No Greater Gift

About the Book

The stories we hear and read in the Sacred Scriptures were written to be more than just a “story”. They are God’s inspired words that were left to us so that we may have the opportunity to enter into a deeper and more personal relationship with God. However, because the Bible was not written to be a history book, a lot of details were omitted. Those omissions can move us to wonder what it would have been like to be with Jesus on a daily basis as a part of His inner circle. However, without those details, we are left to use our imagination to find the answers to those questions. Hopefully, when we do that, we can enter into the story in such a way that they lead us to a greater insight, understanding, and deeper relationship with the people we meet in the stories about Jesus, the Apostles, and the followers of Jesus. No Greater Gift was written to allow the reader to do just that. Let your imagination run wild with your own thoughts, and then write your own story. I hope that when you do that, you will get as much enjoyment as I did in writing this book.

About the Author

Deacon Denny Burkett, who was born in Shelby, Ohio, is married to his high school sweetheart Linda for 56 years, and together they take great delight in their three children, ten grandchildren, and eight great grandchildren. Deacon Denny, as he is known, was ordained a Permanent Deacon of the Roman Catholic Church on May 13th, 1989, at Holy Rosary Cathedral in Toledo, Ohio by the late Bishop James R. Hoffman. While in the diocese, Deacon Denny served the parish communities of Most Pure Heart of Mary in Shelby, Sacred Heart in the Shelby Settlement, Saint Francis Xavier, in Willard, Ohio, and Saint Joseph Parish in Plymouth, Ohio. For the past twenty years, he has served at Saint Gregory the Great Catholic Church in Bluffton, South Carolina, where he has been involved in Marriage Preparations, Pastoral Counseling and 90 Spiritual Direction, Adult Education Programs, Bible Studies, Prayer Groups, and leading parish pilgrimages to Italy and Israel. Deacon Denny’s love for the Sacred Scriptures has helped him develop a unique way of explaining the Gospels. His Bible Studies often become story telling time, bringing the words of scripture alive and relevant to today, where students are invited to see themselves as part of the stories. He can often be heard saying that the Sacred Scriptures are God’s Love Letter to us. That spirit continually comes out in his preaching style, which always reminds the people of how much God loves us, how forgiving God is, and how God longs to have an intimate relationship with us. Deacon Denny has been able to share that message with God’s holy people not only here in the United States, but abroad in places like Assisi and Rome, Italy and in Nazareth, Tiberias, in the Garden of Gethsemane and the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, the Mount of Transfiguration, and around the Sea of Galilee in places like Capernaum and the Mount of the Beatitudes. Finally, Deacon Denny hopes and prays that this book will move you to a deeper love and more intimate understanding of the Sacred Scriptures, God’s spoken Words to us, his Chosen People. The Bible is the best book in the world, and in the words of Thomas Jefferson: “The Bible makes the best people in the world.”