-160.webp)
-160.webp)
-160.webp)
-by-karen-kingsbury-160.webp)
About the Book
"Phoebe: A Story" by Paula Gooder is a historical fiction novel that imagines the life of Phoebe, a woman mentioned in the Bible in the book of Romans. The novel explores Phoebe's journey as she navigates the challenges and opportunities of being a woman in the first-century Christian community, offering insights into her faith, relationships, and experiences.
Calvin Miller
Calvin Miller was a pastor, professor and storyteller, best known for The Singer Trilogy, a mythic retelling of the New Testament story in the spirit of C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien. Miller passed away on the afternoon of August 19, 2012, due to complications after heart surgery. He was 75.
A prolific artist and a writer's writer, Miller garnered respect and praise throughout his career from peers like Luci Shaw, Max Lucado and Philip Yancey. He was the author of more than forty books of popular theology and Christian inspiration including such recent books as Letters to Heaven, The Path of Celtic Prayer, Letters to a Young Pastor and his memoir Life Is Mostly Edges.
In addition to his twenty years of pastoral service at Westside Church in Omaha, Nebraska, Miller was also a great mentor to many students and leaders through his preaching and pastoral ministry classes at Beeson Divinity School. Calvin Miller, never one to multiply words, used just four to describe his rule of life: "Time is a gift."
RESCUE FROM THE SLUSH PILE
In October 1973 one important book was rescued from the slush pile (the stack of unsolicited manuscripts every publisher receives) by assistant editor Don Smith. He read a manuscript by a little-known Baptist pastor in Nebraska that was a poetic retelling of the life of Jesusâportraying him as a Troubadour. Both he and Linda Doll excitedly encouraged Jim Sire to take this imaginative manuscript seriously. In February 1974 Sire wrote the author, Calvin Miller, that IVP wanted to publish his book The Singer.
Months before, Miller had been waking up nights, stirred to write this tale, perhaps unconsciously inspired by the recent Broadway hits Jesus Christ Superstar and Godspell. Later Miller wrote:
When the manuscript was done, I sent it to Jim Sire at InterVarsity Press. âItâs good,â he said, âbut we want to think about it a couple of weeks before we give you an answer.â So I waited until finally the letter came. They were going to do it. Jim Sire had done his Ph.D. on John Milton, and the fact that he liked it was joy immeasurable to me. âBut,â he cautioned, âweâre going to print five thousand of these. They may not do wellâin fact we may end up with four thousand of them on skids in our basement for the next ten years. Still, itâs a good book and deserves to be in print.â
Far more than a thousand copies sold. Actually, over three hundred times that amount sold in its first decade. It became âthe most successful evangelical publication in this genre.â The Singer was followed in two years by The Song (paralleling the story of the early church in Acts) and two years after that by The Finale (inspired by the book of Revelation). Publication of The Singer changed Millerâs life. Even though he stayed in the pastorate for many years, it set him on a course of writing and speaking that he could not have imagined.
the deadly deceit in material desires
Bible study often exposes us. As I sat in a Bible study recently, the leader asked our group how we heard Jesusâs voice and how we follow, like he says in John 10:27: âMy sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.â One woman sitting next to me measured the voice of God in the many blessings of her life â a new house purchased without difficulty, an old house sold without stress. She was now enjoying life in her dream home in the warm, dry climate of her dreams. And all thanks to a painless move. She gave evidence for how smoothly her life was moving along, like dominoes falling perfectly in order. As I sat there listening, I couldnât help but feel troubled. I knew that not a few women around us were following Christ through troubled marriages, battles with cancer, or the grief of lost babies. Some faced the drone of unceasing financial hardships â the exact opposite of how some of us define Godâs blessing on our lives. And yet we who are struggling can listen for Jesusâs voice with desperation and longing. We can desire to follow him as much â perhaps more â than the materially blessed. Blessingâs Bluff A smile and an open Bible can press down so hard on raw hurt when we measure Godâs blessing with material prosperity. The effect is something Iâve heard expressed by many and have seen dramatized in âChristianâ movies. You can know youâre blessed by God when everything goes well for you. Just trust God while you do A + B  and, as long as you have enough faith, you should get C  every time: the life youâve always wanted. Itâs a simple formula for the âblessedâ life, with Jesus on top! But owning a nice house with a spacious kitchen, or driving a shiny car with no dents, or basking in financial abundance and easygoing circumstances are not reliable evidences of Godâs blessing in this age. The formula might look attractive in a movie, but it contradicts both the Bible and the real-life experience of many struggling saints who are faithful in the challenges, insecurities, and pains of everyday life. Deadly Equation As I thought about what that nice lady had said about how blessed she was, Jesus spoke to me though his word: âHe makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.â (Matthew 5:45) What the lady next to me said is true in a sense â she is blessed by God. But so is the greedy miser who sits in his penthouse with wealth he earned through a harsh abuse of power. Both the good lady next to me and the oppressive evil tyrant are blessed with comforts and provisions, sun and rain, houses and air conditioning every single day. God is sovereign, and he radiates goodness and pours out unearned blessings of all kinds every day. He blesses all with his common kindness. The formula Godâs blessing = life comfort  is a deadly one. And itâs not an isolated issue either. Unfortunately, the equation seems to be ingrained into so much American Christianity, and itâs part and parcel of the prosperity gospel that false teachers in our nation export to the world. And when Iâm not careful, the plank that is the prosperity gospel protrudes from my own eye . Bruised and Blessed Godâs common kindness reaches us all, but it takes saving grace  to turn to Jesus when marriage is hard, when a woman â my friend â loses three babies, or when a young missionary is told he has end-stage cancer. The Bible doesnât offer a formula, but points us to a Saviorâa battered, crushed, beaten, bruised, bloodied Savior. And the special blessing of Godâs presence is with those who are walking in suffering, the same road Jesus himself walked. He is present in  the path of pain and trial and heartache. God was present in Josephâs pain: Josephâs master took him and put him into the prison, the place where the kingâs prisoners were confined, and he was there in prison. But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. (Genesis 39:20â21) God was present in Davidâs darkness: Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. (Psalm 23:4â5) God is present with us in todayâs suffering: Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christâs sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. (1 Peter 4:12â14) So with Godâs help, I remove my self-centered, American-dream plank and its sinful impulse to want a god who makes me the center and not him. My plank must come out first. And with Godâs help, I toss aside the lie that we find Godâs blessing in easy circumstances, or in health, or in financial prosperity. And with Godâs help, Iâll keep the path, holding firmly to the hand of my Good Shepherd.
