Eric Suddoth's Blog, page 22

My Annual Tax Season Album

I got home from work tonight and went for a walk. I needed to exercise a little after the nicest woman brought warm muffins to the office today. Delicious.

I started scrolling through my music and picked an older Jesus Culture album and started my walk. It’s weeks like these when I need to slow down and relax under the cloudy sky and let the music sink in.

But it hit me as I was walking, I don’t have an album for this tax season that has resonated with me. In the past I have played Audrey Assad’s Evergreen album over and over a few years ago. Another year it was Hillsong United’s album of praise and reflection Anchoring me to the truth. Another year Elevation Worship showed me there is a cloud to wait upon.

But this year. This year I don’t have an album.

I have a channel.

Last December Sirius did their free preview and promotional and suckered me in to a low rate. Really low so I ordered it for a year. I listened to my 90s music from my high school years. I found my Pop Rocks channel from my college days. I even found an instrumental channel that soothed me with current pop hits.

But this tax season it’s not music I am listening to most of the time. It’s a message.

I am a pretty upbeat guy. I try to see the positive in everything. Everything. Which annoys many people. But it keeps me happy and sane. But this tax season with COVID, PPP loan applications, tax law changes in March that affected tax returns prepared already, and training a few new employees…well, it’s been a little much. I usually try not to complain, but I was crashing hard in February.

I know everyone is experiencing moments like this, but it seemed so overwhelming. We are so behind. It is like we are not making any headway.

When I feel like this, I flip on my Sirius App on my computer in the morning and I listen to Joel Osteen for hours on end.

There is something about his optimism that gives me optimism. I listen to his words and the scripture he uses and I just nod in agreement. God is in control of all this. God is bigger than my problems. God is a God who blesses. Even when I don’t always get my way, God is still God.

When I listen to Joel I feel like a friend is right beside telling me “God is here, Eric. God is always with you. There is nothing impossible for God. You may feel like you’re drowning, but God is keeping you afloat.”

So, this year is a little different with everything. And different can be good.

May you find your sense of peace during this crazy time. It’s out there. It really is.

Peace

__ATA.cmd.push(function() { __ATA.initDynamicSlot({ id: 'atatags-26942-605fe0227f9ef', location: 120, formFactor: '001', label: { text: 'Advertisements', }, creative: { reportAd: { text: 'Report this ad', }, privacySettings: { text: 'Privacy', } } }); });

Stormy Season

I’m sitting in the middle of a tornado watch. It’s that time of year in Kentucky. The wind is howling, the storm clouds are rolling in and the rain is starting to come.

It seems like everything is taking shelter outside and indoors.

As I was working I heard the downpour. Then after a little time the rain stopped. The wind quieted down. The storm passed through. But I didn’t hear silence.

I heard birds chirping.

I thought, crazy birds. But then it hit me, what if they were rejoicing for making it through the storm? What if they were singing a song of praise thankful to be alive? Their nests were still intact. Their bodies were unharmed. They were as happy as can be as they were outside in the elements.

Yet, I was indoors perfectly safe taking my safety for granted.

I started to listen to the birds and was envious of their faith. If their nest fell apart they would be homeless until they could find a new place. Unlike me with a sturdy home made of bricks and cement.

I am so blessed. Yet sometimes the sparrows see more of their tiny blessings than I can the forest of blessings surrounding me from every angle.

When is the last time you praised God for His daily provision? Or His hourly protection? Or His breath given each second?

When was the last time you praised God for surviving a storm even though you had to go through the storm?

Or would you rather praise God for taking you away from the storm?

If you only praise God for keeping storms away from you, that is selfish. Because storms happen. Do you think you are better than your neighbor, friend, family or enemy?

Because you’re not.

Storms happen. But God also happens. So let God be God during the storms.

Someone pointed out to me that even if you don’t want to think of it, God is in control of the storms in life because He formed the storms in life. Yes, there are some storms we seek out that He allowed…but there are some storms He created.

I love the line in Nichole Nordeman’s song “To Say Thanks,”

And I could not pretend

To know the difference

Between the storms You send

And those I find

And I’m askin

Why, why, why, why?

I’m shakin’ a fist in the dark,

And I’m askin’

Why, why, why, why?

Why does it keep getting harder

To say thanks?

Nichole Nordeman

So when the storm rages, try to say thanks. When life is going down, try to say thanks. When stress is crippling, try to say thanks. When you feel you are at the end of your rope, try to say thanks.

If we shift our focus from woe is me to grateful for God…well, there can’t be any woe is me when looking at God. Can there?

If you’re still complaining as you look toward God, are you really looking toward Him? Or are you just thinking you are?

We deceive ourselves all the time with wanting to see the best images of ourselves. But sadly, those are just lies we tell ourselves.

Next time you see a storm ask yourself, “Am I grateful?” Then ask yourself, “God, am I really?”

If we take our focus off the storm and turn to God, will we really see the storm coming our way? Because we shouldn’t. We should only see the One who has it all under His control.

So, the next time you’re askin why?

Ask, Why not?

May the storms that come our way give God the chance to show us who He really is. And then maybe we will be chirping like the birds too.

Peace

If you enjoyed this blog post, check out my inspirational and encouraging book.

__ATA.cmd.push(function() { __ATA.initDynamicSlot({ id: 'atatags-26942-605dd16f2dbb4', location: 120, formFactor: '001', label: { text: 'Advertisements', }, creative: { reportAd: { text: 'Report this ad', }, privacySettings: { text: 'Privacy', } } }); });

Addicted…It’s Not What You Think

I have to be honest, I binge watch competition shows. But not just any competition shows, but anything where people create.

I can sit for hours and watch Top Chef or The Great British Baking Show. Do I like to cook? Not really. But something in those shows draw me in.

Another strange addiction is watching fashion competition shows. Do I like fashion? Nope. I don’t like sewing. I don’t look at magazines. I’m a blue jeans and t shirt guy. I really have no clue why these type of shows fascinates me…but they do.

But it’s not just cooking or fashion, I could watch someone paint or whittle a chair out of oak or even sculpt the David out of macaroni.

So why do these type of shows have me begging for me?

I think God instills in each one of us a yearning to create. God is a creating God. He created everything we see and He did it flawlessly and perfectly.

I can watch a baking show and look in awe at their delicious dish, but God created the ingredients. He created the fields of wavy grain, the trees of coconut balls, the vines of juicy grapes. He created the things we get to use to create something we envision and dream up.

I wonder how God feels when He sees His creation create things using His other creations?

I hope He smiles.

We are to be imitators of God. What better way to imitate a creative God but finding ways to create.

I think that is why I love these creative competition shows because the contestants take a bag of flour, or a yard of green fabric or a plank of wood and see beyond the ordinary,

I wonder if that is what God sees in us?

So often we feel like a useless bag of flour that taste nasty by itself. Or we feel ugly in our current state of dingy rags. Or we feel like life has passed us by and we are left with just being something no one wanted.

But God sees so much more.

He sees a masterpiece waiting to be cut out. He sees a breathtaking piece ready to be chiseled. He sees the best in us when we can’t see anything good at all.

What are you creating in life? Are you using your pieces God has given you to sulk or mourn? Or are you using them to stitch them together to form a quilt that can be seen and used by another?

What if your purpose it to inspire someone else to find their purpose? What if we are a group of unknown creators standing on the edge of creation bliss? But what if you don’t look over the edge. What if your fear passed down from your parents is the same fear you will pass down to your children?

It’s time to stop the cycle of not being good enough. It’s time to break the bondage of staying in the mold. It’s time to embrace the power of a creative God that is begging you to create with Him.

So what is He calling you to create?

Creations are not all tangible items. Maybe He’s begging you to create an encouraging space to lift up others. Maybe He’s calling you to take a step of faith and serve in some capacity. Maybe He’s screaming for you to love yourself the way He loves you.

But it starts with creating that idea that you are more than you think you are.

I wish we could see what God sees when He looks at us. I wish we could see the proud joy, the unmistakeable beauty, the heavenly perfection, the limitless potential, and the unbelievable dreams ahead.

But sadly, we don’t see any of that through the eyes God created. We just see a sad reflection of someone we used to like.

But it’s time to change all that!

God loves you! He really does!

I wish you could take a moment and try to pretend what God was thinking and looking like as He thought of you for the first time. As He pinched your dimples in, as He brushed your hair out of your eyes, as He traced His finger along your lips.

You are not an accident formed by strands of DNA.

You were fearfully and wonderfully made by a creator who loves you.

So, love yourself. He already does and He doesn’t make any mistakes.

And then maybe you can dream a little more of what God is calling you to create. I bet it is amazing!

Peace

__ATA.cmd.push(function() { __ATA.initDynamicSlot({ id: 'atatags-26942-605ad1607781e', location: 120, formFactor: '001', label: { text: 'Advertisements', }, creative: { reportAd: { text: 'Report this ad', }, privacySettings: { text: 'Privacy', } } }); });

Passport…It’s Been 10 Years

I’m planning a trip to Amsterdam and Germany for August and I realized my passport expires in June. I started filing out the paperwork and then the time came for the blasted photo.

I’m not photogenic. I’m just not. But looking at my photo from ten years ago I started seeing my youth fade away.

Do I really look like that now?

It’s funny really. I remember going to Walgreens and getting my passport photo ten years ago. Excited about getting the little blue book to go on a cruise. I booked the cruise and had a blast. I even stopped at a gift shop and had my passport stamped in Honduras to at least say it was stamped. So this was the first time out of the country and first time on a cruise.

Then a year later I decided to celebrate by 30th birthday and go to Italy. I couldn’t find anyone to go with me so I made the journey with two suitcase, a backpack, iPod full of music and God.

I was nervous flying over because a few months before my lung has spontaneously collapsed for no reason and I was nervous about the cabin pressure and altitude. But I had no issues. Flew into Madrid and got my passport stamped for the first time officially.

I experienced my first layover in a foreign country surrounded by strangers speaking a language I took in high school. I was on cloud nine…but still nervous. Then the time came to fly to Venice.

I landed into another country, followed the crowd and before I knew it I was out of the airport. I was a little panicked because I didn’t go through customs in Italy. I thought I somehow snuck through the airport without going through the proper channel. I was freaking out. I kept walking back and first into the airport to find where I was supposed to go. (I later found out that I didn’t break any rules. I went through customs in Spain. Who knew?)

When I travel I’m always nervous until I reach my hotel. In Venice there are no cars. Only boats. So I found my water bus and headed to the island of Lido. I was mesmerized with the fact that less than twelve house before I was in Chicago waiting to get onto my flight. And now I was looking at the beauty of Venice that I had been researching for years through the pages of any travel book I could check out from my local library.

I roamed the mazed paths, getting lost at about every turn, but it was okay. That is the fun of traveling. It’s not the destination…it’s the path getting there.

I eventually left Venice and hopped through Italy on random trains until my final stop of Italy.

So my second experience with my passport included water taxis and the European train system.

I will never forget that trip to Italy. Roaming through old cathedrals, marveling at the statues of Christ, trying to grasp the emotions of Mary and his followers. It was in Italy where I fell in reverent awe of Jesus’ followers and their struggle in watching Jesus die on a criminals cross.

I sat baffled on many wooden pews and took in the silence of the little churches scattered through Venice. I felt like I was breaking into many secret buildings in Rome as I walked through the dark, candle lit, stained glass walls alone. I prayed a lot. I would open up my iPad and read a random scripture passage and sit and commune with God. Then I would leave that little church and walk down a few streets until another door beckoned me to walk through it.

I’m odd. Most young people would go to clubs or other places to meet other people…I wandered through empty cathedrals.

I went on a few more cruises and had the privilege of spending a week and a half driving around eastern Canada with my parents. This was the first time I got to drive through customs and get my passport stamped from the people with the maple leaf flag.

I had a good trip traveling beyond Niagara Falls and experiencing Ontario. Traveling further up and entering the French speaking province of Quebec. I still laugh at the time we went to Pizza Hut and my mom asked for marinara and they couldn’t understand her so they brought her ketchup for her breadsticks. I still think they understood because I overheard the waitress speaking good English. They probably thought, “Silly Americans.”

But it was interesting driving a vehicle and watching the signs change from English to French. We journeyed upward and stayed on Prince Edward Island and drove the entire length of the island finding random lighthouses or their famous pink rock beaches.

Most people don’t have the luxury of traveling with their parents, or the want to, but I would take them anywhere they would want to go.

So with this stamp of the passport I got to experience driving in a foreign country and watching my dad try to order supper in Quebec.

I am one blessed guy. Blessed with good family. Blessed with good memories. Blessed beyond measure.

Then my travels continued. I got to get my passport stamped multiple times when I went with my sister and niece to Europe. We got our passport stamped in England, France and Ireland. The first time I got multiple stamps on one trip.

My sister only had one week off from work so she didn’t get to experience Ireland very long. This was the first time I got to rent a car in a foreign country. And not only rent, but drive on the opposite side of the road. So my niece and I dropped off my sister at the Dublin airport and we took off for a week long adventure around the entire island. This was the first time I got to travel one on one with someone else besides my sister. I have many good memories with my niece on that trip.

This was also the first time I got a flat tire in Ireland when I hit the curb on the tiny, narrow roads. Luckily my niece was there to find the secret piece that allowed me to change the tire. Another first time with my passport.

A year later I returned to Ireland with only my mom. This was the first trip I had with just her. This was also the first return trip with my passport. We had many good times on that trip. Getting lost a time or two. Going to bed hungry a time or two when we discovered these little villages shut down before 6 pm. Learning to buy snacks at the convenience store so I wouldn’t be hungry all the time. Another good trip with my passport.

A few months later I returned to Italy with my mom and my sister. The first trip the three of us took together. Another good memory with my passport of eating pizza in each city, getting caught in a hailstorm in Rome, watching my sister fall asleep in an opera, and sharing the good memories I had years ago with my beloved family.

I’ve had a great 10 years of travels. I still have many more memories, but these were the firsts with my passport.

So, hopefully I will have another first this August when I will travel for the first time overseas with my other sister and niece. This will be the first time five of us will be going somewhere. Hopefully we will have many good memories with my fresh new passport book.

Here is to the next 10 years.

May God bless us with good memories…but a passport isn’t really required for that. It’s not the destination that matters, it’s the journey and the people around you.

So journey on.

Peace

__ATA.cmd.push(function() { __ATA.initDynamicSlot({ id: 'atatags-26942-6059800b06612', location: 120, formFactor: '001', label: { text: 'Advertisements', }, creative: { reportAd: { text: 'Report this ad', }, privacySettings: { text: 'Privacy', } } }); });

Walking Away

Have you ever lost your faith in someone or something?

Losing your faith in someone is devastating. To have hope in someones abilities, future, and ambition only to watch it slip away or crumble is heartbreaking.

Some have hope in politicians. Others follow celebrities or athletes for guidance. And others look to scholars and intellectuals to point them in the right direction.

But sadly people will always let other people down. If you look to someone else for direction you will always be led astray eventually. If you follow a mere human whole heartedly you will eventually lose your faith in humanity because ultimately they will let you down.

If you’ve never experienced a loss of faith in someone, consider yourself blessed.

I was listening to an album today of an artist who has encouraged me for years through their music, and it hit me, I’m listening to their album when they were a follower of Christ. If I get their next album, I can’t say those same words because they have walked away.

That thought saddened me.

It saddens me to think that their life was so broken that a healing God seemed imaginary. It hurts me to think that the concept of walking away from ones faith isn’t obscure, but it happens all the time.

That people go to bed believing and wake up with disbelief.

What causes this chasmic shift? Is it a slow erosion like the mighty Colorado or is a magnum quake like on the San Andreas fault? Or is it both?

They say Rome wasn’t built in a day, but civilizations have fallen in a day.

Your faith is your your home. Are you building walls or moats around it to keep your defenses up? Are you protecting it with guards and soldiers who are keeping eyes inside and out? Are you reenforcing the bricks with new insights?

Or are you an easy target to be slaughtered? Because it can take years to grow your faith, but it can take a pair of ruthless pruning shears to cut it all down to nothing.

If you’re not protecting yourself don’t be surprised if you wake up one day ready to walk away.

And that thought scares me for people.

I often tell people, “Don’t say that it can’t happen to you, because it can.” I think that is one of the biggest and best lies we tell ourselves. It’s as if we are saying we are immuned from the decay that other people experience. But we are not.

I am not invincible…but I know who is.

I am not unshakeable…but I know who is.

I am not unbreakable…but I know who is.

If we only use God when we “need” Him, we will never “need” Him because we will always think we can do it without Him. It’s a pride we humans have to think independence proves strength.

But I’m proud in saying I don’t have it all figured out. I’m boastful in saying that I need help. I’m unwavering in saying there are some days I’m clinging to my last thread.

But when God is that last thread, I’m not holding it….It’s holding me.

When you take your eyes off of the Light for a lesser light, you’ll start to go blind to your surroundings and eventually you’ll be left sitting in the dark wondering when the light disappeared.

Don’t let it disappear.

Stay focus on the Light.

Stay in tune with the One who will hum an unending melody.

Stay in tact with the One who holds everything together.

And if you start to lose faith…message me. No one needs to journey that road alone. We weren’t meant to go it alone.

May we encourage one other daily. May our faith grow stronger in the True One. May our bonds grow firmer with one another to help one another in the coming days.

Peace

__ATA.cmd.push(function() { __ATA.initDynamicSlot({ id: 'atatags-26942-605420ae531e0', location: 120, formFactor: '001', label: { text: 'Advertisements', }, creative: { reportAd: { text: 'Report this ad', }, privacySettings: { text: 'Privacy', } } }); });

Have You Ever Wondered?

Give me a moment of aloneness whether walking, driving or working and my mind will wander. It wanders into areas that seem far-fetched and impossible. It gallops freely in fields of could be’s and what if’s. It moseys along in a maze of shrubbery enjoying getting lost in the wonder.

Tonight while driving home a thought hit me.

What was God doing before He created the world?

Have you ever thought that?

Was He sitting in the dark imagining and dreaming up the endless possibilities? I cannot imagine God sitting in the dark, but was He? Or was He sitting in His light concocting the notion of a universe that expands constantly faster than anyone can ever know?

Was He sitting around a table with Jesus and the Holy Spirit having coffee like Seinfeld and his band of characters talking about nothing spectacular?

How long had He been contemplating making the earth before He started the creation? Of better yet, how long had He been thinking of me and numbering my hairs and laugh lines before putting on the finishing touches?

If God has always been around (and I use the word “if” loosely because I believe what the Bible says) at what moment did the thought of me enter His brain?

Had He been thinking of me for almost an eternity or did something cause Him to start thinking of me? To be a fly on the wall when God had an epiphany.

Have you ever thought these thoughts?

Have you ever sat in silence for a moment and considered that time that we know is nothing compared to the time God knows. If God has always been and will always be, what if time doesn’t mean anything to Him? What if he can pop in and out of time like a science fiction film. One minute be listening to my current rambling of time and next be 4000 years ago and in another minute be at the moon landing in the 1960s.

What if God knows everything because He goes to 5 years from now and then jumps back to our present? I may be sounding like a comic book…but what if?

What if everything we know of God is but the surface. What if He has an entire book and we are just in the first paragraph of fully understanding His glory. What if the most unbelievable thoughts and notions we can conceive are mere child’s play compared to the thoughts and notions of God?

So happy thinking.

May we never lose the wonder as we wander into the wonder of God.

Peace

__ATA.cmd.push(function() { __ATA.initDynamicSlot({ id: 'atatags-26942-6051603698a66', location: 120, formFactor: '001', label: { text: 'Advertisements', }, creative: { reportAd: { text: 'Report this ad', }, privacySettings: { text: 'Privacy', } } }); });

Faithful…But How Faithful?

I’m sitting in a Popeye’s drive thru waiting for my late night supper and a song came on the radio by I Am They, Faithful God.

Suddenly my mind went back to a conversation earlier today where a friend was constantly saying, “But God is good,” as if reminding himself of that fact.

We say “God is Good,” but do we mean it?

When your world falls apart do we say “God is good,” because we are hoping He will be good again someday?

When the rug is pulled from underneath and you are laying on the floor crying out, “God is good,” is it because you are hoping He will turn around your bad fortune?

Why is God’s goodness dependent on our current situation? It’s like we say, “God is going to get me out of this mess because He is good.”

But even if you stay in that mess…God is still good.

If your faith is relying on good, sunny days, then you’re going to lose your faith on the bad, raining months.

I’m someone who is always looking for the silver linings. That every storm cloud has a rainbow somewhere. That every hurricane has a peaceful eye where clarity could be found. That the flood waters will float away.

But what if it doesn’t? Is God still good?

I heard someone say this and it is so true, “If you can find a scenario or situation when God isn’t God in it, then he’s not God of any of your life. If you can find that situation if something bad happened and you lost your faith, your faith is already lost. Your faith isn’t surviving.”

Can you say “God is good” if your worst fear happened?

If you can’t, you have to be honest with Him and let Him know.

If you can, you may need to reevaluate and ask yourself again because that is a heavy laden question.

I hope you can say “Yes, God is still good in my darkest moments.” But words are easier said than done.

I hope you never experience that earth rattling moment.

But if you do, I hope you remember that God is faithful. Even if you don’t see Him. He is faithful. Even if you don’t want to believe it, He is faithful. Even if you hate Him at the moment, He is still faithful.

God is more faithful than anything or anyone. His faithfulness does not align with our happiness or security. It doesn’t parallel our financial success or rewards. It doesn’t have a trajectory of good hopes and futures.

God’s faithfulness doesn’t need a definition to determine His goodness.

He is His own definition of goodness and faithfulness. He is His own standard of just and holiness. He is His own measure for sanctity and grace.

If you ever wonder if God is faithful, look at the sun. It rises and sets everyday. He created a rock to be constant down to the minutes.

Don’t you think the creator of that Rock has to be more faithful than the thing He created?

He sure does.

It may be hard, but He will be faithful to you during those hard days. Hard days when you are weak and weary. Long nights when you are ailing and alone. Dry seasons when you are in agony and anguish.

He may not take away the pain, but He will be beside you through it.

May you find peace in the arms of a God who is always faithful and always good.

Peace

If you have enjoyed this blog, check out one of my books.

__ATA.cmd.push(function() { __ATA.initDynamicSlot({ id: 'atatags-26942-6050272b76b23', location: 120, formFactor: '001', label: { text: 'Advertisements', }, creative: { reportAd: { text: 'Report this ad', }, privacySettings: { text: 'Privacy', } } }); });

New Mercies

I love the third chapter of Lamentations. It is one of my favorites. I think Lamentations is often just like life. It’s hard. It’s rough. Sometimes it’s crummy. Sometimes you wonder what is going on.

Then chapter 3 happens.

I can see the crying Jeremiah lamenting in chapter 1 and 2 just like anyone of us in our darkest hours, days, weeks or years. I can see him crying out to God like we do when life doesn’t work out as planned. When stress is rising up to our necks. When the doctors report comes back with a bleak hope. When the promotions are unseen. When the relationship ends with shouts or bitter silence.

Life is like Chapter 1 & 2.

But then Chapter 3 occurs. And it is still flavored in disgust. But somehow it changes. It changes from hopeless to hopeful. Not because the circumstances changed, but the perspective changed.

But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.”
‭‭

Lamentations‬ ‭3:21-26‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Jeremiah’s situation didn’t change, but he changed his focus. He called to mind. He took the focus off of the problems and focused on the problem solver.

I cannot read these verses without smiling a little more. I love the idea of tomorrow being a better day. A new day. A new hope. New mercies. I love that idea.

Some of my favorite singers have reminded me of His new mercies. Steven Curtis Chapman, Audrey Assad, Sara Groves, Chris Tomlin.

And Your mercies are new every morning
So let me wake with the dawn
When the music is through or so it seems to be
Then let me sing a new song, old things gone
Every day it’s true, You make all Your mercies new

Nichole Nordeman – Mercies New

Last week a new song hit me as I was driving to work. And then I heard it again. And then again. And I love the bridge on the song.

I kept thinking You were angry
But You were fighting just to hold me
And pick me up every time I fell

If Your love is here to lift me

And Your blood says You forgive me

Show me how I can forgive myself

Cause Your mercies are new today

Your mercies are new again and again

Micah Taylor – New Today

How often do we think God is upset at us? Often. Because we often mess up. But He loves us…even when we sometimes don’t love ourselves. He is fighting to hold you!

When I hear this new song it hits me that what happened yesterday is a forgotten memory. Today is new. A fresh start. A restart. A blank slate. A new chance.

So, if you are struggling, sleep well tonight.

Wake refreshed tomorrow.

And inhale His mercies.

Because it’s a new day.

I hope you feel His love because He really does love you. He really does.

Peace

__ATA.cmd.push(function() { __ATA.initDynamicSlot({ id: 'atatags-26942-604da2c9d64fd', location: 120, formFactor: '001', label: { text: 'Advertisements', }, creative: { reportAd: { text: 'Report this ad', }, privacySettings: { text: 'Privacy', } } }); });

A Text From a Friend & Reader

I’m always uneasy when I release a book. This book has caused a little more uneasiness because of the topic. Biblical peoples thoughts and actions after the crucifixion. If you read the Holy Bible, these days are missing. Why?

One person during the test reading said they wouldn’t have finished the book if I didn’t ask them to read it because they didn’t like how I portrayed one person.

Another person had a different opinion on how I portrayed Mary, the mother of Christ.

Another person said it was slower than my other books.

Another person said this was the best book I had written.

A few other people praised the emotions conveyed in the storytelling.

I say this because that is the purpose of this book. I don’t know how Mary Magdalene truly reacted, or the Beloved John, or the oldest Peter, or the Doubting Thomas, or Jude, the brother of Jesus. And I think that is the beauty of this book. To have a discussion with people on how the followers and haters of Jesus felt during these days.

I’m not saying my book is totally factual. But many elements in the book are based upon scripture.

But that is how faith is.

I can believe wholehearted in something and not fully understand it. I don’t have to understand every aspect to believe it. If I understood everything, where would the notion of faith be? Faith is believing in something unseen.

I hope this book causes a stirring. I hope it causes questions to rise. I hope you seek out answers and thoughts of your faith in Christ.

If you were one of his followers, how would you have reacted? I think that is the purpose of this book. It’s easy for us to say what we would do…but how do we really know?

Would we have hid? Would we have run off? Would we have went back to work like nothing had happened? Would we have grieved? Would we have mocked? Would we have lost hope?

Those are the questions to ask yourself. What would you have done?

I received an encouraging text today from a dear friend who ordered my book.

Read most of your book last night. I have no idea how you do this! Such detail such emotion It break’s ones heart.

This reader got the purpose of this book.

This book was full of grief and mourning. After some chapters I would have to stop and collect myself because I was sobbing as I was writing. The book flowed as I wrote it, but it was emotionally tiresome. I would put myself in each characters position and sometimes my insides would hurt because I truly felt their pain, fear, remorse, anger and doubt.

If you don’t get the book, I hope during this Easter season you find other resources to learn a little of the heaviness of these dark days.

But even though the book is full of heaviness, it ends with a good note. He didn’t stay in that dark, lonely tomb.

Peace

__ATA.cmd.push(function() { __ATA.initDynamicSlot({ id: 'atatags-26942-604c3a3998591', location: 120, formFactor: '001', label: { text: 'Advertisements', }, creative: { reportAd: { text: 'Report this ad', }, privacySettings: { text: 'Privacy', } } }); });

Take a Step – Full Release Day…and a Free Book

The day is finally here. The day all the preorders of The Untold Story of the Darkest Days will be downloaded. The day when paperbacks will be mailed. The day to receive a free book.

Yes. In honor of my latest book being released you can download Dream Chasers through Kindle/Amazon.

I am astonished that just a few years ago I was writing these books in hopes of having people read them. Now…I have six books available. A lot can change over time, but it took that first scary step of releasing the first book to the world which gave me the confidence to keep going.

It is always nerve wrecking when I release a book. Thoughts of “It’s not good enough,” or “Your last book was better,” or “No one is going to care to read it.”

But at the end of the day if the book flops, it will be okay. I’ve written other things that I haven’t released because I don’t feel that it is good enough to release. So if no one enjoys the books, I enjoyed the process of writing them.

And if I enjoyed creating it, at the end of the day, that is really what matters.

So, this rambling post isn’t just to boost sales or pat myself on my back. Far from it. I’m here to say that I am nothing special. I am just a guy who took a chance three years ago. But I am also the same guy who was too afraid of taking a chance five years ago.

But now that I have I don’t see myself stopping anytime soon.

So, if you have a dream.

A plan.

A goal.

A scheme.

A hope.

Today is a good day to believe in yourself a little more than you did yesterday.

God’s mercies are new each morning. Great is His faithfulness.

God has never failed yet. So, why not take a little step of faith and wait in expectations. But don’t confuse financial means, popularity, notoriety, and facebook Likes as success. Success is following Him. It may be a long, hard, lonely road, but if you’re following Him you aren’t really alone.

Peace

For a FREE copy of Dream Chasers download on Friday March 12 and Saturday March 13.

__ATA.cmd.push(function() { __ATA.initDynamicSlot({ id: 'atatags-26942-604b72495dc9d', location: 120, formFactor: '001', label: { text: 'Advertisements', }, creative: { reportAd: { text: 'Report this ad', }, privacySettings: { text: 'Privacy', } } }); });