Two of the finest people I\u2019ve come to know through my work with Patheos are David and Nancy French. \u00a0When we decided that we would publish columns at Patheos, David was the first columnist I sought. \u00a0I had come to know David and Nancy through their work with Six Seeds \u2014 as I was getting to know www.sixseeds.org better and explore ways in which we might work together (Patheos\u2019 Family Portal<\/a> is now produced by Six Seeds). \u00a0I thought that David would turn me down; he\u2019s a high-octane constitutional lawyer specializing in free speech issues, for FIRE (Foundation for Individual Rights in Education) and then ADF (Alliance Defense Fund) and now the ACLJ (American Center for Law and Justice). \u00a0He\u2019s also a military reservist (not many Harvard-trained lawyers volunteer to join the military and go to Iraq, but David did) and the father to three children, one of them adopted.<\/p>\n To my complete surprise, David explained that my timing was perfect and he would take up the offer. \u00a0His columns were often controversial; David is passionately committed to some opinions that are not politically correct. \u00a0But he\u2019s a first-rate thinker, an excellent writer, and a man of extraordinary principle. \u00a0Love him or not (and I love him), David has the courage of his convictions. \u00a0He drew the largest audience of all my columnists. \u00a0We also became friends, as we share many passions: God, politics, the Lord of the Rings, sci-fi\/fantasy in general, and computer gaming (a passion, sadly, I cannot much pursue these days). \u00a0When David moved to the ACLJ, we moved him to a blog with Nancy at The French Revolution<\/a>. \u00a0Since that time, I\u2019ve actually gotten to know Nancy more than David, and his great insight and judgment are proved by the quality of the wife he won. \u00a0David writes regularly now at The Corner at the National Review Online, and I collaborate with David and Nancy on Evangelicals for Mitt<\/a>.<\/p>\n Well, David just won a magnificent honor: the Ronald Reagan Award from the American Conservative Union, awarded to him at CPAC. \u00a0The Reagan Award is the highest award given at CPAC. \u00a0The recipients are not always well known, but as David Keene (then director of the American Conservative Union) said in 2008: \u201cThe winners of this award, our highest honor, are not household names, but the men and women working in the trenches who sacrifice and, in so doing, set an example for others.\u201d \u00a0(Another friend, Ruth Malhotra, was co-recipient of the award in 2009, as it happens.)<\/p>\n David delivered an impromptu speech that was funny and moving and compassionate all at once \u2014 while his adopted daughter Naomi nearly stole the show behind him. \u00a0Check it out:<\/p>\n