Never Alone

Psalm 139

New International Version (NIV)

Psalm 139

For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.

¹ You have searched me, Lord,
    and you know me.
² You know when I sit and when I rise;
    you perceive my thoughts from afar.
³ You discern my going out and my lying down;
    you are familiar with all my ways.
⁴ Before a word is on my tongue
    you, Lord, know it completely.
⁵ You hem me in behind and before,
    and you lay your hand upon me.
⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
    too lofty for me to attain.

⁷ Where can I go from your Spirit?
    Where can I flee from your presence?
⁸ If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
    if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
⁹ If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
    if I settle on the far side of the sea,
¹⁰ even there your hand will guide me,
    your right hand will hold me fast.
¹¹ If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
    and the light become night around me,”
¹² even the darkness will not be dark to you;
    the night will shine like the day,
    for darkness is as light to you.

¹³ For you created my inmost being;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful,
    I know that full well.
¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you
    when I was made in the secret place,
    when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
¹⁶ Your eyes saw my unformed body;
    all the days ordained for me were written in your book
    before one of them came to be.
¹⁷ How precious to me are your thoughts,^[a] God!
    How vast is the sum of them!
¹⁸ Were I to count them,
    they would outnumber the grains of sand—
    when I awake, I am still with you.

¹⁹ If only you, God, would slay the wicked!
    Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty!
²⁰ They speak of you with evil intent;
    your adversaries misuse your name.
²¹ Do I not hate those who hate you, Lord,
    and abhor those who are in rebellion against you?
²² I have nothing but hatred for them;
    I count them my enemies.
²³ Search me, God, and know my heart;
    test me and know my anxious thoughts.
²⁴ See if there is any offensive way in me,
    and lead me in the way everlasting.

No matter what we are going through, where we are, who we are God is with us.  We cannot run away or escape Him.  This was brought to my attention at a bible study on Sunday Evening.  I never thought of that before.  He is always with us.  

So many times I just felt like God was far away.  That my prayers had to float up to Him.  It may seem very silly to some of you but that's kind of how I always thought of things.  

Just trust that He is there and that He hears you.

Getting Things Done!

Finally I'm finishing up a few projects! Thank You God for giving me the time to get them done!

I will have my documentary "Candlelight By Night" finished up this weekend with the voice over and credits done. A 20 minute preview will be happening at the University of Cincinnati Clermont County campus on June 14th at 7pm. Very excited to have that happening!

"Warrior" has been delayed due to editing. I'm hoping to have some news on that front very soon.

I've been plugging away on "Healer" my book that appears to be on track for a release in 2012 unless something unforeseen happens and it comes out this year!

Some great faith based movies are coming out soon!! "Courageous" from the church that made the movies "Flywheel", "Facing the Giants", and "Fireproof" is due out this fall. In theater's now is "Soul Surfer".

It's been a great year so far!!!

God bless you! Please keep the people in Japan, along the Mississippi, and other areas where natural disasters are occurring in your prayers.

Busy Bee

I've been crazy busy so much so that I've not been updating as much as I wish I could.

I've been finishing up interviews for my Underground Railroad Documentary "Candlelight By Night" with the National Underground Freedom Center.

I have had the pleasure of helping out Williamsburg High School get their video production equipment and program up in quality. They have fantastic students, faculty, and superintendent.

I plan on getting my third book edited very soon and released this summer.

God is moving. I need to spend much more time with Him. I am just a man but He is the creator of the universe. He's in control. Not me. Please keep me in your prayers.

Completion and Reflection

As of today I have finished writing "Warrior." It's been an incredible journey taking me to new places in my writing and showing me the darker side of our spiritual battles that I don't think we are always aware of.

It's been a very busy year for me. While writing "Warrior" I also worked on ending and restarting "Small Town Coroner" which despite have a great ending left me wanting to know more about the characters and they struggles they may face in having a family.

We all have our struggles and to delve into the fears, ups, and downs was just too tempting to leave alone.

I also shot a music video for Christian recording artist Appointed. It had been several years since we had last made contact but about three weeks ago I got a message on facebook from someone I didn't know wanting to be my friend. Normally I don't say yes but this time I did. She wanted to do a music video for an upcoming album. So I said yes definatly.

So we start off with song selection..which lead to a lot of driving around in my car trying to find pictures,shots and much more to be a music video together. It was a huge adrenaline rush. So I had to slow down and get some research done as the song was selected. My girlfriend Melissa was a huge help during this process.

Next we had to figure out some details of how many people would be involved and when. So a week went by and then we set a date.

Then we got together in Cincinnati to get started. We spent close to eleven hours shooting in different lighting and locations. This pushed me to some places creatively I don't get the chance to go with video very often. So at the end of the day I think we were all pretty spent but had a great time working together.

Instead of shooting more I said I had enough and two days later I edited together the video with the help of Rodney Reed keeping me on the beat when I couldn't and Andy Crosier giving great suggestions to polish the whole project up. This was my first real venture using Final Cut Pro for a project like this.

So in the end everyone loved it and it was my best work. So here I am now trying to come down off the high of the project and relax. Trying to get back to even keel after working on a project like this is no easy task. Please keep me in your prayers and thank you for taking the time to read what I've been up too. Finally thank God for allowing all this to come together.

NEWS!!!!

Today Thankful To Be Useful was released in paperback and a 2nd edition of He's The Pen, I'm the Paper through a new publisher so all the necessary corrections from the 1st edition were completed by Jim Mohr who also made my website. Praise God! The paperback versions are available at lulu.com and in the coming weeks internationally for retailers. Please keep me in your prayers as this happens and pray for the book to reach people worldwide.

Focus

Do you ever plan something but get so distracted that it doesn't get done? I've had quite a few things I want to get done. Obviously my ebooks are very important and I haven't delivered. Now I'm looking in the mirror and saying hey it's time to go. God I have got to continue to grow in You. God you are my creator and have done more in my life than I could ever understand. The bible says that "We can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Nothing is impossible with God." I have got to start showing that in my life. I have got to pick up the slack and get things done. Please keep me in your prayers. I need them so much right now.

Life is moving along

March 4th I turn 30. Hard to believe that much time has passed. Looking at my son I know that it has. I've been busy switching computers, changing Internet connections and finally getting back to writing.
I'm winding down to the end of small town coroner but maybe it will never end. There are always adventures ahead though.
I lost all my work on the novel I've been working on and it's been a struggle to get it moving again. I've one paragraph done. I know the story but getting it written is proving to be a real challenge.
My two poetry ebooks are taking more time than I expected. I'm pretty awful at formatting them correctly and I've found a friend to undertake that. I am very anxious about getting them out. Mentally I'm very geared up for the promotion of them both. I also look forward to working with amazon.com. I know I can trust them and it's not always that way I'm learning the hard way.

Life is going very well and I'm excited about the direction God is taking me. Please keep me in your prayers. It can often be hard staying focus on Him with so many things going on.