I don’t think I’ve ever essayed here before on a book recently out, nor one that I’m in the midst of reading. And technically, I’m not doing that now because this book I’m engaged with is not actually a book. It’s a booklet. A.k.a. a little book: Jesus Is Everything. By fellow substacker Jon Cardwell.
“Key to Unlocking the Mysteries of the Bible”
I have also been reading The Storied Life by Jared C. Wilson. Here is a witness in words to corroborate what I am about to say concerning Jon Cardwell's booklet, Jesus Is Everything.
He asks, "If I stated to a group of friends and people that the Bible is important, most of them would probably not know why. Why is the Bible important?"
Current Pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Ninilchik, Alaska, Jon Cardwell gives us an excellent storied testimony. "Because of my grandmother's influence, I attempted to read my father's King James Version of the Bible in 1972, at the age of 12. I never made it past Genesis chapter five. I couldn't make sense of it. Why? " (p. 5)
He goes on to say he needed to be a believer. "Since the Lord had not yet saved me, I was natural. I was spiritually dead because of my sins and trespasses against a holy God. I would not understand the Bible until I was nearly 25 years old." (p. 6)
We are then given a storied account of his life beginning as a searching young man, as Navy First-class Petty Officer, a deep-sea diver, hearing the good news from Navy fellows in their shipboard Bible studies before evening taps. Still none of it made sense.
Without otherwise engaging he sat silent, just listening. They said he was a sinner and, "it didn't offend me." What was a sinner? It was casually put to him: "you know, we didn't come from monkeys." To which Jon replied "I know, I've been to the San Diego zoo and monkeys don't do the stupid stuff I do." (p. 6)
He was noticing differences between him and the young men who believed that Jesus was everything. Differences in spirit and behavior. John was living for weekends, hanging out with those who used the Lord Jesus' name with no respect, and apparently ignorant of the fact.
But his own attempts at "being good," frustrated him, seemed to make the understanding of his sin nature greater. He was overwhelmed and confused. What questions should he even ask?
He decided to quit the Bible studies with these believers, but when asked to join another, he simply said "yes" while deciding not to attend.
He had not intentionally memorized the verse in Isaiah which pointed out separation from God was caused by "iniquities."
"I didn't know Isaiah from Jonah or John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt." (p. 7) But that verse struck him and years later he saw that this was the first the Lord used to capture his attention. Oddly, "this verse of Scripture rolling around in my head didn't make things better. Far from it! They made things worse.... [Wretched] I must've seemed to others like a zombie walking around the darkened passageways of the ship after taps. (p. 7) He did pray, asking God strike him down if his salvation was not going to be a thing. "[Ask] send me to hell...." then the verse from Isaiah raptured him instantly. "I knew my sins against God had caused him to hide his face from me." But Jon had cried out "and You're not even hearing me!" (p. 8)
I dunno about you but this story sure is captivating me.
Which brings me to Jared C. Wilson's The Storied Life, in which Wilson states that participation is vital to engaging "[T]he Story being told by God with our lives. And certainly," he says, "participation is a vital element in reflecting the liturgy of story in our writing." (p. 52)
Jon Cardwell's writing of his story was illuminated for me by Wilson's urging writers "to move readers to feel, think, or do something. Instead of simply projecting a scene to them, you put them in it." (p. 53) Jon Cardwell's story embodies this engagement in Jesus Is Everything.
John is a preacher and in this work of his Christian nonfiction he is calling us to worship. Every sermon must have a story, and if you will click on the link at the end of this essay, you will find another place of God’s story telling to you.
Now from Jon J. Cardwell's Daily Devotionals & Commentaries, here is something he wrote on his Daily Devotional on Substack:
“When the Holy Spirit illuminates Scripture to us so as to see our Lord Christ exalted in its pages and magnified in our lives, we are humbled in His presence. We recognize that [...] it is only by grace our prayers may be offered with a penitent hush and a bowed head. Moreover, [...] when the Holy Spirit illuminates today’s Scripture verse [Psalm 88:2] to the eyes of our hearts, we must first offer prayers of praise and thanksgiving because [of] God’s abounding grace in Christ....”
Anglican Church of the Good Shepherd is another gospel church located in Binghamton New York. Both are full of good news. They also know what Advent means.