It's Almost Here!

Hi Friends,

Well, next Tuesday is the big day! Beyond the Night is scheduled to hit the shelves at last. I can't wait. I hope you'll pick up a copy or order online (I've still got those handy Amazon and CBD links on my website!). Because . . .

Very soon I'll be launching a fun contest for readers of Beyond the Night. You'll have three ways to win a cool gift bag filled with neat Beyond-the-Night related items. To get a bag, you'll have to do one of three things -- solve a puzzle, or tell your friends, or take a picture. So, keep checking back here and on my website for the details. It's gonna be fun, and I know you don't want to miss it.

And lastly (for now!), I was recently asked a question about the deeper themes in Beyond the Night, the theme I hoped readers would see and find inspiring. Here's how I answered:

Funny thing is that when I first proposed this book, I thought it would be about the enduring qualities of real love. And that is part of it. But as I started to write, I soon discovered the story was really about overcoming fear – fear of the unknown, fear of death, fear of getting hurt, fear of letting go – the kinds of fear that regular, not-particularly-fearful people still have to face in their everyday lives.

But the interesting thing was that as the story progressed, I began to see that overcoming fear isn’t really about “getting up the courage” or trying to be brave. Not at all! What truly defeats fear is a glimpse of the breathtaking wonder of a vivid God. It’s about the awe of knowing that “no eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has risen to understand what God has prepared for those who love Him” (my translation from the Greek of 1 Corinthians 2:9).

Just as light drives out darkness, so fear is driven out by hope, and hope is found in God’s amazing love.

So, my friends, may you be so captured by the wonder of God's love, that fear finds no place in your life. May you find that you love Him more deeply. And may you get a glimpse, a tiny glimmer, of the beauty and mystery of what awaits you . . . beyond the night.