This book is more than a devotional. There are already shelves full of
devotionals, many of them good and helpful. What there are not many of -
perhaps hardly any at all - are modern-day parables. Stories rooted in the
world we actually live in. Stories shaped by the Gulf breeze, by the rumble
of surf on Padre Island, by the long shadows of aging, by the quiet courage
of ordinary people, and by the hard-won wisdom that comes only after life
has knocked you around a bit.
As I approach my ninetieth birthday, I find myself looking back over a life
that has been anything but simple. I was raised in a strict fundamentalist home
where anything that felt good or tasted good was suspect, and where faith was
often tangled up with fear. I know firsthand what spiritual child abuse feels
like - the kind that leaves a person afraid of joy, suspicious of grace, and
unsure whether God is pleased with anything at all.
This book is, in part, my way of offering an escape route for anyone who grew
up under that same heavy hand. Not an escape from faith - but an escape
into a faith that breathes.
Thanks for the help,
Ralph
