Brent's Newest Book: Terrorist to Evangelist... Abby, Spidey, Sami

Brent's Newest Book Coming Out Next Week

My next book will be available in a week or so. It is a true story about my dear friend, Ken McClinton.

There's not really a way to sugarcoat it... he was the leader of terrorists in Ireland, was jailed for killing two men, and lived a life of extreme violence. In prison, all alone in his cell with nothing but an old King James Bible, God accomplished a "Damascus Road" on him, and forever changed his life.

He became an evangelist, denounced terrorism and violence (to his own peril) and has now spent the last few decades ministering, preaching, teaching and serving God. It is one of the most interesting and remarkable stories I've ever heard. It has been my HONOR to become his friend.

I asked Ken a couple of years ago if I could author his story, and bring it to America. In a week or so, the first of three planned books in the series will be available. I wanted to let you read the first chapter and get your feedback on it, good or bad. Here it is:

Terrorist to Evangelist: The Story of Kenneth McClinton
Born to Lose, Then Born Again
By Brent Riggs

Chapter One: This Is It

March 24, 1983 - “McClinton,” I thought to myself, “this is it.”

I had known for quite some time that it was coming. I was keenly sensitive to the inevitable conclusion of being a man marked for death.

Walking into the break room of the prison, all of my senses went on red alert sounding the alarm that things were not right. I first noticed the steam floating across the ceiling. The inmate in charge of boiling water had heated gallons and gallons of water to an angry, rolling boil – far more and far hotter than necessary for making tea.

The two prison guards who had been assigned to protect me were nowhere to be found. I was now alone and unprotected in a room of convicted murderers and terrorists. I became strangely calm in the face of such imminent danger. Having become a Christian four years earlier while in solitary confinement, it was not my nature now to be the one to start the violence, even though I knew it was coming. I simply took my mug of tea and sat down like usual at the table.

Four convicted IRA terrorists slowly moved to block any escape through the entrance or exit. Each of them was carrying a large redwood plank that looked like a square baseball bat. The ashen color of their faces betrayed their fear and nervousness.

I reached for the little Gideon’s New Testament that I carried in my shirt pocket, but my hand never made it. I felt the heat before the boiling water actually touched my skin. In an instant, gallons of scalding liquid were being poured down on my head and back. My first sensation was of the soft skin behind and around my left ear instantly bubbling up and disintegrating. Within a couple of seconds, a large portion of my body had been scalded and burned severely.

It seems strange now, but at the time, I felt no immediate pain. With calm resolve I stood upand removed the reading glasses from my eyes. I couldn’t see well because the boiling water had run over my face, but I sensed the danger coming in front of me.

“Thud!!” A hammer from the workshop, wielded in cowardly fashion, struck me on the high right-hand side of my face between my temple and jawbone, quickly opening a profusely bleeding wound.

My natural survival instincts kicked in as I backed into a corner shaking my head and wiping the water and blood from my eyes. I had not uttered a sound up to this point but knew that I was very badly injured by the boiling water and the blow to my head. The first thing I saw after clearing my eyes was a terrorist-prisoner I knew by the name of Becker. He was making his way towards me holding one of the three-by-three, baseball-bat-like sticks, his eyes already focused on where he was going to deliver the "coups de grâce". In my heightened state of shock and adrenaline, I took the initiative and lunged straight for him, taking the first swing of the bat into the outside of my left bicep. “Whack!” He really nailed me and the pain was excruciating, but I had successfully fended off an otherwise fatal blow. I ducked the next swing, grabbed the surprised Becker by the ankles and with strength that was beyond normal circumstances, I picked him up and tossed him over onto my badly burned back.

With Becker flopped over my shoulders, and my head actually between his legs, I was somewhat protected from the next round of hammer blows, baseball bat swings and punches that were now coming from the other attackers. Like a movie scene, everything seemed to happen in slow motion and twenty two years later, I still remember it all in half-speed.

One of the terrorists, a young guy whom I didn’t know, had slipped on the water that spilled on the floor and was now attempting to get a grip around my ankles to hold me for the others who would finish me off. Four others armed with the bats were still blocking the door and any attempt to escape. I charged them, holding Becker upside down on my back and threw him off me and on top of them. The combined force of our two bodies sent the door guards stumbling backwards against the wall and into the corner like bowling pins being scattered.

That bought me an instant of opportunity to dive through the doorway and onto the steps towards the safety of being out in the open where others could see me. Landing face down on the stairs, I thought I had succeeded in escaping when suddenly the door was slammed shut on my foot trapping me. I felt the hands of the terrorists grabbing my ankle and holding me fast so that I could not get free. The door opened and to my horror, another bucket full of boiling water was dumped on my already blistered and burned body. Almost my entire upper torso now bubbled and broiled in the intense heat. The skin just simply melted away in a matter of seconds.

I kicked my free foot with all the strength I could summon and suddenly my other foot was unexpectedly released. The door slammed shut. I was left there, as good as dead. The pain rushed over me in waves and consumed every nerve in my body with intense fire.

I was still alive. In the coming days, I would wish that I wasn’t.

That's it, Chapter One... what do you think? The book covers his life as he lived through a violent childhood, poverty, state care, terrorism, imprisonment and salvation.

Leave a comment and tell me what you think.

Abby loved the balloons Sami made for her;
SpideyLandis was not about to be ignored.

Abby had chemo today and has been up and down. She rollercoasters from miserable to almost not miserable. Nice choices, huh? But, she's still a kid. Tonight she didn't want to go to bed, so she kept saying her tummy hurt, she needed to go to the bathroom, and even "threw up". One big problem though... she was faking all of it. And you wouldn't believe the performance... Oscar worthy. Kids are kids no matter what they are going through! We continue to be encouraged by everyone's kind comments and notes. We are so blessed to have so many people caring about us, keeping up with things, and loving our whole family, not just Abby. I (Brent) was shooting some pics tonight because SpideyLandis wanted to show off his mask and websling out the window of the playhouse. That boy is a HOOT!

Sami is so pretty.
What you don't know, is that her hair was
crazy messy so I had to promise to crop it out.

Sami is so sweet to Abby. She sat and made balloon art for her all night, and then Abby, never shy around the camera, had to pose for us and get into the photo shoot. We are so blessed in our family. We rejoice every day for EVERY memory. Even the tough times are to be cherished and embraced. It is our sacrifices for each other, and our shared hardships that go a long ways towards bonding our lives together.

Hey, if you want some quick, fun, random updates about Abby and our family, follow me on Twitter. It's pretty fun... go to http://www.twitter.com/ and my Twitter name is Brent_Riggs (there is a "brentriggs", but that's not me.)