“An Elf Named Finley, A Christmas Story” – short Excerpt

It is never too early to think about the Xmas presents, right? I personally love to give and get books for Christmas. Let me introduce a wonderful new book “An Elf Named Finley, A Christmas Story” written by Rick Junilla.  Both children and adults will benefit from the inspiring story and lessons contained in this simple, yet brilliant book!

Here is a short excerpt from the book about how the story of was created:

“Several years ago I had lost a prestigious job as a Chief of Staff for a major hospital due to changes in the health care laws. I cashed in my 401K to try and save the house I eventually lost. With the help of a personal loan from a good friend I was able to open an office in a new town. I soon found that opening a practice in a town that was unfamiliar was difficult. No one knew my name or reputation as a good doctor. The town I chose appeared like a good choice because it was growing due to the housing boom, which soon crashed and several of the few clients I had lost their houses and/or jobs. Within a year of opening the practice, I spent most of my time moving from place to place because I was basically homeless, as I was unable to make enough money to pay rent for an apartment. On several occasions I found myself sleeping in my car or in the office when I could not find a place to stay.

At my lowest point, I found myself sleeping in the bottom bunk of my son’s bed, in my ex-wife’s house with her boyfriend and his kids. I thought “Something has GOT change!” Out of sheer desperation and lack of sleep, I started meditating to calm my mind. With meditation I found that I could ask questions, and sometimes receive insightful and profound answers. And the interesting part is that my life started to change. I eventually was able to afford a small 500 square foot apartment myself and my two children.

Two years later my daughter had been told that there was no such thing as Santa. And worse yet, she believed it. Being a concerned father and not knowing how to address the issue I asked for guidance during a meditation on Christmas Eve morning, simply asking “what I should to say to her about Santa?” The answer came to me in the form of a wonderful children’s story called An Elf Named Finley. The most amazing part was that it came to me in a way of knowing, all at once, like a CD full of information. I explain it to people as being similar to how you know the story of someone who has been close to you for years, but this story came without spending any time to get to know them.

So on Christmas Eve day, with tears streaming down my face, I typed as fast as I could. I knew immediately that the story was from something larger than me because I have never written a story in my life, especially anything profound. Without different words to explain it, all I can say is… I was blown away! I brought the story to my ex-wife’s house that night and she read it aloud to my children.

The decision to publish this story was because of my ex-wife’s response after reading it. She said “Wow that was a really cool story, where did you get it?”

I said “I wrote it.”

Then with the frankness that only an ex-wife could display, and with a chuckle in her voice she said, “If it wasn’t for all the typos, I would never believe you!” – Rick Junilla

Check out this wonderful book at www.AnElfNamedFinley.com