INTRODUCTION

I am old.

In my life, there are more days to look back on than to look forward to. I don’t mind, though. I carry precious memories in my heart of days gone by; times that were marked with joy and other times that were filled with great pain and even those that fall somewhere in between. All are truly precious to me.

As I sit here on my front porch, surrounded by my simple but beautiful life, I am reminded of a time when I thought my life would turn out much differently. You wouldn’t know it too look at my stained apron front and work-worn hands, but I was quite spoiled in my younger days. Little did I know that I would one day find the joy in a hard day’s work and a quiet peace in the Lord.

Peace. You know, it’s a funny thing about peace – I mean true peace, the Lord’s peace – you’ll likely never take notice of it until you need it, but suddenly find yourself without it. That’s where it’s funny. You’re never really without it at all – you just think you are.

At this moment, though, I feel completely at peace. I am old. I think of friends and loved ones who are already gone and I realize the pull toward things to come is greater than that of the things that are here and now. Yes, I am at peace. I couldn’t always say that, though. Softly – all those years ago – my Lord brought me to a place where I could know his peace – peace, like a river…

Well, I'm sure you're all just sitting on pins and needles waiting for the first installment of "When Peace, Like a River", right? (dejected murmuring from the crowd) Yah, that's what I thought.

Anyway, just so you know it's being beta-read right now. That means someone's proofing it for me. So, when it's done I'll post it. Maybe.

Right now, I don't like the opening bit of the first chapter. It just seems kinda boring. Not too promising for ya'll as the readers, I'm afraid. Actually, I can't really say it won't all be boring in the end. But the story in my head is fascinating. The trick is getting it to be just as fascinating in the written word. *sigh*

At the moment, I have plans for a series of stories that all have titles taken from Hymns. Together they will make up a chronicling of the lives of the citizens of Hanover Station over a period of time. But I'm really getting ahead of myself. You haven't even read the first chapter, so you probably don't care about the next story or the next or the next.

Well, just thought I'd update for all of ya'll who keep asking me if I forgot that I was writing a story. LOL

Nope, didn't forget.

Okay, I have many "beginnings" of stories and I think I've finally decided which will be the first to be posted. I don't know that anyone will actually read this or not, but I like the idea of keeping the story going in journal format because its fun to look back on my thoughts and stuff as the story progresses.

Anyway, the story I have decided to post will be "When Peace, Like a River." I got the title from a hymn. The setting is in the late 19th Century out West in a fictional town called Hanover Station. At least I hope that's a fictional place.... *scratching head*.... I made it up anyway, so it's fictional to me.

I have the outline completed and the character backgrounds pretty much set. Although I'm not happy with the names I've chosen... I'm not good with names really...

Now the question is whether I will actually have the nerve to post the dadgum thing or not... I really don't know... BUT, if I do muster up that kinda courage I will be posting a chapter or so at a time as they get finished.

For starters and to provide a bit of background, here is the hymn from which I took the title (one of my favorites by the way):

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way;
When sorrows, like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,
"It is well, it is well with my soul!"

Like I said, don't be shocked if I wind up chickening out and not posting the story at all... But I think I can say with certainty that if I can gather the nerve to post the first chapter, I'll be good to go from there on... We'll see though.

Okay, this is where I will post my stories. Feel free to post comments on this site too. I don't mind feedback, whether it's critiques or comments or questions.