So far, there is nothing on the main page that even mentions Knights of the Blood or 411-SINGLES. Because of the way the site is currently laid out, this is where a redesign becomes necessary. Most likely, I expect to center the redesing around 411-SINGLES as that is my main focus at this point. The two current novels will keep there own sections, which will probably stay as they are now. Knights of the Blood may get set up with a similar section, but it’s not a priority. This blog will still be the best source of updates for anything I do, mainly since I can update it from anywhere.

The main holdup for a complete redesign is coming up with some graphics I can use for 411-SINGLES and deciding what the new layout should be. The graphics will be the harder part, as I have not really toyed around with Paint Shop Pro since I did the cover art for Fallen Sparrows. It shouldn’t be too hard once I come up with an overall graphic theme for it. I’ve got ideas, but none of them are rising head and tails above the others yet. Keep your eyes open, though. This is my second update in as many days. That’s gotta be a good sign.

Knights of the Blood is still very much alive as an idea, but it is more of a backburner idea now. That’s actually a good thing, since the research for the historical aspects of the novel are going to take a lot of time and taking more time will allow me to develop the story better before I start writing in earnest. What’s surprised me is the book that I am now hard at work on, because it is not only nonfiction but it also has the potential to completely upend my life in very exciting ways.

But first, a little background info. Over the holidays, I experimented with a very popular online matchmaking service that you may have heard of: eHarmony. I must say that the matches that I was notified of were by and large pretty good. The problem was that I couldn’t get any of them to talk to me. The guided communication process eHarmony uses is sound, but I could never get to a point where any of the young ladies I was matched with were willing to communicate openly, as opposed to the canned questions and responses that start the process. It was very frustrating. I knew that if I gave it more time, this would improve, but my finances were such that I could not renew my subscription for awhile. Then, as I thought about it more, I realized that any time that I have ever tried to make something happen for myself in this area, it never worked. I decided that if I got the money to renew my subscription again, I would instead give that amount to God in the form of an offering at my local church. I did that, and I haven’t looked back.

You see, this particular decision was a turning point for me. An epiphany, if you will. I realized that if it was in God’s plan for me to get married someday, He wanted to be the one to orchestrate it. What surprised me was that once I accepted this, I was perfectly content with it. What encouraged me in this was also realizing that being content as a single by no means meant that I had to give up my desire to be married someday.

It was from this realization that I started analyzing some other thoughts I had about being single. When I started putting them all together I realized I had enough material to write a book, and a book that would approach this material from a different perspective than any other book I had seen to date. That meant the book would not only sell, but help other people who have struggled with singleness like I have.

The theme is simple: Contentment in singleness without giving up. The premise: As singles, we set up mental roadblocks or attitudes that prevent us from serving God in our current circumstances. We need to learn to get past these roadblocks and change these attitudes and start serving God now, start serving each other now, rather than waiting for a life milestone that may come later rather than sooner, if at all. We need not give up looking for marriage, but it should not be our focus, else we will miss the blessings and opportunites that God wants to give us while we are single.

My current working title is 411-SINGLES: Contentment in Any Circumstance. The 411 is a reference to Philippians 4:11 where the Apostle Paul, himself a single, tells how he has learned to be content in any circumstance. The research and preparation is going so well, I’m getting ideas faster than I can write them down. I currently have three sets of surveys nearly ready (one for singles, one for married persons, and one for pastors/singles workers) that I hope to distribute in an effort to expand my research past my own experiences and make sure that the unique needs of other singles are being addressed also.

I’m excited. Potentially, this could turn into a Bible study series with video lessons, speaking opportunities, and who knows what else. My youth pastor friend, Bob Johnson likes to say, “See it big, keep it simple.” I’m starting with the book, and trusting God to do wonderful things with it. I personally can’t wait to see what happens.

Whether or not it was real is unknown.

Let me explain.

My church periodically offers special Bible studies on various topics, ranging anywhere from a study on the book of Acts to the prayer of Jabez. Currently, I am nearing the end of a study on spiritual warfare. I have also been reading a couple of Frank Peretti’s earlier works (This Present Darkness and Piercing the Darkness) which depict this kind of warfare quite vividly. While Peretti’s works may use a bit of dramatic license, I have always believed spiritual warfare is real. The experience I am about to tell you about has merely confirmed it.

I awoke a few nights ago, quite suddenly, from a deep sleep. A sense of fear gripped me, as I could neither see or move. I couldn’t even breathe. There was a dark presence around and I knew it was not benevolent. My only thought was, “As soon as you can, call out to God. As soon as you can, call out to God.”

I don’t remember ever saying anything out loud, but I vividly remember asking God to help me. As I felt the paralyzing grip slightly weaken, I commanded the demons “In the name of Jesus Christ to leave this house.” Then I remembered my brother Curt. He lives in the apartment directly above mine, and I began to be afraid that once this evil presence left it would just go and harrass him.

I changed my command. “In the name of the son of the living God, Jesus Christ, I command you to leave this building.” I repeated this at least once more. Whether my command was audible to human ears, I’ll never know. I may have been in that place halfway between sleep and awake, or my voice may have simply been too weak to hear. Either way, the power of the name of Jesus Christ could not be denied. The grip weakened. The fear began to leave. If it was a demonic presence, I believe there were more than one as they did not all leave immediately. One seemed to want to linger until I repeated the command a final time. I now felt at peace.

I fell back asleep almost immediately, but I’m pretty sure I was thanking God as I slipped back into full unconsciousness. Not wanting to be neglectful, I made sure to thank him throughout the day, too.

I’ll never know if I was completely awake for this. I can’t deny this was only a dream, but I cannot and will not confirm that it was. It felt real. I could feel the mattress beneath me and the heavy comforter on top of me. I knew where I was, and there were none of the usual dream trappings of changing scenery or feelings of weightlessness or anything to help me identify the experience as anything other than real. In fact, the only reason I can even suspect that this might have been a dream is that fact that I did not hear my own voice at any point. If Curt had been woken by me shouting, he never told me, and there is no reason that he wouldn’t.

I maintain that the experience was real. Whether it happened when I was awake or asleep, I really don’t care. I felt the oppression of demonic attack and repelled it with the name of my savior, Jesus Christ. In the end, that’s what’s important.

That said, the King James translation is not perfect. No translation in any language can claim that. Even the translators themselves (in a preface that is unfortunately missing from nearly every KJV printed today) admitted to their inadequacy and admitted that future translations would likely do a better job. Not every English language version since has done so. In fact, I would agree with those who claim not only that most haven’t but that many of them are corrupted versions of God’s Word altered to suit a specific agenda. When a group of translators limit their source texts to only those that are corrupt and/or fit their worldviews, you end up with a version that is unreliable.

Any serious student of the Bible knows for a fact that it was written in the languages that were common to the people at the time. That’s why the Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew and the New Testament primarily in Greek and Aramaic. Even our beloved KJV was translated into the language that was commonly used at that time. You don’t even need a Bible student to tell you that the English language has changed drastically in the last 400 years. For anyone to instantly condemn every new translation that comes out simply makes no sense. Is it that inconceivable that a group of God fearing people could faithfully translate His Word into the language we commonly use today and succeed? Is it impossible for them to produce a version that you can not only trust, but teach from? Of course not.

Having grown up with the King James Bible, though, I still tend to take a skeptical view of other versions. The KJV has proven itself to me time and time again in its ability to bring me closer to God and know His will for my life. New versions come out so frequently nowadays it’s easy to see that Satan is very eager to muddy the waters of doctrine, especially since English is by and large the universal language. If I’m going to use any other version on a regular basis, I’m going to do my homework.

You see, my problem with the KJV is not so much its lack of readibility as much as my familiarity with it. I’ve read through it so many times that it’s easy (almost automatic) to read a passage and get almost nothing from it. Reading the Bible is not exciting like it used to be, and as such my quiet time in it had dropped significantly in recent years. That a large number of passage are still difficult to read does not help.

A few months ago, the Sunday School teacher for my singles class told me about a new English version called the NET Bible. The abbreviation is short for New English Translation, but the acronym also signifies that its primary method of distribution is the internet. Best yet, the text is available to download, print out and even give away those printouts for free. Better yet, you can quote large portions of it in your own writings and in most instances without needing to ask permission. It’s automatically given. Even the most popular English translation today, the NIV, can’t claim that.

Along with the text, you get well over 60,000 translators’ and study notes that basically tell you why every phrase of every verse was translated the way they were. They explain on their site, bible.org, the principles that guided their translation process. This was a project in development for over ten years, with much feedback from the Christian community throughout the entire process. It was not funded or commissioned by any denomination or group (a plus in my book), but the translators knew that accountability was paramount if their work was to be trusted.

I, along with my brothers, are reading through the Bible in a one year program again. We just finished up Leviticus last night, and I can safely say there is a night and day difference in readability. I am understanding far better what I read, and I look forward to each night’s reading. I hate to miss a day now. The Word of God is exciting to me again, as it should be. I have since ordered copies to give to my brothers as gifts. Curt has noticed the same difference as I have and is getting more out of his readings, too. Aaron is eagerly awaiting his.

I can understand your hesitation if you’re one of those who distrust any Bible that is not a KJV. It’s too easy to be led astray by faulty versions if you’re not careful. I now use the NET Bible as my main Bible, but I am nowhere near ever discarding my KJVs. My familiarity with them is a benefit now, since when I read passages that I’ve known so well I often find myself going back to the KJV to see how it compares. I have not found one difference yet that hasn’t been satisfactorily explained. All the doctrines we hold dear are still intact. You can trust this version.

As I mentioned above, there are a few verses where I find the KJ rendering more powerful or more meaningful. In the case of Psalm 46:10, there is a specific time of my life that causes this verse and the KJ rendering to have such meaning for me. The NET reading is accurate, but the KJV reading for this particular verse is preferable to me. This tends to be the exception, though. The NET Bible is a wonderful translation that is better than the King James without ever really replacing it. Every Christian who should own a copy of both. Because of the collective heart of the translators, every Christian can.

Another contest that has no clear favorites for me is the 2008 presidential race. The Democrats seem so desperate to claim the White House again that they couldn’t give us a break after the ’06 election finished. The Republicans had no choice but to respond in kind and now there are so many candidates that 2008 promises to be a very messy race. It’s probably best to save any further thoughts on that until the crowd of candidates thins out a little bit and we know where things are headed. I’ll just say I’m definitely not for Hillary or Obama, and not for any prejudicial reasons. Margaret Thatcher proved a woman is more than capable of leading a superpower nation, and there’s no valid reason to claim a person of any minority would be any less fit because of ethnicity. Seriously, if the Democrats can find a good candidate with moral values that match mine, I will absolutely consider voting for them.

Of course, my novels are the main reason I have this blog in the first place, so I should probably update you on that, too. Fallen Sparrows is not finished, but as of today I am one or two sections away from being finished. It’ll probably be just one, as I think I can wrap what’s left up in one section, so hopefully I can knock that out really, really soon. After that, I think I’m way overdue for a main site redesign that will tie into this blog and my Flickr account. Ideas are still shaping up very nicely for the next story, which I’ve now titled Knights of the Blood. I’ve even got a great logo designed for it, but haven’t had time to scan it into Paint Shop Pro and touch it up. Once I do, you can be assured I’ll share it as I don’t put that kind of work into something that only I’ll ever see.

On the gaming front, I just picked up Crackdown a few days ago and have been having fun with that. I got a Wii for Christmas and sunk about 60 hours into the new Legend of Zelda game and loved every minute of it. In my opinion, anyone who has an Xbox 360 and a Wii simply doesn’t need a PS3. Blu-Ray may be ahead in the format war, but it’s still better to wait for the price of regular players to come down. I’m still waiting to see which format gets Star Wars and Lord of the Rings.

As I hoped, Shark starring James Woods did indeed get better. Some of the supporting cast needs to do better at standing out, but the story was better by far. Sebastian Stark is a very flawed protagonist, which heightens the conflicts already inherent in the story. What I thought was the best guest actor of the episode is apparently going to be a series regular. Another for the plus column. CSI had more than a few interesting twists which will be affecting future episodes. The unresolved murder harkens back to the Paul Milander storyline from the first couple seasons, which I welcome. Murders don’t get solved in an hour, and stories like this one deserve to have more time devoted to them. The Sam Braun twist was one I did not see coming, but fits extremely well. All in all, a good week of crime show TV.

The CSI‘s got themselves off to a good start. CSI:Miami was more of a cap on last season’s cliffhanger ending than it was a premiere for this season. Last night’s was a much better episode, though the premiere did set it up for Yelena to come back, and that’s not a bad thing. NY started reliably, but the Vegas edition showed why it has always will be the best of the bunch. Shark was okay, but suffered from usual pilot problems in that it had to spend so much time setting things up to give its story enough attention. It still has a lot of potential, though, and James Woods is showing pretty decent range in his acting abilities. Without a Trace started off good. Not a standout episode, though that’s hardly a knock for this series.

Sunday morning was a blessing at my church. We had Robert Rogers as a guest speaker. He lost his wife and 4 children in a flash flood in Kansas a few years ago, and his testimony is extremely touching. After listening to him, I couldn’t help but think how good God has been to me and how little reason I have to complain about anything. One of my brothers went through a divorce a few years ago. The other had to pull his fellow soldiers’ bodies out of the water after a helicopter accident. My grandfather was squeezed out of business by streamlined franchises like Lenscrafters. The worst thing that ever happened to me was a broken engagement. I’ve seen God work through all of these situations, and awesome is too understated a word to describe Him.

Nothing new on the novel front, for now.