(Video Above: Sherri and Rick Burgess share the release date of Mrs. Burgess’s upcoming memoire Bronner)
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Sherri Burgess, wife of nationally-syndicated talk radio host Rick Burgess, announced Friday the release date of her memoir detailing God’s faithfulness to their family in the wake of their two-year-old son tragically drowning in the family’s pool. The book will be titled Bronner, the name of their son, and will be released on January 19th, 2016—on the 8th anniversary of his passing.
“Bronner is the name of my youngest son,” said Mrs. Burgess in a video announcing the book’s release. “He went to heaven on January 19th, 2008. I always say he went to heaven, because that’s how I see it. He fulfilled his purpose on the Earth, and when it was time God brought him to Himself. Psalms 139 tells us that God writes the number of our days before we’re ever even born.”
“God has a plan and a purpose for each of us. I believe that this book, named for Bronner, was and is God’s plan for me. I knew very early on that I was to write this book, and it was hard. But I felt compelled by the Lord to put in writing all that he was showing me, which was a lot.”
“God doesn’t do these things to hurt us, but to teach us and to draw us closer to Himself,” she continued. “He wants us to trust that there are greater things in store for us than we can even imagine. Romans 8:18 says that ‘the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.’ Losing a child is rough, so we know that’s got to be good stuff for this not to matter. We have a lot go look forward to; we have eternity. The message of this book is to live for the forever that we have coming with God.”
Calling his wife an “extraordinary” woman with an incredible gift for writing, Rick Burgess said the loss of his son and the time they’ve spent grieving and growing afterward has only made them stronger.
“It hasn’t made us the least bit weaker, it’s only made us stronger.” said Mr. Burgess. “We love God more now than we did before this, frankly. I think of Job when he said ‘Even though he slay me, I still trust only in him.”
New Hope Publishers, a Birmingham-based company focusing on Christian publications, will serve as the book’s publisher.
“It was never intended to be a book on grief, it’s a book about God who loves us, even when it doesn’t seem like it does,” explained Mrs. Burgess. “I’m so thankful for New Hope Publishers, right here in Birmingham, who believes in this message, and hopes it will bring a greater understanding to the purpose behind the pain we all suffer.”
The book has already garnered rave reviews from influential authors who were offered a sneak peak at the manuscript earlier this year.
“No one escapes life unscathed. Everyone faces tragedy. Rick and Sherri did,” said New York Times bestselling author Max Lucado. “They did so with faith. We are wise to learn from their example. Their story inspires us to face our challenges by facing God first.”
“‘Thank You, Lord, for trusting me with something so great that I would be asked to give up what You gave up—a son.’ These are the powerful words of Sherri Burgess in Bronner,” added Larry Alex Taunton, author of The Grace Effect. “To a Christian culture saturated with the notion that material and physical well-being are at the center of God’s will for our lives, such words are jarring. It just so happens that they also find resonance in Scripture.”
