Book Reviews Coming in January

In December, 2011, Graf-Martin Publishing (aka. B&H Publishing Group, Nashville, TN) sent me a couple of books to read and review for them. Watch for my reviews in January, 2012 at the blogs:

Laura-Lee Was Here

MAIDRYN'S MEDIA: Treasures & Trash

The Moccasin Mile


I will be reviewing the books:

"Courageous Living: Dare to Take a Stand"


"The Resolution for Women"


See you later.

" CORIOLANUS" Takes Control & Revenge

The new film from Lionsgate, acted & directed by Ralph Fiennes and also with Gerard Butler, Vanessa Redgrave & Brian Cox is going to be in wide release on January 20 (2012). It's a modern remake of the Shakespearean Classic. But don't be afraid of the language, but maybe just the content. It's dark and disturbing and it will stay with you for days. (just like most things worthwhile do)

Be there or be WARE.

STAY TUNED TO THIS SPACE FOR MORE INFO!!!

But for now, here's a sneak peek at the trailer:

Cure the Post Christmas Blues

My Three Fathers           (Originally written: October 23, 2008)

 ~ by Laura-Lee Rahn

On a quiet night on December 25th several years ago, I was sitting around thinking about how Christmas had come and gone again for another year. After weeks of increasing frenzy, Christmas is  over after only a few hours. Suddenly my phone rang and I picked it up. I heard a man's voice say, "Little Girl? This is your Dad."
A mixture of shock and excitement swept through my body like an electrical current as I felt  transformed from a middle-aged woman to a 7 year old little girl.
I responded, "Hey Dad! It's great to hear your voice."
Then the thought hit me that something must be very wrong for him to call after all these years of silence.
"Are you okay?" I asked hurriedly.
"Sure," he replied with joviality, " I just wanted to give you a call to wish you a Merry Christmas".
We made a couple more minutes of excited small talk, but when I asked him a specific question I got no response. After a few seconds pausing he said, " I'm sorry to say this, but I don't think you're my daughter."
He was right. We discovered that he had accidently dialled the wrong number!
I asked him, " When did you first realize that I wasn't your daughter?"
He said, " Actually, I immediately suspected something was different. My daughter is never  this happy to hear from me. Usually the moment she realizes it's me, she hangs up." 
I told him, "I should have realized immediately too. My father hasn't phoned me at Christmas or any other time for almost a decade."
 
We wished each other a Merry Christmas and before we hung up the man said,
" I hope you don't mind me getting personal, but your father is a fool if he doesn't want to talk to you." 
I told him I thought the same about his daughter. He had grown quiet with the realization that he still had to phone his daughter and he knew she would probably hang up on him once again.
I got even more personal and said, "Let's make a pact. Every Christmas when my Dad doesn't call and your daughter hangs up on you, let's think of each other and remember that you have a "mystery daughter" who would never hang up on you and I have a "mystery father" who calls every Christmas to see how I'm doing".
 
Every year it seems that families become more fractured and the Christmas 'hurrah' gets more noisy and hectic. I suspect people make such a big commotion so they won't notice how lonely they are. I've puzzled long (and cried much) over people who ignore those in their lives who are desperately ready to love them unconditionally, but their family members treat them with indifference or sometimes even contempt.
Deep inside us God has placed a blue-print of family life that is repeatedly declaring to us, "this is not the way it is meant to be! " In Psalm 68:6 it says, "God sets the lonely in families". A family is suppose to be a haven, a shelter, a fortress in trouble and a place where you are loved independent of who you are or what you've done. Yet Christmas is a dreaded and lonely time for many people, because it seems to put a magnifying lens to our lives and amplifies the fact that things are not quite right.
  Now, I'm not going to tell you to love only the people who love you back, but my "wrong number father" showed me that there are people who are waiting and wanting to love me. I just may not have met them yet.
Now each Christmas finds me with three fathers: 1) a biological father who can't be bothered to know me, 2) a "wrong-number-father" who wants to know me and 3) a Heavenly father who knows me intimately. But not only does He know me, He loves me enough to send his Son from Heaven, to be born in a lowly stable, to die an agonizing death on a cross to atone for my entire life of sins, to rise from the dead to give me hope for Eternity and, oh yeah, to give me a reason to celebrate all year through with wonder, humility and deep thankfulness.
 
 "-rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him-" (1 Peter 2:4 NIV)

Addendum  (December 28, 2011)

I wrote this article in 2008 and sent it to the Edmonton Journal newspaper during the last week of October, 2008. I got no response from the Journal. Not even an automated response. I had the opportunity for this article to be published elsewhere and wrote to the Journal several times to ask them for a decision as to whether they were going to use my story or not. If they didn't want it, I would pass it on to someone who did. I heard absolutely nothing from them. This response puzzled me because it is the first time in more than 20 years of writing that I have not had something I submitted published. Usually God is very clear as to what I should write and where to send it to. Now I realize it may have been the timing that was wrong.
When I wrote this story in 2008, my father was still alive. He died less than a year later in the summer of 2009. Since that time I've thought a lot about what makes a father. I have come up with a very long list. It included such things as compassion, tenderness, protection, sympathy, strength of character, guidance, humour, humility but mostly unconditional love demonstrated through self-sacrifice.
My biological father is gone, my "mystery" father I may never meet, but my Heavenly Father remains.
As I grew up, people used to say to me, "It must be hard to be without a father." But even then, I didn't feel I was without one. Just because God is invisible doesn't make him unreal. He is called the "Living God" because He is. Living, warm, available, compassionate, tender, a refuge, a companion, someone to dry your tears, to protect you and to sacrifice whatever it takes so that you and He will never be apart. Even if the sacrifice is His only son, Jesus.
After my father and mother got divorced my father still had visitation rights every second weekend. I would sit with my little, green suitcase every Friday night and wait for him to show up. By about 10:00 PM I would take off my coat, take my suitcase back to my room, unpack and go to bed, feeling worthless.

I became a Christian for one simple reason, I discovered I had a Father who would "show up". He's been "showing up" every day of my life and has never left me for one moment. Christmas may be over, but the love of God goes on every moment, of every day of my life.

If you're feeling let down because Christmas didn't give you the "warm fuzzies" you thought it would, or that it was over too soon, why don't you give your Heavenly Father a chance to show up. To be a part of your life. To give you all that you've been living without. Quite simply, He will. And if that isn't a reason to celebrate , I don't know what is.

"Hark the Herald angels sing, glory to the newborn King
Peace on Earth and mercy mild.
God and sinners reconciled ... "

"He said to me, ' You are my Son, today I have become your Father' " ~Psalm 2:7

WE are "the Reason for the Season"

Every year I see Christians put up those signs (me included) that say "Jesus is the Reason for the Season". This year I took it one step further and asked, "why did Jesus really come to earth"? He came because of His great & Massive love for us. So the truth of it is, "WE are the reason for the season."
Watch the video and see what I mean.
A Womderful Christmas to you from Me & Mumsy.
Love L-L

God Knows

Minnie Louise Haskins 1875-1957

I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year,
‘Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.’
And he replied ‘ Go into the darkness and put your hand
Into the hand of God that shall be to you better than light
And safer than a known way!’
      
So I went forth and finding the Hand of God trod gladly
Into the night. *
And He led me towards the hills and the breaking of day
In the lone East.
      
So heart be still what need our little life
Our human life to know, If God hath comprehension?
In all the dizzy strife of things both high and low,
God hideth his intention.
God knows. His will is best.
     
The stretch of years which wind ahead, so dim to
Our imperfect vision, Are clear to God.
Our fears are premature; In him all time hath full provision.     

Then rest: until God moves to lift the veil from our
Impatient eyes, when as the sweeter feature of life’s
Stern face we hail, Fair beyond all surmise God’s
Thought around His creatures our minds shall fill.

King George's (VI) Christmas Message 1939

FOLLOW THE ABOVE LINK TO A VIDEO

The Walking Dead : mid-Season FINALLY!

Technorati Tags: AMC,The Walking Dead,The Talking Dead,pro-life,pro-choice,abortion,Norman Reedus,Jeffrey DeMunn,Steven Yeun,Zombies,Bible,Christian,Christian Reviews,Andrew Lincoln,Horror genre,cult films,cult classic,TV shows,mid-season finale,after death,Centre for Disease Control,Atlanta,CDC,Jenner

If you have been reading my critiques of the second season of the AMC show, '”The Walking Dead”, you will know that I have not been singing it’s praises as much as I did last season. In fact, this season I’m not singing at all! But I am still watching , although for very different reasons and motives (after all everyone needs a good Sunday night gripe session). I usually say most of negative comments to the TV during the broadcast (or should I say broadcasts) of the episode. But there are a few things that have me quite upset and so  must “spill over” into my blog.

1)  I am tired of the people at AMC calling their reruns “an encore presentation”. When one episode has been played over and over so that AMC can wring every inch of advertising revenue out of it, it’s just called plain, old reruns.

2)  In all my many decades of watching TV I have never heard of a mid-season finale. What that basically means is that all the people who make the show want to head off for several months of holidays. They simply call it a “finale” so that we won’t realize that it is actually the first episode this season that actually included something HAPPENING. Do you believe that 1 hour TV shows used to actually be shot live, lasted 57 minutes long and included 46 episodes per year. Ah, the gold ol’ days.

3) You cannot force something to become a cultural phenomena or have a cult following. AMC feels that by following “The Walking Dead” with a show called “The Talking Dead” they will be able to build this show into another Star Trek or any one of dozens of other movies and TV shows that developed cult followings. I’ll let them in on a secret, “those shows were good”.  If they make great entertainment and do their jobs well, this show will live on indefinitely. This entire direction of PR might actually backfire on them. Simply because the show “The Talking Dead” is more interesting and exciting then the show they are suppose to be promoting. Oops!

4) As for Sophia being one of the “Walkers” in the barn … my 70 year old mother had that one figured out the moment it was revealed that there were “Walkers” in the barn. Actually, Mom has come up with some really interesting plot lines for this show. I enjoy her story lines more than the actual ones. Maybe I should send in a resume to “The Walking Dead” on her behalf. I hear there’s good money in TV writing and maybe I’ll be able to get her my allowance re-instated.

5) This one will probably meet with the most resistance. We know that the character of Lori is pregnant, took some “morning after” abortion pills and then threw them up. So now her husband, Rick, comes trotting over to “have it out” with her. He’s got his nerve. After all, he’s only the baby’s father ! So after some “Blah blah blah” back and forth Rick states, “Did you really think I would make you have a baby you didn’t want?!”

Lori replies, “Oh sure! Then it would be on my conscience.”

(Now forgive me for being my ‘naive’ little, pro-life self but ) It seems to me that if a woman states that it’s “her body” and “her decision” and “solely my choice what I do with my body” then, yeah, it would be on her conscience! I’ve known about the tenants of the pro-choice movement for a long time, but do they really expect to let no one participate in that decision and then require them to carry the blame AND the consequences for actions they had no say in?

All I can say is, “Beam me up, Lord. It’s getting really weird down here.”

 

Homemade Christmas Video

Last year I created a video for my family members. I was re-watching it and realized that it was prophetic and would mean more for us this year. But I want to share it with you too. It turned out well because I feel Jesus was inspiring me to do it. (I'm not really that good at creating videos). And I will take this opportunity to wish you all a Merry CHRISTmas. "Bless You All".
Love Laura-Lee

Bless Us All Video

The Walking Dead: Season 2

Now let me start by saying that since I am a Christian I do not often watch movies or TV shows that involve aliens, vampires, werewolves and especially not ZOMBIES! It’s not that I’m particularly holy, just that I find that type of genre rather boring. It seems to me that Zombie stories are pretty much like slasher flicks; mostly for boys under 12 years old who get a kick out of looking at gross stuff. But I was very surprised last year when a zombie show called, “The Walking Dead” on AMC (American Movie Channel) caught my attention. It's when the actors and makers of the show kept talking about it being a metaphor for life today. As one actor from the show said, “It’s less about zombies and more about how a small group of very different people keep their beliefs and morals alive in a world where the majority are dead people without any humanity at all and the main goal of everyone is survival.” That definitely piqued my interest and I tuned in. I watched every episode of the first season and then watched it again. Then I went on the internet and raved about this show and told everyone (including all my Christian/Church friends) that this was no ordinary horror show. These stories had depth, posed interesting questions and kept you well entertained (even if I did have to close my eyes for some of the grosser moments).
So it is with some hesitation and much disappointment that I must retract some of my opinions after watching Season 2 of “The Walking Dead”. It seems to me that the scripts have gotten bogged down a lot into how everyone “feels” and the entire show has taken on a soap opera atmosphere. Last year there was non-stop action and we discovered everyone’s feelings and beliefs through their actions, not through a bunch of yakity-yak. In Season 1, just when people started arguing and getting petty, the “Walkers” would descend upon them and there would be no time for talking just for moving. Everyone was revealed through their actions and alliances were formed among very unlikely people out of instinct and not prejudice. This season, an attack from the Walkers appears just when the writers believe their audience is about to fall asleep, change the channel or go to the bathroom (which may actually be more exciting than watching this show).
Plus, also like a soap opera where nothing happens for the entire first part of the show,  you need only tune in for the last 10 minutes to get all the plot information and action they mean to give us.
Before all you fans come down on me for being more harsh than Deputy Shane and dumber than Merle Dixon, I must state that I started this season with great expectations and I am still tuning in each week in the hope they will prove me ‘dead’ wrong. But if you take a moment to imagine yourself in the same situation as our motley bunch of survivors, would you be acting the same? Aren’t there many questions you’d like them to attempt to answer, many relationships you’d like explored? Just sitting here on my bed I am wondering why Sophia’s mom isn’t constantly wandering the woods looking for her daughter. If your 12 year old daughter was alone in a forest filled with Zombies , would you just sit around looking worried, or would they have to tie you down to keep you from looking?
What happened to the “French” whom Jenner said “might be onto a cure”? Why  aren’t they trying to contact overseas? Why aren’t they trying to find other non-dead survivors? Do they plan to continue “bumming” off the Vet and his family at this little farm or are they going to try and find supplies or maybe plant a garden or maybe do some chores? They keep acting like they are VIP guests there instead of pitching in and helping the others. If your son’s life had just been saved would “cooking dinner” be the best “thank you” you could come up with? And with all the family problems and dysfunctional families in the world , do you really want to see Rick and Lori continuing the same marital arguments through several episodes? Boy, there is nothing like a boring, mundane husband/wife argument to entertain us all.  And with all the Dead people walking around didn’t it occur to anyone to put up better defenses than Andrea on top of a Winnebago?

Now with all the negative things I just said, let me end on a more positive note. There are three actors I think we should really give credit for doing their characters well, making them three dimensional and keeping our interest (even with some pathetic story lines) while working in 100 degrees (+) Fahrenheit weather. Whatever is going on , you can’t take your eyes off them! (click on the names of each actor and find out more about them and their character and don't forget the links below to the official WALKING DEAD sites)

Walking Dead: JEFFREY DEMUNN (Dale)



Walking Dead: NORMAN REEDUS (Daryl Dixon)


Walking Dead: STEVEN YEUN (Glenn)


Walking Dead Official Site/ AMC
Walking Dead: CAST & CHARACTERS

Safe

“Help! Help! Can somebody hear me?!
I’m over here. Hanging from the cliff. HELLLP!!!”
“I’m here. I’m here.”
“Help me. I’m falling. Please help me. I’m tired. What do I do?”
“Grab onto my hand.”
“I can’t I’ll fall.”
“Just hang on with one hand and reach to me with the other.”
“ I can’t reach up that far.”
“You won’t have to. I’ll grab you’re hand as soon as you let go and it’s free. On three. Okay? 1 – 2- 3. GOTCHA !”
“ I’m still slipping. My hands are sweaty. No, no. Help, help , help me, I don’t … Ahhhhh. I’m gonna fall! I’m gonna fall !”
“STOP. LOOK AT ME. No don’t look down. Look at me.”
“I can’t hold on anymore. I’m slipping. I’m tired. Nothing more to do. I’m ahhhhh … --- HUH! What the …? “
“Here you go. Safe and sound on high ground.”
“How did you do that? I was slipping . I was falling. I was too tired to hang on any more. I was sure I was a goner.”
“Maybe you had to let go of me, but I was never going to let go of you. You never would have fallen. You just didn’t know it. You didn’t realize how strong I am and that I wouldn’t have left. You were safe the whole time.”
“ The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”
(Deuteronomy 31:9)

Where's the Newsletter, Laura-Lee?!

As you can tell, the VCSS Newsletter I mentioned before is not finished. Nor is it going to be anytime soon. "LIFE" has invaded once again and what I used to consider tough situations deteriorated into "major crazy".
I had to leave my apartment on March 30, 2011. I had only a few days to get out and save a few things because of the waterfalls (literally) coming from my kitchen and bathroom ceilings (and I was in a basement suite). My landlady wouldn't fix it and I didn't have the money to move my belongings. I saved a few boxes of things (about 1/2 dozen) and my coffee table. Then on my way out of the building, I fell down a flight of stairs and awoke to discover myself surrounded by 5 , big, handsome firemen. That normally would have been a GOOD thing but they were trying to keep me from panicking because of my injuries and the fact that my purse strap had wrapped around my neck twice and was cutting off my circulation.
So here I sit, many months later, in a dingy hotel room, with winter nipping at my heels and Jack Frost at my nose. It was - 6 Celsius today and I am still no closer to finding a home. What makes it harder is that my mother is sleeping in the bed next to me. Almost 2 months ago , her kitchen sink became a water fountain (not to be confused with a water fall) and neither of us can walk , nor have a car and are a goodly amount in debt, while we watch our options dwindle. Yet it is a huge coincidence to find ourselves in the same boat. And, quite frankly I don't believe in coincidences. It probably looked pretty bleak to those Hebrews who had their backs to the Red Sea and Pharaoh's men ready to slice them to bits from the other direction. But what did Moses say to them? "Let the Lord fight for you. you need only to stand still"
 So I think you may understand why the VCSS Newsletter has gone to the bottom of my list of priorities. (Maybe somebody else will take up the idea.) Yet, I received some mailed that was being "held" for me and discovered that Vancouver Christian School sent me something to "hit me up" for money. (Good luck with that guys) But once again, I wandered back, in my mind, to a gentler place and time. Where our greatest troubles was a test score or a new pimple.
Now we are all grown up and we must learn the lesson that "God has no grand-children". You either belong to Him or not. You follow or not. You must make a conscious decision to pick up your cross daily, deny yourself and follow wherever he leads.Christianity is no longer something you stumble into or "give it a try". It is a choice. The ultimate choice!
Two things come back to my memory again and again: When Alan Dunlop was forever practicing the hymn, "Freely we have received; now freely give" and what Mr. Van Oosten wrote in my last yearbook, "Blossom where planted". A hundred times a day those 2 thoughts run across my mind. It's my job to grab hold of them and invite them to stay a while. Just like I wish I could do with each of you. It is my desire and prayer that you each reach the "breakthrough" point when you surrender that last piece of yourself. You no longer keep that one last cookie in the cookie jar. I'm not saying I prefer not knowing where I will be from day to day or what will happen to me, BUT , Jesus reveals himself to me EVERY day. Sometimes to say deep, important things and reveal startling revelations or  just to share a silly joke , because He knows I love them best. But when I realize that the Maker of the stars, knows me by name, I can understand the reaction of men like the prophet Isaiah (who told God he was of "unclean lips") or Peter (who said, "Get away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!"). Somebody told me once that , when they were with me they never felt so guilty but so accepted at the same time. That is our Jesus. Correcting us constantly, yet loving us totally. He has filled my hands with blessings because they were not full of other things. And I find great strength in my weakness because it's at that point I must lean hardest on Him. He will gather me under his wings and I will rejoice. A deal where we certainly come out with the bigger end of the straw.
 So now I head off to bed this early Sunday morning, knowing that NOTHING can separate us from the love of God found in Christ Jesus (Romans 8)


Oh No. Not Winter Again!

And my Love to you all, my extended & Christian family.
Forever and always, your Laura-Lee Rahn (VCSS grad 1985)




Beautiful Alberta Sky

P.S. DON'T FORGET TO CHANGE YOUR CLOCKS AN HOUR.

Is the Anti-Christ Touching Our Mail

Being a Christian means that I read Bible Prophecy and personally believe that the events depicted in the book of Revelation in the Bible are now taking place around us.

One of the things that the Bible prophecises is a cashless society. It is a precursor to the anti-christ coming to power. He will require that all the citizens of the earth receive a mark on their hand or forehead that will allow them to transfer their money from one place to another. We are very near that exact thing. In fact, we are probably a little past due.

Most people buy things with their "plastic" whether it be a debit card or a credit card. We pay our bills, buy at a store, buy a home , give to charity and many other transactions all without ever touching any "real" money.

But identification theft has never been higher. Because as long as our numbers are on a piece of plastic, they can be stolen. The only logical response is to have all our numbers amalgamated into one and then put it right onto our hand or head. Now that may take the form of a finger print or retinal scan but it's in the Bible and it has been there for almost two thousand years. Yet , only now has it become absolutely plausible.

Now that brings us to our topic. Those of you who live in Canada know that we are currently enduring a nation wide Postal Strike (or actually a lock out). I predicted this would happen by simply looking at the world around us and believing that what God said in the Bible will actually happen. Many, many people still hold to doing things the old fashioned way, with real paper and ink. In computer geek terms, they still want hard copies of everything. Well, this must be STOPPED. The best way to do that is to force people to be online and do all of their business over the computer.

In Canada we are now in a position that the last of us "hold outs" must now get computers and put all our information onto the computer. Recently, I signed up for a wifi account with Bell Mobility. When I admitted to the customer representative that I do not do my banking online, he looked at me as if I was a live dinasaur standing directly in front of him.

I do not expect that this Postal strike to end any time soon. It is all part of the plan to push us into a direction that the "higher ups" feel we must take. We must be cashless before the anti-christ can take over and he is in the wings , itching to do just that.

I take comfort in knowing that God knew all this was going to happen before it did and actually took the time to make sure it was put into a written record and that those of us living in these dangerous an exciting times would still have the ability to read it ... and be warned.

I have attached to this post the first page you come to when you go to the Canada Post website (http://www.canadapost.ca). But remember that God is still in control and even though a few battles are still left to be fought, the whole war was won when Jesus died on that cross and then came back to life. And most importantly ... still lives today.

Sincerely, Laura-Lee



FROM THE CANADA POST WEBSITE HOMEPAGE:

2011/06/17

On Saturday June 18 and Sunday June 19, Canada Post will publish full-colour ads in 19 Canadian newspapers, promoting epost as the ideal solution to receive, pay, and manage bills.

In doing so, Canada Post recognizes the inconvenience that Canadians have had to endure as a result of the current labour situation. In addition to keeping you informed on the state of negotiations with the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW), by promoting epost, we wish to inform our customers that Canada Post offers an alternative way for Canadian businesses and consumers to stay connected at all times.

This is in the spirit of many recent promotional campaigns launched by billers, such as phone, cable, and power companies, and credit card issuers, leveraging the current labour situation to convince Canadians to switch to electronic direct billing solutions.

In the full page ad, headlined "An Important Message To Canada Post Customers", Canada Post apologizes "for the inconvenience being caused by the current postal disruption."

The ad acknowledges that Canadians are increasingly being solicited to sign up to receive their bills electronically. Consumers have to go to several different websites and maintain passwords, which many find both confusing and time-consuming. (amalgamate, amalgamate, amalgamate! L-L)

　

Electronic Services:Canada Post’s website, canadapost.ca, is fully operational and offers up-to-date information on the labour situation.
The Electronic Shipping Tools and Online Business Centre are operational, but some functions may be limited.
epost is fully operational and remains a recommended tool for consumers to use for important communications and to receive statements and effect payments to many financial institutions, utilities, and retailers.
　
Duration:Canada Post cannot predict how long the current labour situation will last.
(they're in no hurry. L-L)

We apologize to our customers for the inconvenience this situation is causing. We are making every attempt to reach a settlement and resume normal operations as soon as possible.