Precarious Yates's Blog: Precarious Precipices, page 2
May 22, 2014
Family Friendly Book Sale and Giveaway
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Across the Ages
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Henry Goes To the Big City
A Lesson In Unconditional Love
by CJ and Shelley Hitz
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Archibald and the Fiery Furnace
Join Archibald on his first adventure, as he discovers God’s purpose for his life and meets Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
Some say cats have nine lives, but Archibald only had one. However, while looking for his forever home, God placed Archibald in different lands and times to see amazing miracles that He did for His people. With lessons intertwined within each story and four included devotionals for you and your child at the back of the books in the series, these stories are sure to become a favorite.
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All the Angels Stood
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21 Teen Devotionals… for Girls!
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A Heart’s Home
1746, India
Born in England and raised in India by her father after her mother’s untimely death, Asyra has been ostracized from her small village most of her life. News of her impending marriage arranged by her grandmother back in England only serves to confuse her further about who she is and where she fits in. When Madras is attacked by the French before Asyra’s ship sails, she must pretend to be the wife of her grandmother’s agent, who happens to be the elder brother of her intended. Can she move beyond prejudice to find her place in the world?
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May 21, 2014
Studies in Revelation, Part 4
Click to find:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
I’m going to dive right in again. Today we’re going to look at chapter 1 verses 7-8.
Rev. 1:7 “Look, He is coming with the clouds and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him, and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of Him. So shall it be! Amen!”
Wow! There’s a lot packed into that verse. Let’s have a closer look at it.
Two verses that will help us understand this more are Matthew 24:30 and Luke 21:27.
Matthew 24:30, “At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky and all of the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory.”
Luke 21:27, “At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.”
Acts 1:10-11 clues us in more. “They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. ‘Men of Galilee,’ they said, ‘why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.’” This is to be taken literally, not figuratively.
When Jesus returns, it will be in plain view. Every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him. He will not come secretly and rapture the church first, then come later for everyone else to see. Those who love Him and those who hate Him will behold Him at the same time and in the same way–as a physical Man returning to the earth–the resurrected Jesus Christ. I know that this isn’t a popular view, but give it consideration before merely passing it off as possible heresy.
When it says ‘even those who pierced Him’ we understand that we all have pierced Him. He was pierced for our iniquities. See Isaiah 53:5; Psalm 22:16; Zech. 12:10; John 19:34,37.
Why will all the people of the earth mourn because of Him? His coming marks the final judgment. It is the day and hour of the final decision (see Joel 3:14). Psalm 2 tell us that the nations have been raging against Jesus and His leadership for quite some time. They will mourn their defeat.
And this is firmly established–So shall it be–God will not act in another way–Amen!
Then we get to the part where Jesus starts to speak, in verse 8: “I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord God, ‘who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.’”
Jesus identifies Himself using the name declared from Exodus 3:14. YHWH is ‘Who was, who is and who is to come.’ Testimony (who was) assurance (who is) and promise (who is to come) all reside within the Name of YHWH. He has been there, when we look at history; He is here now, and we see Him when we look around; and He will come again, just as He promised.
He calls Himself the Alpha and the Omega. These are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. This is one way of saying the beginning and the end. There’s also another meaning here. All words are composed of letter. Jesus is saying that He had the first word (see Genesis 1) and He will have the last word at the end of the age, and at the end of every age.
In the New Testament, the name Almighty for God is used twelve times. Nine of those twelve times that He’s referred to as the Almighty are found in Revelation. The Hebrew for this name is El Shaddai.
God first reveals Himself as El Shaddai to Abraham in Genesis 17:1 when He is:
1. Exhorting Abraham to walk blamelessly
2. Reminding Abraham of His promise.
He calls us to do the same!
Except we can’t do that on our own. The beauty of our God is that He doesn’t expect us to do it on our own. Through faith, we can reach out to the Lord and ask for His help to walk according to His ways and to cling to His promises. Especially His promise that He is coming soon!
More to come next week! In the mean time, I’d love to hear your thoughts!
May 19, 2014
Studies in Revelation, Part 3
Click here for Part 1, and here for Part 2.
Today, we’re going to look at one of my very favorite portions of scripture. I hope I inspire you to dive deep into these two verses!
Revelation 1:5, “…and from Jesus Christ, who is the Faithful Witness, the Firstborn from the dead and the Ruler of the kings of the earth.”
That the grace and truth extended to us comes from the Father, and also from Jesus, whose return is the theme of this book. He sends his blessing of grace and peace beforehand.
He is the Faithful Witness. There’s a whole lot that is packed into this title. Let’s unpack it a bit.
John 5:36, “I have testimony weightier than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to finish—the very works that I am doing—testify that the Father has sent me.” He faithfully did the works His Father sent Him to do.
John 8:49, “…I honor my Father…” Everything Jesus did was to honor His Father. He was faithful as the Son (see Heb. 3:6).
John 17:6, “I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word.” While He walked on the earth, Jesus was faithful with everything His Father gave into His hands.
Jesus faithfully bore witness of who His Father is every day of His life! Not only is He the Faithful Witness, He is the first of many brothers (see Rev. 2:13). He is giving us grace so that we too would be faithful witnesses.
Jesus is also the Firstborn from the dead. When he rose from the dead, He guaranteed our own resurrection. For more on this, see 1 Corinthians 15 and Colossians 1:18.
Jesus is the First of many brothers (see Hebrews 2).
Rev. 1:5 also tells us that Jesus is the Ruler of the Kings of the earth. Jesus is the perfect King the Father has established. See Psalm 2:8, Psalm 45, Psalm 110 and Hebrews 1.
Colossians 1 describes Jesus’ reign over all the universe–He reigns over the Kings of this earth as well, even though they currently rebel against Him. He will come in power and glory to manifest His Kingdom here on earth.
Revelation 1:5b-6, To Him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God and Father–to Him be glory and power forever and ever! Amen!
Right up front, we are told of God’s great love for us. This is one of the few times in the New Testament where the love God has for us is presented in this gramatical tense. It reminds us of His continual and reliable love.
He has freed us by His blood. God reminds us of the cross right at the beginning, assuring us that the victory is already ours.
He has made us to be a kingdom (see Eph. 2:19-22). This can also be translated “made us to be kings…”, in other words, our royalty is established–at the cross!
And he has made us priests to serve His God and Father. The veil has been torn and we are now all priests before the Lord under the High Priest, Jesus (see Heb 7:24-28). This is an echo of what God called the Israelites to in Exodus 19:6.
The last part of this verse is a shout of praise: To Him be the glory forever and ever! Amen! Praises to God resound in nearly every chapter of Revelation. Why? He is worthy! And along with that, praising God strengthens us for the tribulation we must endure in this life, whether it be every day trials or overcoming during the Great Tribulation. More on that in days to come!
God bless you!
May 18, 2014
And Interview to Remember: Annie Douglass Lima, taking you place you’ve never been before!
Have you ever had your birthday cake stolen by a troop of monkeys? Come meet Annie Douglass Lima and learn all about her latest book and exciting life!
Hi Annie! And welcome! We’re so excited to have you with us! I can’t wait to learn more about you and your books. First, tell us about your latest book!
Prince of Malorn is the third book in my Annals of Alasia series, but like the others, it can stand on its own. Each book deals with events surrounding the same major political incident: the invasion of the kingdom of Alasia by the neighboring kingdom of Malorn. Prince of Alasia begins on the night of the Invasion and describes what happens to twelve-year-old Prince Jaymin after he is forced to flee for his life. In the Enemy’s Service features a girl as the protagonist and tells the story of those who were not able to escape from the Alasian palace when the enemy invaded. Prince of Malorn begins several months earlier and focuses on the Malornian perspective of the events leading up to the Invasion. In each of the books, main characters from the others make brief appearances and interact with each other at the point where the timeframes and settings overlap.
I’d love to know more about this world you’ve created for your characters! Tell us more about the landscape, people and food.
The map shows a little more of what the world is like. Prince of Malorn takes place mainly in Malorn’s Impassable Mountains, which are peopled by the nomadic Mountain Folk. Their culture is totally different from that of “Lowlanders”, as they call everyone else, and is based on what is available living off the land. They are mainly hunters and gatherers, though they also keep goats for milk and meat. A signature meal for them might consist of roast fish or rabbit, small fried cakes made from mashed lumjum (a turnip-like root that grows wild in the Impassables) and fresh goat milk.
If we were to visit Malorn, what would you like us to see most?
I’d like you to see an area that almost no one except the Mountain Folk has ever glimpsed. They call it simply Horse Valley, and it’s a lush, peaceful valley surrounded on every side by rugged peaks. Getting there involves a very difficult trek through dense forest and across snowy slopes where there’s little food available and hypothermia is only one of many ways you could perish. Wild horses roam free in this valley, and there’s plenty to eat there for both humans and animals. Trekking alone to Horse Valley with only the clothes on their back is a rite of passage into adulthood for the Mountain Folk. They must each capture and tame a wild horse and bring it back to their family’s camp in order to be fully accepted among their own people.
Is there anything we should avoid in Malorn?
In the Impassable Mountains, the most dangerous predators are the wolves and snowcats (which are similar to snow leopards but with completely white fur). However, a greater danger lurks in the Lowlands in the form of Regent Rampus. Assigned temporary leadership of the kingdom until Prince Korram is old enough to rule, Rampus has no intention of giving up his position. He has been busy building his power in a variety of ways and is ruthless toward anyone who opposes him.
I’ve heard that you live in Taiwan. Tell us about that.
My husband and I moved to the island of Taiwan, just off the east coast of China, almost seven years ago. I teach fifth grade in an international school in the city of Taichung and love it (both the job and the location). The hardest part about living here is that, even after all this time, I speak very little Chinese; and most people in Taiwan don’t speak much English. Linguistic difficulties have been the cause of countless awkward or embarrassing moments for me! But other than that, life here is great. I enjoy the culture and have found people to be very welcoming and tolerant of my stumbling attempts to communicate. The food here is great, too – “Chinese” food in America just can’t compare!
Has where you lived shaped your story at all?
Taiwan hasn’t, as such. But I’ve visited a total of eighteen countries and actually lived in four of them, and those experiences have definitely played a role in my writing. I love getting to know different cultures and the differences between them, which Prince Korram has to deal with when he travels into the Impassables to seek the help of the Mountain Folk. In Malorn, Mountain Folk and Lowlanders tend to distrust each other and avoid contact whenever possible, and both sides claim that the other mistreats them. I wanted to show that often, it just takes better understanding to lead to acceptance and appreciation of another culture. That, and the willingness to learn new ways of doing things and respect others’ customs even when they’re different.
I’ve seen a picture of you reclining against a Bengal tiger’s side. How many other unique and awesome animals have you had adventures with?
I met that tiger in a reserve in Thailand about a year and a half ago, when I had an afternoon to play tourist after a teachers’ conference I attended.
Annie with tiger in Tiger Kingdom, Chiang Mai, Thailand
But I grew up in Kenya (as a missionary kid), so as you can imagine, I’ve encountered quite a few interesting animals! Here are some of my most memorable animal experiences from my childhood and teen years:
Riding an endangered rhino (under the watchful eye of the armed guard who followed it around the game park to protect it from poachers).
Coming back from a hike on a camping trip near Mount Kenya, we found a huge cape buffalo reclining right in front of our tent. My dad took this picture after it had gotten up and walked a little ways away.
The giraffe I’m walking toward isn’t part of any particular story – just one of the many wild animals you see any time you go into the rural parts of Kenya.
In addition to these adventures, I also:
Fed giraffes by hand from an upper-story balcony in the Giraffe Park
Petted orphaned elephant babies on a school field trip
Found a huge, live puff adder (deadly poisonous snake) in the grass by the front of my high school
Waterskied in a lake full of hippos, and (on a separate trip) a different lake full of crocodiles
Rode giant tortoises (I was only about eight at the time, but they were strong enough to carry even my dad)
Had my birthday cake stolen by a troop of monkeys when some friends and I went camping on my 16th birthday
Wow! I never had my birthday cake stolen by a troop of monkeys! What an adventurous life you’ve had! Thanks so much for visiting today, and I look forward to reading this latest installment in your fantasy series!
If you like what you’ve read here, check out more about Annie Douglass Lima!
Here are the contact info and links:
Email: AnnieDouglassLima@gmail.com
Blog: http://anniedouglasslima.blogspot.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AnnieDouglassLimaAuthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/princeofalasia
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4955329.Annie_Douglass_Lima
Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/Annie-Douglass-Lima/e/B0051XD0SU/
Buy Prince of Malorn (Kindle):http://smarturl.it/PrinceofMalorn
Buy In the Enemy’s Service (Kindle): http://smarturl.it/EnemysService
Buy Prince of Alasia (Kindle): http://smarturl.it/PrinceofAlasia
Buy any of the books for Nook or other formats: https://www.smashwords.com/books/search?query=Annals+of+Alasia
Now, enter to win a $20 Amazon gift card!
May 14, 2014
Studies in Revelation, Part 2
You can find Part 1 here.
This is a verse by verse study of the whole book. Some verses will take the whole post, others will be grouped together.
I’m just going to dive in here, starting with the second verse of the first chapter.
Revelation 1:2, “…who testifies to everything he saw—that is, the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ.”
Throughout the book of Revelation, the images, prophecies, symbols and creatures can be, for the most part, witnessed throughout scripture, from Genesis to Jude. Scripture can then interpret scripture, like with the poetic language of the Song of Songs.
Revelation 1:3, “Blessed is the one who reads the book of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it because the time is near.”
The blessing is for those who take the prophecy to heart, both readers and hearers. Before the 20th century, a majority of believers could not read, so they had the scriptures read to them. This is why the blessing extends to the hearers. Although, if you haven’t ever done so, I encourage you to read the book aloud, even if it’s just to yourself. It’s powerful.
What does it mean to take the prophecy to heart? It means to study it, meditate on it, and most of all to believe it and apply it to one’s life.
There are seven blessings given throughout Revelation that would rest upon those who take these prophecies to heart. These can be found in here and in 14:13, 16:15, 19:9, 20:6, 22:7 & 22:14.
When it says, “…because the time is near,” it can mean anything from a few minutes to a few millennia and anything in between.
Revelation 1:4, “John, to the seven churches in the province of Asia: Grace and peace to you from Him who is, and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before His throne…”
These seven churches are listed in verse 11. Presumably, seven copies were made of the entire Revelation and were read throughout the churches. This province of Asia is in what is now western Turkey. Each city mentioned was about a day’s walk from the subsequent city in a circular shape.
The grace and peace extended to the reader is directly from the Lord. The phrase, “who was, who is, who is to come,” is echoed from YHWH (see Ex. 3:14-15). These are all the possible definitions of the Name of God, and it’s most likely that the whole phrase is the definition of YHWH. Testimony (who was) assurance (who is) and promise (who is to come) all reside within the Name of YHWH.
The seven spirits, or seven-fold Spirit before the throne is seen in Isaiah 11:2:
Spirit of the Lord (YHWH). See above.
Spirit of Wisdom. (See Prov. 1:7, Prov. 8, and Job 28)
Spirit of Understanding. (Job 28:28; see also Prov. 3:5-6, 13-15.)
Spirit of Counsel. (See Prov. 8:14; Psalm 16:7, 73:24.)
Spirit of Power. (See Ps. 29; Gen. 1; Job 26:14)
Spirit of Knowledge. (See Prov. 24:3-6)
Spirit of the Fear of the Lord. (See Job 28)
The seven churches will need the seven-fold Spirit, given to us from Jesus, to survive the difficult times spoken of throughout this book. We need to pray for the Spirit to fill us to capacity and overflowing with wisdom, understanding, counsel, power, knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
The Lord gives freely and generously to all who ask (Matt. 7:11).
For more on the seven-fold Spirit, check out Zechariah 4.
Check back in a few days, and I will have Part 3. In the meantime, if you have anything to add, I’d love to hear your thoughts!
Spirit of
May 12, 2014
Study in Revelation, part 1
Hi everyone!
This is going to be a lengthy study stretched out over several months, or maybe over a year since it’s a verse by verse study.
I urge you to search the scriptures carefully to see if what I have to say can be found there. It’s so important to seek these things out for ourselves!
Throughout this study, I’m using the NIV for the most part, but I reference other versions, especially the ESV, RSV, KJV and NASB. You can check out BibleGateway.com for quick references too!
Before I begin, let’s look at some crucial words of Jesus concerning the time of the end (and all emphasis is mine):
Matthew 24:42-44 ~Therefore keep watch because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. Understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect Him.
Revelation 1:1 ~ The revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John,
The paradigm for the whole book is explained up front: it’s all about Jesus! It reveals Jesus, and is also a revelation from Jesus.
It was given by God, made known by the sending of an angel and revealed to John.
So before we go further, let’s investigate the person this revelation was revealed to.
Who is this John? He’s the author of as many as five books of the New Testament: The Gospel of John, 1 John, 2 John, 2 John and Revelation.
In the Gospel, he refers to himself as “the disciple who Jesus loves” (see John 13:23-25). This is a title we can take for ourselves as well. You are the disciple who Jesus loves.
With his brother, James, John was a fisherman. These two brothers were dubbed by Jesus as “Sons of Thunder” or “Boanerges“. By the end of his life he was known as the Apostle of Love.
From the synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) we learn that John was one of the three disciples Jesus took with him, along with Peter and James, to the Mount of Transfiguration, into Jairus’s house when the little girl was raised from the dead, and to sit near Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane to pray.
He was known to the high priest in Jerusalem (John 18:15-16).
He witnessed the crucifixion (John 19:25-27).
He cared for the mother of Jesus (John 19:25-27).
All four Gospels note that he was a witness of the resurrection of Jesus (John 20:1-10).
He witnessed his brother James’s martyrdom (Acts 12:2).
According to the early church fathers, he lived in Ephesus before his exile.
He suffered persecution. In Acts 4:3 and 5:17-41, he was whipped and imprisoned. Revelation 1:9 tells us that he was exiled on the island of Patmos, and the early church fathers tell us that he was boiled in oil but did not die.
Let’s look at another part of this first verse of Revelation: “…to show His servants…”
Jesus does not want us to be in the dark about what His activities will look like at the end of the age, since this time will be unlike any time in history (see Matt 24:21), and it will never be like that again. We need, as His servants, to understand why these times of distress will come. We’ll need to know why the judgments are so severe, why Satan is loosed, why the locusts and devouring beasts come upon the earth, why the anti-christ rises and must be defeated, and why the harlot is as terrible as she is. Through the book of Revelation, we see what is important to God, and what merits His wrath.
Verse one also says, “…what must soon take place…”
Soon, to the Lord, can be a few minutes or a few millennia (see 1 Peter 3:8-9, James 5:7-11).
A majority of believers in the first century believed this second coming was immanent. That is not the case throughout the rest of church history. Only in the last thirty years or so has there been a growing conviction throughout the body of Christ that we are living in the generation of the Lord’s return.
Here are a few signs of the times that significantly point to this being the generation of the Lord’s return:
The book being opened (Dan. 12:4,9). A majority of born again Christians read their bibles, or have the bible read to them.
The re-establishment of Israel with Jerusalem as its capitol, 1948 and 1967 respectively. (See Luke 21:24.)
The Gospel is being preached to all people, tribes, tongues and nations (see Matthew 24:14). The conservative estimate is that all people groups (people, tribes, tongues, and nations) will be reached with the Gospel by 2020. For more information on this estimate, visit the websites for YWAM, Every Home for Christ and Wycliffe Bible Translators (to name a few).
The rise of persecution. There have been more martyrs for the name of Christ since the beginning of the 20th century until now than in all of church history combined. (See Luke 21:12-19.)
Rise of the prayer movement in the last two decades (see Luke 18:7-8). There is IHOPKC, 24/7 Prayer Boiler Rooms, and 24/7 Prayer in Jerusalem since 2004, to name a few. There have been prayer meetings in Africa with as many as 7,000,000 attending from 9pm-6am.
This is an exciting time to be alive and to share about the Lord. It’s also a time to be fixing our gaze on Him. We need to know what He’s doing so we can partner with Him.
Studies in Revelation 1:2 coming soon!
May 9, 2014
On This Bare Earth – Thoughts on Mother’s Day 2014
I saw a baby bird the other day. It had fallen from its nest, its body contorted on the bare earth. I only ever see that when I have to say goodbye, like some cruel omen, shattering a beautiful day.
The next day, I started spotting, a sign that life is ebbing in the one place life should be blooming.
It’s Mother’s Day in two days
and I need to figure out how to cry it all out by then.
How do I face that I’ve lost again?
That I’m his mother, yes, but only in heaven?
On this bare earth, my motherhood is shattered, broken. My one little girl, birthed by adoption, stares at me funny — “Mama, why are you crying? Again?”
Life, I tell you, life is beautiful, life is amazing, glorious.
Death? Death sucks.
I heard there was a Lamb who gave of Himself, who fought the lies that wage war against us and overcame. I heard there was a Lamb who swallowed up death with life, who sits on a throne. I heard there was a Lamb who carries the only scars in heaven, who in victory still looks as if He’s slain. I heard there was a Lamb, and I long to hold Him close to my heart. Because on a day when there is more pain than comfort, more death than life, more sorrow than joy, I want to be surrounded by the One who is LIFE. I want to be surrounded by life and give life wherever I go.
Life, I tell you, life is beautiful, amazing, glorious.
Death? Death sucks.
At the end of it all, there is hope. There is hope that doesn’t disappoint.
May 5, 2014
Hello, After a Long Silence
I haven’t blogged in a while for several reasons. First of all, I was working on a book. Three books, actually. One of those books will be available some time this month.
I’d also been prepping for a writers’ conference. That conference was this weekend. It was brilliant! I loved it! I had such a good time and made some key connections with people! I’ll let you know if anything comes of my meetings with the agent. Now that the conference is over, I have a bit more brain space and will catch up on a number of things. Including editing your book, if I promised you that I would! (Feel free to remind me.)
The garden needed planting, baby chicks needed tending, and MacKenzie needed extra attention in school since she’s beginning to read and wants to learn more. Both mom and daughter are super excited about this development!!!
One of the other reasons that I’ve been quiet lately is that I’ve been…frustrated. I’ve been trying to put words to it for a while now, because it hurts my heart.
I’m all about diversity. I love having a ton of friends from different backgrounds and different ideologies. In kindergarten, as I may have mentioned before, I was in the ethnic minority. The majority were Chinese. The classroom had kids from the inner city of New Haven, CT and kids from the desert in Ethiopia. If people talk to me about privilege, this is what I count from my personal history as a great privilege. It was beautiful and fun and, frankly, how I wanted the rest of life to be.
Unfortunately it’s not. And I go through seasons where it upsets me that if I got all my friends in the same room there might, by the end, be a gun fight. Well, not really, because some of them are diametrically opposed to guns, but I think you get what I’m saying.
I needed a season to come to terms, all over again, with the reality that people who have opposing ideologies don’t like to be around each other, even when they say that they do.
Using the vocabulary of love and demonstrating the actions of love are two completely different things. My job is to love, not just talk about it. I had to take a season to walk out that truth.
I needed clarity, and silence gives that kind of clarity. I needed to listen to the person and not the ideology.
Over the next few months I’m going to share some from my studies in Revelation. It may be very different from other teachings on this book, but this study gave the reasons why and how I wrote Revelation Special Ops. If the study gets weird or boring, feel free to yell at me. I might yell back and I hope the discussions are lively. :)
I look forward to this new season and I’ll try not to be so quiet. If I’m silent again, the reasons will probably include what I mentioned above. Sometimes I just need perspective.
Blessings!
April 12, 2014
New Release Alert! The Sign of the Dolphin by Peter Rodgers
The Sign of the Dolphin is now available!
THE SIGN OF THE DOLPHIN is the second book in the series that started with THE SCRIBES: A NOVEL ABOUT THE EARLY CHURCH. Set in the year 184 A.D., this book contains a collection of 72 letters which tell the story of a journey through Gaul and Britain. Along the way you will meet fascinating characters like Irenaeus of Lyon and Diognetus and Ulpius Marcellus. You will wrestle with the question of the two versions of the Acts of the Apostles. You will discover the glories of art in Britain under Roman rule, and you will Join Marcus the scribe as he seeks to manage an unruly team, deal with an independent young woman, and share the good news with people on the Roman frontier.
Grab a copy on Amazon!
Official Book Cover!
April 7, 2014
Another Sample Chapter of The Sign of the Dolphin
Here is another chapter from Peter Rodgers’s upcoming release The Sign of the Dolphin!
Not the official cover. Official cover to be revealed soon!
23
A villa near Noviomagus Reginorum
Marcus to Justin, Greetings in Christ Jesus, the light of the world.
We have arrived at the villa of Lucius near Noviomagus. Our voyage across the sea was pleasant, for the storms had passed, and the air was clear and crisp with a light breeze from the southwest. Not long after we bid a tearful farewell to Irenaeus, and set sail, we began to see the coast of Britain. First it was a mirage, then a dot, and then several dots on the horizon. Then the dots joined together and became a green mass before us, rising above the blue, inviting, forbidding. I prayed for this land and its people as we sailed into the harbor at sunset. I asked God for wisdom, and the right words, as we docked alongside the villa, whose large, imposing outline loomed in the twilight.
We waited on the deck while Justus went to find Lucius, to whom he had sold pots and bowls for years. He returned after some time to report that Lucius was not to be found. He had gone with most of his family to Virulamium on official business, and there was no telling when he would return. The steward of the house offered us hospitality, and the cook found us something to eat. Though it was a simple meal, the cook grumbled at the lateness of the hour.
This place is very quiet, almost deserted, except for a few servants and family members who did not travel with the king. The sheer size of the villa, with over 100 rooms, makes it seem all the more empty. With the king not here, and neither a word from Marius nor a letter from you, I feel very out of touch. So we must simply wait in this place until the king returns. Irenaeus gave me the names of a few Christians known to him in this island kingdom, and Justus knows many folk here, but I must wait to speak with the king before I do anything else.
The steward, who seems to be very straightforward and efficient, simply showed us to our rooms and left us to ourselves.
“We’ll try to look after you until the king returns,” he said.
“And when do you expect him to return?” I asked.
He shrugs, “Anybody’s guess. When the king goes off on his business he can be away for some time, and when he takes his family, that slows him down even more. If he returns by way of Venta, where he has another villa, he will be away longer still, for his wife has a friend there, and they get to talking. But he must be back next week, for an important task awaits him in the city.”
I whispered to myself, “And here at the villa.”
I fell into a deep sleep, but was awakened before dawn by the sound of someone crying. A woman was pouring her heart out. I could not make out the details, but she seemed to be mourning the loss of a loved-one. “Gone, gone!” she cried again and again. The crying faded after a while, as if she had cried herself to sleep. But I was wide awake, and the first shafts of morning light heralded the new day. I dressed and set forth to explore this almost deserted place. Walking into the atrium, I noticed that all the doors around it were shut except for one at the far end. I headed for it, hoping that it would lead to the garden. But I stopped in the center, captivated by the most remarkable picture on the tessellated floor. Around the edge were sea creatures of various sorts. Wine vases and scallop shells flanked sea horses and sea panthers. At the outer border there was a spiral of vine tendrils springing from the handles of wine vases. A small black bird, an ibis, sat on one of these tendrils. It must be the trademark of the artist who designed this mosaic. But the central figure was truly remarkable. It was a picture of a cupid riding on a dolphin. The figure was brownish-red, with bits of Samian ware used for the red. The dolphin was fan-tailed and seemed almost alive. The cupid held a trident in his hand. The picture was clearly the central focus of the room, and perhaps of the whole house. Perhaps a reference to this splendid floor was the place to begin in speaking about Jesus Christ to the inquiring king. I remembered Irenaeus and Diognetus talking about St. Paul and the philosophers at Athens. “Begin where they are,” was their counsel. So all I had to do was to await the return of the king.
I moved toward the open door in the approaching daylight, looking back once, even twice to see the gamboling pair on the floor. Now a shaft of sunlight shone through the clerstory, and hit the dolphin and rider, causing the tiles and stones to sparkle. The dolphin and the cupid were alive, and the sea serpents seemed almost to leap off the floor.
Once at the open door I looked in. The room was lined with shelves on which were stored rolls and codices. Books and papers lay on a table in the center. I stepped into the room, now illuminated by the rising sun. This was clearly the villa library, a room of greater size than I would have imagined in a villa in a remote province. The urge to look at the books was irresistible. Before I knew it I was standing in front of the table reading a fine roll of Homer’s Odyssey, and next to it Seneca’s proverbs. In a bucket beside the table were Discorides’ treatise On Plants and Tacitus’ History. I moved over to the shelves, where the neatly stacked rolls were each labeled with a tag. Running my eyes along I noticed a wealth of Homer and Euribides. Several copies of Virgil’s Aeneid were stowed together. What a feast! How I wish that you were here to share my discovery. I hope that we might remain here long enough for me to fully enjoy this treasure trove. I reached for a roll of Homer’s Iliad. Just then I sensed a shadow fall across the growing light from the doorway.
“Who are you, and what are you doing in my library?” came a low and stern voice. There in the doorway was a little old man, almost as wide as he was tall, with gray hair round his ears and no hair on top. His eyes were flashing with anger.
In my surprise I nearly dropped the roll of Homer. I stood frozen and speechless.
“I demand to know who you are, and why you are meddling with my books…or rather, the king’s books, I should say.”
“I am a guest of the king,” I stammered. “I have come on his invitation, and I was surprised not to find him here.”
“So then,” the little fat man continued, ”You decide to meddle in his library, and poke around in places where you do not belong!”
“The door was open,” I protested, “and I did not know that the library was off limits to visitors.”
“Well it is, unless you have both the king’s permission and my approval. Now be off!”
The librarian was standing in the doorway, and I could not possibly exit at once as he had commanded. So I replied as apologetically and meekly as I could, “As you wish, but I am disappointed, since this is the finest villa library I have ever seen.”
“Do you think so?” he replied, softening his tone, but then he added more sharply, “And what do you know about libraries?”
“I’ve seen a few,” I replied, “especially on my recent journey through Gaul, and I’ve seen the great libraries of Rome and Alexandria, but for a villa, this one is remarkable.”
“Really,” the librarian continued in a friendlier voice, “we do think it’s rather fine, and I worked for years to collect these books. And so did my predecessor, who first came here in the days of the great King Cogidubnus. Before that wise old scholar died, he said to me, then just a lad of twenty, ‘Castor – that’s my name – Castor I want you to be librarian in my place.’ That was nearly fifty years ago, in the days when they could afford to keep a librarian. Today I have to combine this job with others like keeping track of the estate accounts. But I have never stopped collecting, shelving and arranging books, and guarding this room against visitors who might want to steal them.” He eyed me with mild suspicion.
“Perhaps some visitors would steal them,” I said, taking a step toward the door to comply with his first request, “perhaps some, but not I, nor any of the current visitors.”
Did my voice hesitate? I remembered the incident at the villa of Marius, when the Revelation was stolen from the library. But it was returned. So it wasn’t really stolen, but only borrowed. And there was no sign that it had been altered.
“Right,” I added, “I will go as you asked.”
“No,” Castor insisted, still blocking the doorway with his great girth. “No, stay and tell me about the libraries you have seen. Have you really seen the one in Alexandria?”
“Yes, indeed, about four years ago.” I gave a long description of that greatest of libraries, and of all the wonderful books I had seen there.
“And let me show you my books…the king’s books, I mean.”
I objected that I did not yet have the king’s permission.
“King Lucius won’t care,” Castor replied as he moved out of the doorway and toward the table. “He hasn’t used them much in the last year.”
The morning sun now illuminated the library, and the old man opened treasure after treasure, assured that I was there to respect, learn and enjoy, and not to steal or deface. He pulled a newer scroll from the shelf and said,
“Do you see this copy of Aelius Aristides, Sacred Discourses?” Castor unrolled the vellum on which the ink seemed only just dry. “I had to go all the way to Rome to find this book for the king.”
Castor then told me the most revealing tale. The king had fallen sick about two years ago with some terrible ailment. He could hardly eat or drink and spent much time in bed. He called in the local medicine men, and they tried their cures and their spells, but they didn’t work, though he spent a great sum of money on them. So he threw them out, and decided to manage his own care. He bought books on health and healing. He read widely in Galen. Castor pointed to a whole shelf of Galen’s books. The king even sent Castor to Rome for a copy of Aristides, for he was impressed with the story of how that sickly orator had been cured by his devotion to Asclepius. Through revelations and dreams Aristides had found healing. But the king had no dreams and no revelations, and he was not healed, and the books were shelved. Lucius went off to Aqua Sulis, the famous healing baths in the west near the wild borders, but he came back no better, only worse.
Then about six months ago, when the king was close to dispair, a wise old man came through Noviomagus. He was a trader in metals, and he claimed to have healing powers in the name of Jesus. The king had learned of him through a young soldier. The old man prayed over the king and the ailment was soon gone. So Lucius tried to find out more about Jesus, but the merchant had gone, and the soldier could not tell him much. But he did urge the king to send to Rome, for a man named Eleutherus, who would be able to tell him about the healing name.
I told Castor who I was, that I had been sent from Rome by Eleutherus, the leader of the Christians there, to bring the news of Jesus to the king and to his kingdom. I told him that Eleutherus had set out to bring the news of Jesus himself, but that he was called back to Rome on an urgent matter. He had commissioned me to go in his place as his spokesman and representative.
I then asked the astonished Castor whether he had any Christian books in the library. He said that he did not. There was a copy of the Jewish scriptures, or a portion of them, a roll of the prophets. There was also a recent book by Celsus, but he was bitterly opposed to the Christian movement. Then he stopped and thought for a moment.
He pointed to a pile of books in the corner that had never been sorted out. He said, “There may be a Christian book or two in that old unsorted pile in the corner. It has sat there all the time I’ve been librarian, but I’ve never even looked at it. The old librarian told me they had come from the eatate of Claudia and Pudens, a Christian couple from Noviomagus. There are some old letters and a few books there, but as I say, I’ve never looked at them, except to notice a tag with the label Luke and another Paul. You know how much a librarian has to do, and how libraries tend to collect junk.”
So I took a bold step. I said, “I would be glad to look at them, and help you sort them out.”
“And steal them, I shouldn’t wonder,” he said, but I could tell that he was playful and not serious.
I objected that if I had come as an emissary of the God who commanded, Thou shalt not steal, would I be commending that God to the king by stealing his books?
“There are different ways of stealing.” Castor replied.
As he moved to the corner to find the pile of books and letters, a bell rang and Castor said, “There’s the bell for breakfast, and nothing keeps me from my breakfast. So I must lock the library, and I had better not find you snooping around my books…I mean the king’s books.”
So I am determined to see these books. But I’d better choose my times wisely, since I suspect that nothing will keep Castor from lunch or dinner, or meals in between.
Greet all in Rome, especially Eleutherus and Apollonius.
Peter Rodgers was Rector of St. John’s Episcopal Church, New Haven Connecticut, and an Associate Fellow of Timothy Dwight College at Yale University from 1979 until 2003. He holds degrees from Hobart College, General Theological Seminary and Oxford University. Before coming to St. John’s in 1979 he was curate for student ministry at the Round Church in Cambridge, England. He has published several journal articles on the text of the New Testament and is the author of Knowing Jesus (InterVarsity 1982, Forward Movement 1989), and Text and Story (Wipf and Stock, 2011). In his retirement, he teaches New Testament at Fuller Theological Seminary, Sacramento campus, and is Pastor of St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, Antelope, CA.
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