When Opportunity Knocks
November 14, 2008
A few Sundays ago, my husband’s church computer started smoking.
That’s not a good thing.
A lady in our church knew of a computer repair guy in town. In fact, only the week before this same repair guy, a man who is not a Christian, had fixed the church office’s hard drive for free. So Steve called him and told him he had another computer that needed work.
Turned out the power supply needed to be replaced. Steve told the man that we didn’t expect another free repair and that we’d pay for his work.
But the man had a better idea. He was the head of the local rotary club and needed a speaker for November’s meeting. Would my husband be willing to come and talk about our church?
Talk about God as payment for repair services?
Um, no problem.
So this week Steve went to the rotary club, got a free lunch, and at the end stood up in front of local business men and women and gave a clear, blunt plan of salvation.
He told them our church held to a literal view of the Bible and that the Bible says we are all sinners, that Jesus is the only way to heaven, regardless of how unpopular that is today. He kept his talk short, but he gave the complete truth in a loving yet uncompromising way. I joked with Steve later that those people hadn’t expected to go to church that Tuesday.
Strange, isn’t it? How do you explain a non-Christian asking Steve to do him this favor and making it clear he wanted Steve to talk about our church? God was in it — God sent that opportunity. We Christians often excuse our lack of witnessing by saying we don’t get chances, but when we do, we often cop out or sugarcoat the Bible. Even my husband said that as he was eating, waiting for his turn to speak, he felt the temptation to gloss over salvation, to maybe skip talking about the gospel altogether. But he knew he couldn’t.
Neither can we.
When opportunity knocks, I want to be bold enough to tell the complete truth without downplaying any aspect of man’s sinfulness or God’s perfection. I want to be bold enough to say that there is no other way but Jesus. I want to be bold enough to be deserving of the opportunities God hands out. I want opportunity to knock, and I want to meet it in a way that makes God smile.
Review of Lynn Austin’s Until We Reach Home
November 11, 2008
This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing
Bethany House (October 1, 2008)
by
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
For many years, Lynn Austin nurtured a desire to write but frequent travels and the demands of her growing family postponed her career. When her husband’s work took Lynn to Bogota, Colombia, for two years, she used the B.A. she’d earned at Southern Connecticut State University to become a teacher. After returning to the U.S., the Austins moved to Anderson, Indiana, Thunder Bay, Ontario, and later to Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Lynn resigned from teaching to write full-time in 1992. She has published twelve novels. Three of her historical novels, Hidden Places, Candle in the Darkness, and Fire by Night have won Christy Awards in 2002, 2003, and 2004 for excellence in Christian Fiction. Fire by Night was also one of only five inspirational fiction books chosen by Library Journal for their top picks of 2003, and All She Ever Wanted was chosen as one of the five inspirational top picks of 2005.
Lynn’s novel Hidden Places has been made into a movie for the Hallmark Channel, starring actress Shirley Jones. Ms Jones received a 2006 Emmy Award nomination for her portrayal of Aunt Batty in the film.
Among her lastest books are A Proper Pursuit and A Woman’s Place
ABOUT THE BOOK
Life in Sweden seems like an endless winter for three sisters after their mother’s death and father’s suicide. Ellin feels the weight of responsibility for her sisters’ welfare and when circumstances become unbearable, she writes to her relatives in Chicago, pleading for help.
Joining sixteen million other immigrants who left their homelands for America between 1890 and 1920, Ellin, Kirsten, and Sophia begin the long, difficult journey. Enduring the ocean voyage in steerage and detention on Ellis Island, their story is America’s story. And in a journey fraught with hardships, each woman will come to understand her secret longings and the meaning of home.
If you would like to read the first chapter of Until We Reach Home, go HERE
Sally Says: I was very eager to read Lynn Austin’s latest book because first she’s a great writer and second this is a book about immigrants coming to Chicago. You hear a lot of immigrant stories set in New York but not much in Chicago. And since I’m from there and love the history of the city and stories about people choosing to become American, I had to read the book.
To me this isn’t Lynn Austin’s best book. The book started rather slow with the story going back and forth between the three sisters as they each struggle with this somewhat forced decision to go to America. And it felt a bit repetitive as each sister dealt with the same emotions, some anger, some whining, over and over and over. So the story didn’t pick up and grab me until they actually made it to New York. And then it got good.
The book shows how hard and scary it is to leave home for another country, life, and culture — only to arrive and find it that you can’t just walk in and start this new life. And when they finally make it to Chicago, the girls are in for a huge shock that drives their actions the rest of the story.
Fans of Lynn Austin will enjoy the story as will fans of historical fiction. And I think anyone who reads it will appreciate the grit of their ancestors who made this choice and journey years ago.