The Lord is good;
a refuge in times of trouble.
He cares for those who trust in Him,
but with an overwhelming flood
he will make an end to Nineveh;
He will pursue His foes into darkness.
Nahum 1:7-8 (NIV)
Into the Fire
Passionate thoughts about the world of writing and the Power of God
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Switchback is Book 15 in the A Rachel Hatch Novel Series by L.T. Ryan and Brian Shea.
Rachel Hatch (aka Hatch) arrives back “home” in Hawk’s Landing for her niece’s birthday where she is able to share some “real” time with her nephew too. It’s a brief time of fun activities, but her friend, and now family after marrying her mother, Jed has a private moment with her to mention his nephew, Landon, who lives off the grid in a small town in Wyoming. He’s a former addict (at least Jed hopes it’s a “former” situation), but Jed hasn’t heard from him in quite some time and is worried about him.
Hatch offers to go find out about him in spite of Jed’s protest, but Hatch is never one to not accept a purpose – especially for family. Coming home for Hatch is never without its own sorrow, always recalling the murder of her father and the death of her sister and she can’t seem to stay very long.
Arriving in Wyoming, she learns rather quickly how this particular small town operates, focused on the past pursuits of its citizens while assuming those citizens probably haven’t changed. There’s been a recent murder, and Landon is the suspect.
After rescuing a young female meth junkie at the motel where Hatch is staying, she offers to give the girl a ride home, but the girl is irate because her dealer (Posey) is now unconscious and will be furious when he awakens. Delivering the twitchy girl to her grandpa’s home, Hatch has an informative discussion with the man.
Hatch is never one to sidestep trouble and knows she’ll be facing Posey again at some point, but her first mission is to find Landon and see how he’s doing. After meeting Landon, she’s convinced he’s clean and not the killer of the new victim with a similar history to a previous unsolved murder of a 10-year-old boy.
The hunt for the killer takes some unusual trails and Landon is jailed. When Hatch extracts critical information from Posey, it becomes a race to get there before the killer does.
There is plenty of action in the second half of this story, and Hatch is no slouch when it comes to gut-level action. She’s been there and done that in so much of her life, it’s her first nature to enter life or death situations when true rescue is pending.
Hatch is my second favorite heroine just behind Sibella Giorello’s Raleigh Harmon. Both haven’t had it easy in the early years of their lives, were born warriors with tender hearts that aren’t always in the forefront due to circumstances that require them to be hard as granite and cold as ice.
Highly recommend the A Rachel Hatch Novel Series. Good writing, great stories, meaningful characters.
Father, I ask your blessings to fall on L.T. and Brian. Continue to provide those great stories you have just for them to tell. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.
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The purposes of a man’s heart are deep waters,
but a man of understanding draws them out.
Proverbs 20:5 (NIV)
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HE IS RISEN!
Luke 24:6 (NIV)
John 14:6 (NIV)
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His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness. Through these He has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
2 Peter 1:3-4 (NIV)
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May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing His will, and may He work in us what is pleasing to Him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Hebrews 13:20-21 (NIV)
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Writing Christian Fiction takes on a multitude of factors and focuses. Some of it is truly evangelistic which translates to heavy on revealing the Gospel which is encapsulated in the scriptures John 14:6 and the well-known John 3:16.
Some of it is less specific – or vague – in that it will mention God or prayer in crises. Even some secular novels do that.
I would say that much of Christian Fiction touches all the bases in between those two categories.
As an author of Christian Fiction, I primarily write love stories heavy on the romance but veered out of my lane with one mystery (Race). My tagline is: Raw Romantic Redemptive which tells you that my novels might not be your typical “romance” novels, but redemption will always be in the mix.
In my estimation, the endgame of writing fiction is that the ideal audience for the stories we write is finding and/or pursuing the best audience for our work. That is how I intend to review Lora Strong’s Book 2 Granite and Gloss Felons and Finders.
The hero is Granite, “made of stone,” able to do the hardcore work of the “company” who employs him, now saved because of his encounter with “Gloss” in their first encounter (Granite and Gloss Rescuers). His team are some of the best in security/protection/etc. The heroine is a beautiful artist with synesthesia who sees and feels everything in colors.
Wrapped around the horrid “grid” of sex trafficking, this biblically based encounter with Spirit-led pursuits and the unlimited and specific leading of the Holy Spirit reveals the anatomy of Christianity and how it’s supposed to operate in real life. Not fanciful in the eventual outcomes of dangerous pursuits to stop the purveyors of these evil crimes, it addresses the wins and losses realistically while employing the available guidance and protection the Holy Spirit can and does provide.
The story is a testimony to the power of God, the salvation of Jesus Christ, and the ongoing personal work in an individual by the Holy Spirit.
Communicating the precise types of relationship between the Holy Spirit working in each person, it’s a declaration of the faith, trust, and pure belief that can belong to anyone who dares to make Jesus Christ their Savior.
It’s a perfect treatise for Christianity, and I would highly recommend it for younger, new-to-the-faith Christians who desire to go deeper with their Savior, to learn the intricacies of salvation, faith, trust, and the incredible love that God has for each one of us.
Father, I pray that you would continue to bless Lora as only you can do. Continue to give her the precise inspiration and encouragement for the stories you have just for her to tell. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.
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. . . Cast all your anxiety upon Him because He cares for you.
Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
And the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will Himself restore you and make you strong, firm, and steadfast. To Him be the power forever and ever. Amen.
1 Peter 5:7-11 (NIV)
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But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light.
1 Peter 2:9 (NIV)
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See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. but encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first. As has been said:
“Today, if you hear His voice,
do not harden your hearts
as you did in the rebellion.”
Hebrews 3:12-15 (NIV)
Into the Fire 