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The last few nights I have had trouble sleeping. Oh, that's an understatement. Since early February I have had trouble sleeping. "Oh a times, they are a changing" (Dylan). In the middle of the night I wake up, writing, shouting, stating my thoughts to the blank void of my bedroom ceiling. I keep thinking, I should be saying SOMETHING. I should be saying something important, something helpful, something encouraging. So here's a little bit of something, for wherever you are, whatever you are doing, however you may be feeling: In all the battles I’ve seen, in all the training exercises, and the obstacles I’ve had to climb in my few days on this planet, I’d have to say that day on the beach was one of the most memorable. I hated tugging that ridiculous net along that beach. I felt like I wasn’t getting anywhere. All of my efforts felt pointless and resistant. With each jerk forward, I made almost no progress. Anger gurgled in a knot within my ribs. Norita wrenched ahead of me along that beach. He shouldn’t have—he was a weakling who couldn’t even keep his lunch down. I struggled, sweat dripping down the sides of my face, burning into my eyes, and sliming up my hands so they slipped along the rope, seared. Blisters welled up on my palms, and my back broiled with a fervent, charring ache. “You gotta pull your own weight, Thompson!” Burkman brought me back. He drew up to my side, hands flailing. He seemed to be everywhere. “You have to get past those demons! You have to fight them; you have to beat them down. Those voices that tell you to stop, those are wrong. Those voices lie. They steal your victory. Out there be dragons, but in here—” He tapped my chest, “—here lodges your sword and shield. You give up, you’ll never win. You? Give up? That’s not you. You are a victor. You are a success. You have what it takes. Keep going, Thompson. Success isn’t a finish line; success isn’t one moment that makes you great. Success is tackling those obstacles one at a time. Success is dragging this weight until you aren’t supposed to carry it any more. This net is your objective. This finish line, this is where you gotta get. You don’t stop until you get that net across the line. You can’t stop. You won’t stop. You carry that weight. Nobody else can pull it. That’s your weight. Now, you don’t give up. Look around. We need you to cross this line. I don’t care if you do this for us, or for yourself, or if you do this for your mama across the water. Your job, soldier, is to bring this net across this line. You can’t win every challenge. Tucker, you have this moment right here to build up to the moments coming to get you. Tomorrow could be harder. That’s okay. Because you’ll have survived this, right here, right now. Drag that net. Cross the line. The line is all we got.” Through the tumult of his words, I buried myself in the forward movement. Me versus the sand. Me versus the weight. The weight withheld its grace, but I secured that rope within my hands and grasped with all I had. That's a little excerpt from HERE BE DRAGONS and it came to me, inspired, and I pray it draws your heart closer to the One who made you, who makes your arms strong, your feet firm, and your heart victorious. Would you like a free book? Or a couple free books? They are all by clean science fiction and fantasy authors with a Christian worldview. Here's a link: https://storyoriginapp.com/bundles/97b669dc-1d57-11eb-b2b7-4fc259165361 AND If you would be interested in purchasing any of my books at a discount of $.99 right now, they are on sale until December 3rd. Here are those links: Insurrection: A Young Adult Science Fiction Fantasy (Book 1) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M8F5YZR/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_S5XLFbMMBDEW4 Incomplete: A Young Adult Science Fiction Fantasy (Insurrection Book 2) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MSABMCK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_G6XLFbF47962W Indelible: A Young Adult Science Fiction Fantasy (Insurrection Book 3) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07229CDKC/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_n7XLFbSCRCXPE Here Be Dragons (An Insurrection story/standalone/Book 4) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0787PKJJF/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_Q7XLFbVDB4JQV Earthshine: A Young Adult Science Fiction Fantasy (Insurrection Series/Standalone/ Book 5) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07J5X6FDL/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_C8XLFbDPHFKN8 The winner of the collaboration giveaway was Katy B. from Louisiana, with 2nd Prize as Teresa K from Indiana. Thank you again, friends, for persevering in this journey with me. May you see miracles around you, may your heart be strong, may you be courageous, and may you act in peace with faith as your guide.
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Treasures, islands, stars, curious songs, tesseracts, caves, and hidden fires...all wrapped nicely within a Kindle Paperwhite OR the runner-up prizes as part of the Thanksgiving giveaway a couple Christian Science Fiction/Fantasy writers and I are collaborating on for some amazing readers to win. Read through to the button below to see how you can win bonus entries and guaranteed prizes! Grand Prize (1 winner): A brand new Kindle Paperwhite loaded with 6 eBooks from bestselling and award-winning authors of speculative fiction with a Christian worldview. ($157.93 Retail)
2nd Prize (1 winner): A Paperback Bundle ($55.15 Retail)
3rd Prize (5 winners): An eBook Bundle ($15.96 Retail)
Update, 11/20/20: One of our authors has decided to sweeten the pot even more with another novel for each main prize level. Click the button below to get your name in the pot! Enter once per day until November 26, 2020, aka Thanksgiving. Winners chosen 11/27/20. After you've entered, be sure to click the confirmation email! Then you'll receive an email with instructions on how you can earn even more contest entries to increase your odds of winning and lock in secret bonus prizes! My Insurrection series will also be on sale for $.99 per book from November 26-December 3rd. I will share those links when the sales go live. I don't do a lot of these promo posts, but my fellow authors and I are group-efforting posts to spread the word a bit more. Hope you will hang in there and maybe see if you can find a new book you are needing to read along the way!
 Earlier this summer, my daughter was "learning" how to ride a bike. The streets in our neighborhood are wobbly and wonky. She asked me constantly, “Why is my bike tipping over?!” and “Why aren’t the streets smooth?!” And I told her the line I memorized from the first page of my driver’s manual:
Not all roads are straight and flat. The first time I read that line in the manual, I laughed. Psh. How OBVIOUS. Not all roads are straight and flat. But then, don’t we expect the roads to be straight and flat? The earth, after all, is not straight and flat, nor is your plotline. Or your heartbeat. If it were, you’d be dead. Instead, we get wobbly and wonky, and you just have to learn how to navigate the curves. See, she’s terrified of falling over. She wants to ride her bike “like a big girl” but at the same time she wants the process to be simple and easy. Life has been moderately easy. Until the last few months. And I think that even in her little world, she’s feeling the shakiness. And in a big way, she became even more aware that falling over hurts. There was a little bump at the end of the driveway – she screamed. “I can’t do it!” There was a pot hole around the corner. “I’m going to fall down!” she began to panic. She leaned precariously to the opposite side. “Just put your foot down,” I stated. “Create balance.” Through the whole ride, she continued to state her failures ahead of time, screamed about her inadequacies, and demanded assistance. At one dip in the road, I even pushed the back of her seat over a bump to show her that going over the bumps was easier if you went faster rather than slower. When we got back to the house we sat down, eye to eye. I asked her why she was so afraid of falling down, and she didn’t have an answer. Sometimes, when you see that life is changing, you just feel anxious. Your awareness of your smallness grows. Even for the littles. I know I use this verse often, but I find myself repeating it and exploring it with my children. They have many fears and anxieties. So we use this verse as our motto: For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7). And on that day, beside this fiery little spirit, those words made a little more sense. God built us with strong bodies, strong hearts, and strong spirits. He crafted us to solve problems, enabled our bodies to become stronger and more capable, and gave us humor and hope to rove these wandering roads. He didn’t put us together as lumps of green goo. He didn’t make us cats, or gnats, or clay blobs. He didn’t make us to sit, afraid, timid, in the dark, crying and stuck. He specifically asked his disciples, “Why do you have no faith?” “That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him” (Mark 4:35-41)! Jesus knew his plans: Morning meet-and-greet with the crowds on the shore. Afternoon boat tour across the lake. Nap. Evening gathering with the local town outcast. Normal day. The disciples follow along, unaware of the bigger picture (relate?) and suddenly they are in the middle of The Life of Pi and wondering where the tiger is. And somehow Jesus is asleep. Jesus knew the storm. He knew who could control the storm, he knew the power of the storm, and even further, he knew his ability to overcome the storm. He knew of different storms on the horizon. Do you know how capable you are? Do you know who made you, piece by piece, capable, competent, and purposed? Before this storm occurred, Jesus had spoken to them. “Consider carefully what you hear,” he added. “With the measure you use, it will be measured to you—and even more. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them” (Mark 4:34-35). Many things spread easily. Smiles, laughter, silliness. Tension, anger, frustration. Panic, worry, blame. Hope, grit, perseverance. Faith. With the measure you use, you will be given more. Are you focusing on the panic, the gripping fear of the unknown, and the uncertainty that you were unaware of before? OR are you focusing on the author of faith? Are you focusing on the Provider, the Guide, the King of all? The first and last, who knows the storms and has prepared you to face them. Or, possibly, he has prepared that storm to face you. Maybe you need to see hope, and darkness is where you will find it. Because a shadow just means that there is light nearby. If you act with hope, you will find more hope. If you act with great faith, with unity, with great perseverance, with kindness, with generosity… you may not always see the measure coming back. But it goes out and ripples onward. And if you act in fear, if you give out panic, and anxiety, and if you give out criticism, and snide remarks, and blame…those make waves, too. Which waves do you want to spread? And what waves do you want to arrive at your feet? You know what else? Jesus knew what lay beyond the storm. He knew his disciples would continue struggling with understanding. And they reacted similarly – they were even more shook than before. He controls the STORMS?! WHAT. The tests show you who you are and whose you are. What lays beyond…that’s where you see faith walking on water. It’s not just the storm. It’s the changed life afterwards that shows who you are. Some of my most anxious thoughts have been about what will happen “after” this pandemic. What will life be like on the other side? This has opened so many wide, broad doors to fear and anxiety. Let’s not go that way. Let’s instead, like Jesus did, stand up and call out that peace which surpasses all understanding. Let’s use our wit, our strong arms, our strong hearts, our strong spirits. “No matter how you move, always rise” (one of my Reebok shirts). Regardless of what waves arrive, regardless of the road before you-- You are stronger than you know. You are more capable than you imagine. You were built to overcome the storm. You were built to thrive. Why are you so afraid? Not every road is for the strong of heart. Or perhaps it is. ****** Have you entered the giveaway to win a KindlePaperwhite and lots of encouraging faith in fiction books? Amy Purdy's caption on one Instagram photo displays a twenty-one year-old girl in a white hospital gown, with a resilient smile on her face. She'd just had both of her legs amputated below the knees. Her words rang true then and they ring true now.
"In fact when I was wheeled into surgery, I gave myself three goals. 1. To never feel sorry for myself. 2. To snowboard that year and 3. When I figured this mess out, I vowed to help others. And I'm proud to say, that I accomplished all of them and ended up going further than I ever could have imagined. I didn't just snowboard, I won a medal in the Olympic/Paralympic Games. I didn't just help others, I have become one of the top requested motivational speakers in the country and started my own organization @adaptiveactionsports. But most importantly... I never ever gave up on myself. No matter what your circumstances are, don't ever give up on yourself. You are important and your contribution to this world and humanity is needed. You can be whatever you want to be. But there isn't anyone who is going to figure it out for you, you have to figure it out for yourself." Battling meningitis, losing both kidneys, her spleen, and the hearing in her left ear, weighing eighty-three pounds, and at a two percent chance of survival, Amy Purdy proved to be one resilient cupcake. That same year she strapped on her snowboard. Three years later, she earned a bronze medal in the snowboardcross at the Paralympic Winter Games Sochi 2014. She’s continued moving forward, joining the Dancing With The Stars cast in their eighteenth season, which is where I first saw her dance with partner Derek Hough. I rooted for her every step of the way, gasping when she’d whirl around on the floor, and as Derek would toss her around like a graceful puppet. She held her own, all the way to runner-up. I voted for her, I gotta say! She never earned a score less than an 8 during the entire run. Amy has spoken on TEDx talks and her speech has become the example from which others are advised to learn in order to present their speeches; she also has a New York Times bestselling book. “Borders are where the actual ends, but also where the imagination and the story begins,” Amy said in her TEDx talk. “Instead of looking at our challenges and limitations as something negative or bad, we can begin to look at them as blessings, magnificent gifts that can be used to ignite our imaginations and help us go further than we ever knew we could go.” Other accomplishments? She went on a speaking engagement tour with Oprah Winfrey, drove a pace car in the Daytona 500, and runs Adaptive Action Sports, a company which helps athletes compete in action sports. She had to create her own gear in order to continue snowboarding, and has used that knowledge to help others. She also competed in the Paralympic Winter Games PyeongChang in 2018, earning a silver medal in snowboardcross and a bronze in banked slalom. Amy’s TEDx talk asks viewers, “If your life were a book and you were the author, how would you want your story to go?” She said after she left the hospital, she had to let go of the old Amy and embrace the new Amy. You’ve got to admit, we humans like a good hero story. We like a guy who rises from the ashes. You’ve got some button—some button that engages your fears, your failures, your darkness—and you’ve also got the ability to quell them. The Not Good Enough seeks you to serve you. How will you greet it? How will you create your story? The building action drives those decisions you make. You get every opportunity to be the hero. “There's no need to be perfect to inspire others,” Amy wrote on an Instagram post. “Let people get inspired by how you deal with your imperfections.” Perhaps you’re sitting on the living room floor, staring at your laptop, illuminated in the dark, just like I am. Perhaps your insides have been trembling in fear. We rise. We rise up fearless, borderless, and creative. Perhaps you’ve been training your whole life just for this incredible moment. This new moment where you embrace your new day. “It’s not about breaking down borders. It’s about pushing off of them and seeing what amazing places they might bring us.” See Amy’s TEDx talk here: http://amypurdy.com/speaker/  Do you like prizes? Well, do I have great news for you. A couple amazing science fiction/fantasy authors and I have collaborated on a neat giveaway so that YOU can win big. Check out the different prizes available. All you have to do is enter the giveaway and share with friends. When you refer friends and they enter, you get more entries to win! Check out this amazing deal:
PRIZES – Total retail value $289.88 Grand Prize (1 winner): A brand new Kindle Paperwhite loaded with 6 eBooks from bestselling and award-winning authors of speculative fiction with a Christian worldview. A New Kindle Paperwhite – the thinnest, lightest model, now waterproof, with 8 GB of storage, Audible, and Bluetooth The Treasure of Capric by Brandon M Wilborn, an Amazon Kindle #1 Bestseller Wolf of The Tesseract by Christopher D Schmitz Insurrection by Kadee Carder The Seer by Erin R Howard Succession by Brett Armstrong A Star Curiously Rising by Kerry Kietz, winner of the Readers Favorite Gold Medal Award for Christian Science Fiction 2nd Prize (1 winner): A Paperback Bundle · The Treasure of Capric (The King of The Caves Book 1) by Brandon M Wilborn · Siren Silence: The Fate of Cpt. Bacchus (A King of The Caves Novella) by Brandon M Wilborn · Wolf of The Tesseract (Wolves of the Tesseract Book 1) by Christopher D Schmitz · Through the Darque Gates of Koth (Wolves of the Tesseract Book 2) by Christopher D Schmitz 3rd Prize (5 winners): An eBook Bundle · The Treasure of Capric (The King of The Caves Book 1) by Brandon M Wilborn · Siren Silence: The Fate of Cpt. Bacchus (A King of The Caves Novella) by Brandon M Wilborn · Wolf of The Tesseract (Wolves of the Tesseract Book 1) by Christopher D Schmitz · Through the Darque Gates of Koth (Wolves of the Tesseract Book 2) by Christopher D Schmitz Bonus Guaranteed Prizes: Earned through referrals · 3 referrals = Behind The Scenes audio and visual content from Brett Armstrong and Brandon M Wilborn · 5 referrals = "The Alliance Military Guard Training Guide", a high intensity workout smuggled from Kadee Carder's Insurrection series. · 7 referrals = FREE shipping on signed print copies at BrandonWilborn.com · 9 referrals = A Free Audiobook from Christopher Schmitz |
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