Mingling with Splendors

This is going to be an extended quote from the book How the Gospel Brings Us All the Way Home by Derek W.H. Thomas: (I believe it is worth reading all the way to the end.)

Derek Thomas introduces this lengthy quote by C.S. Lewis in this way:

Surely our vision of what lies before us is too small. Great things are in store for those who are in union with Jesus Christ. Allow C.S. Lewis to expand your idea of what glorification is:

And then he shares these thoughts from C.S. Lewis:

We are to shine as the sun, we are to be given the Morning Star. I think I begin to see what it means. In one way, of course, God has given us the Morning Star already: you can go and enjoy the gift of many fine mornings if you get up early enough. What more, you may ask, do we want? Ah, but we want so much more -- something the books on aesthetics take little notice of. But the poets and the mythologies know all about it. 

We do not want merely to see beauty, though, God knows, even that is bounty enough. We want something else which can hardly be put into words -- to be united with the beauty we see, to pass into it, to receive it into ourselves, to bathe in it, to become part of it. That is why we have peopled air and earth and water with gods and goddesses and nymphs and elves -- that, though we cannot, yet these projections can enjoy in themselves that beauty, grace, and power of which Nature is the image. 

That is why the poets tell us such lovely falsehoods. They talk as if the west wind could really sweep into a human soul; but it can't. They tell us that "beauty born of murmuring sound" will pass into a human face; but it won't. Or not yet. For if we take the imagery of Scripture seriously, if we believe that God will one day give us the Morning Star and cause us to put on the splendor of the sun, then we may surmise that both the ancient myths and the modern poetry, so false as history, maybe very near the truth as prophecy. 

At present we are on the outside of the world, the wrong side of the door. We discern the freshness and purity of morning, but they do not make us fresh and pure. We cannot mingle with the splendours we see. But all the leaves of the New Testament are rustling with the rumors that it will not always be so. 

Some day, God willing, we shall get in. 

When human souls have become as perfect in voluntary obedience as the inanimate creation is in its lifeless obedience, then they will put on its glory, or rather that greater glory of which Nature is only the first sketch ... And in there, in beyond Nature, we shall eat of the tree of life.

Foundation by Isaac Asimov - Book Review

I am fascinated by old(er) Science Fiction. I am aware that some of it can be extremely dated. There are some aspects and terminology, that we now know is simply non-sensical. But I still find these books to be quite interesting.

I am drawn to books by authors that have almost defined the genre. Names that get tossed around by the best of the new authors as one who inspired them. Isaac Asimov is one of those names and The Foundation Series belongs to those books that could be considered classics in their area.

In the front leaf of the first book of The Foundation Series, we can read:

Three great classics from the annals of science fiction - Foundation, Foundation and Empire, Second Foundation - describe the events which transpire over a period of more than a thousand years, resulting in the erection of an ideal universal ruling corporation.  

In Foundation, Isaac Asimov draws a compelling portrait of the Foundation's embryonic development and rise to peripheral power - domination of kingdoms on the outskirts of the Galaxy.

Unlike most books that I have encountered, there is no real attempt to stick with one or two main characters throughout the series. In fact, even in the first book, there are several smaller stories that deal with different "crises" in the timeline of the Foundation... the Foundation being the establishment of a small colony at the far edges of the Milky Way Galaxy, planted there by a scientist attempting to shorten the "dark ages" between Galaxy-Wide Empires.

The book is very grand in it's scale, and I can already see in it inspirations that may have impacted others in the broader scope of popular SciFi movies and television. I can also tell that Asimov has drawn from Earth's own history in the ideas of the rise and fall of empires and the ages that span between these conglomerations of people and technological advances.

Even though the book is broken into smaller stories with different characters, I didn't feel disconnected from the flow of events. Quite often when a book is broken up, if there isn't at least one main character to hold my devotion, I can tend to walk away from the book. With Asimov, he introduces you to the new characters quickly enough to draw you in. I also began to feel like the foundation itself and the "history" of this galaxy became the central characters.

If you are into SciFi and you also have an appreciation for things that were once new, then I would like to encourage you to pick up a copy of this book and give it a read. With the links provided in this blog post, you can get to an Amazon Kindle copy that is only around $4.99 with links to New and Used Foundation Paperbacks for even cheaper.

Otherworld by Jared C. Wilson - Book Review

Otherworld: A Novel by Jared C. Wilson snagged my attention and kept it until the end.

I was originally drawn to this book because of the author. I knew of Jared C. Wilson because he is a Pastor and an author or other gospel-focused books. When I saw that he had written an novel, I was immediately interested. Not too long after I had heard about this book, it showed up on the list of free kindle books on Amazon for a short time, so I snatched it up.

I have to say, this book has everything. UFO's, the occult, cops, shootings, heartfelt introspective thoughts, a love story, a newspaper man, the newspaper man's boss, demons, professors, lunatics, dead bodies, pastors, cow mutilations, the grassy knoll, the gospel, and an exorcism... and somehow it all makes sense. The main character of the book is the newspaper man, but he also focuses on a young Pastor, an old Cop, who is a prayer warrior, a cantankerous old farmer, and a crazy evil kid.

While writing an interesting story that easily kept my attention, Jared Wilson is also able to bring reasonable explanations to various aspects "sci-fi" topics from a Biblical worldview. I especially appreciated how he was able to bring in the explanations without it feeling "forced". So often Christian writers leave you with this story that makes you feel like the Biblical aspects were squeezed in later. Most notably, Jared Wilson was able to weave a gospel presentation into one of the scenes, and it just felt natural. Someone could easily pick this book up and read clear truth from scripture and not know that the author was trying to do that.

I am obviously recommending this book. The Kindle version is currently only a few bucks on Amazon. If you are looking for a nice little piece of fiction to get you through these next few January weeks, then I want to encourage you to click on through and snag this book.

(Don't forget, if you use the links on this blog to get to Amazon, I get some credit for it... In other words, you can continue to support my book obsession.)

Offworld by Robin Parrish -- Book Review

Offworld (Dangerous Times Collection Book #1) by Robin Parrish was an interesting story with an interesting catch (on the plot). Set slightly in the future, the premise of this book involves a crew returning from the first manned mission to Mars, only to find the planet uninhabited by man or animal.

I found this book to continue at a good pace.  I was never bored with the story-line, and I found myself not wanting to put the book down on several occasions.  There was good character development, causing me to get attached to more than one of the main characters. The suspense in the book built at a good pace.  Even when the premise was explained, about three quarters of the way through the book, there was an appropriate level of intrigue remaining to keep me turning the pages until the end.

I also appreciated the cleanliness of this book. So often, anymore, science fiction authors are tending to believe that nobody will read their books unless they are raw and filled with profanity and inappropriate situations. No doubt the future will be full of questionable morals on many peoples parts, but good literature doesn't have to have it every single time.

I noticed this book was listed among the Christian books on Amazon and on another book site.  I could see the author being a Christian, for the previously mentioned reasons, but to say this was a "Christian book" might be a bit of a stretch.  It presents God in a vague, easily acceptable by the masses, sort of way. The specifics of the person of Jesus, essential to any authentic presentation of true Christianity, were not presented in any way. That is fine for this book, but dropping thoughts of God into a book doesn't make it a "Christian" book.

This book is currently still free, so if you are looking for a decent fictional book to dig your claws into, then this one is absolutely worth the cost. Supposedly it is the first book in a series, but it doesn't leave you hanging or feeling the need to read the next book in the series. It was good enough that I would consider getting the other books, though.

Minder - Book Review

I don't read nearly as much fiction as I used to, but occasionally I will see a book on Amazon for free that I think to myself, "hmm.  That sounds interesting."  Minder was one of those books.

I was drawn into this book for a few reasons:  One, it was free.  It is no longer free, but it was listed with the free books for a short time.  That can easily draw me in.

A second reason I was drawn into this book was the basic premise, as shared through the book's description on Amazon.  It reads:

Oh, Parents. If you knew what was inside that security blanket, you'd never throw it away. Childhood is governed from a sacred place within the trees, lit by fireflies, and overseen by ancient souls devoted to the sanctity of youth. Some kids are lucky enough to visit this place, but mortal danger arises for Sophia, who arrives uninvited. Readers are carried through a whimsical, often nail-biting adventure as brother and sister confront every parent's worst nightmare. Dragons and fairies are alive and well in this old-world tale, where scary things happen to children who ignore their Minders.
P.S. Childhood ends at 30. And this book proves it.

Parallel worlds and children travelling there is one of my favorite story ideas.  I don't think that it was C.S. Lewis who originally thought of the idea, but it was definitely through his storytelling in the Chronicles of Narnia that opened up my mind to the wonderful idea of another place. Minder follows this basic idea through to a whole world of creatures and personalities that only children can get to.

Third, this book pulled me in because of the positive reviews.  I always check some reviews on Amazon before purchasing a book.  (Even if it is free.)  This book had great reviews.  I don't believe that there was one negative review, at least when I was checking it out.  Many times on Amazon, books get negative reviews simply because of poor spelling and bad grammar, most likely one of the pitfalls of self-publishing.  This book seemed quite well written.  In fact, that idea is related to my final point that I would like to make.

Finally, this book captured my attention because of the author's writing ability.  I found myself not wanting to put this book down.  It captured my attention right at the very beginning and held it throughout the rest of the book.  It had a nice pace and a good rhythm to the storytelling.

I must say that the overall story wasn't quite the Chronicles of Narnia Caliber, but it was still enjoyable.