Book Review - The Way of a Pilgrim (classic)

Fam,

My attention was first caught when I randomly read this quote somewhere:

"By God's Grace I am a Christian man, by my actions a great sinner."
--The Way of a Pilgrim, R. M. French [tr.]

There's a lot of talk on "grace" nowadays. it's like the new cool word among churches. But what is grace? I already have a firm definition and examples, but I wanted to further shape my understanding of this word and how other's use it.

I also believe that reading books from other cultures and from unknown or unpopular people is helpful in expanding my perspectives and mindset. I find that a lot of Americans, not just American Christians, particularly read publications mainly from - Americans, specifically white Americans.

So after searching online where this quote came from, I bought this translated Russian book, "The Way of a Pilgrim", and began reading it. Click here for a link to purchasing the book.

At first, the book seemed a little boring as the beginning sets up the way (i.e. journey) of this pilgrim. There is no name attached to the pilgrim and not much is said of his background. But what really begins to stand out while reading through the chapters is prayer. This is a book on prayer - how a pilgrim is searching for his answer on "praying without ceasing." How is that possible?

There are a lot of great things revealed in this book especially the power and importance of simple prayer. Prayer truly does change things, no matter the length of prayer nor the difficulty of circumstances. Prayer shows trust in God.

By the end of the book, I have learned a few references by other monks and such to help me understand Christianity more. Most importantly, I have learned more about prayer and why this weapon is the most powerful.

My favorite quotes and key takeaways

• "Man is called to be by nature one with the created world and to become by grace one with God, uniting the creator with the creature."
• Engaging in prayer with Jesus takes removal of ego, belief that life is only found in God, and will for conversion (or further transformation).
• The Philokalia is a reference to another book to add onto my reading list.
• "Ceaseless interior prayer is a continual yearning of the human spirit towards God."
• "The Christian is bound to perform many good works, but before all else what he ought to do is to pray, for without prayer no other good work whatever can be accomplished. Without prayer he cannot find the way to the Lord, he cannot understand the truth, he cannot crucify the flesh with its passions and lusts, his heart cannot be enlightened with the light of Christ, he cannot be savingly united to God."
• If there's any unceasing prayer to pray, it is this: "Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me."
• "...one and the same person at one and the same time should do three quite different things. 'Seated at a table,' he says, 'supply your body with food, your ear with reading and your mind with prayer.'" This quote provides insight that one can pray without ceasing because of how God has given humans the ability to multi-function and multi-process simultaneously.
• "Quench not the Spirit."
• "...interior prayer bears fruit in three ways: in the Spirit, in the feelings, and in revelations."
• "When the soul is made holy the body becomes holy also."
• A Russian proverb: "man proposes, but God disposes." Similar to Proverbs 16:9.
• "Every feeling is base compared with the sweet knowledge of grace in the heart."
• It's not just about praying with our mouth, but more with our heart. "...you can notice for your spiritual profit that the tone of the praying voice varies with different people."

Verse
"pray without ceasing"

Conclusion
At the end of the day especially back in those days, a person didn't need to have a Bible, be able to read, be a member of a good church, frequently be in a Christian community, or even know how to pray. A person just needed to pray. Always. And then the blessing of His understanding would come.

Alleluia.

Phileo Love,
G2

Testimony - The Girl with the Pink Backpack

Fam,

There are so many lovely testimonies and my father-in-law shared this with me which I feel compelled to share with you.

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Hello,

My name is AnnaLisa and this is a story about something that Josh did 30 years ago that changed my life. I stood up and told it in front of the high school where I teach last week to amazed students who applauded enthusiastically.  It is now time, on the 30-year anniversary, to officially put it in writing and send it to the Josh McDowell Ministry to give glory to God and heartfelt thanks to Josh.

Here it is:

The Pink Backpack

By the time I was in my second semester as a freshman at UCLA, Satan had convinced me of 2 things:

1. My life was worthless.  I had entered college a drama major with dreams of becoming an actress and soon found I was not as talented as I thought I was among so many other talented young men and women.  I also had gotten Rubella-German Measles- and was unable to go to many of my classes.  As a result, I was on academic probation and the fear of failure was overwhelming.  I no longer felt like I had a future and I thought I was a great disappointment.
2. I was utterly alone.  I had been in a relationship with a boyfriend during which I neglected my friends, and when we broke up, I felt I had no one.  To compound that, my mother had moved out to go back to school to get her law degree and had completely abandoned us kids.  Satan made me think no one cared whether I lived or died.

So, one night I walked up to the 7th floor in my dorm and out onto the patio  I was feeling so sad and worthless and alone and my intention was to jump over the railing and end my life.  I gripped the railing and tried leaning over, but I couldn’t do it because I realized that I was afraid of heights.  So I knew I needed to come up with another plan.  This time, I decided to throw one of my legs over the railing and straddle it and just tip over at the count of three.  This way I wouldn’t have to look down.  I began counting: 1. . .2. . .then I heard someone behind me say “Wait.”  I was surprised because I hadn’t noticed anyone else on the balcony with me, so I spun around and looked, but there was no one there.  I began shaking.  Even though I wasn’t religious, I asked,  “God, is that you?”  I didn’t hear an answer.  So I got down from the railing and made God a deal.  “Okay God, if that’s you, I’ll give you 24 hours to intervene in my life, and if nothing miraculous happens, I’m going to come back up here and finish the job.”

I went to bed that night and went to class the next morning and was walking back to my dorm in a fog when I saw a large group of about 300 students gathered around a man preaching on our campus (it turns out it was Josh McDowell). I had to get past them and I was at the back of the crowd making my way around.  I wasn’t really listening to him, he was saying something about Jesus, when all of a sudden he stopped talking for a few seconds.  Then he said in a loud voice, “Hey you!”  I kept walking (of course he wasn’t talking to me).  Then he said again, “Hey you, you with the pink backpack!”  I thought, “That’s funny, I have a pink backpack.”  So I looked over at him and he was pointing at me.  Everyone was looking at me.  Then he said, “God’s been talking to you, hasn’t He?”  I started to say “No,” but then I remembered the Voice that had said ”Wait” the night before and I nodded my head.  He then told me that God had just given him a message for me and that if I would wait a few minutes with his assistant (he pointed to a lady standing near him), when he was done, he would tell me what that message was.  Of course, I was curious so I agreed.

When he finished speaking, he came over to me and said, “I don’t know what this means, but God told me to tell you that He loves you and He has a wonderful plan for your life.”  I started crying.  Then Josh asked me if I knew Jesus.  I said I knew that He was Joseph and Mary’s son and the Son of God.  I was raised Catholic and was very confused.  Then he asked if Jesus was my Lord and Savior.  I said irritably, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”  He said, “Do you have a few minutes to talk?  I’d like to tell you about how you can have a new life with Christ.”  Well, that sounded pretty good to me- I didn’t think my current life was any good so I spent about an hour with him and his assistant that day.   The next day I met with his assistant in the cafeteria and she answered my questions.  Finally I told her I wanted to become a Christian and she asked if she could pray for me.  I thought she meant she would go home and pray for me, but she put her hand on my head and asked me to repeat after her.  At first, I was embarrassed, but when I realized what I was doing, I was so excited that I didn’t care what people thought.  I confessed that I was a sinner and thanked Jesus for dying on the cross so that I could have eternal life and I invited Him into my heart to be my Lord and Savior.  The day I accepted Christ, I was walking back to my dorm and it suddenly struck me that God wanted me to become a teacher.  After that, she connected me to a Christian group (Campus Crusade for Christ) on campus that helped me grow in my faith.

Here’s the weird twist to the story:

4 years ago Josh McDowell was invited to come and speak to the parents at our school.  I thought it would be great if I could somehow get an opportunity to briefly speak to him and simply tell him that he had had a big impact on my life and to thank him (I'd let him think I'd read his books or heard him speak).  He knew nothing about my suicide attempt, etc.   Well, I found out there would be an intermission so I came to our theater early and sat in the front row so I could make a beeline for him as soon as intermission came.  (I had also heard he was leaving abruptly after the show).  Sure enough, as soon as intermission came, I ran for his podium and quickly stammered, “I know you won’t remember me, but . . .” and he interrupted me, by pointing at me and saying, “The girl with the pink backpack.”  I was shocked and immediately choked up (I still can't recall this without getting teary).  “How did you remember me after 30 years?” I asked.  He told me that the message God had given him for me was so powerful that he had never forgotten it.  I let him know that it had saved my life.  That I had been planning on committing suicide that night and that message stopped me.  I added that as a result, I had also become a teacher and that I was a teacher there at the school and for over 26 years had impacted hundreds of lives.  I asked him if I could give him a hug and he allowed me to give him a little sideways hug. Everyone else standing there listening was awed by the encounter.

Please tell Josh thank you for me. I am eternally grateful. I am retiring from teaching this year and I feel I owe these 30 wonderful years, at least in part, to him.

Many blessings,

AnnaLisa

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I pray this testimony is a blessing to you as it is to me. May we never ignore the Voice and follow through like Josh and AnnaLisa.

God Speed,
G2

Faith - There's Always Room for Improvement

Fam,

As much as we'd like to think we're pretty good like a noble person, we still have some room for growth in our faith.

According to John 4:46-54, Jesus points out that even one who believes in Him as a healer is still not in complete faith that Jesus is the Messiah. The nobleman still insists on Jesus's physical presence to heal his son. Yet Jesus re-emphasizes that the nobleman simply needs to believe and his son will be healed. So the nobleman believes, but with some doubt as he returns to his house to hear the good news of his son's restoration. It's not until the Word of Jesus is confirmed by his household servants that the nobleman and his household completely believe in Jesus Christ.

We can compare this nobleman to the centurion in Luke 7:1-10.


How many times do we go about our days with little faith?

How funny we are in being like the nobleman sometimes instead of the centurion, hunh? Hahaha. Let's not forget who Jesus is especially in a doubtful world.

Lots of love to ya, fam, and keep up'ing your faith.

Believe Him,
G2