Archive for judah and tamar

News Reports Destroy Hope

news, no panic, retreat or surrender

Do you feel powerless in light of news media reports about ISIS terrorism coming to our shores?

 

Are you afraid that you, your children, family or community could be next?

 

What do you need most to feel safe, united, unafraid?

Fear-mongering appears to be the bomb that news media outlets use to make sure they attract more viewers, page likes, user engagement, etc., so that they can point to stats that will bring in more advertising revenue, which is what allows them to stay in business, right?

Apparently, the theory is that if enough people can be aroused by a sense of fear (or outrage) they will keep coming back to the BIG BOLD NEWS HEADLINES that mostly call attention to the worst of what goes on in the world, but rarely the good.

Have you ever noticed that the good news is kept at a minimum? And at best, it might show up in a news feed every once in awhile? But rarely in BIG BOLD HEADLINES?

Maybe the media business knows that if they saturate you with too much of the bad, you will lose heart and never come back at all.

Actually, behavioral science drives that very strategy. As reported in Psychology Today, it has to do with our preferences for wanting to know about bad things that might threaten us (hearkening back to our hunter-gatherer instincts) rather than good news that gives us a sense of hope for the future.

Interestingly, however, according to Susan Krouse Whitbourne, PhD, who states that even though “The media thrives on stories of death, destruction of property, a plummeting economy, or other calamitous events,” most of us would rather be people who bring good news to others.

Heroic News Stories Draw Us In

And that is why we are attracted by stories about people like Malala Yousafzai, the young Pakistani girl who nearly lost her life speaking out about female education under the rule of the Taliban, but later became a Nobel Peace Prize winner; or stories about The Great Generation and the unity of purpose and resolve they demonstrated during WWII; or even timeless fictional stories by Dickens, Jane Austen, Ian McEwen, Lucy Maud Montgomery, or characters like Hermione Granger, Jane Eyre, George Bailey, Rocky, Supergirl, BatWoman, and the like.

History tells us that especially in times of civil unrest, economic uncertainty, global upheaval, barbaric killings, suppression of truth (in short, anything that threatens the core need for freedom of the human spirit), we all want and need true stories or fictional stories that inspire the kind of courage, hope and fearless moxie that ignites the power of heroic love.

And we want them in BIG BOLD HEADLINES.

That is why the Judah and Tamar Trilogy (based on Genesis 38) continues to urge us on in the telling of what we call the GREATEST LOVE STORY NEVER TOLD, keeps us ever vigilant in making sure that we contribute to good news that will help you reinforce your core values and stand united in the belief that by saying “NO!” to panic and retreat, and by never surrendering to fear or fear mongering you will find brilliant ways to keep yourself, your loved ones and your communities strong and unafraid.

 

#fearless, #judahandtamar, #nopanic, #noretreat, #nosurrender, #genesis38, #heroiclove, #news

Water War Judah Tamar

water war judah tamar drought image  Water War Judah Tamar Questions

Q: How long can you live without water?
A: 3 days, in extreme exceptions, maybe up to 7-10 days.

Q: Could severe drought lead to severe conflicts, especially in the Middle East?
A: Our research for the Judah and Tamar Trilogy (an heroic love story based on Genesis 38) reveals that drought drove people south during the Middle Bronze Era, and that other related political upheaval (Hyksos invaders) threatened peace, even as peace is almost non-existent there today.

And, tellingly, drought wars began over 4,500 years ago in the Syria/Iraq region and continue to this day (Smithsonian Magazine 6/13)

It seems no coincidence that water rights may be even more important than oil rights. After all, you can’t drink petroleum oil, can you?

Heroic Love of Judah and Tamar Will Win

History teaches us that love always wins in the end.

Sometimes in the most unlikely ways.

Take Judah and Tamar, for instance. They are probably the most controversial couple in the Bible, and the circumstances of their particular kind of love shocks most people, offends many others, and, at best, confuses the meadow muffins out of everyone else.

After all, Tamar seduced her father-in-law and out of their bloodline came King David and his lineage.

But our account of the story in the 1st book in the Judah and Tamar Trilogy, Tamar of the Terebinths, sets the stage for the greatest love story never told.

This heroic love emerges during an era of drought, war, and fear.

Water War Judah Tamar

Sound familiar to today’s realities in the Middle East?

It would be impossible to put into numbers the amount of time we have spent researching this story in order to find authentic ways to dig down into the historical realities of the time period in which their union unfolded. But one thing we do know is this: in spite of all the odds against them, no matter how difficult things got for them (including Hyksos raids, drought, being shunned by society), these two characters managed to find a way to pull their act together to form a royal bloodline.

Neither the lack of water nor the lack of tribal compassion stopped them from doing what was right for the times and culture in which they lived.

Today, they might never make it out of the drought alive. Today, they might have to live on the run to avoid being killed for their love. Today, they might never leave behind a story and lesson for our own times.

Q: Do you like this idea of a heroic love story that started in the Middle East?
A: If so, the answer that makes everyone happy is Like our Facebook page and stay engaged in the conversation.

Judah and Tamar Book Two

We are pleased to announce the 1st draft of the Judah and Tamar Trilogy Book Two was completed in mid-April, and that the 1st two chapters have been edited and are currently being read by our readers.

judah and tamar story character imageThe cover design for Judah of the Terebinths, which is the title of Book Two in the Judah and Tamar Trilogy, is currently in the hands of our talented artist, Rona Liu, who graciously designed the cover for Tamar of the Terebinths, Book One in the Judah and Tamar Trilogy.

We are currently looking for two more readers, so if you are a literary person and enjoy reading new manuscripts for typos, story structure, character and plot development, grammar, and punctuation, contact us. Of course, it helps if you have already read Tamar of the Terebinths so that you will have a sense of context and continuity that threads its way through the Tamar of the Terebinths.

If you are unfamiliar with this story that hails from the Genesis 38 account of how one of the cornerstone characters in Biblical and Middle East history became the ancestor of kings, find out more about the what we call THE GREATEST LOVE STORY NEVER TOLD.

 

 

Tamar of the Terebinths

Yay! Tamar of the Terebinths on Amazon!

We have an incredible story to tell you about how this particular book was written, but before we get around to doing that (in a future post), let’s just say that it was an impossible whirlwind of effort, perseverance and believing in the importance of integrity.

judah tamar trilogy book one

CLICK TO BUY eBOOK

Without you out there waiting for our promise to deliver the first book before the Fall of 2013 ended, this book would not have been written, believe me. More to come about that but not today.

Today we celebrate the publication of the first book in the Judah and Tamar Trilogy. It is called Tamar of the Terebinths and trust me, it’s a doozy.

When the research we discovered about the ties between religion and state showed up while it was being written, it walloped the daylights out of the direction we had taken and got us on track to tell the story that was crying out to be heard.

This allowed us to better speak for Tamar and the women of Sh’chem and give Judah a more realistic and sympathetic heart attitude to the women in his life so that he could hear their life-changing voices more deeply.

Do you like intrigue and unexpected twists and turns in historical fiction?

Then Tamar of the Terebinths is for you!

Get the book now!