“I took the Bible that they gave me, and that night I plowed through the record of Saint Mark, Saint Mathew, Saint John. I had thought they were all Catholic. I had no idea how Jewish they were!”

The most important quality my parents taught me as a child was to formulate my own opinions. Growing up, it became my habit to make up my own mind about everything I learned. Based on that, my parents should not have been surprised when I came home at age 12 announcing that I had become a Christian.

I went to synagogue regularly, but although I enjoyed the services and liked the people, I never developed a personal relationship with God. I thought the Bible was interesting, but antiquated, and thought much of it had little relevance to my life. I did love the stories though of the great heroes of the Jewish faith: Joseph, Moses, David.

I was always looking for answers and the question “why” would frequently form on my lips. When I started to study medicine, the question was, “Why all the hurt and the suffering?” In my second year of Medical School, my mother died. This left me with more “why” questions but no answers.