Hunkered Down

Excerpt from Chapter 6 - Stand At The Cross Roads:  About that time one of my next-door neighbors, Brenda Gaskins, began hounding me about meeting a Christian friend of hers. Brenda was a cheerful, friendly young mother of three with blonde shoulder length hair. Her friend lived "just on the other side of Chriesman," where Brenda pastured her horse.

            Ironically, once again I was too busy trying to figure out things on my own to get involved with people in the community, I kept putting Brenda off, and putting her off, and putting her off. She was relentless. One day she dropped by and found me, as usual, sitting in the dark, my face lit by the computer screen, books and papers scattered on every surface.

            "I’m going to check on my horse. Come get in the truck and go with me. You need to meet my friend."

            Not today. Wearing my usual cutoffs and t-shirt, my hair air-dried and unruly, I just didn’t need this right now. "Brenda - "

             "No excuses. You need to do this. Come on."

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Roughing It

Excerpt from Chapter 5 - Stand At The Cross Road: The barely accessible, deeply rutted clay road ran along the west side of the acreage, and a small clearing sat at the top end of that road. To say it was hot understates the weather by about twenty degrees. Texas summers are always hot. But in a Texas thicket, surrounded on all sides by vegetation, by shrubs and vines that grab at your clothing and scratch at your face, the heat comes at you like a steamroller, sucking the breath right out of your lungs.

            There are also the no-see-ums, those tiny bugs that fly up your nose and into your ears and eyes. Scott and Dale faced quite a challenge setting up the tents. Tent stakes simply won’t hold in sand. Jeremy, with far less hassle, helped me hang my hammock between two oak trees, but Jennifer and Nina had to search forever to find rocks for the campfire ring. My nephew, Jay, watched from his perch in a tall oak as he insanely swayed the entire top of the tree a hundred feet off the ground. 

A Time To Fish Or Cut Bait!

Excerpt from Chapter 4 - Stand At The Cross Roads:  Cross Roads wasn't going to save my marriage.  With the nauseating realization that I was starting over again, I began the legal process of disentangling our two lives.  I had no idea how I could carry on with what I knew God had called me to do.  I'd been out of the work force for quite some time, was at an age where few prospects for meaningful employment were available, and was facing the reality of leaving the marriage with minimal resources.

For my entire life, I'd heard calls to faith, countless calls to rely on God.  Where God guides He provides. Was it true or not?   If not, then I'd wasted a lot of time in church.   It was time to decide what I really believed.   It was time to fish or cut bait.

The Eyes Of My Heart Opened

Excerpt from Chapter 3 – Stand At The Cross Roads:  Sitting there beneath the oak trees, the thought occurred to me that if I could do anything in the world for the rest of my life, this would be it: Provide a place where God can break through the chaos of everyday life to touch, change, and empower young people. Watching the kids this weekend experiencing their spirituality at a deeper level than most adults experience in a lifetime, a striking revelation had hit me. Most youth camps I’d ever heard of were missing the point, with their swimming pools, basketball courts, and all the latest jazziest equipment for entertaining kids.  Those same distractions existed in kids’ everyday lives.  Here in this minimal, unsophisticated camp, they had embraced the simplicity of faith.

What might have changed in my life had I experienced God in this way at an early age? I realized then that I would give anything to help save one child, one person, from the pain of making some of the mistakes I’d made.

God's Guide Posts: Learn as You Go

Excerpt from Chapter 2: Stand at the Cross Roads   
I knew nothing about using a chainsaw, but God placed one in my hands anyway.  I knew nothing about moving a house, but God gave me one anyway - and boy, did I fail that test, at least the first time around.  Before doing that, however, he gave me 160 acres, thick with yaupon scrub and thorny greenbrier vines.  He expected me to clear the land and build a retreat.

In preparation, many, many years before that, He gave me three beautiful children....

Daughters Jennifer on my right and Nina on my left.   (Son - Jeremy not pictured)

In pursuing the goal of publication, I need at LEAST 200 Fans, as recommended by several Literary Agents!  If you enjoy following the story, please recommend this Fan Page to your friends and family! 

Discovering Community

Excerpt from Chapter 1:  Stand at the Cross Roads - The youth program's mission at my Houston church was to provide fellowship, build faith-forming relationships, learn to live life abundantly, and to worship passionately.  Although I'd always known intellectually that Jesus is there for us, I'd never realized that one way He accomplishes this feat is by working through His people.  In guiding me to volunteer with the youth program, He gave me the opportunity to learn.   I was learning what I taught as I taught it.  Yet as I coached these kids to be open, trusting, accepting, and to seek support and guidance from their Christian friends, I felt like a complete fraud.

 

Markers In Our Faith

I have heard from several publishers and agents with input on the "process" of getting a manuscript published. The advice ranged from "re-evaluate your commitment" to "embrace the challenge".   Rest assured I am continuing to work toward the goal of publication!  

Several agencies recommended building a following for the proposed book by blogging, so, I'm gonna get better at blogging.  Stand at the Cross Roads consists of an introduction and thirty-three chapters. Starting now I will publish a short except from each of the thirty-three chapters, one every day for the next thirty-four days.  Today's excerpt will be from the Introduction which was written by someone  near and dear to many of you. 

My goal is to attract between 200 to 500 "followers", as recommended by several agents.  If you like what you read - please officially join this blog by becoming a Follower and share this link with your friends.   Blessings to each and every one of you and thank you so much for your prayerful support of Stand at the Cross Roads as God guides it through "the process"!

 INTRODUCTION            

 Markers In Our Faith 

"I feel the spirit of God when I go through the gate at Cross Roads, and I like to think it is also the spirit of all the people whose lives have been changed and are being changed as you read the story of faith in the pages that follow.  If we were to place a plaque to mark the spots where the lives of men, women and youth were transformed at Cross Roads, we would be surrounded by names - in the conference room, the dining hall, the chapel, the outdoor tabernacle, the prayer trail, the ropes course and everywhere in between."   

Rev. John Warren

St. John's United Methodist Church 

Rockdale, Texas