Three Things

I think most of us look for fast, quick, easy ways to get through life. Sometimes I think we spend so much time looking for these short cuts that we actually don’t get to live.

There are several Twitter folks I follow that give me slap alongside the head every now and then. One I had to laugh at. “There are several keys to writing. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.” Isn’t that the case!

Way back, there were several sitcoms around the concept of family. Family Ties, Cosby Show, Boy Meets World, Full House, The Wonder Years. There were others. Each of them had a commonality: a problem that needed to be dealt with.

The problem was presented. The problem was dealt with. The problem was solved. All nice and neatly wrapped up in thirty minutes with at least two commercial breaks to push the good life.

Have a headache? Take these two pills and they will knock it out quickly and keep it away for 12 hours. Have a stuffy nose? Squirt this once and you’ll be able to breathe again for 24 hours. Upset stomach? Sore back? Anxious? Feeling stressed? Need a fast loan? Your hair thinning out and you’re going bald? Need more bounce and body in the hair you do have? A veritable cure for every and anything. Just watch TV. It has all the answers, right?

I’m not knocking the need for pain relief. I’m not anti-medicine or anti-doctors or any of that.

The thing is, there aren’t any quick or easy fixes in life. I mean, if someone knows something I don’t . . . and there are plenty of folks who know a heck of a lot more than I do . . . please let me know.

Life, at times, is a struggle no matter how you approach it. At other times, it is a joy and a blessing. Hopefully for both you and me, it is more the latter than the former.

But life comes at us in waves. And with each wave, there is the crest and the trough. There is the ebb and the flow. We grab our surf board and we ride it out. Nothing else we can do, really.

I think the thing to remember is that for every night, there is a morning. For every cloud, the sun is still there, but hidden. And even though the sun sets, the moon is there to greet us. Sometimes we forget that.

And I also think that we forget that when you and I have a burden, there is always someone there to help, to listen, to comfort, and to help lift us up. Really, we are never, ever alone. Not really. Even though we may feel that way . . . might feel no one quite understands . . . there are enough of us who truly do. There are enough of us who have been through it before or are going through it now and who will go through it in the future. And if we remember that if two or three help carry the burden, the burden becomes lighter somehow. Doesn’t it?

I want to leave you with a thought, something a commercial pushing the good life won’t tell you. Something that doesn’t come out of a box or a bottle or in a pill.

I think if you’re looking for a quick fix, even though there isn’t one, I ask you to remember and to pass this on when there is a need and the time is right. It is simply this:

“They say a person needs just three things to be truly happy in this world: someone to love, something to do, and something to hope for.” Unknown

Kind of powerful, don’t you think? And, something to really think about . . .

Live Your Life, and Make A Difference!

To My Readers:

My fifth work of thriller/suspense fiction Caught in a Web will be published by Black Rose Writing in April of 2018. It is currently in the very skilled hands of an editor I especially admire. When she finishes, and I was just told today that she expects to get it to me by Christmas, I fix what’s needed to fix and then I send it to Black Rose. The real work of any writing takes place in the edits, something I both dread and get excited about. I will keep you posted on the progress.

Good News!

I finished the edits on Spiral Into Darkness and I’m working to find an agent for it. It is a thriller/mystery with an attitude.

Please feel free to connect with me at:

Twitter at @jrlewisauthor

Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/Joseph.Lewis.Author                                      

Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/Joseph-Lewis/e/B01FWB9AOI /                                   

If you like Thriller/Suspense fiction and are looking for something to read over the winter, check out my novels:

The Lives Trilogy Prequel, Taking Lives:

FBI Agent Pete Kelliher and his partner search for the clues behind the bodies of six boys left in various and remote parts of the country. Even though they don’t know one another, the lives of FBI Agent Kelliher and two boys become interwoven with the same thread that Pete Kelliher holds in his hand. The three of them are on a collision course and when that happens, their lives are in jeopardy as each search for a way out. http://bit.ly/Taking-Lives-JLewis                

Stolen Lives, Book One of the Lives Trilogy:

Two thirteen-year-old boys are abducted off a safe suburban street. Kelliher and his team of FBI agents have 24 hours to find them or they’ll end up like all the others- dead! They have no leads, no clues, and nothing to go on. And the possibility exists that one of his team members might be involved. http://bit.ly/Stolen-Lives-JLewis              

Shattered Lives, Book Two of the Lives Trilogy:

Six desperate and violent men escape. One of them stands in a kitchen facing a 14 year-old-boy with a gun. There are many reasons for the boy to pull the trigger. Mainly, the man had started it all. http://bit.ly/Shattered-Lives-J-Lewis               

Splintered Lives, Book Three of the Lives Trilogy:

A 14 year-old-boy is willing to make the ultimate sacrifice. High up on an Arizona mesa, he faces three desperate and dangerous men in hopes of saving his father and his brothers. http://bit.ly/Splintered-Lives-J-Lewis

Gratitude and Thanks

I love this time of year. I love fall, the colors, the crisp air, and sweatshirt and jeans kind of weather. It’s about the only time I indulge in hot chocolate, something I don’t do in winter.

Mostly, it’s the season of my favorite holiday, Thanksgiving. I like Thanksgiving more than Christmas. It’s a time of family and food, of recognizing all we have, all we’ve been given, and even those things that we weren’t given. You see, sometimes without those things we’ve wanted and wished for, we’re just better off for not receiving them.

There was a time in my life when I seriously considered entering the priesthood. I felt “a calling” as they say, and I liked the prayer life and the mysticism, the theology and philosophy of it. I thought it was what I had wanted.

From about sixth grade through my early twenties I investigated various orders: the Dominicans, the Jesuits, others. Something held me back and I’m not sure what it was.

Garth Brooks sings a song titled, Unanswered Prayers about a guy going back for a hometown football game. He sees a girl who he had thought once upon a time “was the one” and “the one he had dreamed of” but for one reason or another, they never clicked or ended up together.

Funny thing about time . . .

In the song, Brooks sings:

           

            She was the one that I'd wanted for all times

And each night I'd spend prayin' that God would make her mine

And if he'd only grant me this wish I wished back then

I'd never ask for anything again

I think each of us looks back from time to time and wonders, questions. Sometimes we look back happily, sometimes sadly, sometimes fondly, sometimes in anger. And like in the song, we might bargain, plan, pray, arrange.

And then time takes over and life happens.

Had I entered the priesthood, I wouldn’t have met my wife, Kim. I wouldn’t have had three wonderful kids, Wil, Hannah and Em. I probably wouldn’t have coached a state championship, taught or been a counselor. I don’t think I would have lived in five different states.

So thanks to time and life, my path was altered- happily so!

Gratitude and Thanks!

As we approach the season of Thanksgiving, we can do something a bit differently. Perhaps we can not only give Thanks for all we have, for all we’ve been blessed with, but perhaps we can also be express Gratitude for things that might not have come our way and because of that, a door or possibility was granted to us that we didn’t see or notice because we were so fixated on that one thing we so wanted. It was the absence, the non-acquisition of that thing we had thought we needed so badly that gave way to what we ended up with that made our life so much better, so much richer, so much more blessed.

The lyrics in the chorus of Unanswered Prayers are:

            Sometimes I thank God for unanswered prayers

Remember when you're talkin' to the man upstairs

That just because he doesn't answer doesn't mean he don't care

Some of God's greatest gifts are unanswered prayers

Sometimes we forget that. Sometimes we don’t necessarily know what is good for us. We think we do, don’t we? And sometimes, maybe more than sometimes, we really don’t. Something to think about . . .

Live Your Life, and Make A Difference!

To My Readers:

My fifth work of thriller/suspense fiction Caught in a Web will be published by Black Rose Writing in April of 2018. It is currently in the very skilled hands of an editor I especially admire. When she finishes, I fix what’s needed to fix and then I send it to Black Rose and their editors will no doubt find more for me to fix. The real work of any writing takes place in the edits, something I both dread and get excited about. Yeah, I’m smiling as I write this. As always, I will keep you posted on the progress.

Good News!

I finished the first draft of Spiral Into Darkness and I’m currently doing the editing work on it. It is a thriller/mystery with an attitude.

Please feel free to connect with me at:

Twitter at @jrlewisauthor

Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/Joseph.Lewis.Author                                     

Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/Joseph-Lewis/e/B01FWB9AOI /                                  

If you like Thriller/Suspense fiction, check out my novels:

Available on Amazon for .99 the Lives Trilogy Prequel, Taking Lives:

FBI Agent Pete Kelliher and his partner search for the clues behind the bodies of six boys left in various and remote parts of the country. Even though they don’t know one another, the lives of FBI Agent Kelliher and two boys become interwoven with the same thread that Pete Kelliher holds in his hand. The three of them are on a collision course and when that happens, their lives are in jeopardy as each search for a way out. http://bit.ly/Taking-Lives-JLewis               

Stolen Lives, Book One of the Lives Trilogy:

Two thirteen-year-old boys are abducted off a safe suburban street. Kelliher and his team of FBI agents have 24 hours to find them or they’ll end up like all the others- dead! They have no leads, no clues, and nothing to go on. And the possibility exists that one of his team members might be involved. http://bit.ly/Stolen-Lives-JLewis             

Shattered Lives, Book Two of the Lives Trilogy:

Six desperate and violent men escape. One of them stands in a kitchen facing a 14 year-old-boy with a gun. There are many reasons for the boy to pull the trigger. Mainly, the man had started it all. http://bit.ly/Shattered-Lives-J-Lewis              

Splintered Lives, Book Three of the Lives Trilogy:

A 14 year-old-boy is willing to make the ultimate sacrifice. High up on an Arizona mesa, he faces three desperate and dangerous men in hopes of saving his father and his brothers. http://bit.ly/Splintered-Lives-J-Lewis

Silence Isn't Necessarily Golden

John Quiñones hosts a television show that has been on the air for twelve seasons called, What Would You Do? The premise of the show places individuals in situations acted out by marks to see “what would you do?” in that situation. Some of the episodes have been interesting.

In one, a restaurant worker refuses to serve a homeless man who has money to pay for a meal. In another, an individual leaves a briefcase or purse on a bench and walks away. Things like that.

Each situation is dependent upon who is present. Some come forward to help. One man buys food and offers it to the homeless man. Another argues with the restaurant worker to let the guy eat. In the case of the purse or briefcase, one individual chases down the guy/woman who left it on the bench.

I watch the show sporadically at best, but when I do, I am interested in those who don’t say anything, those who choose to do nothing.

Back when I was in fifth or sixth grade, I remember going to a diner in Milwaukee with my sister, Betty. We were sitting at the counter which was something new and different from me. While we ate, there were patrons who came and went as any customer might do. I remember the hustle and bustle of the place and at that time, being kind of a quiet kid and new to the “big city” I was at once apprehensive and exited at the same time. Probably in equal parts as I recall.

An interesting thing happened  . . .

A man walked in and sat down on one of the stools at the counter but off to the left. Like many, he grabbed a menu and looked it over and waited. My sister and I kept eating. Then the man begins to say, “Why is everybody staring at me?” Each time he said it, he got louder. He even pounded the counter.

I have to say I freaked, maybe more than a little. I wanted to leave and I actually got up from my stool even though my meal wasn’t finished. My sister, a nurse at that time, placed her hand on my arm and shook her head. I remember wanting to argue that we should leave, but my sister only held my arm and shook her head.

So my sister I finished eating but I watched the guy out of the corner of my eye as did the other patrons. Eventually the guy left and it went back to a kind of normality, I guess. As I said, I was new to the big city and eating at the counter of a diner.

I think about that situation from time to time. I think about the brave souls who march and protest and who dare to speak out, to write in order to make a point of view known. I know there is a time and a place for it. I also know there are those who choose to say nothing, do nothing and leave things as they are while they grumble among friends.

Martin Niemöller was a prominent Protestant pastor who was as an outspoken public foe of Adolf Hitler. As a result, he spent the last seven years of Nazi rule in concentration camps.

He is perhaps best remembered for the quotation:

“First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.”

Doing the right thing, saying the right thing isn’t always comfortable and safe, is it? It’s a lot easier, safer to ignore and keep on walking. Perhaps circle on back when the coast is clear and murmur encouragement or condolence when no one is looking.

Saying and doing the right thing is especially tough when it involves a friend, someone you admire and like. It because a lot easier to just walk away, to remain silent. I think in these cases, Silence Isn’t Necessarily Golden. Something to think about . . .

Live Your Life, and Make A Difference!

To My Readers:

My fifth work of thriller/suspense fiction Caught in a Web will be published by Black Rose Writing in April of 2018. It is currently in the very skilled hands of an editor I especially admire. When she finishes, I fix what’s needed to fix and then I send it to Black Rose and their editors will no doubt find more for me to fix. The real work of any writing takes place in the edits, something I both dread and get excited about. Yeah, I’m smiling as I write this. As always, I will keep you posted on the progress.

Please feel free to connect with me at:

Twitter at @jrlewisauthor

Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/Joseph.Lewis.Author                                    

Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/Joseph-Lewis/e/B01FWB9AOI/                                 

If you like Thriller/Suspense fiction, check out my novels:

Available on Amazon for .99 the Lives Trilogy Prequel, Taking Lives:

FBI Agent Pete Kelliher and his partner search for the clues behind the bodies of six boys left in various and remote parts of the country. Even though they don’t know one another, the lives of FBI Agent Kelliher and two boys become interwoven with the same thread that Pete Kelliher holds in his hand. The three of them are on a collision course and when that happens, their lives are in jeopardy as each search for a way out. http://bit.ly/Taking-Lives-JLewis              

Stolen Lives, Book One of the Lives Trilogy:

Two thirteen-year-old boys are abducted off a safe suburban street. Kelliher and his team of FBI agents have 24 hours to find them or they’ll end up like all the others- dead! They have no leads, no clues, and nothing to go on. And the possibility exists that one of his team members might be involved. http://bit.ly/Stolen-Lives-JLewis            

Shattered Lives, Book Two of the Lives Trilogy:

Six desperate and violent men escape. One of them stands in a kitchen facing a 14 year-old-boy with a gun. There are many reasons for the boy to pull the trigger. Mainly, the man had started it all. http://bit.ly/Shattered-Lives-J-Lewis             

Splintered Lives, Book Three of the Lives Trilogy:

A 14 year-old-boy is willing to make the ultimate sacrifice. High up on an Arizona mesa, he faces three desperate and dangerous men in hopes of saving his father and his brothers. http://bit.ly/Splintered-Lives-J-Lewis