Michelle Ule's Blog, page 37
January 29, 2019
Landing a Pre-fab House
I watched a pre-fab house landing last week.What’s a pre-fab house?
It’s a pre-fabricated house–one constructed in a factory and transported to the lot.
The whole process has been fascinating to follow.
Why a pre-fab house?
I live in Sonoma County where fires destroyed more than 5000 homes in October 2017.
Many of our friends lost homes, including 29 families connected to our church.
One friend, in particular, has sought counsel over the months as he made decisions about his homestead.
We’ve been privy to those conversations and listened.
When you live in a fire-ravaged community and so many have lost homes, your most important job is to listen.
We only offer advice or observations if asked.
New houses flourish but scars remain
We can only guess at what our friends are grieving and enduring.
It’s been so hard to watch and love them through this process.
Our friend, let’s call him Hal, chose a pre-fab house for a variety of very sensible reasons.
Cost, speed, quality, and stewardship were at the heart of his reasons.
We’re proud of him.
How does it work?
Hal spent time at the SmartHomes LLC factory in Woodland, which is about 90 miles from Sonoma County.
Under expert guidance, he chose what made sense for him and his situation.
A widower with two small dogs and grown children, he no longer needed, nor wanted, a two-story home with a large yard.
His lot in the Coffey Park area of Santa Rosa turned out to be large enough to accommodate a one-story home and a “granny unit.”
The company he worked with took measurements, made suggestions, listened to his desires and provided an idea.
Hal liked it.
His trusted counselors liked it, too.
Eight months ago, he selected colors, tile, carpeting, windows, and so forth.
“I had no idea what it would look like and have been pleasantly surprised now that it’s here.”
It’s a new area for him and as he likes to say,
“I know what I don’t know, so I ask friends who do know, to let me know.”
They’ve been discussing the landscape, recently.
How’s it going?
After a two month delay owing to rain (his foundation flooded so many times, he referred to it as the swimming pool. It’s now got a sump pump!), the crane and house pieces made their way to Sonoma County in mid-January.
The large crane broke down seven miles from Santa Rosa the day before the landing was slated to begin.
The company found a bigger crane and it was ready to go only one day late.
“Everyone dealt with the delays very gracefully,” and kept Hal well-informed through it all.
Moved by flatbed from 90 miles away
It only took four hours to land the granny unit and the three pieces that make up the large house!
Hal toured me through the granny unit and I watched the landing of one section.
My husband and I returned the other day and walked through the house.
It looks perfect for him, and we’re so thankful the house is in place and he’ll be able to move in soon.
Now that Hal has seen the entire house and granny unit, he’s excited.
“It’s got really cool features. The tile shower stripe is wonderful! The laundry room has a big tub and is large enough, I could make it an office!”
But how does a pre-fab house compare to a regular “stick-built” house?
We had friends in Connecticut long ago who bought a two-story pre-fab house built onto a hill.
The first time I visited it, I didn’t realize it was pre-fab.
When my friend told me, I roamed the house marveling that the wallpaper had been installed at a factory long before she saw it on a wall.
The bathroom looked perfectly normal.
I couldn’t see seams in the walls.
The price worked for that young Navy family all those years ago.
As far as I know, the house still stands in Mystic, Connecticut.
Unless you were told, you’d never know it hadn’t been constructed from the ground up.
Pictures!
Look at that 360-ton crane! (Overkill, but the one available at the time)
A 360-ton crane had no trouble lifting a house!
Lifting 1/3 of the house very carefully into place!
Granny unit on left; the center of the house on right.
Side view before placement of the third and final section.
Looking into the great room toward the kitchen prior to placing the third section.
That’s the carpet rolled up in the foreground. Note metal beams placed on top of the cement foundation.
The workers carefully adjust sections at the end for a tighter fit. Wedges and experience make the difference! (Notice the “stick builder” construction workers on top of the house to the left!)
Look how close together they maneuvered the section to match the seams!
Four days after landing
Once they landed the house, construction workers began finishing it.
Because Hal chose a peaked roof, it needed to be completed by roofers. Flatter-roofed houses don’t need this extra step.
In addition, garages are not pre-fabricated, so construction workers arrived to finish the roof and stick-build the garage.
They’ll pour the cement garage floor and driveway at a later date.
The front of the house four days after landing. Note half-finished peaked roof and garage going up to the left.
Trenches to hook up sewer system and water lines.
Once builders complete the house’s outer shell, they’ll run water and electrical systems through trenches.
They’ll also begin on the interior details Hal already selected–touching up the paint and laying carpet.
Many interior pieces are already in place.
Note the details:
The door stop awaits carpeting.
The blinds and kitchen sink look ready to work!
The neighborhood
Hal’s neighborhood will never be the same as it was in September 2017.
While he’s got a view at the moment, construction workers already marked out his back fence neighbor’s house.
They’ll lay the foundation there soon.
He’ll be able to watch the rest of the neighborhood rise from his own porch.
It can’t happen soon enough for Sonoma County.
Tweetables
A crane, workers and a pre-fab house rise in Sonoma County. Click to Tweet
How they landed a pre-fab house. Click to Tweet
What’s a pre-fab house? Click to Tweet
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January 22, 2019
Nakada and Chambers: a Research Surprise!
I love research serendipities. I’ve written about them here, here, here, and here
.
In this case, a footnote on the bottom of the Wikipedia listing (yes, I often start there) caught my eye.
I read the endnotes when I’m researching.
This particular book’s attraction, frankly, was I could read it online.
So off I went.
Gilbert Little Stark, Nakada, and Chambers
Gilbert Little Stark graduated from Harvard in 1907.
He and four friends set out after their graduation to travel around the world.
He wrote a diary and letters back to his family and they published everything into a book in 1908.
While traveling across the United States that summer of 1907 he met a Mr. C on the train between Chicago and St. Paul.
Mr. C?
An interesting man? (Wheaton College Special Collections)
I sat up straighter.
I’d opened this book because of the Wikipedia link to Nakada.
But, I knew from David McCasland’s Oswald Chambers: Abandoned to God, that Chambers traveled with Nakada to Japan in 1907.
This was the first “non-Christian” reference I’d seen to Chambers.
Assuming, of course, it was Oswald Chambers.
Interesting fellow passengers
Stark wrote his account long before Juji Nakada and Oswald Chambers made their marks on the world.
(Here’s a blog post I wrote that includes that trip, In America with Biddy and Oswald).
These are his descriptions:
“Some of our fellow passengers are very interesting.
At the head of the list is Juji Nakada San, a Japanese Christian missionary now returning from his second trip around the world.
He is one of the brightest, jolliest, cleverest, most cultured men that I have ever known. A master of jiu-jitsu, some of his early conversions were accomplished by sitting on the neophyte’s head and talking to him of the glories to come.
He has told us invaluable things about the religions and prejudices of the people, and knowing him has revolutionized our ideas of his people, of the possibility of introducing Christianity into the Orient, and the present attitude of the United States towards Japan.”
Nakada eventually became known as the “Dwight L. Moody of Japan,” and a founder of the Oriental Missionary Society (now known as One Mission Society).
Stark’s description of Nakada is accurate.
Mr. C—
“Next in interest is Mr. C—, the man whom I met between Chicago and St. Paul.
He is Scotch, and piece by piece we have learned a little of his history. His brother is a famous musician and Mr. Oswald C— for such is his unfortunate cognomen, is a musician of no mean education.
Then it also appears that he has painted pictures which have attracted wide attention. In addition to his achievements on canvas, we are assured by Nakada, with whom C— is traveling, that he is a very good architect.
Add to these accomplishments the facts that he has taught philosophy and psychology for twelve years, is an ordained minister, and intends to spend twelve years in traveling around the world, and you will appreciate the conviction with which I repeat that he is an interesting man.”
So, Stark doesn’t have all the facts correct about Oswald Chambers, but it’s interesting what captures his attention.
Oswald was both a fine musician and a painter. His brother Franklin played the organ in concerts at St. Martin in the Field’s church in London.
Nakada Family (Photo from Missionary Warrior by Lettie Cowman)
Who knew Oswald was an architect?
While I knew he loved to travel, I didn’t know he planned to spend a dozen years traveling the world. Was that what Oswald said?
Or, does this quote sound, perhaps, of Nakada’s description of Oswald? The two had been traveling together, at that point, for six months.
Regardless, it’s an interesting set of observations from someone who didn’t know either man before.
In Japan
The ship’s passengers and crew first caught sight of Japan on July 26, 1907, at 6:30 in the morning. They landed at Yokohama later that day.
Stark parted ways with Nakada and Chambers and with his friends headed into central Tokyo for a hotel overlooking the Imperial City.
Stark may have been a Christian since he attended services at the “town mission”–a probable reference to the Oriental Missionary Society headquarters not far from the Imperial City.
They even visited a Japanese Sunday School.
“I wish you could have seen the children at Sunday school. They sang “bringing in the Sheaves,” in the purest Japanese, and carried the tune much better than our children do.”
The next day he and his friends took an “electric car,” to Nakada’s house–where Chambers was staying as well.
“We rode for about an hour and then alighted at the prettiest little doll village of a suburb you can imagine.”
Nakada gave them a tour around his home and the neighborhood.
“It means a good deal to us strangers to have such dear friends as Nakada and Chambers have grown to be, and it is a great concession for them to give up so much time.”
Chambers probably enjoyed the visit of Stark and his friends since Nakada took the time to explain the nearby temple of Kwannon in Asakusa Park.
Research serendipity
I love discovering additional research details while investigating something else!
I’ll be writing more about Nakada in future, but I enjoyed seeing his good friend Oswald Chambers “in the wild,” of a stranger’s diary entry.
I continued reading the diary in hopes of catching another glimpse of Oswald, but he moved along soon thereafter.
Photo from The Letters of Gilbert Little Stark
Oswald stayed in Japan for a few weeks before catching another ship back to England with his new friends Charles and Lettie Cowman of the Oriental Missionary Society.
When Oswald finally returned to England a year after he left, he pulled a shilling from his pocket and showed it to his brother Franklin.
“I went all the way around the world on the same coin.”
He did not spend the next eleven years traveling the world, though Oswald Chambers did take a few more voyages before his death in 1917.
As to Stark, he sailed on a few weeks after arriving in Tokyo. He visited China and Sikkim, among other eastern nations.
Gilbert Little Stark never returned home. He died of fever in Mangalore, India on March 26, 1908.
Tweetables
Oswald Chambers “in the wild,” a description before anyone knew him. Click to Tweet
Meeting an unknown Oswald Chambers on a boat to Japan. Click to Tweet
Juji Nakada and Oswald Chambers: a research surprise! Click to Tweet
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January 15, 2019
Easily Available Bible Study Tools
I’ve taught Bible study in a variety of settings and churches since I graduated from college in the Dark Ages.
My English Literature degree actually helped me at first.
I’d been taught how to examine the text, take it apart, and recognize patterns.
(As a writer, I’ve laughed at how the same names cropping up in the Gospels, for example, prove the Bible isn’t fiction.
(No good fiction writer would use the same names in the same stories–it would cause too much confusion)
Ass my years of teaching have continued, the amount of information available to help the Bible has exploded.
Understanding what the Bible says has never been easier and tools making the experience richer and more exciting are everywhere!
Here are five of my favorite Bible study tools.
1. Bottom of the Bible notes
My friend Gary always refers to the notes at the bottom of the Bible pages as “BOB.”
I love the BOBs found at the bottom of my Life Application Bible (New King James Version).
Since I teach a Missouri Synod Lutheran Church women’s study, I also use the Lutheran Study Bible (English Standard Version).
The notes ask me to consider things I’d not realized.
They point me to other resources or parallel Scriptures.
I never teach without consulting BOB.
2. The Bible Project
This is a new series for me, but it’s so powerful, I use the videos to launch every book Bible study I teach.
Free on Youtube, the Bible Project provides a video overview of each book of the Bible.
The videos are clever and don’t last more than seven or eight minutes long.
They’re designed to give a general explanation, though the site provides many more tools.
I start with the Bible project, then move into my own Bible study workbook.
Here’s a video I recently showed at the start of our Nehemiah study. (Free videos are all available on Youtube)
3. David Guzik’s Bible Commentary
David Guzik’s free Bible study tools are available on his website, Enduring Word.
This is the type of study I love–basically, an enhanced version of the notes at the bottom of the Bible.
What I love about his commentary is how he puts everything into historical context.
Not just Biblical context, but actual political history–which is incredibly helpful.
I have learned so much about the history of the world as a result of these commentaries that it makes me a far better teacher.
Guzik is the teaching pastor at Calvary Chapel of Santa Barbara.
4. Bible Gateway and Blue Letter Bible
Who can read the Bible without perusing the BOB notes?
Both of these websites provide a boatload of free Bible study tools.
If you type a Bible verse in Google, they vie for your attention.
I use Bible Gateway for word studies.
It provides tools for word tracing in all sorts of versions.
The Blue Letter Bible website also has a variety of versions but I use it primarily to examine commentaries.
I found David Guzik, for example, while exploring commentaries in preparation for teaching a Bible study.
The two are very similar in outlook and what they provide.
It’s just a matter of which interface you prefer for what you seek.
5. Logos Bible Software
The big daddy of Internet Bible study tools, Bible Logos is not free.
I used it a great deal when I wrote my book Mrs. Oswald Chambers: The Woman Behind the World’s Bestselling Devotional.
Bible Logos is a mammoth site with many, many books available for its users.
Pastors or anyone doing a lot of teaching–particularly if you don’t have the budget or room for books–should take a look at it.
For my part, I made great use of the Oswald Chambers concordance available on the site. I could easily do a fast word search of all his books.
That enabled me to write an in-depth analysis of how Biddy compiled My Utmost for His Highest.
I haven’t used it beyond that (I got a free membership linked to the Chambers book I purchased six years ago. It’s not available now).
The site, however, is full of references I’d be using if I were a pastor or teaching leader.
My friend Chase Replogle of the PastorWriter podcast (another terrific free resource) interviewed Scott Lindsay about Logos Bible software last year.
(Here’s the interview he did with me on the same show).
What other tools are out there?
I use these Bible study tools regularly, but I’m always interested in learning about others.
As a teacher, I want to provide my students with the best information and keenest insight I can glean about the Scriptures.
Of course, there’s one free Bible study tool I didn’t mention–and it’s the best one of all.
Or two.
Prayer and the Holy Spirit.
What can you suggest I examine?
Tweetables
Terrific Bible Study tools easily available for all. Click to Tweet
5 excellent Bible Study tools, mostly available on the Internet. Click to Tweet
BOB (Bottom of the Bible) and other Bible study tools worth using. Click to Tweet
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January 8, 2019
Research Capabilities in a Golden Era
A writer’s research capabilities are in a golden era right now.Everywhere I turn, I see more opportunities to explore rich veins of information.
It doesn’t have to be historical. Insights and unusual stories abound which can become part of a novel or inspire a work of nonfiction.
I hadn’t really thought much about where my information specifically came from until a comment yesterday at church made me laugh in surprise.
So, where do you get your information?
A friend reading A Poppy in Remembrance stopped to tell me how much she was enjoying the book.
“I’m so impressed by how much you know! How do you know all that information about WWI?”
No one had ever asked me that question before.
I’ve always assumed good research is the hallmark of a well-written book.
Isn’t making use of all the research capabilities out there part of my job?
I shrugged and laughed, “Six years of reading, research, and writing.”
Is “how do you know?” such an unusual question?
That night, I cozied into my reading chair to spend time with Daniel Mason’s fantastic WWI novel The Winter Soldier.
The writing is splendid, the storyline unusual. In all those six years of research, I only read a handful of books told from the Austro-Hungarian/Germany side of World War I.
Eighty-seven pages in, I started reading sections aloud to my husband, marveling and laughing.
Our hero doctor was stationed in the Carpathian Mountains southeast of Krakow, and his orderlies told him an amazing story which began like this:
“So, the first thing to understand, Doctor, is that from a philatelic perspective, Russia really should not be considered one country, but many: it’s simply too large. Thus, immediately after the introduction of the first national adhesives, the Rural Councils, or Zemstvos, started to organize their own local posts. I had become aware of such Zemstvo stamps early in my collecting years, and had managed to obtain a precious copy of Chudovsky’s 1888 Description of the Russian Zemstvo Stamps, Envelopes and Parcels, which gives some order to the three thousand Zemstvo stamps issued until then.”
Just like my friend Mary, I shook my head, “How would the author have learned about things like this? Who gave a thought to stamp collecting during WWI?”
It certainly never occurred to me!
With all the research capabilities out there, writers have plenty of new ideas to use
Research can be done so easily on the Internet–and the veracity can be verified at the same place–writers are living a dream.
Assuming you knew what a Zemstvo was, what did it look like?
(Mason described them well in the story)
Wikipedia Commons had several examples. That’s one on the right.
It took me 15 seconds to pull up that photo.
Blissfully easy.
Where do writers research?
I can’t speak for Mason, who is a physician, but I use all sorts of resources to learn information.
Some of it is basic–what do I know from my life experience?
After that, research capabilities include
Travel–My Traveler’s Tales (Click here for a list of stories by location) have taken me all over the planet and enlarged my thinking and ideas immensely!
The Internet
Magazines (with many archives available online)
Newspapers (You can research newspapers all over the United States at Newspapers.com)
Fold 3 (military archives)
Ancestry.com–read my posts on using this site for research here, here, here, here, and here.
Pinterest–read my posts here and here for how I use Pinterest.
That’s just a few.
There’s also, too, research serendipity–which is more exciting than anything. You can read a few of my stories here and here.
A writer’s imagination can take him or her anywhere–and that will require a great deal of research!
So where do writers use their research capabilities?
Anywhere and everywhere–listening, reading, watching, tasting, and feeling are all part of the craft.
Perhaps we should just marvel at the things writers pull out of anywhere and enjoy!
I’ve written a free Ebook about all the research serendipities that happened to me while writing Mrs. Oswald Chambers and A Poppy in Remembrance.
Consider signing up for my newsletter–where you can get a free copy of my Ebook Writing about Biddy and Oswald Chambers.
You can sign up here
Next newsletter comes out on the 15th of the month.
Tweetables
Today: a golden age for writers and their research. Click to Tweet
Research capabilities and where to find them. Click to Tweet
Opportunities for writers to research are everywhere! Click to Tweet
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January 1, 2019
Daily Devotions for a New Year
Many of my friends are praying and thinking about which daily devotional they’ll use each day.
There are many to choose from.
What are daily devotions? Check out these blog posts for insight:
Here are some thoughts about daily devotions for a new year.
Make a plan.
You know the adage, “if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.”
So choose a system that helps you spend time alone with God each day.
90+ years of daily devotional books provide good options!
We’re not legalists here, so choose something that works in your life.
Daily devotions for me, like exercise, need to take place first thing in the morning.
My brain gets too distracted by other events if I don’t “do it” early.
Some people have free time to think, however, at night.
Having daily devotions before they fall asleep helps them relax–into God’s arms.
Hmm, maybe this insomniac should try that . . .
Start with the Bible
Obviously, the best book for daily devotions is the Bible.
I’ve used the Bible for my personal devotions since I became a Christian as a teenager.
I like to read one Psalm (to get me started with praise).
Next up is a chapter in one of the Gospels (so I remember Jesus daily).
I finish with a chapter from wherever I happen to be in the Bible at the time.–I continually reread it.
As soon as I finish reading Revelation 22, I turn to Genesis one and start all over again!
Consider adding a daily devotional book
Many use an additional daily devotions book to help them with spiritual growth.
Biddy and Oswald Chambers used The Daily Light for most of their life–which is Bible verses arranged in a devotional format.
Devotional books have served Christians well for hundreds of years. See this blog post.
This January I’ll be using an unusual devotional, Rachel Dodge’s Praying with Jane: 31 Days through the Prayers of Jane Austen.
I’m also going to open up L. B. Cowman’s Streams in the Desert for the first time.
In addition to Rachel Dodge, several other friends offer a new devotional starting today.
Jennifer Lyn King is providing her Enjoy Today: Inspirations for Every Day sent to your email address every day.
Recent devotionals are good, too!
You also might consider Portals of Prayer–which we receive in the mail quarterly.
Or, perhaps like me, you just reread My Utmost for His Highest every year!
How to be consistent with daily devotions?
For many of us, consistency is the issue.
Set a goal that you can make with one more idea to stretch you.
Perhaps start with a planned five minutes each day?
When you open your email, you could read one of Jennifer King’s short devotionals?
My husband starts his workday with that day’s My Utmost for His HIghest.
Or, maybe you can read one Bible chapter right when you get up in the morning, or before you go to bed each night and call it done?
Perhaps when you sit to nurse the baby, you could read a chapter aloud?
Figure out what works for you and just do it.
Don’t worry about including in children either–it wouldn’t hurt them to hear you read a Bible passage aloud!
Accountability?
Having to be accountable to someone could help.
A friend invited me to read Streams in the Desert this year with her.
Knowing she’s reading the same passage encourages me.
I’ve been posting an Utmost Response to each day’s My Utmost for His Highest on my Michelle Ule, Writer Facebook page.
Knowing people expect to read what I think about the passage each morning gets me up and reading it promptly!
It also requires me to think about the passage–which means I gain more from it.
What’s the point of daily devotions?
Hearing God’s direction.
Knowing Jesus better.
Recognizing the Holy Spirit.
Peace.
Joy.
Long-suffering–and all the other fruits of the spirit!
Oh–and never forget–grace.
If you miss a day, you’re still loved by God.
What do your daily devotions look like?
Tweetables
What’s the point of daily devotions and how do you do them? Click to Tweet
Devotionals that have stood the test of time await all in 2019. Click to Tweet
The secret to having daily devotions. Click to Tweet
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December 28, 2018
2018 Blog Year in Review
It’s time for the 2018 Blog year review!I’m looking at stats today and they’re interesting.
No surprise, the top ten blog posts are all from past years.
Here are the top ten, in case you’ve missed one:
(The number in parentheses is where they are in the all-time order)
Whatever Happened to Kathleen Chambers? (7)
Bagpipes in the WWI Trenches (1)
Was it Really Well with the Spafford’s Soul? (6)
Who was Biddy (Mrs. Oswald) Chambers? Part 1 (3)
Why Did God Let Oswald Chambers Die So Young? (2)
How to Understand My Utmost for His Highest
Kathleen Chambers: Little Girl in a WWI Camp (5)
2018 Blog Review–70% surprise-free
What deductions can I make from this list?
I’ve been writing about Oswald, Biddy and Kathleen Chambers for nearly six years.
The same is true of World War I.
It’s hard to stand out in a crowd (Photo by Uzenk Doezenk on Unsplash)
Seven of the top ten are about those subjects.
Even still, I’ve been puzzled by the extraordinary interest in that Bagpipes post–written five years ago.
Why does it continue to garner such interest?
It turns out gamers like bagpipes and someone posted a link on Reddit!
What about those other three blog posts?
I’m not sure what has led so many people to read about the Spaffords.
I wrote that post in January 2014 while doing Chambers research.
The Spaffords ended up in Jerusalem, and I had considered writing about their Jerusalem Colony.
It was an interesting historic place and it slipped into A Poppy in Remembrance.
Horatio Spafford’s story of writing “It is Well with My Soul,” always garners interest–for good reason.
The rest of the story for Christians, however, may be problematic–which is why I wrote the piece.
Surprising 2018 blog year posts
I did not write many posts about the writing craft in 2018.
So, the “Writing a Novel out of Order” post’s appearance in the top ten surprised me.
I have no idea why “An Angel and the Apostle Paul” showed up. Perhaps people wondered about Paul in 2018?
(If, however, you google “Apostle Paul and Angel” my June 2016 post comes up in the number 1 slot.
(That’s also true of Bagpipes, Spaffords and I’m number 2 on writing a post out of order).
What about 2018 blog posts?
For posts that first appeared in 2018, three appeared in the top 100 most read posts of the last year.
The most read post written in 2018: A Book Cover for Poppy!
Themes from My Utmost for His Highest in A Poppy in Remembrance
The Hanson post was the first in a monthly series I wrote about Oswald Chambers’ students’ lives after he died.
What’s the point of all this?
It’s interesting to see what people seek when they visit the website. (60% come after a google search).
It shows me what people are interested in reading about and what I should continue writing about.
My “sweet spot” is history and putting events into context–whether Chambers, WWI or even Bible-related. Some people find my blog posts about writing important.
You’d do me a favor if, in the comments, you tell me what brought you to my website.
Anything different for 2019?
I’ll be spending January 2019 thinking and praying about what I’ll be working on next.
There are four possibilities. Feel free to weigh in!
Another biography.
A sequel to A Poppy in Remembrance.
Publishing a spiritual memoir.
Surprise! (Even to me).
Certainly, I’ll continue writing about my experiences as a Bible study teacher, curious person, and traveler.
I just need to keep putting events–whether past, present or even to come–into context.
Here’s to another great year! Thank you for reading.
Tweetables
2018 top ten read blog posts–were written in a different year! Click to Tweet
Top 10 posts: WWI, Oswald Chambers, history and writing. Click to Tweet
The post 2018 Blog Year in Review appeared first on Michelle Ule, Author.
December 25, 2018
What Do I Know to Be True?
I’d flung myself into the comfortable chair in our bedroom, in tears.
It had been another frustrating day.
My talented husband still did not have a job.
The health crisis I’d always feared loomed.
Nothing seemed to be going as I wished.
Didn’t God listen to my begged prayers?
The question: was our faith true or not?
Sometimes when we’re so muddled by our circumstances, it can be easy to get lost.
Our life had been in upheaval a long time.
Expectations, plans, circumstances shook us–how could we have found ourselves like this?
Didn’t God promise to be with us?
Hadn’t we followed where He led us?
Were we doing something wrong?
Was our faith, or lack thereof, the issue?
Back to the basics.
I needed to figure out what to do, but in the whirl of emotion, it was difficult to think.
Photo by Josh Applegate on Unsplash
The family had seen enough chaos, what could I do?
I decided to clear my mind and think about the very basic question.
“What did I know to be true?”
I sat in the chair, enfolded in it’s comfort and thought.
I always feel like a little girl safe on a daddy’s lap in that chair.
What was true?
Where was the answer?
A tiny memory, a slip of voice from the past whispered the answer.
“Jesus loves me. This I know.
For the Bible tells me so.”
The question was simple: “Do you believe that?”
If I believe it, is it true?
I thought about that very basic question.
Yes. I knew Jesus loved me.
1 John in the Bible tells me God is love.
Too many times in my life, I experienced God at work to deny His love.
Jesus, of course, died to take away my sin–that was true.
Concepts from the Bible whispered.
He would never leave me nor forsake me.
I knew that was true.
Remembering what I knew.
By starting with a basic truth, I began to rebuild.
Calmer now, I remembered all the times God had met our needs.
I remembered the day a whispered ribbon of thought slipped in one ear, across my forehead and out the other ear.
Photo by rawpixel on Unsplash
Just a tiny moment, but it reminded me, “It will be alright.”
That happened a few months before.
Friends prayed, people continued to pray. So far, we were making it.
Eventually, of course, I reached the true question: did I trust God?
Dancing around the core.
Jesus loves me. This I know.
My life had shown me so.
Did I want to deny the core of my life because of a momentary setback?
No.
In everything give thanks.
1 Thessalonians 15:18 came to mind:
“In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
That day I began listing the things I’m thankful for.
Starting with that basic truth, that Jesus loves me.
But the time I began to laugh and felt peace, I could face my family again.
Remembering what I knew to be true, was the key.
Merry Christmas
Tweetables
What do you know to be true? How does it help in crisis? Click to Tweet
Choosing to remember truth and thankfulness to solve an emotional crisis. Click to Tweet
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December 21, 2018
Creativity Flashes and What to Do With Them!
I’m having creativity flashes these days and the timing is not the best.What to do?
Here are five things to do when Creativity Flashes strike at an inopportune time.
1. Write them down
In my case, it’s the idea for a novel I hadn’t anticipated writing.
I’m still not sure I’m going to do so (even though my husband and others are urging me on).
But when a scene appears in my mind while I’m brushing my teeth–I need to pay attention.
When words flash past while I’m tieing my shoes–they bear considering.
So yesterday, in the middle of the post-Thanksgiving upheaval, I turned on Word and typed quickly.
I see that in my 198 words, I’ve already separated the novel into two parts with two locations.
I’m also considering ending it with a third–but, oh my, should that be another book?
When the next idea springs, I know which section to put it in–which makes a difference in respect to the era, timing and heroine’s reaction.
2. Scribble the scene that creativity flashes at you
I’ve got the chapter one idea–how did that happen?
Not the full chapter, but the opening scene
Writing that down helped me see where the novel is headed.
(You need to have a hint of the ending on the first page anyway).
It’s only ten (short) paragraphs long, but I know exactly where my characters are and why they’re there.
3. Leave it alone and wait–but probably not very long
When creativity flashes, it’s usually not traveling by itself.
Once I got the above written down and returned to unload the dishwasher, questions arose.
In this case, girls in the basement! (Photo by NeONBRAND on Unsplash)
I ran upstairs to the computer and wrote them in the right document.
I saved the document and went back to the kitchen.
And ran right back upstairs to reopen the document and write more.
So, let the guys/girls in the basement work, but leave the document open.
You never know what will happen next.
4.Create a list of research ideas to follow up
Since this is an idea for historical fiction, I scribbled down incidents that could be covered in chapters of the novel.
There are twenty-eight of them on the first hurried list of ideas.
That’s enough chapter ideas for half a book.
It doesn’t mean I have answers for the questions, what they could mean in the novel or how they would affect the protagonist.
But it’s an excellent start.
5. Write up questions
So, I have a first chapter scene, a list of possible chapter ideas but what’s the book about?
That’s the first question on yet another document.
What are the fundamental truths I’m exploring?
How will my characters change?
I already know what I want them to become by the final chapter–but what about the 50 or so in between?
Writing down those questions–which are part of creativity’s flashes–will help when I finally have time to sit down and think.
The decision of whether to write the novel or not
Just because these ideas are calling to me, doesn’t mean I need to drop everything and write this novel.
(Well, hey, family members will say. What about Christmas?)
I need to think and pray about the idea.
A discussion with the significant people in my life will help (husband, agent, friends).
(Well, husband and some friends already are cheering on the idea . . . )
How does this novel idea work into my plans for the coming year?
But I’ve been telling everyone I’m waiting until January to figure out what I’ll write next.
Is it possible these creativity flashes–which have come so unexpectedly–are really a hint from God?
I’ll have to go back to a review of the will of God.
In the meantime, I’m writing down everything!
What do you think I should do?
Tweetables
What to do when creativity flashes in awkward moments? Click to Tweet
Creativity flashes at the most inopportune times! Click to Tweet
5 steps for dealing with creativity flashes. Click to Tweet
Of course, there’s the other question. What could this novel be related to?
The post Creativity Flashes and What to Do With Them! appeared first on Michelle Ule, Author.
December 18, 2018
BTC Missionaries and Oswald Chambers
They also captured my interest while I wrote Mrs. Oswald Chambers.
A sign marks the BTC
They’re at the heart of My Utmost for His Highest–because anyone who follows Jesus Christ is by definition a proclaimer of the Gospel.
Many of the readings in My Utmost for His Highest were taken from lectures Oswald gave at the Bible Training College (BTC)–which Oswald and Biddy set up to train missionaries.
Did the college work?
That’s what I explored in 2018.
Thoughts on Chambers-trained missionaries
Oswald Chambers taught thousands of people during his public ministry.
During his last four years in London, through both the BTC and correspondence courses, he taught more than 3000 students.
But 120 students got his particular attention when over the four years of the BTC’s existence they lived in the house with Oswald, Biddy and their daughter Kathleen.
I called them the “BTC Regulars” in my blog posts and traced their lives to China, India, Persia, France, darkest Africa, and simple church work around the globe. They were the professional missionaries–but not the only ones who shared the Gospel after their Chambers experience.
Many took enormous risks and had great adventures: captured by bandits, disappearing into African jungles and surviving the Judean desert on the way to Jerusalem during WWI.
They worked for the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA), helped prostitutes escape sex trafficking, oversaw Sunday schools and ran the parish jumble sales in small English villages.
Everywhere they went, however, they took the Gospel–no matter the dangers.
I often shook my head–where does the courage come to face such challenges?
Meeting the families of missionaries
One of the most heart-warming experiences for me was “meeting” the families of the BTC missionaries.
I never physically met anyone but they kindly shared emails, stories, and photos.
Most, if not all, had no idea their grandparents, cousins, aunts or uncles had any connection to Oswald Chambers, much less Biddy or My Utmost for His Highest.
Chambers’ teaching notes in his Bible
Finding the church where the Hancocks ministered in the 1940s netted a story someone wrote for their church magazine 60 years ago! The church secretary actually found members who remembered Reverend Philip Hancock!
But what happened to their family members often was a direct result of those times at the BTC.
Kathleen Chambers never married and while she continued her mother’s work with the Oswald Chambers Publication Association, Ltd, she had no children. Oswald and Biddy’s “line” ended at Kathleen’s death in 1997.
(Fortunately, Kathleen sat for extensive interviews with Chambers biographer David McCasland in 1990.
(I used the transcripts from those interviews–which McCasland used while writing Oswald Chambers: Abandoned to God–for the Mrs. Oswald Chambers biography).
Why are missionaries important?
These BTC missionaries and everyone who reads My Utmost for His Highest and comes away with a great sense of God at work, are the Chambers’ legacy.
They began the BTC to train missionaries for a spiritually lost world.
As the December 17 reading from My Utmost for His HIghest explains:
“The creative power of the redemption of God works in the souls of men only through the preaching of the gospel. It is never the sharing of personal experiences that saves people, but the truth of redemption.
“The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63).”
For this writer?
I spent plenty of time on “research rabbit trails,” chasing down what became of Chambers’ students.
The stories captured my attention. The BTC missionaries’ lives left me awed by their dedication.
Found the BTC in 2013!
Truly, they accomplished what Oswald and Biddy gave their lives to provide: insight, understanding and a way of sharing the good news of Jesus Christ.
Well done, good and faithful students. Many lives, including mine, have been blessed by your work!
Here’s a list of the blog posts I’ve written about Bible Training College and the BTC missionaries.
Oswald Chambers and the Bible College Part I
Oswald Chambers and BTC Bible School Part II
Bible School Students and Oswald Chambers Part III
Jimmy Hanson: BTC Regular Jimmy ended up running a mission in London’s East End. He served with the OCPA Ltd. His family still serves in ministry today.
Miss Ashle: BTC Regular Miss Ashe never married and became a social justice warrior in Cairo.
Gladys Ingram Donnithorne: BTC Regular Gladys spent the rest of her life in China with her missionary husband.
Hancock: Phillip and Kathleen: BTC Regulars Phil and Kathleen went to seminary in San Francisco, served in Persia and ended up ministering in British churches.
Eva Spink Pulford: BTC Regular Eva married a soldier she met at Zeitoun, followed him to seminary in London and served in Anglican parishes the rest of her life. Her son and grandson both became Anglican priests.
Charles Rae Griffin: BTC Regular and Publisher Was the backbone of Biddy’s publishing efforts and served with the OCPA Ltd. The family continues in ministry in England.
The Riley family: BTC Regulars The women never married but one went to China to work with orphans. One of the men became a pastor in Canada and the US. The family remains in ministry.
Isabel Craddock: BTC missionary to India She never married but served blind girls at a school.
Mary Riley: Oswald and Biddy’s friend Never married but remained a close friend of Biddy’s and helped with the OCPA Ltd.
Sam Staniford Went to Africa with C.T. Studd.
Peter Kay: A post-BTC Oswald Chambers student returned to Australia and ran Sunday schools the rest of his life.
Michelle Ule–loved researching all the BTC missionaries and reads My Utmost for His Highest every day. She’s not related to anybody, but teaches Bible study on Tuesday mornings!
Tweetables
What happened to Oswald Chambers’ students? Did he make a difference? Click to Tweet
The fruit of Oswald Chambers’ teaching: missionaries around the world–and their families. Click to Tweet
What is Oswald Chambers’ lasting impact on the world? Click to Tweet
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December 14, 2018
The Taking of Jerusalem: December 11, 1917
The Egyptian Expeditionary Forces (EEF) took Jerusalem on December 11, 1917.Some believe a miracle took place when British General Edmund Allenby marched into the ancient city.
Jerusalem’s fall didn’t mark the end of World War I (that happened exactly 11 months later when the armistice was signed), but it helped.
The Ottoman Turks no longer dominated the southeastern flanks of Germany’s control.
The battle
Made up of forces from Egypt, England, Australia, New Zealand, India, and other Commonwealth nations or protectorates, the EEF fought hard for years.
The desert war’s turning point occurred a month earlier when the EEF won a decisive and shocking victory during the Battle of Beersheba.
From Beersheba, the EEF marched on Jaffa–located on the Mediterranean Coast–and fought their way into the Judean highlands to take the capital.
You can read more about the battle here, here or here.
Here’s a link to how the Austro-German authorities reported the event.
No one wanted fighting and bloodshed in Jerusalem’s streets.
Fortunately, it didn’t happen. An article on Cross to Light website explains why:
“In preparation and defense of this invasion, the Turks planned to seal up all the gates to the city and blast open the Eastern gate in order to create a fortified, secret supply line.
The entrance that would come down into Jerusalem from the Kidron valley and up through the Eastern Gate.
In order to create this supply line they would have to blow open the sealed Eastern Gate and break an ancient biblical prophecy.”
The EEF caught the Turkish soldiers before they ignited the bombs.
General Edmund Allenby
New York Herald headline, December 11, 1917 (Wikipedia Commons)
According to Cross to Light, the EEF commander, General Edmund Allenby was a Bible-believer.
He did not want bloodshed in the City of Peace.
Reportedly, the night before Allenby entered Jerusalem, he prayed about how to quell any violence, particularly to the holy places.
When he wired his superiors in London for instructions, they included a verse from Isaiah 31:5:
“As birds flying, so will the Lord of hosts defend Jerusalem; defending also he will deliver it, and passing over he will preserve.”
That night, he declared martial law and promised,
“Every sacred building, monument, holy spot, shrine, traditional site, endowment, pious bequest, or customary place of prayer of whatsoever form of the three religions will be maintained and protected.”
In his official report at the time, Allenby wrote:
“Guards have been placed over the holy places. My Military Governor is in contact with the acting custodians and the Latin and Greek representatives. The Governor has detailed an officer to supervise the holy places.
“The Mosque of Omar and the area around it have been placed under Moslem control, and a military cordon of Mohammedan officers and soldiers has been established around the mosque.
“Orders have been issued that no non-Moslem is to pass within the cordon without permission of the Military Governor and the Moslem in charge.”
Jerusalem: December 11, 1917
On the morning of December 11, General Allenby read the Isaiah passage to his troops.
He ordered all available EEF aircraft to fly over the city dropping leaflets.
Clouds covered the sky that morning. Jerusalem residents could not see the planes, but they could hear them.
The leaflets read “surrender immediately, you don’t have a prayer,” signed “Allenby.”
The Remnant website noted the Arabic interpreter who translated the message incorrectly wrote Allenby’s name as “Allah Bey,” or “the son of God.”
Kaiser Wilhelm enters Jerusalem in 1898. Photo by American Colony photographer via the Library of Congress (Wikimedia Commons)
According to Cross and Light, an old Turkish prophecy said they would never lose the Holy City until “a man of Allah came to deliver it.”
“According to reports, the signature of Allenby on the paper dropped from the sky was interpreted by them to mean the word ‘Allah’ in Arabic meaning ‘God’ and ‘beh’ in Arabic that means ‘son’.
The Turks were looking at a demand to surrender signed by Allah-beh, the son of God.
In response, they hoisted a white flag and surrendered the city without firing a single shot.”
Other interpretations of the same story link Allenby’s name to the similarity of the Arabic (Al-Nebbi) for the prophet Mohammed.
The Ottoman Turks had ruled Jerusalem for nearly 700 years.
General Allenby enters Jerusalem
When Kaiser Wilhelm II visited Jerusalem in 1898, he demanded a bigger entrance for his procession.
To that end, the Turks blew open a gate. The Kaiser entered as a conquering hero, riding a stallion.
According to historians, the Kaiser’s “grandiose entry through ceremonial arches on an enormous white horse struck contemporaries as arrogant and posturing.”
Allenby didn’t want to emulate the German ruler. He came not as a conquering hero, but to free the city from Ottoman rule.
The general rode a horse from his camp to the Jaffa Gate but dismounted and walked through it.
Allenby described his entrance in a low-key manner:
“I entered the city officially at noon, December 11th, with a few of my staff, the commanders of the French and Italian detachments, the heads of the political missions, and the Military Attaches of France, Italy, and America.
“The procession was all afoot, and at Jaffa gate, I was received by the guards representing England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Australia, New Zealand, India, France, and Italy. The population received me well.”
It took another year for WWI to end, but the taking of Jerusalem on December 11, 1917, was the beginning.
General Allenby enters Jerusalem on foot, December 11, 1917 (Public Domain; Wikipedia Commons)
Tweetable
A miracle or a mistranslation? General Allenby takes Jerusalem ending WWI’s desert war. Click to Tweet
How British General Allenby exemplified humility and grace in taking WWI Jerusalem? Click to Tweet
Jerusalem taken by the Egyptian Expeditionary Forces exactly one year before WWI Armistice. Click to Tweet
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