Get Ready to Take Amazon.com by Storm!

Has your broadsword been collecting dust? Has it been awhile since you've grabbed a pitchfork, lit up a blazing torch, and charged a castle? Well, you're in luck!

This May 7th, we are Storming the gates of Amazon.com to try to propel the Re-Release of The Door Within Trilogy into the hands of many of this generations Young Adult Readers!

If you read the original release, you're probably in your twenties now. But a new generation of young readers is ready and waiting. Here's what you can do:

1) Purchase a copy of a Door Within book during the May 7th Amazon Blitz; give the book to a young reader you know.

2) Blog / Facebook / Tweet/ etc. about The Door Within books whenever you can and as much as you can. Talk about any impact the books have had on you, favorite scenes, characters, quotes, etc. Please mention the Amazon Blitz date: May 7th!

3) Word of mouth. Talk it up. Text it up. Let friends and family know about the Door Within books. 

4) Use The Door Within books as seed-planting. While not a perfect allegory by any means, The Door Within books do contain a lot of Jesus Truth. Use the books as a bridge to talk about eternity with friends and family who might not yet believe.

If you do any of the above, email me at: batguy21784(at)yahoo(dot)com. Put the following in the Subject Line of the email: Door Within ReRelease Promotion. I will put your name in the Acknowledgments Section of my newest book (Soon to be announced!). I will also provide you with lots of cool Door Within freebies here on my blog!

If you purchase a book, email me at: batguy21784(at)yahoo(dot)com. Put the following in the Subject Line of the email: Door Within ReRelease PATRON. I will put your name in a special Patron Section of the Acknowledgments Page of my newest book. THEN, email Thomas Nelson Publishing at: info(at)tommynelson(dot)com  and they will send you an all new Epilogue to The Door Within Trilogy. 

In the name of The One True King, I thank you.
-Wayne Thomas Batson, 2013

Open the Door Within for Someone New! Re-Release Date: May 7th

It brings me ridiculous joy to announce that Thomas Nelson Publishers will ReRelease the entire Door Within Trilogy on May 7th, 2013! 

The first book, The Door Within, came out in 2005 originally. A publishing executive at Thomas Nelson first took an interest in the story when we met in the summer of 2004 at a convention in Atlanta, Georgia. At that time, I was unpublished…a hobbyist writer and full time teacher here in Maryland. But the story had been at work in my heart and mind for ten years.

When God smacked me upside the head and let me know in no uncertain terms that LIFE could be found nowhere else but in HIM, I ran with the Gospel and told just about everyone I knew. One encounter with a couple who was (and is) very dear to me left me heartbroken, frustrated, and angry. I spilled my Jesus-guts to them. Their reaction: "How cute."

It left a powerful mark in my life: how could people look at the life-saving, life-changing news that Jesus died for them, to forgive their sins, save them, give them heaven forever, and new life here—how could people look at that news and think it was some silly notion? How could people not see the urgency in the message? It was as if a person, sick and blistered with cancer, lying in a hospital bed and refusing the offer of a cure for cancer because "it simply couldn't be true."

The seeds of the Door Within story were sewn in that season. At the time, I was about to begin a short story unit with my 6th graders at Arundel Middle School. As I preached to them the glorious fun it could be to create people, plots, and settings, they fired a shot across my bow: "Mr. Batson, why don't you write a story? You're always telling us how cool it is to write." That was it. I was cornered. So I wrote a 17-page short story in green ink on loose leaf paper. It was called "The Faith of a Child." Nine years of students badgering me to write more and more…and more, it became The Door Within.

When the book came out, I prayed and asked God that the story might change one life. Just one, I asked. God had much bigger plans. Nearly half a million books later, God is still on the move with The Door Within Trilogy. And a new phase begins on May 7th, 2013. I hope you'll raise a sword and join in the new offensive.

If you've read this far, you're likely a pretty dedicated reader of my stories. So, I'm asking you a favor: Help the new generation find The Door Within Trilogy.

If you read the original release, you're probably in your twenties now. But a new generation of young readers is ready and waiting. Here's what you can do:

1) Purchase a copy of a Door Within book during the May 7th Amazon Blitz; give the book to a young reader you know.

2) Blog / Facebook / Tweet/ etc. about The Door Within books whenever you can and as much as you can. Talk about any impact the books have had on you, favorite scenes, characters, quotes, etc. Please mention the Amazon Blitz date: May 7th!

3) Word of mouth. Talk it up. Text it up. Let friends and family know about the Door Within books. 

4) Use The Door Within books as seed-planting. While not a perfect allegory by any means, The Door Within books do contain a lot of Jesus Truth. Use the books as a bridge to talk about eternity with friends and family who might not yet believe.

If you do any of the above, email me at: batguy21784(at)yahoo(dot)com. Put the following in the Subject Line of the email: Door Within ReRelease Promotion. I will put your name in the Acknowledgments Section of my newest book (Soon to be announced!). I will also provide you with lots of cool Door Within freebies here on my blog!

If you purchase a book, email me at: batguy21784(at)yahoo(dot)com. Put the following in the Subject Line of the email: Door Within ReRelease PATRON. I will put your name in a special Patron Section of the Acknowledgments Page of my newest book. You will also receive loads of freebies, including exclusive never-before-read Door Within material, artwork, etc.

In the name of The One True King, I thank you.
-Wayne Thomas Batson, 2013

Showdown at High Noon: The Story At Last

{Cue Spaghetti Western Whistling} The gunslinger appears at the edge of town just as the church bell tolls high noon. The click of his mouse announces his arrival, and intensity shines out from his squinting eye-slits. The wireless keyboard, holstered at his side, shifts as the gunslinger steps forward. On the far end of the dirt road, separated only by whirling eddies of dust and careening tumbleweeds, is the Story. An elusive villain, wanted by every author in the land, and known to be as slippery as an eel, as mercurial as lightning, and as dangerous as life itself. The staredown begins. The gunslinger's hand twitches ominously at his side. He knows this chance is fleeting. He knows the stakes. His eyes narrow. His thumb slides against the knuckle of his forefinger. The wind stops. The time has come.

The Power of an Undivided Heart

Psalm 86:11 “Teach me your way, O Lord, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart.” 

This is my new "Battle Cry."

Division is a killer. Divorce. Politics. Civil War. A house divided cannot stand. And yet, for many of us Christians, we get up every morning and ring the doorbell to enter our own divided house. Hmmm, ten extra minutes before work. I could spend some time in prayer -OR- I could stop by the fast food joint. Stomach grumbles. Hashbrowns, here we come.

Paul often wrote about the battle within: new man (born again, spirit alive) versus old man (sin-stained flesh and bone body). It's not a pretty battle either. Paul laments "what a wretched man I am." Have you ever felt that? I have. 

I've been a Christian for 23 years, and I'm still in that battle. Too often, my heart is divided: usually between SELF and God. I want versus what God wants. On one level, I really do want to be rid of selfishness. But, on another level, I'm like Gollum: seeking my precious (selfish desires) at all costs.

I wish I had an easy answer to fix this. But, I don't. But reading this Psalm this morning gave me a thread to grasp. The Psalmist apparently had a clue: ASK. He pleaded with God to "give" him an undivided heart. That seems like a winning prayer if I've ever heard one. So, it's my new battle cry.

How about you? What are your "secrets" for avoiding or overcoming a "divided" heart? 

You Cannot Have it Both Ways

America is paddling quickly in dangerous waters toward an unyielding and more perilous destination. With one breath we seem to want to exert a "moral right" to just about anything we want. Gay marriage, polygamy, divorce on demand, premarital sex, abortion, legalized drug use, ad infinitum. And yet, with the next breath, we deny that there is such a thing as absolute right and wrong. But we cannot have it both ways. Work it out with any kind of logic, and you'll see it ties itself in knots.

To insist on certain "rights," asserts that there is a right and a wrong. But when we push people with such contradictory views to define the standard upon which "their rights" are based, we get a mish-mash of pragmatics and emotions. In other words, such relativistic folks will say, we have a right to whatever works and whatever feels good, so long as it doesn't infringe upon anyone else's right to whatever works and whatever feels good.

The thread that unravels this whole mess is this: If two individuals find their "whatever works" and "whatever feels good" at odds, whose "whatever works" and "whatever feels good" takes priority, and how do you decide? How long do you think it will take before this rationale turns into "might makes right?"

Others may claim that there actually IS an objective right and wrong, but they will refuse to define it. It's just something that is "self evident." But, if this is true, we have to ask WHY would there be a self-evident right and wrong? How did it get there? Most relativistic people don't want to go there because that line takes you directly to God. For there to be an absolute right and wrong it MUST come from something outside of us. Otherwise, we fall right back into "whatever works" and "whatever feels right," and eventually…mob rules and might makes right.

Wake up, America, before you demand so many freedoms that you drown in them.

Longing for the Straight Path...

Trust in the Lord with all your heart
And do not lean on your own understanding.
⁶ In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He will make your paths straight.
-PROVERBS 3:5-6 
 

Back in the day, these verses were the bedrock that kept me from emotional ruin. In my early 20's when everything I'd planned on seemed to be crumbling around me, and I JUST-COULDN'T-UNDERSTAND how it had all gone so wrong, I used to recite these verses hundreds of times a day. 

20+ YEARS LATER: these verses have come to life in me again, but in a very different way. Back then, I think it was just comforting to know that "my own understanding" was never supposed to be completely adequate. BUT NOW, I realize there is so much more there than simple comfort. There's action for me, which I dig. And there's an iron clad promise. How many iron clad promises do you get from the WORLD? Few, and the ones you can count on, you probably don't want anyway.

But here, I'm told, #1: Trust in the Lord & #2 In all my ways, Acknowledge Him, and HE will make my paths straight. Mannnnn, that feels so good. Oh, to have my paths all be straight. Not to say I won't have trouble or that I might not wander, but…if I consider my plans, my daily schedule, my work, my responses...and I acknowledge God in them, then the path that results will be straight by God's standard. How do we acknowledge God? 

I think it's equal parts recognizing God's sovereignty in this area of your life and inviting God to rule over it and guide you. It is probably far deeper than that, but that's how I see it. So, as I sit down to work on a new novel today, I ask, "God, I acknowledge you in this effort today. Let it please you. Let it be yours. And please make my path straight. Amen."

What path lies ahead for you that you deeply desire God to keep straight?

Is it a "Happy" New Year?

When life pounds you and you face a series of difficult life events, beware the threat of "Attitude Shift." It can be subtle at first, but then you get to a place where you suddenly realize: "Hey, this isn't really me. It's not the me God made me to be." I have found that what happens in the face of multiple hardships is a growing distrust for God, coupled with an increase in personal pleasure seeking, ie: eat and drink, for tomorrow, we die.

It's a kind of mental equation that you don't literally verbalize, but it's there in your attitude. It goes like this: "God, I no longer believe you have my best interests in mind; I'm no longer certain that you love me; and I'm not even sure that you really are good. So, I'm going to take care of me, myself, and I."  Painful to read because it's so obnoxiously wrong. And yet, as life beats us down, it is all to easy to let it erode our faith. All too easy to return to that which comes most naturally: the pleasing of self. So what do you do when you find yourself there? I'm not certain. First step, of course, is becoming aware of the shift.

The next step *I think* is to do a reality check. In other words, ask ourselves, Is our life really so awful? Really so much worse than others? In most cases, the answer to Q1 is NO. Most of us could count on our fingers and toes all the blessings in our lives and run out of digits long before we run out of blessings to number. In most cases the answer to Q2 is also, NO. What we deem "hardship" might be nothing to someone else. But what if the answer to Q1 or Q2 is YES?

What if life really has been harsh? I think it helps to consider what life is supposed to be like. I mean to say, what does the Bible say will be true of the Christian's experience in life? Just a quick overview reveals that "In this life you will have trouble." Other scriptures reveal the very real expectation of tough times: persecution, discomfort, tragedy, pain, and poverty. These are not abnormal circumstances for the Christian. This helps with perspective, doesn't it? There's always some comfort to know that we aren't being somehow singled out. Misery loves company, right?

And yet, what are we Christians if we show the world we are just a company of miserables? Too often, that's just what we look like to the world. Who wants to meet Jesus and become just as miserable as I am? LOL, not a very nice advertisement. But what does that verse say? "In this life you will have trouble, but TAKE HEART because I HAVE OVERCOME THE WORLD." 

This is the secret, really. Take heart. Why? Jesus beat the world with a stick. The cross. He died on the cross so that our backpack full of leaden sin could be thrown away. Jesus rose from the grave so that tragedy and death need no longer be so scary. #1 our guilt is dead. #2 our death is not final. We are free on this earth. And we have the hope of eternity before us.

None of this takes away the very real pain and heartache of tragedy. There is a time to weep and a time to mourn. Jesus weeps and mourns with us. He did for Lazarus. But Jesus has the power to resurrect the dead. So we need not be hopeless. Even when everything -EVERYTHING- goes wrong, we can know that Jesus is the master of transforming the catastrophe into the blessing. Many times, the blessing that comes through it all is that we fall to our knees and seek Jesus out more often and more sincerely. Many times, the blessing is that we grow as Christians.

1 Peter 1:7 These have come so that your faith--of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire--may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

Something else I think about in relation to all this: why should Christians be spared any trouble—any trouble at all—that the rest of the world must face? Famine, flood, fire, disease, sickness, poverty, loss, tragedy—you name it. Why should Christians be spared any of it? We ALL still live in a sin-stained, broken world. By coming to Christ in faith, we've done nothing in and of ourselves. We don't merit any "special treatment." Jesus did all the work.

And if Jesus did spare Christians the troubles of the world, or even a percentage of those troubles, how then would Christians ever be able to empathize with the world? How could we say to someone, "I feel what you feel. I know what you know."?

So perspective should help us to avoid the attitude shift. There's so much more to be explored in this issue. Books have been written. This is just my .02.

So, whether this is indeed a "Happy" New Year for you or not, I hope you'll be able to say honestly: Though He may slay me, yet will I trust in Him.

EPIC Goodness for a Hobbit-sized Price!

The eBook revolution has literally shaken the foundations of the publishing world. For centuries, print publishers have been the one and only gatekeeper, deciding if and when a writer could be published and transformed into a professional author.

eBooks have changed that. Now, anyone can publish...anything at any time. Now, the readers are the gatekeepers, and it's up to them who sells and who doesn't. Putting the power in the readers' hands is a great thing. And it has sent a shock wave through powerhouse print publishers. Most, if not all, print publishers are being forced to change the way they do business.

One of these changes is offering to sell books via Kindle, Nook, and all those other ebook formats. That's easy enough to do. A little formatting, and WHOOSH--digital content for the masses. But how to price it? That's the thing. And most print publishers missed the boat on this issue.

eBooks are digital property, not physical. But most print publishers went ahead and priced their eBooks at or close to trade paperback costs. I've read that the reason for keeping the cost of eBooks higher is to "avoid devaluing the print version." When translated, that means: we don't want to lose money.

The reality is that publishers WILL lose money by keeping the price of eBooks high. With the exception of the BIG NAME authors, people just aren't willing to shell out full physical cost for a digital property. What some publishers refuse to realize is that lowering the price on eBooks (again a digital property) will actually make more money because the volume of sales will go up substantially when the eBook price comes down.

After all, we're living in the digital age. The age of iTunes and Instant Video. People will drop a buck on a song or $3 on a movie without batting an eyelash. Why wouldn't books be the same?

So, I'm stoked and proud to say that my publisher, AMG International, is beginning to offer eBooks at a much-lower-than-print-price. It's a progressive move, one that the buying public should appreciate, that's for certain!

I think for AMG, and for many other publishers trying the lower eBook pricing, that it's kind of an experiment. They really want to know if 1) can they make money through higher volume?  2) will print sales go down if they make eBooks inexpensive?  I believe #1: YES, #2: NO. But it's up to the public, really.

So, ladies and gentlemen {Insert Trumpety Fanfare) it gives me great joy to announce that The Sword in the Stars, book 1 of 7 in the Dark Sea Annals, is now available on Kindle for the lowest price ever: $2.99.

$2.99

Click here for EPIC Goodness at a Hobbit-sized price!

http://is.gd/clnRTh

Merry Christmas! All Kindle Titles Free!

Merry Christmas, 2012!

Even as a kid, I dreamed of being an author. And while I know that I have a certain flare for story ideas, I know there are millions of writers just as gifted, and hundreds of thousands of authors more gifted than I am whose work has never seen the light of print.

Why God turned the light green for my stories, I won't know until heaven, but I am grateful beyond words. And to my readers I am grateful also. Not only do you purchase my books, but you read them, and even tell me you like them. I get notes every week now saying how this story or that story meant a lot to someone. It blows me away. 

So, I know it's not much, but I'd like to say THANK YOU and MERRY CHRISTMAS to all of my readers by offering ALL of my Kindle stories for FREE. Amazon only gives you 5 promo free days, so some of my stories only have a couple of free days left. But, staring Saturday, Dec. 22nd thru Christmas Day, ALL of my short stories are free for Kindle. Don't have a Kindle? No worries. Amazon has APPS for every electronic device imaginable. 

Interested? Just click the link below, or click one of the Amazon Book Ads on my sidebar.

http://is.gd/xBhM7H

Please consider telling anyone you know who might want free eBook stories. Thanks for reading.

--Wayne Thomas Batson

Never Alone.

Yuletide, Schmuletide! The Tide of Unmaking is Better!

Endurance and Victory! 
Just a quick reminder that the stunning conclusion to the Berinfell Prophecies: The Tide of Unmaking is out NOW!

You can get it on Kindle, of course. But if you want a paperback, the only place you can get it is Create Space (link below). Christopher Hopper and I appreciate all our Elves and other readers who have faithfully supported this series. We think Tide of Unmaking is something special, tying up a hundred threads with action, humor, fantasy coolness, and more.

If you don't really have a preference, please consider supporting Christopher and I this Christmas Season by purchasing Tide of Unmaking on CreateSpace, as it provides our best profit return. Here's the link:

https://www.createspace.com/3978759

The Tide of Unmaking Paperback

Also, if you've already read Tide of Unmaking, would you consider writing a comment to this blog entry, something that would let readers know what kind of righteous-fantasy-coolness awaits them? Don't give any spoilers away though! Thanks!

Forget Santa, Come Have Breakfast With Me!

Three Christmas Season Booksigning Events

Forget Santa. Come have breakfast* with me! No offense to the man in red, but seriously, when's the last time you saw old Saint Nick swinging a boss righteous broadsword? I rest my case.

The Christmas Season is upon us, and to celebrate with you, I'd like to announce THREE booksigning events. Just like the visitation of Scrooge's three spirits, I'll be coming to visit three times before Christmas!

Please come on out. I'd love to break bread with you, entertain you, and sign some books for you. Here are the events and the details:

Event 1, His Way Christian Bookstore, Ellicott City, Maryland: 

Saturday, December 1st

12:00-1:00pm: Lunch with Author Wayne Thomas Batson at Nora's Cafe. (Those attending the lunch must RSVP to hiswayevents@gmail.com to save your seat.)

1:00-1:15pm: Hero Costume Contest.  (Come dressed as your favorite hero from Wayne's books and compete with other fans for prizes!)

1:30-2:00pm: Author Reading from "The Battle for Cannibal Island" Imagination Station Book #8 and Book Signing. All Ages

2:00-3:00pm: Author Reading from "The Tide of Unmaking" Berinfell Prophecies Book #3 and Book Signing. Ages 10 and Up

Event 2, Family Fun Reading Night at Folly Quarter Middle School: 

Wednesday, December 5th

 

Mark your calendars for: Wednesday, December 5th in the Folly Quarter Middle School Media Center from 7:00-8:30pm! Folly Quarter continues the tradition of providing the finest reading opportunities for its students. 

This year's guest author will be none other than our own Wayne Thomas Batson (That's Mr. Batson to you sixth grade folk), author of 11 novels and several bestsellers. There will be food, swashbuckling swordplay, dramatic readings, books for sale, and signing. Students who come may have an opportunity to have the "night off" of homework in some classes. 

The event happens right before the holidays, so come pick out a signed book for the readers on your list. A portion of ALL sales will go back to FQMS to spend on future student events and supplies. So come on out, get a new book, be entertained, and give Mr. Batson a good ole case of Writer's Cramp.

Event 3, His Way Christian Bookstore, Glen Burnie, Maryland: 

Saturday, December 15th

12:00-1:00pm: Lunch with Author Wayne Thomas Batson at Nora's Cafe. (Those attending the lunch must RSVP to hiswayevents@gmail.com to save your seat.)

1:00-1:15pm: Hero Costume Contest.  (Come dressed as your favorite hero from Wayne's books and compete with other fans for prizes!)

1:30-2:00pm: Author Reading from "The Battle for Cannibal Island" Imagination Station Book #8 and Book Signing. All Ages

2:00-3:00pm: Author Reading from "The Tide of Unmaking" Berinfell Prophecies Book #3 and Book Signing. Ages 10 and Up

I have eleven books to share with you, two of which are brand new!
See below:

Hope to see you there!

Never alone!

-Wayne



*Yes, I know, technically none of these are breakfast, but two of them are LUNCH, so that counts, right?

Releasing the Storms…to You

Captured Storms 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Captured Storms is FREE

Today for Kindle!  

Click this link:

http://is.gd/j46hnN

You may not believe this, but LONG before I became a novelist, I was a poet. Yeah, I know, I know... you're probably picturing me in tights with a pluffy shirt and one of those little medieval caps with a feather sticking out of it. That's disturbing. Okay, picture something else please. ;-)

All kidding aside, poetry was probably my favorite form of creative writing for ten years. I started kind of spontaneously in high school. My wonderful English teacher, Mrs. Mangum produced a literary magazine for the school and encouraged a very shy freshman Batson to give poetry a whirl. Turns out, I loved it. Poetry's not big on length, so it didn't take forever to feel like I'd finished something. You could sit down for an hour and pound something out. And I often did.

It became a kind of high school therapy technique. For my younger readers who are still in high school, you know how volatile and troubling the experience can be. So I wrote and wrote and wrote. That's not to say that I wrote well. It was mostly rhyming verse, mostly on whatever made me angry, lovesick, happy, or sad. Often I wrote song lyrics styled after the heavy metal bands I used to listen to. Oh vey, that was some awful stuff. If anyone out there still has a copy of "Byrds in Leather," please burn it. NOW.

But some of it was pretty good…or at least my high school buddies thought so. It was enough for me.

In 1991, I became a Christian. And that really opened the poetic flood gates. I kept a Mead Black&White Composition book with me at all times and wrote all kinds of praise poetry, exploration of Christian life, doubt-filled wonderings, and a great many examinations of the world through my new Christian eyesight. Again, some of it was lousy, but it was honest, and it was a way for me to communicate to God. And, I am convinced, it was also a way for God to communicate to me.

Long about 2002-2003, I took a creative writing course up at McDaniel College (formerly Western Maryland College) in Westminster. The teacher was a published contemporary poet named Kathy Mangan. This class—and this teacher—hit me like a dump truck. She ripped my poetry up one side and down the other. But I didn't care. It was good. It was sooooo good. She taught me all about the power of words—precise, active verbs to drive every line. And each verb could carry with it a feeling or an image. Words could no longer be wasted. Specific concrete nouns, vivid figures of speech, potent words that could lead readers down more than one path. That class was a watershed moment for my writing. Not that I think I'm a great writer or that my prose are superior—no, far from it. Still very much a students. But that class opened my eyes to what my writing could be. And so much of what I learned there went into every novel I write.

So what's up with Captured Storms? It's a collection of some of my poetry over the years. You can tell the pre2002 stuff pretty easily. {Sigh} But in any case, all this work, all the hours and emotion, all the storms weathered and explored—it all sat collecting dust on a shelf. There was no way to publish it. Most traditional publishers just didn't publish poetry. But now, ebooks have made a way. I'm stoked to release Captured Storms today. Here's a little more about the collection:

View / Purchase Captured Storms

What are “Captured Storms?” They are electric passions stirred by God. They are heart’s cries from a broken person to a broken world. They are the result of those rare times when we finally—FINALLY—shut up long enough for us to hear God speak…when the cacophony of life can no longer drown out the Holy Spirit’s beautiful melody of truth.

Captured Storms are also autobiographical snapshots of where I’ve been. Some of the verse contained here reveal the joys and trials in those years long ago right after I became a Christian. And still others are simply explorations. Some of them are rough and raw; others more polished and purposeful. You’ll find free verse and rhyme. You’ll find some that seem destined to find music and become a song. And then others that would be utterly ruined by the intrusion of notes.
   
How should you use Captured Storms? It is a devotional, but not in the traditional sense. There are no study questions. There’s no small group guide. My hope is that you might read with a willingness to let God have His way with you. Perhaps a word or phrase will prompt you to capture your own storms: be honest with the pain, the struggle, the despair—see the darkness for what it is, and then let the blazing Love of Christ kindle a new fire in your heart.

-Never alone.
Wayne Thomas Batson, 2012

A Knight to Remember...December 5th!

Greetings, fine readers! Hear ye, hear ye!

Wednesday evening,

December 5th from 7:00-8:30pm, 

I will be appearing at Folly Quarter Middle School for an evening of swordplay, signings, banter, and dramatic readings! Come one, come all! Get a book (or seven) signed and personalized! Just in time for the holidays!

A percentage of every book sale goes to help the students of Folly Quarter Middle School, so do come! You'll have a splendid time and help out our students as well!

Folly Quarter Middle School

13500 Triadelphia Road

Ellicott City, Maryland 21042

410.313.1506

Christians: How should we then vote?

With the Presidential Election just a few days away, I'm finding it increasingly frustrating to read/hear that there are some "self proclaimed" Christian citizens still considering a vote for Obama. Hey, free country, do what you want, but please think before you do this.

Think about who you are in Christ. Your job on earth is to reflect God's glory, ie: show His attributes, stand for what He stands for, love what He loves; hate what He hates (sin). Obama supports abortion and gay marriage. Don't believe the hype. Those are not minor issues, esp. abortion. Jesus said "Suffer the little children to come," not "kill them whenever it's convenient."

Gay marriage is an oxymoron, at least for the Christian. It's an impossibility. Marriage as God defined it was man and woman. After all, it was Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve. Not to be overly simplistic, but that's pretty clearly God establishing the order of operations. There is absolutely no mention of homosexuality prior to the first sin. And every mention of gay lust/sex from that point on makes the behavior a sin. Not to say a worse sin than adultery or sex outside of marriage, but still sin. So we don't celebrate the sin by endorsing it as a marriage.

  Those should be deal breaker issues. You vote for Obama, you sneer at God's holiness.

Next, I've heard excuses of "we can't vote for a Mormon." That's just inane. Mormons happen to share a TON of Christian beliefs. But regardless, you want the guy who will do the best job to get our country rolling. If you use Romney's Mormon faith to rule out voting for him, you just confirm the hypocrisy nonChristians accuse Christians of.

Finally, just for the sake of effectiveness, you almost certainly have to vote Romney. Obama was overmatched by the office of President. He talked a good game and failed to follow thru. By his own standard, he needs to go. "One term proposition." He's right about that. If a sitting president does not make marked improvements in 4 years, he does NOT deserve FOUR more. Same for Romney should he get elected.


In sum, consider the issues here: Obama is for big government, more and more people relying on government, muddying moral waters, allowing America to promote sin, gigantic increases in what America owes in debt, and no substantial plan for improvement.







Consider also who promotes Obama, who speaks for him, and the one Obama counts on to "bring in the votes"--Bill Clinton. The man who was disbarred, impeached, and disgraced--and he is the Dem's big hitter? Really? Why would anyone believe a thing Bill Clinton says?

Romney is for reducing government's interference and our dependence on government, making right and wrong clear again, cleansing America of the blight of abortion, keeping marriage as a holy institution, and an actual plan for improvement.  Please vote intelligently and by faith. Mitt Romney is not a perfect candidate. I'm not convinced he'll even be great, but he will almost certainly be better than Obama. And he will almost certainly make our nation more Christian friendly than it has been in years.