In December of 2007 Tiffany and I were having dinner at my parents’ house in Pasco, Washington. Eating pizza with us that Friday night were our friends Doug and Stephanie Crandall. After I shared a story about my adventures at Duke’s business school, Doug told me I should write a book. I responded that I did not like to write. “Maybe you should do it,” I joked.
Just over a week later, Doug called me up and said he wanted to assist in writing our story…and the Hope Unseen book began.
At the outset, Doug asked me several times why I wanted to tell my story. My response was simple and consistent: I wanted to glorify God. All I could think of was giving God the glory. I knew that through all the great and not so fun situations in my life the verse from Philippians 4:13 kept coming back. “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
As Tiffany, Doug, and I struggled to find a fitting title, we zeroed in on “I Can Do All Things.” But after some thought, it seemed a little long, so we shortened the phrase to: “I Can.” For several months, that was our title.
But when our publisher came into the mix, we became convinced that something less forward and more humble would better fit my personality and would better signify the story between the covers. So, we went back to a title we had considered at first: “Hope Unseen.” Without hope in God, we are nothing. Throughout my life and throughout Tiffany’s life, each time we turned away from God, hopelessness set in. The strength in all we do and all we have comes from the Lord.
All I am and all I have comes from God and my hope is always in him – with or without sight.
“Perseverance builds strength, strength character, and character hope.” Corinthians
“Hope Unseen”
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Captain Scotty Smiley, a Ranger and combat-diver qualified infantryman, was the Army’s first active-duty, blind officer and its first blind company commander. On April 6, 2005, he lost use of both eyes when a suicide car bomber blew himself up thirty meters in front of Scotty’s Stryker vehicle. Since that day, Scotty Smiley has surfed in Hawaii, skied in Vail, skydived, climbed Mount Rainier, completed a triathlon, and graduated from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business with his MBA. The Army Times named Captain Smiley its Soldier of the Year in 2007, and in 2008 he won an ESPY as the world’s Best Outdoor Athlete. Scotty, a recipient of the Bronze Star and Purple Heart, recently taught the core course in leadership at West Point and now commands the Warrior Transition Unit at West Point’s Keller Army Medical Center. Captain Smiley was recently named a recipient of the Army’s prestigious MacArthur Leadership Award and currently holds an honorary PhD from Mount Stain Mary College in Newburgh, NY. Scotty and his wife, Tiffany, are both from Pasco, Washington, where Scotty captained the Pasco High School Bulldogs to a Class 4A State Football Championship. Tiffany, who played college soccer at Whitworth, is a registered nurse. Scotty and Tiffany are the proud parents of Grady Douglas and Graham Elliott.
Doug Crandall served in the Army for thirteen years, including the last five at West Point where he was an award-winning leadership teacher and later the Executive Officer to the Dean. Doug now lives in Richland, Washington, with his wife, Stephanie, and their children: John, Jason, Mackenzie, and Timmy. He is the founder of Blue Rudder–a leadership development company. Mr. Crandall is a 1995 graduate of West Point and received his MBA from Stanford in 2003. He is previously editor and co-author of the book Leadership Lessons from West Point.
Details
Pub. Date: September 2010
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group
Format: Hardcover , 243pp
ISBN-13: 9781439183793
ISBN: 1439183791