Shannon here: Brennan McPherson shares how he met his wife plus a chance to win a copy of his latest Biblical Fantasy Novel, The Hunter and the Valley of Death. Comment or answer the question at the end of the post to enter the drawing. Deadline: July 21st, 11:59 pm central time. Here’s Brennan:
My father-in-law set me up by Brennan McPherson:
I was taking guitar lessons from my wife’s dad, Craig. We had become buddies, Craig and I, and talked frequently about music and art. My main instrument is the drums, and I was a professional full-time drummer prior to getting into writing. I played some gigs with her dad, and we struck up a friendship. He’s an amazing, godly man. So, we often talked about God and the Bible.
My wife, Anna, was at the tale end of dating a jerk at the time, and the only reason she was still with him was because she was afraid of what he might do if she broke up with him. Her dad was a bit desperate to get her out of the relationship she was in, so he started conspiring.
He brought her to work one day when she was off from school, and that day happened to also be a band practice day when I was playing with her dad. I was 16 at the time, and had just started playing professionally.
She sat in on the band practice and I could hardly breathe. She was gorgeous. And I mean gorgeous. I kept staring while acting like I wasn’t staring. Hard to remember the song structure when you’re that distracted, but I made it through.
Afterward, Craig introduced us, whipped out his guitar, and asked Anna to sing a song they’d been working on. She acted all shy and incapable. . . and then she sang.
I just about died. She was incredible.
We exchanged numbers. I nearly had to run to the bathroom when she asked for my contact info. And then. . . we hardly talked at all for the next year. I went to college early, and lived several hours away, so that made any thought of a relationship difficult.
But when I came back for the summer, we started spending time together. She’d broken up with Mr. Doorknob, and was somehow interested in hanging out with me.
But I still had to go back to school at summer’s end. During the Fall semester, my heart wasn’t in it. Then I ended up getting extremely ill with food poisoning and a bunch of other maladies that literally forced me to stay home a whole semester.
During that time, I spent as much time as possible with Anna. Our friendship grew, we started dating, and then I decided to transfer to a closer school so we could be together. We got engaged, I finished school at a new college about 30 minutes from her, and now we’ve been married for 6 years and have a two-year-old daughter named Willow.
We don’t do a whole lot of music anymore because Anna’s focused on being a mom, and I’m focused on writing. But we did get to do a pretty cool music project to raise money for missions. Anna and I co-wrote the song, her dad did all the guitar work, and I did the drums and percussion. Both of our families are very musical, so we had our family sing a group-vocal part on the last chorus. Here’s the music video that goes along with it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMAtAA2sLwg
And here’s a video of Anna and her dad performing “What a Wonderful World”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30U_nV-ALPI
Funny enough, now I work full-time with her dad. And you know what? I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Who would have thought my father in law would set me up with my wife, and then we’d become best friends and work together every day? He’s still my favorite guitarist to play with. But now, when we get together, it’s to spend time with family, not to play gigs.
About Brennan: Brennan McPherson writes thought-provoking, heart-pounding fantasy based on the Bible. With mind-bending plots and lyrical prose, McPherson crafts a different sort of biblical fiction for readers who like to be challenged to think. More info on his latest project at https://psalmseries.com/.
About the book: The Hunter and the Valley of Death:
Experience the psalms like never before – through heart-pounding fiction!
The Hunter and the Valley of Death is a profound meditation on life, death, loss, and love. Formatted as a fantasy parable based on Psalm 23, this story shows that there is only one who could kill Death, and because of him, and him alone, we say, “Oh, Death, where is your sting?”
A man who calls himself Hunter wakes up in the Valley of Death and realizes he’s given up everything to attempt to kill Death so that he can bring his Love back to life – but when he fails, who will be there to rescue him?
Each book in The Psalm Seriescomes with an in-depth Bible study of the psalm the story is based on, and an explanation of the author’s approach to the Scripture text. The Hunter and the Valley of Death comes with an additional, in-depth explanation of the story’s symbolism.
This makes The Psalm Series a great addition to Bible study materials. Dive deep today into fictional stories that help you wrap your heart around the Bible’s most beloved poems of praise!
Question for Readers: Has a family member or friend ever introduced you to someone who changed your life for the better? Share your story.
Come back July 17th for Lynette Sowell!
yes, a friend of mine introduced me to one of her girlfriends and now she is one of my best friends!
Nope
I meet a women who is a devout Christian and she took me in back in 2000 when I was 20 and had no where to go. She lead me back to Christ and became my second mom. Still to this day I speak to her and she is one who lives out her testimony. She helped led me back to God.
Several years ago, a friend at work introduced me to another co worker in a different office, who has become my lifelong friend.
A mutual friend introduced my husband and I. 25 years later we are still together!
First love is always special and memorable one. Loving someone is a great feeling.
I have a winner! Beth Clark won the drawing. I appreciate Brennan for being my guest and everyone else for stopping by.