pI sat on the back pew of our colonial-style seminary chapel and heard a sermon by Samuel H. Miller that I have never forgotten. I don't remember much of the content, but I do remember the picture he painted of a woman's brown high-top shoes. She stared longingly at the sea, waiting for her husband to return safely. The image of those high-top shoes, representing to me the common life and faithful love, has stuck in my mind and soul for fifty-nine years.ppbrppAs a pastor, near the end of my sermon preparation, I would go to emThe Great Realitiesem to see what Samuel Miller had to say about my subject. Often there would be a quote that was just right. Sometimes he deepened what I was trying to say. At still other times, to my chagrin, he took me in an entirely different direction.ppbrppTwelve years ago, I began a project of putting together excerpts from his first three books-emThe Life of the Soulem 1951, emThe Life of the Churchem 1953, and emThe Great Realitiesem 1955-that I hoped wo