First Time?

I have been reading my first fiction book in a very long time. It actually may be the first one ever. I read my share of Cliff Notes on fiction books in high school but I'm not certain I ever read one from cover to cover. It has been refreshing and I have really enjoyed it. It is a story of a man's life that had dreams of becoming a pastor but ended up becoming a barber, grave digger, and church custodian. The writer, Wendell Berry, is an amazing story teller and shares a sense of humor that consistently surprises me. The theological undertones are flooded throughout the book. The following excerpt from the book seemed to ring so true in my heart, if not in my life. (I didn't allow the purgatory reference to be a stumbling block.)

"If you could do it, I suppose, it would be a good idea to live your life in a straight line--starting, say, in the Dark Wood of Error, and proceeding by logical steps through Hell and Purgatory and into Heaven. Or you could take the King's Highway past appropriately named dangers, toils, and snares, and finally cross the River of Death and enter the Celestial City. But that is not how I have done it, so far. I am a pilgrim, but my pilgrimage has been wandering and unmarked. Often what has looked like a straight line to me has been a circle or a doubling back. I have been in the Dark Wood of Error any number of times. I have known something of Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven, but not always in that order. The names of many snares and dangers have been made known to me, but I have seen them only in looking back. Often I have not known where I was going until I was already there. I have had my share of desires and goals, but my life has come to me or I have gone to it mainly by way of mistakes and surprises. Often I have received better than I deserved. Often my fairest hopes have rested on bad mistakes. I am an ignorant pilgrim, crossing a dark valley. And yet for a long time, looking back, I have been unable to shake off the feeling that I have been led--make of that what you will."

Wendell Berry in: Jayber Crow pg 133