Mystical Encounter
Choosing Heaven
A guide to mystical encounter written from thirty years outside the Church and back again - the difference between talking faith and living faith, and the daily, lived union between Creator and creation.
A memoir of return. After nearly thirty years away from the church, the author found his way back, not to religion, but to Christ himself. This book traces that journey: the slow unravelling of a life built on self-sufficiency, and the discovery that God's love never coerces, only invites.
Choosing Heaven: A Guide to Mystical Encounter - forthcoming.
Excerpts
Preface
There was a season when I left the church for nearly thirty years. My belief in God remained, but I could no longer reconcile what I read in Scripture with what I saw in practice. I saw people talking about love while harboring bitterness, preaching grace while withholding it, defending truth while forgetting mercy. I did not know then that even my disillusionment was grace—that the God I loved was leading me through a wilderness of unlearning so that I could rediscover Him without pretense. When life eventually stripped me bare—physically, emotionally, and financially—I found myself seeking refuge with my sister, who gently invited me back to church. There, in the simplicity of worship and the sincerity of her faith, I felt a spark re-ignite. It was not the religion I returned to—it was Christ Himself.
Chapter 4
This is love at its most divine: a love that never manipulates, never coerces, never demands. From the Garden of Eden onward, God has honored the human will. Adam and Eve were free to obey — or to rebel. That freedom still stands. God will call, but He will not compel. He will whisper, but He will not shout down the noise of our desires.