Outskirts Press, INC.

Dr. Naff’s son David writes in the Foreword:

The stories in this book resonate with me deeply. That is not only because I have heard them all (often repeatedly) but also because I was there for many of them. Even the ones from my dad’s childhood feel intimately familiar because of the vivid detail in which he has shared them over the years. I often feel as if I was right there in the story with him.

The power behind stories is that they can help us better understand complex ideas about the world, both the physical and spiritual one. They are all the more impactful when we can see ourselves in them. While this was often literally the case for me, the stories that you are about to read also felt familiar to congregations hearing them for the first time on Sunday mornings at Boone United Methodist Church. As a child I remember sitting among them with rapt attention to see how Dad could turn a story about our ornery old cat or an urgent trip to the post office into something deeper, even existential, about our shared humanity.

Like hundreds who have already encountered them before in one way or another, I hope they stir something meaningful for you.

David B. Naff, Ph.D.