He has been doing interviews about his new book, They Popped My Hood and Found Gravy on the Dipstick, which released March 3 from Pathway Press and distributed by Strang Book Group. It tells how Starnes underwent open-heart surgery in 2005 to replace a failing aortic valve, lost 150 pounds and dealt with the death of both his parents-all within a span of three years.

Laced with humor, the collection of essays are drawn from an audio journal he kept during his surgery and recovery. In 2006, the broadcasts won the prestigious Edward R. Murrow Award and the Associated Press Mark Twain Award for storytelling. Starnes said he wants readers to laugh "and know that some average Joe can make it through an obstacle and difficulty in life."

The message that takes on new relevance in the midst of a historic economic recession that has cost thousands of jobs. "We are going to go through difficult times in our lives," he said. "But the message I have in this book is, I've discovered that God's grace is sufficient to get us through those difficult times. Not only can He get us through those times, and He will sustain us, but we're going to be able to look back and we're going to be able to laugh and smile and understand why we had to go through what we had to go through."

An unabashed Christian, during the 2008 presidential election Starnes was an embedded reporter in the Barack Obama campaign. Starnes later became known as "the guy with the Bible" because of the bulky copy of Scriptures he had to purchase at the last minute when his Bible went missing. "I actually left the Bible on board the plane at the end of the campaign, and I marked some passages of Scripture so perhaps someone who might find that Bible could perhaps see the plan of salvation," he said.

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