Merry Christmas and winner of last week's Raven Saint!

Congratulations to Amber Minnehan!  who won last week's copy of The Raven Saint!

Thank you all for entering!  The answer to the question posed on last week's posting is .....
B. Oui, to line my pockets with gold.! 

Many of you got it right! I'll have to make the question harder next time.
Now, for the last week of The Raven Saint giveaway, I thought I'd post my wonderful video book trailer. Most of you have probably already seen it, but if not, enjoy.
Beneath it, you'll also find my answer to the question posed to me recently regarding what I hope readers will take away from The Raven Saint.  I hope it blesses you.
As always, leave a comment and I'll enter your name for a drawing for the last free copy of The Raven Saint. I'll announce the winner next Friday. (remember to leave your email address!)



What do you hope your readers learn from The Raven Saint, especially from both Rafe and Grace’s characters?

Grace is such a perfect example of many Christians today. She loves the Lord and she’s busy about His work. The problem is, she’s so busy doing what she thinks He wants her to do, that she’s lost sight of who He really is. In other words, she has become entangled in good works and has forsaken her first Love. Because she measures her own worthiness on her good works, she measures others on theirs, and when she finds them lacking, she judges them. My hope through Grace’s story is that people will stop and take a good long look at their own hearts and ask themselves if perhaps they have fallen into the same trap as Grace. Do they have a heart like Jesus had, that loves everyone and doesn’t judge those who come to Him with open hearts? Or do they avoid and even snub those whose sins are out in the open? Jesus was able to separate the sin from the sinner and see the root cause of it in a person’s life. We can do that too, by getting to know someone and loving them, regardless of their sin. In reality, Grace’s sin of a judgmental heart was far worse in God’s eyes than the sins of those she judged. Don’t believe me? Just read what Jesus had to say to the Pharisees of his day.

Rafe turned his back on God at an early age due to the bad example of his so-called Christian father. Rejected by the pious man as well as by a woman he loved, Rafe is filled with heartache and rage. I believe rejection is one of our culture’s biggest problems. Rejection by a parent or by a close friend or spouse wounds the heart like nothing else can. It causes insecurity and rage and sets a person on a very dangerous path. The last thing Rafe should have done is reject God based on the example of Christians. As I said above, you can’t base your faith on the actions of so called godly people. You must seek God on your own and seek Him with all your heart. By rejecting God, Rafe ran away from the only One who could truly heal his own rejection. Through Rafe’s story, I hope people who suffer from deep-seated rejection can see a bit of themselves in Rafe, and like him, go to the only One whose love can heal that painful wound.