Standing at the Top of the Hill

About the Book

Searching throughout the seasonal change, observing during clear blue skies, and dark, thundering storms, they’re looking within you, listening for a tone of heart unlike the one sounding out from their own. You are at the top of the hill.

As Christians, we have been given the task of taking the gospel of Jesus Christ to the world. This task is not an easy one. We encounter great difficulties carrying out this duty. The Bible says that we are the light of the world; a city set on a hill cannot be hid.

We are here, placed in a position of influence. There is no retreat into a secluded world of me, myself, and I. We are the light of the world. Jesus has called us to Himself, and having done so, placed a calling upon our lives. It is His light that we carry, His light that others see, His love that others feel, through us. Christ in us, the hope of glory. We have been bought with a price, and we are not our own.

Standing at the Top of the Hill is the newest book by author Calvin W. Allison. There are two purposes for this book.

(1) To call the world to open up their eyes to the life-changing gospel of Jesus Christ.
(2) To encourage other believers to progress in the great calling that is on their lives.

May we never take for granted the great task that lies before us.

About the Author

Calvin W. Allison was born in Ada, Oklahoma. His family moved from Ada to the community of Conway when he was four years old. He grew up in the country with his dad, mom, and two sisters. He attended school at Homer and Byng.

During his seventh- to tenth-grade years, there were events that occurred that resulted in him going into a severe state of depression. He soon began to travel down a reckless road of uncertainty. He went through many dark years and experienced a lot of heartache. It was during those dark years of his life that he started writing. At the age of sixteen, he wrote his first poem entitled "A Broken Heart." He wrote it while sitting in ISS (in school suspension ). The poem was a dark expression of how he felt inside. The dark theme continued for the most part of his early writings. He wrote very negatively, mainly about pain, hate, anger, and death. He had written ten books of poetry by the age of twenty-five. Over one thousand poems. He never got any of those books professionally published, though. He just put them together himself. However, he did have several individual poems professionally published.

He was steadily gaining more and more recognition for his writing. But the reckless life that he was living was getting the better of him, and he soon hit rock bottom. It was on the night of February 7, 1999, that he came to the end of himself. He knew that there was nothing else that he could do to make things better in his life. So he called out to God with a sincere heart and received an experience that led him to seek more of Him. He began to come under conviction about the reckless way that he had been living, and his life started to change. He started to read and study the Bible. He soon began to come under conviction about the books that he had written. He no longer had a desire to write negative anymore, and he knew that he would have to get rid of them. So one night he took all the books that he had written over to his grandmother’s house and (with the exception of the poem “Joan”) burned them all in her fireplace. After that, he wasn't sure if he was going to continue writing or not.

Then, one night, while he was over at his sister’s house, his life would change forever. His sister and her husband had gone to bed, and he was in their living room. He saw that they had a movie called “Jesus.” So he put it in to watch. He had never in his life seen a more exciting movie than that one. He knew that what he was watching was a true story. He knew that it was the truth. At the end of the movie, it leads you through the prayer of salvation. He said that prayer, opened up his heart, and received the Lord Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior.

He began to talk to others about the Lord and what He had done in his life. He started attending church and began to participate in many different outreaches, including visiting prisons, nursing homes, hospitals, and many individuals.

He eventually started writing again. Only this time, it was in a completely different style. Dark had turned to light, and his writing changed. Now he writes for the glory of the Lord. “A Sunset Rising” was his first book of Christian poetry. Later he went back and wrote the aftermath for the poem “Joan.” He also made many changes to the first part of it. The poem changed from a tale of destruction and hopelessness into a tale of redemption and triumph. After its publication, he decided to look up what the name Joan meant. He discovered that the name means “God is gracious.”

For all of you that read Calvin's books, he hopes that they are a blessing to you.