Review by Ian Acheson
This was a delightful read of a very
humble man who is able to look back at his 80+ years and see how God had His
hand on so many small and large happenings during his life.
I haven't read any of Jerry's books (eg,
“Pursuit of Holiness”)and felt led to read this for some reason and am so glad
for it.
There are so many takeaways from this
short memoir of sorts, a few of which I'll mention in this review. Jerry was
born with a number of physical shortcomings and grew up in a very unassuming
home. It reminds me how God loves taking those who the world wouldn’t expect to
make an impact and use them to do great things for His Kingdom.
Jerry is a disciple of the Navigator
Scripture Memory System and throughout this book he demonstrates how important
the memorisation of Scripture has been in his life. As he says, if there are no
verses hidden in your heart, what words can the Spirit nudge you with when He
wishes to make a point? I love that.
Jerry's idea of "dependent
responsibility" in terms of sanctification which I believe is a theme through many of his works is a
great concept. As he writes:
"We are responsible for
sanctifying our lives but we cannot make one inch of progress in the Christian
life apart from the enabling power of the Holy Spirit." (p 75)
And finally, Jerry attributes his
greatest period of fruitfulness to the last 20 years of his life. To this day, in his eighties, he continues to teach to large groups and bear the fruit from books he has written since retiring from "corporate life". That gives me
great hope that there is still much I can do that can bear fruit for the Lord.
Ian Acheson is an author
and strategy consultant based in Northern Sydney. Ian's first novel of
speculative fiction, Angelguard, is now available in the US, UK, Canada and Australia. You can
find more about Angelguard at Ian's website, on his author Facebook page and Twitter
