Category: Mentors Who Changed Me
-
Traveling Companions: Why The Curious Pilgrim
Friday, August 21, 2026Series: Traveling Companions Recently, I found myself in a conversation with two of the people I work with through AARP Foundation SCSEP in Springfield, Missouri. All three of us are over 55, which means we have accumulated more than a few stories along the way. There was Deborah, a Black woman; Marla,…
-
Who Challenges Me?
Series: Mentors Who Changed MeTuesday, August 18, 2026 Who challenges you to use the gifts you have been given? I have been reading A Year with American Saints by G. Scott Cady and Christopher L. Webber. The person featured for August 18 is Jacob Abbott, and I found myself identifying with him. Abbott was born…
-
The Reluctant Saints: When God Calls the Unlikely
Category: Mentors Who Changed MeSeries: Who Challenges Me?The Curious Pilgrim I did not grow up studying the saints. Of course, I had heard the names of some of them. In Bible College and Seminary, I encountered people such as Augustine, Ambrose, Francis of Assisi, and others as part of Church History. But studying someone historically…
-
Who Challenges Me?
Tuesday, August 11, 2026Series: Mentors Who Changed Me Who is your best friend? What makes that person your friend? Most of us have only a small number of people we would consider our closest friends. That number may seem small, but I believe it is probably accurate. We may know many people during our lifetime,…
-
What Book Changed the Way You See the World?
The Seed of Mysterious Grace There are books that teach us facts, and there are books that quietly plant seeds that continue to grow long after we have closed their covers. For me, one of those books was The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church. While studying at Memphis Theological Seminary, I was…
-
We All Stand on the Shoulders of Someone
Who has inspired you to become a better person? As I have grown older, I have come to realize that none of us reaches this point in life alone. We all stand on the shoulders of people who believed in us, challenged us, encouraged us, or quietly showed us what it means to live with…
-
Fear Is Part of the Journey, But Not the Final Chapter
Series: What Book Changed the Way You See the World? How many of you remember the Weekly Reader we received in school? It introduced us to new books and gave us the opportunity to order them. I looked forward to those little newspapers and the adventures they promised. Growing up just after World War II,…
-
Open Heart. Open Hands. Clear Boundaries.
Today’s Curious Pilgrim topic is “We all stand on the shoulders of someone who believed in us.” The greatest lessons I have learned in life have not come from books or classrooms. They have come from experience. As I reflect on the people whose shoulders I stand on today, I have realized that one of…
-
What Book Changed the Way You See the World?
Some books entertain us. Others inform us. A few quietly shape the way we see ourselves, other people, and the world. The book that changed the way I see the world is not just one book. It is a collection of books written over many centuries that asks three timeless questions: Who am I? Why…
The Curious Pilgrim 