Preface

      At the age of fourteen, I left my church, my minister, and my God--more exactly, my conception of God. I was sure that if God existed, He was just like my minister, the Reverend Dr. Kinder, who peered through steel-rimmed glasses, rarely smiled, and preached in solemn tones with long, flat O's and A's. The Reverend Dr. Kinder and, therefore, God depressed me. I was one who liked fun, and I wanted love. I was certain that God did not offer either of these.
      The day I left God I did not know that I would drink thousands of bottles of beer and hundreds of bottled of bourbon before I came back to Him. While I drank those bottles, there were few moments of fun, and very little love. Mostly it was hell.