Solid Rock

England, 1834
On his morning walk to work, thirty seven year old cabinetmaker Edward Mote was inspired to write a few lines of prose. When completed, he named it  "The Immutable Basis of a Sinner’s Hope."  It was sung in churches in England but we have no copies of the music, only the prose.

Though he'd not been raised in the church--in fact he was a largely unsupervised child of tavern owners in London--Edward found great satisfaction in writing about his faith. The cabinetmaker to whom he was apprenticed took him to church and at eighteen, Edward was baptised. A collection of his poems was published when he was thirty. Twenty Five years later, at 55, he became a minister and served until he was 76.


That hymn became known as "The Solid Rock" or "My Hope is Built on Nothing Less" and, in 1863, American composer William Bradbury set it to the melody we know today. It's unlikely that Edward ever heard Bradbury's composition.

I love this hymn and I wonder what inspired Edward to write these words.

1. My hope is built on nothing less
   Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
   I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
   But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.
   • Refrain:
     On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
     All other ground is sinking sand,
     All other ground is sinking sand.
2.  When darkness veils His lovely face,
   I rest on His unchanging grace;
   In every high and stormy gale,
   My anchor holds within the veil.
3. His oath, His covenant, His blood
   Support me in the whelming flood;
   When all around my soul gives way,
   He then is all my hope and stay.
4. When He shall come with trumpet sound,
   Oh, may I then in Him be found;
   Dressed in His righteousness alone,
   Faultless to stand before the throne.

Perhaps he'd just read Jesus' parable found in Matthew 7, known as the Wise and Foolish Builders:

²⁴ “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. ²⁵ The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. ²⁶ But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. ²⁷ The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

Sometimes when life's storms come upon us, it feels like we are reaching to find something sturdy to hang on to. I hope you have that in the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't wait for the storm to grow fierce. If you are wondering if trials and tribulations will come to you . . .  they will.

Have you built your life on rock or sand?

Suzie’s Short and Sweet Top Ten Books of 2012

by Suzie Johnson

Many of the books on my list have been reviewed here, either by me or one of the other Inkies. So instead of recapping reviews, I’m simply giving the skinny on my top favorites reads of the year.

There are only a few rules for inclusion on my list, but they’re important rules if a book is to live long and prosper on my keeper shelf.

• If a book is contemporary, I have to fall so deeply in love with the characters that I’m totally pulled into their lives. I tend to get bored easily, so this is vital to hold my attention. I have to be invested in the characters in order to keep reading.
• If a book is historical, it must be so vivid that it sweeps me into the timeframe. I have to fall in love with the setting as well as the characters.
• If the book is not women’s fiction or a romance, it needs to bring me to tears, split my sides with laughter, or keep me on the edge of my seat.

Each book on this list is a book I loved. They all had wonderful characterization, heart-tugging emotion, and an engaging style. I hope you'll find at least one book here that you'd like to read. This list likely would have ended up being longer, but my reading time was limited this past year and my 2012 TBR is still quite large.

Now that we have that out of the way, here is my list in order of category (for those who only read Christian fiction, please note that those marked with an asterisk* are not Christian fiction):

Historical Novels

Love in Three-Quarter Time by Dina Sleiman

Set in Virginia in 1817, a young woman with a heart for dancing sets out to use her talent to save her mother and sisters from poverty. A job teaching dance to two young women brings her face-to-face with her former beau. Getting to know each other again opens their eyes to new discoveries.

At Every Turn by Anne Mateer

It’s 1916 and Alyce Benson is the only woman in town with a car. With her sense of adventure and heart of gold, she ends up driving on a race track to try and win money she for children in Africa.

Glamorous Illusions by Lisa Bergren

After Cora Kensington’s parents die, she learns she’s really the illegitimate daughter of a wealthy man. When he sends her on a trip to Europe with her newfound siblings, they shun her and Cora finds herself turning to their handsome tour guide.

Contemporary Novels

The Mother Road by Jennifer AlLee

Infertility, a cheating husband, and a parent with Alzheimer’s, send Natalie on a road trip she really doesn’t want to take – especially with her pregnant sister. Their journey down Route 66 is of sibling rivalry, deep emotions and the perfect balance of love and humor.

Navy Rules* by Geri Krotow

It was really a joy to discover this romance novel set on Whidbey Island. A wounded Navy pilot and a widowed mother of two have much more in common than her therapy dog. When Max learns he’s the father of Winnie’s youngest daughter, he has to put aside his feelings of betrayal so he and Winnie can find their way back together.

Angels at the Table* by Debbie Macomber

This Christmas novel features mischievous angels, Shirley, Goodness and Mercy as they train a new angel while trying to keep out of trouble. The last thing they want to do is stir up trouble in the budding romance between a struggling restaurant owner and a food critic.

My Stubborn Heart by Becky Wade

In need of a break from her job as a social worker, Kate decides to spend the summer helping her grandmother restore an old house. With the help of her grandmother and some quirky senior citizens, Kate tries to get to know a man who’s hiding from life and from love.

Suspense Novels

Double-Blind by Brandilyn Collins

After Lisa agrees to enter a clinical trial for depression, she wakes up from surgery feeling great until she starts having visions of a murder – visions she sees through the murder’s eyes.

A Heartbeat Away by Harry Kraus

When she has an emergency heart transplant, Dr. Tori Taylor gets more than just a new heart. She starts having dreams and memories that send her on the trail of a murderer.

Submerged by Dani Pettrey

When Bailey returns to her hometown to bury her aunt, she plans to leave as soon as possible. She left town in shame, and never intended to come back. Before she can leave, she’s swept into a mystery along with her former boyfriend. Underwater secrets, murder, and Russian artifacts propel this novel set in Alaska.

What are some of your favorite books of last year? 

Suzie Johnson’s debut novel, No Substitute, a contemporary inspirational novel, is out now from White Rose Press of The Pelican Book Group. She is a regular contributor to the Inkwell Inspirations blog, a member of ACFW, RWA, and is the cancer registrar at her local hospital. Suzie and her husband are the parents of a wonderful grown son who makes them proud every day – even though he lives way too far away. Suzie and her husband live in the Pacific Northwest with their naughty little cat on an island that is definitely not tropical. You can visit her at the following places:

http://www.susandianejohnson.com

http://inkwellinspirations.com

http://www.facebook.com/suziejohnsonauthor

http://www.pinterest.com/suziejohnson1

Little Known Bits of History

Welcome Guest Blogger Amanda Cabot to the Inkwell!

I promised Susanne a post about history today, but let’s start with a quiz.  Oh, you weren’t expecting that, were you?  Let’s try, anyway.  Here are a few questions to test your historical knowledge.  I’ll make it easy on you.  Instead of fill-in-the-blanks, which I hate, these are all true/false questions.

1.      Abilene was founded in 1867 as part of the Union Pacific’s expansion west.  Like most early railroad towns, it was characterized by saloons, gambling halls and so much rowdiness that it became known as “Hell on Wheels.”

2.      The Army post that was established to protect the railroad workers in Omaha is still in existence today, although it’s now an Air Force base.

3.      When it opened in 1882, Denver’s opera house was the only one west of the Mississippi.

4.      In 1883, San Francisco was the wealthiest city per capita in the world.

5.      The Inter Ocean hotel in Salt Lake City was the first anywhere to have electric lights in each of the guest rooms.

Are you ready for the answers?  Number one is false, number two is false.  In fact, they’re all false.  Surprised?  You’ll probably be more surprised to learn that if you substitute “Cheyenne” for the city names I used, the statements all become true.  Yes, in less than twenty years, Cheyenne went from a rough and tumble railroad town to become both the territorial capital and one of the wealthiest cities in the country.  That wealth brought with it many of the amenities you’d expect, including an opera house that attracted the likes of Lily Langtry, streets lined with mansions, some of which boasted their own ballrooms, and electric lights for both homes and streets.

Though Cheyenne was founded as a railroad town and though the Union Pacific, along with the territorial government were major contributors to the city’s growth, much of the wealth came from cattle.  Believe it or not, raising cattle in Wyoming came about almost by accident.  When bad timing forced one herd to remain in Wyoming rather than be driven east during the winter of 1854, the owner left, probably expecting the worst.  Instead, when he returned in the spring, he discovered that not only was his herd still intact, but the animals had thrived on the air-cured grasslands of eastern Wyoming.  

Cattle ranching grew rapidly in Wyoming Territory, in part because of the open range.  Who could resist the lure of free grazing?  The result was an influx of ranchers and cattle companies, culminating in what was called the “Great Grass Bonanza” of 1876 to 1886.  It was during that era that Cheyenne reached its pinnacle of wealth and influence, with cattle barons dominating the city’s social events.  But all things end.  Greed that led to overgrazing, and a particularly brutal winter with massive herd losses caused many of the cattle barons to declare bankruptcy during the spring of 1887.    

Depressing?  Some might say so.  I’m sure that if I’d lived in Cheyenne then, I would have been distressed by all the changes that the end of that first cattle era brought.  But as an author 125 years later, I found that final year of immense wealth and prosperity intriguing enough to use it as the background for Waiting for Spring.

So, let’s end with one more quiz:

1.      True or false: An author can find a story in almost anything.

True.  Definitely true.

*** 

Thanks for sharing with us today, Amanda! 

Here's a peek at Waiting for Spring (available now!):

 After the loss of her husband and the birth of her baby, Charlotte has had a long, hard year. But when a notorious robber believes she knows the location of a long-lost treasure, she flees to Cheyenne and opens a dressmaker's shop to lie low and make a living. When wealthy cattle baron and political hopeful Barrett Landry enters the shop to visit her best customer, Charlotte feels drawn to him.

If Barrett is to be a senator of the soon-to-be state of Wyoming, he must make a sensible match, and Miriam has all the right connections. Yet he can't shake the feeling that Charlotte holds the key to his heart and his future.

Soon the past comes to call, and Barrett's plans crumble around him. Will Charlotte and Barrett find the courage to look love in the face? Or will their fears blot out any chance for happiness?

***
Susanne here: How'd you do on Amanda's quiz? Have you ever been to Cheyenne? Do you think the book cover is as pretty as I do?

Jeremiah 29:11

Sundog taken by Anita Mae Draper, Jan 2011,
Montmartre, Saskatchewan, Canada

click to enlarge