The story of the Cross on the cover of my books

The beautiful Cross that appears on the covers of A Tempered Faith, A Teachable Faith and A Treasured Faith is not a computer graphic. Nor is it the enormous cross of beams that was left standing when the Twin Towers fell on 9/11. This Cross is an 8-inch sculpture that was carved from a steel girder from the World Trade Center, and it was left for me -- anonymously -- at my church a few months after 9/11. It now sits on my fireplace mantle as a reminder of how God can literally bring beauty from ashes...

For so long, I tried without success to find out who had anonymously sent me this precious gift. When I first mentioned the Cross to my publisher's design team, they immediately envisioned it as a powerful image on the cover of my books. And indeed it is just that. The Cross is a symbol of hope wrapped in steel.

I have since learned the identity of the anonymous carpenter of steel who had kindly reached out to me in those dark days after 9/11 -- not with words, but with his gifted hands and his compassionate heart. Rich DePietro, there are not enough words to thank you for the Cross you made for me. It is the only memory of Ground Zero that I cherish.

The Cross captures the essence of my spiritual journey... because like the Cross, I have been "through the fire" but emerged victorious through Jesus Christ.