I do want to wish all my followers and readers all that Jesus Christ offers us this Christmas.
Because life is crazier than ever in the Hawkins' household right now and I still have "stuff" to do before tomorrow, I'm just going to direct you to Ray's post with greetings from us both. He has included his poem "Mary's First Christmas Ponderings" which I read at our church service last night.
I pray it challenges you as it has this "Mary".
Click HERE
Showing posts with label 31 Day Devotional books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 31 Day Devotional books. Show all posts
Monday, 24 December 2012
Sunday, 25 November 2012
The Bethlehem Warrior Baby book
My apologies for being late with this to the Blog Alliance and especially this Ray Hawkins!
"Life" - which includes putting writing on my current manuscript first - has meant new blog posts will have to wait for those hours when the story of Dave and Jenny is stalled in "Her Outback Cowboy".
Ray's writing has blessed me so very much for almost 48 years of him being not only my wonderful husband but also my "minister" at church. In fact, the Christian life he lives day by day has taught me equally as much by seeing what he preaches and teaches in action in his own life.
This ministry to me now continues also with his 31 Day devotional book series.
Bethlehem's Warrior (31 Day Devotional)
"Life" - which includes putting writing on my current manuscript first - has meant new blog posts will have to wait for those hours when the story of Dave and Jenny is stalled in "Her Outback Cowboy".
Ray's writing has blessed me so very much for almost 48 years of him being not only my wonderful husband but also my "minister" at church. In fact, the Christian life he lives day by day has taught me equally as much by seeing what he preaches and teaches in action in his own life.
This ministry to me now continues also with his 31 Day devotional book series.
9 - 23 November
is introducing
(Even Before Publishing November 2012)
About the Author:
Ray Hawkins
Ray Hawkins, retired after over 40 years as a Churches of Christ minister, enjoys sharing themes from the Scriptures through Devotional writing.
Married to Mary, multi-published inspirational romance author, they have three children and five grandchildren.
Ray shares his insights in his first two books on Marriage and Children with more ideas to come about ministry and much more.
Living in Beauty Point Tasmania, Ray heads up a new Christian Fellowship as well as doing relief preaching, community work and writing.
Book Description:
Short Book Description: In 31 daily devotional meditations Bethlehem's Warrior
Baby takes you out of a sentimental nativity scene and into a contest with
eternal significance.
It walks you through God's promise in Genesis 3:15 of Someone coming and the
clues to His identity in the old Testament. You become aware that in the
Christmas event that 'Someone' has come.
I believe Christmas is the culmination of Heaven's countdown to reclaim men,
women and creation from the tyranny of sin, death and Satan. The cost involved
to God to achieve this should make the reader bow in awe and gratitude.
Baby takes you out of a sentimental nativity scene and into a contest with
eternal significance.
It walks you through God's promise in Genesis 3:15 of Someone coming and the
clues to His identity in the old Testament. You become aware that in the
Christmas event that 'Someone' has come.
I believe Christmas is the culmination of Heaven's countdown to reclaim men,
women and creation from the tyranny of sin, death and Satan. The cost involved
to God to achieve this should make the reader bow in awe and gratitude.
Website - http://rayhawkinsauthor.blogspot.com.au/
Thursday, 4 October 2012
Getting back into higher “Gears”
Hard to believe it is a month since my last post here. It was an effort to write that one but I did have to share the important news of my Return to Baragula being featured first on the new Australian Christian Readers Blog alliance. Apologies to my followers and those who have viewed my blog since then.
Ever driven one of those small cars years ago you had to put the gear lever to that very lowest gear to climb up that steep mountain road? My little Hillman sedan did make it all the way from Toowoomba to Sydney back in the mid 1960s. It chugged up those steep mountains and raced down valleys in the highest gear only to face another mountain. Today’s cars and improved highways make that trip much faster now. This last month I’ve discovered that as our bodies get older they too need to be in “low gear” and it takes longer to make it up some mountains. That rotten large kidney stone which blocked the pipe caused a rotten abscess that gave me rotten blood-poisoning.
The second trip to hospital for over 24 hours got rid of the stone and stent from the last surgery but I still have to chug up some mountains in low gear again. I am very thankful that each day I am managing to do more and puff and pant less - in fact change to higher and higher gears!
Today I managed to help Ray to join Facebook. He is now a reluctant “Facebooker”, still adding to his Timeline page but is there at last! Despite his two hour round trips to visit me each day I was in hospital and spoiling me wonderfully since I’ve been home, he has still managed to post on his blog and continue to write more devotional thoughts for more books in his 31 Day Devotional series of books.
His latest book will be officially released to shops in November in time for Christmas.
These devotional meditations will open your eyes:
The baby born with a sword.
The conquering Lord.
The wonder of Christmas.
His victory in your life.
The baby born with a sword.
The conquering Lord.
The wonder of Christmas.
His victory in your life.
However we do now have copies of Bethlehem’s Warrior Baby he is selling at half price, $5.00 (plus postage). Do let us know if you would like copies. And you can use PayPal - see my website (which still needs updating!).
We are both looking forward to sharing with other writers in Qld at the Word Writers Getaway next week. This is sponsored by Omega Writers. They have just commenced an email group for members. If you are a member do join this Yahoo group.
Thursday, 12 July 2012
Purging fires of a Manuscript
Not long ago Ray had this happen for the fourth book in his 31 Day Devotional Meditation series. He has been very busy with emails going to and fro from his wonderful publisher, Rochelle Manners at Even Before Publishing.
Today he shares a little of what he is feeling today as BETHLEHEM'S WARRIOR BABY goes to print.
And yes, while Ray is rather reluctant to add having his own blog to his busy programme, it will happen - when time permits. Until then he continues to share his thoughts here with us on my/our blog and I trust you are blessed and challenged as much as I am.
Ray writes:
Oh, if only I was inspired in my writing!
To sit at the computer and type away confident that every word falls into place, every illustration is apt, every quote is accurate. Oh, what bliss I imagine that would be.
Alas, I’m not inspired. I’m just a writer with conviction and a desire to see my thoughts in print so I write. However what I write has to be put through various ‘fires’ before the manuscript emerges complete. Only then can the invisible imprint be scorched into the book. What are the ‘imprints’? ABH (approved by heaven) and ATP (acceptable to publisher)!
May I share with you some of those purging fires through which I have to travel with my manuscript?
There are the flames which consume the concepts of the themes I have in mind. So many ideas are burnt as being unnecessary or repetitive. That which emerges now needs hammering into chapters.
Here is the next furnace. Facts and quotes, illustrations and verses are subjected to their appropriateness for specific chapters as well as the necessary format. In essence these initial ‘fires’ are cool compared to what is ahead.
Oh, the burning sensations I endure as my manuscript is tested by various rewrites, preliminary drafts and quality control inspections! How many times am I expected to endure such heat? Guess that depends on how much dross remains after each application of the searching flame.
As if that wasn’t enough I have to hand my hard, scorched work over to an editor and proof reader. Their oven seems to be seven times hotter than mine. Their boiler room reveals misplaced commas, inconsistent settings, unnecessary jargon and irrelevant verbosity. These people have sharp eyes, quick minds geared to language usage and the ability to see the impact such words will have on the readers. This is really the most purifying part of the process through which my manuscript must emerge.
The last fire my manuscript endures is called ‘the final check’. Actually that term is a misnomer for I’ve had to do my ‘final check’ a few times.
All of this takes time and effort. It is perspiring work. It leaves me (and others associated with the various fires) weary. However as I handle the completed manuscript ready to be printed I am thankful and appreciative of those who have stoked the flames to their most effective temperature.
Now I must wait to see how the readers respond to the purging my writing and I have endured. Whatever their reaction this I know, I’m not inspired but I have a desire to write. It continues to take me through the various fires to produce a manuscript with ‘ABH’ and ‘ATP’ scorched into it!
Raymond (with scorch marks) N. Hawkins
Need a special, different Christmas present for someone? Keep Bethlehem's Warrior Baby in mind. And may the fire purge not only our manuscript's mistakes but our very hearts before our Holy God who sent His Son to be that Warrior Baby.
Thursday, 5 July 2012
To E-Book Or Not To E-Book?
I don’t even own an e-reader – at least not yet, but I feel as though I am being dragged into the era of having my back list of books released as e-books. I’m not even sure if that is how to correctly write the word. Are they E-books, e-Books, eBooks, E-Books or just e-books.? HC stands for hard cover books, PB stands for paperback books, so does EB now stand for ebooks? Please correct me if I’m wrong. Just one more basic thing to learn about them!
Last Monday I enjoyed very much the guest speaker, T.D. McKinnon, http://www.tdmckinnon.com from Victoria at our monthly Society Women Writers Tasmania. He writes across several genres and now has his books as e-books. However this is really the first time I have heard a writer share details about self-publishing e-books and what he and his wife have discovered about it all.
The last couple of years I have been trying to follow what is happening around the world of publishing with the e-book phenomena. I know many published authors are now having their back lists released as e-books. I was delighted earlier this year to be able to sign addendums to the contracts with Barbour Publishing for my old Heartsong Presents inspirational romance titles to be released as e-books through their new Truly Yours division.
Some authors have had the copyright on their old books revert back to them so they can then self-publish as e-books. My last title, Justice at Baragula was released by the publisher as an e-book but recently heard it seems they are not going to continue with releasing the first two Baragula books as e-books. For some time now I have been thinking seriously about my other titles, both those novels and even perhaps short stories written years ago. The biggest problem is discovering just how to go about it all!
Ray’s three 31 Day Devotional books are available as print and e-books. He has another one, Bethlehem’s Warrior Baby due for release later this year from Even Before Publishing.
Buying that e-book reader – or putting it on our Christmas gift list if we can wait that long – is becoming more urgent!
Would love to have both authors and readers share about their experiences with e-books –and e-readers of course.
Monday, 11 June 2012
Ray on Monday -Our Debt to Israel
We will not agree with all Israel’s policies but we, especially if we are Christians, should be conscious of the debt we owe that nation. This is becoming more and more apparent as our society jets away from the moral and spiritual foundations of the Judeo-Christian faith.
Without Israel we would have no Bible. That in turn would mean we have no understanding of God or any concept of grace, hope and salvation. Why? Because we wouldn’t know of the Messiah who overcame sin, death and judgement on our behalf!
Without the Lord God choosing the nation of Israel to be guardians of revelations, promises and prophesies, we would have no foundation for:
Understanding the purpose and spiritual significance of marriage.
How the world was created.
The beginning of the nations.
A framework for animal dignity.
Children’s welfare.
The source and curse of the occult.
Personal accountability and the climax to history.
These are but a small portion of the wealth contained in the Bible for our information and benefit.
Any intelligent assessment of our communities at this moment would admit we are in a moral and spiritual quagmire. We have no sense of absolutes, no foundation for marriage, a loss of reverence for God and a preoccupation with self indulgence regardless of how it destroys health and relationships. How has this come about? By a constant, deliberate and rejection of Christ with the undermining and rejection of the plain teaching of the Bible!
This isn’t new. How is it reversed? Not by force of arms but by force of a better lifestyle and faith based upon the Scriptures. When people in the moral and spiritual darkness long for something better, God offers His Word as their light out of darkness. How is that light to shine? When those who have trusted His Scriptures live them out and become Christ’s reflective lights in a dark world.
When we recognise our debt to Israel and accept God’s Word through them and the Church, we will no longer be in the dark about life and living.
Ray (in the Light) Hawkins.
This is also available as an E-Book from Koorong and Word Australia as well as other international shops like Barnes and Noble.
Monday, 30 April 2012
RAY ON MONDAY - Whether We Like It Or Not
God is getting bad press, again! He rules in heaven but earthlings delight in expressing their independence of Him. When their plans go wrong, God is at fault. When a debate arises about qualifying for entrance into glory God seems to be expected to defend His standard. Why? Because it discriminates against personal assessments of their perfection! God is unfair, unjust, unloving, unkind to exclude anyone from Heaven.
It’s interesting that so many demand the right to independent action even when it is contrary to a set standard of God’s revealed word. Complaints stream from their mouths when things go wrong and consequences roll over them. When you explain that God’s standards would have prevented such repercussions they object. Why? God is seen as a ‘party pooper.’
If God imposed His will over us, He would be viewed as a tyrant. If He lets us have free range He is fun, until we crash. Then the Lord is uncaring. When He offers us a choice of destinies and the one chosen leads to an eternal sadness, we criticise Him for having two roads. Sometimes when our choice leads to an eternal joy the human heart can too often think they have earned it.
Whether we like it or not we have the right of choices. We do not however have power over the consequences. There are many illustrations dealing with choices in the Bible. Perhaps the best is Matthew 7:13-14. There is the Broadway and the Narrow way. The former is rejection of and indifference to Christ Jesus, the cross and Godly living. The fun offered at the beginning becomes despair and poison along the way to destruction. The narrow way appears stark and demanding, yet opens up to the traveller meaning, hope, joy and the companionship of the Lord God.
One day we will all appear before Heaven’s Judge, whether we like it or not. The decision He makes about each person’s destiny is easy. It will depend upon the road each has travelled, whether we like it or not.
How do you cross from the Broadway to the Narrow way? It is only possible by calling out to Jesus Christ to pull you out and place you in the acceptable way. This is a Faith issue whereby you make Him Lord and Saviour of your life and destiny. That is why Jesus is called ‘The Way, the Truth and the Life.’ He is the way to the Father’s presence. John 14:6.
Ray's three books of his 31 Day Devotional series, as illustrated on the right, are available at Christian bookshops - especially in Australia and New Zealand - as print books and also as E-books. (Captured By Calvary still to become available on Kindle, but all three on Koorong (Australia) and Word Australia websites.)
All our books can be purchased from our website using PayPal.
Cost: Ray's books are AUD$10 each and the Baragula books AUD$20 each - plus postage of course. Click here for our website and email us for more information
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