For several years I’ve been writing this book, and after many ups and downs, God let it be published.  It’s about discipleship, but it’s not your standard book on the subject.  The other day I was at the bank talking to them about opening a new bank account for marketing and promotion of the book, and I was talking to the bank manager and one of the cashiers named Polly.  I showed them a copy I just happened to have handy (Ha!).  I told them a little about it, and I mentioned that it was available on the Barnes and Noble website on the ‘Net’.  I said I had been looking at their website and they had the first 29 pages of the book as a ‘reading sample’.  I thought that was pretty cool.  They were nice and said they thought it was really neat that I had actually gotten a book published!  I said, “Thanks.”

The very next day I was back in the bank, with all my paperwork in hand, to open that new account.  I was sitting at the manager’s desk, talking about the particulars, when Polly came up behind me, put her hands on my shoulders, leaned down and whispered in my ear, “I read the first 29 pages of your book, and I really like it.  I’ve been thinking for a long time that God wants me to be a missionary, and your book really inspired me.”  She walked away.  I sat there thinking, “Even if this book never amounts to a hill of beans, God has used it to touch someone’s life.” Praise the Lord!

A couple of days later I gave a talk about the book to some ladies at my church.  I think there were 13 or 14 ladies in attendance, many of them I knew well.  We had a great discussion about the talk.  After it was over almost every lady there bought a book.  When most of the people had left, two or three ladies were gathering up their stuff, Chloe, who is the wife of my friend Tim, sat down beside me, leaned over and said, “Your and Tim’s relationship is what this book is about.  We’ve had some trouble in our marriage recently, and I know God has really changed Tim’s heart about some things, and partly He’s used you to help us.”  Whamo!  I just had to say again, “God is using this book, while I wasn’t even looking, to touch peoples’ lives.”  Praise the Lord!

Then, this very morning, my son Ian was reading a book for school called Unbroken by Louis somebody, about during WWII when they were shot down over the Pacific and the two of them survived to spend 47 days on a raft in the ocean before they were picked up by the Japanese.  The guy must have survived even that, because he lived to write the book.  Ian told me about several passages about how God had saved them from dying on numerous occasions.  When they were picked up there were 48 holes in the raft where they had been shot at, but neither of them was ever hit.  We agreed that God must have had a plan for their lives.  I told Ian, “That really encourages me.  Makes me think God is sending me a message that He has a plan for this book.  I’m trusting that’s true.”  It’s been a long and winding road.