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by James R. Needham (Author)
This book is the life journey of a seventy-nine-year-old man who was asked by his grandchildren, "What did you do before you met Grandma?"
He pondered the thought, intrigued by the question, and answered that he had done a thing or two they might be interested in: produced television programs, helped produce The Joy of Painting programs with Bob Ross, worked for President Nixon on a special project and with the woman who edited the original Jaws movie.
When they sat there, eating dessert after Thanksgiving that day in 2017, their eyes rapt with attention, he fleshed out the stories a bit to see if they really were interested. They seemed to be, so he asked them, "If I wrote it down, would you read it?"
"Oh yes, Grandpa," they urged him. "Would you do that for us?"
And that became the odyssey that is now this book. Grandpa Jim has been on television most of his life, tested his parents' limits as a small child, fought with a skunk and lost, nearly lost his life several times by refusing to be an obedient child and driving too long multiple times when he was tired and going off the road. And as a nine-year-old, Jim and a friend dug a cave in a clay and sand field beside the Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad, switching yard near Chicago, where one day, the cave collapsed.
Now, every time he sees his grandchildren, their plaintive cry is, "Are you finished with the book yet, Grandpa?"
Fortunately, he lived to tell the cave-in story. But his misbehavior isn't the focus. His off-again, on-again journey with God is the story, with many adventures and misadventures along the way. As an adult who has recommitted his life to Christ, Jim has been a Young Life Leader, an Adult Sunday School teacher, a Mission Committee Chair, Mission Team Leader, television producer, talk-show host, mentor, and Teacher of the Year for the TCOM--now MEDIA Department at a Major University. Most of all, for over forty-seven years, he has been learning to see God's fingerprints wherever he goes, and you will too. It is an adventure worth joining and one you will never, ever forget.
