A month ago, the “60 Minutes” crew came to our house and took over four full rooms with cameras, lights, monitors, microphones, and people. I talked with Lesley Stahl for almost four straight hours. We talked about virtually everything, including the night I had a massive seizure while driving my car down a winding, twisting parkway in DC, then finding out that the proximate cause for that seizure was an egg-size tumor in my brain. Were it not for that night and the surgery and recovery that followed, I wouldn’t have ever written a book.

But that experience taught me that we do not number our days. James puts it well when he says that there is arrogance in saying what we will do in the future – that we are vapors. That was the birth of Tempting Faith. It is, more than anything, a spiritual book. It is a book about my journey with Jesus through dark times – being part of an abortion, part of a divorce, hating my political “opponents.” But it is also about my journey with Jesus through his infusion of life – finding forgiveness, finding love, celebrating life.

Ultimately it is my conviction that Jesus must (must!) be first that led to the book and to my willingness to sit down with “60 Minutes” – and, worse, to have to watch myself on television tonight.

Maybe it is different for others on TV, but for me there was just the overwhelming sense that I was being forced to watch a home movie of myself – with the added bonus of knowing that it was also being seen by millions of other people.

But therein lies my little hope, too – that people who think of Jesus only in a Republican way left thinking that maybe there is more to him than that… and that those who love Jesus were reminded that putting him first is always a good thing.

Good night. Next: Good Morning America at 7:30 a.m.

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