Synopsis (from Barnes & Noble)

Red Stevens owned everything a man could ask for and gave his family a piece of that everything. However, right before he died Red Stevens realized one thing. Red looked down along the long list of things he gave his family and suddenly came to the conclusion that he had given them nothing by giving them everything. While most of his family were lost causes because of his mistake, one stood out with potential to learn. That one was in store for the year to end all years. That one was his nephew Jason.

The Ultimate Gift, written by Jim Stovall, is a story of Red Stevens, an accomplished man, who learned too late that giving material things is more like taking than giving. He learned too late for all except his nephew Jason.

The Ultimate Gift takes the reader through Jason’s incredible work to gain his Uncle Red’s inheritance, “the ultimate gift.”

Every step of the way there is a lesson for Jason and the reader. Things such as values, hard work, the appreciation for money, and the love of giving are taught to Jason. Uncle Red hits a homerun when he teaches Jason the most important lesson of all:

“Red paused (in the video) for another brief moment, cleared his throat, and began again. ‘ Jason, I lived my life in a big way. I had a lot of big accomplishments, and I made a lot of big mistakes. One of the biggest mistakes I ever made was when I gave everyone in our family everything that they thought they ever wanted. It took me many years to figure out that everything we’ll ever do, know or have in this life is a gift from the good Lord. He has a special plan for each of us, and He has provided everything we need to fulfill that plan. I spent many years trying to achieve happiness or buy it for friends and family. Only as an old man did I come to learn that all happiness comes from gifts that God has given us. Unfortunately, the money and possessions I spread around didn’t help people to understand the gifts that have been provided for us. In trying to make up for all the times I wasn’t there, I gave them all material things. In doing so, I robbed them of everything that made my life wonderful.”

The Ultimate Gift will entertain, teach and touch you as you read about Jason’s journey to receive his inheritance, the ultimate gift!
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Unabridged audio, 2 CDs, read by Tom Bosley

This is an excellent story of how people can be spoiled when they don't have to work for or earn what they have. I think everyone would learn a lot from the 12 "gifts" in this book!

I read this book awhile ago, but had forgotten about it until my daughter got the movie from Blockbuster and we watched it together. Both of us wanted to read the book!

I will be starting a bookring for this book. The usual bookring rules will apply:

1. journal when you receive the audio book.
2. listen to the audio book within 1 month or less.
3. journal again when you finish reading the book and let us know what you thought of it.
4. mail book to next person (media mail is ok).

List of participants:

1. MicheleReads (OH)
2. booklady331 (FL)
3. back to me (carlissa)

mailed to MicheleReads today.

Thanks, Carlissa for sending it to me! I've already started listening to it, and hope to send it to the next person soon.

I could not have known this when I signed up to receive this book, but as events turned out, this book came to me at an important time in my life. Last week my mom had a heart attack, and as I drove to the hosptial (nearly 4 hours away), I was able to listen to it in the car. It was perfect for that ride! While there, my dad was also able to listen to it also. Thank you for sharing it with me. I am preparing to mail it to the next reader on the bookring and will do so this week.

My mom, by the way, is doing well. And will have open heart bypass tomorrow afternoon (11/19/07). I plan to purchase a copy of this audio cd for her to listen to during her recovery.

MicheleReads

It arrived today. I should get to it soon. Thanks, Carlissa, for sharing.

EXCELLENT. We all need to practice these gifts. Thank you so much, Carlissa, for sharing. I think I will buy this for my son for Christmas. I will mail it back as soon as I get to the PO.

RELEASE NOTES:

back to Carlissa. thank you for sharing this WONDERFUL book

This audio book has made it back home! It is now available for release or trade.

I put this in my CD only bookbox.

Pulled out of Carlissa's Audio CD-only BookBox.

RELEASE NOTES:

Have ripped this to my hard drive to listen to later and so am putting it back into Carlissa's CD-only AudioBookBox.

I listened to this when it was a bookring. My daughter wants to listen to the book so I traded for it out of Carlissa's CD only bookbox. Thanks for sharing again.

Received back from my daughter yesterday. Now to decide what to do with it next.

Enjoy! Gave to a homeschooling family