I'm so looking forward to reading this book, and will happily post my review when my order arrives.  Until then, I'll offer my review of the author.

Andy is one of the most truly blessed people that I know.  God really heaped it on him.  He's a good-looking guy, but was lucky to have married a girl well out of his league in looks, and his magnificent equal in character, talent, and grace.  His wife's beauty is such that even Andy's comparably pedestrian countenance was unable to mar their delightfully pretty children.

I first met Andy at the SDA version of Bandcamp.  I'd love to tell everyone that SDA bandcamp is cooler than secular bandcamp, but it's really not.  The girls from my school were fawning over this guy named Andy Nash. Who was this guy that caused our girls to swoon?  Upon meeting him, I made a quick assessment: Hmmmmm.  He drinks pop, not soda - speaks Midwesternese.  Kind of a young Mel Gibson look - without the crazy Lethal Weapon eyes, drinking problem, or the anti-Semitic bent.   But he's not even in the brass section!  Ugh.  Saxaphone?  Ladies, please.  Collect yourselves.  Such fluttering is to be reserved for trumpet players.

Over time, even I developed a love for Andy.  I admired, even in our youth, his leadership and his talent.  I resented his quiet determination and his sensibility, and I disliked that all the girls still seemed to dig him, in spite of the fact that he didn't play a cool instrument.  And I hated that I still couldn't help thinking the world of the guy.  He was a good man, even when we were kids.  

I'm not sure why Andy tolerated me.  He was rock steady.  I was, and still am, somewhat all over the place.  I run not on common sense, but on whims, the wind, and whatever I felt like at the moment.  He probably is eating meals today that he planned back in college.   He was my first and only editor during my short-lived career in student journalism before I fell victim to that silly tenet of newspapers that he seemed to love so much - submission deadlines.

I found him this past week on facebook, and I'm happy to say that he finally looks nearly as old as he's always managed to act.  Haha, just kidding, brother.  Andy, my old friend, I can't wait for your glimpse into your life since the good old days.  I'm sure it will be revealing, full of lessons, and a great read.

PS - I was looking for a place where I could request the old band camp discount, but it was a fruitless search, and I was finally forced to pay retail.  Booooo. 

I don't know about this book (I haven't read it) but Chris Blake's book Searching for a God to Love is a classic that should be read by every Adventist (and non-Adventist) Christian. 

Pastor Stewart Pepper                                                                                                                                             www.lewisburgchurch.org

Ella M

As a former co-worker of Andy, I look forward to reading his newest book. I always enjoyed his Garrison Kieler-type columns in the Review.

Despite our difference in age, I don't think I have worked with anyone with whom I held such common values, goals, and ideals.  I also knew that in the right environment he would be a great blessing to God and the church. He is progressive in all the right ways.  We need his innovative ideas and spiritual insight on the really important things in Adventism as well as his great writing skills.

I assume we order the book from the ABC. 

Thanks, Statefarmsteve, for a delightful personal glimpse into the author. Highly entertaining and heart-warming! From my interactions with him during his lamentably brief association with AToday, I have the highest respect for Andy's spiritual walk, leadership, intelligence and integrity. He moved us in a direction we needed to go, and put us on a very positive path. I look forward to reading the fruit of his labor since taking a leave from AToday.  If our Church had more individuals like him, its future would be very bright indeed!

One would hope that it's not another liberal manifesto. I surmise that Nash would not have been once an editor of AToday unless he were viewed as a liberal. Maybe he has had an epiphany; one would wish as much.

 Truth Seeker

C'mon Markham. Rise above petty stereotyping of people you do not know.  Do you think everyone who is to the left of you on whatever spectrum you choose to put them is a liberal? I am on the Executive Board of AToday, and few who read my frequent "comments" to the blogs would consider me a liberal by any stretch. I do think ideological labels are often helpful to determine the provenance of an idea, and how it fits into a larger stream of thought. But let's try and reserve derogatory labels, when we must use them, for ideas - not people.  

Well, I finished it.

And it's as deeply touching as I thought it would be, better than I hoped it would be, and just as inspirational as I needed it to be.  I say this in spite of the fact that I once strongly believed that mid-life memoirs are the exclusive odd domain of American Idol winners, Hannah Montana, and the Jonas Brothers. 

The nature of all our very human journeys is a never ending jumble of ups and downs, twists and turns.  Andy Nash's life so far surely follows this random mish-mash of incredible heights and desperate lows - all a sure mix of self-inflicted pain and stray-bullet poor luck.  What elevates this particular life portrait above so many others is that it occurred within a framework of faith, and that it is painted with the contrasting hues of the ebbing and flowing of spiritual and emotional strength that springs from the frail and shallow source of "me."  The brush strokes are both delicate dabs of self-discovery and vivid slashes of self-revelation delivered with the strength of a total dependence that is only forged from deeply-felt pain. 

Page 133 contains an essay that I remember well from our college years.  It was my first glimpse of Andy's unique writing ability.  He possessed, and still does, a unique command of the English language - not just the way the words flowed onto the page, but how they leapt from the page into the hearts of those who read them and once there, the effect they had on the soul. 

For anyone of us who has experienced failure, who has ever lost themselves inside a crumbling dream, who has felt their faith shaken in a tempest, who has felt so strong, so able, and yet ended up on their back, this book is an absolute must-read.  You won't find a more compelling, more powerful story, or a more relatable cast of characters than Andy, Cindy, his family, and his friends. 

Andy, congratulations to you and your family for living a life well worth writing about, and for having the courage and fortitude to put pen to paper.  But most of all, thank you for being willing to share it with us all.