For your sake and mine, I won't write this as though I were someone else, talking about myself in the third person, making references to "Kyle" or maybe "Strobel," which is odd to read and even more so to write. Instead, I will try my best in a short amount of time to tell you about myself.

I am married to Kelli, who is my constant joy and companion. Very much products of our generation, our favorite thing to do is to inhabit coffee shops in the city where we live, our favorite shop being Kilau – the kind of place you won't find unless you know where to look.

We live by the beach, which is ironic, since while living in California for five years prior to moving here, I had rarely gone to the beach, and now I see it every day. The thing is, now the beach is in Aberdeen, Scotland, which is closer to the Arctic Circle than Moscow, and hence not in the kind of climate that is conducive to frequent beach-going, unless one doesn't mind gazing at the ocean through the space between one's wool hat and scarf.

We were led to the Grey City – how Aberdeen is known in light of the grey granite that constitutes the majority of the buildings – so that I could pursue my doctorate degree in theology at Aberdeen University. I have the rare opportunity to spend a couple of years in dialogue about God with others who have given their lives to thinking, living, and meditating upon Him. Not a day goes by that I am not in awe of both this grace as well as the burden this opportunity affords me.

I wrote the book Metamorpha: Jesus as a Way of Life, which seeks to take people on a journey of belief formation to allow the work of the Word, the Spirit, and the community of believers to help shape one's vision of reality. Much of this book comes from the deep and often painful transforming work that God has done with me – and continues to do with me.

My life these days is a far cry from what it once was, but relatively simple. Kelli and I are learning to live without cars, without TV, and often without the sun. I have learned to love my walks to and from Kings College, the five-hundred-year-old stone castle-like school where my office is, and where I spend the majority of my time thinking, reading, reflecting, praying, communing, and questioning.

Prior to coming here I spent much of my time studying philosophy, New Testament, and Spiritual Formation at Talbot School of Theology. During my time there I had the chance to focus on spirituality and its relationship to the Christian life and church, and to start Metamorpha.com with my close friend Jamin Goggin, who has taught me more about community and friendship than anyone else I have known.

I grew up at Willow Creek Community Church, at a time when the concept of "church" was being turned upside down. So from the outset I had ingrained in my DNA a series of questions about the church and Christian living that previous generations had neglected, and being a part of the generation that grew to be called "emerging" I had a whole series of other questions that remained unanswered for most of my life.

My heart is with the church, the community of people longing to be God's, and longing to know him deeply. I have given my life to live out the answer to the question: What does it mean to follow God in this day and age? I hope that my writing and my life are witnesses to that end.

Stepping back from my life I see a story of redemption and a search for a new way forward.