There are moments when a life can appear too broken to repair.
Addiction can destroy trust. Prison can separate families. Poor choices can leave consequences that last for years. And for the people who love someone caught in that cycle, forgiveness can sometimes seem impossible.
70x7 and Beyond is a story born in that place.
Written by Monty Christensen with Roberta Lundsford Kehle, 70x7 and Beyond tells a deeply personal story of addiction, incarceration, consequences, faith, forgiveness, and ultimately, hope.
It is not simply a story about what happens inside a prison.
It is about what happens inside a person.
And it asks an important question:
Can a life that seems completely broken still be redeemed?
The title comes from one of Jesus' most challenging teachings about forgiveness.
In Matthew 18, Peter asks Jesus how many times he should forgive someone who sins against him. Peter suggests seven times.
Jesus responds:
“I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.”
— Matthew 18:22
Some translations render the phrase as “seventy times seven.”
The point isn't mathematics.
It's that grace isn't supposed to stop when forgiveness becomes inconvenient.
That idea becomes much harder when addiction, betrayal, incarceration, broken relationships, and repeated mistakes enter the picture.
It is easy to talk about forgiveness in theory.
It is much harder when someone has actually hurt you.
That tension is at the heart of 70x7 and Beyond.
Addiction rarely affects only one person.
Its consequences can spread through an entire family: parents, spouses, children, siblings, friends, and communities.
Trust disappears.
Relationships fracture.
Promises are made and broken.
Hope can slowly turn into anger, exhaustion, or resignation.
That's why 70x7 and Beyond isn't intended only for people struggling with addiction or serving time in prison.
It's also for the people who have been hurt along the way.
The subtitle captures that mission:
Hope for the addicted, the prisoner, the prodigal, and those they hurt.
Because sometimes the person who needs healing isn't only the person behind bars.
A prison sentence creates very real consequences.
But incarceration does not necessarily have to be the final chapter of someone's life.
One of the central ideas behind 70x7 and Beyond is that a person's worst decisions do not have to become the entirety of their identity.
There can still be another chapter.
Faith can grow in unlikely places.
Relationships can begin to heal.
Responsibility can replace excuses.
Forgiveness can begin where resentment once lived.
And hope can reach places that seem unreachable.
That doesn't mean pretending the past didn't happen.
Redemption isn't the denial of consequences.
It is the belief that consequences don't have to be the end of the story.
This distinction matters.
Forgiveness does not require calling something good that was wrong.
It doesn't erase damage.
It doesn't automatically restore trust.
And it doesn't eliminate accountability.
Forgiveness can instead be part of refusing to let the damage have the final word.
That's one reason the message of 70x7 and Beyond reaches beyond prison walls.
Nearly everyone knows what it means to need forgiveness.
And nearly everyone eventually faces the harder challenge of giving it.
One of Christianity's most recognizable stories is the parable of the prodigal son.
A son walks away, wastes what he has been given, and eventually finds himself at rock bottom.
Then he turns toward home.
What he finds waiting for him isn't indifference.
It's a father running toward him.
That picture of grace is central to the message behind 70x7 and Beyond.
There are people today who believe they have gone too far.
Too many arrests.
Too many relapses.
Too many broken promises.
Too many damaged relationships.
Too much shame.
Too much time lost.
The message of redemption challenges that conclusion.
There is a difference between having a past and having no future.
The United States has millions of people whose lives are directly affected by incarceration, addiction, reentry, and the consequences these experiences have on families.
Behind those statistics are individual stories.
A son.
A daughter.
A father.
A mother.
A spouse.
A friend.
A person sitting alone in a cell wondering whether anyone still believes his or her life has value.
And somewhere outside those walls may be a family wondering whether they can ever trust, forgive, or hope again.
Those are the people this story is meant to reach.
The vision behind 70x7 and Beyond can extend beyond simply selling books.
The goal is to put a message of hope into the hands of people who may need it most—including prisoners, people struggling with addiction, families dealing with the aftermath, and individuals searching for a path forward.
Sometimes transformation begins with something surprisingly small.
A book.
A conversation.
A Bible verse.
A moment alone in a cell.
A realization that life doesn't have to continue down the same road.
Or simply discovering that someone hasn't given up on you.
John 4:35 says:
“I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.”
That verse captures the larger vision.
There are people everywhere who need hope.
Some are behind prison walls.
Some are battling addiction.
Some are trying to rebuild their lives after incarceration.
And some are family members carrying wounds nobody else sees.
The opportunity isn't simply to tell them to change.
It's to remind them that change is still possible.
That may ultimately be the message at the heart of 70x7 and Beyond.
Grace can reach into places we assume are beyond repair.
Forgiveness can interrupt cycles that have lasted for generations.
Faith can survive prison walls.
Families can begin healing.
People can take responsibility for what they've done without believing they are forever defined by it.
And someone who believes his story is finished can discover that another chapter is still waiting.
Addiction may be part of the story.
Prison may be part of the story.
Failure may be part of the story.
But none of them necessarily have to be the final chapter.
Hope for the addicted, the prisoner, the prodigal, and those they hurt.
Grace changes more than we think.