Along the Sea of Galilee: Grace on the Shore and In the Storms
How One Rosary Inspired a Book and Deepened My Faith
Most people who love books, at least at one point in their life, dream of writing one. I have loved books since I was a child, and throughout my life I’ve often thought it might be nice to sit down and write a compelling novel or something like that.
As I got older, started working, raised a family, and went back to school multiple times, I didn’t really think much about writing books anymore. Although I never lost my love of reading, life was so busy I couldn’t imagine adding such a huge undertaking to my plate. So, I chalked it up to a childhood dream and left it at that.
God is full of surprises, however. About a year ago, I ran across a lovely rosary from West Coast Catholic. Its design was based on the Sea of Galilee. As a scripture major, I was immediately intrigued and decided to investigate the Sea of Galilee in Scripture more closely. This began a long period of growth and study that led to the publication of my first book.
Christ and the Sea of Galilee
As I studied, I discovered that most of Jesus’s ministry took place not in Jerusalem, not in the temple, but on the shores of this particular body of water—and by the majority I mean roughly 90%! This fascinated me, and I decided to dig more into why Jesus chose this place to form his first followers. To my surprise, I could not find books on this subject. I found books about the history of the sea, how deep it is, and its weather patterns. I also found a myriad of books about the storms at sea in particular, but I struggled to find any information at all on the sea as Jesus’s main place of formation.
Since I was so fascinated by this, I decided to write a study on it. I thought it might be good for the adult faith formation at my parish, or maybe an interesting Homeschool Connections class for my students. God has a way of making our dreams bigger, and that intended study became my new book, Along the Sea of Galilee: Grace on the Shore and In the Storms.
During the writing of this book, I have spent hours upon hours with the Gospels that speak of the Sea of Galilee. Praying my way up and down those shores has been transformative for me. I have meditated on how Jesus worked in the lives of ordinary people while they were living their ordinary lives. Through deep dives into their culture, I have also explored what their daily lives would have been like. And the fruit of all that time in prayer is the book you can now hold in your hands—a little piece of my heart that I am blessed to share with you. Truly, spending time with Jesus through the lens of his ministry at the sea has transformed my life of faith, and I hope it can be a blessing to you as well.
What the Sea Has Waiting for You
In this book, we will walk the shoreline together and see that the sea is where Jesus called, where He tested, where He taught, and where He restored. We will look at nine different gospel encounters that happen at the sea and pay close attention to how Jesus worked in ordinary life, and how these encounters show us that he wants to work in the ordinariness of our days.
The book is meant for anyone, whether you are struggling or just trying to live your faith more deeply. You can get your copy at Cruachan Hill Press, run by our own Phillip Campbell, who I have been blessed to work with (you can get it at a 10% discount if you snag a copy before September 15, 2026).I invite you to walk the shores of Galilee with me, and to find there what I found: that Jesus meets us in our ordinary days, on our ordinary shores, ready to call, to test, to teach, and to restore.
What are your thoughts on this topic? Join other homeschooling parents and me in the Homeschool Connections Facebook Group or in the HSC Community to continue the conversation.
