Christian Writers Award sponsored by Xulon Press

Grand Prize Winners 2011


1st Place Winner

WESmith

Later
- W. E. (Bill) Smith


IT JUST SO HAPPENS that sometimes life is stranger than fiction. It just so happens that sometimes life takes dramatic and unexpected turns. It just so happens that, though God may not give us more than we can handle, life will. It just so happens that tragedies are endured everyday. It just so happens that an unexpected turn of events cast a family into a tragic situation that provided no exit. Just when the events showed signs of hope, any relief provided by it was snatched away by another twist of fate. Cancer does that to people. It just so happens, it did it to us. Wes, our 21 year old son, was inexplicably diagnosed with leukemia while being treated for a case of the sniffles. The next year provided trials we thought unendurable. That's not to say that hope didn't loom on the horizon or that humor couldn't find a way into the mix because they did. It's just that cancer patients live their lives in installments between tests. Once the "all clear” is received, hope fills the void; until, just before the next test, when fear shoves hope out of the way. Later is a story about the struggle between hope and fear and how we treat each during the battle. It just so happens that life is what it is and that hope is eternal. Come take this journey with us and see why it proves that nothing "just so happens". "Later".

  Buy Now