The creative process is like a train chugging along its tracks. If you sit and listen, you can hear the distant train whistle as it heads into the edge of town. You are welcome to jump on the train, if you dare, and take it for a ride. Sometimes the rides are free; sometimes they […]
I wish I remember how I came up with “A Touch of the Hand,” but I honestly can’t. Was it based on a testimony someone gave in church? Quite possibly. I can even picture the lady who probably gave the testimony – if that is what really happened. The nursing home ministry at our church […]
So many stories come about because of one simple question – what if? In looking at God’s will in our lives, many are often tempted to force their own will and say that it is the Lord’s will. But what if we want something so bad that we don’t think about the consequences of our […]
“Death to Sin” came about as part of a Faith*In*Fiction contest conducted by Dave Long, an editor at Bethany House in 2005. “The purpose of the Faith*In*Fiction group was to discover compelling voices in Christian fiction, and, hopefully, to publish them, as well as to further the conversation on faith and fiction.” On August 4, 2005, Dave offered […]
While doing some research in 2004, I came across the basilisk, a mythological reptile that can cause death with just a look and can breath fire. I found many Biblical and literary references to this creature, such as Isaiah 14, Psalm 91, The Canterbury Tales, Richard III, and in the works of many poets. I wasn’t a big […]
Also in our visit to Darke County, Ohio, we visited the Garst Museum. The museum had an entire section devoted to its hometown hero Annie Oakley. There were all types of artifacts from her life, even down to her chinaware and nightgown. There were guns that she had used and many publicity posters from the […]
On August 2, 2009 on our way home from Myrtle Beach we stopped in Flat Rock, North Carolina to visit Carl Sandburg’s home known as Connemara. Most of the information below is taken from the brochure provided by the National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior. The pictures are mine. The pictures of Sandburg […]
In 1811 Tecumseh spoke these words to the Choctaw Council – “The annihilation of our race is at hand unless we unite in one common cause against the common foe. Think not that you can remain passive and indifferent to the common danger, and thus escape the common fate. Your people, too, will soon be […]
As I mentioned in my last post, we visited the site of Prophet Town at the Shawnee Nature Center. According to the Darke County Visitors Bureau, “this 118-acre preserve is the largest Darke County park.” There are “2 miles of trails that showcase the three distinct habitats of this park: woodlands, wetlands, and prairies.” This […]
A must stop when in the Washington, D.C. area is Mount Vernon, the plantation home of George and Martha Washington. Mount Vernon was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1960 and is today listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is still owned and maintained in trust by The Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association, […]