Born to Wander
Recovering the Value of Our Pilgrim Identity
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- $199.00
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- $199.00
Descripción editorial
Why are we so restless?
All of us have a little wanderlust—a desire for that next thing, that new place, but this competes with our longings for security, control, and safety. We don’t like how it feels to be unsettled and uprooted. Whether we’re navigating a season of transition, dealing with the fallout of broken relationships, or wrestling with a deep sense of restlessness, we are all experiencing some form of exile. And most of us do whatever we can to numb the feelings of unbelonging, powerlessness, and unsettledness that come with it. But the truth is that exile has a profound purpose if we can just learn to lean in.
Over and over again Scripture tells us that the people of God are exiles and wanderers. And this is good news because exile is what transforms us into pilgrims. In Christ, we are no longer directionless wanderers, but pilgrim followers who have a clear purpose and a secure identity. In Born to Wander, Michelle Van Loon weaves together personal stories and keen insights on the biblical themes of pilgrimage and exile. She will help you embrace your own pilgrim identity and reorient your heart toward the God who leads you home. Engaging and thoughtful, enhanced with practical suggestions, prayers, and questions, Born to Wander will teach how to trust God even when you don’t understand what’s happening around you and follow Him even when it hurts.
If you keep chasing security, you’ll never find it. Embrace the purpose behind the wandering and discover the freedom and safety of resting in God alone.
“Every one of us carries a restlessness that runs as deep as the marrow of our born-again bones. Our relationships shift like tectonic plates. We change jobs. We switch churches. And our culture tells us the cure for our restlessness is to buy a new mattress, a new car, or a new tube of toothpaste.”
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Van Loon (If Only), Christianity Today contributor and cofounder of the Perennial Gen lifestyle website, channels the Jewish story of exile in this spirited discussion of the "pilgrim identity" embedded within Christianity. Everyone is living in exile, writes Van Loon, and the purpose of exile is to mold believers into pilgrims following in the path of Jesus Christ. For Van Loon, pilgrimage during the life of a Christian (both practically and metaphorically) is always away from a settled, comfortable life and into one that will reorient followers toward their true home God himself. Van Loon, who has traveled to Jerusalem seven times, is well educated in biblical history and spends a large portion of the book paraphrasing narratives from the Old and New Testaments such as the story of Abraham, the Jewish diaspora after Assyrian and Babylonian capture, and the disciples Jesus sent out that will help readers understand the passages in their historical context. She asserts that pilgrimage carries three themes: moral, physical, and interior. Each chapter ends with a series of questions considering these aspects of pilgrimage stories, as well as a prayer about different challenges of the pilgrim's journey. Van Loon's fervent book demonstrates how a response to follow God can be an invitation to a life of motion.
