A Journey: An Attempt (and Sometimes Struggle) at Being Real in This World is a story of a person's profoundly diverse and undeservedly blessed sixty-plus years of life on this planet. From growing up in the sixties and seventies, traveling as a young man in Europe and the Middle East (with a return trip to and fourteen-month stay in Israel), military life, married and family life, work as a paramedic firefighter and as a nurse, wonderful opportunities to serve on medical teams to Kurdistan, Iraq; West Darfur, Sudan; and Banda Aceh, Indonesia; and everything in between. It really has been a blast. (Oh, and there was that little trip to Vietnam with Carol and our three kids when I was trying to make the case for our family living and working in South East Asia.) Through it all, good times and bad, smart decisions and some not so very clever, there has always been the undeniable realization that the Creator of the Universe, the Lord of heaven and earth, was right there with me and actually cared about the finest details of what was going on in my and my family's lives. Through it all, I have also come to believe that this same Chief Architect of the cosmos who cares about me and my family also truly cares about you and the finest, most intimate details of your life. He loves you. It's crazy, but it's true. Although the roads we have traveled are quite different, I was very motivated to write A Journey after reading Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller. Hope you enjoy the trip.