making choices

Living with our choices

At writers’ conferences, I frequently meet people who waited until they retired to start writing. That really helps me get over the feeling that it’s taken forever to reach publication with my own book. But we all live with the results of our choices. Those older writers chose to focus on their careers. That’s a […]

grumpy cat

Fad

Do you ever wonder why some things become fads? Seriously, some of the stupidest things become the biggest fads. The inexplicably rise to popularity, everyone imitates or joins in, they live a brief (some things longer than others), shining life, and then they disappear, only to resurface fifteen years later, sometimes as a recurring fad […]

St Patrick cross by dimitri c lg

Where is that Gentle Voice of Christ?

Guest Blogger: Ariel Benjamin When Paul said, “God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them” (2 Corinthians 5:19), he spoke words of love to the Corinthians, revealing that God’s action through Christ relieved them of condemnation. But Christian responses to other Christians are starting to sound more like […]

Grace

The Nature of Grace

My wife and I sold our home of fifteen years in October. The last seven months of house hunting has been interesting to say the least. We  found a beautiful home for a reasonable price in December and planned to close in March. As friends and family saw pictures of the home, we heard a […]

Bracing for the Year to Come

So, it’s my birthday. Another year has passed. And what do I have to show for it? I have a place in eternity, a loving husband, beautiful children, and a purpose. That’s all I really need, everything else is secondary. I am richly blessed–and is some cases richly stupid, but we won’t go there today. […]

seeking direction

Maybe God doesn’t care

I recently taught at my church out of Cheri Cowell’s excellent book Direction: Discernment for the Decisions of Your Life. One of the most eye-opening key lessons from this book is its debunking of the idea that if the way is clear, that must be God’s will. To sum up Cowell’s point up in my […]

Where to Start?

The longer you’re in the writing world, the more advice you will receive about the writing craft and the more arguments you will hear disputing the advice given about the writing craft. One of those areas of dispute is where to start your story. Some say begin in the action to hook the reader, and […]

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Author's Journey

Know Thyself

Know Thyself

I recently finished Heir of Novron, the final two books of the Ryria Revelations by Michael J. Sullivan. I can honestly say this is one of the best books I’ve read – particularly the final book. I won’t give any spoilers, but there’s only a few books that have tugged on my emotions at the […]

Creative Nook

Thankful for my Mother (and Glad I Don’t Have This One)

Thankful for my Mother (and Glad I Don’t Have This One)

Mother’s come in all shapes and sizes–each one in different in their strengths and weaknesses. I am very grateful for the wonderful mother the Lord blessed me with. He knew that I would need a woman who was a good listener (after all, I am a born storyteller), patient, and a good example of a […]

Critical Views

Judge Not

Judge Not

I recently saw a link to an article someone posted on Facebook about a study that was done to see if people ate less when calories were posted next to the menu items. There were menus with just the food item, the food item with the calories listed, and menus with the food item, the […]

Life and Such

The Small Stuff

The Small Stuff

“Oh, ….(insert appropriate curse word here)!” I nudge my husband as I stare in horror at the clock. “Honey, we slept through the alarm!” School started more than half an hour ago, and I’m still in bed. What’s worse, this week is testing, so they’ve already missed at least one segment of their standardized tests. […]

Our Faith

Love and the Fruit of the Spirit

Love and the Fruit of the Spirit

The first Fruit of the Spirit is love.  Love is a complex word–a characteristic, an emotion, a choice. So, what to write about? In my research on love, it made perfect sense to refer to one of my favorite chapters in the Bible: 1 Corinthians 13.  You can read familiar verses over and over again, […]

Random Things

Cliffhanger

Cliffhanger

My husband and I just watched the season finale of Castle. As is often the case any more, the season ended on a cliffhanger. Without giving away any spoilers, the last scene left us at a pivotal moment that will change the course of the show, but we the viewers must wait the entire summer […]