Directions

Back when I was traveling from city to city giving talks, I had the luxury of looking into the faces of those with whom I was in conversation. In fact, it was this that both sustained and energized me during those years. Writing is a lonelier business. Occasionally, it is marginally less exhausting. But the writer is removed from those with whom he hopes to be in communication. Today, if a writer hears at all from his readers it is by way of the short reviews that readers leave on Amazon. I have been blessed with a number of beautiful Amazon reviews, and I am especially grateful to those who have posted such kind and generous reviews.
It is much rarer to hear directly from a reader one has never met. However, I recently received an email from such a reader, an obviously gifted young man whose early academic accomplishments are quite impressive. He wrote to thank me for God’s Gamble, saying that it had changed the direction of his life. His email reminded me of certain writers I read as a young man and whose books changed the direction of my own life. His email also reminded me of how much I owe to so many whose words and examples live on in me today, among whom are the friends of the Cornerstone Forum, a great many of whom I pray for by name on a daily basis. I welcome your prayers. I’m sure that my work on several current writing projects depends on those prayers more than even I fully realize.

• Gil Bailie