God needed four decades to do His work in me, to prepare me, to place me on the path to astronaut, Navy pilot, author, marketer, and engineer, that I might write about it one day in a way that could inspire others. When your days seem dark, and the future is uncertain, be like the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz: stuff the straw back in your chest, paste on a smile, and keep on plugging. Remember that God has a marvelous plan for your life. He will reveal the plan in time, and do a good work in you...

Austin with Steve Cook, NASA Exploration Project Manager discussing the Ares Moon-Mars program, surrounded by Apollo memorabilia at the US Space and Rocket Center. His wonderful wife Cindy is at the far right with daughter Alice. In the background, in the center of the picture, you can see Chase Masterson, of Deep Space Nine fame.

The adventure that brought us to Huntsville, and my career as a novelist, began with love.

In 1974, as a college sophomore with no idea where I was going in life, I learned about love. Two close friends on the Rice cross country team shared with me, during our runs and study time, that God loved me. He loved me so much that He came into this world as a human child, suffered and died, just for me. My friends also told me that this God, who saw into my heart, had an amazing plan for my life. They said His name was “Jesus,” and that He would change my life, if I’d only give Him a chance. They promised, as we ran together, that He’d lead me, forgive me, and set me on a path to an eternal adventure. I simply had to ask Him. In a Bible study they quoted Jesus, telling me “you have not because you ask not.”

I was convicted. This Jesus that my friends told me about offered the direction and focus that I craved. He offered forgiveness for the mistakes I’d made, and He promised a new life, one made over. He promised that He’d never forget me or leave me. I wanted all of that. And most of all, as a lonely young man lost in a sea of college students, I was drawn to what they said about love. “Jesus loves you,” they said, “not as the world loves you. But like a Mom and Dad, only better.”

I asked Jesus to give me a fresh start, to forgive and to lead me. I asked Him to show me His plan. Every time a door has closed in my life since that day, I’ve asked which way to turn, and every time, a new door has opened. The adventure He crafted led us through the Navy to Huntsville; through raising a family to the verge of ‘empty nest.’ And that adventure led me to capture my imagination and wrestle it to paper in books about others who also followed God’s leading, depending on Him ever step of the way.

The adventure starts with love. God loves us so much that He gave up His only Son, so that we would not be shattered, but have a whole and lasting life. If we can take the important step of belief in His story, and trust in Jesus, then we will experience His great adventure. Forever.