Letters from a Hospital Bed

This book is a result of a lifetime of engagement and collaboration as father and son. While we have each pursued very different paths - each blessed though not always fully understood by the other - we have remained united in a shared passion for the Kingdom of God, here on earth, as it is in heaven. As a cell surrounds its nucleus, the letters here were penned by Chris around the vision of Jim, as a son sought to give words to the deep desires and faith of a father now diminished in some capacity through age, but nonetheless vibrant and intensely alive and full of a deep desire to still pour encouragement into the lives of his many friends.

Each week, Chris gathered notes from Jim, sometimes written, sometimes through conversations and sometimes with just a few words of an emerging theme. Often, "what are you thinking about now, Dad?" would prompt a new vector, or the start of a new idea, often prompted by hymns whose words offered Chris the clues he needed to frame the letter. For a son, it was both all new and all so familiar - his father's heart ever beating in such familiar ways, always yearning to encourage others, and just occasionally moderated and grounded by wife of Jim and mother of Chris, Rita, who perhaps still, as always, insists on the 'last word'!

We think that this is the finest literary fruit we have ever borne together, and it took most of two life-times to accomplish! Through it we grew closer together, understood each other more deeply and both received encouragement as our shared work was received by others.