I owe many people debts of gratitude. I hope I don’t forget too many.
To my family—my wife, Marilyn, for believing I could do this, and our daughters, Grace and Sarah, for filling my life with joy. To my parents, who demonstrated God’s unconditional love. The longer I live the more I realize how great and rare that gift was. Thank you to all of the family members who supported us in so many ways during the writing of the book.
To my church, the Gathering, I owe a particularly large debt. I couldn’t have done this without you. Thank you for being such a loving and supportive community. You’re my glory and joy.
I also owe a great debt to my first church, His Place. Serving with you has been one of my greatest privileges. Only God knew how he was using you to prepare me for this book. “Red ink equals love” sustained me through the editing process.
Thank you to the Skagit Starbucks. I’m proud to have been a partner with you and hope you enjoy these stories. To the Mount Vernon Haggen Starbucks, where I did most of my writing, thank you for providing such a welcoming second office.
Thank you to many friends who have been such an important part of my journey. I owe so much to so many that I am afraid to even begin listing them. I have to limit my thanks here to Jon and Rachelle Brown and Nate and Heather Baker, who supported us and this book so much.
Thank you to my proofreaders: Mom and Dad, Aunt Terri, Rachelle Brown, Gretchen Cohen, Pam David, Brian and Susanna Heinze, Scott and Jacqueline Hendrickson, Dan Holland, Michel Jevons, Israel Kloss, Leslie McDaniels, Cheryl Neff, Marian Orange, Christian Overman, Denise Skelton, Joy Steem, Matthew Steem, Nellie Strong, Tiffany Watkins, and Karen Westra. Special thanks to Cheryl Lanahan, Nate and Heather Baker, and Bruce Wersen for invaluable input when the book was still very rough, and to Kyle Dillon, who provided a scholar’s perspective. Above all, thank you to Cheryle Coapstick, whose brutal edits on the earliest drafts prevented this from becoming a dry treatise.
Thank you to my publisher, Harvest House, for taking a chance on me. I’m truly fortunate to be with such a warm and supportive team. Special thanks to Terry Glaspey, the acquisitions editor who championed my book and helped others catch the vision, and to Gene Skinner, whose work and guidance made this a better book.
Simply acknowledging God seems to trivialize my complete dependency on him. He’s the very soul, inspiration, purpose, and hope of this book. Instead, I will just sign,
To the glory of God and the joy of the saints!