From out of the Flames

At the age most children are out chasing butterflies and the ice cream man, Dave Hammer lay alone, receiving his sixteenth skin graft.

It happened when he was five. A tent engulfed in flames. His sister, dead. A brother and friends singed by flames, and Dave, nearly lost to the licking fires of a prank gone terribly amiss.

Decades later he began piecing together the tale: interviewing family, neighbours and friends, combing his own memory for the stories that would best tell his story. Though he has stumps for hands Dave completed his manuscript, penning a story of redemption, healing and ultimately, a life fully lived. His story is one of resolve, faith, utter despair, and uncompromising honesty about his journey through life with extreme deformity. To meet Dave is to meet a man who has overcome endless hurdles and is teeming with a joy that alone comes from his heavenly Father.

“At first I simply felt writing was something God wanted me to do,” explained the author in a phone interview. “Now that I’ve written the book I see that is was really important for me to realize just how much I miss my sister. It has helped me deal with the loss. But ultimately I wrote it because I feel I have an important message to share: that you don’t have to let all these things in life get you down. I want this book to inspire people that they can go the extra mile; that what the enemy intended for evil, God intended for good.”

In his memoir, From out of the Flames (ImaginePublishing) released November 24, we journey with a young boy wrestling with death, overcoming infections and mastering button holes, and eventually into the inner-workings of a man, superficially disfigured, yet solicitous, living with measured humour and seasoned grace. It is a story of hope that surprises and inspires, and a testimony to the strength God offers in our supreme weakness.

“It has all been about faith, in my life,” explains Dave. “I could write a whole book on that. I think I’ve always had a simple faith in God. Since senior high, people have always asked: ‘What are you going to do with your life.’ My reply has always been: ‘Whatever God wants me to do.’ I have always known that would be the most awesome path.”

(written for Faith Today Magazine, Nov/Dec 2008)

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For more information, or to order Dave’s book visit ImaginePublishing.