BLOGGING TOWARD SUNDAY…

Those of you who did “Living the Questions” with me a couple years back will remember Tex Sample as one of our favorite presenters on the video segment of the class. Tex always had a colorful story to tell, that, while entertaining, also had a way of hitting us right between the eyes.

So…imagine my surprise when I found in the mail that had accumulated since being away at Annual Conference for four (count’em…4!) days a copy of Tex’s latest book, Earthy Mysticism. An autographed copy, no less, from our friends the Ambrosios in Texas! Based on conversations I’ve had with a few of you lately, this is probably THE book you need most to read. Take this from the introduction (and see if it sounds like you!):

I find it almost impossible to do ‘devotions.’ Daily Bible study in the sense of devoting twenty to thirty minutes a day never worked for me. I cannot get around to scheduled times for prayer on my knees with head bowed. I find labyrinths and prayer beads boring. I am ever and again distracted in silent meditation. I simply cannot sustain a spirituality based in such things…

My hunch, and it is more than that, is that a host of people will recognize themselves in what I describe here. What is here is, clearly, my story, but it is not about me. It is about a God of surprises, of One who comes in the ordinary and the seamy. It is about a God who will goose you. It is about mystical moments when clearly the only thing that finally matters is this God who will never leave us alone, especially in the ordinary and angular places of life. It is, I hope, a spirituality for unspiritual people.

Ol’ Tex has always been known for telling it like it is. In this book, he does it so powerfully that, once again, there’s a gaping hole three inches directly below the receding edge of my hairline. Tex got me again, but, by the grace of God, I will heal.

Filed under: Blogging Toward Sunday