THANK YOU, KATHY HELMERS, FOR YOUR ENCOURAGEMENT and help in getting this book to a publisher, and to Lee and Alice and the rest of the crew at Alive for their generous hearts and diligent work. Much gratitude to the people at Thomas Nelson for rolling the dice; those people are Brian, Jonathan, Kyle, Ashley, Pamela, Laurie, Belinda, Blythe, Amy, Danielle, Kathleen, Carol, Andrea, Paula, Tina, Louetta, Kristen, Jenny, Deonne, and interns Stacey and Sarah. And thanks to the rest of that great crew at Thomas Nelson including the huge sales staff on the road who don’t get thanked enough. Also thanks to media trainer Joel Roberts.
My friends gave their lives to me and then kindly let me write about our relationships, which was something vulnerable and giving, so thanks to Tony, Penny, Laura, Andrew the Protester, Rick, Mark the Cussing Pastor, Les, the Tunnell family, Wes and Maja Bjur, Paul and Danielle, Mike, Josh, Jeremy, Heather, Kurt, Curtis, Mitch, Simon, Trevor, Michael, Stacy, Diane, Wes, Grant, Julie the Canadian, Matt and Julie Canlis, Rachel Clifton for being the second mom to so many of us, the guys at Graceland, and the guys at Testosterhome too. Also, the people I love at Imago-Dei Community and my family.
Thanks Josh, Gregg, and Sono for giving me a start. And to John and Terri MacMurray, who were like family away from family. Thanks Wes and Maja for letting me live in your attic for so long and as always for your love and kindness.
Thanks, Peter Jenkins, for your drawings, and Steve Harmon, for author shots, video stuff, and encouragement. Thanks, David Allen, for your work on cover comps. I owe you one. Thanks to Tony’s grad class at Multnomah for reading the manuscript and giving encouragement; those folks are Shemaiah, Lindsey, Toby, Steve, and Nicole. Thanks to James Prior for bringing me so often to San Fran and for your friendship. This book was written at Common Ground, Palio, Horse Brass Pub, the downtown coffee shops including Seattle’s Best, Vista Springs, and a few others I can’t remember, but thanks to these fine establishments for their good coffee and beer. Thanks to trimet for getting me around. “How we get there matters!” While I wrote I listened to Patty Griffin, the Pogues, Bruce Springsteen, Eliot Smith, Lyle, Whiskeytown, Phil Roy, Big Head Todd and the Monsters, the Jayhawks, P.O.D., Tori Amos, Steve Earle, Bob Schneider, Moby, the Beatles, and my current favorite, Wilco (Yankee Hotel Foxtrot had just come out when I started the project, and we were all amazed and happy), so strange thanks to the makers of the sound track.
Thank you for reading this book. It means a great deal to me that you would take the time. I hope we get to meet some day soon.