Doug Bender - I Choose Peace: Raw Stories of Real People Finding Contentment and Happiness (An I Am Second Book)

Praise for I Choose Peace

I Am Second provides an honest look at how others have found peace in their lives through a relationship with Christ. The stories each person shares reflect real life struggles we can all relate to and how each found their encouragement in Christ.

JOE GIBBS, Pro Football Hall of Fame coach, NASCAR Hall of Fame owner

I Choose Peace reminds me that peace only comes from the Peace Maker and that always to be thankful and loving to my neighbors is the path to peace.

MICHAEL TAIT, Newsboys lead singer

I have been a fan of I Am Second since its founding more than ten years ago. I have seen the impact of its films and have been honored to sit in the white chair and declare myself second. Everything I Am Second does is for one goalto inspire people to put Jesus first. I Choose Peace does just that, and I cant recommend it enough.

ANNIE LOBERT, founder of Hookers For Jesus and Destiny House

For the past ten years, I Am Second has used powerful storytelling through film to show individuals from all walks of life putting Jesus first. In the same vein, I Am Seconds newest book, I Choose Peace, has the opportunity to further inspire and help readers discover the true secret to fulfillment and wholeness is found in God.

STEVE GREEN, president of Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc.; founder and chairman of the board of Museum of the Bible

2019 e3 Partners Ministry

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Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Nelson Books, an imprint of Thomas Nelson. Nelson Books and Thomas Nelson are registered trademarks of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Inc.

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Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.

ISBN 978-1-4002-1037-4 (eBook)

ISBN 978-1-4002-1694-9 (IE)

Epub Edition September 2019 9781400210374

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Bender, Doug, author.

Title: I choose peace : raw stories of real people finding contentment and happiness / Doug Bender.

Description: Nashville : Thomas Nelson, 2019.

Identifiers: LCCN 2019006644 (print) | ISBN 9781400210367 (hardcover) Subjects: LCSH: Christian biography. | Christian life.

Classification: LCC BR1700.3 .B463 2019 (print) | LCC BR1700.3 (ebook) | DDC 277.3/0830922 [B]--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019006644

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019980229

Printed in the United States of America

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Information about External Hyperlinks in this ebook

Please note that the endnotes in this ebook may contain hyperlinks to external websites as part of bibliographic citations. These hyperlinks have not been activated by the publisher, who cannot verify the accuracy of these links beyond the date of publication

To the Seconds

Whose Stories Remain

Though We See Them No More

Rod Bayron

Ethan Hallmark

Ken Hutcherson

David McKenna

Nathan Schroer

Contents

1. 1. 1. Bliss: my love and my loss
      Kathie Lee Gifford, TV personality
   2. 2. Opposites: the surprise of love
      Chip and Joanna Gaines, former hosts of HGTVs
      Fixer Upper
   3. 3. Friend: for the lonely soul
      Lee Yih, businessman
   4. 4. Family: sometimes it takes a fight
      Phil and Kay Robertson, stars of A&Es Duck Dynasty
2. 1. 5. Control: why I gave it up
      Ben King, professional cyclist
   2. 6. Thinker: when God speaks through a fish
      Eric Metaxas, author and speaker
   3. 7. Perfect: the beauty of failure
      Shawn Johnson, Olympic gymnast
   4. 8. Happy: the bigger game
      Albert Pujols, Major League Baseball all-star
   5. 9. Shame: I felt less than human
      R. A. Dickey, Major League Baseball pitcher and
      Cy Young Award winner
   6. 10. Race: why I matter
      Jason Propaganda Petty, hip-hop artist, activist
3. 1. 11. Trapped: when Jesus makes it worse
      Brian Head Welch, Korn lead guitarist
   2. 12. Beauty: I was ugly and ruined
      Lauren Scruggs Kennedy, lifestyle blogger
   3. 13. Pain: the thief came
      Austin Carlile, former lead vocalist for Of Mice & Men
   4. 14. Expectations: in-n-out of failure
      Lynsi Snyder, owner of In-N-Out Burger
   5. 15. Worry: tapping out of the fight
      Cody Garbrandt, mixed-martial-arts champion
   6. 16. Peace: when we lost Hope
      Doug Bender, author

Peace.

Its what we are all looking for.

We look for it in relationships. We search for it in our jobs or in dropping that last five pounds. We try to win it, earn it, or buy it, propelled by that intangible, all-powerful urge at the base of our souls.

We may not call it peace. We may say were searching for happiness, contentment, purpose. But we definitely know when we dont have it.

Our lack of peace shows in our overstuffed closets full of clothes we never wear. It reveals itself in our complaints about work and our fights at home. It glares in our vain search for more affirmation, more accolades, more likesand in the anxiety that stalks so many of us.

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, one in five of us experiences an anxiety disorder in a given year and one in three experiences one at some point in our lives. Most go undiagnosed. Often we dont know the name of that itch in our souls. We just know something is wrong. We feel lonely even when surrounded by people. We work too hard and play too frantically. We self-medicate and overindulge. We keep on asking life why? Why us? What now?

These are all attempts at finding peace. None of us would care who we were, what we had, or who we had if we had an underlying sense of peace.

Peace tells our hearts that everythings okay. It speaks to the mind and removes the worry and the doubt. It calms the emotions and soothes the spirit. No matter what life has for us, when we have peace we can smile and feel secure.

Are you happy with your work? Do your relationships bring you joy? Do you know who you are and why youre here? If not, youll find yourself filling life with noise so you cant hear the emptiness.

But your life can have a different story. Its a story that so many have experienced through the I Am Second movement. I Am Second began as a website with a handful of films. It has since spread the message of peace to millions by telling the raw, beautiful, broken human stories of people just like you.