If you don’t lose all respect for me after watching this video, no worries, you’ll have another chance. Sometimes good things do come out of bad hair days.
Grateful to be among the contributors to the newly released book Chicken Soup for the Soul: Well That Was Funny featuring 101 TRUE stories to make you laugh out loud. A great gift for Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and any day. Or treat yourself to the good medicine of a little laughter. #CSSWellThatWasFunny
The original Chicken Soup for the Soul book was rejected 144 times before being published 30 years ago. That's persistence. It became a bestseller and grew into a bestselling series. Thank you Chicken Soup for the Soul for the opportunity to contribute to your book. (And I'm so glad that despite receiving 1000s of submissions, it only took three tries for you to accept one of my stories.)
Please scroll for more content.
This is a candid photo. —Here she is: my feisty beloved mother-in-law. She whipped her door open when I arrived and demanded, “Where’s the book? Give me my book! I want my book.” — I wrote this for YOU, Mom! (Yes, she is a miracle. Thank you Jesus and to all who prayed for her healing.)
Available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble and at other fine booksellers
About our hack job of a video: I wrote the script (all true) a few minutes before my husband got home. We had 15 minutes to record it before we dashed out the door. No time to memorize or rehearse. — And that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it. (Thanks for capturing our crazy on camera, Andrew.)
Please scroll for POETRY and a SPECIAL OPPORTUNITY to help chronicle and preserve #CivilRights history.
Blessed to have my article Writers, Quit Quitting! on the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference blog.
Catching the Tail End of #PoetryAppreciationMonth Below
Introducing my brilliant fellow writer Jay F. Calhoun
Faithfulness Reigns
—By Jay F. Calhoun
Faithfulness reigns
Shouts without sound
Shows like diamonds
Lodged in the hands
Tiny as dust, glinty
In the work-split skin
Of them
Men and women in the ring.
And shines then
All covering
One love-harnessed pair
It sounds strong in them
In the deep round drums
Of their true, true hearts.
Arcs and Laminations
—By Jay F. Calhoun
Boy practicing big-league pitches
Throws against the brownstones’ steps
The more mom yells
Harder he hurls
That spaldeen spins back
Arcing from the third step
Up from the strike-zone
He is sharpened
Dodging the cars
One focus only
He makes the catch clean
Looking backwards
Over his shoulder
One out, man on second
Steps wearing down year by year
Not by pitching
Or boiling fury of boysadness
Or even a mother’s loud-shouted love
But salt and old Mr. Alvez’s shovel
Chopping at ice layers
Wishing to be in Puerto Rico
Where once he was a son
In the minors
JAY F. CALHOUN is writing again. A former art student with concentrations (Hah!) in sculpture, painting and women’s studies, Jay is presently working on his BS in fiction in Richmond Va. He is married to the most exciting woman on the planet and is originally from New York. He apologizes for that. Not the married thing, that’s good. He is currently working on his historical fiction trilogy The Fields of The Fatherless, his YA Novel: The Last Dogs of Geronimo, along with an essay about story format templates in Genesis and a spate of homonymic/heterographic poems. And he’s fixing the back fence. His oeuvre, to date, includes published articles, essays, poems, short stories and letters to various editors, and Jay will be forever indebted to Mrs. Amy Martin, his fourth-grade teacher, who explained the meaning of run-on sentences and said his poem made her weep.
[And my 2019 INTERVIEW with Del HERE]
My young friend Isaac Barros returns:
When It Is June
When it is June,
I hear a red cardinal’s tune.
Creamy snow clouds sail the lapis sky.
They puff and bounce, not shy.
The clouds dot the sky up high like pins.
Below grass blades flap like fins.
The hot golden sun smiles at me.
Then I turn on the freezing AC.
Leaves explode on trees like fireworks.
They say they’re FINALLY back, and smirk.
When it is June,
I know school will end soon.
~~*~~
PRAYERS
Set me free, lord
Feed my famished soul
Awake my languishing heart
Water my dry and thirsty soul
Don’t let me fade away
I need You
Can’t wait to be with you
Shake me from complacency
Deliver me from the trivial life
Search and purify
Let Your zeal consume me
~~*~~
Awake my soul from slumber
Stir to the Master’s touch
Gaze into the eyes of your Maker
Turn and drink in His beauty
Be intoxicated by his Holy presence
Transformed by the living Word
—Rachael M. Colby
AN INVITATION TO HELP HONOR & PRESERVE SOME CIVIL RIGHTS HISTORY
CLICK HERE to take a virtual tour via this video simulation of the proposed Scarboro 85 memorial in Bissel Park in Oak Ridge, TN. This will commemorate the 85 brave Black students from the Scarboro neighborhood in #OakRidge who made history in September 1955 as the first to integrate a school district in the southeast. This will also honor those who aided the integration process. There is also the option to view photo renderings anddonate toward this project to honor these students and preserve Civil Rights history on the Scarboro85Monument.com site. Donations can also be made here: Contributions can be taken directly to Pinnacle Bank in Jackson Square, oak Ridge, TN or mailed to: PO Box 4158, Oak Ridge 37831 Please make checks payable to United Way of Anderson County and note Scarboro 85 Monument Forgotten History: The Story of the Scarboro 85 on WVLT TV, Knoxville TN videos and an article by Nia Myrthil
SOME INSPIRATION FROM FRIENDS ON THE WRITING ROAD
Focus: It Changes Everything, by Dr. Katherine Hutchinson Hayes
Emergency Room Obedience, by Cherrilynn Bisbano on Arise Daily Devos
Check out award-winning author, teacher, speaker, and web designer Rhonda Dragomir's work and offerings (And she has a story in Chicken Soup: Well That Was Funny🙂
Creative Writing Journal: Faith Inspired Writing Prompts & Hope-Filled Poetry Journaling Scribbles Collection – Version 1 Abstract Orange Circles Cover Art – BW 6×9 (Thrilled to have three of my poems featured in this book. The poetry and promts presented in this compilation not only serve to inspire writers but are suitable for incorporating as part of one’s devotional time.)
PRIOR POSTS
- The Hair and the Chicken
If you don’t lose all respect for me after watching this video, no worries, you’ll have another chance. Sometimes good things do come out of bad hair days. Grateful to be among the contributors to the newly released book Chicken Soup for … Continue reading “The Hair and the Chicken” - Road to Rabbi: A Messianic Jew’s Journey to Jesus
What an adventure, an education, and blessing to converse with the lively and jovial Rabbi Henry Morse of the Sha’ar Hashamayim Messianic Congregation in Stoughton, Massachusetts. I first encountered the Rabbi as he led his merry band of people down the hill … Continue reading “Road to Rabbi: A Messianic Jew’s Journey to Jesus” - Let’s Talk About Race Relations with Lori Roeleveld & Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith
When we attempt to muzzle people’s pain we widen their wounds. Without honest communication there is no intimacy. Without intimacy it’s difficult to touch a heart, the seedbed of where true, lasting, and positive change can take place. So, thank you to … Continue reading “Let’s Talk About Race Relations with Lori Roeleveld & Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith” - Failure is Not a Four-letter Word
Defeated! Dejected! Those words seemed to sum up my life. I started out strong in my late teens by committing my life to Jesus. Oh, but then how my life became marked by failure. I felt so much older than my numerical … Continue reading “Failure is Not a Four-letter Word” - Delay & Divine Direction
When the road stretches longer than expected and delays and detours abound, we dare not deter from the right path. The high road, though often rough hewn, long, lonely, and costly, is worthy of staying the course. In the long run, the … Continue reading “Delay & Divine Direction”
For our full #HealthyFaithchat schedule on Twitter and a list of upcoming topics please visit our website: HealthyFaithChat.com
Help from Focus on the Family 1-800-A-Family/ (1-800) 232-6459
Billy Graham Evangelistic Association 24 hour Prayer Line: (888) 388-2683
© 2023 Rachael M Colby | Tattoo It On your Heart
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Tattoo It On Your Heart 
So excited for you Ms. Rachael. Will I be able to get my copy signed at BRMCWC this year? Can’t wait to read your funny story.
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Congrats Rachel. Well done.🙏💝
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Thank you Doreen. God bless you and keep you.
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😆Rachael, you guys are adorable! Congratulations on your Chicken Soup for the Soul story!!!!!🎉👏🙌
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Thanks Pearl. But I’m sure there are other descriptions that would be more accurate. Lol. – Cant wait to attend Write to Publish Conference with you.
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