In celebration of Easter, I wanted to share the Scriptures from the Gospels that mentioned Jesus had risen. That is indeed the heart of Easter.

"He is not here, for he has risen, as he said." (Matthew 28:6)

"And he said to them, 'Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was
crucified. He has risen; he is not here.'" (Mark 16:6)

“Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen!"
(Luke 24:5-6)

I love those, don't you?!

Every morning, I receive a verse-of-the-day email from BibleGateway.com. This morning's email was a powerful reminder of the reason behind Jesus' resurrection.

"But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are
healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own
way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all." (Isaiah 53:5-6)

Something I noticed, although these words are in different chapters, they all are located in Verse 6. That bears repeating. The words "He has risen" are ALL in Verse 6. Now, I'm weird about finding patterns in things that may not be there, but this is my take on it:

Three sixes have been known to represent the number of the Beast. It's a number I like to avoid whenever possible. But seeing that in three of the Gospels, "He has risen" occurs in Verse 6 - there are three sixes. I must admit, at first, that freaked me out!

And then, I realized - "He has risen" means He has conquered death. HE WINS!! He triumphs over the three sixes - yet another reminder of His perfection! Even in a subtle way that I (probably the only one) would pick up on...my Jesus proves Himself the Victor. How exciting is that?!

In the midst of my pattern craziness, I wish you all a very blessed and happy Easter. May you receive the joy of the Resurrection! Remember - above ALL else - Jesus died for you. It only took once to cover sin for all time...and all He asks of you is to believe.

Blessings, my friends.

Last night, I got to see Oz, the Great and Powerful. I had high hopes for this movie. I loved the colors and designs I saw in the trailers. I was a huge Oz fan as a child (although I have to admit I've never read the books). I was even willing to look past the lead actor - let me say up front that James Franco is not among my favorite actors.

Sadly, I left the theater disappointed.

The first scenes, presented in black and white as a tribute to The Wizard of Oz, seemed to last a bit too long. That kind of carried through the rest of the film. The scripting seemed laborious and a bit campy at times. When we're talking children's movies, I understand that a certain amount of "camp" has to happen...but this wasn't strictly a children's movie.

The whole premise behind how the Wicked Witch of the West turned wicked was an implied affair with the Wizard. That's pretty adult content, and that turned me off. Bringing that kind of reasoning for a villain into a children's story just doesn't work, in my opinion, of course. And as far as the Witch is concerned, Mila Kunis was far too pretty, even in the green makeup.

As I said earlier, I was willing to overlook James Franco. Willing to give him another shot as an actor. I couldn't stand him. I found nothing endearing about his character, even as he transformed into the loveable Wizard of Oz.

The final battle scene between Glinda and Evanora reminded me of the battles between Jedi and Sith in Star Wars. Been there, done that. It could have been much more spectacular or creative...and it fell short.

All that to say, I'm glad I got to see the movie. Had I DVRed it, I probably would have skimmed through and deleted it promptly. Because someone paid for it, I sat through it. If I don't think too much about it, I might be able to say I enjoyed it. But from a critical point of view, it let me down.

I've love to hear what you think, though. Let me know!

In just a few weeks, I get to participate in an awesome event at our local library. It's called, "Mountain of Authors," and it's a celebration of local authors in the Pikes Peak region. I'll get to hang out with fellow authors, introduce and talk about my book with the audience, and listen to other presentations. It's going to be great!

I hope you'll join us! You can check out the event here:
Pikes Peak Library District Mountain of Authors

See you there!

A few weeks ago, I attended GalaxyFest as an author. You remember the awesome pictures, right? Darth Vader holding a copy of Asylum. It rocked! I didn't sell as many books as I had hoped, of course, but it was still a great time.

With that in mind, I had plans to attend StarFest in April. It's a bigger "con", so I thought perhaps my chances would be a bit better. I loved going to this one when I was in high school, and it was quite exciting to think that I'd be there on the author end.

Until I found out that a major writers' conference was happening nearby that very same weekend.

What do I do?! I am an unagented, "traditionally-published-by-a-self-publisher" author. I could certainly use the opportunity to rub elbows with other writers, agents, and editors! I had a choice to make.

And tonight, I made it. I am going to participate in the conference. As much as I would love to sign and sell books all weekend, I think it would be a better choice in the long run to meet up with the folks mentioned above. And perhaps learn a thing or two about writing. I'll be the first to admit I still have a lot to learn!

So I'll be putting aside StarFest for now. But perhaps next year, I'll have two books to promote instead of just Asylum. And of course, this means I have a lot of work to do to prepare. I have to polish my pitch and create a one-sheet. Get myself together and step into the confident author/promoter role... Gah!

Ultimately, though, it all belongs to God. He'll put me in the right place to get me where He wants me. And I trust Him. Because He's awesome.