I’M DEEPLY GRATEFUL for the team that worked together to bring this project to fruition, and I’d like to extend the following thanks:
• To the staff of W Publishing Group and the Thomas Nelson sales team. To Debbie Nichols and Mark Sweeney for setting this process in motion and to Greg Daniel for wisely managing it.
• To Neil Wilson and Mary Hollingsworth. Neil spent hours, days, and weeks with my journal, recorded tapes, e-mails, letters, and me personally to produce this manuscript. Then Mary provided the all-important polishing and finishing touches.
• To the “Weaverville Home Team” for providing encouragement since the early ’90s. To supporters all around the world, from Asheville to Atlanta, Coats to Columbia, Nashville to Washington, beyond and in between.
• To DARE, based in the UK, for helping me with priorities and placement in Central Asia.
• To SNI/Shelter for Life International, from the faithful staff in Wisconsin to my fellow coworkers in Tajikistan and Afghanistan.
• To my family, especially my mom, who has loved and prayed for me from the beginning. To my sister, Sandi Lynn, who follows this example and also handles my e-mails. And to my grandmother in Washington, D.C., who has been a model of selfless love and who most recently helped me survive when severe malaria knocked me off my feet.
• Most of all, thank you, God of love, for the gift of life. Thanks for second and sometimes seventy-times-seven chances. Thanks for calling and keeping me by your goodness and grace. Thanks for this privilege for truly it is all about you.