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Wanderings With God
10% of the Author's royalty from the sale of this book will be donated to charities.
We are all pilgrims on the narrow road to salvation and Wanderings with God was written in the belief that it will offer my fellow pilgrims hope and direction in their walk with God. In it I share some of my experiences as I wandered with God, both the nice and the not so nice, as I share my love of nature and how it helps me to get closer to God. Ive always been fascinated by spirituality and write, for example, of my own struggles to obey the Bibles imperative to pray continuously. I also address such subjects as becoming aware of the continuous Presence of God with us in our daily lives. I try to address the difficulties of being obedient to the Law of God but also to share the value and benefits of always trying to find Gods will for my life.
Terry was a practising lawyer for 25 years before answering a call into the ordained ministry in the Anglican Church of Southern Africa. As a Priest he spent time as a Prison Chaplain as well as a Hospital Chaplain before being appointed to parish ministry. A one-time law lecturer and subsequent tutor of theology, he is now retired from full-time ministry, lives in New Zealand and spends his spare time writing novels. This is Terrys first religious book and he hopes to write at least one more.
Excerpt from Wanderings With God
WONDER OF EASTER
As a newly married couple my wife and I loved to travel to the Kruger National Park or Mkhuze Game Reserve, for the long Easter weekend. In fact our son spent his very first birthday in Kruger Park and it wasnt long thereafter that he learnt to talk and announced that he was going to work in a Game Reserve when he grew up, a decision he never wavered from. He never wanted to be a doctor, a lawyer (like his Dad), a policeman or a fireman; he never doubted that he was going to work in a game reserve, and that he did.
Easter in South Africa very much marks the change of seasons as summer gives way to autumn and there is, very definitely, a feeling of change in the air. I still get this feeling today around Eastertide and to me that longing for Kruger Park is always associated with Easter. Even since I was ordained as a Priest and had to work Easters and we could no longer spend that time away from home, Im still filled with that same old Easter excitement. Yet, that Easter longing to be in a game reserve has done me the world of good as I now enjoy Easter as my favourite season of the Church.
It might sound strange to have Easter, not Christmas, as ones favourite season of the Church, but I believe this has happened for many reasons. (Let me also hasten to add that I believe one shouldnt have a favourite season, as all the churchs seasons are special). First and foremost it has taught me something very special about that Love of God, a Love only a parent can really understand.
Jesus taught that one could show no greater love than to lay down ones life for another (John 15: 13). If I am perfectly honest I know that I would definitely lay down my life for my children, my wife, my grandchildren, but for anyone else? Im not sure about that. And yet Jesus proved His Love for us when He died on that cross. He had plenty of opportunities to avoid the cross, opportunities I would probably have grabbed at, and He even had opportunities to come down off that cross and wow them when the mob challenged Him to do so, but He never did. He stayed there for me and for you.
Easter can be a healing experience if we allow it, as after all the pain, grief, injustice and sufferings of Holy Week and Good Friday, Easter Day is triumphant. In a former parish we never allowed the Good Friday services to be just the traditional three-hour so-called, agony service. (The agony coming I think mostly from trying to draw out the service into three hours and boring the parishioners in the process).
Be that as it may we always made the service, which co-incidentally was never planned to last for three hours and yet more often than not ended up about three hours, into a deeply spiritual experience. On one occasion I challenged all the parishioners to choose an individual from the Bible, Old or New Testament, and then be that character and then come forward to share with the congregation what he or she felt and experienced as that person stood in the crowd and watched Jesus suffer and die. Many accepted my challenge and it was quite an eye-opener to hear some of their testimonies that Good Friday.
On Maundy Thursday nights we would never just have a simple foot washing service but would always incorporate some sort of action (such as a short play) into the service so that the people could participate and be part of the service. Sometimes the participation was in a Christian version of the Last Supper, or the old Jewish Passover meal, but things always ended with the foot washing, and not just the clergy washing parishioners feet, but with all of us washing each others feet. A tremendously healing experience, particularly where some of the parishioners were in need of forgiving each other. Because parishioners had felt that they had actually played a part in the service, most of them remained afterwards for the vigil, Were you not able to stay awake with me one Hour? (Matthew 26: 40). The result was that our Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter services were always jam-packed full.
Easter is probably the time of the year when I most regret that clergy have to retire, and as Easter approaches this year I cannot help but wonder at the churchs requirement that all clergy must retire at a certain age, such a waste of years of experience and talent. But thats another story not needing to be aired in this book. What needs to be said here is that Easter is such a triumphant time to me, especially when I am reminded of that old story of the American deep south where some old lady, her face streaked with grief and tears, announced to the congregation after the end of the Good Friday service, Never you mind; remember Sunday is a-coming! What faith! What an example of love for Jesus!
I often use this dear Ladys pronouncement when I tend to feel down as I look at the world around me. There are such beautiful people out there, so busy surrendering to their every whim and fancy instead of surrendering to Jesus. These people have rejected Jesus and the teachings of the Bible and secretly smirk at, sometimes even outright mocking, those of us who have chosen to follow Christ. But I take comfort in the fact that the same Bible they reject assures me that it is not Christs wish that even one of these lost ones should continue to be lost. That is why He told us (Mt. 28: 19) to go out as His witnesses to the ends of the earth to tell of His love. And when I do just that and I feel the rejection of that message, I still can find comfort in those incredibly wise words, Remember, Sunday is a-coming.
The call to go out and tell of the Love of God is daunting, but it does not have to be so. If each one of us would just go out and witness to those around about us that we know and love, our families, friends, work-mates and school-mates, we would soon evangelise the world and the day of Christs second coming would be here! Not all of us are called to go out to the ends of the world to be evangelists, but each and every one of us is called to at least witness to those closest to us, our families, friends, workmates and schoolmates. When the demon-possessed man called Legion (Mark 5:19) wanted to follow Jesus after he had been rid of his demons, Jesus refused his request and instead told him to go to his own loved ones and tell them what God had done for him. That is what the triumph of Easter should inspire us to do! Go tell.
Table of Contents for Wanderings With God
| WONDER OF CREATION |
| WONDER OF CHOICE |
| WONDER OF LAW |
| WONDER OF FORGIVENESS |
| WONDER OF THE CROSS |
| WONDER OF PRAYER |
| WONDER OF LOVE |
| WONDER OF EASTER |
| WONDER OF FOLLOWING HIM |
| WONDER OF PRESENCE |
| WONDER OF WONDERS |
| FINAL WONDER |
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