Archive for August, 2007
August 31, 2007
Go Deep: 6 Spiritual Things You Need to Learn in College
TrueU
by Jason Boyette
Dating? Nope. Drinking? Nah. I’m thinking about another of the big Ds on campus: Devotion. According to a much ballyhooed Barna study, more than three-fourths of your college friends maintain at least an outward commitment to Christianity.
But when it comes to young adults who were active churchgoers as teenagers, three out of five of them are currently spiritually disengaged. They don’t attend church. They don’t read the Bible. They don’t pray very often.
Filed under: real articles, real issues
Posted by T. Suzanne Eller @ 9:14 am | 1 Comment
August 29, 2007
Real Teens, Real Stories, Real Life was my first book, published in 2002. I met so many teens as I wrote this book. Many of their stories were powerful. One of those most amazing and difficult story was written by a teen named Nichole.
In her story, on page 69, titled “A Place to Call Home”, she shared what it was like to be raised in a home where dad raised marijuana, where they were kicked out of their home, or ran from police.
One day her parents took all of their belongings to a storage shelter. They left behind all of their furniture, but they also left something else very important behind at that storage building:
Eleven-year-old Nichole. (more…)
Filed under: real story, abuse, real interviews, family
Posted by T. Suzanne Eller @ 5:40 am | 4 Comments
August 28, 2007
THE NANNY DIARIES, RATED PG-13
DISTRIBUTED BY MGM
DIRECTED BY Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini (American Splendor)
STARRING Scarlett Johansson as Annie Braddock; Laura Linney as Mrs. X; Paul Giamatti as Mr. X; Nicholas Reese Art as Grayer X; Alicia Keys as Lynette; Chris Evans as Harvard Hottie; Donna Murphy as Judy Braddock
REVIEWED BY Bob Hoose, Unplugged
Excerpt of Unplugged Review: The Nanny Diaries is ostensibly about a young woman who takes an unexpected detour into an exotic, and sometimes bizarre, culture that’s only a few miles from her New Jersey home. (more…)
Filed under: real review
Posted by T. Suzanne Eller @ 1:33 pm | 3 Comments
August 28, 2007
City of Warm Rain
by Lydia Rule
This story is dedicated to children across the world who know or have known the torments of an abuser.
The rain is falling, falling from the dark night sky. Each one slaps my face with its frigid presence. Like prisms, the raindrops shatter on the ground beside me.
My skin is a sheath of ice. My blue lips can feel only the pounding of the rain. Perhaps this is not the beginning that you would expect from a story titled “City of Warm Rain”, but it is my story, as short as that may be.
I am lost in this city. I am somewhere alongside an exit ramp to some highway. The cars race by me as I sit alone in a muddy patch of grass. The headlights look bright and warm as they whiz by. (more…)
Filed under: abuse, lydia rule
Posted by T. Suzanne Eller @ 5:14 am | 2 Comments
August 27, 2007
David messed up–big time. He saw a woman bathing. She was out of sight, at least of most people. But David was king, and he was at the top of his palace. He had a total view, and he also had an opportunity.
To turn away.
But he didn’t. He wanted Bathsheba for his own. He was king, and if he wanted something he got it.
He got her pregnant. That’s a big problem when her husband is one of your chief officers, and he’s off fighting a war while you’re hanging with his wife.
David had another opportunity.
Do the right thing. Be honest. (more…)
Filed under: Real Bible Study, faith
Posted by T. Suzanne Eller @ 9:34 pm | 1 Comment
August 24, 2007
Closer than a Brother
By Michelle Payne, Guest Writer
Proverbs 18:24 …and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.
Matthew 21:22 And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.
“Michelle, Ms. Debi wants you to come over on Wednesdays to pack and deliver food for the needy families in our area.”
Little did I know, God was going to use Ms. Debi to draw me closer to Him. You see, I pray every night, read the Word every day, know what I believe, and have concern for the lost. Yep, I’m a pretty religious about my relationship with my heavenly Father, huh.
Filed under: Guest Writers, real devos
Posted by T. Suzanne Eller @ 10:48 am | 5 Comments
August 23, 2007
Stop Test-Driving Your Girlfriend
by Michael Lawrence, Boundless Webzine
Excerpt of article
“How do I know if she’s the one?”
I can’t think of a question I encounter more often among single Christians. The point of the question is clear enough. But a rich irony dwells beneath the question. In a culture that allows us to choose the person we’re going to marry, no one wants to make the wrong choice. Especially if, as Christians, we understand that the choice we make is a choice for life.
(more…)
Filed under: dating, real articles
Posted by T. Suzanne Eller @ 7:13 pm | 1 Comment
August 21, 2007
To Say Nothing of the Humor
Book Review by Jenn Joshua, RTF Staff Writer
Recently, I read Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog). When I asked around, I couldn’t believe that most people have never heard of it… Hopefully, no longer!
This book is hilarious and picturesque—rambling yet precise:
Jerome K. Jerome is a master storyteller and I still marvel at his comical translation of a real life event… especially since autobiographical works don’t tend to be that funny. (more…)
Filed under: real review, jenn joshua
Posted by T. Suzanne Eller @ 12:40 pm | 4 Comments
