I deeply appreciate Gary and Elaine Roys, and Walter Hearn, who faithfully suffered through an early draft of this book.
Thank you, Ann Smiley-Oyen. You are a master of the big picture and in moving sections of the book to where they belonged. Two thoughts of yours stand out in my mind, “Hey, that’s a great ending, it really should be in the middle,” and, “By the way, do you know you have two books here?” Ann, your commitment to excellence is unwavering and inspiring.
Thank you, Paul Smiley-Oyen, for your tutorial on fonts and strokes and X heights and a whole lot more that I have forgotten. I hope I have not strayed too far from your advice.
Thank you, Terry and Sue Castor, for your enduring friendship over many years. Terry, your comments on the manuscript came from a truly unique and always insightful perspective. You have an amazing eye for detail, meaning, and flow.
Thank you, Rick and Karen Orozco, for the grace and joy I have experienced from you beginning in our first Bible study together with Terry and Sue in 1975. Rick, you have always been a source of encouragement and hope. My father-in-law used to say on a hot summer day, “Be patient, God will send a cool breeze.” Your telephone call to me after you read a draft of this book was that breeze.
Thank you to my Mother, Mary L. Martin, for your tireless efforts at reading multiple drafts of this book. I will always remember with fondness the hours upon hours that we were on the phone together choosing among words and deciding on punctuation. I have benefited immeasurably from your commitment to education, which began when you were a child sitting next to a kerosene lamp.
Thank you to my daughters, Becca and Bonnie, who have always been a blessing to Georgeann and me. Your tenacity has occasionally been an inconvenient virtue, especially when I thought I was finished formatting the cover and layout of this book. Both of you have convinced me with your patient and loving persistence that a pixel here and there, and a one half font size difference can translate into a feeling of “Yeah! That’s it!”
Consistent with “the first shall be last,” I am so completely grateful to my wife, Georgeann.
You read this book numerous times beginning well before it was even qualified to be called a first draft. More importantly, for over forty years we have learned and lived what is in this book together without knowing there would even be a book. Your commitment to loving Jesus and listening to the Holy Spirit have provided light to me in the midst of darkness more often than I can count. I especially appreciate your notes in the margins such as, “Powerful,” “Heavy,” “Deep,” and “I still don’t like this paragraph!”
I cannot imagine my journey through life without you.