Viewpoint: A Commentary on Christmas

The woman was heavy laden with child, and her husband looked at her with concern. Of course, he had to go.  The census was mandatory. As he regarded his wife, he knew the journey would not be easy.

What is a few hundred miles or kilometers today? Catch a train to Hamburg from Frankfurt, Germany, and you arrive in four and a half hours, a plane ride from Augusta to Atlanta, Georgia is fifty-five minutes. However, this man did not have these comforts. His Mercedes-Benz was a donkey.

He observed his wife as he pondered over the trip ahead. Leaving her behind was not a consideration; in her was the hope of the nations, the salvation of the human race, and a shiver went through him as he thought of what could happen ahead. Thieves and robbers on the route and a desert where the temperature dropped at night were between the two cities, and ninety miles on a donkey was not a one-day ride.  He figured he might be able to travel 10 miles a day, but even that would be hard considering that she was heavily pregnant with child.  

Today the significance of this event has been revised; the hardship erased. The importance of this Child’s birth has fallen into abnormality.

Soon, it is Christmas. 

For me personally, it is the time when I reflect backward to that birth in Bethlehem with Thanksgiving in my heart.

His birth changed History;

His birth changed my life and gave me a vision with purpose;

The Son of God came to earth so that I could have the right to be accepted in the Beloved. 

Merry Christmas to you,

Buon Natale a te,

Joyeux Noël à toi,

Frohe Weihnachten zu Ihnen,

Feliz Navidad a usted.

Shalom Aleichem,

Pat Garcia

Thoughts and Prayers: Dear Child of Mine Has Been Released!

Thoughts and Prayers: Dear Child of Mine Has Been Released!: Dear Reader, I am so pleased to announce that Dear Child of Mine, An Heirloom Devotional for the Unborn Child has been released at WestBo...

Viewpoint: Ignited by a Headline in The New York Daily News

It is amazing! Every time there is a desecration of life by violence we scream out God isn’t fixing this.  But, why should He when we ignore Him? 

We believe and lean on every kind of ideology created by man. Yet, in times like these we shout, God isn’t fixing this.

I am confused. I do not understand why God should fix our situation since we do not believe in Him and take Him seriously anyway.

Is it not better to bow down and ask those ideologies that we worship on a daily basis to fix the discordance and hatred that has taken over in our world?

God Isn’t Fixing This was the headline in The New York Daily News.  This headline is correct.

But, why should God fix something He did not start?

Shalom,

Pat Garcia

It's December #IWSG Article

Hello Everyone,

It’s the first Wednesday in the month and IWSG Time has come around again. 

IWSG is a big help to many of us who don’t mind sharing our insecurities, our successes or giving encouragement to others. 

So, if you are interested and would like to join, please go to the IWSG Website at 

http://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com/p/iwsg-sign-up.html.

Oh, by the way, my article is posted below.

It's December

It's  December. NaNo has passed, and I am looking forward to December 21, when I will drop out of the hustle and bustle and read and relax until January 7, 2016.

There is a pang of insecurity in me that's growing. My first novel will be finished, and it will be time to submit, time to see if my novel will find a home in one of the agencies I have chosen.  Sure, I could self-publish but I want representation. That is important to me.

So, the closer I get to completion, the more nervous I get.  My fixed goal month is September,  and so far I am on time with my schedule.   I will pass it on to my chosen agents in September 2016 and see who bites.  I know I have plenty of time before that happens, but just knowing that next year is The Year to pass my baby on is scary.

Nevertheless, I'll let her go by sending her out, because if I do not, I’ll regret it.

Shalom,

Pat Garcia

Viewpoint: Friday, Thirteen November 2015

A Civil War founded upon religious beliefs and how people should live has spread itself to the European Continent. What happened in Paris, France, was a battle, and an act of war carried out by the Islamic State. That we refused to take the declaration of war seriously in 2014 has resulted in the mass, willful, killing of innocent people, which took place on Friday, the thirteenth of November.

Religion, which oppresses, is like a dictatorship suppressing the inalienable rights of each individual who lives under its umbrella.  Unfortunately, these inalienable rights, known as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are also echoed by these totalitarian societies, but they are interpreted differently, and the cultural upbringing displays a life we people in the West are not accustomed to––freedom and individual development find itself caught on the blind side of life. 

Hopefully, revelation has broken through the thick skull of false reality we have let descend upon us, and our eyes have been opened to see that not everyone think as we think, act as we act, and desire to live as we live. If this were true, the Islamic State would not exist.  

            Unfortunately, this clarity is too late for those people who lost their lives in Paris, France on that dreadful evening.

Viva la France!

 Shalom,

Pat Garcia

One Word At A Time

Hello Everyone,

It’s the first Wednesday in the month and IWSG Time has come around again.

IWSG is a big help to many of us who don’t mind sharing our insecurities, our successes or giving encouragement to others.

So, if you are interested and would like to join, please go to the IWSG Website at

http://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com/p/iwsg-sign-up.html.

Oh, by the way, my article is posted below.

 One Word At A Time

It is one of those weeks.  I started NaNoWriMo on Sunday, November 1.  I had my day planned. Went to church on Saturday evening and came home thinking, on Sunday, I would write my first 2000 words after I had fulfilled a promise I had given to my husband and had driven him to a city that he loves. 

Well, it did not happen that way. My plans were thrown out the window Sunday morning, and I find myself at this particular moment under pressure to catch up.  I am stressing, and I know it.  I have to keep telling myself, “Pat, one word at a time. You can do it.”

Do I feel like I can do it?  To be honest, I am ignoring my feelings.   What counts is my willingness to stay focus on my writing no matter what. 

So right now, amidst all the stress that I am experiencing during this first week of NaNo, I find myself talking to me, saying, “Pat, you can do it. One word at a time.”

Shalom,

Pat Garcia