In 1975, Philip Yancey was working on his book Where Is God When It Hurts? Philip had read “whole shelves of library books” on pain, but had found them philosophical and dry.
One day, his wife, Janet, was cleaning out a closet at her work and found a copy of an address titled, “The Gift of Pain.” The idea of pain as a gift seemed novel, and Philip decided to track down the author, world-famous hand surgeon Paul Brand.
He found Brand in Louisiana, and over a three-day period, interviewed him in 15-minute segments. But Philip mostly sat and waited while Brand consulted on overseas phone lines, did surgery, or saw patients.
Philip calls what developed “a Mutt-and-Jeff relationship.” There certainly was a contrast between the “26-year-old punk with a frizzy Afro” and the distinguished British gentleman in his early 60s. Nevertheless, the relationship bore fruit: Brand confided that he had tried to write a book, but the result was too little for a book, too much for a pamphlet. Philip took home a smudged 90-page carbon copy, which held the seeds of Fearfully and Wonderfully Made and In His Image.
Philip enjoyed their close collaboration and says he has been blessed with knowing a great and good man. Despite numerous awards, Brand has devoted himself to the least fortunate—untouchable lepers in India. Yet he always felt fulfilled, believing God had given him this privilege.
Now Philip has helped write a summation of Brand’s professional life. It is “a thematic autobiography,” built around a philosophy of pain, rather than usual biographical material. An excerpt from this latest collaboration, Pain: The Gift Nobody Wants, begins on page 18.
DAVID NEFF,Executive Editor
