Everybody, Always

of my friends and what they’ve taught me about extravagant love and
acceptance. I’m indebted to each one. The first thing I’ve learned from
them is that I have a long way to go to be the kind of loving person I’m
hoping I’ll be some day. The second is that only the kind of radical love
and acceptance I’ve experienced from them will help me close the
distance. This is probably true for many of us.
There have been many cooks in the kitchen. Sweet Maria Goff, you
continue to be one of my greatest teachers. You’ve helped me flip ideas
like they were pancakes. Most of what I’ve gotten right about loving
people is because I’ve seen you do it for the people around you.
Our kids and their spouses have been my teachers too. Lindsey, Jon,
Richard, Ashley, Adam, thank you for letting me be your student. You’ve
worked tirelessly to help me in every aspect of my life and, more
importantly, have shown me a better, more beautiful way to live than I
could have imagined myself.
My family and more than a few friends have also read these words
many times and helped me live out the best parts of them. When I got it
wrong, they didn’t scold me; they loved me and pointed me toward a
better version of myself. They didn’t just help me with punctuation. They
reminded me of my purpose, too, which is to love everybody, not just the
ones who are easy to be kind to.
To my eight people. You know who you are. Thank you for being
closer than friends and for holding me close. You’ve poured unreasonable
amounts of love into my life.
Bryan Norman, you’ve been a friend and trusted confidant. Thanks for
helping me figure out which words to keep and which ones to scrape into
the bin. To the many chefs at Thomas Nelson— Brian Hampton, Webster
Younce, Janene MacIvor, Jeff James, Karen Jackson, Tiffany Sawyer, and
the team—thank you for being endlessly patient with me as I gathered the
groceries I’d need to make the soup. It’s been a rare privilege to have the
chance to write another book with you. To the massive number of new
friends I’ve met in schools and cities in the past few years, thank you for