Cindy Koepp's Blog, page 7

Israel’s Blindness

How long is Israel blinded?

According to Romans 11:25, Israel has been blinded until the Fullness of the Gentiles is brought in.  In other words, God is going to deal with the church or Israel as his vehicle for spreading the word but not both at once.  When the church is out of here, Israel is back in the game. This doesn’t mean Israel is not part of God’s plan while the church is still here, so we do need to support the causes of God’s chosen people, but don’t be surprised when they’re not real ecstatic about the message of the Messiah.

When It Comes Together

For my last vacation, I took a trip up to visit my northern family. Last June, Dad had mentioned that I might try moving up there in part to help out with the family business. We talked about the prospect some more while I was up there visiting. The business can’t afford to hire me on full time, but I could do some project kinds of things to earn a little extra money.

To make that work, I needed a job with medical insurance. Purchasing insurance independently would be … costly.

I’d been trying for the last several years to get a job up there. Applying out of state is complicated. Some places will do phone or skype interviews, but others want to see your bright, shiny face IRL. Dropping everything to road trip 800 miles for an interview for a job you might not land … is prohibitively costly.

So, while I was up there, we — the northern family and I — realized I could be looking for optician jobs while I was there. Not the trainer gig I was hoping for, but it could work if I could find the right place.

I used my iPad to hunt down optical businesses in the Greater Des Moines area, and then parental assistance helped me weed out “too far from here to commute” and “you wouldn’t want to be there without a well-trained Doberman and a CHL.”

First, I tried looking at options for a lateral (actually backwards because I’d be stepping down from vision manager to optician) move within the company I currently work for. Only 2 local stores were hiring. One was too far away, and the other was only looking for part time. Ugh.

Next, outside the company. I called one place and got to speak with the general manager of a local chain of 22 stores. He was going to be at the one closest to my folks’ house, and arranged to meet with me that afternoon. Another was also hiring and suggested I drop by and fill out an application. Well, 2 appointments for the afternoon was about all I was going to be able to squeak in, so I stopped there.

We headed to the second one first, and I filled out the application. Talking to the manager, the job sounded a little too part-time. He thought he’d be able to squeak it up to full-time if his regional manager agreed, but that sounded like a big “if.”

I went to the first one next and got there a few minutes too early. That gave me a chance to check out their frames and compare prices. The name brands were about the same as where I work now, actually. They didn’t have the “low end” frames, and they had a lot of higher end ones that my current job doesn’t have. Interesting.

The interview seemed to go favorably. The general manager sounded like a reasonable, well-spoken gentleman. He asked me some of the usual sorts of questions about my experience and education as well as my reasons to move so far north. We talked a bit about pay scale and work conditions and so on. Then I had my chance to ask questions and fill out an application. He said he’d get back to me by Friday and asked me to send him a resume when I got home. (so I did)

Thursday, I received an email asking me to call on Friday to discuss a job offer. (WHOOT!)

In 5 days start to finish, I had a new job in the part of the world I wanted to go to. There are still some logistical things to work out, but it’ll work out.

After a decade of trying to find something, the speed of that turnaround is amazing. Almost like there’s a divine hand guiding things.

The Loudest Actions Cover Reveal

The Loudest Actions, sequel to Remnant in the Stars, is almost ready to publish. Editor Terri Pray and I have finished the editing, and artist Sam Pray has finished the cover art.

Here … check it out!

First contact missions are hard enough, but they get even tougher when the negotiator has an ego the size of a gas giant.

Burke Zacharias, a first contact researcher, is chosen to spearhead humanity’s first official contact with Montans, an insect race that has already had a run-in with less friendly humans. Although his words and overtures toward the Montans are cordial enough, the Montans are put off by how he treats the crew of the scout ship that brought him to the world.

With other, less friendly forces trying to establish a foothold on the world, the negotiation must succeed in spite of Burke, or the Montans could be facing extinction.

 

Under the Moon plans to release The Loudest Actions at the end of August.

Millennial Gifts to Christ

When Jesus comes to set up his kingdom in the Millennium, he’ll be given only 2 of the gifts he received as a baby.  Which two and why did the third one get dropped?

 

Flip to Isaiah 60:6.  He gets only gold and frankincense.  He doesn’t need the myrrh, a burial ointment, because he has already passed the point of his death, burial, and resurrection.

 

Clothing Misadventures

As I was getting ready for that Dallas interview last week, I discovered that all my interview-quality dresses have zippers in the back. I can manage that about half the time, but last Friday was not one of those days, and I only managed it by popping my shoulder. Ow.

Today, I went forth into the world to try to scare up a few dresses that don’t have back-facing zippers and don’t need dry cleaning. I got amusing reactions from salesfolks in the clothing stores.

Salesdudette: Can I help you find something?

Me: I’m on the impossible quest, and you may have the answer I seek. I need business-appropriate dresses for scrawny people who don’t like zippers in the back. Like size 0.

Most of them thought that was pretty funny … except for one grouch who apparently was not issued a sense of humor by her manager.

I figured out pretty quickly that I had to specify “business-appropriate” or they’d send me to Juniors, where clothes are designed to neglect the “under” part of the word “underwear.”

In the ladies/misses section of the stores, If you wear Size 6 or higher, you’re in good shape. Those were everywhere. Size 0 or XS is tough to find outside the Juniors area. I think the window decorations are wearing them all.

After touring the entire mall, I ended up with just one dress … and it’ll need a slight alteration to make it fit properly. Not a problem. A few quick stitches and good to go! There were other Size 0s there, but they either required dry cleaning, had a zipper in the back, revealed way too much, or were priced well beyond my budget.

My next stop was also disappointing. I found nothing smaller than a 4, which won’t withstand the pull of gravity.

At the next place, There were no 0s to be had, but I did scare up XS, which is equivalent to Size 2. Most of those had too much room in the top, but I found a skirt that fits if I tuck a shirt into it. Do you think I could find a shirt there that fit? Pfff… Nope. They were all made by The Paul and Barnabas Tent Emporium. Fortunately, although I wanted to match the blue or yellow in the skirt, a plain black or plain white shirt will go with it fine [I have one of each already], and I found a lovely scarf that matched the pale blue in the skirt, so good to go!

At the two places after that, I discovered that my definition of “business-appropriate” is much more strict that some people’s definition of that term… either that, or they’re thinking about a different sort of business. I’d really prefer that the dress’s hem is longer than my fingertips … much longer than my fingertips.

My last stop was the most fruitful. They didn’t carry 0s in the ladies’ section … and 0 in the Juniors had the usual problem. There were XS/2s, though. I did find a calf-length dress and a skirt-and-shirt combo.

In the end, I was victorious! … but it was an all-day adventure.

God’s Word Was Not Broken

In Genesis 49:10, the tribe of Judah was prophesied to have control of Israel until the Messiah came.  In AD 7, Rome took away Israel’s right to assign capital punishment for a crime.  (That’s why some 20-odd years later, the Sanhedrin had to go to Pilate to get Jesus killed.)  The priests of the day were convinced that the removal of the privilege of consigning someone to death was a breach of God’s promises to the tribe of Judah.  Little did they know that the Messiah had been born about a decade earlier and was living in Nazareth, learning how to be a carpenter.

Short Stories: Settings

Currently, I have 3 short stories in different anthologies (soon to be back up to 8 then maybe 9). The settings aren’t that complicated for any of them really, so let’s just go for all 3!

First, A Chimerical World: Tales of the Seelie Court: The Last Mission was published by Seventh Star Press. “The Last Mission” takes place in a hangar, in two starfighters (briefly), and on an enemy base. Zanforil doesn’t waste any time getting to his mission objective and getting out of there. This, a sci-fi tale, happens in a weird future time when Elves, Dwarves, and Goblins are around.

Second, Hero’s Best Friend: The Hat was also published by Seventh Star Press. “The Hat” takes place in an aviary, a tent, and the stage in a fairground. Cloud practices his hat-snitching trick in the aviary, has lunch in the tent, then flies off the stage during a show at the fairground when he sees the bad guy. I never really locked down a time for this tale. It’s sort of a generic Medieval kind of time.

Third, Medieval Mars: The Dragon’s Bane was published by Bear Publications. This one takes place on a future terraformed Mars. There is a livable ecology there now, and plenty of water (a little too much water in some places). In the lowlands, it’s bit warm and the atmosphere is pretty dense. The higher you go in altitude, the colder it gets and the thinner the air gets. Although there are artifacts here and there from the original settlers in the long-gone “Time of Magic,” the prevailing technology is Medieval, as the anthology title suggests.

 

Toast at the End of Ruth

What’s so weird about the toast at the end of Ruth?

 

The verse with the toast is Ruth 4:12.

And let thy house be like the house of Pharez, whom Tamar bare unto Judah, of the seed which the LORD shall give thee of this young woman.

That sounds okay, doesn’t it?  Yeah, if you don’t know what they’re talking about.  Check out Genesis 38:6-30.  Now what do you think about the toast?  Doesn’t it make you want to go, “Why you … scruffy-looking … NERFHERDER!”  Well, okay, maybe only if you can identify what movie that comes out of, but still, telling someone you hope his wedded bliss turns out just like Tamar and Judah is hardly a compliment.

 

Or is it?  Look at Ruth 4:18-22.  There you see the last ten generations of David’s lineage.  Count up the different names you see starting at Pharez.  Now go look up Deuteronomy 23:2.  How many generations does it take for a descendant of a child born out of wedlock to enter the congregation?  Interesting, yes?  The toast at the end of Ruth is actually a prophecy.  David is the first descendant of Pharez who can enter into the congregation.  That’s important for a young shepherd who’d grow up to be king.

 

Source: Missler, Chuck.  Commentary on the Book of Ruth.  Koinonia House.

The Condemned Courier: Setting

The serial version of The Condemned Courier was published on JukePop Serials.

I made up the world for The Condemned Courier after I built a map for it:

Condemned Courier

You’ll notice that my map got mutated more than once as I came up with reasons in the story for needing different people in different places. A lot of my maps look like this.

As I often do, I borrow Earth cultures for my story worlds. Schafland borrows name parts and other info bits from Germany. I don’t speak German, but I have a translation dictionary and I’m not afraid to use it … for at least one or two words at a time.

The Aelstrians (blue on the map), on the other hand, are totally made up. I developed their culture and even an accent for them to use when speaking to Schaflanders based on what would make sense for an out-sized bird.

The time frame, again, is a Renaissance era analog. That let me play with both rapiers and black powder pistols again.

The expanded novel version of The Condemned Courier will be coming from PDMI Publishing. We’re in the midst of edits just now.

The Oldest Prophecy from a Prophet

What is the oldest prophecy uttered by a prophet?

 

The prophet in question is Enoch.  You find his prophecy not in Genesis but in Jude 1:14-16.  The subject matter?  The 2nd coming of Christ.

Jude 1:14-16 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.  These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men’s persons in admiration because of advantage.