The sub-title of the book gives a good description of what you are going to find, "A Memoir of God Found, Lost, and Found Again.
This is Preston Yancey’s story about his life within the
home of a family whose father is a Pastor of a Southern Baptist Church in
Texas. For those who don’t know this is about as Bible Belt as you can get and
Preston was raised to know the Bible, to know about God and to understand the
doctrine and life of the Southern Baptist Church.
He is not sure when he became a Christian, he states, “My
mother says that there was a time when I was about three that she was pushing
me around in a shopping cart in the store . . . . . I looked at her seriously
and said, ‘I wanted to ask Jesus into my heart.’”
That comment should give you some insight; at an early age
he knew the language of the church and the Western view of “asking Jesus into
your heart.” What he didn’t understand was what that was going to entail.
This book will document his struggle with the church, with
God and with doctrine. It is mostly about the time of his college years when he
was attending Baylor University (a Baptist University). He will start attending
an Episcopal church as well as the Baptist church and then even work with a few
other students to start a church.
But all that searching is really not about being a good
church attender, it is about his inability to comprehend truly in his life who
God is, who Jesus is and what the Holy Spirit can do.
I’m grateful for his book, but I must say that it describes
the life meandering of an immature young man who just wants to discover the
truth, but doesn’t realize that is what he is looking for.
Probably the best comment he makes to sum up his book is in
the first chapter when he says, “While I intellectually know God is still
present, while I intellectually know God will never leave me, while I
intellectually know God desires the best for me—my heart and my soul, they don’t
seem so very sure anymore.”
The book is written in a way that you will learn about his
struggle to “hear from God,” and his frustration with the “silence” that God
takes him through. What is interesting is that God told him there would be
silence, God told him that he would have to be still and wait for that still
small voice to give direction and guidance. But Preston is like most of us, he
wanted his way with God on his terms and wasn’t necessarily eager to “wait” for
God to direct him.
The struggle is painful to read about, but it is also
encouraging because it is the struggle that many young people have with the
church. As a former youth Pastor I can say that this book summarizes the life
of many students that I taught. Many had this same struggle. I’m sure if they
were to read Yancey’s book they would find themselves writing in the margin, “yes,
that is exactly what I felt.”
The book is frustrating for me to read, but also true to the
core about the struggle that many students have with God.
Read, think, meditate, absorb and then ask yourself, “am I
just an intellectual Christian or am I a Christian who fully embraces God with
my whole heart, soul, mind and strength?
Enjoy!
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