Williamson, who grew up in Ozan, about 14 and a half miles north of Hope, brought several copies of his book, just released April 11th, and spoke to us about what inspired it.
“The name of the devotional is Second Mile Encouragement, and the concept comes from Matthew 5:41. If a person forced you to go one mile, go with them the second mile. I didn't come up with second mile, obviously. Jesus did,” Williamson said, adding that after he learned of Chik-fil-A’s Second Mile Service, he adopted Second Mile Encouragement as a theme for Star City High, the school he was principal of in 2017-2018.
Williamson explained his goals for the book. “I wanted to be encouraging. I wanted to be uplifting. I wanted [the book] to be something that somebody can go to and find some solace, if you will, or inspiration. But I wanted to be all positive. I wrote it for the work week … Each week has its own story.”
This is true, and several of the stories stem from experiences Williamson has had over his lifetime, from Week One, which describes the day of the dissertation defense that led his being conferred a doctorate of education, to Week Nine describing his helping to clear debris from the grave of his mother after a storm, to Week Ten which recounts his enjoyment of the pears grown from a tree near his hometown. The stories amount to an autobiography and an inventory of the values Williamson grew up with.
The impetus for the book originated last year in Williamson’s having a conversation with God while in his man cave on his October 23rd birthday. “He said, ‘Listen, if you'll write the story, I'll give you the words, and it will be done by December the eighth,’ and that's my mother's birthday. What actually happened was I went out and start doing things on my own, and didn't really ask for any clarity. It just kind of went off. And I hit a hit a roadblock,” Williamson said.
It was while with his son, a student at University of Michigan, attending the Ohio State-Michigan game that clarity came. “I met with a young lady that used to work for me, and she was telling me that she had done a journal and she had self-published on Amazon, and she kind of gave me the background on how to do it and gave me some points on how to do it. And I said, ‘Man, I could do a devotional.’ So I started. I wrote five that weekend before I came back home.”
Williamson said the book represents a whole-family effort. “My wife is the one that helped me come up with the book cover. She read it. My youngest son read it. My oldest son read it. And they said, ‘Hey, whoa. I don't know about this part right here. You might want to try this right here. This might land a little differently.’ So I'm blessed to have some people right there in my circle, that are a lot smarter than I am,” he said.
Asked about his Ozan background, Williamson said, “There's a deep love and passion from being from Ozan and all that entails, and brotherhood and all of those things. But one of the most important things about being from Ozan is a work ethic. My mom and dad were all about the work ethic.”
Williamson described getting a job when he was around 13 picking beans for a Mr. Monroe and on the ride to the field asking Mr. Monroe why he got paid so much more than a bean picker. “I’ll never forget the first time he gave me my money for it. I'd been out there from like 53:0 to like 10:30. I got $9 and something. And I said, ‘Man, it's not adding up.’
“He said, ‘How much money did you invest in cultivating the crop? How much money did you invest in planting it, feeding it, watering it, packaging it after you get done, picking it, getting it to the market, selling it. What is your investment in the whole process? You invested an hour in the whole process? So if you want to make what I'm making, you have to do what I've done.’ And that's a great lesson for a 13 year old," Williamson said.
Williamson’s devotional contains many such stories good enough to share. His book can be ordered from Amazon as an ebook or as a trade paperback.