HAVE A LITTLE FAITH
Mitch Albom
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Introduction – pp. 1-5
1. What is this book about? Be specific.
2. How long a period does the book cover?
3. Why was the book written?
4. Who inspired the cover?
5. What was the main question that Albom was asked and why whom?
6. What was so ironic about this question?
7. In 1965, what was Albom’s question to God?
March – The Great Tradition of Running Away – pp. 6-8
1. Who was Albert Lewis?
2. Why did Albom run away from him?
3. How hold was Lewis when he made a request of Albom?
4. What was Albom’s response at first?
5. What was his final decision?
6. What condition did he make before he honored Lewis’ request?
7. What information did he really know about Lewis?
8. Why did Albom think he was the wrong man for the job?
Meet the Reb – pp. 9-10
1. How did the Reb get his name?
2. How did he look when Albom paid him a visit?
3. What passage from Isaiah did Albom think of when to describe how he felt?
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4. How did Albom expect to feel about interviewing Lewis?
5. How did he really feel?
A Little History – pp. 11-14
1. Why did Albom shun his eulogy task?
2. How did Albom react when enrolled in the Reb’s religious school three days as a boy?
3. What did Albom know about the Torah by age 13?
4. What was a typical day in Albom’s high school years?
5. Where did Albom attend college?
6. In spite of being well-versed in his religion as a youth, what was his feeling about
religion when he left college?
7. What was Albom’s career choice?
8. Albom married outside his religion. What religion was she?
9. What was the only religious exposure that Albom kept after he left home?
10. What made no sense to him?
11. Where did Albom live?
12. What was the one thing Albom thought he and Lewis had in common?
Life of Henry – pp. 15-16
1. Who was Henry Covington?
2. Where did he live and what was his lifestyle?
3. What job did his parents have?
4. What caused his mother to go to prison for two years?
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The File on God – pp. 17-20
1. What did Albom notice about the Reb’s office?
2. How did the Reb look in person as opposed to the pulpit from where he had
preached?
3. What was Albom eager to ask the Reb?
4. What file caught Albom’s attention?
5. What did Albom find out that the Reb said to God?
6. What was the Reb’s response when Albom asked if God had answered his prayers?
It Is 1966 – pp. 21-22
1. What did Albom’s grandmother ask him to get on the shelf?
2. What did Albom know of his grandfather?
3. What did Albom think the lighting of a candle was?
Life of Henry – pp. 23-24
1. When did Henry Covington accept Jesus as his personal savior?
2. Where did Henry spend two weeks a year in Beaverkill, New York?
3. What was so great about this time in his life?
4. What did Henry think salvation was?
April: The House of Peace – pp. 25-28
1. Why did Albom visit the Reb at work?
2. How did Albom feel about New Jersey when he visited there?
3. What did he wonder about for a moment after driving past a grocery store?
4. What did Albom tell himself when his mind started wondering?
5. What was the name of Albom’s synagogue?
6. What direction did the churches and temples take?
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7. How had Albom pictured them?
8. How did the Reb greet Albom?
9. What was it that drew the Reb to work every day?
10. How was the synagogue different from when Albom was a child?
11. What was the one thing that was laughable about the Reb’s having assistants?
It Is 1967 – pp. 29-30
1. What religion permeates Albom’s neighborhood as a boy?
2. What were Albom and his friend looking at on a neighbor’s front lawn?
3. What question did Albom ask his friend about Jesus?
4. Where did Albom’s friend say Jesus was?
5. What did Albom’s friend threaten to do?
6. What was Albom’s response?
7. How did Albom see the world then?
8. What did Albom say to his friend abut Jesus?
Life of Henry - pp. 31-33
1. At what age was Henry when he accepted Jesus Christ as his personal savior?
2. What kind of a service was it?
3. After the service, what question was he asked?
4. What did he really want from the experience?
5. What other things did Henry ingest other than the Holy Ghost?
6. What did Henry’s mother tell her friends about what her son would be when he was
grown?
7. What was Henry thinking to himself?
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The Daily Grind of Faith – pp. 34-39
1. The Reb had a sense of humor. What did one sign say that Albom thought was funny?
2. What was the first question Albom asked the Reb?
3. How did Albom think that rabbis, priests, and other cleric get into their profession?
4. What was the configuration among God, the cleric, and others, based on Albom’s
perception?
5. Why did the congregation members hang onto the Reb’s every word
6. What was it about the Reb’s sermon that appealed to his members?
7. What did the contents of his sermons include?
8. How did Albom learn so much about the power of language?
9. What did Albom say happened to him after he heard the Reb’s sermon?
10. What did the Reb want to be before becoming a rabbi?
11. What startling revelation did Albom discover about the Reb?
12. How did the Reb react to this event?
13. What job did the Reb take as a young man?
14. Who thanked the Reb for changing Phineas?
15. What did Max Kadushin suggest that the Reb do?
16. What was the Reb’s response?
17. How did Kadushin respond?
18. What was so ironic about the Reb’s situation?
19. What four pieces of information did Albom learn from his meetings with the Reb?
20. What question did Albom ask the Reb about delivering the latter’s eulogy?
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Life of Henry – pp. 40-41
1. How old was Henry when his father died?
2. What kind of relationship did Henry have with his father?
3. How did Henry’s father contribute to his kids’ education?
4. What was it about his father did Henry love?
5. How did Henry’s father die?
6. What did Henry decide he would do after his father’s funeral?
Ritual – pp. 42-45
1. How important was ritual in the Reb’s life?
2. What did it include?
3. In what ways did Albom skip the ritual?
4. How did the Reb define faith?
5. What was the most important aspect of rituals, according to the Reb?
The End of Spring – pp. 46-48
1. What made Albom feel guilty about rituals?
2. What, in Albom’s mind, was the closest thing he had to a ritual in his life?
3. According to the Reb, how did he avoid being cynical?
4. How did the Reb answer Albom’s question?
5. What surprising thing did Albom do at the end of their meeting?
It Is 1971 – pp. 50-51
1. What happens to Albom at 13?
2. What was unsettling to Albom after the service?
3. How did Albom feel after this event?
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4. What did Albom say to the Reb that was so insightful that he remembered it and
mentioned it in front of the congregation?
5. What question remained in Albom after the blessing at the end of the service?
Life of Henry – pp. 53-54
1. What happened at the same time Albom was becoming a man to Henry?
2. What was Henry’s life during his y0uth?
3. What happened to him as a result of his behavior?
4. How did he react to this form of punishment?
The Things We Lose …” – 55-58
1. How long had Albom been visiting the Reb as of the summer of 2003?
2. How was the Reb like a tough old tree?
3. What did the doctor tell the Reb to use to help him maneuver?
4. Why didn’t he take his doctor’s advice?
5. What traumatic event had Albom witnessed eight years earlier?
6. How did Albom feel about his visits with the Reb?
7. When did he typically come to see him?
8. What questions did his curious friends ask him about the Reb?
9. Why did Albom continue his visits even though he had enough material?
10. How did the Reb describe faith?
11. What was so perplexing to the Reb when he attended a convention in Florida?
12. According to the Reb, what was the “biggest threat to a clergyman?”
13. What happened to the Reb’s office once he retired?
14. Where did he sit in the sanctuary that stunned all the members?
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Life of Henry – pp. 60-61
1. What kind of things did Henry see at Rikers?
2. How was Henry victimized?
3. What is that Henry wanted to scream out loud?
4. What question did Henry ask God?
5. When did Henry feel the Lord speaking to him and how did he react?
June: Community – pp. 62-66
1. How did the Reb feel about progress?
2. How did the Reb continue to connect to his community?
3. Why did he call his oldest congregants?
4. How did the Reb feel about email?
5. In the old days, how would the Reb help comfort a family?
6. What question did Albom ask the Reb about someone visiting his church who was not
a member of his congregation?
7. What was Albom’s response to a Christian woman who called for a Jewish rabbi?
A Little More History – pp. 67-71
1. What did the Reb do when he accepted the job as a rabbi to dispel prejudices?
2. What did one boy ask him while he was in his classroom explaining his religion?
3. Who did the Reb become friendly with to have him visit his church?
4. What was the Catholic priest so upset about?
5. What did the priest say that was so derogatory about the Jews?
6. What happened as a result of the dispute?
7. What reaction did the kids have when they saw a priest and rabbi walking arm in arm
in the schoolyard?
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8. Who was asked to officiate at the priest’s funeral years later?
Life of Henry – 72-75
1. How did Henry spend his time while in prison?
2. What was his job after he left prison?
3. What happened to Henry’s infant son?
4. What was Henry’s reaction?
5. What kind of life did Henry live?
6. How did he react toward children?
7. What was Henry’s downfall?
8. Why did he terrorize people and then make up outrageous lies about what happened?
9. Why wasn’t Henry convicted?
10. Why is it that Albom remembered the story of the parting of the Red Sea?
July: The Greatest Question of All – pp. 77-82
1. What burning question did Albom ask the Reb about his faith?
2. How did the Reb respond to Albom?
3. What two famous people wrestled with God and the divine existence?
4. What did the Reb say when Albom asked the question, “Why do bad things happen to
good people?”
5. What story did the Reb relate to Albom about an atheist doctor whose brother had
died?
6. Who did the atheist blame for his brother’s death?
Life of Henry – pp. 83-84
1. What kind of life was Henry living at 30?
2. In his desperation to get high, what did he do?
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3. What did he realize?
4. What did he ask Jesus to do?
August: Why War?
1. How did the Reb answer his phone?
2. What was surprising to Albom about the Reb’s availability?
3. What was so horrific about a war the Reb witnessed?
4. What did the group ZAKA do?
5. What reaction did the Reb have when he related this story to Albom?
6. What did the Reb give Albom?
7. Why did the Reb keep this so many years later?
8. What was the Reb’s response as to why God did not stop wars that were waged in his
name?
9. What did the Reb say about the photos of two children side by side even though they
Life of Henry – pp. 94-95
1. On Easter morning, what did Henry decide he had to have?
2. How long was it before he ate?
September: Happiness – pp. 96-102
1. Where did Albom find the Reb during this visit?
2. What did a hospital ask the Reb for?
3. What was so amazing to Albom about the Reb?
4. What did Albom realize about people’s fundamental problems?
5. What made Albom feel so empty?
6. What is the lesson that people have to learn before they die?
7. According to the Reb, what is the secret to happiness?
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8. What did the Reb’s daughter say about his health?
9. Why was Albom so surprised?
Church – pp. 107-110
1. Where did Albom decide to spend the night in downtown Detroit and why?
2. What was Albom told about the “decaying church on Trumball Street?”
3. Why did he want to see the pastor?
4. What was so shocking about the pastor?
September: What is Rich? – pp. 112-117
1. What was the Reb’s constant companion?
2. Who did the car belong to at the Reb’s home?
3. What was ironic about the Reb and his cancer?
4. What was his childhood like?
5. What was perplexing to Albert when he and his father visited a rich relative?
6. What response did Albert have after his teenage cousin laughed at him?
7. How did the Reb dress?
8. Why did he enjoy bargains so much and how did he show it at the checkout stand?
9. How much did money mean to him?
10. What did he say when congregants tried to give him things for free?
11. What did the Reb like in terms of possessions?
12. When was the only time the Reb wished he was a millionaire?
13. What was the quote that Jesus said about possessions?
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Church – pp. 118-122
1. What was the name of Pastor Henry Covington’s Ministry?
2. What was wrong with the building?
3. How did Pastor Henry acquire the building?
4. What was Albom’s reaction when Henry told him what he did before becoming a
pastor?
5. What did Albom have a distaste for?
6. How did Albom feel about Henry?
7. How did the church pay its bills?
8. What kind of salary did Henry receive?
9. What did pastor Henry say when Albom asked him if he had ever been in a
synagogue?
October: Old – pp. 123-131
1. What is Yom Kipper?
2. Why didn’t the Reb deliver the sermon?
3. Where did he sit in the congregation?
4. Why didn’t he want to eat?
5. What was one of the Reb’s most remarkable sermons?
6. How did the Reb answer when Albom asked him, “What do people fear most about
death?”
7. What did the Reb say that was equally bad?
8. Who wrote a poem about a man among tombstones talking with the dead?
9. To what does “the second death” refer?
10. According to the Reb, how can we avoid “the second death?”
11. According to Reb, why is faith so important?
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12. What did Albom say to the Reb before he helped him out of his seat?
13. What memory reminds the Reb of his immortality?
Church – pp. 132-139
1. Why did Albom attend one of Pastor Henry’s services?
2. How did Henry come to Detroit?
3. What kind of life did Henry have as a pastor?
4. Who was Cass?
5. How did Henry preach?
6. In spite of the dilapidated building, what did pastor Henry say was the Lord’s
concern?
7. What did Albom learn is the “world’s largest single act of faith?”
8. How did the Reb meet Sarah, his wife?
9. How long had the couple been married?
10. According to the Reb, which marriages will survive?
11. What two jokes did the Reb make about marriage?
12. What is the one flaw the married couples expect of each other today?
13. What did he say about the word “commitment?”
14. What did the Reb say when Albom asked him if he was angry that Albom married
outside of his faith?
Life of Henry – pp. 148-154
1. How were the Reb and Pastor Henry alike?
2. How old was Henry when he met his future wife?
3. How did Henry and Annette’s life go downhill?
4. What happened when the police raided their house?
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5. What was so astounding about Pastor Henry’s congregation members?
6. How did he bring many of them to church?
7. What did Pastor Henry confess that he stole from a synagogue and why?
8. What was different about Henry’s congregation members and the Reb’s?
November: Your Faith, My Faith – pp. 156-163
1. What was so funny to Albom about the Reb’s sermon?
2. What was part of reason Albom drifted from his faith?
3. How did the Reb make his walker more comfortable now that he had to use a walker?
4. What was Albom afraid of when he told the Reb about the homeless charity and the
rescue mission that Albom had helped with?
5. What was the Reb’s response?
6. What debate did the Reb and Albom have?
7. What two people did the Reb admire in terms of trying to persuade others that their
religion was superior to others?
8. What is different about Judaism, unlike other religions, when it comes to converting
people?
9. What is the basis of the Jewish religion?
10. According to the Reb, why did create just one man?
11. What was the Reb’s response when Albom asked him, “Why is the world so
fractured?”
12. What did the Reb say the “genius of life” is?
13. According to the Reb, what makes us believe in something bigger than ourselves?
14. What was the Reb’s response when Albom asked him what if someone would not
recognize someone else’s faith or worse, want him/her dead for it?
15. Why was the Reb so open-minded about religion?
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16. What did Albom come to believe when it came to his faith?
17. What did Albom believe about Buddists’ stories and parables?
The Things We Find … -- pp.164-167
1. What surprised Albom when he stopped at the synagogue seeking information on the
building in the 1940s?
2. What did Albom realize about the source of his socialization?
3. How did Albom describe the work pillars that were falling down?
4. What did Albom find in his file while opening the contents of his file on the plane?
5. How did Albom feel about the congratulatory notes he received but never answered?
Thanksgiving – pp. 168-175
1. What did Albom help Pastor Henry purchase and why?
2. What sounds did Albom hear in the homeless shelter?
3. What did Cass want from Albom?
4. What was the source of the humming in the shelter?
5. How was it that it was so cold in the shelter?
6. What did Pastor Henry ask Jesus?
7. Why was the tarp that Albom purchased so important to the congregation members?
8. What question did Albom ask Pastor Henry about his past life as a drug dealer?
9. What thought crossed Albom’s mind as he was leaving the gym and saw the homeless
bedded down for the night?
10. What is the message from the short poem by Robert Browning Hamilton?
The End of Autumn – pp. 177-183
1. Who called Albom on his cell and what was the message?
2. What did Albom realize about the Reb when the latter tried to speak to Albom?
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3. What tragedy befell the Reb in 1953 when the he was just starting his job at the
temple?
4. How did the Reb handle the tragedy and begin to heal?
5. What good did the Reb see in this tragedy?
6. What was the Reb stripped of?
7. What did Albom begin doing on his plane ride home?
From a Sermon by the Reb – pp. 184-185
1. What lesson did the Reb learn from his own sermon about Adam and David, the ruler
of Israel?
Winter Solstice – pp. 189-93
1. What did the congregants build to combat the cold and to be able to listen to Pastor
Henry’s sermons?
2. What was Pastor Henry’s sermon about?
3. What was Albom’s reaction to this particular sermon?
December – pp. 194-199
1. What mistake had been made that caused him to be in a “crippling stupor?”
2. What question did Albom ask the Reb when he saw him in his chair and out of
the hospital?
3. Why did the Reb think his life had been spared?
4. What lesson did he learn from this experience?
5. What question did Albom ask the Reb in terms of evil?
6. What was the Reb’s response when Albom asked him why man did so many bad
things?
7. What word did the Reb say is omitted from the story of creation?
8. According to the Reb, why doesn’t God “accentuate the positive and eliminate the
negative?”
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9. What was the last thing Albom said to the Reb before his visit ended with the Reb?
Life of Cass – pp. 200-207
1. Why did Albom say “so many lives between birth and death?”
2. What was Cass’s background?
3. What religion did a man in prison adopt when Cass was serving time in him?
4. How long was Cass homeless?
5. What did he do to try to keep warm?
6. What was it that Cass said that made Albom feel stupid?
7. Who delivered food to the homeless, and what did he ask in return?
8. How did Cass and a guy he know earn some money?
9. What kind of unloading system did they two devise?
10. What kind of job did Pastor Henry for him?
11. Why was Cass embarrassed to approach the pastor?
12. Why did Cass decline the job?
13. Where did the pastor send Cass to get him some clothes?
14. Where did Cass live when his shelter was flooded out?
15. Why did Cass feel unworthy to stay with the pastor?
16. What was Cass’s explanation of what happens if we do something bad?
17. What name did Cass call Pastor Henry?
Saying Sorry – pp. 209-213
1. How was the Reb’s physical health at 90? How was his disposition?
2. How did Albom say one could pack for heaven if it were possible?
3. What was the Reb’s last “big” sermon?
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4. What were his last three words?
5. How did the Reb handle disagreements over the years?
6. What did the Reb tell Mitch about letting things linger?
7. What piece of wisdom did the Reb give Mitch after telling him a story about a man
who lost his wife and was at her gravesite?
8. What did Albom ask the Reb?
9. What piece of wisdom do the sages tell about repentance?
10. What question did Albom have in reference to this?
The Moment of Truth – pp. 215-222
1. How did the membership in I Am My Brother’s Keeper increase?
2. What did Pastor Henry say when Albom asked him if he thought that when he became
a pastor, he’d be financially more secure?
3. What was Pastor Henry’s response?
4. What did Pastor Henry say he deserved for all the horrible things he had done in his
life?
5. What did Albom ask Pastor Henry about why he continued to serve God if he believed
God would punish him?
6. What did Albom say about all the good Pastor Henry had done?
7. What was Pastor Henry’s response?
8. What piece of wisdom did Albom learn from Pastor Henry’s response?
9. What scripture did Albom think of when he stopped questioning how much Pastor
Henry’s past should shadow his future?
January – pp. 223-227
1. What event did the temple hold in the Reb’s honor for six decades of service?
2. What did the Reb say the temple represented?
3. What, for the Reb, was “a piece of heaven?”
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4. What was an inevitable discussion that Albom and the Reb would have?
5. What is Olam Habah?
6. What question did Albom ask the Reb in terms of Rinah?
7. What comment did the Reb make about heaven relative to time?
8. How was the sermon that the Reb gave on heaven and hell different from most that
Albom and the temple’s congregants had heard?
9. What excited the Reb about dying?
10. What prayer did he ask the Lord in terms of Albom?
11. Why was Albom skeptical that he and the Reb would meet again some day?
12. What was the Reb’s response?
Church -- pp. 228-230
1. What did Albom do that finally got Pastor Henry’s church some help?
2. How was it that Pastor Henry’s church finally got some heat when the electric
company had it turned off for non-payment?
3. Who was Cass so excited about seeing after eight years?
4. What caused Pastor Henry and Cass to be so elated?
5. What was Albom’s response, which had also been Pastor Henry’s response when
the church started to receive help?
6. What was the amusing story that the Reb told his congregants in his sermon in 2000?
7. What were the seven reasons the Reb decided to become a rabbi?
The Eulogy – pp. 235-242
1. What caused the Reb’s death?
2. What promise did Albom make to the Reb?
3. How did Albom react to the Reb’s death?
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4. Why didn’t Albom write out a eulogy based on all the tapes, notes, photos, texts,
sermons, and newspaper clippings he had collected over the past eight years?
5. How did Albom feel standing in the pulpit where the Reb used to stand to deliver his
sermons?
6. What two things did Albom know when the Reb asked him to deliver his eulogy?
7. As Albom was delivering the eulogy, what did he say he wondered as to why he
was the one asked to deliver the eulogy?
8. Once ordained, why didn’t the Reb do like many and go to California?
9. What movie and what actor did Albom cite when speaking about the Reb staying I
New Jersey?
10. What story did Albom recount to show that men of two different faiths can walk side
by side?
11. How did Albom characterize the Reb’s sermons?
12. Where did the Reb sit in the sanctuary after he retired?
13. How was it that each congregant lost a piece of himself/herself with the Reb’s death?
14. Where did Albom feel the Reb’s presence even after his death?
15. What question did Albom pose about the Reb’s singing?
16. What was the Reb doing when the Lord took him away?
17. According to Albom, how was the rabbi like a salesman?
18. Where did Albom say they needed to look to find the Reb?
… The Things We Leave Behind – pp. 243-247
1. How did Albom spend his emptiness over the loss of the Reb after the latter died?
2. How did Pastor Henry refer to Albom when he was sitting in the pastor’s
congregation?
3. What did Pastor Henry do with all the monetary donations his church received?
4. Where was Pastor Henry invited to preach?
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5. What did Pastor Henry say about miracles in his sermon?
6. What proof did Albom cite to prove the power of miracles?
7. What was the one thing that Pastor Henry’s church needed to get repaired?
8. What was the final trump card?
9. What was the one question the Reb still didn’t have an answer for?
10. What did Albom say he realized about the whole point of his time with the Reb?
11. What advice did Albom give us about running away from a man of faith?
12. How did the Reb conclude his taped message to his congregation members?
13. What did Albom say he knew about the Reb’s departure?
Epilogue – pp. 248-249
1. What hypothetical question did Albom pose to the Reb before his death?
2. What did the Reb say when he asked God what his reward was for being fairly good to
people?
3. What did Albom say he was in love with?
Two Years Later – 251-260
1. What miracle occurred that allowed Pastor Henry to fix the hole in his church’s
ceiling?
2. How did strangers hear about Pastor Henry’s dilapidated church with homeless people
sleeping on the floor?
3. Who attended the special service to celebrate the new roof on the church?
4. What stood in place of the plastic that had kept out the rain?
5. What occurred during the next 12 months of Pastor Henry’s life?
6. What did Pastor Henry teach Albom?
7. What was Pastor Henry’s mission after his church’s roof was repaired?
8. What two celebrities did Pastor Henry meet?
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9. How did Pastor Henry die and how old was he?
10. What did Pastor Henry’s youngest daughter say about him at his funeral?
11. Why did Albom call his message about Pastor Henry a note rather than a eulogy?
12. How did he end his note?
12. How did Albom say Pastor Henry lived his life?
13. Why did Pastor Henry name his ministry “I Am My Brother’s Keeper?”
14. Why did Pastor Henry give a better answer than Cain did when he was asked the
question, “Am I my brother’s keeper?”
15. Why did people say Pastor’s ministry was “too big for him?”
16. According to Albom, how did Pastor Henry teach him about faith?
17. What words were stitched inside Pastor Henry’s coffin?
18. How did two men who never met each other making up for that time?
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