Recently, I was asked what three words best describe Wandering West and its characters.  I thought about it for a minute.  How could three words possibly describe a book?  Of course, no three words can really do that.  At most, they can maybe capture the essence of a story.  The essence of Wandering West is the enduring of life’s challenges, however insurmountable they may seem.  So, my first inclination was to answer with the word ‘perseverance’ three times.  That indeed is the heart of Wandering West.  But on further thought, I decided another response to the question might as well be the words ‘faith, hope and love.’  God’s three gifts are what Jack clings to in his quest for redemption, in his struggle to overcome difficulty and in his search for peace and contentment.  

That said, Wandering West is no Sunday School lesson for the kiddos.  Far from it.  Wandering West is a depiction of one man’s life–a mere glimpse of one man’s life–and we all know that life, even a mere glimpse, can be crude, brutal, unfair, sometimes cruel and, all too often, seemingly godless.  Yet, without giving away too much of the story, let me just say that, in many ways, nonetheless, Wandering West captures the spirit of Christmas.  As much as life is about persevering over difficulty, it’s also about having faith, hope and love.  Without these three devine gifts, perseverance really has no meaning. 

Merry Christmas, everyone, to you and to yours!