I identify as Christian.

Sure, I could be identified through any number of ways such as race/ethnicity, gender, or sexuality. Those aspects are all a part of me, but they don’t define me as a person.

Being a Christian does.

I was born a male with the Swedish, Irish, Scottish, British, and Native American elements that comprise my race and ethnicity. They were passed down genetically from my ancestors. They’re kind of interesting, and it’s inspired many discussions about my being related to Ben Franklin, but that’s about it. I decided I was heterosexual at the age of twenty. It influenced who I dated and married and led to three biological children with my wife.

In contrast, my decision in 1996 to accept Jesus Christ as my Savior changed the entire course of my life. In those moments when I repented for my own sins, I acknowledged Jesus as the One and Only Son of God, that He lived, died as a sacrifice for everyone’s sins, and was resurrected from the dead by God, conquering sin and death. I asked Him to send his Holy Spirit into me, and He did! In that moment, the person I had been died (in a spiritual sense) and I was reborn.


II Corinthians 5: 17-18 (King James Version = KJV) reads,

"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;"


My personal relationship with the Lord has provided me with encouragement and hope over the last three decades. It saved my marriage and helped me become a better husband and father. I’ve also gained a better understanding of the Bible through the pastor’s sermons, studying the Bible, and fellowshipping with my brothers and sisters in Christ. When my health was seriously failing around 2010 and I was in constant pain, the Lord was there for me, even in the middle of the night. His presence soothed me and kept me sane. And right before I went in for major surgery to address the underlying medical issue, my pastor was there and prayed for me. I have seen and experienced the power of prayer. I’ve seen it change so many things for the better.

To me, Christianity is not a religion. Christian salvation is individual and personal. The Lord helps and inspires me in so many ways. I look to Him and seek His guidance because He’s perfect and I’m not. I make mistakes and He doesn’t. I feel His love and comfort every day. As an author, I ask for Him to inspire my writing each time before I start — and He does! He gives me ideas and unique insights into the characters and plot elements. I couldn’t have made any of my tales without Him; they just wouldn’t have been the same.

He's shown me new ways to see the world, and how to love everyone. It isn’t always easy. Like many people, I don’t like certain things that are happening around the globe. I don’t like violence and I don’t like to see anyone suffer or die, but it’s also a fact of life that bad things happen. And we can’t always prevent them, no matter how hard we try. Some people ask how a loving God could allow such things to happen? And the simple answer is that God gave humankind free will. People choose to act in ways that are selfish, greedy, and violent. Often, it’s in the pursuit of power but sometimes it’s just senseless and chaotic. God calls all of it sin.

But that’s why He sent His Son to Earth. Though Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross, God made a way to reconcile humanity back to Himself. Jesus’s triumphant resurrection made that possible. When He ascended back to heaven, Jesus sent the Holy Spirit into the world.

When I accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior and received the Holy Spirit, that became my identity. I’m a Christian. I’m not a Caucasian (Swedish, Irish, Scottish, British, Native American) Christian or a male Christian or a heterosexual Christian. I’m just a Christian.


Galatians 3: 28-29 (KJV) reads,

"For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus."


I didn’t lose anything when I became a Christian. In fact, I gained more than I can possibly express. Everything I surrendered to the Lord, he gave back to me better than before. Except now, it was for the purpose of using the talents he’d gifted me with to glorify Him. For example, I had been a musician, singer, and songwriter prior to accepting Him. Then as a Christian, I was invited to join the Christian band, First Light (along with my wife), and the band has been all across Texas performing for the Lord.

Prior to my salvation, I’d had a hobby/obsession as an independent comic book creator. But in 2007, my wife and I co-wrote (and I drew) an award-winning Christian webcomic called Due East. And in 2013, I began work on my first Christian fiction novel, Mindfire. It was traditionally published by Ambassador International in 2019. They’ve published four more novels and one of my short stories since then.

I go through each day with a feeling of gratitude to the Lord. He took an angry creative type loner and turned him into a hope-filled creative extrovert. He took someone who had failed at romantic relationship after romantic relationship and blessed him (me) with a twenty-eight-year marriage (so far). The Lord restored my health and gave me a future. His Word helps me better understand God and His will for my life.

The joy and excitement I feel for my God and Savior frees me from my worries and makes me want to share what He has done for me. That’s not to say that I’m so great — I’m just one man on a world teeming with billions of people — but God is fantastic! In a time when people are putting down their Bibles and turning away from God and Christianity, I’m living proof that God is still alive and working in people’s lives. And I’m not alone. He can change anyone.

People can identify however they want to. Every day, people make their whole existence about their race, gender, sexuality, or some combination of those elements. But being a Christian is different. It’s not skin deep or genetic. It goes beyond gender and sexuality. Accepting Jesus permeates your entire being and allows the Holy Spirit to guide your choices, including how you treat others (and yourself - for the better). Through prayer, the Christian has communication with God, the Creator of the universe. Letting Christ lead you isn’t a whenever-you-go-to-church experience. It’s a daily walk with the Lord filled with challenges and rewards. It’s about learning to become more like the Lord, no matter our limitations, and that’s because with God, all things are possible.

That’s why I say, “I identify as Christian.” It’s the only thing that matters to me; everything else is secondary (and will work itself out). I’m focused on who the Lord wants me to be, and how I can be a help to others. I love playing an instrument, singing, or writing to share Him with others. He’s blessed me and my family in so many ways, it’s a pleasure to serve Him.

He can bless anyone. And whatever one thinks they have to give up to follow the Lord, they will gain much more from Him in return. It just takes a leap of faith.


Hebrews 11:6 (KJV) reads,

“But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”

I finally updated my Jordan's World book trailer to include the book cover (and a few other little tweaks)!

This is a second short excerpt from the audiobook of The Former Things, a Christian fiction romance novel told from the perspective of a 24-year-old atheist named Sean Winter. Reproduced with permission from Haring Productions (which made the audiobook recording). Published by Ambassador International.

You can buy the full audiobook from Audible at THIS LINK.

Consider this a less than two-minute introduction to The Pavfarah Utopia (Christian dystopian science fiction) Series. Feedback welcome.

The following is a 7-minute audiobook except from chapter 1 of my latest Christian fiction novel, The Former Things (published by Ambassador International). The story is told from the perspective of a 24-year-old atheist named Sean Winter.

In this scene, Sean is at his first day of work at a new job when a tornado emerges during a storm. At the same time, he discovers that the co-worker who's been training him is a Christian, which upsets him. It's an interesting exchange between the two, and I hope you enjoy it.

This excerpt was reproduced with permission from Haring Productions which made the audiobook recording. Narration is by Joe James.

Click this link to get the full Audible audiobook of The Former Things

The excerpt below is from Queen of the Skies. Abe Fletcher (one of the main characters)'s girlfriend, Dior, has just broken up with him. Now, he is trying to deal with the ramifications.

*excerpt begins*

Abe was glad he had taken a taxi to the restaurant. He was in no state of mind to be operating a roadster right now. In fact, he had barely been able to type in the street corner address to the taxi app on his mobile phone. Every instinct within compelled him to hurl the phone down onto the sidewalk and scream his rage mindlessly until it started to abate. But instead, he held it in, merely squeezing his other hand into a fist and occasionally releasing his fingers. 
 
He was silent in the cab, merely nodding now and then at the male driver’s pleasant but unwelcome conversation. 
 
"-- the Tigers, I think they have a real shot this season!" the cabbie continued. He was a thin and bald middle-aged man with a red and white beard.
"Uh-huh," Abe replied.
"They didn’t do so well last year, but that’s `cause Hennessy was the coach," the cabbie added. "This year, they’ve got Addison and he’s great!"
 
Abe knew there was only one thing that could keep him from losing his mind and small talk was not it. 
 
The steam-powered vehicle was slow, following the local posted speeds to precision as the driver exited downtown New Liverpool and wound towards the suburbs. Abe normally enjoyed the change of scenery, from the constant noise, concrete, electric signs, and rising buildings to the greener lawns, sprawling trees and relaxed neighborhoods of one- and two-story houses. But this late afternoon, none of that phased him at all. His heart was gripped in ice and his thoughts were in orbit of Dior. Or rather, they orbited the absence of her.
 
Abe managed to thank the driver with some degree of pleasantness as he got out of the taxi. He briskly walked inside the large single-story home he had lived in all his life. His footfalls felt leaden and forced. Only his desire to purge his emotions kept him going.
 
In the living room, Dad was leaning back in his favorite chair, a black leather recliner. It was elegant and plush, easily accommodating his ample shape. In front of him, the wall-mounted television was playing a rerun of the crime drama Barnabas Jones. However, the older man with receding brown-gray hair and matching handlebar mustache was riveted to the newspaper in his large, strong hands. That is, until he heard Abe stomp into the room. He immediately dropped the paper into his lap as his legs forced the recliner to a sitting position. He peered at Abe with newly alert eyes.
 
"You’re back very early from your outing with Dior," Dad said. "Is everything alright?"
"No...but I don’t want to talk about it right now, Dad."
 
Dad nodded slowly. Then, with some effort, he stood up. "You go change clothes. I’ll set up the punching bag in the garage."
Abe let a thin smile cross his lips. "Thanks, Dad."
 
 
...
 
 
 He remembered changing into a t-shirt and shorts before grabbing his gloves and heading to the garage. But in the blur of thoughts which rushed through his head, Abe didn’t know when he started attacking the punching bag, nor how long he’d been at it. With no attempt at precision or a specific routine, he continually slammed his fists into it. Sweat poured down his face, back, and legs. His breathing matched his turbulent mood: rough and jagged.
 
Becoming more coherent now, he opted for a one-two combination. And another one. Then three jabs in a row followed by a one-two-three combo. His fists were growing numb, and his arms ached, but he continued on.
 
Abe viewed the punching bag as the embodiment of whatever circumstances had conspired to rob him of his relationship with his cherished first love. And his own ineffectiveness at talking her out of leaving him. His own ineffectiveness, period.
 
I was just fooling myself, thinking we ever had a chance together, he thought. C’mon, it was only a matter of time before this happened! She’s in a different world. We had some good times together. I’d like to believe she loved me...
 
Then came the unwelcome memory of their first passionate kiss. It shattered his workout momentum. Grabbing the punching bag on both sides, he stopped its sway and drooped his head against it.
 
He recalled the tender and caring look in Dior’s eyes as they’d sat on the couch in his home, talking for hours at a time. The engaging conversations they’d had with Dad. And traveling with Dior to meet her parents in New Amsterdam.
 
Abe relived some of the intimacies he and Dior had shared over the last year.
 
"She did  love me!" he shouted with eyes closed. "I know she did!"
 
Abe felt tears flow down his face as he continued to hold onto the punching bag. The room felt like it was slowly spinning.
 
"Why?" he asked no one in particular, his voice soft with grief. "Why do the women I love always leave me? First, Mum...now Dior."
"Your mum didn’t leave," Dad answered somberly from behind him. "She was taken from us by the illness."
 Abe sighed. "You’re right. I’m sorry, Dad."
"As for Dior, I can’t answer that," Dad continued. "I thought she was a nice girl. You two had a good relationship."
“Yeah,” Abe added. “I thought so, too.”
“Want to talk about it now, son?”
 
Abe turned around, now spent from his exertions. Dad handed him a large cup of water that Abe gratefully accepted, gulping it down.
 
“Thanks,” Abe said a moment later, handing the empty cup back.
“Y’need more?”
“No, I’m good now,” Abe replied. His responses were divided by deep intakes of air.  “As for talking about Dior, I don’t know where to start. She met me and was super-pleasant. Then she said our ‘journey’ has ended, thanked me for my part in her ‘personal growth,’ and that she has some new path to follow. But she didn’t elaborate.”
 
Now Dad sighed.
 
“Utter nonsense,” he said, looking frustrated. “She has a reason. It could be that she didn’t want to hurt you with it.”
“Too late for that,” Abe interjected.
Dad nodded. He put his arm around Abe and looked at him sympathetically. “I’m sorry this happened,” he said. “I know you love her a lot.”
 Abe was grateful for his rock-like support over the years. “Thanks, Dad.”

*excerpt ends*