I can’t believe the time is already here. As some of you are aware, this process began way back in April. I had intended to attend the ACFW Writers’ conference again this year to continue working on my craft. But it soon became clear that God intended to work on crafting me instead. After some investigation with Living Water International, I connected with a team from Kalamazoo, Michigan. I am so excited to have the opportunity to witness firsthand the work that our publishing proceeds go to support.

Throughout this week, check back for daily posts on where we are headed and what we are up to. Or at least according to our initial plans. (For additional up-to-date posts, swing by my author page on Facebook.) Thank you for stopping by and for your prayers throughout this journey.

“I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you.” – Psalm 32:8 NLT

Today, I am flying out of Grand Rapids bright and early with three other team members from Kalamazoo. We will meet up with one additional member in Atlanta, before flying on to San Pedro Sula in Honduras. Once we arrive in country, we will meet up with our in-country director. The remainder of the day will provide us an opportunity to acclimate, relax, and experience the locality.

Pray: As is always the case when traveling, and especially true with this kind of ministry experience, we can put together the best of plans, but ultimately only God knows and has control of what will actually occur. Pray that I will be flexible when changes occur and that God will use whatever transpires to make the biggest impact among those we will have opportunity to minister to, among our team, and in my own heart. I would also appreciate your prayers for our safety, as well as the wellbeing of our families at home.

¡Hasta mañana!

Hearts of Compassion Publishing was founded to direct all of our novel publishing proceeds to compassion based ministries that are fulfilling Jesus’ Matthew 25 teaching of “whatever you do for one of the least of these . . . you do for Me.” And if you’ve been around here very long, you know that the first organization we are working with is Living Water International. In fact, dozens of families who were in desperate need of clean water have been helped because of you, our faithful readers.

Well, I am excited to announce that in just two short weeks, I will have the opportunity to join Living Water in the nation of Honduras to participate in the drilling of a new water well for a community that does not currently have a reliable source of clean drinking water. As I prepare and pack for this thrilling trip, I must admit I am both excited and apprehensive about what I will encounter.

I truly expect God will be at work in my life and ministry throughout this trip. I will likely be pushed physically, as we labor in a hot and humid tropical climate; emotionally, as I observe levels of need that we seldom see here in the US; and mentally, as I am immersed in a culture and language that is wholly unfamiliar to me. Still I fully trust God, that all of this will be invaluable, as I am grown spiritually through the experience of His love and trustworthiness.

I would greatly value your prayers for me, my family, and those I have the privilege of ministering to and with. I would encourage you to check back here daily beginning October 8th, as I will be posting our planned activities for the day, and ways that I would appreciate you to be praying. Also, as I have opportunity, I will try to post live updates on my author page on Facebook. Just as you have participated in changing lives through your support of my novels, so to you can participate with me in changing lives in Honduras through your prayers and encouragement.
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‘Til then!

In case you hadn't noticed, it's been a bit quiet around here this summer. After the push to get Restoration's Journey published and promoted, I decided to take some time off from writing to simply enjoy my summer. It has been a time to relax, refresh, and spend time with my family.

Well, as the sun sets on summer, my sabbatical draws to an end. I am excited to get back at it. I have had the opportunity to read some great stories as well as some inspiring non-fiction. Through the process I have been reminded why I write. God has given me a message to share and the ability to creatively communicate that message. I was also reminded that I may never know the impact my faithfulness to this calling may bring. However, I am convinced this is what God has called me to do, and so once again I am excited to do it.

What remains now is to decide which book I will work on. There are beloved characters, whom you have met in the Unseen Dominion series, who are patiently waiting for their paths to unfold in the ways their author would direct. And trust me, there is an important final chapter remaining for them to walk out. On the other hand, there are some brand new characters in a book tentatively named Seer, who have begun a nail-biting journey with a powerful message to share.

So to you, my faithful readers, I have a question: Would you prefer to wait a bit longer to get the third, and I believe final, book in the Unseen Dominion series? Or would you be okay with me introducing a whole new series, of which book one is about half written? I realize this is a tough question to ask, given that you have only met half of the characters in question, but let me leave you with one final thought. I am quite sure that if you knew the terrible situations in which the new characters currently find themselves, you would be demanding that I conclude the story and liberate these pour souls, as soon as possible. ;)

Let me know what you think.

I am so excited to be gearing up for my second ever public book signing. The people at Family Christian in Holland have been incredible to work with. This event is the result of an inquiry I made about stocking my book on their shelves. The request was met with great excitement about the possibilities both for book sales and a signing event. Because the genre of my books is well suited to both young readers, as well as male readers, they suggested hosting the event this coming weekend to line up with both graduation gift and Father's Day gift buying. It was also mentioned that there are other West Michigan stores, if the book does well here in Holland.

There are a myriad of thoughts that accompany a book signing event, at least for me. What if I don't have enough copies? (I know, wishful thinking.) What if no one shows up? What do I write? Then there's the dreaded, what if I spell someone's name wrong? And on, and on, and on... Most of all, I am just looking forward to meeting some of the awesome readers who've supported my writing and our mission of compassion. Which by the way, Family Christian is also a non-profit dedicated to supporting compassion ministries with their sales.

I know many of you, my faithful blog readers, are not from the area. So I probably won't see you there. But I would very much appreciate your thoughts and prayers on Saturday. As always, it is my desire that these stories would draw people closer to God, while at the same time providing much needed clean water for those around the globe.

'Til next time!

It's been awhile since our last update on the primary purpose of Hearts of Compassion. Our mission is to provide clean edifying stories in order to raise funds to provide clean water to those around the world without.
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​In the past few months, since the release of Restoration's Journey, book two in the Unseen Dominion series, we've been able to provide clean water for a year to a couple dozen more families.

​Imagine that mother in Ethiopia who spent hours every week carrying unsanitary water to her family, or a preteen daughter in Sierra Leone put at risk daily of assault because she had to fetch water by herself, or that young boy in Mexico who could have died from diarrhea due to waterborne parasites. Every person who receives clean water as a result of our stories is given a blessing beyond measure.

​The need is great and the task is daunting. We need your help. Here are some ways you can help:
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1. Pray - Nothing "we" do will bring about the momentum needed to get this project off the ground. We need God to lift it up. So, we need you to lift us up.
2. Read - If you've already read In The Image of Man, thank you. If not, your purchase will help provide clean water and will be a worthwhile investment of your time.
3. Rate - Click a star. It's that simple. Getting ratings on Amazon helps to put books in front of more readers.
4. Review - A quick honest blurb about why you liked the book can be so influential in someone's decision to purchase the book. Shout out on Amazon and Goodreads.
5. Discuss - Tell others about the book and our mission. Talk in person. Join discussions on Goodreads. Vote for our books in Listopia lists.
6. Follow - Follow me on Goodreads, this blog, Facebook, or Twitter, to stay up-to-date and help share the word.

It's been awhile since I've posted a book review. But after reading (actually, listening to) Blessed Child by Ted Dekker and Bill Bright (founder of Campus Crusade for Christ), I couldn't wait to post a review. This novel is, without a doubt, one of the best stories I've read for quite some time. Is it because of the excellent storytelling prowess of Ted Dekker, the lovable characters, the fast pace, or the intriguing premise set forward by Bill Bright? Honestly, I don't know, probably all of the above. What I do know is that I couldn't wait to get back to the story, every time I put it down.

​If you are familiar with my work, you will know that I love speculative fiction that makes you rethink your understanding of the world around you. Blessed Child is definitely in that category. It seamlessly weaves together speculation about the spiritual world, fast-paced action, romance, and intrigue to keep your attention and pluck at your heartstrings.

​Caleb is a young child who was raised in a monastery in Ethiopia. When soldiers launch an unexplained attack to destroy the monastery, two relief workers from the west rescue young Caleb and bring him to Los Angeles. But it soon becomes evident that this is no ordinary child. Despite having never left the monastery, Caleb begins to change the world around him and leaves all involved scrambling to react. Likewise, his story will change the way you view the world.

​If you haven't read this book, I highly recommend doing so.

Till next time.

This is the final post of our Angels and Demons blog series. I hope you have enjoyed reading these as much as I have enjoyed writing them. It is incredible to really dive into the battle in which we are engaged. And just a bit overwhelming. The battle is real, the enemy is powerful and evil, and the war is won!

Today, we’ll conclude the series by looking at the role angels played in the most significant event in history. We’ve already seen that angels are messengers from God. They bring news and instruction to His people. This was never more true than on the morning of the resurrection. Here we find two followers of Jesus going to the tomb where His body had been laid three days earlier.

Suddenly there was a violent earthquake, because an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and approached the tomb. He rolled back the stone and was sitting on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his robe was as white as snow. The guards were so shaken from fear of him that they became like dead men. But the angel told the women, "Don't be afraid, because I know you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here! For He has been resurrected, just as He said. Come and see the place where He lay. (Matthew 28:2-6)

What a privilege for this angel to be the first to proclaim, “He is not here! He is risen from the dead.” No greater news has ever been proclaimed by a herald. It is important to note that when the stone was rolled away Jesus was already gone. He overcame death. The angel didn’t come to let Jesus out, but to let them in. In John’s account, we see another message from the angels to Mary Magdalene.

She saw two angels in white sitting there, one at the head and one at the feet, where Jesus' body had been lying. They said to her, "Woman, why are you crying?" (John 20:12-13)

This is a great picture, and one that would have been very familiar to the Jewish people. Two angels sat where Jesus had been, one at the foot and one at the head. When God instructed the Israelites to construct the Ark of the Covenant, He had them place an angel at each end of the cover with their wings spread over what was called the mercy seat. The presence of God would then appear in a cloud above the mercy seat, between the angels. Surely when God gave this instruction, He looked out across time to see His Son lying between the wings of these angels, the culmination of His appearance to and provision for humanity. When Mary arrived only the angels remained. Christ had overcome death!

The battle which we now wage on His behalf isn’t waged to bring about victory. The victory is already won. Rather, we fight to make Him known, to increase His glory, to remove blindness, and to see His kingdom evidenced on earth. In His name, even the demons will submit. (Luke 10:17)

Thank you for joining me on this blog journey through the unseen realm.

Till next time!

Yesterday we saw that our enemy seeks to deceive and destroy God’s creation, and especially humanity. Today, I want to dive deeper into this deception and look at the ultimate deception of the enemy, one that stems from the very rebellion they first conducted. Satan’s sin against God was seeking to be equal to God. He wasn’t seeking to destroy God, or to become more powerful. Even he knew better. God is limitless in His being. No, Satan sought the glory that belonged only to God.

So it shouldn’t surprise us that much of the enemy’s efforts are focused on leading us away from God and His truth. The ultimate deception of the enemy is to get humanity to worship anything other than the one true God. In the earlier days of mankind, this often took the form of presenting themselves as gods.

They provoked His jealousy with foreign gods; they enraged Him with detestable practices. They sacrificed to demons, not God, to gods they had not known, new gods that had just arrived, which your fathers did not fear. (Deuteronomy 32:16-17)

We see here that the sacrifices offered to the gods of that day were actually offered to demons. I think we often assume that these ancient gods were made up by people, figments of their imaginations. But I’m not so sure that is true. It appears more likely that the demons deceived the people, possibly quite tangibly, into thinking they were gods. Here’s a brief excerpt from Restoration’s Journey, where a demon reflects on those days:

In his homeland he had acquired great respect and even the worship of the locals. They thought he was a god. He gave great power to those who followed him. They painted images of him—even on their crypts. Now he was reduced to chasing a measly child like some kind of rabbit. Cursed Creator and that bumbling traitor Moses. Even the wind-swirled fog reminded Ophois of the tempestuous currents of the crashing walls of water in the Red Sea. – Restoration’s Journey

But that was then, right? We are much more sophisticated. We would never fall for that. Perhaps, perhaps not. Either way, there are many ways to draw people’s worship from the true God.

But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel other than what we have preached to you, a curse be on him! (Galatians 1:8)

You see, any form of gospel (good news about how to be right with God) that does not have as its sole focus the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God’s only Son is a false gospel—a deception of the enemy. And the enemy is clever, their “good news” will often appear logical, attractive, and at times even God-honoring. “And no wonder! For Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.” (2 Corinthians 11:14)

Remember the only way to win this battle with a deceptive and wily foe is to “submit to God. But resist the Devil, and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7)

Last week we saw that as many as a third of the angels followed Satan in his rebellion against God. It is these fallen angels that oppose us, and all God’s created beings, in the unseen battle. I thought it would be appropriate today, as we remember that day thousand years ago—the day that was both the darkest in human history and the source of our one and only eternal hope—to look closely at our adversary in this battle.

We know that from humanity’s earliest days, Satan has sought to corrupt, deceive, and destroy God’s creation, most importantly His crowning creation, people. In Genesis chapter three we see Satan (referred to as the serpent) and his role in the downfall of humanity.

“No! You will not die,” the serpent said to the woman. “In fact, God knows that when you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Then the woman saw that the tree was good for food and delightful to look at, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. (Genesis 3:4-6)

God had given specific commands to Adam and Eve not to eat the fruit of this tree. And yet here we find Satan deceiving and luring Eve, and Adam, into their first rebellion against God. A choice from which Satan knew there was no going back. And yet God had a plan—a plan to demonstrate His great grace and love for humanity. Thousands of years later, Satan attempted to once again tempt and deceive. Only this time he chose to face off against God Himself.

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the Devil. After He had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, He was hungry. Then the tempter approached Him and said, “If You are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

But He answered, “It is written: Man must not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”

Then the Devil took Him to the holy city, had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: He will give His angels orders concerning you, and they will support you with their hands so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.”

Jesus told him, “It is also written: Do not test the Lord your God.”

Again, the Devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. And he said to Him, “I will give You all these things if You will fall down and worship me.”

Then Jesus told him, “Go away, Satan! For it is written: Worship the Lord your God, and serve only Him.” Then the Devil left Him, and immediately angels came and began to serve Him. (Matthew 4:1-11)

We are told that Satan, and his fellow fallen angels, are actively involved in the battle—tempting, deceiving, accusing, and even blinding people to the truth of the Gospel. Their tools of attack have eternal consequences and we are called to be warriors in the unseen battle. Our tools are given in Ephesians chapter six—truth, righteousness, peace, faith, salvation, God’s word, and finally, prayer. We are in a war, armor up!

Today I thought it might be good to offer a brief note of caution. We have seen that angels are powerful deliverers who often brought great news. If we aren’t careful it would be easy to become obsessed with them. Even to the point of worship. We human beings are created by God with a deep need to worship. Unfortunately, we so often are prone to worship the beauty and greatness God created rather than the Creator Himself. Here is the response of an angel in the book of Revelation when John fell down before him in worship.

Then I fell at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, "Don't do that! I am a fellow slave with you and your brothers who have the testimony about Jesus. Worship God, because the testimony about Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." (Revelation 19:10)

Angels know their place. They are fellow creations, called to worship God (Psalm 148:2). As we see in this passage from Revelation, they will not accept our worship. So we need to be cautious. Basically, if you offer your worship to an angel, they will rebuke you. Or, if they don’t, they are not really an angel, but a fallen angel. So much the worse.

Here is an excerpt of this from In The Image of Man:

“Welcome, Chris, my friend.”

Chris fell to the ground in worship.

“No. No, my friend, you must not do that. I am just a messenger.”

Chris felt a presence approach.

“My name is Eran. I have been with you for six and a half years—since you began your walk with Jesus the Christ.”