ASK THE AUTHOR: Yvonne Lehman

Latest project: Hearts That Survive: A Novel of the Titanic (March).

Publisher: Abingdon Press.

Have you always been interested in the Titanic, and did your interest grow in writing this book? Both. Such a tragedy and disaster are events that touch the heart and mind and remind us that we are not in control in this life, no matter how much expertise goes into a project, and the Titanic was a wonder of the world in 1912. I’m always interested in what are called “man-made, natural or act of God” tragedies and disasters. My interest grew as I learned more about how people react in time of tragedy, the fear and the nobility of the human spirit, the natural instinct to call upon God [and] acknowledge Him, at least when all else fails.

Why do you think there is such a fascination with the Titanic? People are naturally fascinated with tragedy, perhaps because we all are so closely akin to it, personally or with those close to us. We tend to want the answer to “Why?” Being a writer, I know there must always be conflict in a story. That’s what readers expect and must have in novels. It’s what we have in life. We identify with difficulties whether they’re labeled big or small. We seek answers. I think we want to know why such a thing as the sinking occurred.

How did the plot unfold? Like a miracle. The acceptance of the proposal came almost too late for me to be able to write it. From the moment I asked Ramona Richards (editor with Abingdon), “Would you like a book about the Titanic?” and she said, “Yes,” the only thing on my mind was this book. I’ve never written so much in so short a time. I’ve never had characters come alive so quickly and so completely. I’ve never felt the flow of creativity, nor the presence of God in writing, as much as I did while writing this book. The characters let me know how they felt from the moment Ramona said, “Yes,” and my fingers stayed on the keyboard every possible waking moment for weeks. This is my 50th novel, but in so many ways it feels like a first. 

If you had to describe Hearts That Survive in two or three words, what would you say? I prefer to choose the description from what my endorsers say, which includes: “Wonderful. Chilling. Compelling.”

Jim Cymbala wants believers to fully embrace the power of the Holy Spirit, without which, he says, “Christianity is impossible.” Anxious for the church to live in that vitality, the best-selling author and pastor of the Brooklyn Tabernacle offers Spirit Rising: Tapping Into the Power of the Holy Spirit (978-0-310-24125-6, $19.99), written with Jennifer Schuchmann and releasing from Zondervan this month.

Observing that one side of the church emphasizes the Word over the Spirit and the other may attribute every manifestation to God’s Third Person, Cymbala writes: “The Holy Spirit is underappreciated and underpreached by the twenty-first-century church. There is a prejudice of sorts against the Holy Spirit that impedes many from learning more about him.”

But, he asserts, truly following the Scriptures means that faith should be both grounded in the Word and full of the Spirit—the kind of faith he has taught in previous best-sellers such as Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire and Fresh Power.

Cymbala shares testimonies of individuals such as Roma Black, a former “player” in New York City’s drug scene who was radically transformed by God, and Terry Kehm, led out of a life of promiscuity.

Teaching that it takes more than having daily devotions, listening to preachers and going to worship services, Cymbala shows believers how to connect with the Spirit and what that looks like—a life filled with joy, power, love, overcoming fear and more.

Joy makes the believer distinctive in this world, Cymbala argues. “All joy comes from the Holy Spirit,” he writes. “We can’t manufacture it, call it up, try harder to get it, or make it happen on our own.”

To order Spirit Rising, call 800-727-1309, or visit www.zondervan.com.

Father of murdered JonBenét Ramsey tells how he find grace in the midst of unspeakable tragedy

Suspects in their daughter’s murder, John and Patsy Ramsey’s names were eventually cleared, but not before enduring great suffering. Then, when Patsy died of ovarian cancer at age 49, John Ramsey had another test of his hope and faith—one of many stories he tells, with Marie Chapian, in The Other Side of Suffering: The Father of JonBenét Ramsey Tells the Story of His Journey from Grief to Grace.

A highly successful businessman, Ramsey was enjoying the fruits of his labor, while Patsy enjoyed entering JonBenét in pageants. But their idyllic life was shattered in 1996 when an intruder entered their Colorado home and brutally killed JonBenét—he discovering her body Christmas day.

As hard as that tragedy was, it wasn’t the first time the family suffered the loss of a child. Ramsey’s 22-year-old daughter died in a car accident in 1992, just four years before JonBenét’s murder. The crime remains unsolved.

“Before all this happened in my life, my faith was hardly a faith at all,” Ramsey told Christian Retailing. “I just accepted that there was a God because it was easier to do that than to be convinced there was no God. Suffering caused me to really address whether I believed in God or not. More specifically, it helped me understand who Jesus is.”

His faith has grown from the time his older daughter died. “When Beth died, my reaction in screaming ‘There is no God!’ was based on my immature faith at the time.” 

A good friend became Ramsey’s spiritual mentor. “I think God gave me the gift of faith as I progressed,” he said.

“I hope readers will be encouraged to not give up on God when difficulty strikes, as I did for a period,” he said. “Most important, I hope it will help people to trust God, understand His promises to us as His children and take comfort that He loves us and is with us always.”

To order The Other Side of Suffering, call  FaithWords at 800-759-0190.

ASK THE AUTHOR: Athol Dickson

Next release: The Opposite of Art (September).

Publisher: Howard Books.

How do art and faith mix in The 
Opposite of Art?

“Faith,” in the sense of belief or trust, is explored in the idea of a great artist, perhaps the foremost genius of his generation, whose sense of self-worth and identity is inseparable from his talent. There is nothing he can’t paint, and through painting, redefine in ways that are relative to himself. In that way he stands at the center of his universe. Then along comes the one exception, something he can see and experience but can’t reduce to paint and canvas. ... He has a choice to make: Will he continue trying to force this thing to submit to him, or will he submit himself to it? 

There’s also “faith” as a synonym for a spiritual system of ideas. The Opposite of Art explores that through the idea of art as a tool in the hands of faith. Art as beauty, and beauty as God’s revelation of Himself within creation. ... On one level, the story is about what it means to worship the art of creation instead of the Creator Artist.

Your main character, Sheridan Ridler, ends up with a Mexican circus—how did you think of that one?

I wanted to drive Ridler to his knees, so I thought about what that would look like for a great artist. What would be the most humiliating thing for a Pablo Picasso? And I came up with a caricature artist … Then I needed Ridler to be isolated for plot-related reasons, so I thought of a Mexican circus. I grew up in Texas, so I knew about them. ... It was a good way to get Ridler back to America after his pilgrimage while maintaining his isolation. Also, I loved the symbolic potential of a circus.

What kind of pilgrimage does he go on?

Ridler loves a woman, Suzanna, who basically throws him over for Jesus. It makes him very angry because he has a massive ego, but also because, to him, Jesus is just a myth. Losing her to a mere idea instead of to flesh and blood somehow makes it worse. But he really loves this woman in his self-obsessed way, so he has to believe she’s extremely special, otherwise she would be unworthy of his love. That means he is suddenly compelled to understand how someone worthy of his love might view myth as reality, so he sets out to try to understand the basis for religious faith.

Then there’s his own encounter with the ineffable, that thing he has seen and experienced but can’t reduce to paint and canvas. He refuses to accept that it might have been divine, but he suspects there might be some natural basis in the myth, something “real” that he could paint if he only understood it. So he sets out to understand it in order to justify his love for Suzanna, and to reassert himself as the center of his universe.

What do you hope the reader comes away with after reading this work?

I hope this is the kind of novel readers will want to savor. Much of the story revolves around the idea of beauty and the creative instinct. ... And I hope this story will inspire some readers to think about things like the destructive nature of pride, and the fact that all true love is sacrificial. I hope it will remind some readers of the simple fact that we create because God first created us. We are God’s art.

Latest project: The Sky Is Not Falling: Living Fearlessly in These Turbulent Times (Worthy Publishing, Sept. 6).

Many today have lost faith in government. How do you think Christians should conduct themselves in this volatile time? Many people today are exasperated by government, frustrated because it doesn’t seem to be functioning. But as Christians we don’t give up on the system because government is one of the three institutions which God specifically ordains: marriage, government and the church. Government’s function is to preserve order and do justice. When it exceeds its biblical warrant, then it’s fair game for us to oppose it. But we cannot be respectful of those who govern us and give up on the institution at the same time. Remember, the only thing worse than bad government is anarchy.

How do you defend the culture wars when many think Christians shouldn’t be involved? I can’t think of a single issue that Christians have introduced into what is called the culture wars, whether it’s the deconstruction of marriage or the erosion of religious liberties or the encroachment upon the sanctity and dignity of human life; every attack has been made by secular liberalism. Christians are merely defending, as we are commanded to do, a biblical view of justice in society. When it comes to life and marriage, these are specific biblical mandates. We have no option but to defend those. As for religious liberty, it is in our DNA as Christians. We are made to be free in God’s image, with a free will. Freedom is part of human nature, so obviously we must defend it. No one can responsibly blame us for the culture wars. 

John Piper—best-selling author, pastor and leader of the Desiring God ministry—was once a racist, he admits in Bloodlines: Race, Cross, and the Christian (978-1-433-52852-1, $19.99), releasing Sept. 30 from Crossway.

In the Civil Rights era, Piper grew up in Greenville, S.C., where “enforced segregation was almost absolute,” he writes. Comparing his world to that of Jesse Jackson, who lived just across town, he observed that it was no wonder Jackson attended a liberal theological institution rather than a fundamental or evangelical school in the South, which were “committed to segregation.”

Despite his racist tendencies, Piper had an affection for Lucy, a black woman who came to clean the family’s home every week. His mother, a “gutsy Yankee fundamentalist,” invited Lucy to their church for his sister’s wedding—a daring move in 1962 when the congregation had voted not to allow blacks into services. Piper’s mother was the lone voice against the motion.

Along with his mother’s good example, Piper was strongly affected by a comment by an Urbana missions convention speaker in favor of interracial marriage. God’s work in his life regarding his racist attitudes continued at Fuller Seminary and beyond. 

Today, working in an urban parish, he doesn’t see himself as a model multi-ethnic pastor, but his congregation is intentionally aiming for greater diversity, and not long after he turned 50, he and his wife, Noel, adopted an African-American little girl.

Piper wrote Bloodlines with the aim of seeing Christ-followers learn to live “the kind of lives that advance the cause of Christ-exalting racial diversity and Spirit-enabled racial harmony.” He sees the gospel as “the only sufficient power for this effort, and the only power that in the end will bring the bloodlines of race into the single bloodlines of the cross.”

He devotes much of the book to the gospel remedy for racism, and addresses the Reformed church, acknowledging that some of its representatives have not always been good examples of racial reconciliation.

Piper also warns against another extreme—making race an idol. “Some churches have never taken the first baby steps in thinking biblically about race and ethnicity. Others devote so much focus to it that people get sick of the issue, and backlash sets in,” he writes, urging a God-centered balance.

To order Bloodlines, call 800-323-3890, or visit www.crossway.com.