.” I pitched my voice low and husky, the way Mom sounded when she talked to Daddy.

Only surely Daddy’s breath didn’t smell like three-day-old onions. I jerked my head backward. “What is that smell?”

“Sorry. My mom rehydrated onion casserole for dinner.”

Careful not to let go of the lever, I used my free hand to pinch my nostrils. “It’s okay. I cad haddle it,” I told him.

The dark blob that was Jake’s head drew closer. This was it! I was about to get my first kiss!

Something rammed my finger.

“Ow! That was my eye!” He sounded angry.

“Well, I didn’t do it! Watch where you’re going.” But I lowered my hand for the next try.

Jake advanced cautiously. I closed my eyes. Something wet and mushy pressed against the tip of my nose, but quickly slid downward as Jake corrected his approach. And then his mouth touched mine.

Jake’s lips, soft and warm, sent ripples of electricity through my body. My grip on the lever tightened as I gave myself over to the feeling. Light exploded behind my eyelids, and I closed them even tighter. So this was a kiss. I could get used to this.

Suddenly Jake jerked away. I opened my eyes to find him hovering in zero-g in front of me, alarm on his face--which I could clearly see in the bright rays of simulated sunlight. Behind him, a uniformed man charged through the doorway, followed by a stream of stern-faced bridge officers.

“You flipped the lever!” Jake shouted. “You turned on the sun!”

Oh, man. I was so grounded.

But what a kiss!

Thanks, a bunch, Virginia.

Another Tragedy

This time in my own back yard.

Nine people were shot and killed yesterday. Two more are critical. A kid. A kid with an assault rifle opened fire on shoppers and employees and then killed himself.

In a metro area of half a million people you'd think this wouldn't spider web and attach itself to me or mine. But less than a day later and without knowing the names of any of the victims, I'm finding out what a small town Omaha is.

My cousin and one of my co-workers had been in the store right before the shootings. On Monday, my daughter and I were just blocks away at another store in a nearby mall. We could see Von Maur from the parking lot. Yesterday, my daughter was filling in a shift in a different store branch, ironically because a manager was recovering from the trauma of a robbery, at a mall just miles away from the shootings. She returned to her home store -- to safety -- just a half hour before the shooting began. My daughter hasn't been asked to work at Westroads -- yet -- but the store is just five bays away from Von Maur. Thinking of what-ifs makes my head spin.

I offered my prayers and sympathies to the victims of the Virginia Tech shootings just a few months ago.

Today, I offer them to my neighbors.

Serials and Scenarios - Bluegrass Peril

This week the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance tours Bluegrass Peril. Click here to visit Virginia Smith's website and on the book cover to visit the Amazon page.

Here's my review:

Virginia Smith writes a nice little mystery in Bluegrass Peril. I didn't pick up on the killer until near the end and her red herrings were iffy in a good way. I'm amazed at the amount of story she managed to pull off in the limitations of the word count. Not only is there an intruiging mystery Smith weaves in information regarding a worthy charity/cause, the drama of single motherhood with a financial pinch tossed in for good measure, a new love interest and a past that reaches out and muddies everything. All ended neatly organized.

Though romance isn't a favorite genre, I'll keep my eye on Virginia Smith.

Do come back Friday for Ginny's interview!

Scribble and Scrambles - Outing Myself

All of you who happen to be mental health professionals...here's one for you.

What is it called when a person who feels too busy actually creates a tradition that is nothing but a s-l-o-w-as-molasses-on-a-cold-day process and then complicates said process even further?

Besides crazy or insane. I don't like those words.

Give up? Me,too.

This is my newest discovery about myself. I've been in denial but I can't deny it anymore. I must see this as the weird addiction that it is.

I like tape.

That is weird enough, right?

Well, I like tape a lot. And I use it. A lot.

I love the look of gift bags with the fluffy tissue paper puff that invites one to look inside and be amazed. I love gift bags!!!! I buy gift bags!!! I delight in the look of gift bags. I will even use them. On occasion. But my passion is tape.

Something deep inside of me longs for the sound of slick wrapping paper, the zip of scissor blades slicing, and the rip of tape against the little jagged blade. And my fingers love the act of smoothing the tape over the seams, enclosing the present, keeping it safe from prying fingers and eyes.

I've even gone so far that I wrap tiny presents. And then load them into a bigger present and wrap the whole thing.

I'll scratch my itch when I should be sleeping, or cleaning, or cooking. I'm a tape junkie.

I'll be back tomorrow. It's my husband's birthday and I really need to wrap his present.

Serials and Scenarios - Amazing Grace

In case you haven't seen it. Here's my review of Amazing Grace.

Click on the movie case to go to the Amazon page. Click here to go to the website for further info.

Review:

I can't handle history in black and white dates. But give me history with faces, sights, sounds and smells and I'm hooked. Add sacrifice, heroic acts and strong convictions and you have Amazing Grace and my heart.

This movie blew my expectations out of the water. I expected good enough because so many have given it great reviews. I didn't expect to laugh. I didn't expect to care so much about the characters. I expected to struggle a little with boredom during parliamentary discussions but even those grabbed hold of me.

The Christian theme is present but not overdone. God was part of the picture-- a driving force -- since He loves all people and all people are created in His image. And on the flip side the words arse, bloody and hell are tossed about throughout the well-written dialogue.

If you are a history fan you really should at least rent it. Fans of movies like Luther, Master and Commander, Girl with a Pearl Earring etc. will probably like Amazing Grace. It's not ram-packed action and has plenty of heavy dialogue so thinkers should get much out of it. I would caution parents to watch the movie first before letting younger children see it as there are some disturbing images.