Stories and Poetry by William M. Stephens.
Softcover, 142 pages.
Reviewed by Vicki Warner:
“Stephens was dead. Or so it seemed. In 1969, without warning, he felt his heart start to beat slower, and then more and more slowly until it seemed to stop entirely while his consciousness, immeasurably frightened, then raging, and finally resigned, drifted into what seemed to be the terrifying, empty black nothingness of death. He floated there, hopeless and helpless. But it was not death. It was the beginning of his New Life. For there was a glimmer of light in that darkness and it found him, magnetized him to Itself, and Bill writes that he ‘... exploded into a brilliance beyond anything I could imagine, and I was immersed in the warmth and joy of a Living Presence that loved me and accepted me totally.’
“In this book, Footprints in the Sand, Bill describes more of that deeply affecting experience and, two days later, being given copies of God Speaks and Life at Its Best to read. He writes that, ‘… when I saw photographs of Meher Baba inside, I gasped. Almost certainly felt it was Meher Baba I had seen in the brilliant light.’
“So began the finding and seeking and more finding which has continued these 28 years. He writes many stories of his steps along the path, following footprints in the sand, beginning with his report of the amazing experience to his wife, Peggy, ‘Nobody ever dies, sweetheart! Nobody ever dies.’ But the stories, poetry, drawings and introspections are not exclusively those of his personal trek; there are accounts of happenings in various Baba groups in Florida, Myrtle Beach and Nashville in the '70's and '80's and now as well as adventures in India, Hawaii and other places."
Published 1997.
