To those of you who have stopped for a moment in the pursuit of something more nourishing than social media and its endless void, I’d like to thank you, but the reality is you should be thanking yourself.

Reading is becoming a lost quality, and I’ve often told myself since the age I first became a manager, a steward of people’s safety, that “reading can save your life.” Especially when dangerous equipment was involved… Airports, right?

If you would’ve asked me at 17 whether I would take it upon myself to someday write a book, you likely would’ve gotten a laugh. I was a clever kid—almost too clever, to my own detriment, if I’m being honest. I wouldn’t stick around to heed the advice I was being given. Go figure, a kid who doesn’t listen to advice? How novel. What struck me, however, was how many people used to tell me, “You should really write a book”… “There’s something about the way you talk”… which at the time was nothing more than a stroke of ego; I couldn’t objectively see what it was that they saw.

I’m grateful for those words. They were planted at the ripe age of 17, tucked somewhere far and deep away in my memory, only to swim back to the surface 14 years later, at the age of 31. I initially struggled for months just with the name of the book, let alone what I wanted it to be about. I was initially going to so recklessly prescribe my future readers with grandiose titles that truly, we’ve earned no right to call ourselves. Words I’ve often seen in the self-help book sections: “Become Sovereign”… how could one become sovereign by the true definition of the word? It’s simply impossible, and an insult to the word itself. There is only one sovereign, and there is immense power in surrendering to him—the one we call “The Creator.” See, that’s the thing about faith. It requires one side to trust. Without trust, the “needle” will never be moved.

Well, I stumbled on it… the title I mean. After a year of pondering.

“Veil of The Sovereign”

As a reminder that we ourselves are not “Sovereign,” but we are, in fact, separated from him by veils. Veils of light. Veils of dark. The things we say and do to fool ourselves into thinking we are either so pious or so evil, internalizing these beliefs, acting out upon them. Thus, I’ve written 21 chapters that help put theology into a somewhat more practical light for those who need what they lost in translation. Don’t let society or bad examples push you away from your journey.

At the end, there is only you.