Come-Stay-Celebrate! By Judith Galblum Pex

 

Make yourself available to God, and He will use you in ways you can't imagine!

You will be convinced of this as you read the story of John and Judy Pex and their conversions as hippies roaming the world in the 1970s to their immigration to Israel, and how the door opened for them to start a hostel near the Red Sea.

In the volatile and highly-charged atmosphere of the Middle East, the Shelter is a point of reconciliation between believers and non-believers, Jews and non-Jews, Israelis and Arabs, all staying together under one roof. For people from over ninety countries the Shelter Hostel has provided a beacon of light and a welcoming home for thirty years, as the Pexes use their gifts of hospitality and evangelism.

Enjoy these touching and humorous stories that reveal how the Lord uses ordinary people to participate in His extraordinary work.

Margie’s Comments: Ever since I first read and reviewed Judith Pex’s other two books with Cladach—Walk the Land: A Journey on Foot through Israel and A People Tall and Smooth: Stories of escape from Sudan to Israel—I’ve wanted to know more about the hostel she and her husband run in southern Israel. Their testimony of how they came to know the Lord and each other and how the Lord drew them into this wonderful ministry through the hostel is fascinating. Come-Stay-Celebrate is full of stories about Judy and John’s life together. I thoroughly enjoyed reading their story . . . and who knows? Maybe one day I will get to meet this fascinating couple who continue to use their gifts and talents to glorify their Lord. I highly recommend this book to all my readers.

About the author:

Judith Galblum Pex was born in Washington, D.C., but has lived with her husband, John, in Eilat, Israel, since 1976. Twenty-six years ago John and Judith began The Shelter Hostel, a guest house for travelers from all over the world and a drop-in center for anyone searching for physical, emotional, or spiritual support. John, from Holland, is the pastor of the Eilat Congregation, a multi-cultural, non-denominational fellowship.

Judith and John are the parents of four grown children, two of whom are married. All the children live in Israel. In her free time Judith likes to read, hike and camp in the mountains around Eilat, and to snorkel in the Red Sea. Learn more about Judith, her books, and the Pexes’ work and ministry at:

www.JudithPex.com

www.ShelterHostel.com

Endorsement:

"Judy Pex loves the Lord and she loves Israel. My wife and I have wholeheartedly enjoyed her compelling and wonderfully-written stories about all that God has been accomplishing through her and John and their team. Their fascinating vantage point on Israel and the Jewish people and the spiritual awakening that is happening here provides unique insights that will encourage your faith!"

~Joel C. Rosenberg, New York Times best-selling author of Epicenter and The Last Jihad

Memoir/ Evangelism/ Christian Life/ Messianic Faith/ Israel

Paperback

5.5" x 8.5" / 264 Pages

Illustrated: 26 photos

ISBN: 9780989101448

http://www.amazon.com/Come-Stay-Celebrate-Judith-Galblum/dp/0989101444

For an excerpt from the book, to read more endorsements, and to order from the Cladach website:

http://cladach.com/Come-Stay-Celebrate.html

Unwrapping Wonder by Carol O'Casey Q&A

AUTHOR BIO:
Carol O'Casey has spent years in the field - literally - from cataloging plants high in the mountains of Southern California to mucking through mud monitoring shorebirds on the coast of Washington state. She has taught science to college students and also to sixth graders. She and her husband, a pastor and Christian college professor, live in Oregon. They are the parents of three grown children. Carol's passion is expounding the wonders tucked in the cathedrals of God's wilds. She teaches "Wonder Workshops" and speaks at retreats. Learn more at http://thedivinenatureproject.com/


AUTHOR PHOTO:



Q/A WITH THE AUTHOR:
Good morning, Carol. Thanks for meeting with us. We'd love to get a glimpse into the personal passions that motivated you to write this delightful book, Unwrapping Wonder. Tell us a little about yourself.
I'm a field biologist. I love being outdoors. I feel most alive in God's natural cathedral—the wilds. And I'm a bit of a field guide addict. I collect guide books because I love to read about nature—from birds, bugs and butterflies to trees, leaves, flowers and fish. I want to know what makes these things tick. I want to unwrap the wonder of each and learn how they live. Field guides help me to do that. But many of them lack an element that's important to me.

Let me explain. My aunt is a tour guide to art at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles. As a guide, my aunt not only talks about the painting, but she discusses the artist. I consider nature to be God's living museum of sorts, filled with His artworks. I want to discuss both the art and the artist. I wrote Unwrapping Wonder so the reader can explore the natural science of the bird, the butterfly, the leaf, the tree, as well as connect with the Master craftsman and learn a hope-filled lesson for everyday life.

You use this phrase as your tag line: Discover More about God, Nature and Self ~ One Wonder at a time. Can you explain how Unwrapping Wonder will help the reader discover more about God?
Each chapter of the book explores one object from nature. By studying these wonders as we peer inside the layers of a leaf, unwrap the wonder of a seed, or investigate the bee and its abilities we discover that God is able ... He's able to do more than we could ever ask or imagine.

What will a reader discover about nature from Unwrapping Wonder?
For starters:

• How a butterfly wing gets its color.
• Where a dragonfly spends it's "childhood."
• What cell of a plant has no nucleus and why that's important.
• What a leaf scar is and why it is critical to the life of the plant.
• How a sand dollar moves—and why?
• How a barnacle is able to withstand crashing waves.
• What exactly goes on under the bark of a tree.

I could go on, but I'll let you discover the rest. . . .


Finally, what can a reader expect to discover about herself (or himself) from nature?
Nature has taught me many lessons. One is that I don't have to have life all figured out. I only need to follow the One who does. Too often, I try to depend on myself to solve life's problems, instead of looking to the birds and lilies of the field—as Jesus advises in Matthew 6:26–30. When I do, I discover that God takes care of their needs. Because of that, I can trust Him with all of my cares and concerns.
And to my readers I'll say this: I'd love to hear about your own discoveries! After reading Unwrapping Wonder, please visit my website: www.divinenatureproject.com to contact me and share your discoveries.

Thanks again, Carol, for joining us today.
Thank you. Now, go wonder!

Unwrapping Wonder by Carol O'Casey

UNWRAPPING WONDER:

Finding Hope in the Gift of Nature

by Carol O'Casey

BACK COVER:

BOOK DESCRIPTION:
Heeding technology's cry to "get connected" can result in overloaded circuits of the mind. Frenetic connections can cause frazzled lives.
Step outside to cultivate a connection with creation and deepen your relationship with the Creator.
Unwrapping Wonder offers a delightful mix of natural history, human story, and God's glory. Each chapter "unwraps" one object of nature such as the barnacle, the honey bee, the tiniest seed. As readers peer within these gifts, they discover more of nature, God, and themselves.
This book is for individuals, families and groups who enjoy learning about creation and getting to know the Creator better through the wonders he has made, and those looking for hope in a hectic world. It will help restore the reader's soul.
Each chapter includes:

• The Wonder Introduced - through anecdote, natural history, or life story.
• The Wonder Unwrapped - minute hidden details revealed and explained in everyday terms.
• The Wonder Applied - Practical, spiritual lessons for daily living.
• Promise of Hope: Relevant Scripture to inspire hope.
• "Wondercise": A short, hands-on nature activity designed to awaken heart, mind and soul to the wonder of creation and give praise to the Creator.

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AUTHOR BIO:
Carol O'Casey has spent years in the field - literally - from cataloging plants high in the mountains of Southern California to mucking through mud monitoring shorebirds on the coast of Washington state. She has taught science to college students and also to sixth graders. She and her husband, a pastor and Christian college professor, live in Oregon. They are the parents of three grown children. Carol's passion is expounding the wonders tucked in the cathedrals of God's wilds. She teaches "Wonder Workshops" and speaks at retreats. Learn more at http://thedivinenatureproject.com/


BOOK INFO:
Trade Paperback
224 pgs / 6" x 9"
Illustrated: original drawings by Matthew Kondratieff
ISBN: 9780981892986
Category: Nature Studies/ God & Creation/ Spiritual Growth

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REVIEWS:
"A wide-ranging, entertaining and educational romp in the wilds. O'Casey - a woman of deep faith and strong science - blends a delightful mix of lessons on faith, biology, history ... Where else can one find scripture alongside a formula for calculating air temperature based on the rate of a cricket's chirp? I love it! True to her self-stated goal in life, in 'Unwrapping Wonder' O'Casey truly does glorify God with her passion for creation." ~Tom Rowley, US Director of A Rocha

"Carol O'Casey beckons us to consider the wonders of God's creation. To savor, to relish, to partake, to revel in: in this hurried life do we make the time to do such things? Take up the challenge. Each chapter is an event well worth it." ~ Dennis Ellingson, author of God's Healing Herbs and God's Wild Herbs

TO PURCHASE THE BOOK:
Amazon.com
BN.com
Kindle
Nook
from the Publisher



Margie's Comments: A big thank-you to Cladach Publishing for allowing me some extra time to get my review posted. The tour ended last week. 

Much as I love being outdoors, especially in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, I don't usually enjoy the insects so much. Thankfully in Colorado at 9000 ft. there aren't that many! But I do love the flora and fauna and the birds. So I enjoyed Carol O'Casey's book that points out the wonders of God's creation. Such detail and beauty speaks of the amazing creativeness of our God. The application of God's Word and the spiritual lessons we can learn, I especially enjoyed. This would be a great book to use with children when enjoying nature. I'll definitely be sharing this book with other families who are looking for ways to enhance their time in the outdoors. 

In the next post, I'll post a Q&A with the author.

GADLY PLAIN A Novel by J. Michael Dew

BOOK INFO:
Trade Paperback
224 pgs / 5.5" x 8.5"
Illustrated: original drawings by Raw Spoon
ISBN: 9780981892993
Category: Christian Fiction/ Literature
Price: $14.00


BOOK DESCRIPTION:
What do you get when you mix an orphaned girl just coming of age, a grieving, pain-filled family, a rural Kentucky barnyard, a donkey who has lived since Adam and has stories to tell, a mentally handicapped man, and an apocalyptic climax? Happily, you get a literary novel that maintains its lyrical language and dramatic pace from the first to the last page and leaves you thinking, smiling, wondering, looking at this life and the next with eyes to see in fresh, new ways.

When a young girl's father dies, and her mother abandons her at her paternal grandparents' home in Kentucky, no one helps her cope with the cloud of death that hovers over the family ... until she wanders down to the neighbor's barn. There in an earthy, unlikely haven, vistas open to Spring-baby that transcend time and place and even death.

For readers who love well-written fiction that is both personal and sweeping in scope. If you enjoy novels with literary merit that show the intersection of the grit and grief and glory of life on earth with the presence and power and persuasion of the supernatural and heavenly ~ you'll likely be enthralled by this story.

At the back of the book is a discussion guide for reading groups and book clubs.

Creative drawings by Raw Spoon, at the head of each chapter, bring visual life and added sensory dimension to the experience of reading this book.

AUTHOR BIO:
J. Michael Dew lives with his wife and three young daughters in Atlanta, Georgia. He was born and raised in Warren County, Pennsylvania. He earned a B.A. in English from Lock Haven University and an MA and PhD in Literature and Criticism from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. He is an Associate Professor of English at Georgia Perimeter College where he is also the Honors Coordinator for the Dunwoody campus. In his spare time he enjoys being a husband and a dad. And fishing. He loves a glinty, trouty stream.






Margie's Comments: I enjoyed reading this coming-of-age novel about Spring-baby and how she was left to deal with her young father's death. When she's abandoned by her mother with no explanation of why, Spring-baby is virtually alone with her own grief. The grandparents her mother left her with are dealing with their own extreme grief and have no idea how to help their granddaughter. Through the unlikely friendship with the neighbor and his donkey's stories, Spring-baby learns much more than she could have if she'd been left totally on her own. The donkey's stories told in the neighbors back-woodsy southern accent and vernacular hit home in ways reading the Bible never could have appealed to a twelve-year-old girl. The characters are well-drawn, the story follows a natural progression once the reader gets into the rhythm of the story. Definitely a book I can recommend to those who love a touch of the unusual in their reading.

Q/A WITH THE AUTHOR: 1. This story is remarkably creative yet feels warmly authentic. One would think you have experienced it yourself. Dew: I suppose I could say that Gadly Plain began for me the day, at age nine, when I found out my father had passed away. It is, I suppose, a working out of that sadness. The story is based on conclusions I reached after years of introspection. I will admit, however: The German woman in the beginning is not a made up character. She was real. I met her as did my sister. But nobody else remembers her presence. 2. Some authors take years to write a book while others take only months. What was your process for writing Gadly Plain, and how long did it take? Dew: To give readers a practical answer, one afternoon, I went out and purchased a large piece of cardstock paper on which I began to diagram plot points. The diagram grew to include characters, biblical references, and other details I felt were important to the story. I used this diagram of sorts as an outline, keeping it in front of me each time I sat down to move the story along. All in all, it took a year to complete a first draft. Copies of that draft then went to professionals in the fields of theology, speech pathology, and creative writing. Once I got their very valuable feedback, I revised the manuscript then sent that version to another set of readers. It took a dogged effort, but it was worth it. 3. Tell us about the title of your novel. Why did you choose such an enigmatic title as Gadly Plain and what is its significance? Dew: The title was discovered on a Pennsylvania back road somewhere between Interstate 80 and Warren. I was driving home from graduate school under a cloud-splotched sky, and I happened to pass one of those roads that was probably a driveway but was nevertheless given the distinction of a name: Gadly Plain. It was a rutted dirt road that more than likely led to a simple hunting camp or some far-flung place of retreat and rest. I didn't stop to inspect. Instead, I made a mental note of the catchy name, and when I pulled off the road to fish for trout further into my journey (as was my happy custom), I jotted down the name in my journal, thinking this would make a great title for a book. This was years ago. It took a lot of time since to construct my own getaway. Much of that time was spent learning why I needed to do so in the first place. "Gadly Plain" could be "way away" or "heaven" or "paradise" or "across the rainbow bridge" or "in the bosom of God" or "Narnia." I didn't want to be too specific, thereby robbing the reader of his/her ability to imagine Gadly Plain, and I wanted to be (in my humble way) poetic. Gadly almost sounds like Godly, and the existence of heaven is a "plain" truth - nothing complicated, something a child can understand, no need for an advanced degree in theology, etc. 4. What themes are you interested in writing about next? Dew: At least since the dawn of postmodernism, writers have largely been asserting, in various and sundry ways, the viewpoint that all values are relative, that everything is and should be deconstructed. I know I am generalizing here, but I feel this to be a safe assessment of modern literature. I believe in taking up the call issued by Wendell Berry who says that an author's duty today is to rescue some values from the dustbin of relativism and go about bravely building meaning and relevance in a world at direct odds with them both. The themes I'm interested in exploring are themes that do just that. 5. Reading this succinct but sweeping novel, one cannot doubt you believe in the over-arching story of the Bible and the final victory of good over evil. Will you share something of your personal faith? Dew: I am deeply devoted to Christ and strive daily to be the man he wants me to be. REVIEWS: "As a reader, it's not often I come across a small literary miracle, an unexpected gift. Gadly Plain is that type of book. It sweeps us up into the rich yet simple world of an orphaned girl and a mysterious donkey, a world both familiar and mystical, melancholic and full of hope. Do yourself a favor and open this gift.." ~ Eric Wilson, New York Times bestselling author of Fireproof and October Baby "Gadly Plain is a book about sorrow, regret, and grief--but it is also about the fleeting spirit of childhood and the choices we make to believe in the stories that give us hope. Gentle and reflective, this is a story about stories and the incredible power they hold to heal and redeem broken hearts." ~ ForeWord Reviews TO PURCHASE THE BOOK: On Amazon At BN.com Kindle Nook From the Publisher Sign Up for FREE BOOK GIVEAWAY

Storm Tossed by Jake Porter

BLOG TOURS

These are two very different books, except that they both touch on the Middle East. And both stories tell what happened when the author walked the path of obedience to God. They both describe a life that is transformed by the presence and power of Christ. 

The first book:

 

  Book Description :By the time Jake was nineteen he was feeding an insatiable lust that was looking for opportunities to act out. He found those opportunities in Mediterranean ports while serving as an aviation ordnanceman aboard the Naval aircraft carrier, USS America. At a time when the Gulf War was unfolding, Jake should have been totally committed to God and country. However, the seedy world of pornography and prostitution sabotaged his Christian life and made his commitment to the Navy a low priority. Even later, as a church-going civilian, his sins came back to haunt him. The author doesn't pull any punches in this hard-hitting story that takes the reader from the Persian Gulf War zone and the gritty underworld of prostitution to the glorious rapture of God's saving, delivering grace.

Ordering Info :
172 pages
Price: $12.99
Available through Amazon.com and other online retailers, or through bookstores anywhere.

The Amazon Kindle version is FREE March 29 - April 2 here .

Review Quote:
"An inspirational and engaging read from beginning to end." ~ Midwest Book Review

About the Author:
The life experiences of Jake Porter include being shot at a bank ATM, while working as an armored-vehicle driver; serving in the U.S. Navy during Desert Storm; and living in California, Montana, and Arizona, where he now resides with his wife. They have two young adult children, just leaving the nest.

 
Interview with Jake Porter:
STORM TOSSED deals with a sensitive topic. Why is your story and message needed today?
The content of this book is an honest account of my personal struggle with pornography and sexual addiction. Lust is a sin most Christian men battle against, but it is the one area in our lives we don't want to discuss. For the most part, the church and its leaders are silent on the topic. It's too dirty and too uncomfortable to address for most of us; but shying away from it isn't going to help us defeat this powerful weapon of Satan. STORM TOSSED doesn't pull any punches by tiptoeing around the subject matter.

Help us understand how a "Christian" who has grown up in the church might become a "sex addict."
Addictions are used to fill a void in our lives. Instead of turning to Christ, we may fill that hole by turning to drugs, alcohol, gambling, or overeating. In my case, I soothed my loneliness and feelings of failure with pornography and prostitutes. It didn't take long for me to be consumed with those activities. Even after I was aware of the problem, I couldn't stop. I felt ashamed, and thought I was the only one in the world who struggled with it. The problem only worsened and it began to eat away at my sanity.

My book will show readers that the roots of sexual sin are similar to idolatry and witchcraft. There is no distinction between obsessively looking at pornographic photos and kneeling before a graven image. The pornographers of the world are out to hook men and boys - and increasingly women - with their product just like a drug dealer does. One taste and they're hooked. Today, the Internet has made sex/porn addiction even more widespread.

(As a side note: The Bush Administration got some laws passed that forbid U.S. military personnel and civilians from engaging in activities overseas that would be illegal in the States. This includes visiting places that deal in human trafficking and child prostitution.) How well it is enforced, I don't know.

What hope is there?
When I cried out to God for help, He answered me. My story offers no guarantee of how to overcome sexual addiction, but it does candidly discuss what worked for me. Unless we men are free from this disabling sin, we can never be the husbands and fathers God has called us to be.


 Margie's comments: This was difficult for me to read, mostly because of the subject matter. However it is a story of God's forgiveness, grace, and redemption. Well worth the read as this is a topic most would like to avoid talking about. I appreciate the author's candid and honest testimony throughout the story he's lived.




The second memoir is in a separate post.