If Tomorrow Never Comes

Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life?

You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. James 4:14

The words of the country song emanating from my iPad as I stepped out of the shower precipitated a torrent of tears. “If tomorrow never comes, will she know how much I loved her?” Garth Brooks pegged it with that one. The lyrics reminded me of a loved one’s recent medical diagnosis.

When you stop to think about it, the promise of tomorrow belongs to no one. We will all die.

Last night’s news featured a story of the tragic death of a high school freshman in a car accident. My father was struck by lightning while fly fishing under a clear, blue sky. We don’t know what a given day will bring.

As Christians, we should consider this question on a regular basis. If tomorrow never comes for me, for you, for anyone close to us, have we done the two most important things? Have we made certain they know the Lord Jesus Christ? Do they know how much we love them? We must not allow differences to divide us because we never know when a conversation will be our last.

Right before the 2008 presidential election, my mother and I became embroiled in a heated political argument with a close family member who had cancer. Before we could set matters to rest and convince him that our love for each other was the most important thing, he died. It haunts us to this day.

It has become “the thing” in our world to stick with our “right to disagree” to the point that the nightly news is full of antagonism of the ugliest sort, one group pitted against another because of politics, race, social standing, financial status, or philosophy. Hate has become the “in thing” in our world today.

What divides you from those you love? Religion? Politics? Family matters? Money? It is so easy to allow differences to taint relationships between ourselves and our loved ones. It is much more difficult to be the one to step forward and try to settle a disagreement.

If tomorrow never comes, have you asked forgiveness? Even if you feel you’re in the right. Simply because you offended someone you love. 

Make a point of trying to set things right with loved ones as soon as the incident occurs. We never know if tomorrow will afford us the opportunity.

© Copyright by Norma Gail Thurston Holtman, January 19, 2017

About the author:

Norma Gail is the author of the contemporary Christian romance, Land of My Dreams, winner of the 2016 Bookvana Religious Fiction Award. A women’s Bible study leader for over 21 years, her devotionals and poetry have appeared at ChristianDevotions.us, the Stitches Thru Time blog, and in “The Secret Place.” She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers and Romance Writers of America. Norma is a former RN who lives in the mountains of New Mexico with her husband of 40 years. They have two adult children.

Connect with Norma:

Website: www.normagail.org

Amazon Author page: http://www.amazon.com/Norma-Gail/e/B00ILHXBAK/

Book trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQbZIoC_JSE

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorNormaGail

Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+NormaGailwrites

Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/normagailth/boards/ 

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7874459

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Norma_Gail

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/norma-gail-thurston-holtman/42/71a/3b2

Book Links:

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Land-My-Dreams-Norma-Gail/dp/1941103170

The Gun that Won the West

Historical fiction requires a lot of research, even the small details. Since a pistol would play a small but important part of my Intrigue under Western Skies series, I dove into the history of firearms. The plot demanded that it be a revolver, a six-shooter, and I didn’t have to dig into my research long before I found the gun. The Colt Single Action Army, SAA, Model P, Peacemaker, manufactured in 1873, invented by Samuel Colt.

Mr. Colt was an interesting man, though he didn’t have a thing to do with my novel. He was born in Hartford, Connecticut in 1814 and was indentured to a farm at the age of eleven. Unlike most of his peers of such low birth, he had an opportunity to go to school, but it was his natural creativity that led to his patents.

His plants produced several versions of revolvers for the army until his company began production of the 1873 model. It became popular with ranchers, lawmen and outlaws alike. Bet you didn’t know only five bullets were loaded into the six shooter at the time. The first cylinder was kept empty since the gun could fire accidentally, so that first shot had to be cocked twice. I had to tweak my plot to accommodate that fact.

Here’s another interesting tid-bit. Samuel Colt didn’t design the Peacemaker. He died in 1862. His wife, Elizabeth who was pregnant with their fifth child at the time, took over the company. She worked behind the scenes, but she managed the plant and its 1500 employees.

How did the gun get its name? From Mr. Colt’s quote, penned in 1852, over twenty years prior to the Peacemaker’s introduction. “The good people in this world are very far from being satisfied with each other, and my arms are the best peacemarker.”

I’m not really a gun person, but I got so caught up in my research on the Peacemaker, I desperately wanted to put this gun on the cover of the second book in my series. Antiques being too expensive, I ordered a replica. It even weighs four pounds like the original. Naturally, I had to get a replica gun belt too, complete with bullets. Here’s to the revolver that won the west. No cowboy would leave home without it. This picture isn't for the cover, but you see how realistic it is.

As I said, this gun plays a significant part in the first two books in my western series, and I’m giving away a copy of the first book, Pursued, to celebrate STT’s second birthday bash. 

Carianne Barlow never expected to leave her Philadelphia townhouse and travel to the wild west of 1884, but when she inherits a fortune, conditions are attached. She must carry out her grandmother’s vision of a western culture center anchored by a library to rival those of the east.

Such an undertaking takes political support, and no one is more influential in the west than Rhyan Cason, a handsome cattle baron with the reputation of hardened businessman and rabble-rousing lobbyist. Carianne gets on the west-bound train with no thought of the treacherous world awaiting her in the little prairie town near Rhyan’s sprawling ranch.

 When Rhyan asks her to catalog his library, Carianne jumps at the chance without considering the ramifications. But menacing undercurrents run through the town, and she learns too late Rhyan is pursued by a sinister enemy determined to destroy everything he cares for—including her.