Gary Watters of Ponca City has a recently released inspirational book now available to the public. The Power of Twelve presents a study of Bible verses designed to help you focus on living a successful life. Gary believes that wisdom is greater than gold or any material wealth the world can provide and the greatest place to find wisdom is through the Bible. The Bible can allow you to live life and live it more abundantly.

The Power of Twelve examines values that we as a society consider valuable to positive growth. Topics such as love, strength, humility, guidance, wisdom, endurance, peace, purpose, giving, gratitude, hope and faith are covered in his book. Watters believes that focusing on these scriptures can truly help you understand the power found in the Bible and how it can be applied to your daily life. Though it is written as a spiritual guide to successful living, the personal stories make it an enjoyable read, and he suggests reading the book for enjoyment and then going back to study the scriptures for enlightenment.

Mr. and Mrs. Watters have lived in Ponca City their entire adult life. Gary is a retired businessman, teacher and coach. He served as vice president of sales for Nickles Industries and later as senior sales consultant for the Cooper Cameron Corporation. Mr. and Mrs. Watters have two sons, Dustin and Kyle, two wonderful daughters-in-law, Ashley and Beret, as well as six grandchildren.

Mr. Watters’ true passion was teaching and he has taught all levels of students, serving as a teacher at First Lutheran Middle School, Newkirk Middle and High School and at Oklahoma State University. Watters has also had a passion for coaching and officiating sports. As a coach, he has worked with kids from five to eighteen. As an official he has done eleven state championships in high school basketball and three state championships in high school football.

When asked what prompted Mr. Watters to write the book, he said in 2019 while teaching at Newkirk Public School, he had a student teacher in his class, then the student teacher became the teacher of the class and he started retirement January of 2020.

Mr. Watters had previous writing experience as a graduate student, writing articles for academic type magazines while working on his degree. In retirement, Gary determined that writing was something he enjoyed and has the time to pursue again. Mr. Watters had inspiration from his mom, who had several health issues. However she got through the negative times with health by stating “This is the day the Lord has made, rejoice and be glad in it.”

The Power of Twelve encompasses the values that Mr. Watters sees as essential to successful living. Reading through the chapters it is easy to connect with the scriptures he shared and his personal experiences. Mr. Watters also shared noteworthy contributions from others, such as Biblical people, those from the sports world, and people with a vision of doing for others.

In this time of Love is in the Air, Valentine’s Day month, I think it appropriate to share the scripture Mr. Watters used for the chapter titled “Love.” John 13:34-35 KJV 34 A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. 35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

The Power of Twelve is currently available at Brace Books and Mr. Watters has begun a second book, One Blood (Diversity and Race in America) that examines the racial groups that make America the country we currently are.