Christmas Traditions is a boxed set of Christian romance novella’s. Each one is a stand alone book, or the first book in separate series, and by different authors. All were good, some I loved! As a whole I give the set four stars. I really enjoyed them. Great read for the holidays. I can recommend for teens and up, though written for adults. Where I could, I wrote individual reviews for each book.
You can get it here today:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/587244
Here is a peak inside…
Prologue
“Where is the child?” Horace Acerbi calmly asked his son.
“Someplace safe,” answered the young man. “Did you think I was capable of taking care of a baby?”
“Your mother and I would have cared for the baby,” Horace replied as he removed a speck of lint from his suit coat.
The sixteen year old raised his eyebrows, but refused to rise to the bait. Looking his father in the eyes he waited silently.
“So you packed him off like old rubbish to be raised by strangers?” the father asked shaking his head in condemnation.
Still the young man kept his peace.
Horace walked to the window of his great domain and stood gazing out at the night sky.
“I suppose you didn’t give the mother much thought. She took the news rather hard, I am afraid. The housekeeper found her, just a short time ago, hanging from the chandelier in the nursery. It seems she used your old jump rope to do the job.”
“You lie!” the young man finally caved.
“Go see for yourself, I told them to leave her. I wanted you to see what you have accomplished by your willful disregard for propriety.”
“You want to lecture me about propriety?” yelled the youth as he ran from the room.
He took the stairs two at a time until he was on the third floor of the mansion. Blind with rage, out of breath, and riddled with guilt he burst through the door of his old nursery, and there cold and still, hung the body of the only person who had ever loved him…
Hebrews 10:24-25 (Holman Christian Standard Bible), “And let us be concerned about one another in order to promote love and good works, not staying away from our worship meetings, as some habitually do, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day drawing near.”
Our human nature sure can be a pain. Even though my new nature in Christ is His nature, that old man sure tries to resurrect itself. I have been thinking about the importance of belonging and faithfully attending a local church. I love mine, hate to miss any service, and so whenever the doors are open, you will find me there. However, for a lot of people that just isn’t so. I don’t understand it frankly, except to chalk it up to that same human nature. We quite often find ourselves in a pickle or face to face with what seems to be a grand predicament, or maybe a whole set of problems all at one time. We find ourselves looking for a “specialist” who can set things straight. Now days we don’t have to even “let our fingers do the walking” through the yellow pages, all we have to do is grab our smart phones and do a quick search.
How many of us will run to a doctor, lawyer, therapist, psychologist, dietitians, financial advisor, or counselor? We expect them to fix or at least help us with our mountain (trouble). I expect that from the world, but why are God’s children going to the world first? Our senior pastor brings this point up quite often. We run here and there and when they can’t fix it, or we end up facing yet another issue days later, then we turn to God. How many time have we heard, or God forbid, said, “The only thing left to do is pray”? No, we should first pray! He is doctor, mentor, counselor, father, advisor, He knows us inside and out, He knows our problems, issues, weaknesses, and He knows exactly what we need, and when we need it.
Once we get stuck in the worlds ways of handling problems, we end up running to all of these appointments, setting our schedules around them. We wouldn’t miss one for any reason short of death! You know how hard it is to reschedule an appointment with a specialist. But, when was the last time you missed church? We will miss a service, a prayer meeting, or bible study for the smallest reasons. Did you stay up too late, the kids weren’t cooperating, the dog ran away, your favorite show is on, or just too tired, well then stay home. God understands… right?
I think that is so backwards. How do these worldly people with some fancy letters behind or in front of their name rate as more important than our brothers and sisters in Christ, or more able than God?
How easy is it to tell a doctor all your embarrassing bodily issues, to tell a counselor all of your weird dreams or troubles, or talk about your financial mess to a financial advisor? How hard is it to go up and ask for prayer during a service, or to call a friend from church to confess your mess and ask for prayer? It shouldn’t be that way.
I remember a conversation with a family (relative) member about sharing something with my pastors and their reply was, “you told your pastors that!” I answered, “if I can’t tell them, who can I tell.” God places us, hand picks us for each local body. If we seek Him, He will put us with believers that are to now be our FAMILY. Sometimes we may act a little dysfunctional, just like our natural families, but unlike in the natural, we have a supernatural Father! He will help us work things out when we are humble and real with Him, each other, and ourselves.
A local church is where we can share our troubles and our triumphs. We can pray for one another, laying hands on the sick, helping out, and encouraging one another. If “Church” to you is just a building that houses a social group who sometimes asks for your money, or if “Church” is something you do once a week, month, or year as a duty, then you might as well stay home. However, if “Church” is a family that happens to meet in a building, and you go to be with your Father and be in relationship with Him and your brother and sisters, you’ll want to go.
I’ll say it again. I love going to church! Is my church family perfect? Ha! No, but do we love each other? You bet we do. Most of them know me inside and out. They’ve seen the good, the bad, and the ungodly parts of me. I can be real, they know they can too. I am committed to them, and to the growth and upkeep of our family. I pay my tithe, I volunteer, I help out where I can, I offer time, resources, and finances to my church. We hang out together and not just at service.
Everything going good for you? Great! Go to church and give God the glory. Having some issues? Get up, no excuses, and GO to Church! You’ll find help there. “But, my church isn’t like that…” I hear you say.
Find a new one! So what if your parents, or your boss go to “that church”, ask God to place you in a church family. Then listen and obey. You may have to sit through a few services, visit a few churches, talk to a few people, but God will help you find your family.
What the book is about:
As sea levels rise and livable landmasses shrink, the Reorganized United States of America has instituted population control measures to ensure there are sufficient resources and food to sustain the growing population. Birth authorization must be paid for and obtained prior to having a child. Someone must die before another can be born, keeping the country in a population neutral position at what experts consider to be the optimal population. The new laws are enforced by a ruthless government organization known as Pop Con, responsible for terminating any children resulting from unauthorized births, and any illegals who manage to survive past their second birthday, at which point they are designated a national security threat and given the name Slip.
But what if one child slipped through the cracks? What if someone knew all the loopholes and how to exploit them? Would it change anything? Would the delicate resource balance be thrown into a tailspin, threatening the lives of everyone?
And how far would the government go to find and terminate the Slip?
In a gripping story of a family torn apart by a single choice, Slip is a reminder of the sanctity of a single life and the value of the lives we so often take for granted.
My Review:
Another great one from David Estes! I thought the “Dweller” series was great, this one is even better. So though I can’t give more than five stars (that’s my star value for Dweller) this one was so much better even. Great characters. This author is great at fleshing out his characters. You feel like you’ve known them your whole life. He also has a canny way of getting into the head of teens. There is a great mix of humor, action, suspense, and some romance. The romantic side is clean and sweet, yet full of teenage passion as well. No swearing, no sexual content (other than a retelling of an attempted rape, not explicit. There is some fighting. I can recommend this book for teens and up. Great story about hope, loyalty to friends and family, and how sometimes the lines between good and evil are blurry. Already reading book two.
As a post script, I appreciate that Mr. Estes puts his book on Kindle unlimited!
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Philippians 4:9 (NIV), “ Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me–put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.”
I don’t know about you, but there wasn’t much I excelled at the first time I gave it a go. There are many things I am good at and some things I showed a natural talent or aptitude for right away, however to really be excellent at something it takes tons of practice. I have always had a bit of an artistic eye, but I am no great artist. My artistic talents are in the flavor of home decorating, sewing, crocheting, and the like. Even those things took practice. The house I live in now is the thirteenth one we remodeled and that I decorated. It’s my favorite so far. The crocheted items I make now are many levels above the twisted, snagged first attempts.
As an example, let’s look at my reading and writing skills. I struggled with reading the first few years of school and didn’t understand that a letter made one sound this time, but another the next. In fourth grade I almost flunked English because I was doing so badly with the whole subject. My saving grace? I loved to read! I loved the stories and used them to escape real life quite frequently. By fifth grade I was getting A’s in English and reading at a college level. That’s also about the same year I started to write. In high school I had a teacher who honestly critiqued my writing, and though I shed a few tears over the remarks written in red at the bottom of the page, it helped me to become the writer that I am today. Now, as I read over my very first full length novel I wrote, I can’t help but cringe in a few places…thankfully I am still “practicing”.
It’s the same way in our walk with God. When we get saved, we don’t suddenly and miraculously know how to walk this walk perfectly. God knew we needed to work out some things, so He, in His perfect wisdom, allows us to do the work. We practice being like Him. We step out in faith and practice being patient and waiting in hope for the answer. Sometime we are slow learners, like I was in my early English classes. Thankfully, I never gave up! We can’t do that in our Christian walk. Stepping off the path only prevents us from getting to the finish line. Though I am not there yet in my writing, I am on my way. It’s the same with this road that I have chosen to walk with the Lord, I know that the finish line is ahead, so I keep going. Sometimes I stumble and often I fall, but I get back up. Even those times when I don’t have the strength to get up one more time, He is there to lift me, if I let Him. I have to acknowledge that I have fallen, or even worse, that I have wandered off the path, and then ask His Spirit to lead and guide me, to empower me to stay on track. He’s never told me “no” or let me down in any way. He is so Faithful!
How do we practice this way of life? Know who He is. I know I repeat this quite often only because it is so important. Then read the Bible. If you are having trouble with the language, try another version, one isn’t more inspiring than another. If the Old Testament seems dry, or you are getting the picture that God is a hard taskmaster, jump ahead to the New Testament. We have to remember that the Old Testament was written for people living under the Law, and the New to people living under Grace. He is the same God, but dealt with people in a different way. Once you truly know Him, reading the Old Testament still shows you His unfailing love and patience with a stiff necked, stubborn people.
We also have to be rooted in a family, a Church that love God and knows His word. Submit to godly men and women of God as a covering over us. Fellowship and break bread together (hang out and eat together). Get to know one another and share personal experiences, be real! Don’t put on a fake “church face” and act all holier than thou. Just be yourself, the good the bad and ugly. When you are in a real family, we very rarely shock one another, and quite often encourage and correct each other. Good advice comes from people who are genuine and who really love you despite your flaws, just like Jesus.
Confess God’s word over your life, even if it feels weird at first. Tell Satan to take a hike and to get his hands off of your family, stuff, and your life. Don’t give up if he sticks around for a while, though he doesn’t have the patience of God, he has more than you. Be consistent and insistent! The same power that raised Jesus from the dead now lives in you. You aren’t subject to the devil; he is subject to the name of Jesus. Use it.
One very important thing to remember, if you blow it, and make a mess, don’t give up! Never throw in the towel, the fight isn’t over until God calls you home. Remember each day is brand new, His mercies are new every morning. Ask God to forgive you, and move on. We are all on a path, not on a treadmill. There is an end, there is a finish line with prizes and rewards. Keep moving forward. Man up! Never get stuck in a pity party, never stop to “take a break”, get up go to Church, every time they open the doors go. So what if they aren’t preaching or teaching that day, go for the fun stuff too. Support the outreaches, fundraisers, women’s bible study, men’s prayer, etc. On the other hand don’t just go for the fun, and never let the sound teaching and anointed preaching change your hearts. Invite others over to your house and have fun! Just because you may be embarrassed over a mistake or a setback, don’t think that you are the only one to ever have to face that humility. We all do, more than once. That’s why it is so important to be real and go to Church with people you can trust and who will correct you if needed, but love you anyway.
Want to be just like Jesus?
Practice, practice, practice!
I John 3:1-10 (NASB), “ See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him , because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.” (Emphasis mine)
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We all have one, a “sin scale”, where we weigh those bad things we do. Or worse yet, we use it to excuse our bad behavior or habits by saying to ourselves, “my white lie I told my boss is only a two, my co-worker’s adultery is a seven…at least my sin is not as bad as his.” A lot of us, who claim to be Christians, love to point out the sin of homosexuality, armed robbery, murder, child abuse, and so on, and if there really was a scale, we would all agree that those probably are off the chart. However, there is no such thing as a “sin scale.”
To God, sin is sin. There isn’t some worse than others, and even more importantly, sin really isn’t an action or lack of one, it’s a nature! Those horrible, or less-than-righteous things we do aren’t in themselves the sin, they are a symptom or a corresponding action to our sin nature. We are all born with one, due to the fall of mankind in the Garden of Eden. But, praise God, when we surrender our hearts to Him, he gives us His nature. His nature isn’t sin! We are then the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. We aren’t as good as God, but we are as right as Him. Not from anything we did, or can do, but because of what Jesus did. Because we aren’t as good as God, we aren’t perfect, we continue to mess up, and miss the mark.
Matthew 19:7 (KJB), “And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.”
Thankfully, since Jesus died for our sins, we just confess and turn back to God. Soon we sin less and less. Our sin doesn’t make us “sinners” because we don’t get our old nature back; we still maintain our rightness with God as long as we humble ourselves and repent.
So instead of trying to excuse, or weigh our bad behavior, instead we should be trying to please God. We need to have faith in Him, be confident that He is doing a work in us, that we are being changed from the inside out. God had told us that without faith it is impossible to please Him (Hebrews 11:6). We need to hear Him, believe in His great power, stand firm on His word.
Let’s take a look at what Jesus said to His disciples as He sent them out:
Matthew 10:11-15 (NIV) “And whatever city or village you enter, inquire who is worthy in it, and stay at his house until you leave that city. As you enter the house, give it your greeting. If the house is worthy, give it your blessing of peace. But if it is not worthy, take back your blessing of peace. Whoever does not receive you, nor heed your words, as you go out of that house or that city, shake the dust off your feet. Truly I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city.”
He said, “Whoever does not receive you, nor heed your words…it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment.” If you still have that sin scale on your mind, this should wipe it away. Not heeding, not hearing His “Good News” is worse than the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah…
Shall we continue?
Matthew 11:23-24 (NIV), “And you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you? You will descend to Hades; for if the miracles had occurred in Sodom which occurred in you, it would have remained to this day. Nevertheless I say to you that it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for you.”
Jesus came to point the way to the Father, He showed God’s love and mercy, forgiveness and kindness. Had those miracles been shown in Sodom, He says that it never would have been destroyed, inferring that they would have believed and repented!
Sin is sin. We can’t categorize it, weigh it, label it, or whitewash it. The only remedy for sin is surrender. Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God and He will lift you up (James 4:10). He doesn’t cover it, as the blood of sacrifices did under the old covenant, He takes it away, and then even better, He forgets about it!
How many times have I stood at the altar (figuratively or literally) and thought to myself, “at least I am not like so-and-so” or “at least I have never done that”? Sound familiar?
Luke 18:9-14 (ESV), “He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
How dare we stand like that Pharisee and think that somehow we are better because we placed our sin on the sin scale of our own making, and declared ourselves more righteous. As the body of Christ, we pray for souls, or should be, so we need to ask God to forgive us for expecting those souls to be rich, well dressed, un-broken, and good. Those very people we have looked down our noses at, those are the ones that our loving Father wants us to reach out to with His love. Separating ourselves from those who live in the world, can’t get us saved any more than hanging out with them will get us unsaved.
When they accused Jesus of wrongdoing when they found him eating and fellowshipping with sinners, His response was, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Mark 2:7)
We don’t do what they do, we don’t participate in their wrong behavior, but we show them a better way. Hate doesn’t lead to repentance, judgmental attitudes won’t, God’s goodness will.
I think I will close with this scripture:
Luke 6: 35-35 (NASB), “But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Do not judge, and you will not be judged; and do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; pardon, and you will be pardoned. Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure—pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return
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What is the book about? With the King Near Death, Will the Kingdom Fall?
When Sarin Valon, the corrupt and dangerous church leader, flees the city of Erinon and the kingdom, Errol Stone believes his troubles have at last ended. But he and his friends still have dangerous enemies working against them in secrets and whispers.
In a bid to keep them from the axe, Archbenefice Canon sends Martin and Luis to Errol’s home village, Callowford, to discover what makes him so important to the kingdom, and in that journey they discover amazing new secrets about the workings of Aurae.
Back in Erinon, Errol is unjustly accused of consorting with spirits. Convicted, his punishment is a journey to the enemy kingdom of Merakh, where he must find Sarin Valon and kill him. To enforce their sentence, the church leaders place Errol under a compulsion–he must complete his task, or die trying.
My Review:
| What a great sequel. Hero’s Lot is book two of the “Staff and the Sword” Christian Fantasy Trilogy. So far I am very much enjoying these books. Some of it mirrors our own Church history, but most of it is pure fantasy. The main character is so real, flaws and all. All of the characters are well rounded and make you feel like you know them personally. I have laughed and cried, gotten angry and sad, but always had a hard time putting them down. Worth the money to buy them, or find them at the local library. Book one is offered free, Kindle version on amazon, book two is 5.99 and three is 9.99. I downloaded the free one, couldn’t find book two at the library, so purchased it, now I am borrowing book three! Will be checking out more from this author, be forewarned this is not a light read! It will take some time and some emotional toll. I give it five stars! No swearing or sexual content, there is fighting and violence. I can recommend for teens and up. |
