Stories at Sunrise

This book is more than a devotional. There are already shelves full ofdevotionals, many of them good and helpful. What there are not many of perhaps hardly any at all are modern-day parables. Stories rooted in theworld we actually live in. Stories shaped by the Gulf breeze, by the rumbleof surf on Padre Island, by the long shadows of aging, by the quiet courageof ordinary people, and by the hard-won wisdom that comes only after lifehas knocked you around a bit. As I approach my ninetieth birthday, I find myself looking back over a lifethat has been anything but simple. I was raised in a strict fundamentalist homewhere anything that felt good or tasted good was suspect, and where faith wasoften tangled up with fear. I know firsthand what spiritual child abuse feelslike the kind that leaves a person afraid of joy, suspicious of grace, andunsure whether God is pleased with anything at all. This book is, in part, my way of offering an escape route for anyone who grewup under that same heavy hand. Not an escape from faith but an escapeinto a faith that breathes. Thanks for the help,Ralph