How about you? Have you ever given it your all and still not finished first? Has life brought disappointment your way? I’ve certainly had my share–sometimes it seems my lot in life is to try and try and never quite get it right.

Second Chronicles tells the story of the building of the Temple. David wanted to take on the job, but wasn’t allowed to do it. His son, Solomon, was given that privilege. In chapter six, Solomon prays:

“O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like you in all of heaven and earth. You keep your promises and show unfailing love to all who obey you and are eager to do your will. You have kept your promise to your servant David, my father. You made that promise with your own mouth, and today you have fulfilled it with your own hands. And now, O LORD, God of Israel, carry out your further promise to your servant David, my father. For you said to him, ‘If your descendants guard their behavior and obey my law as you have done, they will always reign over Israel.

And that reminds me of another prayer, the one where Jesus (Yeshua) was asked to teach his disciples to pray. He said, “Thy Kingdom come; Thy will be done.”

Maybe … just maybe … my disappointments come when I am seeking my will and not the Father’s. Today, I want to turn that around. I want to follow hard after the Father and let go of my own misguided plans.

How about you? Will you join me?

(Thank you, Lev, for the photo)

An incredible performance from a hardworking duo.

Wishing them the very best from the USA. Here’s the link: Jonathan & Charlotte

Whether I’m camping, traveling or waiting at the mall for the girls to finish shopping–I’ve a library of books ready to read. The Kindle is a powerful tool, one that I am learning more about all the time.

But the Kindle is not only a fantastic device for the reader, it has opened up a whole new realm of possibility for writers too.

It was fairly easy to get started

I uploaded my Dream Into It: The Entrepreneur’s Roadmap to Freedom field guide to the Kindle library last year. And a few months ago, I published The Road Home: An Appalachian Native American Journey, a story based partly on legend and partly on what I know about my grandfather, BeeAn Webb.

I’m not proud of the covers or the formatting for my books, though. I want to do better. So I started trying to find out exactly how one can do a professional job of Kindle formatting. I soon discovered three primary paths to Kindle knowledge:

1. Hire someone to do it for you

2. Hire someone to teach you to do it

3. Work through the instructions on your own

I’m too picky about my work to get someone else to format for me. It would cost thousands of dollars by the time we finished–and I’d drive the designer whacko with my perfectionist tendencies. Once I learn more about how to format Kindle myself, that option could work. But not now.

I spent a tidy sum of time and money attending webinars, buying books and paying for hyped up (mostly spun) information from internet marketers–and it helped me get going, but left me hungry for solid information and sometimes ticked off at what people will sell as “Everything you need” (when it was obviously thrown together in a hurry–with much more time put into marketing than into a quality product).

So I decided to bull on ahead, figuring it out for myself. And that is when I came across this book–something not one of the experts told me about (and so valuable that it runs circles around them all).

If you’re a writer, wondering how to get started with Kindle, then start here. I get upset with Amazon every now and then. Sometimes it seems as if they’ve grown so big they’ve lost the human touch. But Amazon has proved me wrong about that on several occasions recently … and this is definitely one of those occasions.

Here it is: the best advice around for getting started on building your book on the Kindle platform. And it’s free (thank you, Amazon).

Every day in the hermitage becomes a seeking of the Lord and His presence. A question that often comes up in the spiritual directions is the relationship between the desert, as it is perceived, and the market place.

The real question we must ask ourselves is, “Where is the deepening silence and solitude? Is it merely in the lack of exterior things, or is within us waiting to be discovered and lived?”

[As for things] some items are beneficial to our daily life and vocation, and some can be harmful and disturb our interior life. We must be vigilant, and discerning in our use of things.

If we learn to give thanks for what God has blessed us with that particular day and for the people who have provided such items, but not seek to grasp or hold on to the people or items, then the storms of a  passing world will not disturb our inner peace.

Our true life and identity is with, and in, God Alone.

Live simply and travel lightly. Each time you bring a new object or book into your hermitage, ask yourself if it will be a blessing and help you on your journey through the desert, or whether it may turn out to be a curse in disguise.

Will the items you bring into your hermitage add to the silence of your little house, or disturb both it and your interior silence?

Our life of worship in the House of God, the Gate of Heaven, is not focused on the material but on adoration and praise of the One in whom we live , move and have our being—the God who came seeking us long before we ever thought about Him or offered our first prayer.

(This letter is from a monk-priest who wanders as a pilgrim in the U.K. and prefers to remain anonymous. It is presented here with minimal editing. Please pray for him.)

Just follow this link: Jonathan & Charlotte.

I wish them continued success–they have definitely worked plenty hard enough to deserve it.