My favorite lesson from this account in the Gospels is that as you and I walk with Jesus, He will take care of us.  Likely, not in a way we would have predicted, but He will never rip us off.

I also love that Jesus pulls this miracle off to bless Peter and the taxman.  The best blessings from God are the ones that are a win-win.  Each of us is in a tailor-made training program by God's design, but He weaves all of the unique lessons to work together for our benefit and His glory.  

God really does some next-level chess playing and it's hard not to stand back in awe at His handiwork!

All of the asks:

Get your own copy of Fish Tales

Sign up for my email list and you can get a free PDF story of For the Benefit of Mr. Kite!

You can check out all of my books here!

How many times have you heard or read about Jonah and the Whale/Big Fish?

How many times have you wondered what the fish/whale was experiencing?  I'm assuming a lot less.

I love how God is usually doing at least two things at once.  Each event playing in concert with the others.  I wanted to highlight that and show that while Jonah had his lessons He was learning, possibly so did the fish.

Next time, I need to write something from the perspective of the sailors on the ship with Jonah!

All of the asks:

Get your own copy of Fish Tales

Sign up for my email list and you can get a free PDF story of For the Benefit of Mr. Kite!

You can check out all of my books here!

How's this account for obscure?

My original vision for this set of stories (more on that in the episode) was to justify the last scene (see chapter 6 in a couple of episodes).

It was not until I was trying to write a book long enough to get printed by Amazon that I realized I needed to find one or two more stories to include... and this one floated to the surface. ;)

After going to 2020 together, we, like the characters in this chapter, all experienced the same year... but we all experienced those events differently.

Here's to a new year that doesn't feel like an axe head might fall on us unexpectedly from the sky.

All of the asks:

Get your own copy of Fish Tales

Sign up for my email list and you can get a free PDF story of For the Benefit of Mr. Kite!

You can check out all of my books here!

This is the one that started it all!

I'm told C.S. Lewis started writing The Chronicles of Narnia because he got a mental image of a faun carrying an umbrella and packages through a snowy forest where there also happened to be a gas street lamp.

For me, the image was of a fish looking at the Israelites crossing the Red Sea - what would they be thinking!?

I know I mention this in the episode, but thank you thank you, thank you, Laura Hobbs for adding your vibrant watercolors to the pages of the book.  They are so much better than I could have asked for and help draw the listener into the story.

All of the asks:

Get your own copy of Fish Tales

Sign up for my email list and you can get a free PDF story of For the Benefit of Mr. Kite!

You can check out all of my books here!

I finally graduated to chapter books!  Well, kinda.

I really wanted to book I could hold, so I dug through the recesses of my mind for what would get me beyond the 24 page minimum for Amazon print on demand.   

As it turned out I'd forgotten about a seemingly silly idea for an animated short I'd written a "script" for back in 6th grade I affectionately called "A Fish's Perspective on the Bible."

I ditched that title for "Fish Tales," asked my good friend and artistically talented friend Laura Hobbs to do the illustrations, and Bob, as they say, is your mother's brother.

This is chapter one about the creation of all things... from a fish's POV.  Let me know what you think!

Sign up for my email list and you can get a free PDF story of For the Benefit of Mr. Kite!

You can check out all of my books here!

This story is part Little Shop of Horrors and part a real thing that happened to my daughter... who am I kidding, it happens to all of us.  This is the second time I tried my hand at self-publishing and would enjoy hearing your thoughts.

Sign up for my email list and you can get a free PDF story of For the Benefit of Mr. Kite!

You can check out all of my books here!

With all apologies to The Beatles, this story has absolutely no mention of Harry the Horse.  It does, however, feature my first ever short story and the account of how the story was first written and published.

Sign up for my email list and you can get a free PDF of this very story!

You can check out all of my books here!

My name is Brian Thomas Cropp.  I'm a full-time, husband to Glenda, father to my four kids, and pastor at Hope Church in Fort Worth, Texas by day, and in the remaining time, I write stories.  

You can find out more about me at https://briancropplive.wordpress.com/

You can see all of my published stories and books at my Amazon author page