The Storyteller | Mary Vee

Today we give honor to our veterans photo courtesy of morguefile.com I'm sitting in a hotel restaurant eating breakfast. The employees for the hotel and restaurant walk about doing their job. A custodian walks through with ear buds in and a bright smile on his face, clearly enjoying his music. Another stops when an animated movie on the central TV catches his eye.  Life walks by.  And it can. Thankfully thousands of soldiers starting from the American Revolution to military issues today have and are giving their lives to protect us. Not everyone enters the military with the intent to give their life for their country, yet many have found themselves in this position. Bullet whiz by, land mine explodes. One soldier sees another injured and helps him. Another signals danger. There is nothing glamorous about war. The soldiers didn't know me personally. Yet the result of their service is a gift to us. One that allows us to go about our daily lives in peace...

Don't you love the traditions that bring friends and family together? Sure, there may be a spat or two during the event, but the take home is a warm, fuzzy feeling. Our Frankenmuth Tradition. Photo By Mary Vee  At first, I thought this pre Christmas season primarily roused the family event planners need to get everyone together. However, with each word of this post, I realized the entire year pokes our attention to congregate. No matter how much we dream of having five precious minutes to ourselves, deep down we crave the crazy get togethers. God made us that way.  Let's talk about the traditions starting with October, since we have a few days left of this month for this year. Bronners Christmas Store, Frankenmuth, MI Photo by Mary Vee October : Our family takes an annual trek to Frankenmuth. It is a German town located in Michigan and is the home of the largest Christmas store in the world (or so they say). Between small children and pets knocking down Chr...

Photo by Mary Vee In my last manuscript, Who Invited Hank , the hero and main character encountered several problems with no immediate solution. After years of squabbling, two families successfully built a wall between a once treasured relationship. The main character's family moved east and the hero's family stayed in the west.  Grounded in clouded thinking, both families learned to bury the beloved friendship once binding two best friends from long ago. God sees us doing silly things like this all the time.  We stop going to a certain church because someone offends us.  We change banks, grocery stores, stand in a different line to avoid a cashier, move to a new city, and stop speaking to the neighbor because . . . sometimes we don't know why. Our thoughts become clouded. We misunderstand. We do the things we don't want to do and  leave undone that which we should do.  Photo of the same scene as the above but later in the day. by Mary V...

Country Singer, Jimmy Rose recently said, "If you don't ever take the chance--You will never know the outcome." When Hudson Taylor became deathly ill and had to return to England to receive needed medical care, he wondered if and when he'd be able to take his family back to China. During the healing process, Taylor used the time to reevaluate the ministry and his goal to preach to those living in inland China. The three years convalescing proved invaluable. At this time, the China Inland Mission came to life. Those working with Taylor set up the administration and finances then called for recruits and taught language and Bible lessons. In the hours he didn't sleep, Taylor worked with a helper to write a translation of the New Testament in a Chinese language. A few years after leaving, Taylor brought sixteen missionaries with his own family back to China, ready to begin a new ministry. What would have been missed if he had given up while recuperating from ...

A picture of unity Mary Vee, Ashley Clark, Pepper Basham Writers Alley friends There are those moments, when the folks around us do not get along. It may be a family squabble, coworkers disagreeing, volunteers clash. Sigh Even more distressing is when we jump on the bandwagon and escalate the issue. My heart breaks when I cozy up to the problem like king Ahab in the Old Testament, instead of pulling away and praying as did king Hezekiah, king Jehoshophat, or king David. I really don't want to grumble or add to the issue, but I do. Sigh . And it is so difficult to simply say "I'm sorry" or to walk away. I think writers are inspired to write specific themes because that is the very issue they are experiencing or need to address in their own lives. For me, the manuscript I completed and pitched at the ACFW conference has this theme: How good and how pleasant it is for the brethren to dwell together in unity. Psalm 133:1 When I am out in public, God ha...