Book Teaser...

Between Two Worlds   Day 15 (of 40)Dear Friends, I am out of town for two days and have inserted these two posts into our conversation for convenience sake. Today is the first couple of paragraphs of my book that will be available in a few days.From the first chapter, "Answering the Call"In less than three years, I lost the three most important women in my life.My wife of 25 years left our marriage suddenly one night. My mother-in-law, to whom I was especially close, died a year later after a long struggle with dementia. Eleven months later my stepmother (my father’s third wife) died during a routine, though risky, open heart surgery. After such gut-wrenching loss, I had hoped I could build a successful life in Portland, Oregon, as a church minister after a nine-year detour into hospice, probation and foster care work. I took the position as minister of Eastminster Church knowing it was facing likely closure and that I could lose my job. Four years on, it was clear the end was in the not-too-distant future—Mother Church was about to abandon me as well. My personal and professional life was crumbling at an alarming rate.I was determined not to let these losses define me. I would win this war against the world by Gump’s running shoes for cycling shoes, I resolved to ride my bike. “Walter,” I told a pillar of Eastminster Church,“ I need to take a pilgrimage. It’s not a matter of ‘if’. The only question is for how long and whether you’ll let me come back.”