From the Publisher

In May of 2008, a one-mile-wide EF-3 wedge tornado cut a path through Colorado, plowing across I-25, north of Denver. This brute crisscrossed through the farms before knocking much of the town of Winsor flat. I lived through that tornado. I was flying down I-25 in my Ford Taurus wagon when what appeared to be a storm cloud slapped down in front of my car. That killer tornado could have sucked me up and spit my car out of the top, but it didn’t. My only explanation of why not is “but God.” When that monster landed, I was in worship, singing the words “Holy is the Lamb,” along to Third Day’s Agnus Dei. And I kept singing. I mean, it wasn’t that unusual to drive into a low-hanging thunder cell on the freeway. But I was stunned by its ferocious nature. I thought my windshield would burst from both the fire hose of slush and the change in pressure inside my car as the entire world disappeared. An oil tanker beside me vanished until we both popped into the tornado’s calm, misty center. A half-mile or so later, the tanker and I popped out of the second, less-daunting wall, and back into the sunshine. At that moment, KLOVE radio announced there was a tornado at our exit. Is that what that was?!

I mention this story because it’s like we’ve all been hit by an EF-3 tornado that we never saw coming. The world as we’ve known it has disappeared, swallowed up. We can’t get our bearings, and we can’t find our way back to “the good old days” of last February. But no matter that the winds continue to swirl, we are in the center of the storm, holding hands with a God who loves us, a God who brings us peace. It’s just like when God shut the mouths of carnivorous beasts when Daniel was thrown into the lion’s den. It’s just like when God saved Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego from a fiery furnace. If God can see these biblical greats through their greatest trials, He can also see us through our trials. For with God, there is peace in the storm, calm in the lion’s den, and a chill in the furnace. To find God’s protection, we have to worship Him and give Him our problems. As we celebrate 20 years of the Advanced Writers and Speakers Association in a time of pandemic, this much I know, our world needs Christian books, music and products like never before. God will make a way for us to stand through this storm because we are still on call with the purposes He has given us. Stand firm and trust in the Lord.