THE CALLING BLOG TOUR: JACOB ISRAEL

Jacob Israel is unlike many authors we meet today. His compelling writing style brings the reader along a fantastic journey that may stay with them for many years to come. I was excited to spotlight him here and I believe you will find, like his book, there is more to Jacob Israel than meets the eye.

MARGARET: For the readers who don’t know you, tell us a bit about yourself.

JACOB: I’m a father to three amazing children and a husband to a wife I adore. I’m someone that has been through a lot in life and grateful for every moment of it. The good, the bad, the beautiful, and the ugly, all paved the way to become who I am.

Professionally, I’m an Emmy, Telly, and N.R.B. Award winning television writer and producer, who has been blessed with a steady creative career since graduating university. However, that is not who I am.

Most my life, I was one of those people who wore a mask to fit in. I felt very alone, alienated from those around me. Looking back, I understand why. Everything I’ve endured had great purpose. Never meeting my biological father, coping with a severe case of Crohn’s disease, suffering abuse and abandonment, losing everything, it all played its part to humble me and get me where I am today. I spent the majority of my life questioning the meaning of it, learning that it is better to love than to hate, to give rather than receive, to be content and compassionate. 

As a young adult, I was most comfortable on stage. I won a dramatic scholarship to university and that is where I found my love for the written word. It would be years, and many performances of my originals works later, that would I actually dare pursue a career in writing. 

Today, I couldn’t be happier with that career choice, I am constantly challenged and rewarded by it. There is nothing better than sitting down to write something that, you pray, will make a difference in someone’s life. This was the impetus for my novel. 

MARGARET: Let’s talk about that, why did you write THE CALLING?

JACOB: I wanted desperately to share a story of how love and forgiveness can overcome all things, even the most horrible. I had to write THE CALLING. I believe I was meant to write it. I had the seed of the story burning inside me most my life, but it wasn’t until devastating circumstances in my life about four years ago made it possible for me to sit down and write it.

It was a very dark and hard time, but a lot of beauty rose from those ashes, and I would not trade that experience for anything. It’s the reason I chose such a dark and fearful cover. There are too many things in life keeping us from following after our dreams and finding peace. Fear is the enemy of joy. It destroys relationships, hopes, families… it destroy lives. Allegorically, that is why the woods in THE CALLING are dead.

I wanted to write something that would provoke thought and encourage readers to move past fear and into faith, to seek the life I believe we’re meant to live while keeping them guessing and entertained along the way.    

MARGARET: You mentioned allegory, some have compared your novel to The Shack and Pilgrim’s Progress, is that a fair comparison?

JACOB: Well, I hope it is. I can only pray it has a positive impact on those who read it. As far comparing it, that wouldn’t really be up to me. But, yes, there is a story beneath the story that is told. So, in that aspect, sure, there are similarities.

For years, I have studied scripture as well as many other philosophies and religious texts. Of course, the Bible has been my biggest creative influence, not to mention the spiritual. I love the revelation one receives when the heavens of our understanding open up and we finally understand what that verse (that we couldn’t understand) finally means. “It is glory of God to conceal a thing, and honor of Kings to seek out the matter.”

 In my novel, there are many hidden treasures for those with “eyes to see” if you will.

Although, there is no need to look deeper, because I believe the message, intrigue, and suspense are loud and clear. It still is very rewarding, I think, to find the more veiled spiritual meaning but that’s up to the reader. From anagrams, to events, locations, names, to the title of the book, and even (clears throat) the author’s name, there is a reason for it all. Like, for examples sake, if one were to string every chapter title together, it might be cool if there were a hidden message there, wink, wink, nudge, nudge.

MARGARET: What does the title of the Book mean? 

JACOB: Well, I believe all of us have a calling on our lives, a purpose we are to carry out. Thomas James, the lead character in the novel is no different. His purpose is a bit grander than most, however. He doesn’t truly understand the significance of what he is called to do. The novel documents the first eighteen years of the boy’s life. He’s haunted by nightmares of what may come, visited by strange messengers, abused, alienated, and abandoned, yet despite his circumstances he has an uncanny ability to love and forgive. Thomas is ever questioning the role he is to play and his circumstances. Perhaps, Thomas was “called” to be that “voice in the dead woods” the title speaks of, calling people out of the deep sleep that keeps them from finding out who they truly are.

MARGARET: You mention the first eighteen years of Thomas’s life, the book does lend to a sequel, will we hear from Thomas again?

JACOB: Sure, THE CALLING is the first novel in a series. Before the Prologue you’ll find two pages with two peculiar quotes. One states, “Your life is not what it appears to be, what will happen when the truth is poured out on a world that is deceived?”

What is interesting about this passage is, it is credited to “The Book Of Thomas James” in the year 2012.

Most may skim past passages like this, but like I said, there’s a reason for everything. So keep your eyes peeled for the next book in the series to released in the next year or two.

MARGARET: Who will this book appeal to?

JACOB: First of all, let’s talk age appropriate. I am excited to hear how varied the ages are of those who love the book. I’m most surprise with those age twelve and up. I wanted the book to appeal to a large demographic. So, to have a younger generation also excited about an allegorical fiction with a mature spiritual message and theme is a dream come true.

As far as, what type of person should read THE CALLING, I believe anyone who is not fulfilled in life, who wants more from entertainment than just escape, anyone who has suffered, or experienced great loss and didn’t understand why. I think, whole heartedly this is the book for you. You will relate with Thomas’s struggle, you will be encouraged by what comes out of it, and inspired by how anything is possible with faith and love.

MARGARET: So, what is THE CALLING A VOICE IN THE DEAD WOODS about?

JACOB: THE CALLING is an inspirational thriller about a twelve-year boy named Thomas James, whose extraordinary insight and purpose changes the lives of those he meets, and sets the world on its edge.

The self absorbed, greedy, and arrogant residents of Bethel begin to despise young Thomas James for the honest words he speaks. His peers torment him, strange messengers visit him, and an evil presence fights to destroy him every step along the way.

Thomas suffers from prophetic nightmares and visions he does not understand. The loss of his family is almost more than he can take. His internal struggle to make sense of his circumstances leads him down a perilous road, where nothing is as it seems.

Soon, the startling revelation of who Thomas James truly is will confound the masses and inspire all those he sets free.

You have to find out what is in us all that makes us heed the “Calling”.

MARGARET: Where is the book available and how do we find out more about it?

JACOB: You know my website is a great place to start. It is http://www.jacobisrael.org/ and it has video trailers, a synopsis, sample chapters, reviews, links to purchase it online and general info about upcoming events, news, etc. I also do a bi-weekly video journal posted in the author section. Like the book, I hid messages, inspirational poetry, and lots of other fun stuff to find on the web site. The book is available everywhere books are sold, if you can’t find it at your local bookstore, see if they can order it for you, and if not, all the major online retailers, from amazon.com to target.com carry it as well.

MARGARET: In closing, what do you want the readers of THE CALLING to take away from this book?

Obviously, I hope they enjoy it and are entertained. However, the most important thing to me is that, those who read it will find that even in the hardest, and most difficult of times, there is hope. Hope…that is what I want people to take away from this book.

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Here are some links to learn more

WEBSITE: www.JacobIsrael.org

TRAILER:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3qjXBv50z4&feature=channel_page

JACOB SPEAKS: A video journal entry -   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7hEQXkRle8

Economy Causes More Children To Need Foster Care

POSTED: 5:27 pm EDT March 19, 2009
UPDATED: 5:46 pm EDT March 19, 2009

Lighthouse Youth Services said it has seen an increase in the number of children who need foster homes. The group blames the economy. 

“Maybe they can’t pay their Duke Energy bill. Maybe they don’t have food to feed everybody in their household, so it results in some issues that cause children to get in the system,” said Lighthouse’s Bonita Campbell. 

According to Brian Gregg of Hamilton County Job and Family Services, there are 850 kids in the system right now who need a foster home and only 230 homes available. 

“We are seeing foster parents come to us and say I can’t be a foster parent anymore because I can’t afford it,” said Gregg. 

Despite a marketing effort to recruit new foster families, Lighthouse said those families are harder and harder to come by. 

“In the last three months, we have not had any foster parents or any families come forward that they’re interested in becoming foster parents,” said Jamie Clarke.

Now here is an ever ending battle in foster care and adoptions.  Do we want our troubled kids who have been removed from their homes put into foster care with parents who are gay?  What are your thoughts?

BY JOHN LYNCH

Posted on Tuesday, March 3, 2009

A lawsuit challenging a voterapproved law restricting adoptions and foster care should be allowed to proceed because, among other things, Arkansas’ Initiated Act 1 of 2008 violates the rights of parents to manage the care of their own children, the American Civil Liberties Union claims in its latest court filing.

The law, which bans unmarried cohabiting couples from fostering or adopting children, also harms the state’s “neediest” children by denying them access to loving and qualified parents and guardians, the group claims in its 55-page response to a motion from the state to dismiss the lawsuit. The ACLU, representing 24 adults and children, is challenging the constitutionality of the law in Pulaski County Circuit Court.

“By categorically depriving gay couples and unmarried heterosexual couples of the opportunity to show that they are fit adoptive or foster parents, Act 1 unconstitutionally threatens and violates constitutional rights such as: the right of families to live together; the right of children to be free from stateimposed harm; and the right of parents to have the state respect their judgment as to who would be the best adoptive parents for their children in the event of their death or incapacity,” the pleading states. “The disparate treatment of gay and unmarried couples required by Act 1 impermissibly interferes with such fundamental constitutional rights and violates the guarantee of equal protection under the law.”

Pulaski County Circuit Judge Chris Piazza will consider dis- missing the lawsuit at a March 17 hearing. On Friday, the judge is scheduled to decide on whether the Family Council Action Committee and its president, Jerry Cox, Act 1’s most vocal supporters, can come to the defense of the law in court. Currently, the Arkansas Attorney General’s Office in defending Act 1, which took affect on Jan. 1 with 57 percent of voters approving the measure in November.

In the filing, the ACLU also claims state attorneys are distorting its stand against the law, arguing the state is using “phantom assertions” that plaintiffs are trying to establish a right by children to be adopted or fostered.

The actual argument, according to the filing, is that Act 1 violates the rights of children in state custody by putting them at risk of harm by arbitrarily denying them “fit and appropriate” adoptive and foster parents.

“Plaintiffs have alleged and will present proof at trial that Act 1 harms children in state care by denying some of them the home that is most appropriate for their needs and by limiting the opportunities for all of these children to have any foster or adoptive parent at all, condemning more of them to growing up without ever becoming part of a family,” the filing states. “Plaintiffs further have alleged, and the evidence will show, that preexisting Arkansas policy already protects the best interests of children – which defendants must deem paramount – by screening all prospective adoptive and foster parents to determine their suitability to care for a child. Thus, Act 1’s only accomplishment is to deprive children of placement with adults who would be deemed suitable and appropriate adoptive or foster parents.”

The state has repeatedly found that single people can be good parents, the ACLU pleading states, pointing to rulings from Pulaski County Circuit Court and the Arkansas Supreme Court affirming homosexuals should be allowed to adopt. In those cases, judges received testimony from child-care experts who say there’s no harm in allowing children to be raised by homosexual parents.

A month before voters approved Act 1 last year, the ACLU filing notes, the state Department of Human Services dropped its own policy preventing single people from adopting after a hearing where child-care experts opposed the policy.

Parents should have the right to have a say how their children are raised, the ACLU argues, but Act 1 can prevent their wishes from being heard, let alone considered.

“The parent-plaintiffs recognize that they do not have the absolute right to dictate the adoptive placement of their children through their testamentary wishes,” the filing states. “But they do have a protected right to provide a recommendation that will be given weight by the state in considering the best interests of their children. Accordingly, what parent-plaintiffs object to is the fact that Act 1 will require defendants to automatically reject their judgment, as fit parents, as to who would be the best adoptive placement for their children if tragedy were to strike.”

Court filings show that five of the plaintiffs have left the case. Wendy Wilson and Matthew Dylan Foster, with their three daughters, have withdrawn with no reason stated. The ACLU identified them in court papers as a Russellville couple engaged to be married, with daughters ages 5 and younger. If something happens to the couple, they want Wilson’s homosexual mother and her partner to adopt the girls, but Act 1 would prevent the adoption.

My question today is on money paid to Foster Parents each month for the children they take in.  Each state requires that the monthly stip-end received by Foster Parents must be used to pay for the foster child only.  How many times has your local DCF office come to verify how that money is being spent each month? 

I think it is a wonderful thing for families to take in children who so desperately need stability and people willing to care about what happens to them.  These would be people who foster for the right reasons and whose hearts are in the right place and I would bet these parents give so much that their monthly stipends would not be sufficient.

But – and you know I have one — I see so many foster parents who are not financially able to take care of themselves and how they pass through the system to take in foster children – now that always amazes me.  I would like to review their expenditures for the children they take in.  Have these children even received a new pair of shoes?  I grow so tired of everyone stating people don’t foster for the money but I believe the statistics would startle most!  How is it these children leave with a only a garbage bag in most cases with very few belongings?  Why do we not ask this question when we see children with so little?

This blog was written to create questions and thought – we need QUALITY foster parents!  I am sure if we all reached out we could find more of these champions who realize that the difference they make in the life of a child if even only one child could help change our world for the better.  These children are our future leaders, our children and grand children will be living in the world with so many foster children from our era – We need to help these children realize their god given talents and succeed as adults.

Maybe you can become a Champion or help to find one?

I am excited to say I signed on with CMG Booking today.

http://www.cmgbooking.com/index.php

They are dedicated to helping Catholic Speakers spread their ministries internationally.  I am looking forward to working with them and seeing where God leads us.

I will keep you posted on how it goes —

What a heart warming story!  I am so happy when I see a positive Foster Child story.  All it takes is people with a big heart willing to help our children become success stories.  All of us our children of God and he has given us great gifts to share with others and this story truly represents a family who used their gifts.  May God Bless them and let us all pray for more families like them!

http://www.news-press.com/article/20090222/COLUMNISTS02/902220394/1002/news01

To read more about this story click on the link below.  Please help spread the word about these stories, it is the only way to create awareness.  Sexually abusing our children needs much stiffer penalties in order to stop these crimes.  We need to come together as people to help solve these issues, get involved, take action, help to resolve these issues once and for all.

Let me know what you think!

http://www.news4jax.com/news/18624887/detail.html

New proposed child abuse law – here is the website.  Check out the information and if you agree sign an online petition.

http://www.jareds-law.com/

Plight of Homeless Youth Will be Focus of Nov. 20 Times Square Vigil

 http://www.covenanthouse.org

Under a new campaign for accountability, the state Department of Human Services found more than a dozen foster homes that now will no longer be allowed to care for children.