"We're getting married this summer."

I don't know why, but this overhear reminded me of two of the victims in the Boston Marathon Bombing. I suppose it is because I have been doing a lot of research for my fundraiser to support the Boston One Fund. Through it I have learned of Patrick Downes and Jessica Kensky, newleyweds in Boston who both lost a limb in the bombing.


Finding out about them touched me for two reasons, one, because Jessica is the name of my main character in BETTING JESSICA and two, because my entire second story, UNTANGLING THE KNOT, is about a wedding. Both of these books were set in Boston, so this couple feels very connected to my writing.

As many of you know already, I decided to donate all of my profits from the sale of both books to the Boston One Fund during this first week of May. My birthday is May 15th, so the best present my friends and fans could give me would be the chance to support victims such as Patrick and Jess in their long road to recovery. At amazon you can give either book as a gift to a friend (or for yourself if you haven't yet read them). Here's a brief blurb about each story along with purchase links. You can also link here for a sneak peak at Untangling the Knot. The fundraiser is active now.

Thanks so much for your support.,
Deanne

BETTING JESSICA - http://amzn.com/B005YF05CO
(NOTE: This is an updated version, revised and re-released  November 11, 2012)
Hung over and tired, twenty-four year old Jessica  finds she has made a crazy bet to get a date with her favorite
celebrity, Ian  Drake. Of course the bet would be unthinkable except for the  small problem that  she made it with her enemy, Erik. She decides to use the bet  as a way to prove  to herself and others that when she sets her mind to
something she can truly  accomplish it. And, although things don't go exactly as planned, Jessica learns alot about motivation, determintation, and love... not to mention making bets.

UNTANGLING THE KNOT - http://amzn.com/B00BFMJX5K
“I did what?”

Twenty-eight-year-old Gabriella Bessu is St. Therese’s meticulous wedding ceremony coordinator. So the fact that she has mistakenly registered her newest couple for an annulment, rather than a wedding, sends her  Catholic guilt into overdrive.

But who can blame her? The groom is  gorgeous and his two kids tug at Gabriella’s heart in a way that overcomes all her best intentions. Before long, she’s in over her head, fixing her mixed-up plans and helping the children and dad come to terms with their haunting grief for the mother and wife they lost years earlier.

Can Gabriella untangle her own fears and accept the messy life that God has handed them?

“Have you seen the movie, The Way?”

Two women near me were comparing movies and this one caught my attention because I had, indeed, seen it. (The rest all sounded like Woody Allen movie titles.) It was a brilliant movie with all of the things I love best, a sense of place, interesting food, amazing dialogue and Martin Sheen. The overhear prompted me to go back and look at the website for it where I was struck by the tagline at the top:

You don’t choose a life, you live one.

This idea of being driven by mission both intrigues and scares me. There is a loss of control inherent in the very idea of not having a choice… and attempting to be at peace with this has frequently eluded me.

Not so for others I know though. Some of the best artists, for example were practically, or actually, driven mad by their passion, whatever their medium- writing, canvas, stage. Passion, I believe, is the other side of mission. It is the living out of mission. The question is, how do we tap into our passion and do we have the courage to embrace it when we find it.

There are many different forms of mission, but one of the most obvious to recognize is the proselytizer. What I am coming to see, though, is that all missions are born of the same inner desire to be who we were born to be… in other words, to live our life rather than attempt to choose it.

One of my barista friends at Starbucks is a wonderful example of this. Raised in a family of missionaries, Justin is now leading his own missions to Prague. Justin, in fact, was born in Germany while his parents were on mission there with Cadence International (which provides Christian ministry for U.S. soldiers and their families stationed around the world).  

Why Prague? For many years the Czech Republic was under communist rule where all organized religions, including Christianity, were persecuted. Now many missions go to rebuild the churches there. Setting up a missionary trip is
not an easy task for anyone, even assuming the support of a local church. But in this case it is even more daunting as Justin is in his early twenties and is drawing on his previous church in Colorado to help him. He has gone on missions with Bethany Evangelical Free Church before, but this will be the first one he has actually organized himself.

Still, 15 of his friends have agreed to go on this mission with him from July 8th to the 24th this year. As I write about this I am struck by the idea that 16 young adults have enough passion to spend part of their summer on a mission. I can’t imagine I would have had the courage to do this at that age.

Passion truly comes in many different forms. I feel grateful that over time I have found my calling, my mission if you will, in my writing. Through this I am no as scared as I used to be when I hear someone talk of their own personal mission. I understand it so much better now than I ever have before.

I wish Justin a ton of success with his own mission. I know it won’t be easy, not the least of which is because each individual on the team must fundraise to earn $2,400 in order to participate. Then again… it may not be the summer they choose, but the summer they live.

(Note: If you would like to donate to their cause or learn more about it you can contact Justin Schroeder at
[email protected])