Jeff Howat

Having grown up under God-fearing parents and marrying my Godly high school sweetheart, I saw that life was a gift and that there are life lessons to be learned or taught everywhere. 

I taught middle school math and computers for 36 years.  Every day was an opportunity to teach more than math.  It was an opportunity to teach life skills.  My summers were spent running a painting company, rehabbing kitchens/bathrooms, teaching graduate school, and doing home inspections for real estate transactions.  I brought many real-life applications for math and computers to my classroom.

Part of being a good teacher is the ability to engage the students.  I hope my writings, be it my children’s stories, fables, fiction, or poetry, will do the same for young and old alike.  I have two books on Amazon, “Michael and the Ice Cream Cone” and “Michael and the Kite.” My children’s books are written under the name of Mourning Dove.

I have also just released my first novel, “The Long Road,” published by Westbow Press, a division of Thomas Nelson Publishing. It is a modern-day version of the Prodigal Son. It is available on Amazon as well. Look under “The Long Road, Howat,” as there are many long road stories. This was written with my good friend and Brother, Earl Casas. A prequel and sequel is in the works for later in 2024 or early 2025.

Personal: I enjoy tennis, chess, cooking, building, and spending time with family. The things I enjoy reading sit on both ends of the spectrum with very little in between. I enjoy good picture books (thank you, Dr. Seuss) that clearly show the human condition. At the same time, I enjoy a daily reading of scripture and the profound yet simple theology from some of the greats (A.W. Tozer, Andrew Murray, Donald Grey Barnhouse, Jonathan Edwards, Robert Murray McShane, and Chuck Swindoll), which clearly show the AWE-some attributes of God. Old Theology is great. It is uncluttered from the concepts of me (Jeff), social implications, prosperity, psychology, and this world. Yet, the more I study God, the more I understand the aforementioned.

A.W. Tozer said, ‘What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.’