Shallow Pots
by Maddee Schrader, RTF Staff Writer, 16

So bloom! She said, Where you are planted for
If not you’ll wither quick. The novelty
Of being new will only shade you for
So long from sun of loneliness and sighs.

The soil is too hard, I whined, the ground
Unyielding still. The people do not see
Me; I am like a potted tree that is
Not flow’ring bright for bees to see and come.
I’ve been here for a year and yet I do
Not belong still. This place is not for me.

She looked askance at me, her shaking head
To tell me how she disapproved of that.
You answered it yourself, my dear, when said
That you’re a potted plant. Those trees, you see,
Have roots that do not grow. To be in life
And live and love and laugh, you must break out
Of shallow pots, and struggle through the rough
And rocky soil ‘til you find the soft
And tender ground that’s somewhere underneath.

From Campus Life, March/April 2008: 5,000 readers voted in the Ignite Your Faith Gold Ear Music Awards, and [drum roll] here they are. . .

Best Male Vocalist 

1. John Cooper, Skillet
2. Trevor McNevan, Thousand Foot Krutch
3. Matt Thiessen, Relient K
4. Jeremy Camp
5. Jon Foreman, Switchfoot

honorable mentions: Mark Hall, Casting Crowns; Jason Dunn, Hawk Nelson

Best Female Vocalist

1. Lacey Mosley, Flyleaf
2. Alyssa Barlow, BarlowGirl
3. Tricia Brock, Superchic[k]
4. Krystal Meyers
5. Rebecca St. James

(more…)

Goodbye School
by B.J. Hamrick, RTF Staff Writer

Dear School,

I fell in love with you back in first grade. You were fun, attractive, and easy to get along with. We played games, laughed, and spent a lot of time on the playground.

Then the honeymoon ended.

By our sixth year together, you became sickeningly needy. I hardly wanted anything from you, but you always demanded something from me. The worst part was when I couldn’t spend time with my friends because I was too busy attending to you.

(more…)

Writer’s Bloc

The Spartan
By Jamin Goecker

Ben rolled over and punched his pillow. His clock beamed 12:03. He sighed and lay on his back. Green blobs vibrated in the lava lamp on his desk. Moonlight cut through the blinds and stabbed a multicolored award tacked on the bulletin board over his desk.

Best eighth grade Bible verse memorizer

Did I get that only a year ago? I’m certainly old enough by now not to be afraid of being alone

His lip quivered as a laundry pile rose and formed an armored figure. The soldier lowered a long spear and tickled Ben’s throat with its leaf point.

(more…)

This week’s lesson is On Fire! Hey, it’s great AND it’s free! How do we know about it? Suzie is one of the curriculum writers for RLD, and it’s a great tool she is excited about. (No, we don’t get any kickbacks from this, just the satisfaction of sharing a resource with those who teach and work with teens seeking real-life faith).

Maddee: Congrats on your recent wedding! After writing so much about a single girl and her dating relationships, what is it like to be married?

Erynn: It is awesome! My husband, Jon, is my best friend – we have so much fun together. Thanks for the congrats!

Maddee: Are any of the characters in your books based on real people?

Erynn: A couple of characters are based on composites of different people I know – but there isn’t one that’s just based on one specific person.

Maddee: You say you love coffee, so what are your favorite three drinks at Starbucks?

Erynn: Oh gosh…Mocha, Caramel Frappuccino and um… oh! The Cinnamon Dolce Latte. That one is yummy. (more…)

Miss Match by Erynn Mangum

Review by Maddee Schrader, RTF Staff Writer, 16 

Erynn Mangum published Miss Match when she was twenty-three, and calls it semi-autobiographical. I’m always cautious of first-time authors, but in several cases have felt shamed afterward for doubting. Enough said.

Lauren Holbrook is twenty-four, living at home and working at a photography studio owned by her best friend from first grade. Besides being alarmingly addicted to coffee (“liquid candy bars”) and Milky Way bars, she might be considered normal save for her unusual hobby.

She is a matchmaker. (more…)

“The LORD alone is God! The LORD alone is God! We have not built the altar in rebellion against the LORD. If we have done so, do not spare our lives this day.

But the LORD knows, and let all Israel know, too, that we have not built an altar for ourselves to turn away from the LORD. Nor will we use it for our burnt offerings or grain offerings or peace offerings. If we have built it for this purpose, may the LORD himself punish us. ”We have built this altar because we fear that in the future your descendants will say to ours, ‘What right do you have to worship the LORD, the God of Israel? Joshua 22:22-24 New Living

Can you imagine building an altar to let the whole world know that you are serving God, only to see an army of angry warriors coming over the hill to crash the party?

That’s what happened to the people of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manassah. Talk about misunderstood! But did you know this is still going on today?  (more…)

A few days ago I heard two different people with two very different ideas talking about the movie, Expelled. This is what one of our favorite sites, Planet Wisdom, had to say about it:

Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed
Rated PG
reviewed by Christopher Lyon

Ben Stein’s documentary about the battle in the scientific community between Intelligent Design and Darwinian evolution is NOT a debate film.

Stein mostly doesn’t try to make the case for Intelligent Design (ID) or get too deeply into the science of evolution. What he wants to do is make the case that the scientific and academic establishment is freezing out legit ID scientists from participating in the conversation. And he makes that point convincingly — especially if you were pretty sure that was true to start with. (Read rest of review. . .)

Real Quote from Review: As Bible-believing Christians, we are convinced that God created all life. Here’s my bias: I’m going to believe that no matter what. Faith in God as revealed in His Word is my first commitment. Because I’m so convinced, I believe that a thorough and free study of the scientific evidence will, in fact, eventually reveal that a designer is necessary for life to exist.

Suzie: Hi Shelley, I met you first through reading advanced copies of your books (which I loved!). It’s great to meet you. Tell us a little bit about your writing journey.

Shelley: And I was thrilled to see such a great review … it made my week! I’ve been writing all my life, and have always known that was what I wanted to do. After a B.A. in Literature from the University of California, I earned an M.A. degree in Writing Popular Fiction in 2002 from Seton Hill University in Pennsylvania.

I watched with interest the meteoric popularity of a certain glitz-and-glam series that shall remain nameless, and then came a blinding moment of clarity when I … well, okay, it wasn’t that dramatic. I was eavesdropping. I overheard some women talking about their daughters’ reading material, and I could tell by their voices how distressed they were about it, yet on the other side of the coin, their girls were reading. We all want teens to be reading, right? So it was a dilemma for these parents.

A light went on in my head and I thought, “What if there was a series of books where, given similar choices and circumstances, the characters made different decisions based on their faith?” Next thing I knew, I was running for my computer! (more…)