The Wonderful World of Forensics

A dream of mine has always been to work in the field of forensics. I have always loved how science can be used to both free the innocent and prosecute the guilty.  I have followed everything in that field for a long time.  I have read up on the FBI, CIA, and all the other law enforcement acronyms. I am a big fan of TV shows including CSI, Major Crimes, and Quincy M.E. I know they aren’t like real life but they are fun to watch and you can occasionally learn something. I am looking into opportunities to continue my education in this field as well.

Recently I had the rare opportunity to attend a mystery writer’s conference in Nashville, Tennessee that had a forensics track.  I was able to hear FBI and TBI agents, private detectives, lawyers, and forensic scientists talk about real cases they have encountered and what was done to solve them.  But I have to say the highlight of the weekend was getting to hear a seminar by Dr. Bill Bass, the founder of the Body Farm at the University of Tennessee.  The Body Farm is located on three acres of hillside in Knoxville where people have donated their bodies to be studied by scientists to determine the effects of decomposition on the body due to various elements. To top it off afterwards I got to meet Dr. Bass and he signed a copy of a book that I bought which is written by he and Jon Jefferson under the pen name of Jefferson Bass. 

Also while I was there I bought a book called Beyond the Body Farm by Dr. Bill Bass and Jon Jefferson.  This is one of the few nonfiction books the duo has written that centers around the cases that Dr. Bass has come across in his many years of working as a Forensic anthropologist.  This book is full of strange cases that only science could solve.  If you are a fan of forensics you will love reading this book! 

You can find out more about this book or buy it here.

Grace by Max Lucado

Grace.

We talk as though we understand the term. The bank gives us a grace period. The seedy politician falls from grace. Musicians speak of a grace note. We describe an actress as gracious, a dancer as graceful. We use the word for hospitals, baby girls, kings, and premeal prayers. We talk as though we know what grace means.

But do we really understand it? Have we settled for wimpy grace? It politely occupies a phrase in a hymn, fits nicely on a church sign. Never causes trouble or demands a response. When asked, “Do you believe in grace?” who could say no?

Max Lucado asks a deeper question: Have you been changed by grace? Shaped by grace? Strengthened by grace? Emboldened by grace? Softened by grace? Snatched by the nape of your neck and shaken to your senses by grace?

God’s grace has a drenching about it. A wildness about it. A white-water, riptide, turn-you-upside-downness about it. Grace comes after you. It rewires you. From insecure to God secure. From regret riddled to better-because-of-it. From afraid to die to ready to fly.

Grace is the voice that calls us to change and then gives us the power to pull it off.

Let’s make certain grace gets you.

The back cover of this book says it all. We have all heard about grace. We all accepted that grace when we were saved. I have heard grace made synonymous with salvation, love, and God’s unmerited favor. Real grace is all of that and then some.  It took an enormous amount of love, pain, and forgiveness for Jesus to let the soldiers nail his hands and feet to the cross so he could die for our sins.  I do like Max Lucado’s interpretation of grace.  He writes that grace is the voice that calls us to change and then gives us the power to pull it off.  This is a great book that will really open your eyes to the great things God has in store for those who love him if we will just receive what he has already prepared for us!

Find out more here.