Better Than Life Update

October is here--suddenly, warmly, and surprisingly! While most of you are thinking about getting out those sweaters, raking leaves, drinking apple cider, and that most important of October holidays (Reformation Day, of course), at our offices we are thinking about the exciting release of the Better Than Life CD and book and all of the events surrounding them.

The CD actually made its way to our offices last week, and it was greeted with great excitement. The first five hundred copies of the book should arrive in our offices next week (October 17), and while I'm sure everyone eagerly anticipates it, I'm especially excited to see this one come back home.

The Better Than Life project was created to celebrate the International Day of Prayer in November, which focuses on remembering Christians around the world who are persecuted for their faith. The songs on the CD, written and performed by Shannon Wexelberg, Scott Krippayne, and Charles Billingsley, all deal with the themes of persecution and suffering, and several of them are based on actual stories of persecuted Christians. The book is its younger sibling, and it tells the stories, in words, of persecuted Christians.

We do have an excellent Web site (www.dhp.org/btl--click on the link under "Other Interesting Sites") that includes sample stories from the book, song samples, and interviews with the artists who wrote and performed the songs. Check it out! The artists are also taking the songs out on the road with a seven-city tour, and the opening night is here in Grand Rapids at Sunshine Community Church on Thursday, November 1. It should be an exciting evening. Ticket information is on the site, as well as information about how to get your own copy of the book and CD.

Dear readers out there who bump into me from time to time: I would be happy to pick up both the book and CD for you at our Discovery House bookstore and deliver them to you in person. I do understand that Parable bookstores will be carrying a (very) limited number of the books and CDs. They will also be available at the concert, of course.

We Americans who go to church each Sunday, sitting in our comfortable sanctuaries with plentiful Bibles surrounding us--air conditioned in the summer and heated in the winter--tend to forget that not everyone in the world enjoys these privileges. It's difficult for me to put into words what I've learned from working on this project about the price some of God's servants in other parts of the world pay for a life of faith. And yet they happily "count it all joy" because of what Christ has done for them. Everyone who has been involved in the creation of this project hopes that we have captured a little sense of what our brothers and sisters endure for the sake of Christ, and that as listeners and readers learn of their plight through story and song, they will be encouraged to pray, to rejoice in God's perfect providence, and to never take the freedom we enjoy in America for granted.