HURRAH! & HOOK ‘EM!

Cowboy Rider, painting by Russell Bly

Stephen Bly 

Copyright©1993,2010

The National Finals Rodeo (NFR) is like the World Series or the Super Bowl. The very best cowboys and cowgirls in the world converge on Las Vegas every December to compete for millions in prize money. Not only do you watch superior rodeo athletes, but also the top bucking stock. Every bareback horse, saddle bronc and bull puts on an entertaining show of their own.

In addition, the event attracts the most knowledgeable rodeo fans. It’s not unusual to hear someone high up in the Thomas & Mack Arena holler, “Hook ‘em, cow!” That’s a shout of encouragement used since the days when rodeos provided after-work recreation at the branding corrals.

“Hook ‘em, cow!” That’s rodeo talk. Every sport’s got its own vocabulary. When a team-mate’s down or just getting steam, you’re liable to hear roars from the crowd or dugout or the coach’s bench. Sure, there’s boos. But also plenty of bravos and cheers.

The Bible exhorts us to spur others on in their trials and troubles: “Encourage one another daily” (Hebrews 3:13).

What do you say to someone who’s going through a mental, physical, or spiritual struggle? You might mention how sorry you are that they have to go through this crisis. “I’ll pray for you,” often means you’ll pray that the problem will go away, that he or she won’t have to face hard stuff.

That’s misguided.

What if you told the rodeo cowboy, “I’m so sorry you have to ride or chase that mean old bull. Maybe he’ll get sick and not show up. Or not buck at all!” But what he wants is the bull’s full participation, to buck its head off, so better to prove his ability to stay on anyway. To be a champion.

Life’s a ride, sometimes a very rough one. You need cheerleaders. You also need to be the one who reassures and heartens others. So those in the chutes can meet each new challenge head-on midst roars of "Hurrah!"

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Ever been to a rodeo? What impressed you most?

When was time you most needed and encouragement and who gave it to you?

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Stuart Brannon's Final Shot

Now available -- hardback & ebook & paperback
Stuart Brannon's Final Shot, by Stephen Bly
with Janet Chester Bly, Russell Bly, Michael Bly & Aaron Bly

Finishing Dad's novel was a family affair. Can a committee create fiction? We had the passion and four months to find out.
 
It's 1905. Two orphans flee from Oregon's Tillamook Head. One of them is branded a hero. Dare they tell the truth and risk the wrath of a dangerous man? Meanwhile, a retired lawman searches for his missing U.S. Marshal friend while he grapples with the game of golf on behalf of a celebrity tournament.
 
The first 3 original Stuart Brannon Series and Stuart Brannon's Final Shot now available on Amazon Kindle, Nook & Apple iBook. Paperback releases soon. Titles: Hard Winter At Broken Arrow Crossing, False Claims At The Little Stephen Mine and Last Hanging At Paradise Meadow.
 
"Stuart Brannon's Final Shot delivers and reminds us what we'll miss most about the beloved author." Jerry B. Jenkins, NYT Bestselling novelist & biographer

COWBOY HONDAS

                                          By Stephen Bly

    Copyright©1993,2010

Long before Japanese car imports…in fact, decades before they invented automobiles…hondas existed in the U.S.A. To an old-time cowboy, a honda is a knotted or spliced eyelet at the business end of a rope used for making or building a loop.

 

Sometimes a metal honda or ring was used, but many a cattleman figured the metal could gouge out an eye and wouldn’t set tight as well. So, most hondas are tied into the rope itself, whether it’s hemp or nylon, with a piece of slick leather, called a burner, sewn about the upper end of the loop. The rope won’t easily wear through it. A rawhide reata consists of a honda braided into the rope.

The honda is a tiny loop that allows the main part of the rope to thread like string through the eye of a needle. The honda and the burner provide places to check out an old rope to see how much it’s been abused. No matter what the size of the catch, the pressure mounts on the honda.

 Ever feel like a honda? Got the main stress for a program? A group? A problem? A relationship?

St. Paul endured that kind of tension: “Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn?” (2 Corinthians 11:28,29).

Everyone who's serious about leadership relates to Paul. That’s part of the calling, the divine duty to bear.

Here’s some simple helps if you’re feeling honda heavy.

1) Get out. Breathe a moment of pure air. Jiggle some joy.

2) Take some time off—get away from the strain, if only an hour or two.

2) Plan a mini-vacation—one you’ve put off for a long time.

3) Save change in a get-away jar—fun money that saves your sanity.

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Stuart Brannon's Final Shot

 Stuart Brannon's Final Shot by Stephen Bly
(with Janet, Russell, Michael & Aaron Bly)
now available in hardback. . .ebook. . .paperback.

Finishing Dad's novel was a family affair. Can a committee create fiction? We had the passion and four months to find out.

Two orphans flee Oregon's Tillamook Head. One of them is branded a hero. Dare they tell the truth and risk the wrath of a dangerous man? Meanwhile, a retired lawman searches for his missing U.S. Marshal friend while he grapples with the game of golf on behalf of a celebrity tournament.


www.Amazon.com
www.BarnesandNoble.com
www.BlyBooks.com

LESSONS FROM THE OPEN ROAD

Lessons From The Open Road

Devotionals by K. Dawn Byrd

Sometimes life is hard. Sometimes learning new things is hard. Just when I thought I'd mastered the parking lot where I was learning to ride my little Yamaha Virago starter bike, I pulled out, forgot to hit the brake, did an Evel Knievel, and jumped a short concrete wall, landing in some trees. My poor little bike limped home with a hole in the crankcase the size of a quarter. J-B Weld to the rescue!

I'm stubborn, too stubborn to quit. After I recovered from the sore neck that resulted from my stunt, I climbed back on the old iron horse. Eventually, I graduated from the parking lot and hit the streets. When I'd learned to ride well enough to satisfy hubby, he bought himself a new Harley and I inherited his anniversary edition Harley Davidson Sportster. And, when I graduated with my masters degree, you'd never guess what I wanted. Yep, a new bike. I became the proud owner of a Screamin Eagle V-Rod.

LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL!

Jan & Janet

A counselor once told a friend of mine, "You've never really had a childhood. You need to play more."

So the two of us pulled shoes and socks off and tiptoed barefoot in a park fountain. We did an over-nighter in sleeping bags in my yard. We painted pictures with our fingers. We caught butterflies in jars. We threw popcorn at critters. Then, for a finale, we rolled down the slight slant of a hill on my front lawn. . .which brought the neighbor out to ask us, "What's going on?"

A mini-break doesn't take much time or expense. It can be a dance in a meadow. Or a walk in dawn's light. Or drawing forms in the sand. Planting a flower or herb garden on the window sill. Getting out the old instrument you used to play. Watching the different ways flocks of birds fly. Creating a new recipe from ingredients in your cupboard. Looking out your window long enough to notice something you've missed before. Writing a song. Hopping on a horse. It's like giving a shout-out of praise to God.

Child's play is serious stuff. No matter your age or stage, you've got to make time for fun. Do something that guarantees laughter. Go watch a comedy. Get close to a funny person. Find humor in your mistakes and stresses. Chuckles are good. A big belly laugh or two is better.

Norman Cousins, former editor of Saturday Review and author of Anatomy of an Illness, wrote that "laughter is jogging on the inside." It's inside-out aerobics. Every system in your body gets a workout. Muscles relax. Neurochemicals called endorphins release into the blood stream. 

"Good people, cheer God! Right-living people sound best when praising. Use guitars to reinforce your Hallelujahs! Play his praise on a grand piano! Invent your own new song to him; give him a trumpet fanfare." (Psalm 33:1-2 The Message)

Can you take a moment to celebrate life and praise your Maker today? How will you do that?

Janet Chester Bly

Copyright©2008

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Got turmoil? Can’t get a grip? Want some tips to cope? Click this link to find free download for "31 Days To Win The Fight For Personal Peace." http://blybooks.com/wordpress/free-stuff/articles/

WHERE’S YOUR HOME STATION?

Stephen Bly

Copyright©1993,2010

One time I drove through Virginia Dale, located near the Colorado/Wyoming border, about halfway between Ft. Collins and Laramie. I intended to stop and look it over, but a blizzard kicked up quite a fuss. So, I kept driving.

Virginia Dale Home Station

Virginia Dale was a home station on the old stage route, named by the notorious Jack Slade for his wife. When they laid out stagecoach routes across the Old West, they tried to follow some sort of orderly pattern. There were swing stations to change horses every 8 to 10 miles along the road. This lonely outpost may hold one employee who prepped horses to be rested, healthy, fed and ready to hitch when the stage rolled in.

Virginia Dale Church

Every 50 miles or so along the trail you could find a home station. Often western towns got their start this way. The home station, usually built of rough lumber, provided passengers with food, a night’s sleep, and a few items to purchase. It also served as a social center for miles around. If any special event got planned, folks from all over the countryside headed for the home station.

A church can be that home station for you. A place of rest and refreshment as you connect with others to worship and praise your heavenly Father. A place for spiritual renewal for your life's challenges and trials.

Sure, you can ignore and neglect this on-the-trail resource. Even in the Old West some wagons chose to pass by the home stations. But that could kill the horses and burden the weary passengers. Old timers knew better. 

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So, where is your home station right now? Tell us about it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Stuart Brannon's Final Shot

Stuart Brannon's Final Shot by Stephen Bly now available in a) hardback, b) ebook, and c) paperback.

Finishing Dad's novel was a family affair. Can a committee create fiction? We had the passion and four months to find out.

It's 1905. Two orphans flee Oregon's Tillamook Head. One of them is branded a hero. Dare they tell the truth and risk the wrath of a dangerous man? Meanwhile, a retired lawman searches for a missing U.S. Marshal friend while he grapples with the game of golf on behalf of a celebrity charity tournament.

Check it out at www.BlyBooks.com or www.Amazon.com or on your Kindle, Nook or iPad.

SARAI, a new novel by Jill Eileen Smith

SARAI

He promised her his heart. She promised him a son. But how long must they wait?

Sarai, the last child of her aged father, is beautiful, spoiled, and used to getting her own way. Even as a young girl, she is aware of the way men look at her, including her half brother Abram. When Abram finally requests Sarai’s hand, she asks one thing – that he promise never to take another wife as long as she lives. Even her father thinks the demand is restrictive and agrees to the union only if Sarai makes a promise in return – to give Abram a son and heir. Certain she can easily do that, Sarai agrees.

But as the years stretch on and Sarai’s womb remains empty, she becomes desperate to fulfill her end of the bargain – lest Abram decide that he will not fulfill his. To what lengths will Sarai go in her quest to bear a son? And how long will Abram’s patience last?

Review from PW (Publisher’s Weekly):

“Smith is at her best in handling the triangulated relationship between Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar … Smith breathes new imaginative life into a well-known sacred story.”

SARAI Excerpt:

Sarai glanced across the courtyard, catching Abram’s gaze. His half smile and the twinkle in his eye warmed her more than the wine she had tasted at the start of the ceremony. Music drifted around them as the bridal couple—their nephew Lot and his new wife, Melah—took their seats on the bench beneath the canopy and accepted rich foods from the hands of the servants.

"WELL, I'LL BE HOG-TIED"

by Stephen Bly

Copyright©1993,2010

A local girls’ high school basketball team put on an excellent show. Quick, aggressive, fearless in diving after loose balls, they drove to the basket, fast break, full court press, and hit three points.  

An amazing exhibition. The other team looked like they wanted to go home after the first quarter. They lost by 35 points. 

An old timer next to me shook his head. “Them little ladies sure did hog-tie that team in green.” 

He got that right. The losing team seemed at times to be bound in ropes.

To hog-tie means to throw an animal and then bind it by tying its two hind feet and a front one together. In rodeo, the rope’s called a ‘piggin’ strang.’ Loop the forefoot and shove the back feet on top, then wrap all three with a couple loops and tie a half-hitch or hooey. This keeps the animal immobile while you do your doctoring or whatever else might need to be done.

You don’t hog-tie a horse. Or people. But you can tie them up socially or mentally or emotionally. Even spiritually.

Sin hog-ties us more than anything else. It incapacitates us, makes us useless to accomplish any good thing. 

The Bible says, “Throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us” (Hebrews 12:1).

Sometimes we hog-tie ourselves. Wouldn’t that be a weird sight? Does a runner prepare for a big race by tying both feet and a hand together? She’d wallow in the dirt while the other racers lapped her.

What hog-ties you? 

Jesus wants to set you free.

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Stuart Brannon's Final Shot

AVAILABLE NOW!

Hardback & ebook -- Paperback edition by summer.
Stuart Brannon's Final Shot, by Stephen Bly
with Janet Chester Bly, Russell Bly, Michael Bly & Aaron Bly

Finishing Dad's novel was a family affair.

It's 1905. Two orphans flee Oregon's Tillamook Head. One of them is branded a hero. Do they tell what really happened & risk a dangerous man's wrath?
Meanwhile, a retired lawman searches for his missing U.S. Marshal friend & grapples with the game of golf on behalf of a charity celebrity tournament.

"Stuart Brannon's Final Shot delivers and reminds us what we'll miss most about the beloved author." Jerry B. Jenkins, NYT Bestselling novelist & biographer

"(Stephen) Bly throws his readers into the fray from the first page and never lets up. . .I've loved (Stuart) Brannon since his first appearance many books ago, and though I know he eventually had to hit the trail, he will be missed." Award-winning author Kathleen Y'Barbo

AVAILABLE THROUGH. . .

www.Amazon.com

www.BarnesandNoble.com

 http://www.blybooks.com/

A CROOKED FENCE PRODS PRAYER

Janet Chester Bly

Janet Chester Bly

Copyright 2008

Our little country church built a fence with low grade boards that had been donated. Within months, the boards twisted into crooked shapes. I hated that fence and it seemed to take forever to get it fixed. Each time I drove up to the church parking lot, I winced.

Then a friend remarked, “When I look at that fence, it’s a prod to me to pray about all that’s wrong--every out-of-whack relationship and our neighbors and church members who suffer from some pain or trouble.”

I followed her lead. When I spied the bent boards, I interceded for burdened folks. I even took a photo of the fence for my prayer journal. 

Now that the fence is straight again, I’m reminded to praise God for His many answers to my prayers.

Praying for others is the most unselfish thing we can do. To bring hope, help and healing to countless people you know. You might not be able to aid them in other ways, but you can give them the gift of prayer. To get you out of yourself and focused on someone else. You invite God’s purpose and power into the situation.

“This lifts us out of the puny reasons for living that we humans invent apart from Him,” says Ruth Myers in her book 31 Days of Prayer.

31 Days of Prayer

We become partners with the Lord of the Universe to impart miracles into mayhem, instill exciting, fresh possibilities into sterile circumstances.

For whom do you need to pray today?

How long will you commit to pray for them?

(taken from “31 Days To Personal Peace,” available as a free download at http://www.blybooks.com/)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 

   You can read the whole story of how my 3 sons & I finished Stephen Bly's last novel. Can a committee write fiction? We had the passion to find out.

    Check Christian Fiction Online Magazine, the Publisher's Choice Column: 

http://www.christianfictiononlinemagazine.com/home_publisher.html

    Also, in this issue a special feature on Margaret Daley, as well as on newly released novels by Tracie Peterson, Siri Mitchell, DiAnn Mills, Kay Marshall Strom & others.

    Pass this news along to your fiction lover friends & family.

   

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Stuart Brannon's Final Shot

Coming March 2012 -- hardback & ebook -- Paperback edition by summer.
Stuart Brannon's Final Shot, by Stephen Bly
with Janet Chester Bly, Russell Bly, Michael Bly & Aaron Bly

Finishing Dad's novel was a family affair.

It's 1905. Two orphans flee Oregon's Tillamook Head. One of them is branded a hero. Do they tell what really happened & risk a dangerous man's wrath?
Meanwhile, a retired lawman searches for his missing U.S. Marshal friend & grapples with the game of golf on behalf of a charity celebrity tournament.

Available through: 

www.Amazon.com

www.BarnesandNoble.com

www.BlyBooks.com

"Stuart Brannon's Final Shot delivers and reminds us what we'll miss most about the beloved author." Jerry B. Jenkins, NYT Bestselling novelist & biographer

"(Stephen) Bly throws his readers into the fray from the first page and never lets up. . .I've loved (Stuart) Brannon since his first appearance many books ago, and though I know he eventually had to hit the trail, he will be missed." Award-winning author Kathleen Y'Barbo

SAVING HOPE, a novel by Margaret Daley

Saving Hope

The reason I wrote Saving Hope, the first book in Men of the Texas Rangers Series, is because human trafficking is over a $32 billion dollar business per year and growing. It touches all countries, including the United States. Some of our young people are being affected by this problem and robbed of their childhood. Through it all I wanted to give a sense of hope through the Lord.

Blurb for Saving Hope:

When a teenager goes missing from the Beacon of Hope School, Texas Ranger Wyatt Sheridan and school director Kate Winslow are forced into a dangerous struggle against a human trafficking organization. But the battle brings dire consequences as Wyatt's daughter is terrorized and Kate is kidnapped.

Now it's personal. Wyatt finds both his faith and investigative skills challenged as he fights to discover the mastermind behind the ring before evil destroys everyone he loves.

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HEART OF GOLD by Robin Lee Hatcher

Heart of Gold

The truest treasure is found deep in the heart.

Back in her beloved Virginia, Shannon Adair loved nursing injured soldiers back to health. But in Grand Coeur, Idaho-the rough-and-tumble place where her father has been called to lead the church - she's not sure where she fits in. 

Then a critically ill woman arrives, and Shannon knows her place at last: to care for this dear woman and ease her pain.

Matthew Dubois is the fastest and most reliable stagecoach driver on Wells Fargo's payroll. But his widowed sister is dying and he's about to inherit his young nephew. So he takes a job at the Wells Fargo express office in Grand Coeur until he can find the one thing he needs to get back to driving: a wife to care for the boy.

What neither of them knows is that God is at work behind the scenes-and is lovingly bringing them together to discover the true desires of their hearts.

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