Serving publishers by bringing Bible-centered ideas to life
Another College Student Not Thrilled with eBooks
Now THIS Is Good News A woman after my own heart. I hadn’t thought of this before, but her reasons for sticking with real live books make perfect sense to me!
James Cameron Is Writing an Avatar Prequel
You Had to See This Coming … If you’re one of the two people on the planet who hasn’t seen Avatar yet, then you might not be interested in knowing that the famed director is writing a novel that will answer all those unanswered questions, serving as the prequel to Avatar. Can you say NYT best-seller?
Building the World’s Biggest Book Club
A New Twist on a Book Club Is bigger better? You be the judge. Check out the world’s biggest book club and the woman behind the throne!
Archaeologists Link Ancient City Wall to Biblical Account
New Archaeological Find from Solomon’s Era The archaelogist hails the find as "the first time that a structure from that time has been found that may correlate with written descriptions of Solomon’s building in Jerusalem." The more they dig, the more the Bible is shown to be true. Keep on digging!
Barnes and Noble to Launch Tikatok Children’s Publishing Website
Get ‘Em While They’re Young It seems we can now feed the inner author in even the youngest among us. B & N’s launch of a children’s site is the latest entry into the world of self-publishing. And to think I just drew pictures, wrote captions, and stapled the pages together in MY early author days . . .
Say No More: The Banned Words of 2010
A New Way to Say It? We editors are always on the lookout for overused words—words that would be far better replaced with synonyms. Take a look at the just-released list of words that have done their duty in 2009 and need to be edited out (or so they say).
Miep Gies, who helped hide Anne Frank, dies at 100
The Loss of a True Hero Maybe you’ve never heard of Miep Gies, but without her we might never have read the diary of Anne Frank. She hid Anne’s family and rescued Anne’s diary. Miep passed away on January 11 at age 100. Thank you, Miep, for preserving and sharing a piece of literary history with us.
On this day in 1888, the most famous storm in American history began.
No one saw it coming. The previous day the weather had been unusually warm. The predictions were for fair weather. Then on the afternoon of March 11, light snow began to fall. Two days later, the northeast was buried in 46.7 inches of snow.
At the time, the Blizzard of 1888 was called the “worst storm in living memory,” and it still holds the distinction of the worst winter storm on record in many areas of the northeast. The blizzard also had a long-reaching impact. The U.S. Weather Service Bureau was created to help better predict the weather, and cities began taking responsibility for snow removal.
Storms have a way of bringing our lives to a standstill. While we have better ways today of tracking and predicting storms, we often don’t know where they will hit or how severe they will be.
Remember the disciples in the boat on the Sea of Galilee? There they were, in the middle of the lake, when an unpredictable storm caught them off-guard. They feared for their lives as they struggled to keep their boat afloat. And where was Jesus? Sleeping in the back of the boat. When the panicked disciples woke him up, Jesus rebuked the raging seas and the whipping winds. In an instant, the storm stopped. Then Jesus turned to his friends and said, “Where is your faith?”
Life’s storms are like that, too. Whether you are faced with attending a new school, dealing with an illness in your family, or coping with an unexpected loss, remember Jesus’ words. In the midst of the storm, we need to remember that Jesus is with us and that he can calm whatever storm we are facing.
“Where is your faith?” he asked his disciples. In fear and amazement they asked one another, “Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him” (Luke 8:25, New International Version).
What unexpected “storm” has taken you by surprise? Based on what you just read, write down three ways you can weather this storm.
Today is Johnny Appleseed Day.
1969—Levi-Strauss started selling bell-bottomed jeans.
From Betsy Schmitt and Dave Veerman, 365 Trivia Twist Devotions: An Almanac of Fun Facts and Spiritual Truth for Every Day of the Year (Cincinnati: Standard, 2005). Scripture quotations are from the New Living Translation unless otherwise noted.
The United States issued paper money in 1862.
Paper money was first issued during the Revolutionary War by colonial governments. While some of the money was readily accepted in exchange for goods, other bills were not. During the war, the Continental Congress issued bills called “Continentals.” But with no firm backing for the money, these bills essentially became worthless. As George Washington put it, “A wagonload of currency will hardly purchase a wagonload of provisions.”
It wasn’t until 1862 that the federal government issued Legal Tender Notes, also known as United States Notes. These new notes—issued in denominations from $1 to $1,000 (later $5,000 and $10,000)—were the first national currency used as legal tender for most public and private debts. Then in 1913, the Federal Reserve Act was passed to regulate the flow of money and stabilize the economy. These Federal Reserve Notes issued in 1914 make up more than 99 percent of today’s paper money.
Today, we value money for what it is able to purchase for us. People trust in their wealth to buy what they need and more—houses and cars, clothing, food, luxury items. We all understand and speak the language of money in our culture.
But King Solomon recognized an important truth: We can easily get trapped into trusting and depending on our money to meet our needs rather than God. We use money daily to solve our problems. Often it’s the easiest way to get what we want. Money is necessary for survival, but if we begin to love money more than God and depend on it to meet our every need, then we will soon run into trouble. People who build their lives on money rather than God soon discover that they have nothing in their spiritual banks.
Wisdom or money can get you almost anything, but it’s important to know that only wisdom can save your life. (Ecclesiastes 7:12).
Take out a bill and look for the motto “In God we trust.” Think of all the different ways you should trust in God rather than in money.
515 BC—The building of the great Jewish temple in Jerusalem was completed.
1880—The Salvation Army arrived in the United States from England.
1986—The Wrigley Company of Chicago raised the price of its seven-stick pack of Wrigley’s chewing gum from a quarter to 30 cents.
From Betsy Schmitt and Dave Veerman, 365 Trivia Twist Devotions: An Almanac of Fun Facts and Spiritual Truth for Every Day of the Year (Cincinnati: Standard, 2005). Scripture quotations are from the New Living Translation unless otherwise noted.
Today is Panic Day!
It’s official. Today you have permission to lock yourself in your room, grab your security blanket or favorite stuffed animal, and stay in bed until tomorrow. It’s Panic Day!
So what sends you into panic mode? A huge math test? Getting that book report done by next week? Maybe the idea of speaking in front of the class makes your hands start to sweat and puts your stomach in knots.
Whatever it is, we all face situations in which our first instinct is to hit the panic button. Tom Roy certainly knows. The Pennsylvania native came up with the idea of Panic Day in memory of his own panic attacks as a young actor. While he submitted the idea of this holiday as a joke, many people take this holiday all too seriously. Roy says, “Every year someone calls me and asks, ‘Did you create Panic Day because of all the stuff that’s going on in the world right now?’”
Good question. There’s plenty to read about or hear in the news to make anyone panic. At times events are enough to convince anyone that the world is out of control. You may even feel that way when you are forced to move because of a job transfer or when a loved one gets sick or when parents divorce. Life very quickly can go haywire.
So what can you do panic begins to bubble up? First of all, remember who is in control. As the psalm-writer reminds us: “But the Lord is in his holy Temple; the Lord still rules from heaven. He watches everything closely, examining everyone on earth” (Psalm 11:4). Nothing happens to you that God does not know about or see. Trust him to care and guide you whenever panic hits.
I form the light and create darkness,
I bring prosperity and create disaster;
I, the Lord, do all these things (Isaiah 45:7, New International Version.
Find out what puts your friends or family members into a panic. Remind them of who is in control.
Today is Barbie’s birthday!
1562—Kissing in public was banned in Naples (punishable by death).
1788—Connecticut became the fifth state in the U.S.
1858—Albert Potts of Philadelphia patented the street mailbox.
From Betsy Schmitt and Dave Veerman, 365 Trivia Twist Devotions: An Almanac of Fun Facts and Spiritual Truth for Every Day of the Year (Cincinnati: Standard, 2005). Scripture quotations are from the New Living Translation unless otherwise noted.
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