ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I AM DEEPLY GRATEFUL to all who made this book possible. I’m grateful for my amazing wife and kids, who patiently understood when I had to go away on yet another writing retreat, deep in the mountains of Colorado, to type away for days on end like a madman on a mission.

I’m also thankful for the Dare 2 Share board members, donors, and staff, especially our president, Debbie Bresina, who relentlessly prayed for and encouraged me as I sought to complete this hard-to-write book.

I’m grateful to Lee Strobel and Mark Mittelberg for introducing me to Don Gates, who has been a phenomenal literary agent. I also count it an honor that Lee Strobel wrote the foreword for my book. He is a true hero of the faith and someone I deeply respect.

Words cannot express how thankful I am for those I had to extensively interview for this book (making sure I got the stories right.) This includes my brother, Doug, the many members of my extended family, and other friends and mentors from the past.

I’m thankful for the exceptional team at Tyndale. It has been a true pleasure to work with them during this process.

And I am especially grateful for Jane Dratz. Over the last decade and a half, she has edited most of the books I have written. Like a skilled jeweler, she has been able to chisel off the rough edges of my straight-to-the-point writing style and make it shine and shimmer in ways I never could on my own. Even after retiring from working at Dare 2 Share, Jane gladly took this book project on in spite of her bouts and battles with cancer. Her grit during the editing process, at times in between chemo treatments, showed me that she, too, is an unlikely fighter.

And last but not least, I’m grateful to Jesus. Without him, I can do nothing of eternal import.