This book is a ""journey book."" Sitting down at a computer and producing the story has been a grand trek. I have learned that there is a principle in nature that some things need to mellow, calm down, and soak in. The refusal of winemakers to take a wine before its time is a notion I am coming to understand. It works with writers as well. Like a fetus signaling its mother that it is time to head for the hospital, a literary work stays in the mind until its time. In my education, I have read of the battles of great Church leaders who were eventually thrown out of their churches. In my denominational education, I was largely led to see them as heretics, rebels, eccentrics, revolutionaries, apostates, and as generally representing a lower form of spirituality.

Church education often asked me to surrender my biases in favor of accepting a new set of assumptions--my denominational ones. We were to be critical of everything except our organization. I submit that there is danger in that. This book will cover incidents from the first forty years of my life as a religious addict. You may find something here that you can identify with.