In Where the Colors Blend , Stephen Copeland's self-discovery and God-discovery is told over a period of six years in the context of an annual retreat to the Blue Ridge Mountains in Roanoke, Virginia, where an obscure, forty-year-old church softball tournament takes place each summer to raise funds for mission work in Paraguay. In stepping into these stories, and sharing them with the reader, Stephen simultaneously journeys deeper within himself, discovering the divine in the process and taking readers deep into the throes of doubt, deconstruction, and depression. But it's there, in the darkness, that an authentic hope finds him. Throughout the narrative, readers experience with Stephen a number of paradigm shifts in the areas of:     Spirituality: from exhausting oneself trying to get close to God to simply abiding: awakening to who we already are at the core of our beings as children of God. - Psychology: from suppressing emotions, pains, and insecurities to curiously and non-judgmentally exploring them. - Relationships: from trying to change others or silently judging them to accepting others as they are and learning from those who are most different than ourselves: abandoning ignorance and arrogance. - Art, writing,and work: from being taunted by internal demands and a relentless pursuit of perfection to simply enjoying the gift of the process.         Stephen's present-tense narrative, mysteriously unfolding all the way, is free-thinking and free-flowing, swinging from humor to complex theology, from someone else's story to sudden introspectiveness and application, creating a unique experience for readers as it challenges them to adopt their own lifestyle of introspection and contemplation.  "This is an uncommonly wonderful read, written in uncommon perspective, for the common in us all; our humanity!" - Wm. Paul Young, New York Times bestselling author of The Shack "What becomes of a millennial crippled by an overdose of religion? Copeland walks us through his disillusionment, loneliness, love, doubt, frustration, and anger with God over unexplainable evil. Thanks to seeing the vibrant faith and lives of missionaries, enthusiastically absorbed in family softball and service, he comes to a deeper awakening--to mystery, to life fully given, and joyfully lived." -Br. Paul Quenon, O.C.S.O., Poet, Author of In Praise of the Useless Life and Unquiet Vigil 

 "While some would never dare claim to be 'one' with God for fear of sounding 'new age' or something worse, there is a rising generation of young people, like Stephen, heralding the scandalous (and historic, mind you) truth that the transcendent God united himself with the fullness of our humanity in the person of Jesus so that we might become 'partakers' of His divine nature (2 Peter 1:4).... Where the Colors Blend paints a painfully beautiful picture of the real Jesus--the One who is closer to us than we are to ourselves. One who stopped at nothing until He became 'one' with the object of His affection." -Dave Hickman, M.Div. Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Author of Closer Than Close: Awakening to the Freedom of Your Union with Christ " Where the Colors Blend invites the reader into the grand story of God. Stephen's thought-provoking, raw words of soul/spirit seeking invite the reader to thirst for overflowing streams of God, not sips; to strain to hear/feel the heartbeat of God, not settle for whispers; to see the face of God,not grab erratically for glimpses soon forgotten; to grasp the life of God, not skirt the boundary of His presence; to ponder the depths of God's redemptive work in the stories of others and how those stories intersect and impact our individual stories. Stephen's writing masterfully draws us into his spiritual journey and, by so doing, invites the reader to take her own bold steps of discovery."-Christine M. Browning, Ph.D., LPC/MHSP, NCC, Associate Professor of Counseling, Milligan College "This is an uncommonly wonderful read, written in uncommon perspective, for the common in us all; our humanity!" - Wm Paul Young, New York Times bestselling author of The Shack. Stephen Copeland is a writer and storyteller. He is a former staff writer and columnist at S ports Spectrum Magazine , a national faith-based sports magazine, and has also been published in Christianity Today . He blogs regularly for Franciscan Media and is a contributor to the St.Anthony Messenger. Though he has co-authored nearly a dozen books -- helping others to share their stories -- he released his first book in his own voice, Where the Colors Blend , in November 2018. He obtained a bachelor's degree in journalism and Bible from Grace College and is a member of the International Thomas Merton Society.