A corner, first-floor office in Cleghorn Hall at the Wesleyan School is home-away-from-home to Colin Creel, swim coach, Bible teacher, chairman of the junior class boys, and visionary.

It's obvious how connected Creel is to students by all the photos and gifts displayed around the spacious room, including a giant orange stuffed shark that swim team seniors won for him at Six Flags. The shark rests on the back of a bright blue sectional couch, which invites students to take a load off and stay a while.

Framed on the wall is a verse from Luke 12:48: "From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded." As if in illustration of the sentiment, nearby on the wall is what appears to be a framed poster of a beautiful but daunting cliff, which overlooks a lake. The lake looks more like a sliver of water, though, some 600 meters below.

Only upon close examination does a tiny figure come into focus on top of the cliff, one big sneeze away from taking a swan dive off the edge.

Not only is there no guard rail on top of the "Preikestolen" in Norway, there is no hesitation in the body language of the jeans-clad Colin Creel standing on top. Head up, shoulders back, he stares out into the Norwegian abyss, fearless.

Like climbing Preikestolen that day during his semester abroad from Wake Forest University, Creel prefers his accomplishments tangible. It's why running cross country and swimming always appealed to him. Set a time to break, then break it.

Even Creel's not-so-tangible goals are thought-out and prioritized.

During his early 20s, Creel outlined his "Lifetime Goals/Dreams," literally outlined them. There, in a list still printable from his office computer, under the section titled "Arts," is goal 5a: "get published." Creel can check that off come April 19.

That's when his book titled "Perspectives: A Spiritual Life Guide for Twentysomethings" will be released. He'll host a signing that Tuesday night from 7 to 9 at the Barnes & Noble at the Forum shopping center in Norcross.

Too young, perhaps, to be writing a self-help book? Bold? Maybe, but not at all uncharacteristic.

Creel doesn't back down from a challenge. Fear is a theme he addresses in the book: "When paralysis occurs due to fear, one is faced with two options, avoid or attack." More often than not, Creel attacks.

He is a lifelong stutterer --- though you wouldn't know it --- and still he performed on stage in plays and musicals throughout high school and college. He sang in a Christian men's chorus at Wake Forest.

The lure of being around girls is one of the reasons he started going to church and youth groups in the first place, after a neighbor invited him on a church retreat in the seventh grade. "There were so many cute girls, I thought, 'This is fantastic,' " Creel said. Yet he has maintained his virginity, vowing no sex until marriage. In the book, which reads like he has just turned over the password to his personal e-mail account, Creel writes: "I'm a 29-year-old virgin by God's grace."

He'd always wanted to write a book but didn't think he was expert enough in anything to do it. Then the idea came to him last year as his mind wandered in church. "I am an expert on how to get through your 20s," Creel said. The origin of the subject matter, though, dates back to weekly conversations over pizza at "Pie Works" with his college buddy Tim Blue.

"Colin has always used the [term] change agent," said Blue, now teaching at Georgia Perimeter College. "He wants to be one. He told me I'm one. Having worked for a couple of entrepreneurs, I can say Colin is a visionary. What I appreciate about him is he understands his gifts. He knows his talent is best used in making things initially happen. He likes to get things off the ground."

In the college days, that might mean orchestrating a "mystery date." Creel once surprised three girls with invitations to a mystery triple date with himself and two of his friends, the identities of whom weren't revealed until the beginning of an elaborately-planned evening.

Later in his 20s, dating became a more serious matter. Finding a mate, like choosing a career, seemed to him to be a decision that had to be made at a time when people seemed the least prepared.

Creel addressed that concept and others, and still does, in weekly e-mails to friends and acquaintances.

The e-mails started when he was in graduate school and working in the Wake Forest admissions office. He served as an adviser to the college ministry at First Presbyterian Church in Winston-Salem and would write college students using inspirational excerpts from books he was reading.

"My goal is to make people think about things," Creel said. "To encourage people."

His e-mail list eventually outgrew his old Web account, which allowed him to send e-mails to only 50 addresses at a time. Creel used to break the files up into: Friends A-C. Friends D-F, etc.

His e-mails now go out to more than 500 people.

So this book was, in ways, a practical solution.

The first three publishers Creel approached responded with "good idea, but it won't sell."

"I thought, 'I'm going to write it anyway, even if I just put it in a three-ring binder,' " Creel said. "If I feel I'm supposed to do something, I'll do it."

He contacted Christian speakers to quote in each chapter on surviving the 20s. He called, e-mailed or, in some cases, "hounded" people. One person he stumbled upon was former "Saturday Night Live" comedian Victoria Jackson. He found her Web site and e-mailed her. She's quoted in the book.

"People could resonate with being in their 20s and having to make choices so critical in life which they weren't capable or equipped to make," Creel said. "It was cathartic for me to learn from all these people."

While he was writing, a college friend brought to his attention another author named Margaret Feinberg who had written a similar book called "Twentysomething." Creel contacted her.

"She liked what I was doing,'" Creel said. "She said 'We're all in this together.' She sent an e-mail to her publisher."

That publisher --- Relevant Books --- needed a sixth book to release this spring. Creel had already completed 25 chapters. He signed a contract with them and turned in his final draft around Thanksgiving. Relevant originally planned to release 5,000 copies. Then Wal-Mart signed on, and that number increased to 20,000.

Creel's life continues to evolve. Now 30, he is engaged to be married in July to 24-year-old Krista Edmiston, who coached against him at a swim meet last summer. He's entering what he considers his next season of life. As for whether he'll tackle the 30s in writing, or aim at spreading Christian inspiration on an even bigger scale, Creel said he didn't know. He does, after all, like to keep his goals tangible.

"I think God gives me a portion of a dream, not the whole thing," Creel said. "I tend to get overexcited, and I go crazy."

A LOOK AT 'PERSPECTIVES'
In Colin Creel's book, "Perspectives: A Spiritual Life Guide for Twentysomethings," he addresses topics facing young adults, ranging from romance, relationships and faith, to career, time and character.
At the end of each chapter, he raises "Points to Ponder." After the chapter titled "What makes you pound the table?" Creel asks:
1. What do you dream of as the perfect life?
2. What would you do if you could make $1 million doing anything?
3. What is most frightening to you as you consider pursuing your dream?
4. What's the greatest risk of pursuing your dream? Is it worth it?
Among other chapter titles are "What is success in practical terms?"; "Do you have a whatever-it-takes attitude?"; and "Do you take time to fill your cup?"