Hello boys,

Thanks for the entertaining, verbal ping-pong match on the book The Year of Living Biblically by Mr. A.J. Jacobs.

Mr. Jacobs: You have written a hilariously funny book on a profoundly-important topic. As a born-again, spirit-filled, charismatic Catholic whose little brother is a Lubavitch Jew, I have a few opinions of my own about Jesus and Abraham.

In short, I love them both along with the colorful cast of characters who make up both faiths. Thanks for opening up your heart and life to us, as you sought for and found at times the existence of our shared God.

My taste for spiritual apologetics is not as keen as Mr. Labash's, so I will try to share briefly my statement of faith in our God. He is love and He created us (men and women) in His likeness. He has free will and He gave us free will like himself. We misused that free will and got ourselves into an awful mess. But, because He created us; He also loved us and couldn't bear to see us suffer and die eternally separated from Himself, so He gave us the one person who could bring us back into a right relationship with Him.

That Someone never made a mistake, never broke or misinterpreted any of the commandments you tried so hard to understand and uphold during that year. And the crazy thing of it is; He really could have made a mistake because He had free will too--just like the first Adam did. But the second Adam--Jesus--got it right--praise God! Of course, it may have helped He also took part in creating the Universe, so maybe He had a slight advantage over the first Adam. But that's one of those mysteries I may never understand.

Like Matt said, some of this stuff a person does just have to take "by faith" believing, yet not fully understanding all the ramifications and fullness of the mystery and the miracle.

Anyway, thanks for making me laugh with the God and faith I love. Oh, another news flash--that sense of humor you have--it came from him too. You're a chip off the old block--I believe He is laughing with us.

Also, you'll be happy to note the documentation of your journey produced some righteous fruit in me. About halfway through the book, I felt convicted to stop free-loading laughs during intermittent visits to Barnes and Noble on the weekend and actual purchase your book which is now sitting reverently or irreverently on my shelf at home.

God bless you and your family and may your self-imposed spiritual vacation/atrophy come to a sure and quick end! In Christ Name, Amen