I get plenty of mail from young folks asking for book report information. So, here goes…

I was born in Seattle, Washington September 9, 1953. My family moved to the Cascade Mountains when I was ten. The nearest town was Arlington with one stop light and a population 2,023. I spent a lot of my time wandering the forests and basically enjoyed being a country kid. I didn't like reading much, but I did like sports, music and acted in a lot of school plays. Most of my life I planned to grow up and be a dentist. And then something very interesting happened…

I was raised in a Christian family but started to get real bored with Christianity. A friend told me that's because I was only half a Christian. He said I knew all about Jesus as my Savior who died for my sins on the cross, but that didn't know anything about Him being my Lord or Boss. He said, "I bet you that if you promise always to say yes to God, regardless of how weird it may be, I bet you your life will be anything but boring."

So I took him up on it. When a girl I'd dated all through high school dumped me our first year at the University of Washington, I wandered the campus night after night until I finally told God He could be the Boss of everything in my life, that I'd do whatever He wanted regardless of how weird it was. A few weeks later I saw the third or fourth movie of my life and was so amazed at its power that I told God He had to raise people up in the film business to start doing movies for Him. I kept getting the impression that I was supposed to be one of those people. We had quite a few arguments, but because I made that promise to always say yes to Him, I changed my major to film directing and a few weeks later found myself in Rome, Italy studying a subject I knew nothing about in a language I couldn't speak! Talk about feeling foolish. But I knew I was there because He wanted me to be.

Well, one thing led to another and even though I got C's in my one writing class in college (and told God I could do anything for him but write) I got my first writing job for a TV series. And then another and then some directing jobs and finally some books. (I think I've written and/or directed a few dozen films and about 60 books). The projects have won about 40 awards, I get to travel all over the world, and I'm having the time of my life. I often think that none of this would have happened if I lived my life my way. I would have never chosen writing and directing for a living. Instead, I might be in somebody's mouth this very minute drilling away as a dentist. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with being a dentist, it's just not what I was designed for. So, everywhere I go, I encourage people to say yes to God, no matter how foolish it may feel, because by doing that, they'll be in the center of His will and living a cooler life than they'd ever dreamed possible. It's not always easy and it can be a little scary…but it's anything but boring!

Today I live in California, not too far from Hollyweird (where I'm still trying to make a difference) with two cats, two kids, one dog and one wife.