Of all the conversations I have had on planes,.one of the most memorable led to this book. I was flying from New York City to Los Angeles. As I settled into row 44, a very friendly young man next to me, Thomas, asked me what I did. I told him. He was Catholic. I noted his emphasis was on the past tense, but said nothing.He told me that, as much as he liked my earlier books and found them accessible and helpful, they did not addiess a fundamental issue for him and most of his friends: the why of belief.

However, Tom wanted more than that. 'I can't simply believe that my life, and much more, the people whom I have seen in fiction with the poorest of the poor, amount to nothing more than the here and now. There must be more purpose to life than that, or at least I hope so.' The clincher for me was when he said, 'I like reading the Gospels and what Jesus had to say on many things. I think Paul and the others in the New Testament often offer great lessons for life, but I guess what I am struggling with is what are we actually doing on earth, for Christ's sake?'. Go this book will wrestle with the profound question that emerged from a chance conversation between frequent fliers somewhere over Arizona: What are we doing on earth for Christ's sake?' -From the preface Addressing the world in which Christians live, What Are We Doing on Eanh for Christ's Sake? asks who we arc before God and how we can be confident in our faith in a loving God. Book jacket.