It's all about influence.


I'm very privileged to write and speak full time.

This is a fine royalty check I got last week for $1.04.

It's never been about the money.
Of course, it allows me to make a living and hopefully a difference.

To me, it's about influence. Recently, my friend Gary Hahler wrote of success, "Success is the ripple of your life going as far down the lake as possible."

In 2006 I quit my perfectly good job as manager of Dry Creek Baptist Camp. Lots of folks thought I'd lost my mind (they were quick to tell me.) DeDe and I both knew the Lord was showing me my mission at the Camp was closing. It was time for the next part of the journey.

That summer I received a phone call that's still ringing in my heart. A quiet male voice said, "Sir, you don't know me, but I read one of your books in prison. God used it to change my life. I'm just calling to say thanks."

I didn't get his name.
I remember he said the book was my first one, Stories from the Creekbank.
He didn't know how the book got to Angola, and I sure had no idea.

I only know the thread of the influence of my writing and influence reached inside the walls and fences of a prison. God's the Living Water. I'm just the PVC pipe through which He travels.

It's about influence.
It's about living.
It's about doing what we're called to do.

Royalty checks for $1.04.
Surprise calls from a changed parolee.