I was baptized and confirmed a Lutheran, and as an adolescent, I was very committed in my faith, even when questions arose that my “teachers” could not, or were not qualified to address.

Perhaps, because of the unanswered questions of my adolescence, and other influences in my young adulthood, my quest for truth became stunted, and like many others who were coming of age in the era of  “free love” and “Jesus Christ Superstar,” I became a drifter. I was a nomad, an itinerant seeker, who gravitated toward anything that was not, as I supposed, the “misguided teachings” of my youth. I had heard the Chinese Proverb about the many paths up the mountain, and I was determined to follow a new course, a “better” route than my forebears had followed. And, while I do still believe there are, indeed, many roads one can take in the quest for truth and wisdom, I also know, save for The Way, they are rock-strewn and difficult to navigate, leading absolutely nowhere . I have been there, I have done that, and through the grace of God I have survived it.

There is no easy way to seek truth, no short cuts, and no secret passages that get you there faster, or prepare you more thoroughly. It’s hard work and takes commitment, and the collected wisdom that’s held in the some 60+ books that are scripture represent a more intricate road than any I have willfully wandered.  After traversing quite a few of the aforementioned roads to nowhere, I find myself back where I started, back to the path I know, and I am, once again, where I belong – the prodigal son (and in my case daughter) has returned home.

~SLM