Alive Day Launches Today!

September 4th, 2008 should have been Sam Brown's death day. In the twilight of the Kandahar desert, while racing to help a fellow platoon under enemy fire, Sam's military vehicle detonated a roadside bomb.

He burned alive for nearly a minute.

In the midst of the fire, he waited for death, even longed for it--but then his fellow soldier extinguished the flames. The day that should have marked his death became his Alive Day.

Sam Brown, now the GOP Senate candidate for Nevada, launches his book today: Alive Day: Finding Hope and Purpose After Losing Everything. Although Sam is a politician, this is not a political book. It is a story of near death, miraculous survival, and a long painful journey of healing. It describes a lifetime of being groomed to do exactly one thing---become a military leader---which ended. In its place emerged a new life, requiring a transformed identity: physically, professionally, and personally. The book contains a beautiful love story. And it is rich with hope, tenacity, and faith.

I was deeply blessed to collaborate with Sam and Amy Brown on this book, and continue to feel inspired by their stories. I've also been gratified by their public acknowledgment of my contribution-- a gift for a normally "invisible" ghostwriter.

Thanks to Rose Friel for introducing Sam and me. Thanks Emily Gindlesparger for your wise organizational insight, early in our process. Thanks Hussein Al-Baiaty for the opportunity to reflect on my work with Sam, on the Rising Authors podcast. Thanks to Geoff Pope for going above and beyond as a proofreader. And thanks to Scribe Media for racing the book through its paces to meet a tight deadline--

Today, September 4th.

Alive Day.