A Hallelujah Story and Proverbs to Live By

Hi, my book, The Outsider, is officially released Friday, but some people have already gotten it and read it. The beautiful young model on the cover is one of those and thank goodness she enjoyed the story. Her mom says she may read it again. I guess that is the supreme compliment a writer can get - for someone to read their book twice. It's good when the readers say they couldn't put the book down once they started reading. It's good when they say they are telling all their friends to read the book. But to say they have read the book twice - that ranks right up there with "I haven't read a book in twenty years but I read yours." Of course I really like to hear from the ones who read a book every week. They're my kind of readers.

The book I've actually gotten the most "I couldn't put it down" comments on is Angels at the Crossroads. That's the true story of my friend, Jerry Shepherd, who went to prison for life as a nineteen-year-old. The Lord kept his hand on Jerry even when he was trying his hardest to run away from anything to do with God. Jerry found the Lord and forgiveness while he was in prison mostly because the Lord kept putting people (we like to think of them as earth angels) in his pathway to help him to a new beginning in life. Even before he got out of prison, Jerry promised he would tell his story whenever he got a chance to try to help others make the right choices instead of the wrong choices the way he did as a young person. That's why we wrote the book. That's why he goes out and gives his testimony. He told his story this last Sunday morning at his home church in Burgin to over 300 people. He said 12 people made decisions for the Lord. Now that's a hallelujah! He has a tremendous testimony and an amazing story of grace.

But on to my Wednesday hodgepodge of quotes this week. Hope one of them makes you smile or gets you going anew on your current project or just makes you nod and agree with the timeless wisdom.

• Be humble for you are made of earth. Be noble for you are made of stars. - Serbian proverb
• Turn your face to the sun and the shadows fall behind you. - Maori proverb
• At the end of the game, the king and the pawn go back in the same box. - Italian proverb
• The older the fiddle, the sweeter the tune. - Irish proverb
• Vision without action is daydream. Action without vision is nightmare. -Japanese proverb
• He who is outside his door has the hardest part of his journey behind him. - Flemish proverb
• When two elephants fight it is the grass that suffers. - African proverb
• Blessed is the man who can laugh at himself, for he will never cease to be amused. - Proverb found in many cultures.

Have a great rest of the week.