While I was working on my book, Elephants INspiring The Room, my wife and I stayed for a week in Foley, Alabama (near Gulf Shores). When we headed north to start home, just a few blocks from where we were staying, we saw this elephant that we hadn’t noticed on our way in. I wanted a selfie, so I pulled over, jumped out, and took this picture. It’s now the back cover picture on the book.

When I got back in the car and showed it to my wife, she noticed The Salvation Army truck and building right in front of the elephant. We had just spent 9 1/2 years co-leading a nontraditional church with The Salvation Army in Nashville based on Spirit-led sharing and testimony and I had written a book about our experiences called, Beyond Church–An Invitation To Experience The Lost Word Of The Bible–Ekklesia.

Recently, I was taking a closer look at the pic and noticed several things I hadn’t noticed before. The elephant’s tail is perfectly aligned with my cheek and the picture is aligned with my last four books. To the left of The Salvation Army trailer, there’s a palm tree. To celebrate the arrival of Jesus on Palm Sunday, a crowd of people joyfully welcomed Him with palm branches. That made me think of my book, The Joy Of Early Christianity.

At the far left of the picture there is a white pickup with a black trailer. In the pic, a light pole is separating the two. That reminds me of my book, Off the RACE Track–From Color-Blind to Color-Kind. It’s my attempt to clarify and to shine God’s healing light on the history of America’s ongoing racial conflicts.

I try to listen to God for the ideas I write about. To the right of my ear is a tree. I try to write from the tree of life, not from my own knowledge, perspective, and opinions. The many short lines that appear to be coming out of the side of my head remind me of the way inspirational ideas flow through my mind.

I just now noticed that the elephant’s leading foot is on a rock. The living, resurrected Jesus Christ is the Rock.