Category: Mentors Who Changed Me
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The Making of a Curious Pilgrim
Today I began reading The Road to Emmaus: Pilgrimage as a Way of Life by Jim Forest. In the introduction, Forest recalls learning about pilgrims in school—the English Puritans who crossed the Atlantic on the Mayflower. Later, he discovered the World Book Encyclopedia and began exploring a world far beyond his own neighborhood. His memories…
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Remain Connected to the Source
Pilgrim Series: The Sixth Meeting—Unceasing Prayer and Salvation Source: The Pilgrim Continues His Way, author unknown, translated by Olga Savin, Shambhala, 2001 Over the years, I have heard salvation described in two very different ways. Some speak as though salvation were a single act of God’s grace after which the way we live no longer…
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Saints in My Book
Some saints will never be remembered on a church calendar or written about in a book of saints. Their names may not be known beyond their families, classrooms, churches, and communities. Yet they will always be saints in my book. My parents were among my first saints. They were imperfect people, as we all are,…
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Abby Kelley Foster: When Faithfulness Requires Confrontation
Saint for September 26, 2026Abby Kelley Foster (January 15, 1811–January 14, 1887)Quaker, Abolitionist, and Advocate for EqualitySource: A Year with American Saints by G. Scott Cady and Christopher L. Webber, Church Publishing, 2001 Abby Kelley Foster was raised in a loving but strict Quaker family. As a young woman, she became a teacher. After hearing…
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Melville B. Cox: Planting an Unfinished Work
Saint for Friday, September 25, 2026Melville Beveridge Cox, MethodistNovember 9, 1799–July 21, 1833 Melville B. Cox knew grief, illness, and interrupted plans. Born near Hallowell, Maine, in 1799, he entered the New England Methodist Conference as an itinerant preacher in 1822. Tuberculosis forced him to stop preaching in 1825. He moved to Baltimore, worked in…
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When Love Takes the Risk
“No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”—John 15:13 When I read about Clara Louise Maass, I am reminded of the Martyrs of Memphis and many others who entered places of suffering and disease to help people in need. They did not all take the same road, and…
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God Uses What Is in Our Hands
Saint for September 22, 2026: Samuel Eli CornishPresbyterian Minister, Abolitionist, Publisher, and Journalist1795–November 6, 1858 “God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform.” When I read the story of Samuel Eli Cornish, I am reminded that God’s calling is not limited to a church building or a pulpit. God calls people from every…
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Project: The Pilgrim Continues His WaySeries: Lord Jesus Christ, Teach Me to See*Part 4: Teach Me to See My Neighbor
Source: The Pilgrim Continues His Way, Author Unknown, translated by Olga Savin, Shambhala, Boulder, 2001. Lord Jesus Christ, Teach Me to See My Neighbor In my last reflection on The Pilgrim Continues His Way, another prayer was added to my School of Prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, teach me to see. The Skhimnik has been teaching…
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Freedom Sent Her on a Mission
Remembering Sojourner Truth September 21, 2026 Some saints inherit wealth, education, and influence. Sojourner Truth began life with none of these. Born Isabella Baumfree around 1797, she entered the world enslaved in New York. Dutch was her first language. When she was about nine years old, she was sold at auction with a flock of…
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The Harvest Becomes Seed Again
The Pilgrim Continues His WaySeptember 13, 2026The Pilgrim’s Account of the Fifth MeetingFellow Traveler: The BarinSource: The Pilgrim Continues His Way, translated by Olga Savin, Shambhala, 2001 I have learned so much from The Pilgrim Continues His Way, but this may be the clearest and most direct lesson I have received from the book. I…
