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It’s now early Monday morning which means I’m about a day late posting this week’s 90 Day Bible Challenge reflection. I had a pretty hectic week with an out-of-town conference and a short visit with my three nieces. Though I got a little bit behind in my reading, thanks to the Bible on CD that I keep in my car, I should be caught up tomorrow.

Now on to the readings. This week was Isaiah and Jeremiah. As I read (and listened to) these passages, I very much appreciated how fresh Kings, Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah were on my mind. Having read those books, I had a very good context from which to read and understand this week’s two books.

What was really clear to me in both books, but especially in Jeremiah, was how much God wanted relationship with the Israelites. He wanted to be good to them, to love them, to call them friend (yes, I’ve been listening to a LOT of Israel Houghton and New Breed), and to be their Father, but they wouldn’t let Him. I felt His frustration as He looked on His creation, the people He had chosen and saw them behaving so foolishly. I could almost see Him scratching his head and going, “Huh?” Well, maybe not exactly, but you get my drift.

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I had planned to continue this conversation earlier in the week, but life and my day job took precedence. Now that I have a moment, I’d like to continue the story that I began for you in my earlier Taking Back the Past - AFW post. In that post, I told you what was going on around the time my first Silhouette title, A Family Wedding, was first published in 1997. In this post, I want to tell you about the time around the publication of my second Silhouette title, Second Chance Dad.

I have to tell you that I was flying pretty high at this point. Remember that I had given myself three years to make a living wage from my writting. At this point, I had finished the first book of my third two-book contract with Arabesque and, with Second Chance Dad, I was writing what my editor and I planned would be the first in my three-book series on the Bell brothers. Second Chance Dad was a Christmas book, meaning that it was released around December 1997. By the way, I had four books published that year — two for Silhouette and two for Arabesque. I’m telling you I was on a roll.

Okay, back to the Bell brothers. So, Second Chance Dad was a Christmas book that introduced the three Bell brothers. Get it–Bell brothers, Christmas bells? When the book was first published there was a family tree in the front done up as Christmas bells. This is the indication that there were going to be more books about the Bell brothers. At least, there was supposed to be more, but a funny thing happened when I sat down to write the next book: I couldn’t write it. Literally, nothing came. No outline, no anything.

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Congratualtions! We’re more than half way through the Bible this week. I hope you all are enjoying this experience as much as I am. This week we read Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon. You know, the reading of Psalms and Proverbs marked the first time since I’ve being doing the 90 Day Challenge that I’ve felt I rushed through the passages. I don’t know about you but I wanted to savor Psalms; I didn’t do it though because I also wanted to stay on schedule. The upside is that I’m already planning out Bible Studies I want to do once the Challenge is completed. Thanks to Geigh for the heads-up on a possible sudy guide. If you have other suggestions, let me know.

You won’t be surprised to know that the scriptures that stayed with me the most this week were from Psalms. First, Psalms 50:13-14 (NLT):

I don’t need the bulls you sacrifice;
I don’t need the blood of goats.
What I want instead is your true thanks to God;
I want you to fulfill your vows to the Most High.

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Booksigning - 3-7pm
Borders Bookstore
Beverly/95th St
Chicago, IL

Booksigning, 2/16/06, 6-8p
eta Creative Arts Foundation
7558 S South Chicago Avenue
Chicago, IL 60619-2644
Phone: (773) 752 - 3955 | Fax: (773) 752 - 8727

As promised, this is the first post in my Take Back the Past series. Since quite a few of the secular romances that I wrote before I started writing Christian fiction are now being re-issued, I’ve decided to give you some insight into my life at the time I was writing the books. I pray that you find some encouragement from sharing this backward journey with me. Even though I don’t write secular romances anymore, those older books represent a part of my history that I don’t want to forget.

A Family Wedding was first published in 1997 as part of Harlequin’s Silhouette Special Edition line, which means that I probably wrote it in 1996. I say probably because with most publishers there’s a year lag between the time that you submit the manuscript and the time that the book is published; with Harlequin/Silhouette, sometimes the interval is shorter. I probably went to contract on the story in 1995, since the interval from contract to manuscript delivery is typically about a year as well.

Anyway, I remember this being a very happy time for me. I had signed a contract to write my fifth and sixth novels with Arabesque and now I had a second contract with the major romance publishing house. I had accomplished a major feat. At the time, there were not many authors writing African-American romance for Harlequin so I considered myself a pioneer. Okay, I’m laughing at myself now but that’s how I was thinking.

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Well, it’s Day 42 and we’re almost half way through the Bible. Can you believe it? You know, I’ve tried the Bible-in-a-Year program and even the Bible-in-2-years program and I didn’t make it through either. I wonder why this more intense version has been so much easier? After spending a few days in Psalms, I’m already planning what I’m going to do at the end of the 90 days. You guessed it: I want to do a study of the Psalms; something that takes me through them in about a month. I’m beginning to think that short-term works better for me than long-term. So, if you know of any study guide for Psalms, or Psalms and Proverbs, that can be completed over a month’s time, let me know.

For this week, the thought that grabbed me and wouldn’t let go as I read Nehemiah, Esther, Job and the beginnings of Psalms was: None of this makes sense unless you believe in eternity; following God only makes sense if you believe in eternity. The fact is, we’re not promised an easy life here. Look at what Job went through, all because he was faithful to God. Our obedience is required but it doesn’t come with a pass on life’s calamities, though I sometimes wish it did. Only when we look at time in the space of eternity do we get the full grasp of ‘abundant life’ and ‘everlasting life’ as God means them. Something to think about, huh?

The scripture that tagged me this week was Psalm 33:13-15:

The LORD looks down from heaven and sees the whole human race.
From his throne he observes all who live on the earth.
He made their hearts, so he understands everything they do.

I have a hard time understanding what some people do, so it’s nice to know God understands us all. Since He does, I’m going to stop trying to.

Have a great week and don’t forget to share what you’re learning.

I posted a while back about being concerned about my upcoming re-issues from Harlequin. A lot of my concern stemmed from confusing readers who have certain expectations for my work now that I write Christian fiction. Thanks to the support of some of you and to what I refer to as my “Anne Rice” moment, I decided to let it go and let God take care of it.

He did exactly that. I just saw the cover for my latest re-issue and I laughed out loud. You know why? Because there’s no way anybody could confuse that cover with a Christian fiction novel. And when I think about it, even the title, Sweet Passion, suggests that the story is not Christian fiction. And it’s not. Let’s be clear: my earlier romances include sexual content (though I’ve been told it’s pretty mild) that I do not put in my books today.

So now I rest easy. Actually, I started resting easy a while back after reading something that Anne Rice said about not being ashamed of her earlier books. I think she referred to them as “a record of her past.” I love that! When I look at my Christian fiction titles, they all deal with people who have done things in their past that they haven’t really dealt with, things they feel they need to hide or be ashamed of. How fitting is it then that my past is now staring me in the face?

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Okay, I need some help as I ponder the question, What makes an Angela Benson book? So I’m looking to help from the experts–you. Why do you read my books? What is it about them that makes you want to read them? If you’ve read more than one, what makes you keep coming back for more?

I’m sorting through all these questions myself as I try to understand my own writing and I wondered if you, as a reader, see things the way I do. Please share your thoughts with me. There’s no prize for this, but you’ll have my heart-felt appreciation. That and five dollars might get you a latte. Thanks.

NOTE: You don’t have to register for the site to enter your comment. Just select the Comment link and write away!

You’ll notice that the post title says Day 35, rather than the expected Day 36. That means I got behind. I had a late class Friday and fell asleep before reading and then I taught all day Saturday and didn’t read all the designated pages before falling asleep. As you can tell, teaching is an exhausting task for me. The good news is that I was a bit ahead so I didn’t get far behind. I’m not sure if I’m going to try to make up the missing day, or accept it as one of the two “grace” days built into the 90 day program. For those of you who didn’t know, there are 88 passages to be read over the 90 days, thus the “grace” period.

This week we read 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, Ezra and a bit of Nehemiah. The passage that got me (actually, it got me when I first read it in 2 Kings) is the one below:

While they were bringing out the money that had been taken into the temple of the LORD, Hilkiah the priest found the Book of the Law of the LORD that had been given through Moses. Hilkiah said to Shaphan the secretary, “I have found the Book of the Law in the temple of the LORD.” He gave it to Shaphan.

Then Shaphan took the book to the king and reported to him: “Your officials are doing everything that has been committed to them. They have paid out the money that was in the temple of the LORD and have entrusted it to the supervisors and workers.” Then Shaphan the secretary informed the king, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.” And Shaphan read from it in the presence of the king.

When the king heard the words of the Law, he tore his robes. He gave these orders to Hilkiah, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Abdon son of Micah, [a] Shaphan the secretary and Asaiah the king’s attendant: “Go and inquire of the LORD for me and for the remnant in Israel and Judah about what is written in this book that has been found. Great is the LORD’s anger that is poured out on us because our fathers have not kept the word of the LORD; they have not acted in accordance with all that is written in this book.” -2 Chronicles 34: 16-21

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