Boy Born Dead , livre ebook

Baker Publishing Group - David Ring , David Wideman , John Driver

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127 pages

English

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Where We See Tragedy, God Sees Possibility . . .Few American epics of tragedy, intrigue, friendship, and faith will entertain and challenge the soul like the narrative inspired by the events in the real life of David Ring--a boy literally born dead who survives with sobering consequences. Living with the harsh realities of cerebral palsy, Ring faces impossible odds yet stumbles into an improbable life of inspiration and influence in the small, unassuming town of Liberty, Missouri, in the 1960s.As a teenage boy, Ring finds himself tragically orphaned and being shuffled about to various homes. Along this journey, he faces secret, unspeakable atrocities that eventually plunge him into the depths of depression and attempted suicide. But amid the harsh troubles of life, he encounters another boy his age named David, the son of a local pastor. Their unlikely friendship begins on the rocks, but eventually develops into something extraordinary and unique that alters the trajectory of both of their lives--and the whole town of Liberty--forever.

Sujets

Philosophie et théologie

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Publié par	Baker Publishing Group
Date de parution	06 octobre 2015
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781493400577
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	1 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0432€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

© 2015 by David Ring
Published by Baker Books
a division of Baker Publishing Group
P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
www.bakerbooks.com
Ebook edition created 2015
Ebook corrections 04.06.2016
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
ISBN 978-1-4934-0057-7
Although this is a work of nonfiction, certain events have been altered or fictionalized for the sake of condensing the factual events into narrative form. Some of the names and details of people have been changed to protect the privacy of those involved.
The author is represented by the literary agency of Wolgemuth & Associates, Inc.
“Born dead is not exactly the best start to life—but that is how David’s story begins. Don’t miss one riveting page.”
—Franklin Graham, president, Billy Graham Evangelistic Association
“Sometimes the challenges a person with a disability experiences are not what you’d expect. David Ring shares how family and friendship helped shape his indomitable spirit, strong character, and remarkable zeal for life. Best of all, we learn how God used his limitations to develop a much-beloved message of grace and hope that would expand beyond his wildest dreams.”
—Joni Eareckson Tada, Joni and Friends International Disability Center
“Nothing forces us to grow in every area of life like adversity. And I don’t know anyone who’s become more successful by overcoming more challenges than David Ring.”
—Dave Ramsey, New York Times bestselling author and nationally syndicated radio show host
“Very few people can speak to adversity and overcoming obstacles with greater authority than David.”
—from the foreword by Mike Huckabee
“In the following pages you will begin to realize that living is more than being healthy, happy, or normal. You will come to understand that living can include struggle and pain. Living doesn’t necessarily belong to those with strong bodies as much as it does to those with transformed spirits that are made invincible. I’m so excited for you to read this story about a boy born dead, who discovered what it means to truly live . I’m eager for you to have the same opportunity that I enjoyed: to experience David up close and to discover for yourself that the closer you get, the more alive he is!”
—Danny deArmas, senior associate pastor, First Baptist Orlando
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
Endorsements
Foreword
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
Epilogue
Writer’s Note
About the Authors
Back Ads
Back Cover
Foreword
Life isn’t fair . It is a phrase we begin to hear sometime in our early childhood. Well, hopefully we hear it, because regardless of whether or not we do, it is an inescapable truth. Storms come. Dishes break. People face hardship. Whether we avoid thinking about it or declare it to be the greatest injustice, fairness is simply not a feature of the world we currently live in.
I suppose this reality is the truest essence of any story: what we do with the unfair things in life.
If you think about it, that is also the essence of the story of our own nation, even from its earliest toddlerhood. The colonial patriots were, in fact, rebels against something unfair and unjust. Sharing a common birthplace and a common language, they refused to share a common king with their cousins across the ocean. They became courageously uncommon in the midst of cultural commonalities, not content to let the unfairness of taxation or representation become a very blunt period at the end of a very brief sentence.
Because of how they faced their particular unfairness, they had a story to tell.
The story that follows is also a rebel’s tale. And much like the diversity of stories and lore that swirl about our nation’s founders and the events surrounding their fight against the unfairness, the essential heart of this narrative and its details are steeped in truth. That is what makes it more than just a story. That is what makes it alive.
I can most certainly promise you that the words to follow are more than you probably think they are, and vastly so. I know this to be true because it was a significantly more compelling narrative than I had anticipated, and I’ve known David Ring since the 1970s, when I first heard him share his incredible testimony on television. I later met him on several occasions, during various conferences and events. It was early on in our friendship that I learned what you will soon learn as well: very few people can speak to adversity and overcoming obstacles with greater authority than David can. I, like millions of others around the globe, have never heard him speak without being blown away by the power of his message and the clarity of his life story.
But as this book will prove, there is so much more to the story than I thought I knew.
To listen to David Ring speak is one thing—and that thing itself should not be quickly passed by. David has cerebral palsy and his delivery of words can, at first, be painful both in the delivery and the listening. Yet I have never seen a person in his hearing who does not quickly move from endurance to emotion to energy. Why? Because they are forced to face unfairness in a way they never have before—and witness firsthand a courageous mutiny from one of its most ravaged victims. They see that David Ring refuses to remain a victim despite all the immensely valid reasons he has to do so.
Yet despite this most amazing interaction that occurs between stuttering speaker and unsuspecting listener, the full scope of David’s story has never been told . . . until now.
David Ring and his coauthors have now removed the obstacles of time and limitation to let us walk through his amazing story, focusing on his teen years in the 1960s in the small town of Liberty, Missouri. With a bit of color and minor fictionalized characters added to certain parts of the narrative to help it move along, this particular story becomes unbelievably believable. It is unbelievable because the unfairness is so fierce, yet the authentic grace David experiences in God and in relationships with the people God placed into his life is even fiercer. It is believable because the nuts and bolts of the story are true.
This story is told from the perspective of David Wideman, a young man who befriended a very different David Ring when he moved to Liberty to finish high school after the death of his mother. The riveting story of how they became and still remain friends reminds us all of a familiar truth often lost in its own repetition: God’s grace has no boundaries or limits. I implore you not to look past it, for it remains the catalyst for rebels everywhere who desire to overcome unfairness. Trust me, if anyone is feeling sorry for themselves, feeling that “life isn’t fair,” this book will be a wake-up call and a humbling experience.
Because of how David and his friends faced their particular unfairness, there is a story to tell.
Somewhere in our own history, someone felt a divine inclination to rebel against unfairness. To not let circumstances eclipse a grace that promised to be greater still. In that moment, a revolution began that led to something infinitely more grandiose than the patriots ever dreamed. David Ring is also a rebel, not against grace but rather for it. And as you read his story, you will sense a revolution.
Mike Huckabee
This is David Ring’s story, written from the perspective of his friend David Wideman.
1
It must have played a thousand times in the theater of my mind, probably fueled by too many old western flicks on late-night television.
The bank teller’s hands thrust into the air. The outlaw’s words, muffled by the faded red kerchief covering his mouth. “Just fill the bag, old-timer, and nobody gets hurt!”
With no more than a furtive glance at the wild eyes of the desperado, the teller begins to stuff bills into the sack. He knows it’s a moment he’ll never forget, a half-face to haunt his dreams through the rest of his old age. The light gleams off the Colt Army Model 1860 revolver in the bandit’s hand.
I have the outlaw’s backstory memorized. He took that gun from the bloody corpse of A. V. E. Johnson, Union major, during the Centralia Massacre of the “late unpleasantness” also known as the Civil War. He rode with Confederate guerrillas, a band of thugs really, as they brought terror to the countryside.
In my imaginary western, the gang rides away with the loot. The Clay County Savings Association has been bled all but dry, and the robbers have pulled off the first daylight armed bank robbery in the United States during peacetime.
I grew up with the tale. Everybody in Liberty, Missouri, did. These outlaws—the James brothers, Frank and Jesse—have a certain place in American lore, but in Liberty they’re bigger than life. Sooner or later, you hear the stories, you watch a film or two, and then you want the true narrative.
The history books tell you that the James brothers were actually the sons of a preacher, one Robert S. James. Along with launching two bloodthirsty offspring, he also helped launch a fine institution of learning, William Jewell College—a mixed legacy to be sure. The bank and the school stood in the same town, looting and learning brought together. The good reverend himself moved on, heading west with a vision of ministering to those caught up in the fever of the Gold Rush. And there he died of some other fever entirely.
Liberty had not grown to become another Montgomery or Memphis. It was a quieter town, located about twenty miles outside of Kansas City, near the geographic