Have you ever stopped to think about how many lives you touch every day? My favorite movie, IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE, is about just that!

In the movie, George Bailey, the main character, is just about to commit suicide when God gives him the chance to see what life would have been like had he never been born. And in that moment, you realize how one little life can affect so many others!

My new book has a similar theme. I discovered this story on a recent trip to Nova Scotia to do some research on the expulsion of the Acadians from the region in 1755. While I was there, I heard about a ship that had washed up on the shores of Yarmouth in the 1950's and was believed to be the ship the survivors of the Titanic had seen on the night that great boat sank.

Amazingly, as I looked up the story of the Samson, I found that the ship had been involved, not just in those historical events, but also in so many other fascinating parts of history! Without that little ship, Admiral Byrd might have perished at his base in Antarctica. It was the Samson that braved the icy waters to rescue him. People in the United States might never have known about polar exploration as the Samson served as a museum on that subject for several years. And two of Shackelton's crewmembers might never have been rescued from the far side of South Georgia Island had the Samson not been in the bay of the whaling station when Shackelton went for help.

I couldn't ignore the call to write this story. The Samson was the George Bailey of the boating world, and I am a big fan of George Bailey!

So as you read this book, stop for just a minute! Think of the power you hold each day to affect the lives of those around you! You are a part of history!

Think big! Dream big! Your footprints on this earth CAN make a difference!