I am from a small town in Mississippi. I grew up an independent ,fundamentalist Baptist. In my adult life I have walked away from being a fundamentalist because I felt it was focused more on the wrath of God instead of the love and grace of God. I am a part of a loving church where it is encouraged to ask questions. I have grown a lot in this congregation. I just want you to know I appreciate your testimony. I find you inspiring. I just recently finished reading your book “Where the Light Fell.” It really blessed me.

then 2 weeks ago, a lifelong friend sent me a link to your interview on an amazing podcast. i listened and thought: “it is now time for me to begin reading philip’s books,” starting with ‘where the light fell.'”

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/restoring-the-soul-with-michael-john-cusick/id1120914952?i=1000582008497

i hafta say i want to read the other 140,000 words of your early draft that didnt make it in the book, please!! 😊 reading “where the light fell” was like time travel for me, reviewing my childhood growing up in AR in the 1960’s, my version of the south – even though i am about a decade younger than you.😉

coupla things then i will go. 1) i completely understand the time you spent on marshall’s story. there was a book years ago something like “my mother, myself.” well, in my case, it is “my siblings, myself.” supposedly, we are more genetically related to our siblings than either parent, since we share the dna of both. 2) my maternal granny was among the first pentecostals in AR who was “filled with the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in tongues.” granny, who was also a preacher and started several churches, was my spiritual mother, since my mother and most of her 11 siblings ran fast in the other direction from the extreme views of their upbringing. i continue to tell my story, as a means of sorting through it. for example, just yesterday, i told my hair stylist that i still feel guilty (not by the Spirit’s voice but from granny’s) for my short haircut and feel like i look like a man because granny used to sing “why do you bob your hair girl?”

***thank you*** for your memoir and the list of others in this blogpost. i do indeed see my own story in yours. i have many favorites but my current favorite line is your last: “above all else, grace is a gift, one i cannot stop writing about until my story ends.” ps: congratulations on your 50 years with janet!🙌🏼

And the story has not ended. Since I turned in the mss., my mother and brother have had their first contacts in 51 years. Not exactly reconciliation, but definite progress.

I remember that unique name, Aleks, and I’m glad to hear we’ve connected once again.

Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret, John Wesley’s Journals, Adoniram Judson, Henri Nouwen’s Genesee Diary, Thomas Merton, Frederick Buechner