“Very long ago, my youthful idealism was momentarily upset when an older friend advised me to seek out a certain person by saying, 'He’s someone worth knowing.’ When the friend saw my reaction, he quickly explained that he wasn’t using the phrase in the sense of someone who would give me economic, political, or social advantage. Quite the opposite: this was the kind of person who would make me want to be a better human being.”
—from the preface
Gifted storyteller and prolific author J. Ellsworth Kalas believes there is much we can learn about our own walk with God from the people in the Bible. In this inspiring book he gives us meditations about sixteen men from Scripture, some of them well known, others not even named. Each of them, he tells us, can teach us something about ourselves and our relationship with God, “not only through their wisdom but sometimes through their errors and their obvious humanness.” The book is ideal for adult study groups, men’s groups, personal devotion, and sermon illustrations.
Chapters include: “The Boy Who Grew into His Coat (Genesis 37),” “The Man Moses (Exodus 2:1–22),” “My Friend, Elijah (1 Kings 19:1–12),” “An Obscure Hero (John 8:1–11),” and “Young Man in a Hurry (Acts 12:6–12).”
J. Ellsworth Kalas is Professor of Preaching and Dean of the Beeson International Center for Biblical Preaching and Church Leadership at Asbury Theological Seminary. He served as a pastor for thirty-eight years and has published more than thirty books, including Grace in a Tree Stump: Old Testament Stories of God’s Love and Preaching the Calendar: Celebrating Holidays and Holy Days (both published by Westminster John Knox Press).
