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Jim Bostic, executive director of the Nepperhan Community Center, said he was inspired to the devotional book, “Daily Words of Encouragement To Live By,” after hearing the stories of people who are struggling to deal with life’s “curveballs.”
“I thought, why don’t I write a daily deviation to encourage people through their difficult situations and difficult times?” he said.
Bostic began writing the book in October 2011, collecting inspirational scripture passages and combining them with his own experiences. In the book, he draws upon his trips to Haiti or challenges he faced during his brief professional basketball career in the 1970s.
An admitted writing novice, Bostic said he was unsure of what to expect when he sat down to write his first book.
But it got to the point, he said, where he looked forward to penning his thoughts each day.
“A lot of thoughts would come to me over the course of the day, from conversations and different things, and it would make me want to get home start writing,” he said.
Now completed, the 586-page book features a devotional reading for each day of the year. In some, Bostic writes about putting faith in God. In others, he talks about suffering and the keys to deliverance.
The purpose is simple, he said.
Too many times, people lose hope and faith and feel as though they have nowhere to turn, Bostic said. His goal was to show that is not the case.
“My hope is that people can take way the fact that there is an all-knowing God that is the creator of the universe and that looks out for our well-being and we're not in this alone,” he said. “If we focus and retain our faith, our outcome can be significantly different.”
Through Christian publisher WestBow Press, Bostic’s book is now available online at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. It is expected to hit bookstore shelves next month.
In anticipation, Bostic will hold a book signing at the Nepperhan Community Center at 7:30 p.m. Friday. Then, in the upcoming months, he will hit the road, traveling around the county to places like Miami and Los Angeles to spread the word of his new book.
But Bostic said this may just be the start of his writing career.
“I really enjoyed writing this,” he said. “I want to spend the proper amount of time and invest into launching this one but then I will probably start another.”
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