THIRTY YEARS AGO at this time, I was anxiously awaiting publication of my very first book, entitled Old Turtle. I did not know what sort of adventure, or joy, or disappointment, might lay in store. There has been little disappointment. Old Turtle has found friends all over the world. She has carried me on her back to many a place and to meet many wonderful people, has produced two sequels, and opened doors for many other books as well. A rather simple story of carefully chosen words with Cheng Khee Chee’s beautiful watercolors, it is essentially a parable about finding God in one another, and in the beauty of the natural world. Of the many lovely plaudits and reviews, one of my favorites is a tongue-in-cheek statement from Sierra Club Magazine… “either a children’s book or deep ecological cosmology, or both—take your pick.” To all who have taken Old Turtle to heart, and helped her find her way to the hearts of others, thank you. Here is a short passage:

“God is indeed deep,” Old Turtle said to the fish in the sea; “and much higher than high,” she told the mountains.
“He is swift and free as the wind, and still and solid as a great rock,” she said to the breezes and stones.
“She is the life of the world,” Turtle said to the willow. “Always close by, yet beyond the farthest twinkling light,” she told the ant and the star.

“God is gentle and powerful. Above all things and within all things. God is all that we dream of, and all that we seek,” said Old Turtle,”all that we come from and all that we can find.”
God IS.”