A local man to the southwest has written a book entitled "Hearing God's Calling", a call he experienced nearly 10 years ago on a hot summer day in August and a calling he hopes to inspire others to hear and find as well.

The idea to write a book first came to Maple Creek's Dennis Hoyer back in the 1970's when his son asked what it took to be successful in life. When Dennis told his son he didn't know the answer, the child replied, "you have to plant a tree, you have to have children and write a book".

At the time, Dennis served as a police officer in Regina, and tells SwiftCurrentOnline he was always pushed to write a book with tales of his time on the streets as a cop.

"It [the suggestion] resonated a little and being a policeman.. so many come to you as an officer and want to talk to you. I've heard 'you should write a book' often and I always thought I should write them down but it never happened. Never had the time or interest. Six years ago it hit again and a year and a half ago I began to read books on how to write a book. I read about five or six and one said if you can talk, you can write."

For most of his adult life, Hoyer says he denied the existance of God. The former police officer (now retired 23 years) grew up in an abusive household, and around the age of 15 dropped out of school. At age 8, Hoyer began abusing alcohol, which continued until he was 42.

He has now been sober for 34 years.

Dennis and wife Brenda married August 23rd, 2013.
Dennis and wife Brenda married August 23rd, 2013.

"I went to Church all my life but never believed in God. When you're drinking and doing other things, you get so low.. I was the ugliest and stupidest person in the world and there was no hope for me. I'd tell my kids all the time nobody would come to my funeral."

Nearly 10 years ago, Hoyer had an experience with God he claims has changed his life everyday since. He was living in Wildwood, Alberta at the time, recently divorced, selling houses and planning a move to Maple Creek.

Hoyer had just sold his place in Alberta, and went to pick up the cheque from the sale of his home. From that day forward, nothing was ever the same, according to Dennis.

"Not a cloud in the sky, no wind, nothing. A perfect summer warm day. I walked across the parking lot after getting my money, got into my truck, opened the door and got behind the wheel. The sky turned black to night and the wind like a tornado.. lightning, thundering, hailing. I was hanging onto the steering wheel that was flopping around in the truck. God told me right there, 'Dennis you have screwed up your life since the very beginning and there's no way you can help yourself. I'm going to straighten it out for you, you have no choice in the matter, you're going to follow Me'. It all stopped and ever since then my life turned around. That's when the rubber hit the road."

The book started to come to fruition a year and a half ago when in a dream, God commanded Hoyer to begin writing. Dennis says he was never a strong student in school and especially struggled with English. With help from wife Brenda, "Hearing God's Calling" began to take shape. The title also came in a dream, according to Hoyer.

"To me, God had His hand on me all the way. I should've been dead seven times. What I can see now in my human way is God chose me to write this story. You cannot teach a pig to sing. It frustrates you and irritates the pig. You can't push anything on anyone. Churches have different takes on it but the centre point is Jesus Christ and if you don't find Him and the Holy Spirit, there isn't much hope for you. If you pray and ask God for anything He will give it to you. This book is for someone who has completely given up on life and if he reads that book he will find hope."

The book is published by Friesen Press and has sold around 100 copies since being released.

The writing process and publishing has cost the former police officer thousands of dollars, but Hoyer says if his stories can inspire hope for a better day within one person, everything will be well worth the journey and expenses.

More details on Hoyer and his book can be found on his website Dennis Hoyer. Dennis will sign copies of his book March 5th at 2pm at the Swift Current Library.