Summary
A Down to Earth God: Devotionals for the Nature Lover is an inspirational non-fiction collection of earthy country stories illustrating scripture. Garry Genser, who pastors a country church in a small Northern California town in Humboldt County, humorously reveals his own weaknesses, inviting us to more fully explore our own souls. In this process, simple scriptural truths come to life.
Dr. Samuel Bacciocchi, a retired Professor of Theology and Church History at Andrews University, wrote:
Garry Genser's devotionals capture vivid spiritual insights from common daily experiences. They will help you to see the leading hand of God in your life and inspire you to a greater commitment to His will.
Because everyone loves a good story this book is truly cross generational. The vivid word pictures and the real life interactions between animals, land and people grip the attention, while the style is direct, almost Hemingwayesque, at times, the language is beautiful and heart-stirring.
The scripture follows the story, rather than preceding it, which invites dialogue and makes the book very appealing for family and small group devotionals. The moral of the stories, revealed painlessly in the scriptures themselves with very little exposition, is transmitted without the reader being turned off by religiosity. With these inspiring stories one doesn't have to suffer the look of boredom when readers hear, "the moral of the story is..."
National Youth Leadership figure, Steve Case, President of Piece of the Pie Ministries, writes:
I have used Garry Genser's inspirational stories for my family worship. Get ready for refreshing insights and for your love and appreciation of God to grow!
This book will endure the test of time because it explores human nature honestly through the observation of real life drama. Garry Genser's devotionals are engaging and uplifting and will add great depth to your spiritual life.
About the Author
Garry Genser was torn from the oak forests and rolling meadows of Illinois when his parents relocated to Chicago to get work. He escaped to a Benedictine Monastery in the woods of Arkansas when a lady who cleaned the local priest's house referred him to a monk traveling the country recruiting teenagers.
After two years he rejected the monastic life to move back to Chicago. He wrote his first novel in an unheated attic that was entered by a crooked stairway in the bathroom of the third floor apartment beneath. Joining a cult, getting married, becoming a teacher then a business man, Garry found no peace until he surrendered to the God who created him. A Down to Earth God: devotionals for the nature lover celebrates an amazing God who seeks out each one of us through the daily circumstances of our lives.
