From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.

John 1:16

I am excited to share that today, after two full years of preparation, my latest book has been released (I now have twelve titles in print!).

This is a moment I’ve been anticipating for a while, having posted probably a dozen excerpts while gathering my stories. And of course this project is completely different to either my “inspirational” titles or the novel.

This is also the longest book I have ever written, coming in at 172,000 words and 524 pages. 

As a memoir, Grace Upon Grace is a hybrid – or fusion – of both storytelling and documentary. It’s a coming together of memory and history, along with the first-person perspective I have in observing my own life.

I acknowledge from the outset that other people experiencing the same events often remember them differently. But there is a distinction between truth and verifiable fact. “This memoir is absolutely one hundred percent true,” I write in the introduction, “even when I inevitably get my facts in a tangle.”

At first I was not sure that I could share this many stories and still manage to find a thread, a throughline that effectively holds the entire narrative together as a coherent whole. Then I stumbled on the realization that it is all grace. Here is how it comes across in the blurb:

The thread that runs through everything is grace. Life is not easy but the key, as Rebekah [often] says, “is not so much what happens as how we respond.” Readers will find themselves drawn into the engaging narrative and the author’s ongoing commitment to tell his story with honesty, humor, humility and purpose.

There is a lot in this book that is difficult, and stories that may even offend, but then life told authentically is seldom easy. I touch on pain, and controversial topics, and people when they are not always at their best. But if I edited out all of the rough parts then this would be a fantasy not a memoir, and life is too short for make-believe.

If you recognize yourself in this book then you are a part of my journey, and your contribution makes this story real (even the preacher focused on judgement… and the people – including me – who made my brother’s life unnecessarily difficult… and the leaders dead set against women in ministry… and the principal who was so controlling… and ———).

So here it is. If you are up for the experience, I believe this is a story worth telling. Besides, I am very pleased with some of the writing, and this memoir absolutely makes for an interesting and an inspirational read.

Regardless, I am grateful – and more than a little bit excited – DEREK