DEDICATION
To My Lord and Savior
Before this book is about my story, it is about the One who has been faithful through it. Jesus Christ is the reason these pages exist.
"Every page begins with the One who never stopped being there."
To my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,
Thank You for staying with me through the parts of my life I understood and the parts I did not. Thank You for Your mercy when I failed, Your patience when I struggled, and Your grace when I wondered whether I was truly being changed.
I have spent much of my life knowing that I am different. As an autistic man, I experience and process the world in ways that are not always understood by others. There have been times when I wondered whether I needed to change who I was simply to feel accepted.
Over time, You began teaching me that being different does not make me broken, forgotten, or less valuable. My autism is part of my story, but it is not all of who I am. You know me completely, and You have never asked me to pretend to be someone else in order to belong to You.
At the same time, You have shown me that being different is not the same thing as being changed. There are parts of my life that still need Your correction, Your grace, and Your direction. I do not need to erase who You created me to be, but I do need to surrender my life completely to You.
That distinction became clearer to me while listening to Different by Christian recording artist Micah Tyler. The song made me think more deeply about what it means to live differently because of Jesus. It caused me to look beyond how I was different from other people and begin asking a much more personal question.
Am I simply different?
Or am I truly being changed?
That question became the beginning of this book.
I realized that the most important change in my life would not be how other people saw me. It would be what Jesus was doing within me. I wanted to know whether my faith was visible not only in what I said, but also in how I lived, loved, responded, forgave, and followed Him.
I am still learning. I am still growing. I still make mistakes, and there are still things Jesus is working on in me. Yet I am grateful that He does not abandon me in the process. He continues to meet me where I am and lead me toward who He is calling me to become.
MY PRAYER
For Every Reader
I dedicate this book to anyone who has ever felt different, misunderstood, rejected, or alone. I especially dedicate it to those who have wondered whether they need to become someone else just to be accepted.
I pray that these pages remind you that your differences do not determine your worth. I also pray that you never allow acceptance to become an excuse for refusing the work Jesus wants to do within you. He can transform your heart without erasing the person He created you to be.
Most of all, I pray that you come to know Jesus personally, trust Him completely, and allow Him to change your life from the inside out.
I do not want this book to point people toward me. I want it to point them toward Jesus. My story, my autism, my struggles, my strengths, and even my failures are only pieces of a much greater story of what He has been doing in my life.
When people see my life, I pray they see more than what makes me different. I pray they see evidence that Jesus is still working, still transforming, and still calling people to Himself.
When they see me, let them see Jesus.