Mystery Babylon series launches on Monday!

Merry Christmas, everyone! I hope you all have a blessed holiday and a joyful new year.

My new series, Mystery Babylon, launches on Dec. 26 with Book 1: The Bear.

Deception and collusion lead to disaster.

As the nation slowly crumbles around her, Sierra Forester returns home for a wedding – and finds herself in the center of an FBI investigation. She discovers her university friends are not who she thought they were… and they’ve left her in a perilous predicament.

A quiet, reclusive stranger has moved to the tiny Southeast Alaskan island she calls home. Can she trust him? Or anyone?

Meanwhile, Russia and China have launched hybrid warfare against the United States. A sleepy administration is slow to respond. Will they wake up in time to save the country? Or will the nation collapse into the waiting jaws of the Russian bear and the Chinese dragon?

Begin this clean, faith-based adventure today!

We won an award. :)

My upcoming book, The Bear, has won a Gold Star award in Nessgraphica’s Book Cover Design Awards. I generally don’t enter contests, but my fabulous design team at Deranged Doctor Design submitted the cover on behalf of my designer, Milo.

Here’s what the judge had to say:

Alexander von Ness: Great cover design! If this competition had two winners, this cover design would be the second winner. Everything is done properly. Composition, typography, color tonality, everything is done very professionally. I would love to see the next book when it is designed 😉

Congratulations, Milo!

Audio books available now

Some of you have been asking about audio versions of my books, and I’m happy to announce that they are becoming available. The first two books in my Tribulation Series, Saints and Sinners, can now be found at Amazon, Audible and Itunes. Audio for the third and final book in that series, Martyrs, should be available later in October. Happy listening!

‘MARTYRS’ releases on Monday!

I’m so pleased to announce the release of the final book in my Tribulation series, Martyrs, on August 30… this Monday! Paperbacks should be available about two weeks later. Thank you for joining me on this grand adventure… I hope you’ve enjoyed the series so far. Also, thank you for your kind reviews. They are such a blessing and encouragement. May God richly bless you as you follow Him!

Evacuating lists and priorities

Residents of a neighborhood watch a fire threaten their homes.

The first time I had to seriously ponder evacuating was when I was 17 years old and our region had a bad wildfire season. Our schools closed due to high winds and power outages. As a high school senior at the time, I remember looking around my bedroom and thinking about what I’d want to take if we had to flee. Maybe I even packed some things;  I don’t recall exactly. What I remember more is the feeling of danger creeping closer and threatening our home and lives.

Lately, I’ve given more thought to evacuation preparations because we’ve had multiple regional wildfires and heavy smoke. Sometimes the smoke (from fires too far away to be a threat to us) is so thick that if a new fire did start in our local area, we wouldn’t be able to see it due to the heavy, horrible gagging haze. A threatening fire might not be reported promptly, because its plume would be difficult to spot as it blended and mingled with the rest of the smoke. We’d smell it, of course, but we get pretty accustomed to smelling smoke around here during fire season – so that wouldn’t trigger any immediate alarm.

We’d know we had a big problem if we were able to see trees on fire, and by that time, the danger could be on top of us.

As a result of these issues and concerns, I’ve re-organized our evacuation checklist. (You do have a checklist, don’t you?) Previously, I had a list or two of things I definitely wanted to take if we had to flee a fire (or whatever) – but I assumed we would have an hour or so to pack up, which might be true if local firefighters were aware of the threatening fire and put out pre-evacuation alerts. But sometimes people only have minutes to escape with their lives (like those dear Canadians in Lytton, British Columbia, whose village was destroyed last month).

Our new evacuation checklists have been prioritized according to the amount of time we expect to have to pack up. For example, if we have less than five minutes, we grab our keys (to the house and multiple vehicles that we intend to drive), purse/wallet, glasses, cell phone and pets. Those items are at the top of our list. If we have ten minutes, we continue down the list to things like laptop computers and prescription medications. Our list is organized with the most critical items at the top, and the less critical items at the bottom – so depending on the time available to evacuate, we now have an organized, prioritized plan.

If we have plenty of time, we can take extra clothes, toiletries and motorcycles. But not unless we’ve already packed and/or relocated more important items. I’d encourage all of you to give some extra thought to your evacuation plans this year, and ask God to help you prioritize your lists. Hopefully, you’ll never need those lists, but if you do, you’ll sure be glad you have them.

Blessings and peace to you all,

Jamie

Take heart!

Courage… what is it, and why do we need it?

Wikipedia (not always a great reference, but let’s go with it) defines courage as: “Courage is the choice and willingness to confront agony, pain, danger, uncertainty, or intimidation.”

Courage is not a lack of fear. It’s self-control in the face of possibly terrifying situations. It’s a choice to act rightly in spite of one’s fears, rather than giving in to our natural instincts of self-preservation.

We need to develop strong convictions and courage, because the time is coming when we will surely need them. Thankfully, we don’t have to rely on our own resources. God has already given us a spirit of power, love, and a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7).

In addition, if we wait on God and put our hope in Him, He will strengthen our hearts:

“Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.” (Psalms 27:14)

“Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord.” (Psalms 31:24)

What is the opposite of courage? Cowardice. It’s letting our fears control our actions, and failing to do the right thing because we’re afraid of the pain or consequences we will face for being courageous.

Why does it matter? Because cowards are despised on earth, and then barred from Heaven:

“But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” Revelation 21:8 (NKJV)

Beginning today, let’s all work on developing our courage. We can begin by putting our hope in God, waiting on Him, and asking Him to strengthen our hearts.

May God bless you as you pursue Him!

Jamie

A Tribulation Series update

Hey, y’all! Just a quick update on the status of my new Tribulation series… the first book, Saints, has been out for two months now. Thank you for the kind reviews!

The second book, Sinners, is in its final editing/revision stage. It was set for release at the end of May, but we might move that up to the end of April. I’ll let you know here and in my newsletter.

The third book, Martyrs, is underway. I’m very pleased with the opening chapters so far. I hope you’re enjoying this series, and I hope you’ll stick with me as we see where it goes!

May you all have a blessed and joyous Holy Week and Easter.

Jamie

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Tribulation Series launches this week!

I’m delighted to introduce my new Tribulation Series with the launch of the first book, SAINTS, this week.

As tribulation engulfs the world, Grace Winslow does her best to prepare for the inevitable persecution. When she gets word that government agents are arresting the remaining Christians, she’s ready to run. Or so she thought.

Grace flees to the mountains with her aunt, intending to join a small group of Christians who would face imprisonment or death at home. But as troubles grow into conflicts, living with strangers in a survival crisis proves far more difficult than she’d imagined.

The newest member of the group, Maxwell Flynn, finds himself both captivated and repelled by Grace. But he doesn’t have much time for her – he’s focused on protecting his little brother, an unusual boy with a devotion to God… and a strong tendency toward accidents.

Their daring escape is full of perils. Will the new group be captured or succumb to the wilderness? Can they find a way to carve out a tenuous existence in the dangerous new world?

SAINTS is the first book in the suspense-filled, post-apocalyptic TRIBULATION series. Like all books by Jamie Lee Grey, it’s a faith-based, clean read. Join the adventure today!

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Letting peace guard our hearts and minds

Dear friends,

What a year this has been! Our nation, and the whole world, began to feel the trouble and turmoil of the “beginning of sorrows” Jesus spoke of in Matthew chapter 24. The world is changing, and not for the better. Difficulty lies ahead. While Christians will experience suffering, we have nothing to fear, because His perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18).

As a new year dawns, with all its unknowns, let’s take our guidance and encouragement from Philippians chapter 4, verses 4-8 (below in the New King James Version):

Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!

Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.

How are we to enjoy that complete peace? Through prayer and praise to the almighty God. By letting our requests be made known to Him by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving.

Friends, if you could use more peace in your hearts, if you want perfect peace to guard your minds, turn to Jesus. He will grant you not only peace, but also joy – in spite of whatever circumstance you may find yourself in this year. I pray that this will be the year we give Him our troubles and embrace His perfect peace.

May God bless you as you follow Him.

Jamie

P.S. Quick book news: my newest novel, Saints, the first book in the Tribulation series, is set for release on January 28th.  It follows the familiar themes of my Band of Believers series. I hope you’ll enjoy it.