The Secret Life of a Fool

Andrew Palau is the son of a world-famous evangelist. I'mthe granddaughter of a Methodist local preacher. There's not much comparisonexcept we must have both grown up around people who talked about God. Ireviewed Andrew Palau's memoir, TheSecret Life of a Fool, yesterday, and today, as part of his virtualbook tour, I promised to think about what kind of fool being a preacher'sgrandkid made me.
My granddad began preaching during the Second World War whenthere was a shortage of people to work in the church since all the young men hadgone away. But Granddad was Methodist and I grew up Catholic, so I'm not sure Iever heard him preach. 
With a Catholic father and Methodist mother, my faith was neversomething I could take for granted. I couldn't answer the simple questions atchurch and say I believed all the same things as my parents. I couldn't performthe expected formalities without wondering why someone else didn't do thingsthe same way. Even hymns had different words and tunes. Never knowing quite whichanswer would please one parent and which would make the other sad, I kept myfaith very quiet—no preaching from me.
But Granddad didn't mind me asking questions when I stayedwith him. We could talk about my Christian faith, about Catholics andProtestants, about society and sin. He even showed me his sermons, written inblue ink on faded paper. I eagerly devoured them. He told me the world wasn'tnecessarily getting more sinful—we just talk about things more. Leaders weren'treally more corrupt—they just got caught more often. And the good old daysweren't half as good as the days I was growing up in.
More importantly, Granddad taught me that reading theBible's more important than believing what someone else tells me about it, andhe taught me God's big enough for all my biggest questions. I'm allowed to wonderbecause of Granddad, and disagreement, even if it sounds foolish, doesn't haveto scare me. I'm allowed to look at faith and science and know God's in chargeof it all. I can read Revelation and know the earth's present belongs to Godinstead of trying to measure when it will end. I can read Genesis and know theGod of my faith spoke science into being—my faith and science don't even knowhow to disagree.
Andrew Palau rebelled. I didn't, or at least, I kept myrebellions low-key and let my Granddad direct them. But in the end, Catholic,Protestant, world-famous or just a local preacher's grandkid, when God calls,eventually we end up hearing Him. The truly amazing thing is God cares enough,in spite of our folly, to want to talk to us all.