To be honest, I wasn't surprised when some of the more conservative printing presses rejected my manuscript. Authors take it personally when their work is rejected because they write their hearts onto the page. To reject the manuscript is to reject the author—the opposite is also sometimes true. Having said that, I knew why I had written about pain, out of pain, and I had to settle the issue in my own mind as to what had motivated the people who turned me away. What follows is part of my conclusion.

Boldness is required to write for the public, many of whom criticize mercilessly. Knowing that such opposition awaited me, I was convinced that this unpretentious publication would also, by the intentional grace of God, find its way into the trembling, weak hands of many who would find in its pages, Life Himself. (John 14:6) Fractured people, whom I had not yet met, on their knees, depleted; just as I was, yet without hope—I saw them and wrote for them. Bill Stout's encouragement became mine when he said, “Whether or not you write well, write bravely.” If you are that damaged person, I have written this book to you.

A framework of expectations drives the decisions of the publishing houses; expectations my booklet did not entertain. In contrast, I think Dr. Wayne Mack was right when he commented on this book after reading an early manuscript. He said, “What you wrote is certainly an example of applied theology.” This is how I hoped the work would impact the reader. Those expecting a well-structured text book will be disappointed, but the reader who comes to this book broken, expecting a real-life story of agony and hope, will find a home in these pages.

What I am trying to say is that this book may attract the desperate searcher who is yearning for something real. A book that fits into the massively popular modern label; reality. The book follows the narrative, interlaced with the tangle of personal thought, and an out-of-the-classroom theology attached. Jesus Christ entered the world of the lost He came to save. This book enters your world. The world hankers for something real; how does Christ meet that craving in the face of torment that won't go away? To answer this question, I humbly offer you Hurting in Hope.