Finding Dad: From "Love Child" to Daughter (22 page)

THE FOUR GIFTS

Father Joe Bradley

By all rights, Father Joseph Bradley should be dead. If past usage of beer, marijuana, and cocaine didn’t do the trick, then certainly heart failure should have. Instead, by the grace of God, he is alive, clean, sober, and a functioning Catholic priest with another man’s heart beating in his chest. But it came at a huge cost.

While Joe was in his late teens, his father died suddenly. The loss was devastating and Joe’s emotional desolation found escapist bliss in a beer bottle and cocaine vial, and he pledged irrevocable devotion to both. The slide into the abyss was ugly, and Joe finally sought help because there was nowhere else to go— which led him to serve others as a Catholic priest. The day of Joe’s ordination, an old friend came to the mass and announced for all to hear, "Well, now I can say I’ve seen a miracle."

Joe functioned for fifteen years as a sober priest before his heart gave out from the same heart disease that killed his father. But another miracle came his way, and he was blessed with a new heart—a gracious gift from a family during the most painful moment of their lives.

Joe has been granted the blessing of four gifts: faith, sobriety, a new heart, and a fulfilling ministry. As Father Joe says, "Gratitude inspired this book. I owe it to people who helped rescue me from alcohol and drugs, and I owe it to my heart donor for giving me yet another chance at life."

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LEARNING TO PLAY WITH A LION’S TESTICLES

Melissa Haynes

The cheeky title of Melissa Haynes’s story of adventure in Africa, and earned some big publicity on
NBC-TV/Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
and
Ellen Show
.

Playing with a lion’s testicles: An African saying that means to take foolhardy chances.

For the reader who has ever dreamed of going to Africa or knows the pain of loss and guilt,
Learning to Play with a Lion’s Testicles
will fill your soul.

Melissa, an exhausted executive from the city seeks meaning and purpose from her work volunteers for a Big Five conservation project in South Africa. Her boss, an over-zealous ranger, nicknamed the Drill Sergeant, has no patience for city folk, especially if they’re women. He tries to send her packing on day one, but Melissa stands her ground with grit and determination, however shaky it may be.

Conflict soon sets the pace with a cast filled with predatory cats and violent elephants, an on-going battle of wits with the Drill Sergeant. Even Mother Nature pounds the reserve with the worst storm in a century. But the most enduring and profound conflict is the internal battle going on within Melissa, as she tries to come to terms with the guilt surrounding her mother’s death. When death grips the game reserve, it is the very animals Melissa has come to save that end up saving her.

Read all about it and/ or grab the book from Amazon

CLICK FOR LEARNING TO PLAY WITH A LION’S TESTICLES