DAYBREAK

In this memoir, a man reflects on the watershed moments in his life that transformed him spiritually.

In 1991, Gasque decided to read the Bible in its entirety for the first time, a momentous move to deepen not only his religious knowledge, but also his faith. Shortly after he finished, while at a family Christmas dinner, he was about to enjoy an alcoholic drink but was chastened by an inner voice to forgo it. He interpreted this moment as a kind of sign, an opportunity to extend his faith and clarify his purpose in life. The author’s brief recollection—it is under 100 pages—is thematically devoted to the explication of these “glorious reminders of God’s divine presence,” experiences he likens to a “daybreak.” With impressive sensitivity, Gasque shares a number of these experiences—“strategic times” that seem providentially presented to him. More than a memoir, his reminiscence is a call to vigilantly look for meaning amid the clamor and chaos of everyday life and cultivate a receptivity to communications, however symbolic, from God: “God’s voice is often a mere whisper in the cacophony of a restless and busy culture. But the voice of God is witnessed in ways beyond words. Nature itself is a beautiful example of how the changing of the seasons parallel the seasons of our own lives. Yet we so often pass through them, oblivious to how our Creator is speaking to us.” The author writes lucidly and meditatively, candidly mining his own experiences to illustrate his message. This is a profoundly relatable remembrance—Gasque eventually became a pastor but first suffered the wages of his own “double life”—“torn between earthly pleasures and secular pursuits.” Of course, his account will not appeal to those indifferent to the allure of the spiritual life. But to those open to it and, even better, those actively courting it, this book delivers a striking reflection on the ways an individual’s earthly existence can be interpreted as furnishing a means for transcendence.

A thoughtful rumination on how spiritual signposts can appear in temporal affairs.