Esther The Belle of Patience — Review

CoverEstherIt was refreshing to read a conservative lesson book for young girls, since most books for grade schoolers are liberal. Erin Weidemann’s The Adventures of Rooney Cruz series takes a modern day girl who experiences typical struggles and blesses her with a personal mini-angel that gives her a peek through the windows of time.

In Esther The Belle of Patience, Rooney is able to witness Esther’s efforts of helping her people survive. The principles learned allows Rooney to be a modern day hero by using the same patience that Esther exhibited.

Rooney’s personal mini-angel is Mari, who watches all of her soccer games and looks out for her personal life. She is similar to a Tinker Bell character, but with no grit, fight or stubbornness. She does everything in her power to help Rooney experience a gentle life.

The book is just as safe when it comes to conflict. The struggles are perspective based rather than confrontational. Even Mordecai’s issues with Haman are softly dealt with, not even mentioning the gallows.

The moral of the book is based on a scripture verse that talks about waiting on the Lord. The book fails to show enough conflict and the assertiveness of a prayer warrior, to make the story appear as anything more than passive waiting, rather than powerful patience.

But for those who like nice stories for their children that don’t require a discussion through difficult passages, the book is perfectly suited. The illustrations are fun and enjoyable, and the flow of words makes this book great for early readers to give it a go for themselves.

The book is currently available in bookstores and online. Weidemann also has a website with more information about the series that can be found at biblebelles.com. So, for those who want their kids to become the best kind of super hero – a Bible Belle, this book is for you.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one or more of the products or services mentioned above for free in hopes that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Radio Interview for Hi-Tech Automotive Specialists

This afternoon 95.9 FM The River broadcasted an interview of me representing my client, Hi-Tech Automotive Specialists. The topic was their sponsorship of Rock ‘N Wheels concert series and car shows in Addison, Il. Hi-Tech hired me to develop special offers, rack cards, posters, banners, show booth, and sales campaigns.

The family owned business also desired to pay it forward by sponsoring the event and saw more positive press as a result of their thank you to the community. I was amazed at how much traction the good will provided compared to typical advertising.

Here is the 2-minute live interview…

I hope you enjoyed listening to the interview. I certainly enjoyed the experience and learned a lot about radio. The pacing of the conversation was much faster than I ever imagined it would be. Thinking on my feet at that speed made me feel like a train wreck was eminent. Thankfully I was in good hands with Jeff, the DJ.

 

 

The Creative Non-Linear Conversation

Creatives_share_Meal

Last night I got together with a group of artists that all share a similar heart for the arts. The combined creativity of the group was enough to solve world hunger, had it been a topic of discussion. But conversational subject matters with a team of imagination filled brains rarely settles on a single subject long enough to make any significant changes in the world.

That’s not to say the group was made up of people who flit from one topic to another without understanding. Our conversations actually got quite deep, emotionally stimulating and were inspirational. The time was well spent with heartfelt information that’ll bond even the most skeptical.

The goal of the evening was not to solve humanities issues, nor was it to develop a life-changing story that would be pumped through the media to capture the attention of those hungry for life fulfilling adventures. The time was just a gathering of like-minded artists that wanted to share a meal, relate to the awkwardness of creatives trying to fit into society, and encourage each other through emotional and spiritual support.

I once read that 1 in 1,000 people use their creativity and 1 in 10,000 people live a creative lifestyle. That means there are thousands of people who find the creative a bit on the odd side. They love the creations, but find it weird relating to the creative.

Most of this comes from societal “norms” about what life should look like. Some of it comes down to a person’s fear of what they don’t understand. I even find most people wanting to change the creative to fit into our society, rather than allowing him to create the next renaissance.

One of the little things I enjoyed about last night was how rapid the conversation moved from topic to topic in a non-linear fashion, all while keeping everyone invested and focused. No one got lost in the conversation.

Had there been a more linear thinker in the room, I’m confident they would’ve been lost more than once. Not because they wouldn’t have been able to keep up with the subject matter and the rapid changes of topic, but because they might not have understood how the vast variety of conversation points all related to the emerging theme that rose from the group.

While we all had differing vantage points, we were all in agreement with the overall theme. Our choices in how to move forward were different, but we all held to the same goal to encourage each other to work through the things holding us back. Our differences were celebrated and encouraged; yet we were unified in the theme that held the ideas to task.

Each one of us agreed to continue the good fight in producing art that will touch someone’s life with hope. We also agreed to support each other by helping them be the best them they can be within the arts.

Unfortunately, conversations like this should be on Friday nights so we have the weekend to recover from the figurative stimulus pumping through our veins. Monday morning came too quickly for those of us whose minds were running at full pace into the wee hours of the night.

But it was fun.

By the way, if you’ve never had a chance to spend a complete evening with a bunch of crazy artistic types, you should invite yourself to their next get together and witness something that few have ever seen. There’s always too much passion and a lot of weird moments, like when the heart stirring video we watched was accompanied by the host’s dog snoring. Certainly a dog snoring loudly during a touching scene is humorous, but the reaction of creatives is far more entertaining.

Copyright © 2016 by CJ Powers