New book

I’m writing a book about my life. I have been sick with the flu and yesterday stayed home from church and worked on my book. The book entitled, “The Difference”, essentially compares my life prior to becoming a Christian and after. As a little preview and insight into the title of the book, “The Difference”, refers to God. The book charts the dark days of my life, (first twenty four years), when God was excluded from my life, through the departure from that lifestyle to today’s brighter days as a Christian working towards accomplishing God’s purpose for my life as my number one priority. There is a dramatic difference now as opposed to then and the difference has been God.

It is painful to look at my past. I am not very proud of some of the things I have done. It is hard to believe that it has been nearly thirty five years since I hitch-hiked into Atlanta filled with hate, miserable, wretched, penniless, homeless, and seemingly hopelessly addicted to drugs and alcohol. Anyone who reads this book will agree that I am indeed very fortunate to even be alive, much less blessed as I have been. Indeed most of my former acquaintances are either dead or in prison. The book starts off recounting where I am today, happily married with a loving family, tremendous career and accomplishments. For that God gets all of the credit. It then switches to where I was prior to becoming a Christian and for that I get all of the credit. Finally it recounts what it took to turn my life away from satan and towards God. I am reminded of the song, “I Did It My Way”. Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra both sang that song and from everything that I have read, both were very miserable at the time of their deaths. Doing it God’s way is better!

As I put it on paper and relive those horrible experiences and being lifted out of them, I am reminded of the wonderful gospel song, “Amazing Grace”. It is amazing how and “why” God saved a wretch like me. I am eternally grateful because I once was lost but now am found. I deserve to go to Hell, but Jesus Christ took the punishment for my vile sins. It is truly amazing to consider God’s grace. I have many painful memories of terrible sins I have committed that haunt me to this very day, but there is a silver lining in every dark cloud. I APPRECIATE what God has done for me! Without Him I was without hope. Today I am filled with hope and can honestly say that I am happy.


Ephesians 2:1

And you He made alive who
were dead in trespasses and sins,
in which you once walked
according to the course of this world,
according to the prince of the power
of the air, the spirit who now works
in the sons of disobedience,
among whom we all once
conducted ourselves in the lusts of
our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the
flesh and of the mind, and were by
nature children of wrath, just as the
others.

But God, who is rich in mercy,
because of His great love with
which He loved us,
even when we were dead in trespasses,
made us alive together with
Christ (by grace you have been saved),
and raised up together in the heavenly
places in Christ Jesus.

For by grace you have been
saved through faith, and that not of
yourselves; it is the gift of God,
not of works, lest anyone should boast.
for we are all His workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus for good
works, which God prepared beforehand
that we should walk in them.