One lonely night, a young policeman, officer Dean Strong, considers taking his life with his own service revolver. He believes he has been abandoned. He believes his death is the only message he can deliver to the world.

But Dean was wrong. He was never alone. Now, he brings a message of hope, even for those who believe all hope has fled. He shares the story of falling to the lowest point of his life–and climbing up once more.

Dean’s story begins in the Appalachian foothills of Kentucky where he was raised, accepting God early in his life and receiving a call to the ministry. The first in his family to attend college, Dean becomes ordained. He falls in love with and marries gentle, musically talented Cindi. Together they plan to be the minister and wife of a church, carrying God’s work to their congregation. But an unexpected tragedy drives a wedge between them. As Cindi struggles with grief, Dean finds a new calling working as a police officer in Collegedale, Tennessee. The world of law enforcement opens to him, with all its temptations, even as his marriage begins to crumble.

Life is a balance, and for Dean, that balance becomes ever harder to maintain as he must choose the path he will walk. Is he a minister or a cop? Can he be both? Can he find his way to contentment and forgiveness, even if the one he must forgive is himself?

A Bible and a Badge is the compelling story of an ordinary man facing life’s biggest questions, guided by God but struggling with his humanity, caught up in the exciting and unpredictable world of law enforcement even as those around him beg him to return to the ministry. Strong tells his insightful story with humor, honesty, and the understanding that can only come from a lifetime of experience. It is his message of hope for anyone who has ever stumbled along the path, or doubted their value or purpose in serving God.