July 10, 2017

Questions from an insomniac


During one of the several times I woke up during the night, an idea for a book about sleep (or lack thereof) arose. I’ve since been doing biblical and online research on the topic, but if thoughts come to you about any of the questions posed, I hope you'll respond in the Comments section below.

1. What keeps you from going to sleep? (For instance, pain, medication, worry, caffeine, etc.)
2. Does anyone else in your family have sleep problems?
3. Once you’re asleep, do you wake up? How often?
4. What’s most apt to awaken you during the night?
5. How comfy are your bed and pillow?
6. Do you have a quiet space dedicated to sleep?
7. What helps you rest best? (For example, praying a particular prayer or recalling scripture)

Thank you for your responses to the above and anything else that might help those who have trouble sleeping as, reportedly, millions of us do!

Mary Harwell Sayler, ©2017


July 6, 2017

Every Job A Parable


Pastor, author, and seminary teacher John Van Sloten investigates vocations in his insightful book Every Job A Parable: What Walmart Greeters, Nurses & Astronauts Tell Us About God. Published by NavPress, who kindly sent me a copy to review via the Tyndale Blog Network, this book speaks of our Creator God, Who works in and through us in all kinds of work.

As the author of this highly recommended book explains, “The first step may be submitting to the fact that creation really is filled with the thoughts of God, that you are meant to grasp those thoughts, that work is a place where that can happen, and that none of this can happen apart from God’s Spirit illumining your way.”

Equally important, “For this process to play out in an effective way, we need to be very familiar with the God of the Bible. Without a deep knowledge of the God of the Scriptures (the Old Testament and the New) we won’t be able to recognize his signature moves in creation.”

For example, “Sanitation workers image a God who cleans and maintains his creation. Their work points to a central tenet of our Christian faith: that God is a God who cleans up our lives (justifies us through the humble, selfless, servant-like work of Christ) and then keeps them clean (maintains and sanctifies us via the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit).”

In the parables, Jesus used everyday jobs to illustrate deep spiritual truths, for instance, in His stories involving vineyard workers, judges, and farmers, the latter of whom know “they need to submit to and trust an entire ecosystem of outside forces” – all of which remain under God's care-filled management.

Then “the deeper we enter into an awareness of God’s presence at work, the more we will know him as the providential source of all things. As we experience him through our creativity, rationality, sense of timing, physical skills, or entrepreneurialism, we will be reminded that all of these good gifts – just like the sun and the rain – come from (God’s) gracious hand.”

Mary Harwell Sayler, ©2017, poet-writer and reviewer


Every Job A Parable: What Walmart Greeters, Nurses & Astronauts Tell Us About God, paperback



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July 1, 2017

What you need to know before quoting Bible verses


God’s Word belongs to everyone! However, copyrights of English translations of the Bible belong to the translators or Bible publishers unless the text is in the public domain. This means we cannot quote more than X number of Bible verses from most of the contemporary translations without requesting permission from the publisher.

Most translations of the Bible will let you know in the front pages exactly how many verses you’re allowed to use in one manuscript. To give you an idea, I opened my New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) and saw we can quote up to 500 verses – IF that constitutes LESS than half of what we’re writing. The New Living Translation (NLT) and New International Version (NIV) also allow up to 500 verse, but those quotes must comprise less than one-fourth or 25 percent of the manuscript.

Regardless of the translation used, each must be acknowledged at the end of a quotation.


For example, here’s a quotation taken from The Jerusalem Bible.

“Yes, God loved the world so much
that he gave his only Son,
so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost
but may have eternal life.
For God sent his Son into the world
not to condemn the world,
but so that through him the world might be saved.
No one who believes in him will be condemned,” John 3:16-18a, The Jerusalem Bible.

If you need to use more verses than the publisher allows, contact the company, describe your project, and request permission to quote your expected number of verses.

Another option is to find a translation in the public domain. With rare exception, this usually means an English translation published before or by the beginning of the 20th century since, by now, the copyright has most likely expired and not been renewed.

A quick search on the Bible Gateway website provided the following list of Bible translations in the public domain, which you can find in their online library – a real plus if you want to copy/paste large portions of scripture instead of retyping.

Some English Translations of the Bible in the Public Domain:


American Standard Version (ASV)
Darby Translation (DARBY)
Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition (DRA)
King James Version (KJV)
World English Bible (WEB - a contemporary translation)
Young's Literal Translation (YLT)
Reina-Valera Antigua (RVA)
Biblia Sacra Vulgata (VULGATE)

If you’re concerned about quoting scripture in your project, another option is to paraphrase, which is what I often do. Since quotation marks wouldn't be appropriate in such instances, I usually set the text apart with linebreaks and/or italics.

In my search on Bible Gateway for texts to paraphrase, I seldom seek translations in the public domain but am more apt to read at least a half-dozen or more contemporary versions of the many choices they have available on their website. Then I mix, mingle, and paraphrase those scriptures into a text I call “prayer-a-phrased” since I’m prayerfully counting on the Lord to give me discernment and whatever else is needed to be true to the meaning of the verses.

Why do I do this? I love it! I love the Bible in all of its English renditions. And I love translating passages of scripture into a poem, prayer, paragraph, or conversation that seems immediate, placing God’s Word in the now.

This process also helps me (and, hopefully, you as reader and/or writer) to internalize Holy Scripture, making it more “real” as though we’re there in person, experiencing the Bible as it unfolds. If, however, you’re unsure how scripture unfolds from Genesis to Revelation, I urge you to first read, read, read the Bible from cover to cover in several translations to prepare you for a lifetime of Bible-based writings in Jesus’ Name.


Mary Harwell Sayler, ©2017, with praise for God’s Word and many thanks to Bible Gateway 













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