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Book Description
ISBN-10: 0971495823 | ISBN-13: 978-0971495821 | Publication Date: July 2003
Have you been: - Deceived by a lie from Satan like Adam and Eve? - In denial like David during his affair with Bathsheba? - In a pig pen like the lost son? - Letting fear dictate your actions like the children of Israel when they arrived at the Promised Land? - Sinking in a storm like Peter when he tried to walk on water? - Or having an even deeper experience like Jonah after he tried to run away from God?
Walk in the shoes of these biblical characters and many, many more. ---------------------------------- This workbook does more than tell readers about the biblical basis of the steps to recovery. It involves readers in a study that takes them throughout the Bible while they put the 12 steps to work in their lives. It is an invaluable guide to Christian recovery.
The premise of this workbook is that the 12 steps used by recovery groups take people from the slavery of addiction to the freedom of a God-centered life through Jesus Christ. It may be used by people suffering from any type of addiction.
This workbook may be used as: - A text by Christian recovery groups - An aid to Bible-believing people in recovery programs - A tool for pastoral counselors working with people suffering from any type of addictive behavior - The curriculum for Bible studies by non-addicted Christian people
12 Steps to a Closer Walk with God: The Workbook was written to be used in conjunction with the New International Version of the Bible.
I have written two fact-based novels, THE MEANEST MAN IN TEXAS and SOUTHERNERS IN BLUE: THEY DEFIED THE CONFEDERACY.
"Meanest Man" is the true story of Clyde Thompson. I met him personally in 1977 and we agreed to work together so that I could write his life story as a motion picture screenplay. It took me two years to learn how to write a screenplay and come up with a decent draft. Just as I was getting ready to move to Hollywood to market it in 1979, Clyde died suddenly of natural causes. I knew then that if I didn't write his story, no one would.
I moved out to Hollywood to discover that show-biz was not waiting for me with open arms. At that time Billy Graham had a film studio, World-Wide Pictures. A lady named Twila Knack, who worked there, told me that before trying to market the movie, I should try to write the story as a book. That seemed reasonable enough to me. I moved back to Lubbock, Texas, embarked on my university teaching career at Texas Tech University and worked on the "Meanest Man" book in my spare time.
It was finally published by Thomas Nelson Publishers in 1984 and went out of print in 1988. It was put back into print by Quarry Press in 2001 and went into a third printing in 2007.
The reason I was attracted to this story is that it showed no matter how low one gets in life, God will help if He is asked. I had found this be true in my own life when I nearly killed myself with alcoholism by the time I was 27. In order to not completely destroy myself with booze, I was told that I had to stop drinking and rely completely on God. This is what I have tried to do since then. As of this writing, I have been sober through the grace of God for more than 36 years.
A lot of people have a story like mine, but no one else had a story like Clyde's. He was a multi-murderer in the Bonnie and Clyde era and ended up in a position where no human being could help him (or even wanted to). That's when Clyde reached out to God.
"Meanest Man" is my best-selling book. The most frequent comment I get on it is, "I couldn't put it down until I had finished the whole book." It is used extensively in prison ministries. It has been optioned twice by movie producers but still hasn't gone into production. As we speak, there are some people interested in making the movie. (But can they raise the production budget? Time will tell.)
My book SOUTHERNERS IN BLUE: THEY DEFIED THE CONFEDERACY is the true story of my great-grandfather in the Civil War. He lived in Alabama but fought for the Union, along with a lot of other men who lived in the northwest part of the state.
When I was in my early teens, I learned about some of the things my great-grandfather had gone through and vowed that some day I would do something with his life story. Finally, I started work on it in 1994 and spent eight years in research and writing. It was finally published in 2002.
The fact that some men in the south fought for the Union is a fact that is not even a foot-note in most textbooks. Making it especially difficult for my great-grandfather and his friends is that many of their neighbors were Confederates. This made the war up-close and personal for them and their families. Horrible atrocities were committed on people by their own neighbors. And when it was all over, neither side was victorious--at least in northwest Alabama, the setting for my book.
This is the most difficult project I have undertaken to date.
SEEKING SPIRITUAL CLARITY: THE MURKY PERSPECTIVE OF EVIL is a more recent title. In this book, I quote the Bible extensively to demonstrate the way that Satan attempts to work on the every-day lives of all people. Here, I have used numerous incidents from own past, particularly my drinking days, to illustrate.
I served as the editor and one of 19 co-authors in the 2010 book OVERCOME BY ADDICTION: HOW TO HELP THE HURTING IN YOUR CHURCH AND NEIGHBORHOOD. This book is full of personal stories that would guide people in starting an addiction recovery ministry at their church.
My other titles include 12 STEPS TO A CLOSER WALK WITH GOD, both a book that explains the biblical basis of the steps to recovery and a workbook that actually works people through the steps in conjunction with an NIV version of the Bible. The book version is now in its third printing and is also available in the U.S. in Spanish. The same title may be found in eastern Europe in both the Russian and Ukrainian languages (but these translations are not available in the U.S.).
I earned my Ph.D. in communication from the University of Texas at Austin, M.A. in mass communications from Texas Tech University, and B.A. in English from Lipscomb University. I served 22 years on the faculty of Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas and was named professor emeritus at that institution in 2006. If you really want to be bored sometime, check out some of my academic research found in various journals. Google my name to locate some of this stuff. (But don't say I didn't warn you.)
Prior to my academic career, I was a newspaper reporter and editor and won national awards as both an investigative reporter and columnist. I also won two awards as a television producer.
Since 2008, I have worked fulltime as a writer. I takes breaks from writing by riding a road bike around White Rock Lake in Dallas, Texas, lifting weights, and swimming laps in the indoor pool at SMU.
On Sunday mornings you can usually find me teaching a Bible study class at church.
My wife, Kim, and I reside in Dallas. We enjoy vacations in both the Florida Keys and southwest Florida, and spend quite a bit of time fishing in both locations. Kim also collects sea shells from visits to Captiva Island and the beaches in and around Bonita Springs, Florida.
We also attend SMU and Texas Tech football games and watch NHL hockey games; our favorite team is the Detroit Red Wings.
I was born in Detroit, Michigan but grew up in Farmington Hills, Michigan, and graduated from Farminton High School. I have lived in Texas since 1975, first Lubbock, then Austin, and Dallas since 1986.
This review is from: 12 Steps to a Closer Walk with God: The Workbook (Paperback)
This is a terrific workbook for any individual who desires to overcome an addiction, whether from alcohol, overeating, gambling, or whatever. Working step by step one can take their life from self centered, tormented, and hopeless to one that is happy, productive, fulfilled, and God centered. The first-person narrations at the beginning of each chapter are gut wrentching as these individuals pour out their painful, desperate stories. I would recommend this workbook to anyone who would like to overcome their problems and have a "closer walk with God".
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This review is from: 12 Steps to a Closer Walk with God: The Workbook (Paperback)
Through the process of working the pages of this book, biblical characters came out of their well-established places from the distant past and walked into the present moment of my life where they got up so close and so personal that I felt able to look into their eyes and through their eyes see their hearts where, from within the reflection of their hearts, I saw me. In revealing their lives, their sins, and their hearts, they in turn taught me not only about my own but of the God whose heart I am after. By completion of this workbook, I had, as Step 12 promises a (significant) spiritual awakening.
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