Stephanie McKean, a fellow author from Scotland (also with Sunpenny Publishing), visited our home recently. Her husband, who is also an author and pastor, took this picture of us.

Can God use a frightening Thanksgiving incident to help change a floundering family? Well, maybe . . .  Here is another excerpt from Uncharted Waters.

"I planned to work on the wedding invitations over the Thanksgiving holidays but one event changed everything. It happened late Wednesday afternoon during a heavy thunderstorm. I had just put a pecan pie in the oven when a local radio station announced hazardous weather conditions with ten inches of rain in the past five hours.

Dad called around two-fifteen to say he was on his way. I almost offered a word of caution but then decided he wouldn’t appreciate daughter intrusion. After all, Dad was the Alfa agent. He dealt with weather and accident investigations all the time.

Looking back, I wonder if speaking up might have made a difference. Only God knows." 

When it hit, I instinctively knew it was a gunshot—a gunshot that completely shattered the window on the driver’s side of my Honda. Two impulses came in rapid succession: to take a breath assessing for pain or blood, and a quick attempt to see the perpetrator. Nothing but broken glass. Third impulse: to flee. I rounded the corner and reached for the cell phone, dialing 911 as I drove.

This paragraph is based on an actual experience I had while doing research for Uncharted Waters. Frightening as it was, it added fuel to the stalker's chase and help direct Beth Davidson to her next important decision!

Sunpenny, my UK publisher, e-mailed last week to say a fellow author from Scotland was visiting her sister in Montgomery, Alabama. I e-mailed Step McKean, author of "Bridge to Nowhere" and, by afternoon, Step, her sister, Vickie Potter, and Step's husband, Alan McKean, were sitting for a chat in our den. Alan is also an author of a Christian time-travel called "The Scent of Time." God is so good!