Commotion in the Pews

The Gospel of Luke tells the whole story of the Christ. It is done in 24 chapters. Consequently, every day in December I will be posting a new chapter of Luke until we get to Christmas. It is my hope that you share this with your friends, church, family and social media. 

Now, for the Gospel of Luke: 

I hope you will not mind a commercial here. These two books are part of how I make my living, and I’m providing the links as you’re still here and seem to like the way I read.

PHOENIX SUB ZERO by Michael DiMercurio

The Hegira is the finest super-sub that Arab oil money can buy. But the U.S. Navy is only now learning just how good this undersea sword of Islam is. Already one American sub has been destroyed, and another crippled, as the Hegira breaks out of the Mediterranean and heads toward America to deliver its lethal payload.

Now it’s up to Captain Michael Pacino and the USS Seawolf to find the enemy sub and destroy it — in the ultimate battle between the most advanced weapons technology on the planet and the sheer force of human courage.

 

VERTICAL DIVE by Michael DiMercurio

With his unrelenting suspense and explosive combat scenes, USA Today best-selling author Michael DiMercurio has redefined the modern submarine thriller. Now he returns with a new novel of the silent war on terror being waged under the sea…

During NATO exercises, the French Navy unveils Le Vigilant, a nuclear submarine so advanced that it can elude any radar system in the water. But France’s maritime marvel is about to become its own worst enemy. A band of Algerian terrorists has hijacked Le Vigilant. They mean to wipe Paris and every major French city off the face of the earth – and then turn their missiles against the great Satans of the United States and Russia.

Despite the French Navy’s protests, two NATO subs are called into action: the USS Hampton, captained by veteran sub warrior Burke Dillinger, and the USS Texas, commanded by iron-willed Peter Vornado. Paris is being evacuated. Time is running out. And the coming conflict will pit the ultimate in technological weaponry against pure courage, skill, and determination…

 

 

 

The Gospel of Luke tells the whole story of the Christ. It is done in 24 chapters. Consequently, every day in December I will be posting a new chapter of Luke until we get to Christmas. It is my hope that you share this with your friends, church, family and social media. 

Now, for the Gospel of Luke: 

 

 

I hope you will not mind a commercial here. These two books are part of how I make my living, and I’m providing the links as you’re still here and seem to like the way I read.

NICHOLAS OF HAITI by Joseph Courtemanche.

Nick Bacon is a life interrupted. When his commercial airline flight explodes over Utah, killing everyone on board but Nick, his miraculous survival draws unwanted attention. The press can’t get enough of his story while the FBI is convinced he planted the bomb that took down his plane. All he wants is a place to heal and time to let the world forget him. Unable to return home, Nick accepts an offer to join a missionary medical team and flees to Haiti.

But Nick’s new life in Haiti is haunted by visions. He’s forced to examine his sanity and faith in a world of turmoil and chaos among a people he’s never met before. Aided by Andre, his Haitian translator and protector, Nick confronts the dark forces battling for his soul, and the soul of the abused little girl he’s only seen in his dreams.

Because in Haiti, there’s more than just Nick’s sanity at risk. The fate of the world may now depend on Nicholas of Haiti.

ASSAULT ON SAINT AGNES by Joseph Courtemanche

When terrorists assault Saint Agnes Church in Saint Paul, Minnesota, they expect to find a congregation of lambs. They get Bobby Kurtz instead.

An unrepentant cold warrior, Kurtz destroys the terror cell with violent finality. Against his will, Kurtz is pulled back into the life he left behind decades before. He reluctantly picks up the burden of hunting the terrorists in our midst. He risks his life, and his marriage, in a single-minded pursuit of victory over evil.

Working with a shadowy government agency, Kurtz uses all of his skills and experience to foil a plan that would plunge the Twin Cities back into the Stone Age. The final battle rages across the plains during a Christmas Eve blizzard in a story that will leave the listener pleading for more of Kurtz and his team of experts.

 

 

Sometimes a town chooses you.

Looking for Space is a story of triumph over adversity for one boy growing up in a small town, and an intimate look at how the community embraced a newcomer and helped him find his way.

When Charles lost his father at age ten, he was uprooted from everything familiar and eventually moved to Pickens, South Carolina—a place he barely knew, yet one that would come to define him. In the foothills of the Blue Ridge, among red clay fields and close-knit neighbors, he began the long work of healing and becoming.

It is also a tender portrait of how a Southern town can shape a life. The rhythms of 1970s Pickens—its public schools, church pews, football games, and front porches—offered not just comfort, but direction.

Alongside his personal journey, Charles opens a wider lens to reflect on the region’s natural beauty, cultural traditions, and the local figures who helped define Pickens County’s identity. The result is both an intimate memoir and a tribute to the quiet strength of place.

Rooted in gratitude, Looking for Space is a love letter to a town that still knows the value of showing up for one another.