A friend of mine posted a great quote from an evangelist on Facebook this morning, and it got me thinking. "The trouble of it is today, the people don’t have time to get before God and get still. They got so many things to do. They belong to this; they got to do this; they got to have this; they got to go there. You—you don’t have time. The devil’s just took up all your time. You don’t have time to get still before God, get quiet."        56-0213 - "Hidden Life With Christ"        Rev. William Marrion Branham This reminded me of something I'd read a while back from Martin Luther. He said, "I have so much to do today that I'm going to need to spend three hours in prayer in order to be able to get it all done." Wow. That's quite a contrast to the typical attitude of "I don't have time" or "I'm too busy to pray." Martin Luther was one busy fellow. He wrote many catechisms, thesis, started a reformation, wrote ...

Did You Know… There were 12 dogs recorded as passengers on the Titanic. Among the 713 survivors of the tragedy, three of them were dogs. Two Pomeranians and a Pekinese made it off on the lifeboats.   You're Invited! Come be one of the first to see the new cover for my upcoming Short Story Collection, Dawn of Liberty! We'll be giving away two $5 Amazon gift cards, playing games, and having a ton of fun and fellowship. I hope you will join us. Click HERE to join the Facebook Party.

Did You Know… • In 1957, BBC News reported a record Spaghetti harvest and showed Swiss farmers collecting spaghetti from trees. • In 1996, Taco Bell announced it had purchased the Liberty Bell an d intended to rename it the Taco Liberty Bell. So glad this was a joke.

Superbowl commercials have been a cultural phenomenon for a long time. Some folks are more interested in the commercials than the football game! This year, there was one commercial in particular that garnered a lot of attention. Not for how clever it was, but for how...weird? Strange? Kinda gross? Those of you who saw the Puppy-Monkey-Baby commercial know what I am talking about. There were even memes going around on social media about the strangeness of this advertisement. But you know what is the most interesting thing about the Puppy-Monkey-Baby commercial? Everyone remembers the commercial, but almost NOBODY knows WHAT they were advertising. I was recently listening to a sermon about how our lives as Christians should be a billboard for Jesus Christ. This sermon caused me to pause and question myself. I realized that I needed to ask the question, "Am I a Puppy-Monkey-Baby Christian?" Even though I claim to be a Christian, even though I claim that my life is dedica...

Today I'm blogging over at Stitches Thru Time with a devotional thought on hard times. Here's a preview. *****  Have you ever had a day when you woke up and realized that your life is not where you'd wanted it to be? Or realized you'd made a terrible mistake you couldn't take back? Or somehow found yourself in the middle of a mess you can't get out of? One of those days when you'd give anything for one of those Southwest "Wanna Get Away" buttons? I recently went through a period like this. Things weren't going the way that I wanted them to, and it seemed that no matter how hard I struggled forward, I always ended up back in the same place. A death march of circles that were getting me nowhere. I cried out to my Lord, and though I could sense His presence, I felt as if my prayers weren't having an impact. I had no clear answer or direction. Click Here to read the full post at Stitches Thru Time

Happy National Anthem Day! There is such an amazing story behind these lyrics. Have you ever seen all four verses for this beautiful song?     O say can you see, by the dawn's early light, What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming, Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight, O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming? And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air, Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there; O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave? On the shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep, Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes, What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep, As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses? Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam, In full glory reflected now shin...

Today I am blogging over at the Heroes, Heroines & History blog and offering a giveaway of The Master's Calling! Click here to read the post and enter the giveaway. With the new movie Risen coming out, and Easter drawing near, I thought I would take ya'll on a trip with me to visit the Garden Tomb in Israel. The Garden Tomb Out of all the sites that we visited during our trip to the Holy Land, this one tops them all. There are actually two places near Jerusalem that claim to be the place that Jesus was buried. There is the Catholic Church of the Holy Sepulcher, and then there is the Garden Tomb which was claimed by Protestants, which is where our tour took us. I found the facts about the Garden Tomb to be very interesting, and thought you might too. The Garden Tomb is a beautiful place that simply takes your breath away. As you enter, you are met by plants, flowers and stone landscaping that transports you to the Biblical era. The site is very unique, and ...