“It has now been over twenty years since I wrote the first chapters for this book, and over ten years since its original publication. While it is an imperfect attempt to explain how the goodness of the Lord works, it has been for me a major part of discovering God’s love.

Do I have a mission? Yes, to save souls, including my own. I strive to communicate that life is simple because the fundamentals upon which everything is based are simple. If this book is complex, I’ve lost touch with how life works.

I also set out to be concise. The fewer the pages, the more it would be understood. (And of course, the fewer the pages, the more I would understand it!)

And while there is nothing “new” in this book, I hope there is a greater clarity to what you already know and perhaps have forgotten.

It is especially written for my children: Laura, with your very bright intelligence, you will benefit greatly from literal directions; Melissa, you are naturally good, but you will benefit greatly from understanding temptation and how to avoid it; and Jon Philip, with your very strong will, you will benefit greatly from understanding how you must bend your will in order to do God’s will. Each of you will benefit in unique ways, but also in shared ways.

The book is primarily an attempt for understanding “how” life works. It is not a book about “why.” Only God can answer that. Occasionally we are partly given revelations of “why” certain things happen, from our understanding of each individual’s use of free will to seeing a glimpse of God’s love intervening in our lives as a result of prayer. But we can never fully understand “why” until we meet God face-to-face, hopefully as we join Him in heaven. Until then, we can learn “how life works” and live our lives to the fullest of joy in God’s love.

The inspiration and obligation to write this book came while reading “The Story of a Soul,” the autobiography of St. Thérèse of Lisieux. To me, the miracle of St. Thérèse’s book is the sustained state of grace she maintained while writing it. And although I am certainly not worthy to have learned so much so quickly, I allowed myself to approximate her sustained state of grace by reading it—and I encourage you to read it as well. Subsequently, the text of Embracing Goodness is focused on the application of the principles of St. Therese’s book in a modern world. She did little things with great love. This book is about avoiding your threshold of temptation and embracing goodness, wherever it is—even if it is in those who have sinned against us, or sinned against someone we love. I only pray that I am doing His will.

Early on, I asked, “How should I write this book? What is my outline?” I prayed for guidance. In my heart, I received an answer: Parables. Later, feeling burdened with the weight of covering too much and possibly forgetting something important, God answered my prayers again: Do not burden yourself with everything; and do not fear imperfection. Just as no one can make another believe before they are ready, so too, you cannot pretend to have perfect knowledge when you are still on the path to discovering Truth.

The parables in this book are based on real stories I have experienced or learned from others. While some of them are unique, others are based on multiple experiences of the same story. Any errors in summarizing these stories are my own.

The impact of this book is significant—if for no other reason than it has changed how I live my life. I pray that it will have a positive impact on you. A passage from the “Story of a Soul” stands out in my mind. St. Thérèse writes: “I felt it better to speak to God than about him. There’s often so much self-love involved in the chatter about spiritual things.” I hope that I have not failed this test. While writing this book, whenever self-pride got in the way, the words were long and confusing. When I simply let the Holy Spirit take over, the words were brief and direct.

I would not have been able to write this book without the love of my wife, children, parents, in-laws, siblings, friends, and others. To each of them, I owe an eternal debt of gratitude.

While writing this book, the working title was “How Life Works.” Over time, I realized this did not communicate the actions we must take when we begin to understand how life works, and thus the title, “Embracing Goodness.” Even though He allows us to reject Him, He waits for us to embrace Him, to embrace His love, every day.”

(From “Note From The Author” page of the book).