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UNDER THE SUN: Redemption Gray Series (Book 1 of 3)

About The Book

“You can’t find happiness under a rock in Montana.”

 

Mr. Adams surely didn’t mean that as a challenge, but for Redemption Gray, on what might have been the worst day of his life, that’s exactly what it was. Without further discussion, he grabbed the restroom pass and left the room. And left the school. And left the state. Whatever happiness was, he had to prove that teacher wrong. Because if he didn’t, he wasn’t even sure life was worth living.

 

As he journeys northward from Dallas to the mountains of Montana, where there might be a rock big enough to hide happiness—or maybe just the meaning of life—Redemption finds more than he could have expected.

 

A 2018 winner of the prestigious Nautilus Silver Award, Under the Sun is a gripping coming-of-age story that delves into the questions every young person asks at some point: Who am I? What am I doing here? What does life mean? And God, are you there?

About The Author

S. Westley King

S. Westley King holds degrees in English and history from Texas Christian University and an MA in Bible studies and ministry from Lubbock Christian University. He is a pastor in Cisco, Texas, but when he isn’t preaching, he’s drawing shots at the family coffee shop with his wife, Kasity, and children, Ilya and Nehemiah.

S. Westley King

Quotes from... UNDER THE SUN: Redemption Gray Series

“You can’t find happiness under a rock in Montana,” my teacher told me. Until now, it’s the only place I ever really have.

A prolonged silence overtakes me. Not a daze, not automatic, not a dream . . . almost a consciousness. Not a conscious consciousness, not a subconscious or an unconsciousness. In the silence, I experience it. What it is, I don’t know, but it comes over me.

I know something’s not right with me. I’m not right inside. I don’t want to exist. No, I do want to exist, just not like this.

On this journey into peace, quiet, and solitude, I can’t take the world I knew with me. I politely interrupt, “I love you,” and throw the phone out the window.

These roads were made to get people from one place to another as quickly as possible. I’ve been headed somewhere in a hurry for a long time.

It seems like the moments that call the most for pictures are the moments when I think, “This will be unforgettable.”

I’ll be okay forgetting every road and thought and site and feeling, so long as I don’t forget that there is peace in silence, and that through all this time by myself, I’ve never felt alone.

The underneath is now above: happiness. . . . I set it free. Give it to the wind. In turn, it sets me free, gives me to the wind. I laugh. All I did was turn over a rock.

Deep inside, I know—Grandpa would rather I be here, finding life, than looking over his embalmed body. Starting life from the end. The best respect I can show him is to grow new life from his dead trunk on our family tree.

Why was I so afraid of quiet? Why was I so afraid to be alone? It’s like the things that filled my ears and eyes, that distracted my mind and heart—they had a grip on me. . . . A lie can only live if it’s mistaken for the truth.

I used to want to be popular. I used to want the prettiest girl. I used to want to be comfortable and distracted. Now, I just want a meaningful life.

For the first time after a thousand times hearing it—being “in Him” finally makes sense. The words didn’t change, but my ears and my mind have. Let me hear everything else a thousand times until it makes sense!

And just like that, it is over. I want more. I’ve had a drink, and now I feel how thirsty I am.

Other Books by S. Westley King

Nothing Knew: Redemption Gray Series (Book 2 of 3)

About The Book

“You can’t find happiness under a rock in Montana.”

 

Mr. Adams surely didn’t mean that as a challenge, but for Redemption Gray, on what might have been the worst day of his life, that’s exactly what it was. Without further discussion, he grabbed the restroom pass and left the room. And left the school. And left the state. Whatever happiness was, he had to prove that teacher wrong. Because if he didn’t, he wasn’t even sure life was worth living.

 

As he journeys northward from Dallas to the mountains of Montana, where there might be a rock big enough to hide happiness—or maybe just the meaning of life—Redemption finds more than he could have expected.

 

A 2018 winner of the prestigious Nautilus Silver Award, Under the Sun is a gripping coming-of-age story that delves into the questions every young person asks at some point: Who am I? What am I doing here? What does life mean? And God, are you there?

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