New Year, New Life

I have written here of late about New Life Church and Pastor Ted Haggard, as well as soldiers at Fort Carson whom I met during book fairs I’ve staged at the base’s hospital. It’s a new year and new things are happening, related to each.

I look out the window to the left of my desk and view mounds of glistening snow beneath majestic pine trees. We received another eight inches yesterday on top of the nearly three feet that fell during the past month. A winter wonderland yet covers this patch of ground in my part of Colorado. (It made for good weather to stay indoors and watch the NFL playoffs…go Bears…if the Broncos can’t be there!)

Recent occurrences:

New Life Church: Is going strong, two months after the national news about Ted Haggard. A pastoral search committee has been formed to select a new senior pastor. Nine members were chosen for the committee through a vote held among church members. We are blessed to have Pastor Ross Parsley, the worship leader and Integrity Music recording artist, serve as interim pastor. His sermons and message each week are inspiring and just what the congregation needs in this time of change. He has likened our current journey to that of Noah’s Ark. We are in the boat waiting for dry land to appear, and the process could take many months, as it did for Noah and his family. It’s the perfect metaphor. And at the end, there will be a rainbow.

Music: The church’s new CD was released on December 24, “My Savior Lives,” and features Ross Parsley and the Desperation Band on the Integrity label. Thirteen original songs, all fabulous.

Book Fairs: During January, we rest and attend a regional conference. The new fair schedule begins in February – and instead of attending the conference, I was in Las Vegas. My father turned 75, and most of my large family gathered from parts east and west to honor Dad. The slot machines didn’t get much of my money – I never win – but my two sisters and a niece walked away with a few extra bucks. As my 22-year-old daughter says, “They got all the lucky genes in the family.” OK, so I’m not a gambler.

Fort Carson: The biggest change is that my husband, Dr. Gary Cosel, a licensed psychologist, has expanded his counseling practice. Together we have opened the Deployment Recovery Counseling Center in Colorado Springs. The mission statement: Saving Families Wounded By War. Services are available for active duty, retired, reserve and National Guard military members and their families.

What This Means: I am therefore selling my book fair business. Will I continue to be involved with books? You bet. I am an avid reader, but also a writer. What happens to this blog? Its direction will change. I’ve tried here to focus on the people whom I meet at the book fairs I’ve conducted versus the actual business of fairs. Now and then, I’ve written about some of the books I’ve sold and those I’ve read. So as this blog metamorphosizes, stay tuned. Life is always about people and how we interact with them. Everyone has a story to tell. I hope you’ll like mine.