An Excerpt from finding my father by Jim Pennington:
I watched in disbelief as my father’s casket was lowered into the grave. My mind struggled with the thoughts. I was forced to conclude, “This is not a bad dream. This is real. My father is gone. I don’t have a Dad anymore.” I tried to reason my way through the confusion. “It’s O.K. I’m seventeen years old. I’m old enough to make it. I’ll be fine.” But I wasn’t fine. A dark emptiness settled into my soul fueled by grief, remorse, the sickness of unfulfilled hopes, and the shame of unmet expectations. Dad was gone and nothing I could do would change that.
Two weeks earlier, after returning from Scout camp I had helped Dad spread gravel on the steep driveway to the lake house. We had two houses, one in town and one on the lake. It was only a four-mile drive between the two, but they seemed to be worlds apart. Every summer our family would move to the lake house where my days were filled with swimming, skiing, sailing or putting around the lake to see friends in my small motorboat. I wore a swimsuit or cut off jean shorts. No shoes, no shirt required. I did get a thrill once when my bare foot stepped on a hidden green snake. I don’t know which one of us moved faster. My skin was tanned and my curly hair bleached blond by the sun. The road leading to the lake house was a steep one descending sharply, and often rutted by rain. A couple of times a year we had to fill in the ruts with gravel to slow the erosion and keep the road drivable. So, Dad and I spent a hot June Sunday afternoon filling the ruts and spreading the gravel on the road. It was hard work, but we were both used to hard work. It was a virtue in my family. Maybe the highest virtue of all.
Monday morning came, and Dad did something that I had never known him to do before. He went to see the doctor. I thought my Dad was indestructible. Sure, he smoked like a chimney and drank like a fish. He took a break from work most days for donuts and coffee in the morning or pie and coffee in the afternoon next door to the clothing store at the Blue Bell Café, but I never saw it coming. Not in a million years. Dad was going to the doctor. The doctor told him, “Penny, you’ve had a heart attack,” and put him into the hospital. Two weeks later he had a second heart attack and in a matter of hours, he was gone. So, who was my Dad? Where did he come from? What were the dynamics that shaped his life that were passed down to me?
Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life. Proverbs 13:12
It’s wonderful when a longing is fulfilled or when a dream becomes reality. It’s also rewarding to make that happen for someone else.
My (Jim’s) dream, decades in the making, is about to be fulfilled.
A book I wrote, Finding My Father, tells my story about experiencing God’s love as a loving Father after 30 years in ministry. I’ve seen this powerful message change lives from America to Europe to Asia. My prayer is that the book will impact many more.
But we need your help to boost the success of the book launch
Amazon.com takes a guess about how popular a new book will be, and how many copies they need to stock based on book pre-orders (orders placed in a 28-day period before the book is actually available). The pre-order response is critical to a good launch!
Books that have pre-order traffic will later be listed as “In stock, ships today” and become recommended books. If they don’t make the cut (not enough pre-order traffic), they get listed as “Ships in 7-11 days. It also won’t appear in “books you might like” recommendations.
Here’s How to Pre-Order
Use this link or the button below to pre-order your Kindle or paperback copy of Finding My Father. You’ll be able to read it on Kindle immediately, and paperback copies will ship out on December 21.
Want to help even more?
If you would like to be a part of JP’s Book Group and be alerted of other opportunities to share this book with your family and friends, fill out the form below and we will reach out with ways you can help!
Most of all please pray with me that the Father will transform lives through His healing love!
In the Father’s love,
Jim
