He's not a real Christian. Only the Amish are real Christians.
He plopped down on a curb and cried. Sobbed, even. And for the first time since he was a child, he prayed: "Please God, help me."
Mr. Eszterhas was shocked by his own prayer.
"I couldn't believe I'd said it. I didn't know why I'd said it. I'd never said it before," he wrote.
But he felt an overwhelming peace. His heart stopped pounding. His hands stopped twitching. He saw a "shimmering, dazzling, nearly blinding brightness that made me cover my eyes with my hands."
Like Saul on the road to Damascus, Mr. Eszterhas had been blinded by God. He stood up, wiped his eyes, and walked back home a new man.
In a phone interview this week, Mr. Eszterhas said it was "an absolutely overwhelming experience."
He went from doubting if he could make it through life without tobacco and alcohol, to knowing that he could "defeat myself and win."
He and Naomi have been faithfully attending Catholic Mass on Sundays ever since, and as the book title states, Joe carries the cross down the aisle.
He was scared and overwhelmed, but was then comforted by the thought that the universe might contain a loving god who will take care of him and ultimately help him. He then became lightheaded and saw some neat lights.
How does this prove that there's a God? Or even lead one to believe that there is?
How does any of this prove that Catholicism is the one true religion? Why not Islam?
