THE TIME BENDER series is now sold as a Kindle box set of 4 books

A KINDLE DEAL

ALL FOUR TIME BENDER BOOKS FOR ONE LOW PRICE ON

AMAZON

A shy Earth girl, her brave friend, and a daring alien warrior tell their epic stories in this sci-fi fantasy. Only $6.95 for all four books.

How to Help Your Child Succeed in School - new release

HOW TO HELP YOUR CHILD SUCCEED IN SCHOOL

Written by veteran teachers with experience in several public schools teaching various subjects at all levels, this guide presents proven strategies and teacher tips to help your child succeed in school.

Your child is more likely to succeed with your support. You’ll find out how to handle concerns in the areas of homework, outside activities, teacher relationships, goals, testing, study habits, health, learning tricks, motivation, discipline, and more.

Learn the answers to questions like: How can parents make a difference in the education of their children? What are some of the tricks to learning? How can students and parents relate better to the teacher? How can parents help with homework? What can parents do to be more involved?

Filled with practical solutions, advice and tips to give your child an edge, this book gives parents insight from the teacher’s perspective.

Available in paperback and Kindle.

A Quick Look at Psalm 126

Psalms 120 through 134 are the 15 “songs of ascent” that were sung as the priests walked up the 15 steps to the temple, stopping on each step to sing the next psalm. Let's look at Psalm 126. Here is the passage:

1 When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dreamed.
2 Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was said among the nations, “The LORD has done great things for them.”
3 The LORD has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.
4 Restore our fortunes, LORD, like streams in the Negev.
5 Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy.
6 Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them.

Every time you see the word LORD in all capital letters it means that the original Hebrew text used the tetragrammaton, God's 4 letter name (you may know it as Yahweh or Jehovah, Jews will say Ha Shem or Adonai to avoid pronouncing it). God’s holy name is used 4 times in this short psalm. This is a wonderful song of praise alluding to the recognition of God’s work given even by the Gentiles/heathens. “The nations” in verse 2 refers to everyone other than the Israelites.

When the Israelites returned from 70 years of exile it must have seemed like a dream. Notice the laughter and the joy (4 times!) and the songs.

At Thanksgiving and Advent (Christmas) many churches include Psalm 126 in the pulpit readings because of its emphasis on rejoicing. The rejoicing comes as a result of the great things God has accomplished on behalf of His people.

I especially like the theme of going from weeping and tears to songs of joy. This is tremendously encouraging.

Crossing the Scriptures, The Amazing Bible Study

Discovering old truths in a new way

Christians sometimes wonder if there is any value to studying the Old Testament, with its genealogies, strange laws, violence, and vengeance. This Bible study shows how the entire Bible ties together in a beautiful tapestry of God's truth.

If you know someone who has become a doubter, lost their faith, or just plain can't accept that every single word of the Holy Scriptures is believable then this is the book you should get for them.

I recommend the paperback over the Kindle version.

How to Blend Families (A Step Parent's Dilemma)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07MP12FRL

Step families are quite common. 

Blending families after divorce and remarriage is a difficult process.

The secret to co-parenting is negotiating change

But change is hard.

This guide gives step by step advice from experienced educators and also provides several fill-in worksheets to help you resolve family relationships, deal with discipline, navigate the financials, and create a balanced family with happy parents and children.

Available only on Amazon in paperback and also for Kindle.

Fill Your Kindle with These Books

I began writing in high school. I would turn the music up really loud and let the words flow. Mostly it was poetry and short stories. I showed my work to my English teacher who, of course, encouraged me.

I also kept a diary which I would encourage everyone to do. It makes you think about what was important every day of your life and you get to really know yourself when you look back through the years. What was going on in my life on January 5th of eighth grade or May 5th of twelfth grade, who I was friends with, what I was stressing about, what my hopes were, etc., are more real because they are on paper and not faded or altered by my memory.

An Ideal Step-Father

I’d like to honor my husband, Paul, who became step-father to my daughters when they were 8 and 11. He had custody of his own children, too, who were then 6 and 10. The kids are grown up now with nine (going on ten) kids of their own.

As a step-father Paul was as fair with my kids as his own, and still is. He loved and treated them all the same. He was a great example to them of how a husband should treat his wife. Our daughters have chosen men who cherish them and our son shows great respect and care for his wife.

I'd like to focus on four personality traits that Paul exhibited to the max:

Walking on Water - The Whole Story

Photo by Milo Miloezger on Unsplash

The story of Jesus walking on water is told in Matthew 14, Mark 6 and John 6, but only in Matthew’s account do we learn of Peter’s feat, too. The disciples had just seen Jesus heal thousands of people and then feed them all (5000 men plus women and children) with just five loaves of bread and two fish. Afterwards Jesus sent the disciples off in their boat to sail to Capernaum while he went to pray. The crowds of people were so impressed with him and his miracles that they wanted to make him king right then and there but Jesus sent them off, too.

1 Free Book and 5 "99 cent" Deals Today

These 5 books are only 99 cents on Kindle for the next couple of days.

A Psalm for Thanksgiving Day

Psalm 113 is the first of six psalms (113-118) called “the Egyptian Hallel” (Hallel means praise).The Jews sang the first two psalms before the Passover meal and the other four afterwards. I’m going to go out on that limb and say that Jesus and his disciples probably sang these psalms in the upper room on the night of the Last Supper.

Here it is:

¹ Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, you his servants; praise the name of the Lord.² Let the name of the Lord be praised, both now and forevermore.³ From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the Lord is to be praised.⁴ The Lord is exalted over all the nations, his glory above the heavens.⁵ Who is like the Lord our God, the One who sits enthroned on high,

Light Shines from the Sun ... and the Son

In the last post I looked at how the New Testament book of John begins with the pre-existence of Jesus. Here’s chapter 1, verses 1 – 5 again:

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

“The light shines in the darkness.”

Did Jesus Exist Before He was Born?

The book of John can be divided into several major parts. It begins with the pre-existence of Jesus. Let’s look at chapter 1, verses 1 – 5:

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

“In the beginning” is an allusion to Genesis 1:1. Now the interesting thing here is that 1st century Christians with a Jewish background would get this right away but

Do You Swear?

Photo by Gabriel Matula on Unsplash

My mother never swore. Almost never. I heard her say “damn” once, but that was it. I remember one time when I was in the back seat of the car and she was driving. A nice conversation was underway between me and someone else in the car (I no longer remember who) when in response to something incredible that the other person said (probably my sister) I expressed amazement by saying "gees" instead of my usual "gee!"

Faster than a whip came my mother’s hand across my mouth. “You don’t talk like that!” she simply said, not yelling.

What did I do? What did I say? She went on to explain that “gees” was just too close to Jesus’ name. I was maybe nine or ten and I understood the Ten Commandments, especially the one about not taking the Lord’s name in vain.

Pretty rough, you’re thinking, to strike a child for that, but