We have finally moved into our new abode, and M. has been installed as the leader of the church here. Due to COVID, we were forced to delay our move for a couple of months, but we were able to start church by the end of June. We’ve been here for a month now with only a few boxes left to unpack. Or they may…
Category: Life Stories
To Plot a Novel
This past week was supposed to be our moving week. We had been waiting with excitement to begin our new phase of life pastoring a small church, but COVID-19 came and with it all of the lock-downs, causing our move to be delayed. Disappointing? Very much so, but thank God, He knows what we need and does not just give us what we want. God…
New Adventures, Big Changes
A couple of years ago, M. and I both felt God beginning to lead us in a new direction in our life. M. has been a programmer for years, but was feeling called to move into something else. As we started praying over this prompting, God led us to start writing the series of books that we had always talked of writing but had never…
16 Thoughts on 16 Years
Wow! It’s been a long time since we’ve written a blog post. Summer got busy with children going here and there between camps, church activities, and our family vacation. Somewhere in the midst of all of that chaos, we celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary. It’s been an amazing journey, but God’s faithfulness has overshadowed our own human weaknesses and sustained us through many trials and…
The Undervalued Encourager
The other day, I (B.) was in Walmart, and the elderly gentleman who was ringing up my groceries asked if he could make a personal observation. Confused, I nodded, and he proceeded to tell me that I had a lovely smile. He thanked me for sharing it with him. Now I always feel as though I am socially awkward and not outgoing enough, so that…
Divine Coincidences
God brings people across our path every day for His purposes and never by accident. I (B.) was reminded of this fact again when I “just happened” to sit by a lady from Libby, MT at the NCW renewal conference in Seattle, WA. There were at least 30 other people in the room, but she was the one who happened to be by me. Now…
Contentment
But godliness with contentment is great gain. ~ 1 Timothy 6:6 I (B.) was recently convicted (again!) with this verse. I think contentment is one of the hardest virtues to attain especially for Americans. Our entire marketing system is based on the sad reality that no one ever thinks they have enough. And authors are not immune from the pull of discontentment. We are bombarded…
Literacy: An Amazing Gift from God
The other day, we went to watch a movie. We don’t often watch movies anymore because we simply don’t have time and too often the values presented within are contrary to our own. However, this movie intrigued us, so we took our oldest three children and went. It was called Patterns of Evidence: The Moses Controversy. It began as an apologetic for Mosaic authorship of…
Where It All Began
The story of Jerro that we reference in our books is an actual book that I (B.) wrote before we even started writing Elvensty. It was to be the first of a series written for a junior high audience. Though we never released it, the story helped flesh out the concepts that eventually became backstory of The Swordflower Saga. In Elvensty, Palo gives an abbreviated…
The Goodness of God
Today I (B.) was reading in the Psalms and came across a verse that leaped off the page. “Announce every day how He delivers!” ~ Psalm 96:2b. This both convicted me and made my heart rejoice. The last few weeks have been hard with hospital visits, hacking attempts, allergic reactions, and the weight of responsibility when one’s spouse is ill. And yet God has delivered…