One Step at a Time

Samuel Isaac Joseph Schereschewsky (May 6, 1831–October 15, 1906)
Series: A Year with American Saints
September 11, 2026

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” — Proverbs 3:5–6

Samuel Isaac Joseph Schereschewsky was born into a Jewish family in Lithuania. Orphaned while still young, he apparently went to live with a half-brother. His family saw great promise in him and expected him to become a rabbi.

He didn’t.

Samuel’s road took a turn.

While studying at a rabbinical school, he was given a Hebrew copy of the New Testament. As he studied it, he gradually became convinced that Jesus was the Messiah. Eventually he came to the United States, where his religious journey continued.

He became a Baptist.

Then a Presbyterian.

Then an Episcopalian.

Eventually, the Jewish boy whose family expected him to become a rabbi became an Episcopal missionary, priest, and finally Bishop of Shanghai, China.

One never knows where the journey of life will take us.

Samuel became especially known for his meticulous work translating the Bible into Chinese. Even after illness left him severely disabled, he continued the work, slowly typing his translation with two fingers.

But as remarkable as that accomplishment is, something else about his story caught my attention.

He kept following the road.

Jesus talked about the broad way and the narrow way. Robert Frost wrote about two roads diverging in a wood and choosing the road less traveled. Proverbs tells us to trust God rather than depending entirely upon our own understanding.

All three make me think about the choices we make along the journey.

One decision opens a door.

Another closes one.

Sometimes we take a detour. Sometimes we discover that the road we chose circles around and brings us back near someplace we have already been. Sometimes the road takes us somewhere we never imagined going.

I understand something of Samuel’s journey because my own journey has been something like that.

I was raised Free Will Baptist. I became Nazarene. Then Methodist. Eventually I became Episcopalian.

And now, more than anything else, I simply call myself a follower of Jesus.

I have heard those two words:

Follow me.

When Jesus called Peter and Andrew, James and John, I doubt they had any idea what those words were going to mean.

They left their nets.

They took the next step.

Then another.

And another.

They could not see where the road would eventually take them.

Neither can we.

Years ago, my mother-in-law asked me a question I didn’t know how to answer.

“Why do you always want change?”

I didn’t know.

Looking back over the road now, I think I understand her question differently.

Maybe I wasn’t always looking for change.

Maybe I was looking for the road.

There have been plenty of detours. There have been roads I traveled for a while before discovering I needed to turn around. There have been doors that opened and doors that closed. There have been times when I had absolutely no idea where I was going.

But looking backward, I can see something I couldn’t always see while I was walking.

Grace.

Mysterious Grace.

The mysterious grace of God has continued to direct my ways.

That doesn’t mean God handed me a map showing every turn before I started. Quite the opposite.

I have usually been given enough light for the next step.

And perhaps that is faith.

Samuel Schereschewsky could not have known as an orphaned Jewish boy in Lithuania that his road would eventually take him to China, where he would become an Episcopal bishop and devote his life to translating the Sacred Writings into Chinese. His work continued even after severe disability limited what he could physically do.

Peter and Andrew didn’t know where Jesus was taking them when they dropped their nets.

James and John didn’t know either.

And neither do I.

Maybe my responsibility isn’t to know where the road ends.

Maybe my responsibility is simply to listen when I hear:

Follow me.

Then trust the mysterious grace of God enough to take the next step.

I don’t know where it will lead.

But then, neither did Samuel.

And neither did the fishermen.

That’s why they call it faith.

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Source: G. Scott Cady and Christopher L. Webber, A Year with American Saints. Additional biographical information supplied from the accompanying biographical material on Samuel Isaac Joseph Schereschewsky.