Limerick Time

Reinventing the Wheel

  when willie reinvented the wheel

  we all laughed and called him a schlmiel

      then it so happened

      that he took out a patten

  now it's his licence fees that make us reel

French

  A lass named Polly McKenzie

  Took French, because it was trendy

     When asked to romance

      a gentleman from France

  she went into a parles vous frenzie 

  Parisian life he offered, she took it,

  but now, she's a pity to look at

      'cause dear Polly, poor wench

      all she'd learned of her French

  was 'silver plate' and 'mercy bucket'

The Perfect Program

The Perfect Program

  A world where it doesn't rain

  save there are umbrellas for all

  Where, only on the house of the evil doer,

  would a tree ever fall

  Where bad people look gruff and mean,

  but good men all stand tall

  ...in your dreams, maybe

  A life of harmony and love that begins with just one kiss

  Where all is well that ends well,

  and ever after we'll live in bliss

  When good things come to those who wait,

  with never even a miss

  ...only on TV

 No matter the problem,

 we're sure there's always a way

  Nothing but nothing is impossible to those who dare to say

  'Human brawn and whit, my friends,

  will surely save the day'

  ...hee hee hee

  A Chicken in every pot,

 a pot on every table

  Justice for all, and a job

  for everyone who's able

  I'll just wave my wand

  and make the economy stable

  ...vote for me

   What we do will save the world

  from poverty and despair

 We'll right all wrongs and adjust the scales

  so everything is fare

  We'll punish the bad, reward the good,

  and show the poor we care  

  ...wait and see

      ...just wait and see

  Well, we abolished humanity because it's bad

Some said, 'Oh my! Why, that's so sad!'

  But really, it's the only choice we had

  ...for a perfect world, you see

The Shechinah

This is a project that I've been working on for close to half my life. At least the very first chapter - or module - is based on a set of notes that I came up with about 1993, to teach to a small group of co-workers, the staff of a slum day care centre in an obscure corner of Bangkok. The inspiration for it came a few years earlier than that, during my time of founding a couple of churches in Southern Thailand (Prachuab province), as something that would both help new believers to be grounded in the faith, as well as go onward to be leaders, teaching others what they've been taught. 

As I was slowly working away at it, it grew, first, to a set of three or four study outlines that I used to teach a class at a Bible Training centre where I was at the time (CFTI). Later, after I had added more modules to it - still in the form of study outlines - I published it as Tishbyte Foundational Bible Study Series. 

More recently, I have rewritten it in long form, but adding discussion questions, and using a lighter outline format at the start, that doubles as a table of contents. Thus, the TOC doubles as an outline for reviewing, or simply using for teaching notes.

The blurb probably describes it best:

“How can I be a better Christian?”

By getting your focus off yourself, and falling in love with God’s plan to dwell among humanity. That, indeed, is what the whole Bible is all about: GOD DWELLING AMONG HUMANITY.

In this book we explore and observe how the whole of the Bible is saturated with that desire of God’s heart. That, by itself, should change your life and motivate you to become a part of what God is accomplishing in the world today.

My hope is, once you’ve done a thorough study, aided by this book, you will not only have the motivation, but also the tools to move forward and assist in establishing God’s Kingdom wherever you are, as the Breath of God energises you.

This is not about getting you to join any particular movement or church group. The idea is to to enable you further - where you are right now - by sharpening your understanding of what the Old and New Testaments are really about, and motivate you to fall in love with the Kingdom of Jesus, the Messiah, who is the Shechinah - the dwelling of God.

This study series in one volume can change your life, and give a new direction. If you’re already going in the right direction, it’ll give you all the more “oomph” you need.

Further to that, while I do feel that Seminary and Bible School education is valuable, I also honestly believe that if one were serious enough, stuck to it, and went through this - preferably as a part of a group - one would come away with the tools to lead, mentor, pastor, or engage in whatever aspect of the five-fold ministry God has called one to. That's not to say that it replaces any need for human input - it doesn't. We're called to build one another up and to be accountable to one another; but at least this should serve as a vital tool. 

For the purpose of expressing where I am coming from, and where I got all this, I've also written a very long bio, which you can find on my website, titled, My Journey So Far. In the front page of my website, It's introduces as My Very Long Bio (warning: very long). Indeed, as of my last update, it's reached the length of a novella.

 Rats in the Cellar is now a quadriligy. The first in this series is a free download if you click on the link labeled "ePub edition" on my website. 

Book description:

Oscar just wants to get home to his own universe, where everything is the way he’s used to.

He knew he wasn’t supposed to go down those stairs in the cellar, but the cat led him down. Now, he’s in what seems like the same house, but things are subtly different. And there’s a copy of himself. He tries to go back the way he came, but it’s different again. His dad is a crook, and his mother says things he never heard her say before.

He meets yet another copy of himself who knows what’s going on, and becomes his best friend. He explains it to him: he’s lost in the multiverse. His only option is to live like a rat in the cellar, exploring all the worlds until he finds a copy of his family that most suits him. If his bedroom isn’t vacant, he could live like a twin to whoever is there - maybe. But his friend seems to know more than he’s saying.

He makes a start on his search, and then comes back to find that the world where his best friend lived, has been nuked. Other worlds have political unrest and riots. In some, his paedophile uncle has broken out of prison, and a few copies of him are now also roaming the multiverse. In all the worlds, the economy is bad, and the police only protect those who can afford to pay them.

Oscar’s own world wasn’t a paradise either, but at least it was home. He wants, very badly, to find his own world, and his own parents; but the cat has different ideas. There’s only one of the cat.

If you like time travel stories with a surreal twist, you’ll love this novella, which you can read in one evening. Download the first in the series now, and begin your journey.

global warming is

 just the end of the ice age

  so the penguins say

#haiku

haiku

Here's a sample I wrote impromptu for my English class students while teaching them haiku:

this crazy teacher

  wants me to write a haiku

  I've no idea how

another one

 As I said a while ago, I'm trying to get back to posting regularly on this blog. 

There is quite a lot that I could be adding to it just to catch it up to date, but too much at once wouldn't be a good thing. I will say that I have been regularly keeping up my main website, Robby's Books with a full list of my books, and recently, also my book formatting website, Robby's eBook Formatting. I'm hoping to start doing more book design for customers. 

I'll also take this opportunity to call your attention to my most recently published space trilogy, The Rat Queen. 

Very brief description:  

A feral child - a refugee from a doomed planet - now living with the rats on a space station run by hostile aliens. She’s the key to human survival

Longer description:

Aliens have a longer life span and therefore they know: Just because one generation of humans is settled and content, doesn't mean their spoiled brats won’t grow up, undo their progress and repeat the atrocities of previous generations. Since humanity became a space faring species, the pattern hasn’t changed, only the extent of the damage. Now, human survival is in the balance…Enter: the Rat Queen

As I said, it's a trilogy:

 I've been neglecting this blog for quite a while. 

Mid-year resolution: to do more with my blog and keep it active and interesting. 

If I don't have anything compelling to write, I may just add a drawing, or a haiku, or a limerick, or something like that.

I do have a few things I could say, but for now,