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James O'Donnell was soul-searching. He didn't know what was missing in his life, but he sure didn't expect to find it on his daily commute to New York City. Listen in on Jim's conversation with Arthur, as he contemplates the mysteries of life. Written in a frank yet inviting style that will make you feel like you're taking a journey right alongside him, Jim draws readers in with his gritty and honest candor.
Format: Paperback
Number of Pages: 144
Vendor: Moody Publishers
Publication Date: 2005
| Dimensions: 7.25 X 5.5 (inches)
ISBN: 1881273679
ISBN-13: 9781881273677
Availability: In Stock
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James O'Donnell was contemplating divorce. Something was missing in his marriage and his life. His daily commute partner into New York City, Arthur, never preached to him or handed him a tract. They just walked ... and God worked. Written in a frank and inviting style that will make you feel like you are taking a journey right alongside him, Jim draws readers in with his gritty and honest candor. A great prequel to Letters for Lizzie.
With a troubled childhood behind him and an overweening urge to succeed driving him forward, James O’Donnell forged a seemingly successful marriage and career and enjoyed flaunting all the good things he’d planned for himself, only to find that it was all hay, straw and stubble. Then, along came Arthur: erudite, successful, and following his Lord no matter where He might lead. And where it led was to brash, spiritually-hungry-without-knowing-it James. Arthur talked, James listened, argued, got interested and strode forward into a new, vastly different life.
Professor, former business man, writer James O’Donnell’s motivational autobiography presents an intriguing, teaching portrait of a humble Christian mentor (Arthur) seeking to live out a purposeful life, a man who said ‘Jesus’ without even cursing. Breezy, straight-from-the-shoulder, O’Donnell relates his journey from a self-centered winner to a man who met God, found out He was love, and set out on a journey to become a more loving, forgiving human being. O’Donnell doesn’t wow with theology, or overwhelm with Christian language, but he does include Bible passages and Christian experience. The epilogue, ‘A Word From Arthur,’ provides just the right finish. A small book, easily read, Walking With Arthur entertains, encourages and challenges. – Donna Eggett, Christian Book Previews.com
Author: James O'Donnell Submitted: May 23, 2005 Tell us a little about yourself. "I began my career helping rich people invest
for the future. Today, I invest in my students’
futures," even if I happen to have a resume that
reads like an excerpt from Who's Who on Wall
Street. I teach a small Christian college today,
Huntington University, and try to share with my
students the savvy I earned as a senior
executive at some of the nation's largest
financial services companies. From 1981 to 1985,
I served as vice president and national sales
manager for the Dreyfus Corporation, in New
York. One year at Dreyfus, I personally sold
$1.5 billion in new investments. From 1985 to
1989, I led the sales and marketing division of
the Portfolio Group, Inc., (now part of J. P.
Morgan Chase) increasing assets under the firm's
management from $800 million to $2.5 billion. I
was then recruited to Fidelity Investments, in
Boston, first as senior vice president, then as
executive vice-president and founding director
of the firm’s marketing arm serving wealthy
individuals. Though in a worldly sense, highly
successful, I always cut against the grain in
the dog-eat-dog world of money. I tried to be a
man of deep conviction and thoughtfulness. I
strove to inject principles of his Christian
faith into an industry often characterized by
cut-throat competition. I try to be a thought-
provoking writer, and have had my opinions on
ethics and finance appear in Barron's, The Wall
Street Journal, Fortune, The New York Times,
Woman's Day, Christianity Today, America, and
other publications. However, soon after I left
the business world in 1994, my wife, Lizzie, was
diagnosed with terminal breast cancer. Letters
for Lizzie, my first book, is my tribute to
Lizzie, as well as a raw look at a family
struggling to make their way across the
terrifying landscape of advanced illness.
What was your motivation behind this project? Walking with Arthur is my memoir of a friendship
and my own personal transformation as I came to
faith in the mid-80’s through a friendship with
a man named Arthur. Today, I still serve as
Executive-in-Residence at Huntington University,
and still seek to integrate Christian faith,
ethics, and redemptive values into the teaching
of business and economics. I'm fortunate to have
become a popular speaker off-campus, a winner
of “Professor of the Year” honors, and a teacher
whose students have nominated him for Who’s Who
Among America’s Teachers. I try to bring high
standards to the classroom as well as raise
challenging ethical questions that bear on real
workplace issues.
What do you hope folks will gain from this project? I would like my readers to think about the
immense importance friendship plays in our
lives, for good and for bad. Women seem, almost
instinctively, to value their women friends,
sharing the joys and struggles life offers,
gaining wisdom and strength from a sort of
shared vulnerability. Men, on the other hand,
often just "hang out" watching a ball game or
taking about work. They do projects together but
talk about important stuff much less often, or
so I sense. I hope that Walking with Arthur
challenges all of our ideas about the value and
and meaning of friendship.
Who are your influences, sources of inspiration or favorite authors / artists? I've been influenced in my own life and my
journey of faith by Jesus and by Scripture. But
I've also been affected immensely by my
friendship with Arthur, the namesake of my book
that tells how a friendhip began a
transformation of my life. Writers who have
influenced me include C. S. Lewis and Frederick
Buechner.
Anything else you'd like readers / listeners to know: Here are some recent reviews of Walking with
Arthur:
From The New York Times, April 10, 2005:
Walking with Arthur – the story of a life
changed by the vulnerability of a male friend.
From Publishers Weekly, December 13, 2004:
Gentle wisdom and hope to exhausted strivers.
From Christianity Today, May 13, 2005: Touching
story—these principles apply in the colorful
rooms of the daycare center and in the cubicle
next to yours.
From the Ft. Wayne (IN) Journal Gazette,
February 26, 2005: A spiritual awakening
through a series of conversations with a wise
older man.
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