On April 27, 1934, a little boy was born who grew up to become a vagabond evangelist in patchwork pants fiercely daring us to believe a line too good to be true—God loves you as you are and not as you should be. His name was Brennan Manning. He boldly preached of the love of Jesus vast, unmeasured, boundless, and free. And he always faithfully pointed to a tender, elemental fury that blows where it wills; in a word, grace.

But before the fame of his ragamuffin gospel, Brennan Manning was a son, brother, soldier, journalist, priest, husband, father, and friend. This is that part of the story, a necessary piece of the larger puzzle of grace. These pages tell the story of a man whose name was not always Brennan.