Category: Mentors Who Changed Me
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Year with American Saints — September 10, 2026Mary Elizabeth Lange (c. 1784–February 3, 1882)
David was a shepherd—a teenager tending his father’s sheep. Samuel was a child given to God by his mother, Hannah. Abraham was one hundred years old, and Sarah was ninety when the promise of God was fulfilled and Isaac was born. I was fourteen. And Mary Elizabeth Lange was about forty-four. There seems to be…
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Charles Sheldon: A Seed Planted Along My Pilgrimage
September 9, 2026 — A Year with American SaintsCharles Sheldon, February 26, 1857–February 24, 1946 What Would Jesus Do? I first became acquainted with Charles Sheldon when I studied homiletics at Free Will Baptist Bible College. Looking back, there is a little irony in that. Sheldon was sometimes described as a Christian socialist and became…
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Isabel Crawford and the Jesus Road
Sometimes when I read about one of the saints, I discover somebody whose story crosses several paths I have been walking myself. Isabel Alice Hartley Crawford is one of those people. Crawford was born in 1865, the daughter of a Baptist pastor who had served in the Canadian Northwest and the Dakotas. She inherited something…
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Growing into the person God is forming you to be.
I have been walking with the Pilgrim again in The Pilgrim Continues His Way, and this time I found myself feeling sorry for him. After leaving the young shepherd he met in the woods, the Pilgrim finally made his way to Kyiv. He wanted to confess his sins and receive the Holy Mysteries of Christ—the…
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How Good and Pleasant It Is When We Dwell Together in Unity
The saint for September 7 in A Year with American Saints is Timothy Lull. He was a theologian, pastor, professor, seminary president, gifted writer, and speaker. He was also instrumental in the establishment of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Something about his story caught this Curious Pilgrim’s attention. The ELCA sought greater unity among…
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When Our Roads Cross
I continued reading The Pilgrim Continues His Way today. After saying goodbye to the military officer, the Merchant, and his hosts, the Pilgrim continued toward Kyiv. He walked for five days. Then something happened that I understand. He became tired. Not merely physically tired. He became weak and gloomy and found it difficult to pray.…
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Who Am I to Judge?
Today I was reading A Year in the Life of American Saints, and the saint for the day was Bayard Rustin. I recently watched the movie Rustin, so his story was still fresh in my mind. What a remarkable man. Rustin endured rejection, prejudice, imprisonment, and condemnation, yet he devoted much of his life to…
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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,…
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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…
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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…
