Most of us are ready to kiss 2020 goodbye. It’s been a marker of disease and death, upheaval and shock. Yet simply turning over the pages of a calendar doesn’t mean life magically rids itself of pain. No one but God knows what the next year holds which is why I’ve been so thoughtful about what word I’ll choose to meditate on during this upcoming year. After much prayer, I feel God leading me toward the word HOPE. Years ago, Steve Westbrook ingrained in my Read More
hope
My Word for 2019
“All of us want to be humble. None of want what it takes to get there.” I’m not sure who coined the phrase but I’ve learned it’s quite true. We long to have noble defining characteristics marking our spirit, but when we realize what we must endure to be shaped into that image, well, ‘walking the walk’ takes on a whole new meaning. 2018 has been the single hardest year of my entire life. My family and I have endured assaults on every front—multiple medical Read More
When the Holidays are Hard: The Story of Hope Behind “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day”
“How inexplicably sad are all holidays.” Henry Wadsworth Longfellow penned the melancholy words during a difficult time in not only his life, but in the entire nation’s. On July 10, 1861, mere months after the country had been launched into the turmoil of the Civil War, Henry’s wife Fanny was trimming her daughter’s curls and decided to preserve the clippings in sealing wax. While melting a bar of wax with a candle, a few drops fell unnoticed on her dress. A gust of wind blew Read More
The Civil War, Messy People and Jesus: Why I Write
With my debut book release with Tyndale scheduled for summer of 2018, this week I’ve begun the daunting task of writing another story. It’s set in one of my favorite time periods…the Civil War. This isn’t a new assignment for me. This will actually be the fourth Civil War story I’ve penned, uh, typed, but the research involved is always staggering. Always bloody and gruesome, yet filled with heroism, astounding tales of beauty and forgiveness…even humor. People like 11 year-old Grace Bedell who wrote Read More
The Seeing Blind
In this present darkness, most of us feel oppressed at every turn. We sense spiritual forces battling it out. Good versus evil. Angels versus demons. Light against shadows. We’ve been taught to be good soldiers for Christ. Take up our cross and fight. Fight for truth. Fight for our children. Fight, well, for everything. Speaking the truth is always the right thing to do. We must speak what God has declared to be true, omitting nothing. But one thing most of us forget is this: Read More
“Buzz Lightyear Did It”, “I Can’t Help the Way I Am” and Other Ways We Stay Stuck
I stared at the Hot Wheels car submerged at the bottom of our toilet and frowned. I arched my brow and turned to spear my wide-eyed three-year old son with “the look”. He stood in his under-roos, clutching his Buzz Lightyear doll in his chubby arms, blinking those big brown eyes up at me with the innocent look of a deer. “Nate, did you throw your Hot Wheel car in the potty?” He swallowed, his eyes darting side to side. When his gaze landed on Read More
The Redemption of Kip
“Runt.” “He’ll never live.” “He’s so scrawny.” I don’t know what I did wrong. I was born, I guess. While all my brothers and sisters were cute, wriggly little pups, I was the outcast. Never expected to do much. To be much. At the pet store, the chubby, groping fingers of girls and boys would rove over all of our heads, scratching our ears, picking us up and snuggling their cheeks next to ours. Such happy feelings filled me, I couldn’t help but lick their Read More
Books are Not My Babies…and Other “Idol” Chatter
Y’all, this writing gig is hard. I recently saw a pic that summed up the process perfectly. “You read a scene and think, ‘That was nice.’ Time it took you to read the scene? Five minutes. Time it took the author to write the scene? Five bazillion hours.” Okay, so maybe that’s an exaggeration but you get the idea. It’s hard work. More than I ever dreamed possible. And just when I think the sleepless nights, the outpouring of creativity, the frazzled nerves will pay Read More
The Little White Pill
Some days I loathe it. Other days I nearly weep with gratitude for it. Strange dichotomy. Every time I look at that little white pill in my palm, I am overcome with an odd mix of emotions. When I was diagnosed with depression in 2002, I was desperate for relief from the dark shroud that had blanketed my mind and heart. A shroud I had brought on myself as I lived year after year stuck in the vicious cycle of people-pleasing and perfectionism. I had exhausted Read More
The BIG question
Today I’m going to ask the BIG question…the question that plagues every single human the world over. What do you think happens when you die? Some confess they have no idea. Some might say, “Well, I’m basically a good person, so I guess I’ll go to heaven.” Let’s look at that for a moment. Let’s go through the Ten Commandments and see how good you are. (Exodus 20) Have you ever told a lie? If the answer is yes, that means you are a liar. Read More