“There is always hope to rest on. A hundred or a thousand new sunrises will be followed by a like number of sunsets and the world will be all right. New life will spring up among God’s people … the sounds of laughter will fill the playgrounds and the hollow halls of the school corridors. God is at work, breathing new life where old life expires.”

These are the words from Paul Michael Carpenito, author of the book, “My Walk to Emmaus.”

He tells his tales of the cycle of life and death through his extraordinary experiences of finding God in the ordinary of everyday.

His will to share his Christian faith was born under clouds of financial struggle when he was just a child.

“Our family had very little money. I always had the need to work to help pay the bills,” he said, “and I knew from early on that if I wanted anything for myself, I’d have to earn the money to get it.”

At age 11, he got a job in a laundromat cleaning the tops of the appliances and taking out the trash for $8 a week. Then he got a paper route delivering the Newark Star Ledger from where he lived in New Jersey. He then took on a job as a helper in a diner.

Due to his family’s deepening poverty, he quit high school when he was 16 to work at a local supermarket.

Finding God

Carpenito’s spirituality began to grow when his mother was a church organist and before his father had died in 1970.

“And somehow that helped us survive on her $30 a week and whatever I contributed from my jobs,” he said.

He has come to understand that life’s struggles are lessons taught by God in the classroom of faith. His Christianity is no badge he wears to pontificate his beliefs upon the readers in this, his first book. He never preaches, he has a rhythm for writing that is soothing to the soul.

Living in Kunkletown with his wife, Meg, Carpenito observes the marvels gifted by God’s presence within the natural environment that he has enjoyed from spending much time in the woods and from the people he encounters on any ordinary day.

His stories tell of what he has witnessed in God’s creations. Watch a fish jump from the Lehigh River. Listen to Him sing from the mouths of songbirds fluttering their wings through the summertime trees. See the face of God upon the senior citizens, happy to be working at a fast- food restaurant.

Words of encouragement

“My Walk to Emmaus” is composed of vignettes that encourage the reader to step into a sanctuary of serenity. Sponsored by Wallace Goddard and published by LifeRich Publishing, a subsidiary of Reader’s Digest, “My Walk to Emmaus” is sized, formatted and illustrated into a coffee table style book. Read a tale or two during breakfast. Sneak one in during lunch at work. End the day by looking through Carpenito’s window of words to see heaven on earth.

He writes, “Many fallen away followers are looking in the window from the outside and need but a prompting to reignite their flame. We, Jesus disciples of the 21st century, can do this.”

Although “My Walk to Emmaus” is only 125 pages, he says it is not to be read as a race to the finish line. “I advise that my stories be read two at a time,” he said. “This allows the reader to go out and find and appreciate God in the everyday.”

Here’s another passage from the book, “Our world is so beautiful; our friends and acquaintances are beautiful. God gave them to us because he loves us and wants only for us to love him back. The gift of sight is a tribute to the handiwork of God, all his creatures, and those blessed with a paintbrush to create something out of nothing.”

Road to inspiration

A mail carrier retired after 39 years, Carpenito began to write for a train magazine along time ago that was the result of his fascination with the railroad since he was eight years old. His motivation to write stories of inspiration was energized after watching an episode from the program “60 Minutes” one Sunday night.

“They were showing a retired pilot teaching people in the Congo how to form a music band with instruments made from simple things in the environment in which they lived. His teaching was a service to help others feel happy and purposeful.”

After he became a member of the Knights of Columbus, an organization of the Catholic Church, Carpenito began to write inspiring stories for their monthly newsletter. “My Walk to Emmaus” is a compilation of his favorite articles from the periodical.

He currently works as a funeral attendant, and his stories about the cycle of life and death were never more realized than when he was driving three women back from a restaurant on Route 80 during a rainstorm after a grave site service.

“A tractor-trailer jackknifed while coming from the opposite direction. The cab ran up the concrete center divider and then flipped airborne over the top of our limousine,” he recalled. “There it was, life and death all in one moment, but with the grace of God, we survived to live another day.”

Every day is a new day to live in the spirit of his faith for Paul Michael Carpenito. His book, “My Walk to Emmaus” promises to help his readers appreciate the little things in life that are gifts given to everyone from God.

“My Walk to Emmaus” can be purchased on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and other websites in both Kindle and paperback editions.