Murder, and,Child Abuse, and Drug Lords, Oh My!

 

It has been a long time since I last posted. I have been busier than the famous cat on the hot tin roof! It has almost been a month!

The reason???? I have none that really could pass for good reasons, except I was preparing for a writer’s conference in Oregon that was July 27th-31st of July. It was the Oregon Christian Writer’s Conference held every year near the end of July. It was an outstanding one this year, but that will be another post.

I am very excited to begin my book give away promotions again! I have some pretty happy subscribers that have won books in the past. I am now starting up again, and I can tell you that the one I am starting up with in this new campaign is an outstanding choice!

The book is called The Missionary. Sounds like a typical story about living amongst tribal members in the jungle. You are in for a big wonderful surprise!! It is a Christian fiction thriller that has me hooked. All good books have a great hook to make you want to read further.  

How about a little boy lying in the street, and a man kicking him without mercy? That grabbed me by the throat since I taught little children for a career.   

Even the bookmark that I got with the book hooked me; “A life-or-death gamble leads to both…”

The book is Co-authored by William Carmichael and David Lambert. I met Bill at an Oregon Christian Writer’s conference, and I felt an instant friendship with him. He is a caring, out going kind of guy that even The Joker, from Batman would like.

We had a chance to talk a couple of times. I took a workshop offered by him, and then shared a few words at a book signing event that he had in the conference book store. He even lives in my home state, so that makes him a very special person!

Bill and his wife Nancie have written several best selling books on marriage and parenting. This is Bill’s first novel, and he started out with a bang! Google their names and you can see their other works.

David Lambert is a well known best selling author in his own genre. He is the senior fiction editor for Howard Books, but he also has written some award winning books. One of his books called, Jumper Fables, won the Gold Medallion Award. He has also written four novels for young adult readers. You can find him through Google also.

My review of “The Missionary:”

David Eller and his wife Christie, are missionaries helping impoverished children in Caracas, Venezuela. They have an orphanage for children who have no where to go.

The story opens up with David rescuing little Ricardo, who has just stolen some food from a vender, because he was very hungry. The merchant was beating Ricardo for taking the food. What David didn’t know was that Ricardo also had a rare kind of pneumonia that was attacking the Caracas children. The battle to save the little boy’s life causes the reader to turn pages without stopping.

There are two stories going on as there is in any outstanding book. Commandos have just landed on the shores near Caracas and their mission is to eliminate the dictator President Armando Guzman. Guzman was ruthless and doesn’t hesitate to make his enemies, “disappear.”

This setting has nothing but excitement in store for the reader. What happens to the orphanage run by Christie, and David? How are they connected with the assassination attempt of President Guzman? Who are the commandos and who hired them to do this?

David meets a tall stranger who has an offer he can’t refuse, but it will put David and his family in deep danger. David decides to do it anyway. 

This is an outstanding read. I am only about half way through because of time problems, but I know a great book when I see one. I have read hundreds in the last few years. This book hits a home run! It has tear jerking pages; incredible suspense; and heart warming outcomes, (most of the time!) Everything a good fiction reader likes to read. If you are choosing your next book that you want to remember forever, this book is it.

Some endorsements have come in for the book that is pretty powerful.

Jerry B. Jensen the author of the Left Behind series that has sold over 65 million books so far says, “Taut and gripping. You’ll be glad you made the investment.”

Terri Blackstock, one of my all time favorite Christian fiction writers says, “The Missionary is a roller-coaster read that will keep your adrenaline rushing!”

There are many other strong endorsements you will be able to see when you get the book.

The book is very new. It just came out this year. That is why you may not have heard of it yet. Word of mouth will spread, and this will be a best seller.

BUT! You have a chance to have it now with William Carmichael’s personal note and autograph in it!

This is how you can have a chance….It is so simple even a caveman can do it! (Hey good slogan!)

Just go over to the right side bar, and click on “Subscribe to my free newsletter…” and you will be able to automatically download my E-book called, The Top 25 Ways to Survive in a troubled World.”

Not only will you get a free E-book, but you are placed in a drawing for “The Missionary.”

But wait, there’s more!! (Sounds like an infomercial!) By subscribing you also get my free newsletter that comes out about twice a month. It has excerpts from my book, Signs of Hope: Finding Ways to Survive in a Not so friendly World.” It also has three other pages in it to please every reader’s taste. One page has sports news for mostly Oregon State University. (I bleed orange!)

Another page has travel stories from guest contributors. The next guest will be Ron Keleman, who has traveled to India. He has some very interesting insights, because he traveled the paths less traveled in India. Don’t miss his next post.

A fourth page has helpful resources that give you hope! They are suggestions, and ideas on how to cope with the enemies of our mind like; anxiety, self doubt, fear, depression, and the other usual suspects.

What a deal!! You get a free newsletter, a free e-book download, and a chance to win a book that is a hot item right now. You have nothing to lose and a whole lot to gain!!

Even if you do not win the book, go out and buy it! I assure you that you will be very glad you did.

OUT!

The Planet of the Ants!

The Planet of the Ants

I had an ongoing battle with ants in my driveway. They came up every spring, and I kinda let them work in peace. They are one of God’s creatures, don’t you think? If they stay away from my house, they can march around all they want, and have their little families.

BUT!! This year they became aggressive! They seemed more organized. Big groups of them came out of the cracks at once. Out front were the winged ants. They must have been their air force. Then there were some very militant looking ants. That must have been their marines. Following that was a huge amount of marching ants that came in groups and maneuvered around like they were trying to out flank me. They must have been the army.

The winged ants are much faster than the rest. If they get airborne they can cause much damage. The marine ants come at you like they will fight to the end, and they protect each other with tremendous valor. The army guys are very good at setting up observation posts, and getting behind you with of their infiltration techniques.

I decided I needed to come up with a counter attack. I tried to walk among them to make them to flatten out a bit. This didn’t work, because the “marines,” rushed in and covered my shoes with their little bodies. I ran!

Then I tried the old faithful bug spray. This seemed to work at first as they had many casualties. They dropped back into the cracks, and I did a victory dance.

However, the next day, they must have called up the reserves because there were ten times as many ants as the day before, and they didn’t look like happy campers.

Fear began to fill my soul. I could see the headline in the local paper. “Man eaten alive by angry mob of ants!”

I retreated into my garage for a planning session. I watched as the black mass out on the driveway came my way! There was no time to lose.

Then I remembered the Ace Hardware man, (Ace is the place, you know,) told me about a new ant treat that comes in a can like Pringles chips. It looks pretty harmless. When you put some in your hand, it appears to be ground cereal.

I ran to the garden cupboard, and found the can. I advanced towards the ants. They kept coming towards me. This would be the deciding battle.

I sprinkled some of the “food,” in front of the oncoming hoard of ants. The first row of ants ignored the food at first. The second row stopped. It looked like they smelled the goodies. Then all of a sudden that row of ants started rolling around. They were wincing in pain. The first row stopped and went back to the second row. BIG mistake! They started touching the goodies, and then they too curled up in pain.

Row after row came crawling over the dead ants in front of them, like the civil war, when the soldiers very close to the enemy shot at them as they stood in rows.

This battle went on for about a half hour, and then I started feeling guilty. Those ants had families. They had children. Some were dads. Some were moms, aunts, uncles, cousins. I was wiping out a whole generation.

I stopped laying down the killer food, but it was too late. There was not one ant standing. All were withering in pain and heading to the ant heaven in the sky. I had wiped out a whole nation with one battle.

I don’t see many ants in the driveway anymore. I’m so thankful, because the guilt I still carry wouldn’t allow me to do mass extinction again.

If you have ants outside your house, think about what they are doing. Are they destroying anything? Do they get into the house? Are they too aggressive? If you say no to these questions, you can adopt them. Feed them all you want. As a matter of fact I will tell my ants they can pack-up and come to see you. They will be like the long lost relatives that say they want to visit for a couple of days, and then they stay for months. Enjoy!

Match the Cowboy Slang to its definition

Match the Cowboy Slang to its Definition

It is time for some good ole fun, with nothing to try to figure out. You will need some knowledge of the cowboy slang from the good ole days. I happen to get 100% on this test. I was the only one that got 100% out of 50 that took the test. Shows that I was a good little farm boy when I lived on my uncle’s farm during the summers.

Before we get this tough test, (I love giving tests from my teaching days,) I want to remind you that if you subscribe to my free newsletter, you will a free download of my eBook that is called, The Top 25 ways to Survive in a troubled World. It is very timely, and the cover alone is something you need to see. It brings back memories of 9-11. You can subscribe by going to the right side bar and clicking on the icon that tells you that you will get a free download if you subscribe.

When you subscribe you also will automatically be placed in drawings for books that are # 1 seller with the author’s autograph and personal notes to you in them. You should do that now before you forget. You can come back to the test. I will have the answers to the test on tomorrow evenings post on this site.

Ok! Here comes the test. It is a matching test. Pick the words from column two that match the words in column one. Put the letter in front of the matching word on the blank behind the correct word on the left.

The person who has the most right answers, and has the earliest time in plus their email address will be able to choose one of two top selling books with the author’s autograph and personal notes in them. The two choices for the winner of this test are: The Shack, by William Paul Young. This book has been # 1 on the New York Times best selling list for 58 weeks straight! There other book to choose from is Three Cups of Tea, by David Relin. This book has been # 1 in its category for 152 weeks straight. It also has the author’s autograph and personal note in it.

GOOD LUCK!!!

1. BAZOO_____ A. DRINK
2. ABOVE SNAKES____ B. ORPHAN CALF
3. HOOSEGOW____ C. LIKE
4. DICKER___ D. BUCKING HORSE
5. YELLOW BELLY____ E. ALIVE
6. IRON HORSE___ F. WAIT AROUND
7. GRUB_____ G. COWARD
8. BEND AN ELBOW___ H. FOOD
9. BONE ORCHARD___ I. BARTER, TRADE
10. CROCKER___ J. RAILROAD TRAIN
11. COOT___ K. RIDICULOUS
12. BENDER___ L. JAIL
13. CROW BAIT___ M. MOUTH
14. DOGIE___ N. PESSIMIST
15. COTTON TO___ O. BAD-QUALITY HORSE
16. FLANNEL MOUTH___ P. CEMETERY
17. GRASSED___ Q. SMOOTH TALKER
18. HANG FIRE___ R. DRUNK
19. HORSE FEATHERS___ S. SIMPLETON, NINNY
20. HURRICANE DECK___ T. THROWN FROM A HORSE

OUT!