(Runner Up in CFW Event #16)
“You’re worthless.”
Charlie stared at the reflection in the mirror that had thrown the words at him with such hate he felt like he’d been punched in the gut.
The reflection was ugly in the chipped and broken mirror, the glass dusty and rust-patched.
“You’re trash,” the reflection spat, “You always have been and you always will be.” Continue reading “The Man in the Mirror”
(Second Place Finisher in CFW Event #15)
Rissa watched the stream trickle to nothing more than a thin thread of water meandering over the rocks. Then a little further down it disappeared altogether. As she walked on, she found herself entering a desert, stretching out endlessly in a sun-beaten, desiccated expanse of sand. Heat-lines rose up like a mirage in the distance where the sand met the sky. Continue reading “Like a River”
In today’s society it seems as if “likes” are equal to validation. If your post/pic/story/video/song gets “likes”, then that makes it good. If people like you, you’re cool. If people like what you do, you’re good at it. If people like the way you look, you’re beautiful.
STOP!
It’s not true.
Yes, it feels good to get likes, on and off social media. I’ve fallen prey to this culture myself. Continue reading “You Are Fearfully and Wonderfully Made”
(As seen in CFW Event #14)
The world where I was born is the same as yours. It’s just made of different stuff – the kind of stuff that makes dreams and myths and legends. You can’t see my world and my people can’t see yours, with the exception of brief glimpses now and then. I, however, can see both, for I am fated to walk the empty space between the worlds until the end of time. It is the sentence that I must pay for my crime. In your world it was Adam and Eve who brought the curse upon humanity. In my world…it was me. Continue reading “The Forbidden Box”
Anyone who can use the internet can blog, but it takes more than key-taps and mouse-clicks to craft a well-formed post. So here are seven easy steps to help you make a better blog.
1: Condensability
Keep it short. If you’re writing a how-to or a business blog, save your long-winded literary commentaries for another day. Stay on topic and say what needs to be said. If you go into long run-on thoughts and explanations, you’re likely to lose your readers. Continue reading “Sailing the Seven C’s of a Better Blog”
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(Last chapter from the Kindle devotional ebook Grace Like Rain.”
Grace. It’s a word often used in the realm of Christianity, but do we really understand what it means? Do we realize the depth of it?
Amazing Grace
Grace is God’s infinite love, comfort, and forgiveness of His children. Grace is the blood flowing down from the pierced body on the cross and washing away our sins, cleansing us in its purity. Grace is God’s gift offered freely to all mankind—infinite, unimaginable, amazing.
“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men,” Titus 2:11 Continue reading “Grace Like Rain”
(As seen in CFW Event #13)
It was the second step up to the podium that sent Marc lurching forward. He landed on a little plastic tree that had stood beside the pulpit for nine years without being attacked by a clumsy young pastor.
Deacon Barrett gave Marc a hand up and set the tree to rights before slipping back to his seat.
Marc nodded and murmured “thank you,” as he stepped to the pulpit.
He cleared his throat and pulled the microphone closer. Continue reading “Quarter-Sized Love”
Whitney L. Schwartz 