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My smart phone could be making me dumb

They are called smart phones, the devices that don’t just make telephone calls, but also take pictures, send mail, play music and figure your taxes.

A better name, however, may be stupid phones. I’m afraid that as technology gets smarter, we get duller.

Smart phones may come with a price

This disturbing trend became obvious with the popularity of GPS mapping devices. The little gadgets fit right on the dashboard on the car. You type in the address where you want to go and it tells you road by road, turn by turn exactly how to get there. You don’t even have to look at it, a voice tells you when and where to move your vehicle.

Traveling with someone who had a GPS unit once proved invaluable when we got lost in an unfamiliar city, so I do not discount the value of these route finders. But I do worry plenty about people who rely solely on the voice out of the dashboard and don’t turn on the voice in their head.

Music Review: Chris Filer

This winter was, in a word, miserable. It was so gloomy I actually made a New Year’s resolution to have more fun and created a list of “joy makers” that could lift my spirits. In the waning days of winter I heard a song on KAIR Country out of Atchison, Kan., that caught my ear.

The song “Joy Ride” was an upbeat tune with shades of spiritual themes, like the line “the scent of grace in the air, mercy blowing through our hair.”

Chris Filer

This was my new theme song. I would take a “Joy Ride.” I looked it up on the internet and learned it was written and recorded by Chris Filer. Chris and his family own a soybean seed business in Harrisonville, Mo., and he is vice president of the Missouri Soybean Association. His songs have strong roots in farming and faith. When I learned Chris would be in concert with Easton Corbin in Jefferson City this summer, I knew I had to go. I bought a copy of the album “When It Don’t Come Easy” and have been cranking it out of my stereo every since.

Chris Filer’s music is very good. Not “good for a Missouri soybean farmer” good, but “good as anything coming out of Nashville today” good. Even better.

The second release from the album is “John Deere John 3:16.” It fits solidly in the vein of current songs about small town living, but Chris adds a sincerity that gives it a convincing staying power.

News Leader columnist writes first book

Special thanks to reporter Jacki Wood and Kay Wilson, my first newspaper editor, for writing and publishing this news article about the release of our book.

By Jacki Wood
Nodaway News Leader

A random conversation on a mission trip several years ago sparked an idea. And that idea eventually blossomed into Susan Mires’ recently published novel, “To Seek and Save.”

Mires, a Maryville High School and Northwest Missouri State University graduate, was working as the business editor at the St. Joseph News-Press at the time.

“We were on a mission trip with my church group and we were sitting around chatting one evening,” she said. “I had mentioned how the newspaper is only good for one day til the next one comes out, then the paper – and all my hard work – gets thrown out in the trash.”

Her associate pastor, Gary Mathes, suggested that she write a book.

“He added he’d often thought of writing a story about a small town pastor,” she said. “We started trading ideas. I don’t think anyone else thought we were serious, but we were.”

After four years, with Mathes working mainly on the plot and Mires doing the writing and dialogue, the two published the fictional murder mystery this past June. Set in a small Ozark town near Springfield, the book follows a pastor’s search for a murderer.

“When we started out, it was just to write a book to see if we could,” she said. “Now, after hearing from readers, I believe this book has an uplifting message.”

And even though it took a lot of time, labor, writing and rewriting – and learning – Mires said she is pleased with the outcome and the process.

“It has been a blessing to work with Gary and his family on the project and to have so many of my friends and family help out, too,” she said. “I hope they enjoy reading it and can be entertained and enriched because of our efforts.”

Mires is a freelance writer and lives in St. Joseph. Her column, “Reflections on the River,” appears in the Nodaway News Leader, where she previously worked during college.

Prior to the book, she published a short story in “Chicken Soup for the Soul: What I learned from the dog.” She is also currently working on a historical novel set in St. Joseph. Mathes has served as a minister for 23 years and is currently the associate pastor of Green Valley Baptist Church in St. Joseph. He has also previously produced three music albums.

“To Seek and Save” is available at the Nodaway News Leader for $14 or a copy can be mailed for $16.50 by contacting Mires at susan@susanmires.com.

Book Review: Fireworks

I decided to read Fireworks for a fun summer read. I was not at all disappointed, and even pleasantly surprised at the uplifting story in this romance novel.

Former ATF agent Susannah Tait arrives in Mobile, Alabama, with an assignment as an insurance investigator to prove that pyrotechnic artist Quinn Baldwin was responsible for a million-dollar fireworks explosion.

Click here to purchase Firewworks

Susannah starts out in fine fashion, but is a bit disarmed by the Southern hospitality of her landlady, as well as the unexpected kindness of the object of her investigation. Quinn is a true Southern hero, with a shyness, thrill for the danger of fireworks and a grin you can feel right through the pages. It is quite fun to discover with Susannah some of the pecularities of life in Mobile, as Miss Elva Kay assures her, some ladies have a special dish just for potato salad.

Even though Quinn is attracted to Susannah, he takes a firm stand that he will not act on it because she is not a believer. What ensues is a hilarious and completely believeable plan by Quinn’s friends to share the gospel with Susannah. Her conversion testimony is one of the best I’ve ever read in Christian fiction.

But there is still the matter of her investigation and her deception to Quinn and all of his friends, which makes for several entertaining plot twists.

This novel by Elizabeth White, sprinkled with just enough phrases with fireworks double meaning to keep you on your toes, was a bang-up good read.

Taking it easy this awesome August

August used to be my absolute most hated month of the whole year.

 July was all popsicles, water slides and fireworks, but the moment the calendar turned over, a sense a dread settled in my stomach. A big old circle around a certain date gave full notice that my wild and carefree days were numbered. Literally.

Whatever fun could have been wrung out of the fading days of summer were overshadowed by the looming deadline. We still slept late, rode bikes and tried to be as lazy as humanly possible, but it all had a sense of desperation. It wasn’t summer any more, it was August. Hot, stifling and lifeless. In other words – school.

            Even the word sounded like coughing up a hairball. August.

The magic moment of August at the top of the swing

            After I graduated from college and started working at a small newspaper, I reveled in the fact that for the first time in 18 years (I took a little extra time to get through college) I would not have to go back to school. The dusty taste of August still lingered in my mouth, though, as I covered the start of school for those poor, innocent children.

            The next year I turned the calendar over to August and marveled that there was no drop-dead date circled in red. Then I looked closer. There really wasn’t much of anything on the calendar for August.

            And I made the most delightful discovery: August is awesome!

        

Book Review: Seeds of Summer

Deborah Vogts’ first release Snow Melts in Spring was one of my favorite books, so I was excited to read the second in the Seasons of the Tall Grass Series.

Seeds of Summer opens with Natalie Adams facing a daunting task: Her father died in a tractor accident and the former rodeo queen must manage the ranch and care for her teenage brother and sister. Like any good Kansas girl, she’s stubborn and independent, but grudgingly accepts help from Jared Logan, who happens to be the new pastor in town. Jared is kind and persistent. He’s also attracted to Natalie, but shows his true character in fighting his feelings because he knows it would be inappropriate to have a relationship with her. This is a refreshing plot line for Christian fiction.

Click here to purchase Seeds Of Summer

Just as Natalie seems to be getting on her feet, her step-mother, long presumed dead, shows up at the ranch. Natalie has so much to grieve and overcome, including giving up college and her rodeo career, that it was easy to empathize with her and understand the hardness in her heart. Jared was my favorite character, as the uncertain young minister gamely tried his hand at roping and discovered his own love for the land.
What I enjoy most about this series is that it relates so closely to life. It portrays the not-so-glamorous parts of ranch life, but also baling hay and fixing windmills.
Natalie and Jared both struggle and grow in their faith as they discover love in this book.

The first book in the series is Snow Melts in Spring. Deborah is working hard on the third book!

Click here to purchase Snow Melts in Spring

Journey to the Seasons of the Tallgrass by Deborah Vogts

Reflections on the River has a special guest blogger, my friend and author Deborah Vogts, who tells her experiences researching for her contemporary Christian fiction series set in the Flint Hills of Kansas. 

In April 2008, I received “the phone call” from my agent, Rachelle Gardner, that Zondervan had made an offer on the Seasons of the Tallgrass, a contemporary romance series set in the Flint Hills of Kansas—a place I dearly love. My long-held dream had finally arrived—my prayers had been answered.

Deborah Vogts

 But the story didn’t begin there…it began many years ago when I attended Emporia State University and took a summer course called Flint Hills Folklore. Along with classroom study, we took field trips into the heart of the Flint Hills and visited with old-time ranchers, schoolmarms and post-mistresses. It was such a delightful experience, especially our drives into the pastures. We would get on these back roads and drive over pasture guards into the open range. We would travel for miles without seeing another car or even an electric line—just pure, native prairie.. That summer, I fell in love with the Flint Hills and it has stayed with me all this time, finally culminating in the contemporary romance series, the Seasons of the Tallgrass.

My first book, Snow Melts in Spring, begins when a horse is terribly injured. Right off, I had to know technical terminology and had to create a scene that was accurate and believable. To get it right, I contacted a handful of veterinarians, asked them a bunch of detailed questions all the way down to possible accident scenarios, which would create the type of injuries required for the story. I even shadowed one small animal vet for a day in order to get a feel for what a “day in the life” might look like for my character who was also a vet.

Everyone’s a winner at a county fair

Among my proudest accomplishments rank a two-year reign as a Nodaway County Fair Champion. From 1981-82, I was the winner of the freckle contest. For clarification, I do believe the fair was known as the Nodaway County Expo in those
early days.

Hanging out at the fair last weekend, it was easy to forget that the event has not always been around. Now, it’s hard to imagine July evenings without a carnival and concerts on the courthouse square. Congratulations to the fair board and all those involved for making it a great success.

If you took all the best things about farms, small towns, America, human nature, God’s creation, fried foods, fresh air, being young and being old, mixed them all up together and poured them out, I’m pretty sure the result would be a county fair. The summer festivals are a celebration of excellence, the best of livestock, fresh cut flowers, vegetables, cake decorating, knitting, jams and jellies, woodworking and photography.

Any time you can slide on a burlap sack and listen to a group called Cori Jo and the Outlaw Junkies, you can guarantee a good time will be had by all. Factor in the perfectly reasonable price of free, and it gets even better. Add the cotton candy and it just went over the top.

N-P-K: Formula for gardening and praying

Crabgrass has been making itself an uninvited and unwelcome visitor in my garden. It’s been so wet lately, the ground will not get dry, giving the weeds a healthy growth spurt and frustrating my efforts to hoe them out.

Strawberries from the garden earlier this year

Trying to beat the heat, and not altogether succeeding, I went out to the garden about 7:30 this morning and attacked crabgrass with my hoe. It’s not enough just to scrape the little invaders out of the ground. The plants can take up root somewhere else if they survive. I hoed the plants out, then turned them upside down to wither in the sun.

Killing the roots is the only way to destroy a weed, I observed, which reminded me of this devotional. Looking at the uprooted crabgrass, I realized that was a bit how I felt in a spiritual sense. As if  my roots, instead of being nurtured, were drying out. Battles which once didn’t seem so hard were getting the best of me.

Experience has taught me that God’s Word is the only source of nutrients for our roots. I reflected that it has been a busy summer and I’ve been disconnected from consistent Bible study.

After washing off the garden dirt, I pulled out a study guide for Philippians that I’d bought months ago with good intentions. In the introduction, author Elizabeth George wrote about a woman after God’s own heart:

One crucial way this desire can become reality is by nurturing a heart that abides in God’s Word. To do so means that you and I must develop a root system…

This must be just what I need! Today’s  study of Philippians didn’t start in that book, but in Acts, describing how the church there was started. Paul and Silas answered the “Macedonian call” to go to the region. They were led by the Holy Spirit to Philippi. On Sunday morning, they went to the riverbank, where a group of women were praying.

I was shocked to discover that the Philippian church, which was such a blessing in Paul’s life and led to a book of the Bible which has guided and inspired millions of Christians, was born because God moved in response to a women’s prayer meeting. The church grew because a businesswoman named Lydia used her skills to God’s glory.

It does matter what you and I do in those private moments. Time in prayer may change the future, and probably when you least expect it.

Farmers know that the essential nutrients for fertile soil are nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium, identified by the chemical symbols N-P-K.

It’s the same formula for believers: Need Praying Knees.

“Everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him.” Philippians 3:3-9