In A Bookish, Quilty Mood

The quilt I was working on perhaps at the time the excerpt below was written, May 2015. On a day when sixty-two years ago Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. gave his "I Have a Dream" speech, as well as the day after two young children were murdered in yet another horrific shooting, I sat to read aloud chapters of a novel first written perhaps a decade previously. I've said many prayers for those killed and wounded in Minneapolis, their beloveds and caregivers too. I've pondered the state of Dr. King's dream, how far away we seem from such solidarity and freedom. And I've smiled at words gifted to me by grace, gathered in a manuscript , and now close to being released for whatever purpose God has in mind. Here's the chapter I just read. Set in October 1962 at the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis, an Oregon artist and a Polish pastor hint toward the truths of their pasts and how life works in such mysterious manners.   Chapter 77   When Marek woke that m...

In reading Straight to the Heart: The Hawk Book Three , I'm astonished at how timely is the message, despite being set in autumn of 1962. Below is a section from Chapter 76, when the Cuban Missile Crisis was in full swing. When he reached the studio, stars twinkled in the sky. Eric could make out the storage building, and turning back, the house blazed with light. Yet, he needed to set something to canvas, although he didn’t wish to work in the sunroom. He wasn’t sure what bubbled inside him, other than a sense of purpose. Perhaps this was how President Kennedy felt, his hands just as tied. Yet Lynne had been right, it was too dark to work. Again gazing upwards, Eric admired the night sky, chuckling at himself. Then he walked around the studio, standing in front of the storage building. Something tugged at him from within, so he pulled the key from his pocket, opened the door, then flipped on the light. There on an easel was the portrait of Marek and Jane. Stepping into the sma...