whereisjodi.

Just as an fyi, I'm home in Boise for a week so postings might be a little slim. I'm the techy for our church's short term mission online training program so I had to come home and teach a class for our teams heading out this summer. Also need to attend a mandatory orientation for the Senegal trip next fall that, Lord willing, I'll be going along on. All exciting things and an opportunity to see the fam and a little snow.

The interview I did about "Taking a Stand in the Public Square" is now archived here if you'd like to listen.

Posted by authorjodi at 02:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I had quite a chat with a Samuel Adams saleswoman as we sat on the floor of the Vegas airport charging our computers. We talked about many things, but the funniest was who we thought had gotten bribed in this new 'no liquid' policy. I was telling her how I read cheap spy thrillers when I'm feeling particularly low-brow and the terrorist is always going to bring the world to an end with two drops of some deadly liquid -- far less than the 3-ounce minimum I've heard mentioned several times today.

We decided that someone in the ASSI (Airport Small Shop Industry) paid handsomely and is now reaping the benefits of charging .50 cents more for pop or water. The guy sitting next to us chimed in at that point and told us we could bring an empty water bottle through security and fill it at the water fountain -- which is information I wish I'd known this morning!

Question: I've just started reading a book called Islam by Karen Armstrong. I'll write more about it later, but here's a quote I don't think I agree with. What do you guys think?

Smaller Jewish groups continued to live in Medina, and later Jews, like Christians, enjoyed full religious liberty in the Islamic empires. Anti-semitism is a Christian vice. Hatred of the Jews became marked in the Muslim world only after the creation of the state of Israel in 1948 and the subsequent loss of Arab Palestine.

Posted by authorjodi at 07:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

I have to say, this was an interesting read. The most interesting thing about it -- not only did I agree with the 1776 Command, I could see events happening in the way the author played things out. There are plenty of times I think nothing I say will make one iota of difference, and more importantly, that Christian conservatives who actually have a national platform to speak don't make much difference either. It's not very difficult for me to imagine a day when a large group of individuals finally say they've had enough and decide to do something more radical about it.

Which leads me to the gun show my uncle took me to yesterday after church. I've never seen anything quite like it. You had to check your guns at the door to make sure they were unloaded or disabled. I, of course, wasn't packing, but my uncle and cousin were. We wandered around massive aisles of all kinds of weaponry and I was amazed at the variety of people who were there -- judging merely by appearances of course.

One "old boy" who came to the show with us went on and on about gun laws the Democrats had stacked up for this congressional session, all aimed at restricting the right to bear arms in one form or another. He said you should go ahead and buy this gun because it would soon be illegal, or stock up on that ammo because soon there'd be a monthly limit. From the looks of it, he wasn't the only one who felt that way and business was brisk.

We came home and shot guns again in the backyard -- my ears were still ringing from the shooting we'd done on Saturday so my uncle thoughtfully provided me ear protection this time. In fact, as I sit here this morning my right ear is still ringing so who knows whether I'll have permanent damage... ;)

A couple interesting news items this morning. First, James Cameron <of Titanic fame> claims to have found the coffins of Jesus, his wife Mary Magdalene and their son. I can't say I was very open-minded to begin with, but after reading a few articles I'm not too concerned that anyone will seriously be swayed by his findings.

Also, don't know how many of you are aware of this, but it's illegal to homeschool in Germany ever since Hitler instituted the Ministry of Education in 1937:

"The Youth of today is ever the people of tomorrow. For this reason we have set before ourselves the task of inoculating our youth with the spirit of this community of the people at a very early age, at an age when human beings are still unperverted and therefore unspoiled. This Reich stands, and it is building itself up for the future, upon its youth. And this new Reich will give its youth to no one, but will itself take youth and give to youth its own education and its own upbringing." Adolf Hitler

There are about 40 cases that the German government is prosecuting against homeschoolers right now, including one where police forcibly removed a girl from her parents' home and told the parents they would like them to give up custody of their other five children. The reason?

The German Embassy has indicated they cannot allow 'parallel cultures.' Christian homeschooling is a 'parallel culture' that Germany does not want.

Please take a moment to pray for our German brothers and sisters, struggling to live out their faith in a free western country.

Posted by authorjodi at 09:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

After less than 24 hours visiting my uncle just outside of Tulsa, I've almost decided that if America is ever invaded by a foreign power, I'm going to get in the car and drive straight here. He tells me that 70% of Oklahomans carry concealed weapons and the other 30% aren't able to.

While I'm a big supporter of the right to bear arms, it's a little odd for me to see them carried about so freely. I've never actually owned a gun other than the old pistol I inherited from my grandpa <which I've never fired because I put it in a locked case and promptly lost the key>. I'm not sure whether there's any relation, but I'm told this is also the capital of the Pentecostal movement. ;)

One thing I can tell you for sure about Tulsa, it's windier than any place I've ever been. Bertha rocked all night long -- tho thankfully the tornado warnings did not mention this county. I can't say I slept that great and even as I sit here typing I'm rocking almost constantly. Every once in awhile a big blast comes along and really slams me.

My uncle and I were discussing the illegal immigrant problem this morning and he told me of a Dallas man who drove his truck up to Lowe's where the day laborers hung out and got ten guys to hop in. He then drove them straight to an immigration office and told them that's where the job was. They walked in, were detained, then deported. I've spent 15 minutes trying to find this story on the internet -- anybody heard of it?

Posted by authorjodi at 01:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Earlier, I was driving along and saw a sign for the "largest cross in the western hemisphere" so I pulled off. Turned out it was called Groom Cross and I've provided a handy dandy pic with Bertha included so you can get a feeling for the scale of this thing. It was actually really neat -- they had statues all around it with the stations of the cross. I went in and had a long chat with the lady in the newly opened gift shop. I was curious if they'd ever had anyone try to shut them down a la some other crosses I've read about. She said no, they were on private property. I said -- ah, ah, that doesn't always matter if your offensive cross is viewable from public land...

Anyway, we had a nice chat and she told me I should stop at the multi-million dollar rest stops up the road. I did and that's where the tornado shelter was, as well as touch screen computers with different videos about Route 66 that you could watch. I tell you what, that was the nicest rest area I have been in, bar none.

Last night I stayed in Texola, Oklahoma, one mile across the border from Texas. I've thought about this all morning -- whether I should relate what happened last night. I think it's quite funny, but I don't want to alarm any of my relatives who already tend to worry. In my mind I'm under God's protection this entire trip -- either He's going to protect me or He's going to allow something to happen to me -- and there's not much I can do about it either way other than pray and try to follow some basic safety rules.

So...last night I had a hankering to watch one of my all-time favorite movies, I got the TV out and plugged in Sense and Sensibility. I wasn't five minutes in when I heard a gunshot, then five or ten minutes later there was some strange light activity going on outside. I turned everything off, opened the curtain to peek out and saw a sheriff's car cruising through the RV park with a MEGA spotlight that he moved in every direction. When he got all the way around and back toward the entrance, he stopped at the old restaurant there and got out with his handheld flashlight and his gun pulled -- I felt like I was watching TV through my window!

Obviously he didn't find anything. Another cop car came up and stopped quickly, then they both tore out in another direction. I didn't feel threatened in any way, so I guess that's why I find it more humorous than worrisome. I finished the movie with my can of pepper spray by me just in case and then went to bed. ;)

Today I've driven almost the whole length of Oklahoma and it has been the most exhausting stretch of the entire trip. I don't know many lines to the song Ooooooooooklahoma -- but isn't there one about the wind blowing across the plains? I have been blown hither and yon for almost 300 miles and I can't wait to arrive in Tulsa!

Posted by authorjodi at 01:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Through multiple forwards, today I received a comment about MPA:

My former student Jodi Cowles sent me a copy of the book she recently published, and I was very impressed. It is called The Minor Protection Act (ISBN 1-933204-11-7) Multnomah's library has a copy too. It's very well written, and riveting to read. Made for good airplane reading.

Ok, seriously, is there any review more satisfying than your college English professor saying your book is "well written" and "riveting?" I think not. ;)

Posted by authorjodi at 02:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

This afternoon, for the first time since I left Boise at Christmas, I decided to get the scooter off it's perch and take a little trek through the open plains. I came across a few old buildings and one old-looking "Country Church" which I believe was its actual name. They had a sign out front announcing Wednesday night Bible Study so I thought, what the heck, it'll be fun.

The announced time was 7:30 and I got there about 10 minutes early, then received a phone call that made me race in the door at 7:29. Unfortunately I'd gone in the youth group entrance and got nothing but stares. They directed me to the main sanctuary -- whereupon I burst into the meeting already in progress and stopped the pastor cold. Turns out Wednesday night Bible Study has been at 6:30 for the past two years, they just forgot to change the sign!

My entrance was pretty well the end of the show. The pastor closed in prayer, then came over to talk to me. He said he was going to go right out tomorrow with a paintbrush and fix the sign, but meanwhile what was I doing here? I don't know whether it was strictly out of guilt or not, but he and another fellow wanted to buy a couple books. Guilt would be my first guess because they didn't even ask what it was about before they had their wallets out... ;)

Anyway, I had a real nice chat with several of them. I'm sorry I missed Bible Study, but it was fun to chock up a few more folks that I'll be able to meet again some Day.

Posted by authorjodi at 07:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

For those of you who haven't heard, Focus on the Family had some big doings on Monday. A lesbian couple visited the campus and asked to speak to Dr. Dobson. When their request was denied they sat down in the lobby and refused to leave. They were then apparently arrested for trespassing and escorted off the premises.

The couple, members of the Christian gay activist group Soulforce, released a statement on the group's website which said the following:

The couple entered the building earlier in the day and refused to leave until the organization's founder, James Dobson, takes a step toward reconciliation with lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) communities by ceasing his misleading statements about research on lesbian and gay parents.

And further, Robynne Sapp was quoted as saying:

I am here today because I believed Dr. Dobson's teachings for many years, and it almost led to my suicide. My healing came from my acceptance of myself and my acceptance that God loves me exactly as I am.

How would you respond to someone who said this to you? And just in case you want another thing to pray about, Soulforce Q <the group's youth-led arm> is beginning their 2007 Equality Ride on March 8th. The Ride is described in a press release as:

The 8-week Soulforce Equality Ride will bring them to 32 Christian colleges with policies that silence or exclude lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) students. Their mission: to open a dialogue about the painful consequences of discrimination and the religion-based prejudice that sustains it.

If you were sitting at a Christian college when they drove up, what would you do?

Posted by authorjodi at 03:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Once I was watching a movie that described the space shuttle crash-landing in the Los Angeles canal system as a Class A Mishap. I have labeled my Mishap accordingly.

You see, as I mentioned during this morning's LBATL <Live Blogging at the Laundromat> Extravaganza, I've been having a bit of trouble finding propane the last few days. I began to wonder whether it was illegal in these here parts, so I decided to do a little investigatory work. On my walkabout this afternoon I managed to run across a woman in an alley who told me where I could score some top notch, grade A juice. Excellent!

However, as it was several miles down the road and I was already happily ensconced at another W/M party, I decided to wait til tomorrow. Unfortunately, when I checked the fridge at dinnertime my iceberg lettuce had experienced a form of global warming, so I realized I'd have to make the purchase tonight. Thinking all was well, but granted, in a bit of a tearing rush, I headed down the road. When to my wondering eyes did appear a Flying J, I pulled off and made for the ever-beloved propane island.

CRASH! SQUOOSH! BANG! Ok, not that dramatic, but a big CLOMP at least. I, a much-experienced RV driver at this point, had made my usual wiiiiiide turn, so I was quite dismayed that I must have banged Bertha's hiney on some invisible something. I got out to make my assessment and lo-and-behold, Bertha's hiney was fine but I'd banged the el crappo out of her stairs, which in my haste I'd neglected to retract.

At this point, I'm actually non-jokingly sorry to say, my usual expletive <dadgummit> was not what came out of my mouth. I apologized to God on the way into the counter while wondering what in the world had gotten into my tongue <see James 3:8>. I got some propane, kicked the stupid, offending stairs, watched for a moment a truck driver loudly retching into a trashcan while he filled up his tank, and headed back to the party. Luckily my space was still available though two more participants had joined in my absence.

After consulting with my most honorable father <via cell> we decided that the stairs were sticking too far out into traffic to be safe. Thus, I grabbed the hammer I keep under my admiral's driving chair <you can guess what for> and decided to whack the el crappo out of the bottom stair in the opposite direction. While employing the tried and true brute force approach, the hammer pinged out a shard of metal that hit my eyebrow. At that point I took my non-lacerated cornea and, with thanksgiving, gave up the brute force approach.

I whipped out my trusty Good Sam Emergency Roadside Assistance card and was immediately put on hold for 10 minutes <coincidentally, 9 1/2 minutes longer than I was on hold when purchasing the service>. However, when they answered we had a lovely discussion wherein I told him what an idiot I was and he did a good job not laughing at me -- though I can just imagine my call being used in future training scenarios. You see, I used to use those calls in my training scenarios.

Scenario A: Ditzy Female. In today's training scenario we will listen to a call from a woman who obviously should be doing something besides steering a motorhome down the open road. Your objective: don't laugh.

Anyway, turns out broken stairs aren't exactly covered. They'd cover a mobile mechanic to come out, but I have to pay for his parts and labor while he whacks the el crappo out of the stairs, hopefully to better effect than a broken eyeball. I said I'd get back to him and hung up.

At this point, my options were limited so I decided to eat my humble pie <play the ditzy female card> and go invite one of my six male neighbors to give me a second opinion. However, when I stepped out I ran smack into an elderly couple and, as I described my problem, the woman was the only one who listened while the man crawled into their coach. She came over and took a look and said, oh you're fine, it only sticks out a little more than your mirror.

I'm comforting myself with the fact that this is my first serious mishap <forgetting the unfortunate stuck-like-a-pig episode> in several months of travel...but I don't think that will be comforting enough when I'm driving down the road with the evidence of my memory lapse flapping in the wind.

The evidence of destruction is too beautiful for a teeny, tiny picture in the blog, so click here to view in all its gory detail.

Posted by authorjodi at 07:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

I read this story last week about Bank of America offering credit cards to illegal immigrants and I was so hacked I didn't write about it. I'm not one to boycott, but if I still had a Bank of America account I would go through the hassle of closing it and opening somewhere else <Washington Mutual, if you're reading this, please don't make the same stupid decision!>.

For some reason, this reminds me of the illogical argument about teaching abstinence as a legitimate sex-ed program. Everyone says, well heck, the kids are gonna do it anyway, we better just give 'em protection. Whereas teaching abstinence might actually make a difference... So B of A considers, well heck, the folks are still gonna be illegal whether we make a mint off 'em or not, we might as well cash in.

Posted by authorjodi at 11:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

I tell you what, this book tour is one excitement after another! :p I hesitate to tell you this is the first time I've hit the laundromat during this tour, but alas it is true. Thankfully, family visits have been timed ever so appropriately up til now.

The wind blew so hard this morning that I was none-too-gently awoken at a fairly early hour, so I got on the road with my three objectives: laundromat, post office, propane. I've been fairly well stumped regarding propane the last several days -- it doesn't seem that the gas stations in Texas are propane purveyors as I am used to, so I've kept my eyes peeled everywhere I go -- so far to no avail.

FYI, before I forget, I was interviewed again for the Home Schooling Radio Show last week, this time regarding the "real" issues that my book deals with. If you'd like to listen in, it'll be uploaded Thursday after 10a Central.

I tuned in American Family Radio this morning and heard a few minutes of an interview with Nonie Darwish, author of Now They Call Me Infidel: Why I Renounced Jihad for America, Israel, and the War on Terror. On the strength of the five or ten minutes I heard, I've put her book on my amazon wishlist. She was born in Cairo in the late 1940's and soon moved to the Gaza with her father, a high military official. He was assassinated by the Israeli's when she was eight and she talked about a key point in her life being when the politicians came and congratulated her and her family on her father's martyrdom against the Jews. They encouraged her and her siblings to kill Jews whenever they got the opportunity.

Later, one of her best friends was a Coptic Christian, and she was visiting one day when the mosque did their normal end-of-service cursing of the infidels. They were able to hear it in the house because of the loudspeakers and she said she saw fear in her friend's eyes and wondered what was wrong with her religion. She emigrated to America in her 30's and thought that the mosque would reflect the new American values she so prized. Unfortunately, when she attended, she found it was exactly the same. Women were devalued and the services ended with curses toward the infidel and calls to Jihad.

Sadly, my weak antenna cut out and I didn't get to hear the answer to why 9/11 prompted her to speak out. I'm traveling through such flat land it's astonishing. As far as I can see in every direction it's flat and mainly unoccupied. Lots of farmland and land for grazing and all that. I guess that's why I've been nearly blown off the road during the last couple days of travel -- no obstacles to stop the wind from tearing by.

Oops, the washing machines are done so it's time to try out the dryers!

Posted by authorjodi at 10:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Let me give you a few examples of how hate crime legislation has been enforced around the world:

• Swedish pastor Ake Green jailed for a month after the "hate speech" of reading what the Bible says about homosexuality in a sermon.
• Canada has the "Bible as Hate Literature" bill that makes publicly criticizing homosexuality a crime. Many people have been fined or run out of business for stating a belief that homosexuality is wrong.
• Just a month ago a British couple was told they could not adopt because of their beliefs about homosexuality -- they might show prejudice against a homosexual child adopted into their home.

Hate Crimes Legislation is built on the foundation of special rights for certain federally protected minorities. What are special rights? They basically say that if someone robs a heterosexual man he gets less jail time than if he robs a homosexual man. It's already happened. In New Hampshire a thief would have gotten somewhere between 3.5 - 7 years prison time and a $4,000 fine. Unfortunately for him, he called the homosexual he was robbing a derogatory name...that name cost him 23 - 26.5 additional years. Murder a white man - bad. Murder a gay white man - double bad.

This is not to say the thief shouldn't have the book thrown at him -- but why should it be a different book based on the sexual orientation of the victim? I don't get that. Special rights legislation makes certain people more valuable than others. Hate crimes legislation makes certain beliefs more valuable than others. For instance, my belief that the Bible says homosexuality is wrong would be ok as long as I didn't tell anybody -- but if HR 254 passes it'd be a whole different ballgame.

Read more here.

Posted by authorjodi at 07:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (9) | TrackBacks (1)

That was one of the nuggets of truth I wrote down from yesterday's Sunday School lesson at Kenna Community Church. And I mean that sincerely. Last night as I was trying to go to sleep I was overwhelmed with a feeling of uselessness over what I'm doing with my life at this moment. I got my first ever royalty check in the mail a couple days ago and in the year of 2006 I sold a grand total of 85 books through traditional venues. That's almost too humiliating to share with you. Granted, I sold more than twice that myself, but even then that's less than 400 books. I tried to reason myself out of the funk several different ways, but nothing seemed to work. As I sank further and further into despair, all of a sudden I remembered what the old cowboy had said -- and I told the devil to take a hike.

Either I'm doing what I say I'm doing -- trying to follow where God leads and earnestly asking Him to do what He wants with this book on a journey that's about so much more than book sales -- or I've been lying to myself and I really want to sell 20 million books. If I've been lying, I'd better start adding some swearing and sex into book two. If not, I guess I'll just keep putting one foot in front of the other.

After spending the night at the Roswell W/M, I didn't feel like putting any more effort into finding a church than I already had, so I thought I'd look for a Starbucks and charge my computer while listening to one of my own church's sermons. For the first time on this entire trip, I couldn't find a Starbucks within a couple blocks. Feeling fairly ambivalent about everything, I decided to just take off.

I drove for miles and miles through the flattest land, passing almost nothing on the way. Most of the time there was not a car in either direction as far as I could see, but lo and behold, I soon spotted a little white building off the side of the road in time to slam on the brakes. I should mention that I was up and out earlier than usual as my neighbor started his truck about 6-feet from my head at 6:30 in the morning and left it running for an hour. Consequently, I was up and going around 8, thus I was able to drive awhile before arriving only five minutes late for 10a Sunday School.

Luckily, five minutes late appeared to be the right time because a woman was just coming out of the main church building and introduced herself to me, then took me to the side building where they held Sunday School. There were about 10 folks there and it looked very much like the "cowboy" church they proclaimed it to be. We had a great discussion about Jesus saying you have to leave mother and father and etc., but that you will receive manifold blessings in return, both in this life and in eternity. We also talked about going out and living as Christians in our jobs during the week and not just acting good on Sunday. That's where the don't let the enemy kick your butt line featured.

At 11 we walked over to the main church building which was pretty small. Attendance was 26, based on the little wooden board that also gave last week's attendance and offering total. The pastor gave a real nice sermon and then -- the best thing of the entire morning as far as I was concerned -- they got into their "family" circle (which was all 26 of us holding hands in between pews) and sang I'm so glad I'm a part of the family of God. I can't even imagine something like this going on at my big church back home, but what a kick it would be. I really felt like they meant what they were singing. Afterward they continued to hold hands while birthdays and anniversaries were listed, then any special requests were mentioned before closing in prayer.

I had to stop before pulling out of the driveway and thank God for answering my request to find a good place to fellowship. What a cool way to answer -- out in the middle of the boonies!

For those of you who played the guessing game, you were correct. Saturday I spent a couple hours at the International UFO Museum & Research Center in Roswell, New Mexico. I have to say, after reading extensive amounts of sworn statements, I've become a believer that we're not alone... ;)

Actually, I read their entire Roswell "incident" display, which took up half the museum, and I think I can say with confidence that the government covered something up. I don't personally think it was a crashed alien ship with 4 recovered alien bodies...but I think our government is quite capable of royally messing up and then doing everything in their power to make it all go away <although I don't think they don't get away with it now as well as they used to>.

I'm not saying it would wreck my entire belief system if I found out God had created other inhabited planets and they happened to intersect with ours at some point -- I just don't happen to think that's the case. I've always thought that the UFO phenomenen is just the spiritual realm breaking into our dimension.

That's probably enough discussion about aliens, but if you ever happen to be traveling through Roswell, I would suggest a trip to the Museum is totally worth it for the laugh factor alone.

Posted by authorjodi at 10:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

Who can guess where I was today?

Posted by authorjodi at 08:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Cali is acting particularly psychotic tonight -- she's racing around like someone gave her a dose of heroin. I hear catnip is like kitty heroin, but she hasn't had any of that so I'm not sure what's going on. I imagine she'll calm down after awhile and get set for one of her 27 daily naps. At least she's not doing this at 3 in the morning -- I'm not a particularly happy pet owner when that happens.

I've spent the majority of the day working on book two and it's been mostly fun, except for the fact that I can't remember where President Farmer went to college. I don't want to send the new President to the same school, but I'm going to have to get out a copy and look that little detail up. I've already had to look up a few other details about continuing characters and it's a little frustrating. I have to keep reminding myself I wrote the bulk of those details more than four years ago so it's not exactly surprising that I've forgotten a few things!

I read once that J.K. Rowling gave the first couple pages of a soon-to-be-published Harry Potter sequel to a charity. They auctioned it off and made a mint. Too bad I don't have a small sliver of her fame -- I could tell you that I knock someone off in the first chapter and let the bidding frenzy begin. Might even be able to buy a couple tanks of gas that way! :p

However, although I am not richer than the Queen of England <as is my colleague J.K.>, today I decided to splurge and ordered pizza. I was talking to the owner of the park this morning and he told me Domino's would deliver, so I called them up and they just needed to know what space I was in. I was outside chatting with my neighbor when he pulled up so it was super easy. And, I must say, it was also painless because my neighbor bought a book which paid for the pizza. ;)

Posted by authorjodi at 08:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Posted by authorjodi at 10:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I decided to ignore V-Day and take the night off last night, so I did a 3-D puzzle and watched a little TV. Did I mention the RV park I was at the past two nights had 60-channel cable? Bad. Very bad. :p

Anyway, here's a picture of my amazing handiwork. Have you ever done a 3-D puzzle? This was my first one and I found it not only way difficult, but also quite fun. I think I'll try another with something besides a zillion pieces of blue! ;)

Posted by authorjodi at 09:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Take today, for instance, when I was on a sunset nature walk through the White Sands National Monument. We could fan out all we wanted on the dunes, but once we went into the interdunal spaces we had to walk single file. Why? Because there's something called cytobacteria that grows there and nourishes plant life. Without cytobacteria not one single plant could exist in that 250 square mile region. It's just some small, black fungus looking stuff but when you step on it you kill it, thus the single-file walking. The guide told us there are other national parks in this region where the signs say "don't bust the crust." The bacteria we killed would grow back in a couple weeks -- elsewhere it takes up to 40 years.

Later on our walk we saw different kinds of plants and trees able to co-exist with the ever changing dunes. A plant will start it's life in an interdunal space in a nice bowl of cytobacteria, but then the dunes will shift and try to drown it so it has to get real tall, real fast. Thus you get a 6-foot yucca with a 40-foot root system. Or the dune could decide it'd like to move on. Other plants send out branches to surround the sand they're sitting on like a net and they end up with their own little island or "pedestal." I have to tell you, those yuccas and pedestals were just itching me like crazy to come up with some sort of spiritual metaphor! ;)

We got to a high point in time to see a sunset that lit the entire sky, 360 degrees around. It was stunning and of course my camera battery died at just that instant! I did get a few pics though. If you'd like to see them, as well as pics from my earlier trip to the White Sands Missile Museum, click here.

I'd like to wrap up by sharing a comment my dad posted earlier this evening. I don't know how many of you are "comment" readers but I thought this was so amazing I'd paste it into a regular post so no one would miss it.

so this lady calls me about going to the Holy Land. I ask her why she wants to go. she says, do you have a couple minutes, yes, I say. she says "I'm 55, smoked all my life, used to do drugs. last year I felt lumps and could hardly take a full breath. a friend told me I was going to die within 6 months the way I coughed like another friend who just died. I got out of the car one day and could not breath, I leaned on the hood and decided to call a guy that worked with me since from something he said I thought he might know God. I called him and told him how bad I was and did he know how to pray, I had heard some people pray for the sick, lay hands or something like that. Anyway he said yes and prayed for me over the phone. I felt my chest go up and down 5 times or so involuntarily, like I watched my chest just do its own thing. I felt for the lumps...they were gone. I have felt like I am 30 again for the past year. I want to go walk where my saviour/healer walked."

What a mighty God we serve.

Posted by authorjodi at 09:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

A couple days ago I was in an RV park in Willcox, Arizona. Contrary to my normal pattern of pulling in, setting up, and sitting at the computer all day -- I ended up chatting with the manager and another resident for several hours. The next day the manager popped by to see if I wanted a ride into town and I went grocery shopping with her. When I left yesterday they both gave me a hug and wished me well.

After driving through 200 miles of spacious desert I pulled into Las Cruces, New Mexico and another RV park. While getting situated I noticed that my neighbor's license plate was an Idaho 1A so I went over to say hi. I ended up staying 3 1/2 hours shooting the breeze and sharing dinner with them.

I know this probably doesn't seem like odd behavior, but for me it is. I'm so used to only spending time with close friends and others who exist in my Christian bubble. It was different when I was working in a traditional office setting -- I tried to be salt and light over a broad expanse of time without ever really being verbally explicit about my beliefs. But these random, brief encounters with people the last several days have made me think.

I almost feel like these encounters were as ordained as the "impressions" I wrote about a couple days ago -- mainly because it goes against my natural inclination toward spending time alone. I didn't force these conversations, I was just open to having them and <mostly> not worrying about what I should be doing instead. And I want to be clear, I never felt one smidge of leading to share the Gospel. The only thing that would have given a hint of my belief system was a casual mention of church or the response to where I went to college.

So here's my question. Can you be salt and light when you only interact with someone for a couple hours and never see them again? Can you be salt and light without mentioning the Gospel?

Posted by authorjodi at 11:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

Last night's sunset was a beauty.

And if the picture doesn't inspire you, let me offer the following video. If you haven't seen the movie Facing the Giants, it's your basic football movie where the underdog triumphs in the end.

But to me, the most amazing clip in the whole movie is this one. It speaks to me on so many levels about the difficulty of the Christian walk and the power of perseverance. If you've got six minutes, I suggest you take a look.

Posted by authorjodi at 05:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

I argued for the next six miles, telling God there was no reason for it, and furthermore, I wasn't even sure whether this impression was from Him or my own loony self. I finally decided I'd better turn around, even if it was my own loony self -- just in case it was God's leading. The funny thing is, it was way more packed than I'd seen from the freeway, there was no parking, and I just ended up driving around for 10 minutes. I never found the parking lot I was looking for, got back on the freeway and drove on with no understanding of what had just happened.

Those of you who've been reading for awhile might remember the time I rode my scooter to a house on top of a hill because of one of these impressions -- with similar unanswered questions. I didn't bother to write about what happened a day or two later when I was driving through a blink-and-it's-gone town, saw a women in a motorized wheelchair and had the impression I should stop and give her a book. I argued with God for 10 miles that time before turning around and zooming back. She wasn't where she'd been, but I caught up to her further down the road. A couple weeks ago I drove Bertha a mile down a severely potholed dirt road to give a book to some woman in a trailer beside an Indian church.

Here's the thing -- I'm trying to be open, I'm trying to listen for that still, small voice. But I never really know if it's God or if it's me. Usually my criteria for figuring out if it's God or just my loony self is that I don't want to do it and I get pretty irritated when I have to. For example, I never get the impression I should stop when driving by Baskin Robbins, but if I did I wouldn't be irritated about it! ;)

It'd be easy to figure out if I had some fabulous outcome, like a recent story I read about Beth Moore. She was told to do something crazy by God and things worked out beautifully. Or a story my dad told me about Max Meyers having to drive 50 miles back to pick up a hitchhiker God had told him to pick up, but he'd driven 50 miles past while arguing. When he got back the hitchhiker said "are you from God?" The hitchhiker had told God that he'd believe in Him if God sent one of His servants to give a lift.

Those kinds of stories are inspiring -- me making a loop on the freeway for no apparent reason is not. Has this kind of thing ever happened to you? Besides the obvious things like knowing God's not going to tell you to rob a bank, how do you distinguish if it's the voice of God?

Posted by authorjodi at 01:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

All the marketing materials I read talk about the first step of marketing which is using your circle of influence. I've decided I need to get over the problem I have with this idea, thinking it's somehow mercenary...so here goes. 

I'd like to ask those of you reading this to consider sending a few e-mails to family and friends who might be interested in my book. You can include any number of links, such as:

1. Link to the main MPA website which will give them the overview of the book, as well as some reader comments. They can also read the first chapter there.
2. Link to a website where they can listen to the first chapter in an audio file, read by yours truly.
3. Link to the amazon page where they can purchase the book.
4. Link to my podcast if you think they might be interested in the reality behind some of the themes in the book.

In sum, I'd appreciate any e-mails or word-of-mouth you feel led to undertake. Phew. Now I can cross that chore off my 1001 dread-marketing-duties list! On a positive note, I sold nine books today which is a world record for this author's tour.

Posted by authorjodi at 09:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

The interview I recorded a couple weeks ago for the Home Schooling Radio Show is going to be aired on Monday. You can listen to it after 10am (Central) by clicking on the link and hitting listen now. I'll update this post on Tuesday when I find where it will be permanently housed.

UPDATE: The interview is permanently housed here. Scroll down and look for the February 12th episode.

Posted by authorjodi at 10:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

I'm sitting in the parking lot of the Wycliffe SIL (Summer Institute of Linguistics) center in Catalina, Arizona after navigating the 4-lane-white-knuckle traffic of Phoenix yesterday. I was on my way to Tucson to visit my aunt, but decided to stop in and see the place my grandparents lived for a year in the 80's. They were here when the center was first being built and I met several people yesterday who said my grandpa wired their house.

I don't know how many of you have heard of Finishers, but as I got toured around yesterday meeting different people, that organization came to mind. Finishers coordinates mission opportunities for adults who may have retired from their first career but are still strong and able and want to be used of God.

There are around 100 volunteers here who qualify under that heading. They mostly live in RVs and spend the winter months doing all kinds of different work to assist the local staff and translators in Mexico. I only met a handful yesterday, but I decided right off the bat that they are having a ball giving God the second half of their careers!

I hope that I'm as faithful in my second half when that time comes around.

Posted by authorjodi at 09:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Ok, I hesitate to write about this because of my poor friends and family who are suffering from winter chills -- but I am absolutely sweltering here in the Lowe's parking lot. For example, I went for a short walkabout and when I returned, this is what Cali looked like. She didn't move when I came in. Normally that's no big deal, but all of a sudden I was worried she'd expired from the heat or maybe got shocked by some mysterious engine wire down there. Thankfully, she was just in the middle of deep REM and couldn't be bothered to acknowledge me.

Back to sweltering -- I had to give in and turn on the generator for a few precious minutes so that I could run the air conditioning. And while I'm on the subject, whoever it was that invented AC should get the Nobel Peace Prize IMHO. I ate my mac-n-cheese leftovers stone cold because the microwave is about as effective as me breathing on something when it's generator-powered, but I didn't mind as it helped cool me down a degree or two. Here I was thinking I needed to get the propane refilled soon so I wouldn't freeze to death!

Posted by authorjodi at 03:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I finally saw the wild burros! As I was leaving Lake Pleasant I saw a number of cars pulled to the side of the road. Because of my vast, newly acquired, RVing experience...I now know this means WILD ANIMAL SIGHTING! ;) Of course they were so far away this is the best picture I could get with full zoom.

Now I'm sitting in a Lowe's parking lot a few miles up the road waiting for the hoped-for call from a radio station <my people will call your people>. Too bad I don't actually have people to wait for me -- then I could be sipping a Dr. Pepper and reading a book while someone else sweats it out. :p 

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Posted by authorjodi at 06:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

My uncle told me there were wild burros in this park, and though I heard them hee-hawing last night, I wasn't able to lay my eyes on any. Maybe when I take a walk today.

I tell everyone that one of the reasons for this blog's existence is to share how hideous it is to be a self-promoter, so I probably ought to share some of the "hideous" instead of keeping it in and moping around. For some reason, after a week of positive steps forward, this morning my mood is in the dumpster.

I think part of it might have to do with the fact that I talked to a former coworker this morning. She called to ask a techy question and ended up telling me what's going on in my old department. All of that combined to remind me that, if things don't turn around in a fairly significant way, I'm going to be searching for a new cube-world job before the end of the year.

I do feel like I've been making some headway in promotion, but the rock-bottom equation is the amount of books I'm still carrying around and that number isn't changing all that much. The logic of that number keeps me wondering how much longer I can carry on this adventure, or how long I should. Sometimes it almost makes me wish people would tell me my book stinks so that I could put it away in a closet and get back to normal life. But every few and far between time that someone gives me some sort of positive comment I grasp it like a drink of water in the desert -- just enough sustenance to keep going another mile.

I called a radio station in Phoenix this morning. The guy at the station in Prescott gave me their number as a possibility since they do Christian talk radio which he thought might be a better format for me. I left a message, then sent a follow-up e-mail, and I've got to tell you -- it's just nerve-wracking trying to explain to a stranger why they should find you interesting enough to invite on their program. I've mostly gotten over the horror of explaining my book to people and having them look at me with glazed eyes, but this is even worse!

Anyway, sorry if this was a downer entry, but I guess I'd rather be real than happy-happy-fake all the time. I'm off to read my Bible, which is probably what I should have done in the first place!

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Seriously, isn't the cactus a weird plant? It's not really a tree. It's not really a bush. I felt for the first time today that I was in new territory on this trip. I'm quite familiar with deserts and mountains and rivers and oceans -- but cacti are a new animal. I've seen them before, it just feels somehow alien to be driving through them or, as the picture shows, sitting next to them as I type away on my computer. ;)

I'm at a certain lake, of which you will find out the name tomorrow or the next day as per risk management guidelines. Tonight I'm doing what's called "semi-primitive" camping which means I have to pay $10 for the scenery, but that's about all I get. It's like the W/M with a nice view and less traffic noise. :p

Sheesh, sorry for the interruption, but yet another person just paused and gawked as they were driving by. Sometimes I think I must have forgotten to comb my hair or something worse...until I realize they're looking at Bertha's massive signage. Hopefully they wrote down the address and will go home and look me up!

This last picture is of the peaceful location I staked out for a half hour or so before it got too cold. I should clarify -- got too cold for the t-shirt and shorts I was wearing. It got hotter and hotter the farther I dropped from Prescott.

Posted by authorjodi at 05:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

So I've decided I'm not posting a "teaser" entry again, regardless of whether I only have a minute to write, unless I'm certain I can get back and post in the evening. That didn't work out for me last night and I feel slightly guilty being the yes-but-no son of Matthew 21. ;)

Here's a picture for you to guess at? Any ideas? Yes my friends, this is dawn. It was so momentous for me to see it that I took a picture. ;)

As promised, though belatedly, here's a picture of my favorite target when I went shooting with my uncle and cousin on Sunday afternoon. We drove into the boonies -- which, conveniently enough, is not too far -- and took aim with a couple 22's. We picked up beer cans along the way, but the thing I loved shooting at the most was this piece of a computer someone had left out there. I know I joke about firebombing the Microsoft offices every so often, but as that will never happen I found emptying an entire magazine into this Windows representative quite cathartic. I can highly recommend for complete mental health. :p

Monday morning I woke up at the crack, as evidenced by the first picture, and went into the house to eat breakfast and listen to myself on the radio. I can't say that it was highly enjoyable. I did get a big kick out of the DJ doing several promos for the upcoming interview, but when he played my answer to the question what's the book about, I was dismayed that after all this time I couldn't be a little more coherent! Oh well.

After the interview my uncle took me on his famous tour from which I've selected these two pictures. It was really quite amazing to see the wierd rock formations and vivid red coloring. The first picture is coming into Sedona and the second one is called Slide Rock. My uncle said people...slide...down it. Sometimes I'm amazed at the creative naming our forefathers came up with. ;)

We went through Sedona and a very cool looking canyon, then down into Cottonwood which is where my grandparents started a church. After the church we went up Mingus Mountain which was about the most corkscrewy road I've ever driven. It was pretty fun driving a little car but I think I would have earned a gray hair or two if I'd been driving Bertha. The story my uncle told me is that my dad used to go screaming up that hill at 75 while his little brothers sat in the back seat of the Porsche and yelled at him to go faster. However, when I spoke to my father last night he said "what's this about me going 75?" so I guess there's a difference in the memory of two brothers, which I believe is possibly the first time in history. :p

I'm getting ready to head out of Prescott Valley this morning after a lovely visit. Next up, Phoenix and Tucson. I felt like my interview went real well last night -- it's supposed to be posted today so I'll send you a link when I get one.

Posted by authorjodi at 11:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I just got back from a big day driving through some family history and have to run in the house and do a phone interview with Active Christian Media in a few minutes.