For Dad

Tomorrow morning I get on an airplane to fly to Florida. Unfortunately, the event is my father’s funeral. He fought a brave battle with cancer for seven years. And this was his second go around with this hideous disease.

My dad was a true fighter, and a soldier at heart. He served his country faithfully in the army in Vietnam and continued through the years in service with the Florida National Guard as an instructor, then later on served as a Master Sergeant in the Army Reserves.

What many don’t know is that my dad didn’t “acquire” his family until I was eleven years old. I knew he was father material from the start though and didn’t waste time asking him to fill that roll. I’ll never forget asking at the wedding if I could call him Dad now.

He was Dad from that day on. Later he became Papa to my girls. He filled that roll well, too. For a time there he and my youngest daughter became cancer buddies, as she called it. They shared a bond through a shared disease.

He was the first example of a person of faith to come into my life. I remember him reading his Bible every night. When he was re-diagnosed, his main concern was that his faith stay strong, and in his last days, his main concern was his family.

I’m so thankful that God brought this dear man into our lives. James Marco will be dearly missed, but my greatest comfort is in knowing he’s most likely having a conversation with Jesus, getting answers to those questions he’s been accumulating about the Bible.

And I’ll see him again one day.

Praying and believing,

Dineen

Deceit by Brandilyn Collins

 
This week, the   

Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing  Deceit  Zondervan (June 18, 2010)by Brandilyn Collins 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Brandilyn Collins is an award-winning and best-selling novelist known for her trademark Seatbelt Suspense®. These harrowing crime thrillers have earned her the tagline "Don't forget to b r e a t h e..."® Brandilyn's first book, A Question of Innocence, was a true crime published by Avon in 1995. Its promotion landed her on local and national TV and radio, including the Phil Donahue and Leeza talk shows. Brandilyn is also known for her distinctive book on fiction-writing techniques, Getting Into Character: Seven Secrets a Novelist Can Learn From Actors (John Wiley & Sons). She is now working on her 20th book.

In addition, Brandilyn’s other latest release is Final Touch, third in The Rayne Tour series—young adult suspense co-written with her daughter, Amberly. The Rayne Tour series features Shaley O’Connor, daughter of a rock star, who just may have it all—until murder crashes her world.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Skip Tracer Joanne Weeks knows Baxter Jackson killed his second wife---and Joanne's best friend---seven years ago. But Jackson, a church elder and beloved member of the town, walks the streets a free man.

The police tell Joanne to leave well enough alone, but Joanne is determined to bring Jackson down. Using her skip tracing skills, she sets out to locate Melissa Harkoff, now twenty-two, who lived in the Jackson home at the time of Linda Jackson's disappearance.

As Joanne drives home on a rainy winter night, a hooded figure darts in front of her car. In her headlight beams she glimpses the half-concealed face of a man, a rivulet of blood jagging down his cheek. She squeals to a stop but clips him with her right fender. Shaking, she gets out of her car in the pouring rain. The man will not let her see his face. Before he limps off into the night he warns her not to talk to police.

As Joanne tries to find Melissa, someone seems to be after her. Who was the man she hit on the road. Is Baxter Jackson out to silence her? Or is some other skip she's traced in the past now out for revenge?

If you would like to read the first chapter of Deceit, go HERE.

  
*Congratulations to HL for winning Almost Forever by Deborah Raney!