Relief: A Quarterly Christian Expression

Written by Heather von Doehren

Monday, 23 June 2008

Last week, Lisa discussed the importance of having a web presence so that editors, agents, publishers, etc. can easily find you on the Internet. Today, Heather von Doehren is going to show you a wonderful tool to help you monitor your web presence: Google Alerts.

If you’ve ever typed your own name into a search engine just to see how many times your name appears on the Internet, you’re not alone. Often I’ve been quite curious to see what Lord Google has found about me. Most of the time, the returned web pages are occurrences I already know about. But, occasionally I’ll be quite surprised by a new website or blog that has referenced an article I wrote or complimented the efforts of Relief. These results, (how many times your name appears from search engine results), ARE your web presence. The results that you find are the same results that editors or publishers will find when Google-ing your name.

What Are Google Alerts?

Google Alerts are email messages sent directly to your inbox whenever Google spots your search terms (i.e. your name, the title of your book, etc.) on the web. In other words, rather than visiting Google, typing in your name, and then surfing through old and new results, Google will simply send you an email whenever a new occurrence of your name appears on the web.

How to Set Up Google Alerts:

First, go to the Google Alerts page.

From there, you will need to sign into your Google account. If you do not have a Google Account, you can create one here.

Once you sign in, you will be taken to the Manage Alerts page which looks like this:

Manage Alerts Page Screen Shot

The Manage Alerts Page lets you create, change, and/or delete your alerts. To create your first Google Alert, click the “creating one” link.

Next, simply type in your search terms. If your search is your name, type your name in quotation marks, like “Heather von Doehren”; if it’s the title of a story, poem, or book, place quotation marks around the full title as well. If you’d like to combine search phrases, you may do so by added a plus sign between search elements, like: “Heather von Doehren” + “Relief: A Quarterly Christian Expression”

Once you’ve typed in your search terms, then you need to choose the type of search for Google to conduct. You can have Google search for you exclusively on blogs, news, web, video, etc. for your name. To have Google search all locations, simply choose “comprehensive.”

Next, choose how often you’d like Google to email you with results. Your choices are

once a day
as-it-happens
or once a week.

I usually choose “As-It-Happens.”

Then, click the “Create Alert” button to the left. And you’ve just created a Google Alert! To create more alerts, you can click “New Alert.” You can also edit existing alerts by clicking “edit.”

If you ever want to come back to Google to manage your alerts, simply go to the Google home page and click the sign in link in the upper right-hand corner. Once you sign in, you can click on the “My Account” link in the upper right-hand corner and then click on the word “Manage” next to the Alerts link.

Then What?

Just sit back and wait for Google to email you, which will happen more frequently the more you work on building your web presence.

Related Articles:

Heather von Doehren, Relief's Assistant Editor, is a former English teacher turned computer applications instructor, which works out well for Relief as she wears many hats, both literary and technical. Check out her video on How to Format Submissions Using Microsoft Word 2007!

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Power of a Testimony

Written by Don Beireis

Friday, 20 June 2008

Don Beireis continues his series on biblical characters, descussing what we can learn from the story of David and Goliath.

It may be a question of rhetoric to ask you if watching some disturbing news report or an update on a disaster has ever made you wonder if you really could make a difference. I think we have all asked that question from time to time. And, then we usually dismiss that grand moment of nobility because “well, hey we can’t save the world by ourselves, ya know.” We’ve all been there.

But what I missed, until recently, was the difference we can make in our own scope of influence. There’s the obvious ways: the smiles, the quick compliments, and the readiness to point out the good in others. But there’s more—far more.

There is incredible power in sharing our story. I was led some time ago to share my story – my testimony – on how I accepted Christ. As I felt intimidated by the person God was asking me to speak to, I quickly found many convincing excuses not to. For some reason, those excuses didn’t change God’s mind. It was when I re-read the David and Goliath story, however, that I truly discovered just how powerful our testimony can be. Perhaps this is why it is easier for me to share my journey of blessings and struggles with you on this site.

In 1 Samuel 17, Goliath, the Philistine champion, has challenged the Israeli army: A one on one, life or death battle, where the winner takes all, including the opposing nation as their servants. When David, a young shepherd boy, brings supplies to his brothers in the army, he is appalled that the bold challenge from Goliath goes unchecked.

The entire nation is so tense, that when the words of David, the youngest brother of a little known soldier, reaches King Saul, he is summoned to the palace immediately. David boldly declares to the king, “Let no man's heart fail because of him (Goliath);” I will fight him. Saul immediately objects, proclaiming that David is just a boy and Goliath a warrior since adolescence.

Saul was simply expressing the facts. David was young and untrained. Goliath, a veteran of many battles, stood over 9 feet tall. The terms of his challenge were incredible: if Goliath killed David, all of Israel would immediately become Philistine slaves, losing their freedom, their land, and their identity as a nation. So when Saul said, you can’t fight him, he wasn’t just sizing up David. He was also considering what he stood to lose— his power and wealth, his status, and the likely reality that he would lose his own life if Goliath prevailed.

Key 1: Saul was not convinced of David’s courage, or of his victory. So what changes Saul’s mind? David gives his life experiences a voice, sharing what God had done for him personally. His faith was rooted in his challenges, specifically in confronting a lion and a bear, each of whom possessed a clear physical advantage over him. In both instances, God honored his faith and delivered him in incredible fashion.

David responded to Saul, The LORD that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he WILL deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said to David, Go, and God be with you. David’s confidence in sharing God’s faithfulness in his own experience was the key testimony that ultimately swayed the mind of the King. Rather than focus on what he could not do, or the dangers he would surely face, David focused on what God had already done for him.

Key 2: David’s testimony witnessed to Saul in such a powerful way that the king was now willing to risk all that he had, including his own life. Our testimony has that same powerful witness to others! The devil will try to convince us that our testimony is meaningless or not as important as others’. It’s because he has so much to lose!

Satan is defeated when Christ is lifted up. He is also defeated when we get to hear how someone else has overcome a giant in their life, especially as we gain the courage to challenge our own giants! Revelations 12:11 KJV, “And they overcame him (accuser of the brethren) by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.”

Go ahead, share yours today and watch what God can do through you.

Previous Articles:

Don Beireis, who is currently in transition from twelve years in the banking industry, is a musician, a writer, and a “recovering legalist” who has spent most of his life in church. An avid reader, his desire to write stems from what he sees as “a growing need to translate theological knowledge into inspiring life application.”

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The Connotations of the Word Worship

Written by Heather von Doehren

Thursday, 19 June 2008

Heather von Doehren While catching up on Twitter posts today, I ran across a link to a very interesting article over at Colossians Three Sixteen on how Christians use the term “worship” in conversation and how nonreligious folk interpret or react to the use of the word. It’s very interesting and something you should check out. So, click here to view Jim’s article titled “The Weirdness of Worship.”

Be sure to read the comments too; they're just as interesting!

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2008-06-20 13:06:48 That was a good article. Thank you. :)

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