Condensed from The True Joy of Positive Living. Copyright 1984 by Norman Vincent Peale. Reprinted by arrangement with William Morrow & Co., Inc.

Prominent, and sometimes controversial, Norman Vincent Peale recalls in his autobiography the influences that led him into the pastorate-the model of his pastor father, his early encounters with God's life-changing grace, and his own early attempts to share his faith. This is one man's story of how God directed him into ministry.

Many people were surprised when I ended up a preacher, although I was not what might be called a bad kid. In the small Ohio towns of the early 1900s, a preacher's kid was considered "different" and made to feel so.

But several influences conspired to make a minister out of an unlikely prospect for that profession. One was Father's preaching. The way he described Jesus Christ gave me, early in life, a profound admiration and enthusiasm for the Master. He had an incomparable way of making Christianity real and exciting.

In ...