This book with it's treasured stories has been on our bucket list of things we always wanted to do in the Exodus Movement. We talked about it, dreamed about it, prayed about it, and even had a name for it - The Exodus Diaries. As much as we wanted it to happen somehow we just never got around to it. Our phenomenal success in the church with two services at 9:30am and 11:00am has kept us busy. With 73 beds in nine locations at Exodus Homes plus a thrift store, our vocational training enterprises in Exodus Works which include moving, landscaping, and general labor of all kinds - we've had more on our plate than you can say grace over.
God has been good to us and has answered our prayers. In 2021 while at a book signing for Ric Vandett's work called Hurdles, Rev. Susan Smith and I met the wonderful people at Redhawk Publishing with Catawba Valley Community College. After that night, we began planning how they could help us create and publish The Exodus Diaries with a goal to publish a new edition every year. We invited people whose stories need to be told and got commitments from them to participate in a ten week series of meetings in person and by Zoom with Robert Canipe to help us create and refine a manuscript. We also are very grateful for the help we received from Richard Eller and Patty Thompson of Red Hawk Publishing.
This finished work is a collection of stories from 14 writers who have made the journey out of bondage from the Egypt of addiction and incarceration into the promised land of recovery which is filled with new possibilities, new beginnings, and a future full of hope. These are those who have come, tasted the fruits of recovery and found them to be good. Now they share the good news of recovery through the pages of this book, telling others that there is hope on the other side through the Exodus Movement. We give God all the glory - great things He has done.
