This excerpt is from our chapter on affections for Jesus' people:

"The mailbox was jammed. Not, per usual, with supermarket flyers, gutter cleaning offers, or coupons to Billy’s Roast Beef. These were real letters. A pile of them, jammed in tight, and my name was on all of them. They were thank you cards. Letters of appreciation and affirmation. Love notes, really. Handwritten by each member of one of our gospel communities. Every word was penned carefully. Thoughtfully. Personally. The kind of language that can’t be faked, sentiments that Hallmark could never mass produce. Each letter delineated specific ways in which my pastoral work had moved, shaped, inspired the writer. I stood there, on the sidewalk, and cried."