Dwight Bain
Emilie Barnes
Dr. Gary Billingsley
Walter Boldt
Pat Damon
Evelyn Davison
Daryl Lloyd
Beverly Sallee
Rose Sweet
Dr. Craig von Buseck


*****************************

     My dad lives on a farm. "Come on out when you have a minute. We'll sit on the porch and watch the grass grow!" he says.
     Daddy is on the tractor while most of us are still dreaming! At the end of a long day, you can find Daddy sitting in the swing on the porch.
     "Don't you know the Lord owns the cattle on a thousand hills. And He's right out here on the farm looking after them!" he says.
     One day Daddy had a visitor at the farm. Ten-year-old Brad's "big brother" brought him to the farm to fish. There aren't many "rules" at the farm but if you come to fish in Daddy's pond, you have to bring a child to fish with you!
     After Brad put his pole away, Daddy asked him if he'd like to see the river. Daddy's prayer bench sits on the crest of a hill by the river. He cleared just enough space by the old tree to place a cement bench. Once you sit on the bench and listen to the soft gurgle of the water, you forget you are just a few miles from town.
     When they arrived at Daddy's favorite spot, Brad looked at the prayer bench.
     "What's that?" he asked pointing to the bench.
     "That's my prayer bench," Daddy told him.
     "What's it for?"
     "Well," Daddy said, "I come down here to sit and talk to the Lord."
     "What d'ya talk about?"
     "Just depends. If things have been going pretty good, I thank Him. If I'm having a problem, I ask Him what to do about it. If I can't think of anything to talk about, I just sit here with Him for a while."
     Brad nodded his head. Without a word got out of the truck and sat down on the bench facing the river.
     Daddy just sat there, waiting for God to speak to this troubled little boy. I know he's at the right place to meet you, Lord.
     After about ten minutes, Brad stood, picked up a rock, tossed it into the river, and turned toward the truck. Daddy waited patiently as Brad climbed back in his seat.
     "Feel better?" Daddy asked.
     Brad looked sideways at Daddy and grinned. "You know, I think I do."

    

Upper CLASS coming to Henderson, NV
August 24-26, 2009

 

 

One of my life's most valuable possessions is my journal. Why? Because my journal contains my dreams! And my dreams are my future!

I learned this principle from a story about a 15 year old boy by the name of John Goddard. John, one day, happened to hear his parents and another adult talking, and the other adult had been telling John's parents about how miserable his life was and how much he had failed. He wished he was John's age again and could live his life over and do some things differently.

Well, John heard the anguish in his voice, I suppose, and he made a vow that he was going to do something at 15 years old. So at 15 years old he took out a legal pad and began to write the things he wanted to do in his life, what he wanted to accomplish. Before he was finished he had 127 things on his list. He called it, "My Life List".

Today John is in his late 70's. Of his original 127 goals, John over the last 55-60 years has accomplished 111 of them, plus 400 other ones that he set along the way. And just so you know these weren't some small goals, here are some of the goals that John Goddard has accomplished that were on his list:

- He's climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, he's climbed Mount Ararat, in fact, he's climbed every major peak in the world.

Now just that, how many people just doing that, would be one great life experience? But that's just one of 500+ for John Goddard.

- He took Marco Polo's route through all of Asia and China. - He ran a mile in five minutes, he broad jumped 15 feet, high jumped five feet, and so on...

- He was the first person to explore the entire 4,200 mile length of the Nile River (that was his number one goal!). When he was 15 years old, no person had ever done it, but that fifteen year old boy didn't know that, it didn't matter to him. He put it on his list and when he did it, USA Today named him the modern day Indiana Jones. He's been down not just the Nile River. He's been down the Amazon, down the Congo, etc.

- He's been to 122 countries and lived with 260 different tribes.

- He's explored the Reefs of Florida, the Great Barrier Reefs and so on...

- He's flown 40 different types of aircrafts. Still holds civilian air speed records. Just that alone would be a great life experience; that was just one of John Goddard's goals.

- He's read the Bible cover to cover.

- He's taught himself French, Spanish, Arabic (who reading this could not learn a foreign language in the next couple of years?).

And that is just a portion of over 500 dreams that John Goddard has accomplished.

I hope we all learn from John Goddard! Here are two major points that were impressed upon me:

1) John Goddard's goals (dreams) were written down. How many of you have heard that before, to write your goals and dreams down? Because for 20 years I heard it and I had never written mine down, until just three years ago. Brian Tracy says if you'll write your goals down you have a 100 times greater chance of success, just by writing them down. Now I look at that mathematically and then by an inverse way, from an opposite way. What it says to me that if I don't write my goals down, I only have a 1 in 100 chance of succeeding. Write your goals and dreams down.

2) His dreams were BIG! I've found that a small dream will not give you the bullet proofing you are going to need. A small dream won't protect you when bad times come. A small dream does not have any power at all - it has to be BIG!

So get started today! Go get a journal (or wipe the dust off the one you have) and write down your BIG goals! And then get started on your life story!

Be sure to check next month's
CLASS Communiqué
for scholarship guidelines.

Have you ever said that? Sometimes the road to that first publishing credit seems long and hard to travel. It feels like you will never be able to say, "I am a published writer."

If you have had those thoughts, be encouraged. Take advantage of the Get Published Now class at the CLASS Christian Writers Conference. You can arrive at the Ghost Ranch an unpublished author and leave as a published author!

Is the class limited to unpublished authors? Absolutely not! Having a personal mentor for two days can take every writer to the next level.

Who: Limited to 24 participants

What: Three intense days (six hours) of perfecting writing techniques by studying the students' own writing, paying special attention to individual weaknesses

When:  CLASS Christian Writers Conference, November 4-8, 2009

Where:  Ghost Ranch, Abiquiu, NM

Publisher:  Forever Books

Director:  Linda Gilden

Mentors:  CLASS staff and other professional writers

What Participants Get:  Participants will receive three intense teaching labs with a personal mentor, daily instruction from an editor or publishing professional, writing instruction for their particular needs, critique of their original manuscript, 20 books shipped to their homes six to eight weeks after GPN, new friendships and networking relationships. Participants can purchase additional books at a deep discount during GPN to be used for gifts or sold on book tables.

Cost:  An additional $150 above the conference registration fee is required. This includes a $30 application fee. Participants not accepted for this class will receive a written critique of their application manuscript with suggestions for improvement.

Tools:  Laptop

2009 GPN Book Title: Reflections

Subtitle:  Glimpses of God's Daily Presence in our Lives

Application Story Word Count: 1200-1800 words

Stories should be true and inspirational and show evidence of God's constant presence in the author's life. Must contain sound Christian principles but not be preachy. Show rather than tell your story. Use drama and dialogue to make your writing come alive!

First person or as-told-to stories should be written in 12-point type, Times New Roman, and double-spaced. Participants will also need to submit a 50-word bio.

This class will be filled on a first-come first-serve basis. To apply, follow guidelines above and send your story with a $30 nonrefundable application fee to:

Applicants must be registered for the CLASS Christian Writers Conference. If you are not accepted as a participant for this class, you will receive a written critique of your application story. If you are selected for this comprehensive class, an additional $120 will be payable to CLASS.

- Lawrence Clark

or call 702-882-0638.

      

Congratulations to Sandy Ralya who recently released
Beautiful Womanhood (Creekside Publishing).