THE BACK STORY

“Imagine ‘Kids Say the Darndest Things’ with a generous helping of ‘Our Daily Bread,’” states the book’s summary. ”‘Yes, Cheese-us Loves Me!’ is both entertaining and uplifting, using children’s quotes as a springboard for daily devotion. You’ll be amused and challenged as you reflect on each quote, read a related verse of Scripture, apply that truth and ‘pray it in.’”

Although Bible verses support the text, Ray worked to make the book enjoyable to both Christians and non-Christians.

“A huge thing to me is that it would not have a preachy tone but that there would still be some spiritual substance to it,” Ray said.

Getting to the publication The author is an associate professor emeritus from Ohio University.

When she began working at First Presbyterian, she would pick up on the bright, impetuous statements her students would blurt out.

“I was kind of enchanted by the things that kids would say, especially after all those years of teaching college,” Ray said. “The spontaneity of the kids just really delighted me.”

When Ray posted the statements to Facebook, she said she would receive positive responses.

During Lent around seven or eight years ago, Ray was inspired to save those sayings.

“I prayed, … ‘God, what would you have me do this Lent as some sort of spiritual exercise to draw closer to you?’” Ray recalled. “I felt like he was leading me to archive all of those quotes from Facebook.”

It took some time, but Ray got the posts collected. The beginnings of her book rose from that collection.

The 40 days of Lent concluded, but Ray wasn’t done. She continued to document and collect more sayings.

To get some feedback on her work, Ray attended a couple of conferences, one for humor writers and one for Christian authors.

During the Christian one, the Florida Christian Writers Conference, samples from her book actually won an award.

“I was one of three authors presented with an award in the Devotional category,” Ray said.

Later, another surprise came for Ray – the help of her son, Michael, and his wife, Danielle.

″(It) was an amazing gift,” she said. “When I set out doing this, I never dreamed that it would become a family project.”

“Now, I wouldn’t work with any other editor but Danielle,” Ray said. “She was so thorough yet she always had such a gracious way of pointing things out that weren’t working or things that needed to be corrected.”

The illustrator and editor even assisted with the title, which refers to the book’s first quote.

In the quote, a 3-year-old boy pondered the idea that God might be made out of cheese.

“It just kind of captures the whole book because it’s about humor. It’s also about the fact that, yes, ‘Cheese-us’ loves us all, and maybe we need to stop and reflect on that more than we do,” Ray said.