An amazing account of a journey

Dear Andy -- I just finished reading the book today (I got bogged down making notes) and finally decided to just READ... At chapter 17 the book began to "soar" for me;  I couldn't put it down until I finished.  You have done a beautiful job. Some will be angry at what you share but many hearts will be touched.  Perhaps you have, indeed, found what you were born to do! 

Although I was really impressed with your research, my first reaction was that I felt you were picking scabs and pointing out warts about people who were dead and couldn't explain or defend themselves.  Then I began to realize that this is an amazing account of a journey -- your journey -- and you were relating how these numerous issues affected you in the process of becoming who you are today. (Of course I already knew that intellectually, but I finally saw how the emotional impact followed.) 

I shared your final chapter this morning with the Pastor and David Patrick, Headmaster of our school.  Now they are clamoring to read the whole thing. We as a staff have just been reading the book Radical , and have determined that our mission must be exactly as you expressed it in your book.  We are asking ourselves "Who is my neighbor?" and are trying to make our compassion match Jesus' compassion for people beyond our petty circles. 

50 members just signed up to go to Angola Prison in Mississippi (traditionally America's most notorious prison -- nearly all "lifers") to work out and chaperone visits of the inmates' children with their fathers.  An official "chaperone" is required for each child who comes.  They will have a day on a big athletic field to play games with their children, enjoy lunch, and talk.  Many of the inmates have older children they have not seen for decades.  God has already been working and three churches are active inside Angola and all three "pastors" are "lifers" who have been changed by the gospel.

-- Jessie Rice Sandberg (daughter of John R. Rice and aunt of Andrew Himes)