I confess I hate Halloween. When evil is glorified, excuses and justifications are made for that glorification, and all the celebration eclipses that of Thanksgiving, I rarely call the day by it's adopted name. Yes, as a kid, I celebrated it with costumes, candy, and trick-or-treating. I'm not saying the day was any less…

   Sometimes we need to change our focus and remember the eternal instead of the temporary. God's artwork, designs, magnificence, and, yes, even His hope is evident everywhere on this corrupted planet. He sees. He knows. He even understands. But He also will not compromise His standards. He gave us Jesus to save us. That's the…

      Pictured above is Seattle Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch. You may or may not be aware of him. Easily one of the best running backs in the NFL, Marshawn has been the target for media sensationalists because of mistakes made in his youthful first job in the league as a Buffalo Bill and one incident…

                        Storywriters everywhere must make umpteen decisions about what names to use for their characters. The era, the location, the ethnicity, and many more particulars often play into what a character is ultimately named. The commonality, diversity, and unique factors all participate in what names characters receive by their creators. If you've ever read a novel…

  Authors of fiction take special care to use just the right words to tell their stories. If they write "literary" prose, it seems the "pretty" words come out to play. If they write thrillers, the exciting, precision-based wording to incite the most tension surfaces. If they write fantasy, words of all kinds can show up – even…

  Therefore Jesus said again, "I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find…

                          Indie author Karin Kaufman writes cozy mysteries with an edge. Not your typical "cozy" mystery, Karin's Anna Denning Mysteries feel like the complex yet simple tales of an ordinary widowed genealogist who gets herself into all kinds of trouble while just trying to do her job and be a part of her small town Colorado community. Her companion…

                             http://www.godtube.com/watch/?v=GGWZPNNX http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49BlT8xJHJA   I grew up in the "drugs, sex, rock 'n' roll" generation. I'm not proud of my generation when feminism erupted, "free" love became the identifying phrase of the times, the Viet Nam war raged, and drug taking introduced people to new addictions. The highlight of that time was some of the best music…

  We've discussed differing opinions here in reading and about writing ad nauseam. But it never ceases to amaze me when two readers who are usually fairly like-minded hold two opposite opinions of the same novel. Especially when it's a book I loathed for every possible reason. Or one I loved and the contrary opinion matches…

                     Getting outside oneself to take a clearer perspective requires us to look away from immediate circumstances to things much larger than the limited capacity of the here and now. Sometimes this is necessary to alleviate the current difficulties, thereby realizing "the plan" is so much bigger than our singular lives. Sometimes it's necessary to escape the…