Francine Rivers's Blog, page 21
April 17, 2014
Bunny Rabbits and Easter Eggs
When I was a child, I looked forward to Easter because it meant I would get a new dress, a pair of pretty Mary Jane shoes and a cute hat. My brother would be outfitted in new slacks, shoes, shirt and tie, and Mom and Dad would take a picture before we headed off to church. I’d like to say Sunday service was the most meaningful part of our day, but I was eager to get the obligatory time-served over so we could come home for the Easter egg hunt. We kids dyed the eggs in varying pastels and parents hid them (along with a few fancy tinfoil wrapped chocolate bunny rabbits) in f
April 11, 2014
Coming or Going Home
What is home? Webster’s defines it as a house, apartment or other shelter; a place where domestic affections are centered; an institution for people with special needs – add another twenty-one various definitions. Add another word and you have home-bound, home-care, home-maker, homecoming.
April 4, 2014
Good Girls and Bad Boys
This blog is going to be a confusing mess, reflective of my feelings on whether good girls should have anything to do with bad boys – or good boys enter relationships with bad girls. The whole idea is fraught with risk and catastrophic personal repercussions. The mother/grandmother part of me says no-way, no how, run! Add Christian to mom/granny and I want to say always offer grace while keeping your eyes fixed on Jesus and following in His footsteps. God designed us to have a conscience. We know what’s right and wrong.
March 28, 2014
Timeless Hymns
Abra learns to play piano as a child. She loves music, and is gifted with talent and nice long fingers. Her teacher, Mitzi, recognizes a kindred spirit and relishes training her. Mitzi finds a way to use music as a healing device and a means of planting seeds that will begin to grow when Abra goes through her time in the wilderness.
March 21, 2014
Love in Time of War
In Bridge to Haven, Joshua and Abra carry on a Korean war-time correspondence. We cut some of the letters from the manuscript, but they may be posted on the Facebook page after the book is released. Letters were a way to keep the story moving forward and having time pass more quickly. Letters also showed the change occurring in two primary characters, one by the devastating effects of war on men in battle and the other, the turbulent emotional highs and lows of the teen years. Joshua already knows who he is and what he wants, but Abra has a lot of growing up
March 14, 2014
Loving Mentors
Sometimes we don’t recognize the mentors we’ve had until we grow up and look back over our lives. At the time, they may have been someone we saw on a regular basis because of school or church schedules, odd jobs around the neighborhood, going to piano lessons. The main character of Bridge to Haven, Abra, has several mentors, but one in particular has a warm spot in my heart.
March 7, 2014
Hollywood Photographs
One of the scenes in the new novel is in a photo studio when agent, Franklin Moss, arranges for publicity shots for “Lena Scott” (Abra). She feels shy in the beginning, but after a few glasses of champagne quickly gets into the swing of being a model and playing to the camera. She will find out that stills are different than acting in front of a camera crew, director, make-up artists, and a cast of other workers necessary in making a motion picture. She remains camera-shy, but learns to play her role well in a fantasy world that chews people up and spits them out.
March 2, 2014
Favorite Diners and Foods
It seems most high school students have a favorite place to hang out. In Bridge to Haven, Abra and her friends cross the street to Eddie’s, a hamburger joint run by a proprietor who has a soft spot for troubled teens, hiring and rehabilitating them before they end up in the pen. We had a couple of hangouts in my home town. I worked in one called “The Ivory” during the summer and after school. I could make a “mean” banana split and even slung some hamburgers.
February 20, 2014
Update - The Fight
Over the past months, I have posted several times on sex trafficking. Rick and I support Crossing the Jordan, a local ministry that is on the front lines. Recently, my daughter, grand-daughter and I attended a rally put on by the Sonoma County Task Force Against Sex Trafficking. Our city and county have become increasingly aware of the problem and are joining the fight to end human trafficking. Public meetings last year brought together representatives from our local police department, homeland security, FBI, non-government agencies and several ministries and encoura
February 14, 2014
Hollywood Love Stories
The tabloids are always full of Hollywood love stories, often involving adultery, broken hearts, aberrant practices that the rest of the population is told not only to “tolerate”, but embrace. The Hollywood power couples usually fall apart in a life of constant perusal, flash bulbs popping and what-happened-to-the-happily-ever-after predictions. I don’t read the tabloids, but I confess I go to my dentist’s office early to catch up on People Magazine. All that glitz and glamor seldom brings anything but a crash and burn and a new partner in the dance.
