You could write a book

I just reviewed a book that was more than forty years in the making. Rev. Orice Gracey, one of our former Pastors here at First Baptist, just published a book that tells about his call to ministry and his early years in the parish and as a Navy Chaplain.

The book, Orey and the Gold Cross, offers an inside perspective into life as a clergyman in 1940's into the early 1960's. Orey talks about rebuffing God's advances and looking elsewhere for a vocation. Then he shares how through circumstance and coincidence God ended up capturing his heart and drawing him into the parish pulpit. He talks about trying to make ends meet on a meager salary and working with a few characters in his two New England congregations.

After spending four years here in Norwich, Orey received an opportunity to enlist in the Navy as an officer and he took the commission and set out to serve his country as a military chaplain. He then goes on to share some tales about life on a boat in the Pacific. You can find the book by going to www.trafford.com and putting in his name.

I say this is a story that is forty years in the making because it took a lifetime to live the adventure. Orey, like so many people I have met over the years, has experienced some of life's most grand moments. He has been places and done things that many only dream of. In the end you can see that he lived life and he lived his faith.

Have you ever wondered what your life story will look like when all is said and done? The truth is that I pray that when the final reel of my life is shown, it will depict a man who loved God and served him to the best of his ability. Of course the only way to insure that happens is to begin today. I know we are past the actual day of making resolutions. But with God, every day is a new day. So let's make a pact that we will offer our lives to God and find one way to honor him every day from here on in.

Ooh, ooh. I got mine for today already. I went and helped feed the hungry at the soup kitchen. I didn't just go to take a few pictures today. I actually scooped applesauce and put it on the plates. It wasn't much but I did it for the Lord.

Cal