Author Archives: Janet Sketchley

About Janet Sketchley

Janet Sketchley is an Atlantic Canadian writer whose Redemption’s Edge Christian suspense novels have each been finalists in The Word Awards. She's also the author of the devotional collection, A Year of Tenacity. Janet blogs about faith and books. She loves Jesus and her family, and enjoys reading, worship music, and tea. Fans of Christian suspense are invited to join her writing journey through her monthly newsletter: bit.ly/JanetSketchleyNews.

Review: Muninn’s Keep, by Brian C. Austin

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Muninn’s Keep, by Brian C. Austin (Word Alive Press, 2010)

“A fabled ring,

Growing conflict,

Ancient prophecies,

Ruthless enemies bent

on destruction;

All challenge Theodoric

to the utmost.”

Theodoric doesn’t know who he is, how he came to be a thræl (slave), or what he did to earn the brand of “thief” and the name “horse-killer”. Muninn’s Keep is the story of his fight for survival and identity.

Canadian author Brian C. Austin has crafted a richly-detailed historical novel set in Britain, just north of Hadrian’s Wall, late in the 9th century. The landscape and culture come alive as we read of legends, battles and pagan rituals.

Theodoric is an appealing narrator, with an innocence and a strong sense of justice—and an unbroken spirit that earns his master’s wrath. Mystery surrounds him, in his shattered memory and in the scraps of prophecy that may refer to him.

Central to the story is the finding and re-establishing an abandoned fortress, Muninn’s Keep—and the finding of the ancient Ring of Thorvæld.

Connected with the Keep is a grove formerly used to offer blood sacrifices to the pagan god, Woden. Theodoric longs for a god worthy of worship, one who doesn’t need human tricks to gain followers.

Stories of one they call Christus, and a parchment of the prophet Isaiah, give direction to his search despite the character of the one servant of the Christus he meets.

Muninn’s Keep reveals a harsh world where battles and suffering are part of daily life, but where a few courageous and true characters can make a difference in the lives of those around them. Fans of historical fiction from this era, be they adult or teen, Christian or non, will find this a good read.

I thoroughly enjoyed the novel, and for me it had that epic, sweeping feel I find mostly in fantasy novels. After such a realistic visit to the past, I’m extra thankful to be living in the relative safety of the present.

Muninn’s Keep is Brian Austin’s first novel, and I hope there’s a sequel in the works. You can read the first three chapters of Muninn’s Keep here. The book is written at an adult reading level, and is suitable for Christians and non-Christians alike.

Brian is also the author of the poetry collections Laughter and Tears, Let Heaven Weep, and I, Barabbas.

You can learn more about Brian and his various projects at his website, Undiscovered Treasures.

[Electronic review copy provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.]

Oh Deer!

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Wise Guy Son and I were driving a remote highway in rural New Brunswick (Canada) last month, and we kept seeing “deer crossing” signs – and “moose crossing”.

Deer grazing on the green slopes near the road are cute. Bounding across the road a safe distance in front of you, they’re still cute.

Deer crossing the asphalt right in front of your vehicle are not.

Apparently wise New Brunswick drivers avoid country driving after dark, at least certain times of year. We saw chain-link fences paralleling sections of the highway where the moose and deer were most active.

As it got closer to dusk (prime feeding time for deer) and I kept seeing the signs, I watched even closer for any sign of off-road movement. Sometimes the highway was elevated enough that a grazing deer would be out of sight until it decided to climb up and cross the road.

Vigilance is important, but I found myself getting tense. Each yellow warning sign felt more menacing than the last.

A person could really start to fear these creatures! Instead of gentle, liquid-gazed deer faces, my imagination caricaturized them as grim-faced, wild-eyed creatures surging up the slopes in a suicidal guerrilla raid to stop the traffic.

A good laugh restored my perspective and got me thinking about danger and about sin, how as important as it is to be vigilant, we need to be careful not to blow what we’re watching for out of proportion. That’s where unhealthy fear comes from.

Deer on the highway: something to see and avoid. Menacing, mutant killer-deer that stalk our nightmares: something fear can use to paralyse us if we let it.

To paraphrase the words of Jr. Asparagus from VeggieTales: We don’t need to fear what’s out there, because God is the biggest.

I’m learning that if I can turn something potentially fearful into something absurdly funny, I won’t freeze up. And there have been times lately that I’ve reminded myself “God is the biggest!”

Prayer and humour are good tools. What works for you?

[I first posted this at InScribe Writers Online, earlier this month. Sorry if it’s a repeat for you!]

About God’s Business

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Tell Archippus: “See to it that you complete the work you have received in the Lord.” Colossians 3:23-244:17, NIV1

I was heading for 1Thessalonians when this verse caught my attention. I suspect Paul’s referring to a specific task or calling Archippus has received, but it seems to apply generally as well.

In her comment on last Wednesday’s devotional, Ginny Jaques said “I work for Him 24/7, and He directs my path, even giving me R and R when I need it.”

Some of us have a direct assignment from the Lord, but all of us have work He’s given us to do. People He’s given us to care for.

The Bible says a lot about faithful service, and about relying on God’s strength instead of our own. I love this quote from Brother Lawrence:

Recently I went to Burgundy to buy the wine provisions for the society which I have joined. This was a very unwelcome task for me. I have no natural business ability and, being lame, I cannot get around the boat except by rolling myself over the casks. Nonetheless, this matter gave me no uneasiness, nor did the purchase of wine. I told the Lord that it was His business that I was about. Afterwards, I found the whole thing well performed.2

Father, thank You for what You’ve given me to do, especially for my family You’ve given me to look after. Thank You it’s not about a frantic hurry to complete a set task—it’s about a willing heart that trusts in You. Help me recognize the work You give, and to serve You well. help me recognize and let go of the distractions.

Let this week’s song be our prayer: “To God Alone,” by Aaron Shust.

1New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

2Brother Lawrence, as recorded in Practicing His Presence, © MCMLXXIII by Gene Edwards, Christian Books.

Review: Too Close to Home, by Lynette Eason

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Too Close to Home, by Lynette Eason (Revell, April 2010)

Connor Wolfe is the lead detective on a team dedicated to solving—and stopping—a string of abductions. Each victim is a teen girl, and so far three of them have turned up dead. Connor has a personal stake in this case as well: his 16-year-old daughter, Jenna, fits the victims’ age range.

FBI Special Agent Samantha Cash is the forensic computer genius who may be their only hope to crack this case. When she finds evidence that the girls have been lured by an online predator, the killer starts a war of intimidation.

As if things weren’t complicated enough, Connor and Samantha each have family concerns pulling at them. And they can’t stop thinking about one another, despite Samantha’s vow to never date a cop. (Connor is a widower.)

I appreciate the main characters’ depth, and the honest way they wrestle with their faith in relation to the tragedies in their pasts and present. The novel has a good balance between characters and plot, and both deliver the reader to a satisfying ending.

Lynette Eason pulls off a taut romantic suspense novel that’s on the intense end of the suspense scale. I didn’t find it scary, but there were times I needed to put it down and catch my breath. It never stayed down for long.

I would have liked to see a bit more resolution to the fallout from the crimes. Rather than spoil the plot, I’ll just say not all parties were accounted for at the end. But that’s a curiosity issue more than anything else.

The novel’s epilogue sets up the next story and plants a serious worry in the reader’s mind. A worry we’ll have to wait until October 2010 to satisfy, when book 2 in the “Women of Justice” series comes out.

Too Close to Home is a well-crafted novel, but you don’t have to take my word for it. Dee Henderson gave it a positive endorsement, and her own best-selling romantic suspense novels prove she knows a thing or two about the genre.

Too Close to Home is Lynette Eason’s eighth novel. You can read an excerpt here or if you’ve already read the novel, check out the discussion questions here.  You can learn more about Lynette at her website, and she’s promised to stop by this blog for an interview some Friday soon.

Note: Review copy provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc. in exchange for an honest review. Too Close to Home is available now at your local Christian retailer.

Caught Dead: A Dean Constable Mystery, by Jayne Self

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Dean Constable is a Presbyterian minister and a former cop. He lives alone with his dog, Hamlet, but as the story opens he has a house guest: his father, who’s been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.

It’s midnight, there’s a freezing rain storm outside, and his father says there’s a car in the cemetery next door.

Caught Dead, by Canadian author Jayne Self, is a cozy mystery and a two-time finalist in the Best New Canadian Christian Author contest. You can read chapter one online at the Presbyterian Record site.  The novel will run as an online serial. [Edit: perhaps the easiest way to keep up with these weekly installments is to start at the Caught Dead page, where you can find each chapter’s listing. Note that the newest one will always be at the top.]

Jayne and I have been classmates at numerous Write! Canada sessions, and I admire her work. If you like mysteries, I hope you’ll check this one out. I think we’re in for a good read.

Everything We Have

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…any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.”
Luke 14:33, NIV*

This is the memory verse for Unit 8 in the Experiencing God Workbook (Henry Blackaby and Claude King), and it stopped me.

I kept trying to go on with the first lesson, but the verse pulled me back.

The NIV titles this section “The Cost of Being a Disciple” and the context is about recognizing the high cost to follow Jesus—and following Him anyway.

I’ve never taken this to mean a literal giving away of all my possessions, but more a call to “hold them loosely”: instead of clutching and saying “Mine!”, to share and above all to put God first. Not to make them idols.

Reading the verse this time, however, I realized Jesus isn’t just talking about things. Specifically what hit me was that He includes my time.

Time is something many of us guard jealously. A lot of it’s already spoken for, but what discretionary time there is, especially once I’ve made plans for it, is not to be messed with.

But God, as Henry Blackaby says elsewhere in the study, has the right to interrupt us. To redirect or redeploy us. I struggle with discernment to know whether it’s a distraction I should ignore or a redirection from God that I should heed.

This verse reminded me that the bigger struggle is to surrender my time to God when it’s clear He wants to redirect it. To serve Him willingly in the new place instead of begrudging how I’d planned to serve in the old place.

Father, Jesus is not only Saviour but Lord. I know Your way is best, but sometimes it’s so hard to let go. Please give me a willing heard, and help me follow and obey. Help me truly give up control of everything I have—including my time—because it’s all Yours, and You are good.

Robin Mark’s “All For Jesus” is a regular prayer of mine, and it certainly fits this week.

*New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Review: More Ready Than You Realize, by Brian D. McLaren

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More Ready Than You Realize, by Brian D. McLaren (Zondervan, 2002, 2006)

Brian McLaren’s aim with More Ready Than You Realize is to remind us that “evangelism” isn’t a dirty word, despite the negative connotations it’s acquired over the years. He also wants to demystify it and show us that, as the title suggests, we’re more ready to get involved than we realize.

He explains, “Good evangelism is the process of being friendly without discrimination and influencing all of one’s friends toward better living, through good deeds and good conversations. For a Christian… [it] means engaging in these conversations in the spirit and example of Christ. … Evangelism in the style of Jesus; evangelism that flows like a dance.” (p. 17)

The book tells the story of his spiritual friendship with April, a young woman considering faith. On one level, it’s an easy read. The conversations pull readers in, and we keep turning pages to see what happens. It’s also a book that requires thought as we apply what he says to our own lives.

A key premise is that Christians need to communicate our faith in a way that those around us will understand. Language, worldviews, even styles of communication have changed significantly in recent years as we’ve moved into the postmodern era.

The word “postmodern” itself raises a barrier to me, yet it’s assumed to be part of the reader’s understanding. Worse is “modern,” which I always thought meant “contemporary or up-to-date”. “Trendy,” even. But these are buzz-words of the new culture and so they’re used.

For me, this is a strong reminder of how important it is that I don’t bombard non-Christians or spiritual folk with Christian jargon. Dr. McLaren illustrates how these holy buzz-words will either be meaningless or mean something far different than intended.

More Ready Than You Realize is a helpful book and despite my struggle with the terminology its message resonated with me (oops, is that another buzz-word?).

The Bible tells us we’re to be ambassadors for Christ, that we’re to be involved in God’s work of reconciliation.

Dr. McLaren encourages us to “engage in spiritual friendship… see evangelism as relational dance rather than conceptual conquest, process rather than event, mutual learning rather than sales pitch…” and I find that far more attractive than some of the previous approaches. (In fairness to some of those modes, the book does point out the different cultures in which they began, so we see how they may have  been designed to best meet the needs of the times.)

Integral to this message is the belief that the individuals we befriend (or who befriend us) are of great value, whatever their ultimate decision about God and however long it takes them to make one.

Dr. McLaren challenges us to value the relationships more than the results, and he reminds us that the goal isn’t conversion. The goal is people (ourselves included) loving and serving God and growing in relationship with Him and with each other. The results are up to Him. Our job is simply to serve.

I’d recommend this book to Christians and to those who want to understand them, with the warning that if philosophical language is not your thing, the book may challenge you. The message is clear, and Brian McLaren is an appealing narrator. He speaks to readers as he did to April: openly, non-threatening, and genuinely interested. I look forward to reading some of his other books.

More Ready Than You Realize includes a seven-part Bible study on what it means to be a disciple and to develop others. You can find reviews, a sample chapter and interviews here.  To learn more about Brian D. McLaren, his other books and his ministry, check out his website.

Book source: my personal library

Good Friday

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I’m in Canada, and blessed to have today as a statutory holiday. I’ll be enjoying a community worship service this morning, complete with lots of music, Scripture, some teaching and a celebration of the Lord’s Supper.

Today’s a hard day: good because of God’s goodness to rescue us even when the price was so high, but sad because of that price.

What else can we say but “Thank You, Lord”?

I can think of a few songs to share. Here’s one that means a lot to me: “You Are My King,” written by Billy James Foote, sung here by the newsboys.[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJrcwzBlaXw]

Escape Route

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No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.
1 Corinthians 10:13, NIV*

For some reason, I always think of this verse in terms of temptations to do things: steal, lie, cheat, whatever. When the opportunity presents itself, God will make a way that might involve a literal running away from it.

I’ve been reading Joanna Weaver’s excellent book, Having a Mary Spirit, and in one chapter she shares the example of a woman who couldn’t stop drinking too much with her friends but who believed this verse.

God promised to make a way… but she couldn’t see it. So, smart and desperate as she was, she asked Him to show her. Once she recognized it, she was ready to seize it!

I believe the promise too, and rely on it, but this idea of asking Him to show me the escape route caught my attention. (Guess that makes me less than smart and less aware of my desperation!)

As this realization hit me, so did another: this works for temptations of attitude and self-focus too!

We tend to believe the lie that what happens inside us just “is” and while we may pray for release we think it’s up to God to change us. But as He retrains our minds, we do have a part to play. We have to cooperate, or to use Paul’s words, we have to bear what we can and to stand.

And we have to be patient with ourselves, as God is, when we mess up. We need to get up and go another round… or 20… until the fight is won.

Lately I’ve noticed that when the temptation comes, often so does a verse or part of a song: something to help me keep focus. When I’ve chosen the good thoughts, the bad faded away. I just hadn’t recognized these as escape routes!

Father, this is a big deal for me, because most of my temptations are those inner ones. Thank You for the promise of a way out. You know our weakness, and You are faithful to help us. I believe You want to strengthen us as we learn to rely on You. Help me do that. Help me recognize the mental temptations that come, and help me see—and take—the way out!

“Stay Strong” from the newsboys is a great reminder to stay on track.

*New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Video review: Pistachio

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Pistachio: The Little Boy that Woodn’t, from VeggieTales (Big Idea, 2010)

“Once upon a time in the small Italian town of Bologna-Salami, there lived a lonely toymaker named Gelato and his assistant Cricket.” [from the back cover]

In typical VeggieTales style, the humour flows as freely as the family values. Obviously from the subtitle, Pistachio’s theme is “listening to your parents”. Pistachio, exuberantly portrayed by Jr. Asparagus (rendered as carved-but-living-wood) is quick to tell toymaker Gelato (it’s Larry under that distinguished mop of hair) “You’re not the boss of me!”

Trouble—as well as general hilarity—ensues. Parts of the story seemed like they might be too scary for a sensitive child, but with parental reassurance (and emphasizing the funny bits) it shouldn’t be an issue. Most kids wouldn’t have a problem. As I recall, the Disney movie Pinocchio was much darker and scarier. (Here’s where I confess to not having read the book!)

The writers go to town with the Italian theme. As the story opens, Gelato’s three brothers have been lost at sea, en route to deliver meatballs to the island of Boyardee. The brothers’ names are Milano, Espresso and Dorito, and one of them looks suspiciously like Marlon Brando.  I haven’t seen the Godfather movies, but I suspect there are a slew of little insider references for those who have.

Cricket, played by the half-caterpillar Khalil, will be especially funny to those who’ve seen VeggieTales’ Jonah. Suffice it to say, this is not his first time being swallowed by a big fish.

In another inside joke, Cricket proclaims, “I’m no fool, no sirree.” Anybody remember Jiminy Cricket doing that number in a Disney short? We also have Madame Blueberry instead of the Blue Fairy, and in general, plenty of groaner jokes. Typical VeggieTales fun.

Gelato loves to teach his adopted ducklings, and now his wooden asparagus. He’s a fine example of a parent, if a bit absent-minded at times. He teaches by example as well as by words, and in sharing his wisdom and experience he hopes they’ll grow up to be wise parents to their own children.

I found the message “listen to your parents” to be clear and uncomplicated. As an adult, I’d prefer something more subtle, something that examines the possibility that occasionally a parent does not have the child’s best interests at heart or doesn’t know best how to care for the child.

However, as an adult I’m only the secondary target audience for VeggieTales. There’s plenty to entertain an adult, but the main audience is children, many at an early enough stage in cognitive development that short and direct is best.

Kids and adults alike will enjoy the bonus features, which include a discussion guide, a visit to a real marionette theatre, art and commentary and… the traditional Sing Along with Larry. You can also download a Pistachio Family Fun Guide at the Big Idea site.

For anyone unfamiliar with VeggieTales, the standard format is to take a break half-way through the story for a Silly Song. This time it’s “Obscure Broadway Show Tunes with Larry,” where he and a pretty female vegetable sing “Where Have All the Staplers Gone?” The song claims to be from the unknown musical, Office Supplies, and the writers missed a chance with one: instead of a red Swingline stapler, it was purple. It did, however, develop a delightful set of fangs at the end.

Pistachio was a lot of fun, and it reminds me I’ve missed out on the last few offerings from the folks at Big Idea. My 13-year-old says the stapler song is one of the best silly songs they’ve done yet. Of course, that sparked a lively discussion of what is the best VeggieTales silly song. And what is the best VeggieTales song, period? Feel free to leave your vote in the comments!

Note: DVD has been provided courtesy of David C Cook and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc. in exchange for an honest review. Pistachio is available now at your local Christian retailer.