Why I don’t believe in New Year’s resolutions

Posted in Stories
why I don't like new Year's resolutions

Ba humbug.

I’m not at all a fan of New Year’s resolutions. People buying gym memberships, cleaning out their cupboards of junk food, buying bookshelves of self-help books.

In a few weeks, it all fails.

I’ve never had a New Years resolution fail. (Then again, I don’t recall ever making one.)

But, I’ve also rarely had any resolution fail.

Why?

It all begins with a story. Read more »

How do you know when you’ve forgiven someone?

Posted in Stories
What does it mean to forgive?

I warn you now–I’m gonna lay it out there–exposed my sinful heart for the world to see. But maybe by doing that, I’ll find what I’m looking for.

How do you know when you’ve forgiven someone?

This question seems to pop on quite a bit in Sunday school. How do you know when you’ve forgiven someone?

Well. I don’t know if I have the answer. But I do have an answer that made a difference in my life. And, it changed my perspective too. Read more »

Love the unloved: A story of redemption

Posted in Stories
Love the Unloved by Dustin Fife

The following is based on a true story. It is an abridgment of the novella Love the Unloved which is available on Amazon. Names have been changed to protect identities. For more information, visit my Love the Unloved page.

September 1994

James and his little brother filled a ceramic bowl with perfume. They bent toward it, grinning with anticipation.

“Watch this,” James said as he struck a match.

The door opened and slammed shut. Mom was home. Read more »

When the passive bully grows up

Posted in Stories
When the passive bully grows up

I didn’t really “fit in” in elementary school. I was scrawny, awkward, and couldn’t afford nice enough clothes to avoid the taunting of my fellow pygmys. I had two outfits that “worked,” and I wore these on rotation, hoping nobody would notice that Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays were “Rose Bowl Sweats” days, and Tuesdays and Thursdays were “long-sleeved, Pseudo-pajama Superman shirt” days. (When spring came around, I was reaaaaaaaly screwed.) Read more »

It could have been the darkest day of my life…

Posted in Stories
How I almost drowned my kids
Novel 4 Progress: 4,689 of 65,000 Queries sent: 50 Requests for pages: 4 What’s this?

We should have gone to the swimming pool, where the water is clear. Instead we went to Lake Thunderbird.

That was my first mistake.

I was loading the kiddos into the truck. My wife, infant in arms, called out the door, “Don’t forget to bring life jackets.”

“Got it.”

I looked for maybe three minutes. I was in a big hurry. I found one, but not the three I needed. It’ll be fine. The youngest, the two-year-old had a jacket. The other two had been taking swim lessons. They knew, at least, how to doggie paddle.

Second mistake. Read more »