Like any professional, Pastors can be busy people. Often the demands upon their time are myriad. The time when I first came to accept Christ as my Lord was wonderful beyond measure. Although my Pastor was eager to introduce me to Christ, he was not as intimately available to guide me in the aftermath of that wonderful moment. You see, having accepted Christ as Savior guarantees the blessing of eternity with Christ, but the new believer still has the rest of his or her life to negotiate. There are lots of things to learn, but in big churches people can get lost in the crowd and fall through the cracks, and in small churches...well, there is only so much a small staff can do. So I stumbled around for a long time, very gradually figuring out how to navigate the world and still hold to my faith in Christ. I remember thinking, "There has to be a better way than this." These discussions are part commentary, part history, part blessing, and part questioning. There's a little bit of everything. I've put considerable thought into writing these things, and I want you to get some benefit, some blessing from them. Think about what you read. You might be provoked to irritation, or to curiosity, or to laughter. Try to apply the thoughts to your life. But the bottom line is, if you don't read, you won't benefit. This first book that you are holding tries to answer some basic questions: Why should I fear God? Why should I trust Him? Who am I in Christ? What is the nature of sin? Following books talk about the Jewish Festivals and their profound meaning, about God's Constitution (Matthew chapters 5-7), about God's manifested love, what it means to be Grafted In to God's family, how to know Jesus, and what it means to abide in Christ. I hope you stick around to the end. Every life has its ups and downs and after several cycles of this, I was fed up and began to look for answers. I found this crazy new church which was meeting in a hotel conference room. I remember people all around me speaking in these strange indecipherable ways, people falling down on the floor, and generally acting nuts. I remember thinking, "Why am I here?" God had a plan, but I was not awake to it. But I stayed out of curiosity, if nothing else, and eventually God began to draw me in. Since then, God has led me on a wonderful journey. Where once I had a sort of vague notion of God, He used personal struggle to draw me closer to him. Where once I looked at everything from a performance-oriented point of view, He taught me the true value of the love of Christ. Where once I had to be doing things for Christ, He taught me the value of resting in the presence of Christ. I want people to understand these things. I want everyone to experience the intimate presence of Christ in their lives. I want everyone to see real-time answers to prayer as I have. I want people to understand that humble submission to God is the answer to every struggle, every problem, and every stress.