Excerpts

"The first time I tried to kill myself, I was eight-years old. I didn’t know I was attempting suicide. All I knew was aspirin took away pain. I didn’t want my mom to beat me up again, and I didn’t want more pain, so I ate an entire bottle of baby aspirin."

 

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"More and more police vehicles joined our high-speed race through town. I remember a blur of flashing lights, loud sirens and crazy driving—running cars off the road, going through stoplights, bouncing off curbs. Soon, so many cops were chasing me I decided to bail. As I turned a corner, I opened the car door and out. After a tuck and a roll, I was on my feet running."

 

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"I’ve been incarcerated with men doing a life stretch in prison who are happy. They’re free on the inside, like the Bible says. On the outside, they might be doing life, but on the inside they’re happy. They have that joy only God can give. Like me, it took prison for them to find the Lord. But they know for a fact that in the next life they’ll be in heaven, not behind bars. They understand true freedom. Someday, they’ll dance on streets of gold."