Debbie and I will be in Bangor and Houlton, Maine, this coming weekend for some Two Are Better book signings. On Friday, May 31, from 3:30 to 5:30, we will be at Lambs Book and Bible on 877 Stillwater Avenue in Bangor. The following day, June 1, we will be in Houlton, where we will participate in the 16th annual Greater Houlton Christian Academy bike-a-thon before signing books at Country North Gifts and Crafts, 17 Market Square, from 2:00 to 3:30, and at the Littleton Museum from 4:30 to 6:30. More details are in this news release. I was a participant at the school’s first bike-a-thon–and most of them thereafter–so we look forward to returning to my native land and participating in this great event.
In anticipation of our Houlton trip, this interview with morning show host Jason Hill aired last Friday on WHOU-FM in Houlton, Maine. When you listen to the interview, you’ll also see a set of slides that we presented recently to a church group at Nute Ridge Bible Chapel in Milton, New Hampshire. On Wednesday, May 29, at 6:15 pm, WHCF will air an interview that I recorded last week while on a business trip in Bangor. You can hear the WHCF interview as it airs from their website. Just click on “listen now” at 6:15 pm.
As we embark on this next phase of the Two Are Better project, what are interviews, book signings, and speaking engagements to be about? Clearly, they offer our book some promotion as people hear about our story. But, there’s more to it than that–much more. We all need to share our triumphs as well as our tragedies. It’s part of why we receive them in the first place. We can’t encourage one another with a good story if we don’t share with authenticity what is going on behind the scenes. Likewise, one who is struggling with a serious life issue cannot experience hope and healing without reaching out for help. Debbie and I understand this concept firsthand in our role as Hope Coaches for TheHopeLine. We can feel the yoke of oppression lift from troubled youth as they begin to share their burden. We learn from one another by sharing our story.
Our first of these face-to-face, story-sharing events happened at the church event referred to above. We’ve attempted to capture the beauty of our land, as well as the hope and joy of our story, in a slide show. Many life lessons resonate from our bicycle tour and the events that led up to it. Describing to others what life was like after marrying for the first time at age 52 and cycling across the country on a self-supported tour as husband and wife provides a unique case study on couple relationships, significant life changes, and other issues. We all grapple with these dynamics in some form or another. As a recent reviewer of Two Are Better stated, “Many of [the Bishops’] experiences can serve as metaphors for the Christian life.” You can read Beckie Burnham’s full review of our book on her “By the Book” website.