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Cabins, Cookies, Coffee, Christmas Trees

September 28, 2012 in Books

We dreamed of cabins, cookies, coffee, and Christmas trees…

We longed for crackling fires below the hearth in which to kneel before to warm our hands. We could almost hear the sound of Ode to Joy being played on the violin by a beautiful young lady so dearly loved by one of us.

Beautiful Christmas Tree, it is what wayfarers dreamed of as the struggled in the cold and the distress.

They longed for this…

Christmas is the celebration of the birth of our Lord. We did not know in fact what time of year He was born, but we celebrated it during December; a December that will be emblazoned on our hearts and souls for eternity. We did not know He’d come to our rescue in December but He came. Yes, He came and we changed…

While we walked we prayed and we dreamed. America had been critically wounded and those in power who could have held up a shield of protection chose not to. No, they let it come to be fulfillment of evil, lustful desires. But, it was no surprise as this would further accelerate the fulfillment of written Revelation. Yes, it came and many – too many – were forced to change.

We walked because we were led to. We walked with a man who wore an orange hat; a man was led to lead. He was nobody special but he was convicted and you could say he was directed. This convicted man had already walked a long, long way before we took up our packs and joined him. What stamina this convicted man possessed!

The radio was unpredictable, as those who refused to stand in the gap and protect now had control of it. Still, one of us carried with him a battery powered radio and we heard Stille Nacht by Mannheim Steamroller. It touched the convicted man in a manner like we had not seen in our individual lives and we were likewise affected. We had never known someone so profoundly affected by music. You could say that we were changed…

Indeed, we were cold as our feet crunched through the snow down the westward path. It was a relief to be out of the tunnel and we learned never to veer from the path again. There were other paths that led into the brush, but they were traps that would leave us vulnerable to the creatures that followed a master who resembled all at once a man, a bat, and a Doberman Pinscher. It was protection from that beast that required the blood to be shed and then accepted by those who would believe the Word.

We were freezing and tired. We were hungry and one of us was bleeding to death. But then, He who held the keys to life and death came to the rescue with a glorious trumpeting sound. Yes, we were lifted up and out of what could be construed as war. We rose and we were changed forever.

It was a chilly December and we were tired. We dreamed of cabins, cookies, coffee, and Christmas trees. We only wanted to be home, safe and warm. Our prayers were answered and our dreams came true…

…and it was more magnificent than we could ever imagine.

Read The Wayfarers trilogy – start with part 1.

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The Wayfarers – What a Story!

March 11, 2012 in General

Jim Yackel talks about The Wayfarers Christian end times fiction trilogy. While the story is fiction, how much of what takes place could end up as faction as we look at the turbulent world today in 2012? What an amazing and life-changing journey takes place. Are you ready to take the walk?

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The Wayfarers trilogy by author Jim Yackel

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Out of Kilter Christmas?

December 22, 2011 in General

There’s something truly out of kilter about the 2011 Christmas season. Admittedly, the past several have been lacking in comfort and joy – and this I have opined about in various written works. But, in my view, this year the populace seems to be less about exhibiting the spirit than ever before.

Mayan Calender

Mayan Calender

There’s no arguing the fact that millions in America – let alone the rest of the world – are struggling. The fact that “Black Friday” 2011 smashed all manner of retail sales records only served to point to a desperate consumer base needing a “deal” and not to one that is/was doing well and merely taking part in the madness for sport; or to be part of the scene.

For this writer, it could be the mild temperatures and lack of snow thus far this December in upstate New York that is casting an air of caliginousness over what should be a joyful time. Yes, it could be the weather but I believe it is so much more than that…

…In the struggle, instability, insecurity, and turbulence of December 2011 we may be forgetting the hope that is the reason for the season. Personally, I don’t think that Christmas is ever again going to be what it used to be – but in that we need to hang onto the truth and the hope that is Jesus all that much more. We may likely see a day – perhaps by Christmas 2012 – when the mere ability to purchase or otherwise acquire food will be better than any gewgaw hung on the yuletide tree or marvelous toy wrapped and placed below it.

I am no prophet – nor have I ever played one on television – but I do feel that a year from now the landscape in America and the world is going to be significantly different. That is why the reason for the season should be the reason for our hope and the rock that we rest upon as the earth quakes metaphorically below our feet. As this writer believes in a Rapture, seven year Great Tribulation, and one thousand year Millennial Reign of Jesus Christ on earth before a new Heaven and Earth come into existence, I put no stock in the Mayan Calender finishing on December 21, 2012 or the countdown that has begun to that end. Having said that, I do believe that events in the coming year will be potentially earth-shattering and mind-blowing. Indeed, life as we know it may change.

God bless you all this Christmas season. Be watchful wayfarers, as this Christmas does seem a bit out of kilter.

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Faith, Hope, Love

December 10, 2011 in General

Last evening, I drove through the Onondaga County villages of Fayetteville and Manlius, where a good deal of the story in my book The Wayfarers | Jacob’s Trouble takes place. Many homes and yards along the route that I traveled were resplendently decorated with Christmas lights; the shiny electrical conveyances of color being strung to porches, around windows, and to trees with varying levels of meticulousness. But, no matter the level of skill applied to the decorating, it was beautiful in every instance.

A most amazing Christmas ornament!

A most amazing Christmas ornament!

As I drove, I wondered how many of the residents of the aforementioned area knew that their towns, Mill Run Park, and the Erie Canal Towpath were part of a fiction trilogy. And with that, I wondered how many were keenly aware of their place in history; both in the fictional sense and in the reality of December, 2011. Indeed, I wondered if any contemplated that fiction could be come faction and that the freedom and security that they enjoyed could be stripped away in the blink of an eye.

As the song says, Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year. It is the time to celebrate the birth of the reason for the season; that being Jesus Christ the Lord. It is a time to attempt to put aside the dilemmas and to pull from our skin the thorns that trouble us and remember the love that saves us. It is a time for hope renewed and joy discovered; whether it be through the beaming face of a joyful child or through the realization that while freedom can be lost in this fallen world – best read about fictionally here than to be lived-out factionally – freedom can be eternal through true faith in He who is the reason for the season.

God bless you this Christmas season and always,
Jim

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Christmas Fiction and Faction

December 5, 2011 in General

The Wayfarers | Walking Dreams is the beginning of the story. It is called a “prequel” but it is part 1 of the trilogy – the crucially and critically important opening scenes. This three-part fictional tale begins shortly before Christmas in December of 2009, but it could just as well take place at this same time in 2011.

A Most Special Ornament?

A one of a kind Christmas ornament

Readers have conveyed to me privately that they believe the books in this trilogy – especially Walking Dreams – to be “prophetic.” While I personally will not make such a powerful claim, the events that are currently taking place in the world in December 2011 could likely lead up to the fictional events that take place in The Wayfarers trilogy – beginning in Walking Dreams, through Five Feet From The Cabin Door, and resuming and concluding in epic fashion with Jacob’s Trouble. It is possible that this fiction could ultimately be factional to one degree or another; but that is truly in God’s hands.

The world in December of 2011 is like a ship on stormy seas that is being wind-swept toward rocky shores; seemingly ambivalent to who the captain is that could minimize for individual passengers the crash that will surely come…and yes, it will come.

Each of us is a wayfarer; being on our own individual journeys through this life that God has given us. The journey for the characters of The Wayfarers trilogy was arduous and yet those who chose to see it through were sharpened as iron sharpens iron. Whether we realize it or not, as in the fictional 2009 we in factional December of 2011 are headed down a path that will lead to either ruin or rescue – and as it was in fictional 2009 we have a choice to make. The world is changing and not for the better. It is time to chose a path and walk, because the ability to chose may be gone in the blink of an eye. This is not your grandfather’s America nor is it your dad’s world. The wolf hides in the shadows and you may not realize you’ve been devoured until you are forced to permanently partake of the malodorous stench inside of its guts.

All of the things of this world that you have found security in are now as stable as a cellophane floor. Your technological gadgets, your investments, your car, your home, your job – it is all in peril. The safest thing that you can do is to step off of that cellophane floor and walk the path of soil and gravel because that is the way to security. That my friends is the only safe way home.

Thank you for reading and God bless you,
Jim

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