Meet Eddie Jones and His Dead Man's Hand

Today, I want to welcome Eddie Jones. He is great story teller and a great guy. Eddie's new book, Dead Man's Hand, hits the bookshelves and cyber-shelves today.

Eddie Jones is the author of eleven books and over 100 articles. He also serves as Acquisition Editor for Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas. He is a three-time winner of the Delaware Christian Writers' Conference, and his YA novel, The Curse of Captain LaFoote, won the 2012 Moonbeam Children's Book Award and 2011 Selah Award in Young Adult Fiction. He is also a writing instructor and cofounder of Christian Devotions Ministries. His He Said, She Said devotional column appears on ChristianDevotions.US. His humorous romantic suspense, Bahama Breeze remains a "blessed seller." When he's not writing or teaching at writers' conferences, Eddie can be found surfing in Costa Rica or some other tropical locale.

Tell us about your upcoming release, Dead Man's Hand, with Zondervan.

First, it’s a fun, fast read aimed for middle school boys, but we’re also getting nice reviews on Goodreads from teachers and mothers. But my aim is to give boys a book they can enjoy, one that taps into today’s fascination with the occult. This is the first book in the Caden Chronicles series and each story involves one element of the supernatural. Book one explores the concept of ghosts, spirits and what happens to our souls when we die.

Zonderkidz is a Christian publisher, so the paranormal aspect is surprising.

I added the paranormal aspect because I want parents and youth to struggle with eternal questions. We’ve created such a culture of blood-letting through books and movies involving vampires, zombies and survival contests, that the reality of death doesn’t carry the sting it once did. In high school my youngest son lost several friends to driving accidents. When another friend recently died, we asked how he felt and he replied, “I’m numb to it.” I fear that’s what we’re doing with our youth: desensitizing them to the horrors of death. In Dead Man’s Hand, Nick and his family discuss spirits and ghosts and the afterlife because I think it’s important for teens to wrestle with these questions before they’re tossed from a car and found dead on a slab of wet pavement.

You've spent the last few years dedicating yourself to helping others get published. Tell us a little about your publishing company and what motivated you to take on such a huge endeavor.

We started the publishing arm to publish devotional compilations for Christian Devotions Ministries. We wanted to give some of our devotional writers their own byline in print. Part of our mission is to launch new careers for first time authors. We wanted to create a publishing house for writers who were happy selling from 2,000, to 5,000 copies of their devotional book. There is a big jump from unpublished author to “three-book contract” author and we wanted to serve as a stepping-stone for those writers.

My problem is I hate telling people no, especially when they have a solid project. When it comes time to reject a manuscript, it pains me because I’ve been and continue to be on the other end of rejection. I will delay saying no as long as I can in order to rework the e-mail. I try to give authors good advice for how they can improve their writing. The problem is, if I’m too nice, then they keep coming back and asking to resubmit the same project. My advice to those authors is, improve your writing and send me something new.

We currently have forty authors under contract, have published over thirty books and distribute around four thousand dollars a month in royalty checks. We pay our authors monthly, not quarterly, because we want them to feel like writing is a real job. In fact, I teach a class on how, if an author will write five books a year, they can make over twenty-five thousand dollars. And these aren’t large books. Most are under thirty thousand words. The goal is to have five books that sell 125 copies, (print and ebook combined). a month.

I get jazzed when one of our books launches or sells well. I know what it feels like to see your book growing legs and garnering positive reviews so I get excited for our authors. Sometimes I think that’s how God feels when we’re doing the thing He’s called us to do. When we’re in our zone, doing the thing we love, we feel His joy. That’s what is great about working for God: sometimes you get paid for playing. J 

But the only reason I’m able to publish books and write full time is because four years ago I told God I’d work for Him full time. I figure if I was working for God I’d never be out of work. I may not make a lot of money, but he says there’s plenty of work and not enough labors so to me, that meant job security. I took a blank sheet of paper and signed it one day during my devotions and said, ‘Okay, God, I’ll do whatever it is you ask me to do, because I’m tired of working for other people. I want to work for You.’ Making up stories for boys, writing devotions, creating humorous romantic novels for adults, I get to do all this plus make dreams come true for other authors all because I agreed to work for God full time. 

You're passionate about getting boys interested in books. Why do you feel it's so important to get boys reading fiction at an early age?

I fear we’re on the verge of losing the male reader. I don’t mean men and boys won’t learn to read: they will. But the percentage of males who read for leisure continues to shrink and this could be devastating for our country. We can’t lose half our population and expect America to compete on a global level. Reading forces the mind to create. With video the scene and characters are received passively by the brain. There is very little interaction; it’s all virtual stimulation, which is different from creation. When you read, you add your furniture to the scene, dress the characters, add elements not mentioned by the author. This is why readers so often complain, “the movie was nothing like the book.” It’s not, because the book is your book. The author crafted the outline of the set but each reader brings their emotions and expectations to that book, changing it forever.

In general, boys would rather get their information and entertainment visually. This is one reason books have such a tough time competing for male readers. It can take weeks to read a book, even one as short as Dead Man’s Hand. Meantime, that same story can be shown as a movie in under two hours. So in one sense the allure of visual gratification is robbing future generations of our ability to solve problems. I believe Americans only possess one true gift, creativity, and it’s a gift from God. Other nations build things cheaper and with fewer flaws. They work longer hours for less pay. But the thing that has always set America apart is our Yankee ingenuity. We have always been able to solve our way out of problems. That comes directly from our ability to create solutions to problems we didn't anticipate. If we lose male readers and fail to develop the creative connections necessary for the brain to conceive of alternatives, then we will lose our position as the world’s leader. 

What advice would you offer parents to get their children interested in reading at a young age?

Watch for clues. If your child shows any interest in reading, reward the activity with trips to book fairs. I remember in grade school how excited I got when we were allowed to order books. All we had to do was check a box, (or so I thought), and wham! A few weeks later boxes of books showed up and the teacher began dealing them to the students. I didn't learn until later my parents had mailed the school money for those books. I still have most of them.

But not all children like reading and you can create an anti-reading environment if you push too hard. An alternative for boys are comic books, graphic novels, or simply cartoon books. I read a lot of Charlie Brown cartoon books and still remember the plot: Lucy has the football. Charlie wants to kick the ball. Lucy promises she will hold the ball in place but at the last moment… We know this story because it’s repeated, not in a novel, but in a cartoon.

Okay, we're going to be really nosey now, you've been married a long time. Tell us a little about your family, how you and your wife met and your family.

I met my wife at a stoplight in West Palm Beach, Florida. She was in the backseat of the car behind us. The driver honked and I crawled out the passenger window, a brown Pinto. The door didn't work so it looked like I was a NASCAR driver getting out on pit road. The car behind us was full of girls from Meredith College. They asked where I went to college and I told them I went to Meredith, too. "It's a girl's school, you dork," one of them said. I told them I was taking Old Testament that semester, can’t remember the professor’s name, now, and one of the girls yelled, "Hey! You're in my class!” I explained we’d been surfing all day and didn't have a place to stay and needed to hose off and asked if we could borrow their showers. They led us back to their hotel, my buddy and I washed off and left. Driving home a week later we came upon the same car in the slow lane of I-95. The girls were afraid we’d fall asleep driving home, my buddy couldn't drive at night, so they agreed to put one girl in the car to keep us company. She’d get in, tell her life story and at the end of the hour, another would get in the car. Our last passenger was this cute girl wearing a funny Gilligan hat. She never said a word, not for the whole hour. We put her out, the girls drove off and I finally got home, exhausted. The next week I invited that shy girl to a Warren Zevon concert. Four years later, I married her.

You've freelanced writing newspaper columns for the last few decades on boating. Do you have an interesting boating story you can share?

All my boating stories are interesting. I collected the columns into two books, Hard Aground and Hard Aground… Again. The column began in the late eighties when an editor read a couple of essays I'd written about trying to sail a boat with my wife. He seemed genuinely amused someone of my limited boating experience would think a woman of my wife's refined nature would enjoy peeing in a bucket in the cockpit of small sailboat. He informed me that I had correctly spelled the minimum number of words to meet his editorial standards and since someone on the staff had mistakenly sold one ad too many for the next issue, the publication was in need of some copy to balance out that page. I didn't know this at the time. I thought he was genuinely impressed with my writing abilities. I've been told I still suffer from this delusion."

The editor told me the column needed a catchy name. I purchased a few sailing publications and knew all boating columnist were subject matter experts. The only thing I was an expert on was running off the boat ramp, running aground on clearly marked shoals and running into the dock. I decided I would become an expert on making the best of tough times. When you run aground in a boat—in life—you have two choices. You can cuss and complain or you can grab a good book, kick back and wait for the tide to float you off. It's all a matter of perspective and pennies and I'm cheap so I usually wait for the tide.

Tell us about your ministry, Christian Devotions. How it got started, what you all are up to these days and what your plans are for the future.

Cindy Sproles and I started the ministry years ago to help authors publish their devotions. We’d go to writers’ conferences and on the last day find all these writers in tears because no one wanted their work. I had a web business and knew how to build web sites so I put up a home page and invited contributing writers. We figured we could at least give new writers a byline, even if it was only on the web. Cindy had been writing devotions every day for two years, partly because of something Alton Gansky said at a Blue Ridge Conference and partly as a commitment to God. The odd thing was, Cindy and I didn’t know each other at that first conference but we both wrote down Al’s words. It was like God spoke to each of us separately to work together. Weeks after that conference I was under my willow tree doing my devotion when I heard God whisper: ChristianDevotions.com. I meant to register the domain but by the time I got to my upstairs office, I forgot. A few weeks later God spoke again. Once more, I forgot. A few more weeks passed and this time I wrote it down in my journal and marched upstairs only to find that ChristianDevotions.com was taken. I registered ChristianDevotions.US, instead. The dot com domain is worth over ten thousand dollars, now. Procrastination has a price.

For months Cindy and I were the only writers on the site, then slowly God grew the readership. Now we have thousands of readers, a ton of subscribers who get the devotions daily in their email and Kindle subscribers who receive the daily devotion on their Kindle eReader (99 cents a month). We have a teen’s ministry, iBeGat.com, kid’s web site, DevoKids.com and last year we purchased InspireAFire.com. That’s our mission-oriented web site. We have a radio ministry, prayer team, finances ministry and of course the book publishing. We didn’t set out with a marketing plan to do what we’re doing. We simply responded to a need in the marketplace, walked the mountain with God and asked how we could help. Find a need and fill it.

What's one thing you wish I wouldn't ask you and pretend I asked you that question?

How I became a writer. I started my sophomore year of high school when I told my English teacher I wanted to write for Cat Talk, Millbrook High School’s newspaper. Mrs. Hough said, “Eddie, you can't spell and you’re a terrible grammarian.” But I wrote a couple of articles, and she seemed to like the way I could put words together, so I won a spot on staff. My senior year Mrs. Pollard begged me not to major in English. In fact, she was shocked I would even consider going to college because I’d never be accepted. She was right. NC State rejected my application. A few days later I made an appointment with the admissions office. The day of my interview I wore a pair of red and white checkered polyester pants my mom made me, white shirt and a red tie. State admitted me into Industrial Arts, which I thought would be pretty cool since I though Industrial Arts meant I’d get to paint buildings. I flunked English 101 twice before passing with a D. I graduated from N.C. State four years later with a degree in English/Journalism and four years of writing experience for the Technician. I’m still a lousy proof-editor but I learned long ago storytelling trumps grammar.

You're writing for children right now with Zondervan. Besides the upcoming Cadence Chronicles Series, what are your dreams for your writing future?

Each day I walk around my yard reciting the Lord’s Prayer. This is my conversational time with God. Part of that prayer time is me putting on the armor of God. When I’m about halfway fitted out I say, “Lord place across my chest your breastplate of righteousness that my thoughts may be pure, honorable and good and my dreams secure: my dreams of sailing around the Caribbean, writing a best selling novel and surfing reef breaks.” Beyond that I don’t have any grand writing goals.

Do you have any advice for aspiring authors?

Write devotions, don’t focus on the praise, book sales and reviews. Forget about trying to find an agent and editor. Once you’re successful, they’ll find you. Explore the wounds in your life and minister to others through your writing. If God allowed you to be hurt, you can speak to that with authority. The rest of us cannot. Ask yourself where your passions lie. I love surfing. If I could do anything, be anywhere, I’d be in a hut on a beach surfing a point break alone. I love playing and hate work. This is reflected in the types of books I write. I love pulling for the underdog, this comes out in the ministry God gave me. Only you can write the stories God dropped in your lap and if you do not, they will die.

Where can we find out more about you?

Please come find me on www.Eddiejones.org

Dealing With The Stuff

by Bruce Brady

So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. 16 Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. Ephesians 5:15-16

Those of us who are business minded will read these verses and focus on seizing every income producing opportunity. And there’s nothing wrong with that, if we keep our focus on God. However, many of us will ignore the spiritual opportunities and only see the promised earthly rewards.

 

Now I’m not going to tell you that everything on earth is evil. In fact, things are neutral, neither good nor evil. Things are just things. They’re only evil if we allow them to steal our focus. To me, the greatest danger of things is in the accumulation of them. The more we own, the more time we have to spend maintaining them. They are great robbers of time.

I love stories that teach or make me feel good and gadgets that make life easier. I’ve accumulated a lot of books, DVDs and various “time-saving” widgets. Now I’m faced with what to do with my things.

I’ve spent countless hours working to get them, accumulating them, using them, cleaning them, storing them, rearranging them. Once again I find myself planning the best way to store and organize them, and deciding what to keep and what to give away. Wondering if I really need them, the Spirit gave me a glimpse of how much more time I’ll spend on these things in the future.

Then the Holy Spirit showed me the real problem. Every minute I spend in thought and action with regards to my things, I’m robbing myself of time with God. Time that could be so much more valuable to me. That’s when I realized that the time spent on the maintenance of things is one of Satan’s greatest tools. The Devil loves it when I’m focused on my “stuff.” And he uses this tool with great subtlety.

So, I’ve decided a major cleaning out is in order. I know it’ll take more of my time but I’ll realize a great time savings in the future, time I can spend with my Creator. And time spent with our Creator is always time well spent.

If you find yourself dealing with a lot of stuff, physical or emotional, it’s time for a “deep cleaning.” Give away anything you haven’t used in a while and give all your mental stuff to God who’ll deal with it much more efficiently. Then, you can seize the opportunity to spend time with the Lord and enjoy the peace and comfort that comes with relaxing in His love.

A CALL TO VICTORY

by Bruce Brady

See, God has come to save me. I will trust in him and not be afraid. The Lord God is my strength and my song; he has given me victory.” Isaiah 12:2

I’m currently struggling with a ministry calling that is meeting a lot of resistance. While I know the source of resistance is Satan, it is presenting itself through members of my church. Talk about a tough challenge.

The human response would be to lash out at these people with righteous indignation, but God has thankfully kept me from doing so. Instead, He’s given me a spiritual understanding of the situation and the assurance that it will all work out. He’s also constantly reminding me that this ministry is not mine but His.

To make things worse, the people who are resisting me are my brothers and sisters in Christ whom I deeply love and respect. This tries my patience because I don’t understand what is causing the roadblocks. But that’s the point. I don’t understand because I’m not supposed to understand, at least not now.

What I do know for sure is that God will work His purpose in this situation. I’m certain the call to this ministry is from Him, so I know He will make it all come together with His perfect timing.

Whenever we set out to follow God’s lead, there’s no need to be afraid. Every time He sends us to do His work, our victory is assured. There may be many obstacles and victory may not present itself as we expect, but be assured His purpose will always be accomplished. He never promised us easy, just victory.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

by Bruce Brady

Lately I’ve witnessed a lot of people behaving as if they were entitled to special treatment. They display this perceived entitlement by treating others as inferior people and talking down to them. It amazes me that many of us have come to believe the best way to get respect from others is to demand it. Yet, our human nature causes us to resent and even lash out at those who demand anything from us. So how can we justify mistreating others to get what we want?

In Matthew 5:7, Jesus says, “God blesses those who are merciful, for they will be shown mercy.” There is no mention of God rewarding those who insist on having things their way.  We’re foolish if we expect others to love us when we our actions display disrespect and contempt for them. God very clearly teaches that to get what we want; we must first give others the love and respect they want.

Our call is not to half-heartedly follow Christ in order to obtain our selfish desires, it’s to truly serve others as a way of demonstrating our total commitment to living the life Jesus lays out for us. We are to display the merciful love of Christ toward everyone. It’s okay to hate poor behavior and misguided beliefs, but we must love all people as Jesus does. Rather than condemn, He lovingly corrects our sinful actions, and instructs us to interact with others in this same manner.

Throughout our day, we will encounter people who are behaving poorly. When we do, let’s remember that God loves them as much as He loves us and respond with love and kindness. Doing so will not only disarm them; it will also please our Father.

Amazingly, the self-help gurus tell us the key to success and the best way to get what we want is to help others get what they want. I wonder where they got that idea?

A Note To Mom

by Bruce Brady

Tomorrow is Mother’s Day; a time when we all stop to remember mom. But do I really honor her as commanded in Exodus 20:12 and Ephesians 6:3? Sadly, I’ve often only honored her the way most of the world “honors” their mothers, with material gifts and a quick phone call.

Today, God has placed a burden on my heart, for which I’m thankful because I need to reflect on all she’s done for me. Yes there have been those times when she acted selfishly, she’s human after all. But most of the time she sacrificed her desires and her time for my sister, my brother and me. And I don’t thank her enough. Even when I’m helping her, I get bogged down in the task and forget to let my actions show how much I love and appreciate her. So, I’m determined to change that.

Mom, I love you, more than I’ve ever expressed with words and actions. I appreciate all you did and the sacrifices you made to raise me. I’m sorry for those times when I dishonored you through my mistakes, and my half-hearted compliance with your requests. I regret the many times I disappointed you, and treated you with disrespect. Forgive me for all the times I’m sure I hurt you by acting selfishly.

I love you, mom. I would not be here, writing this note and pursuing a writing career if not for your encouragement and guidance. Left to my own devices, I’d probably be dead. I know you did the best you knew how. It wasn’t easy raising three children on your own, especially three very independent children. I appreciate all the times you comforted me when my heart was broken. I’m grateful for your efforts to ensure I had a happy and prosperous life. I understand you did what you did because you wanted a better life for me.

I also admire how, as a young woman suffering the pain of a broken marriage, you packed up a newborn baby and two very young children, moved us 1500 miles to a place where you only knew your brother and his family, and started a new life for us. Thankfully you instilled that same courage and tenacity in me. I’m thankful you never made choices that put us in harm’s way. I appreciate that you worked a second and sometimes third job to make sure we always had food, a safe home and clothing. I’m grateful that you sacrificed to allow us to pursue our educational and extracurricular interests. And I’m thankful that you devoted yourself to spending as much time as you could with us.

Mom, you’re a wonderful woman. And though I can’t be there, I want you to know that, in spirit, I’m with you this Mother’s Day weekend, admiring the amazing woman you are. I hope you can feel my arms embracing you as I say. “I love you, mom, more than words can express.”

Life Calling

A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other (1 Corinthians 12:7).

God has taught me many things over the past several weeks. Because He has demanded my full attention, I’ve been very frustrated. Frustrated because He has not allowed me to write anything except a few quick blurbs on Facebook. I pleaded with Him, but He made it clear that I would not write again until I understood what He was teaching, including being patient and God-centered.

Like many of you, I want to do what I want to do when I want. And I can almost guarantee this attitude will lead to long lessons in humility and waiting on the Lord. Fortunately, our Father won’t allow us to follow our own desires with peace and joy. He’ll fill us with a growing discomfort until we focus on Him.

The above verse has been important in my educational journey. I’ve learned that some would have us believe our spiritual gifts are only for the benefit of other believers. However, the Lord taught me that our gifts are for the benefit of all, unbelievers and believers. Our calling is to be and make disciples, students and mentors, of all people. Teaching the Truth of the Gospel and Christian living is essential to everyone, not just believers. It’s the departure from Biblical Truths that has our country and our world in such turmoil today.

It’s crucial that we teach everyone the ways of the Lord. It’s imperative that we remember we do most of our teaching through our actions, not just our words. We can’t live like unbelievers and “preach” the Word of God. Others don’t care what we have to say until they see that we are truly different, at peace with ourselves and life. We’re given our spiritual gifts to live an exemplary life that will cause others to long for what we have. We’re called to live in such a way that everyone will clearly see what a joy it is to follow Jesus.


Give your complete attention to these matters. Throw yourself into your tasks so that everyone will see your progress. Keep a close watch on how you live and on your teaching. Stay true to what is right for the sake of your own salvation and the salvation of those who hear you (1 Timothy 4:15-16).

Are You Following Your Call Or Yielding To Push?

In examining my life, I realized that I made many decisions based on the influence of others. It was clear they pushed me so they could live vicariously through me. Some just wanted to control me. Others challenged me for their own amusement. Very few were concerned with my best interest. By yielding to the pressure of others, I made a lot of bad choices.

However, I did learn from my past. I learned we are all here for a reason. Each of us has a unique, specific, God-given purpose for our life on earth, a calling.  Our specific calling will create a deep hunger within us. This hunger will never be appeased by money, fame, sex, family, possessions, popularity, or anything the world has to offer. It’s a hunger that can only be satisfied by following God’s calling. And until we discover and pursue our calling, we’ll never be happy.

 

While watching the movie “October Baby,” I realized what I must do to satisfy the hunger within me. I must reach out to others through my words. I must tell everyone there is a God, and He loves them, just as they are. I must do my best to explain that each of us is important to the one who created us and He wants us to love and respect all people as He does.

Through His Son, Jesus, God told us that His greatest desire is for us to love Him and each other. He wants us to put the needs of others above our own. He wants us to serve others as His ambassadors, loving and caring for them. Yes, this is a sacrificial love. But He will reward us for all our selfless efforts. And if we’re truly sharing God’s love, we won’t care about personal gain.

If your chosen life-path isn’t satisfying your hunger, your empty feeling, ask God to give you direction. It’s okay if you don’t know Him. When we earnestly seek Him, He will respond. His response may not come immediately or even overnight, but it will come, as long as you keep seeking it. Understand that God first wants a relationship with you.  He wants to be your trusted friend. And when you trust Him, He will show you the way. And don’t be surprised if He takes you in a new direction.

The Power Of Words

In my daily devotional reading, I came across a line that resonated deep in my soul. It reminded readers that God created language to be powerfully used for good but sin made our tongues a potential force for evil.

We all need to choose our words carefully. This is especially true for writers because our words generally affect more people. Whether prompted by the Holy Spirit or the Devil, we write because we must. When we write for ourselves, the Enemy can easily influence us to express a world view that rewards and encourages selfishness. We know this ends in destruction but our humanity naturally attracts us to worldly fame, fortune and power.

As a teacher and defender of children, my greatest fear is that I will mislead them with my words. God has promised a stricter judgment for teachers because they have a greater influence on people than others. As writers, we are teachers. Our words have a profound influence on our readers, so we must choose our words very carefully. Those of us who are believers have a responsibility to write the words God gives us. In doing this, we can rest assured that our influence will be beneficial to our readers.

For those of you who deny the existence of God, your future is bleak. Whether you like it or not, when we die, we’ll all have to account for our choices in life, including our choice of words. This is not good news for those who write to gain personally by influencing others to pursue their selfish desires. You’re leading others down a path of destruction and you’ll have to answer for that.

For all of us, we need to recognize that our words do influence others, for better or worse, and take that responsibility seriously. As the Scripture says, “Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.” Our words need to express the love of Christ for all people. We need to encourage them to experience the inexplicable joy that accompanies following God’s lead. We need to show them through our actions, and our words, that there is nothing more wonderful or fulfilling than the love of God.

As it says in John 15:13, there is no greater expression of love than laying down your own life for a friend. While this does mean we must be willing to die to save the life of a friend, it also means we must be willing to share our failures and mistakes with others so they can learn from them. This means we must write the truth, whether fiction or non-fiction, not just to entertain but also to teach.

The childhood defense of “sticks and stones will break my bones but words will never hurt me” is wrong. Most often, hurtful words will inflict greater and longer lasting damage than any physical attack. Let’s choose our words carefully. Let’s build one another up and express the love of Christ with each one.

My Day In Court

by Bruce Brady

I spent the day in Family Court yesterday. I wasn’t on trial. I was just observing. My wife and I are training to be Guardians ad Litem, advocates for children in court. It was hearing day and in the span of three hours, the judge heard and ruled on 16 cases, with another 12 to 16 to be heard after lunch.

As if working the drive-up window at a fast food restaurant, I watched one group of attorneys and defendants rush out while another group rushed in every 15 minutes. Expecting to see drawn, saddened, remorseful faces, I was disappointed to see most defendants were upset as if to say, “How dare you drag me away from my important life to sit here and listen to you tell me what I’m going to do!”

As the attorneys pleaded their cases and the judge decided what actions to take next, there was little to no mention of the children. My mind wandered to thoughts of how I might feel if I were yanked from the only home life I knew and shuttled off to some relative or to people I didn’t know at all. How would I deal with the uncertainty of never knowing if my parents would hug me or slug me? And I can’t even imagine the horror of being sexually molested by your father or a boyfriend numerous times before reaching the age of ten. Yet, these were the lives of the children who’d been removed from their homes by the state.

The official focus of the hearings was to decide the best courses of action to take with the abusive or neglectful parents, family members, boyfriends or girlfriends. It seemed little attention was paid to the fate of the children. They were seldom mentioned. And when they were, it was only to briefly describe the type of abuse or neglect they suffered.

 

Clearly, the children had no voice in court other than the Guardians ad Litem. And the Guardians are the only ones who don’t operate under the governmental pressure to get the cases closed and the children placed in the most cost-effective situations for the state. The Guardians, who are volunteers, are solely concerned with the best interest of the children and answer only to the judges.

Thankfully, most judges value the assessments of the Guardians and will adjust treatment and placement plans accordingly. So the Guardians do play an important role in the lives of the children and in helping the judges do what is best for them.

I learned many things by attending court. There’s a lot of selfishness out there. Most of us blame others or our circumstances for our bad behavior. And some people vent their frustrations by abusing children. Currently my county has less than 200 Guardians to handle over 1,000 children, and Guardians are limited to two cases at a time. If you have a heart for defenseless children, I encourage you to consider becoming a volunteer advocate in your county.

Show the Way

“You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.” Matthew 5:14-16

God never calls us to continue living like we did before. He always calls us to live an exemplary life, one that will display His love, mercy and grace. He calls us to not only follow Him but to show others how to follow Him through our words and actions.

We can’t follow Him and be “Closet Christians.” We are fooling ourselves if we think we can act like Jesus on Sunday and then go back to pleasing ourselves and the world on Monday. Those of us who live that way will, in the end, hear God say, “depart, I do not know you.”

Live as God wants us to live. Love everyone as Jesus loves us. This doesn’t mean we must like what they do; it means we must separate the person from the action. We must recognize that everyone is created by God, so we must love them and help them to see the error of their ways with gentleness and compassion. We must also extend to them the same mercy Jesus extends to us. We can’t take revenge on those who hurt us, physically or emotionally, and expect God to show us mercy when we hurt others.

Because of the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross, God graciously adopts us into His family when we accept His gift of salvation through the blood of Jesus and commit ourselves to following His lead. His grace overlooks our mistakes and considers them erased. So part of following His lead is extending this same grace to our fellow human beings.

All people are created by God and made in His image. He does not make some good and some bad. We choose how to live our lives and must deal with consequences. And His word tells us what those consequences will be, so we shouldn’t be surprised when our selfish actions result in less than perfect outcomes.

Let’s take up our crosses, go into the world and be shining examples of the wonderful life that comes from truly following Christ. Then, we can be real friends to others, and, in the end, we can hear Him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

True Happiness

by Bruce Brady

In Luke 6:45 (NLT), God tells us, "A good person produces good deeds from a good heart, and an evil person produces evil deeds from an evil heart. Whatever is in your heart determines what you say." This tells us that our actions and words reveal who we really are. And that we best relate to others by being open and honest.

As a writer, I know people can tell if I'm being honest by the words I use. They know if my statements are coming from my heart or from a world view that says, "Tell them what they want to hear, then you'll gain wealth and popularity." However, doing anything just for the sake or earthly rewards will never provide true joy and peace. The only sure way to happiness is to follow the heart God gives us, without regard for material rewards.

It's true that some evil people will experience worldly success. But they will not truly be happy because they have to spend their lives worrying about how to keep what they have from others. And, in the end, they will be placed in a box, dropped into a hole and covered with dirt. All their stuff will be left behind to be divided up by the very people whom they spent their lives trying to keep it from. So what have they really accomplished?

For true happiness, follow God's lead and be true to the heart He gives you. It's your choice. Lovingly share His message to you with the world. Serve Him by serving others in a way that will enrich their lives. Then you will know the joy and peace that surpasses all understanding. And you will have true riches.

Oh, That Face!

by Bruce Brady

Most everyone knows a face that lights up a room. It’s a face you long to see, as often as possible.

I am blessed to know such a face. Whenever I see it, my heart leaps in my chest and I smile, inside and out. I awake every morning wanting to see that face. The vision of that face is the perfect start to my day. It inspires me to do much of all I do. It has affected me like this since I first saw it over 30 years ago.

One of my greatest goals in life is to keep a smile on that face. When it smiles, it takes my breath away and all is right with the world. To see it smile makes whatever I’m doing worth the effort, no matter the task, and it eases my cares.

The face I speak of is the face of my lover, my wife. She is still the most beautiful woman I’ve ever known or seen. She is, and always will be, my earthly reason for living. In fact, it is her face that led me to God.

Should you ever find yourself having a rough time, do whatever it takes to put a smile on your lover’s face. I believe you’ll find this will make your day go much better. You can’t have a bad day when you turn your attention to serving others. And that is one of our greatest callings on earth.

Frantic is Fantastic!

Today I'm highlighting a man, husband, father and author who is following his calling. Mike is a cancer survivor who helps others as a Physical Therapist. When he's not working, he and his wife, Jen, are busy loving and raising four beautiful daughters. So, he has little time to devote to writing. Yet, he is obedient to his calling and does his writing very early in the morning to ensure he doesn't neglect his family.

This is to say, if you claim there's too many other things to do or you don't have time to pursue your calling, the truth is you just aren't prioritizing your calling, or you're stalling due to fear. I spent a fair amount of time with Mike at last year's Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference and I can state with great certainty, he is just human. So, if he can do it, you and I can do it. The following is my brief review of his latest book:

All the clichés fit this one; page-turner, edge-of-your-seat suspense, action/adventure thriller. But the real gem of this book is relationships. Yes, the characters and their relationships are endearing and believable. But you don’t just read this story, you live it. I couldn’t and didn’t put this book down. This is Mr. Dellosso’s best work yet.

Marny is a simple guy with a simple life until the beauty of a sad, mysterious girl draws him into an adventure that will change his life, and yours, forever. Mike Dellosso’s masterfully crafted story touches all the emotions. And it shows the true power of faith. If you’ve ever doubted that even the most hopeless situation can end well, you need to read this book.

Frantic is due to release early February.

Have An Affair!

Ever have one of those days when you find yourself wondering why you got married? You know the kind of day I mean—a day, week or month when you and your spouse seem to be at odds about everything.

These dry spells happen in all marriages. They happen when we allow life’s stresses or our selfish natures to consume our attention. If we continue down these paths, our marriages will deteriorate to the point where find ourselves living as two strangers under the same roof. I’ve seen it happen in countless marriages, including my own. This happened to my wife and me because we were certain all was well with our relationship – we took each other for granted.

The truth is that a good marriage is one of God’s strongest forces. He tells us He is present where two are gathered in His name (Matthew 18:20). He also tells to keep anything from separating us because we are no longer two but one (Matthew 19:5-6). Satan knows these truths and will do whatever he can to destroy marriages. But his attacks are usually subtle. He uses our selfishness and worldly pleasures to lull us into ignoring our spiritual bonds with one another. And, like it or not, we’re human and easily drawn to anything that provides self-satisfaction. We can even be self-serving in our “godly” activities.

Assuming our marriages will last forever, we turn our focus to the niceties of life. Having checked off marriage on our “To Do” list, we succumb to worldly pressures and pursue worldly pleasures. Keeping up with all the latest and greatest for ourselves or even our children steals our focus. Our income, status, family activities and other “stuff” take priority over our relationships with God and our spouse.

So how do we keep the love fire burning? Have an affair! Not with someone else, with your spouse. And be sure to include the Lord.

When I finally got over myself and listened to the Holy Spirit’s promptings, I arranged a 3-day surprise getaway. However, unlike our usual “getaways,” it didn’t involve our kids or grandkids – just the two of us. And it wasn’t anything elaborate, just a 2-night stay in a small town hotel, close to home. The only planned activity was a free, 30-minute drive through a small town that covers its buildings and homes with Christmas lights (my wife loves Christmas). The most important activity was simply finding spending time together. We simply listened to the Lord, looked at each other through His eyes and fell in love all over again, after 30 years of marriage.

Indescribable joy will fill you when you allow the Lord to take charge of your marriage. He will show us perfections where we see faults. He shows us how much more rewarding it is to serve others than ourselves. Seeing your spouse through God’s eyes will result in a deeper love for your spouse, and Him. It was an experienced that brought me to my emotional knees.

  

So stop focusing on what’s wrong with your spouse. Give control of your relationship to the Lord. Let Him constantly remind you of why your marriage is so important. He’ll give you a new perspective and an action plan that will bless your marriage with renewed passion, joy and excitement.