What I Learned When I Was Ten - by J Ellsworth Kalas (Paperback)

About the Book

Kalas reflects on how his tenth year of life shaped his Christian faith in many significant ways. It was the year he first read the entire Bible and first felt a calling to ministry. He explores such themes as experiencing salvation, hearing God's call, living life with urgency, embracing positive self-worth, and more. (Motivation)

Book Synopsis

When Did Your Faith Story Begin? In this book popular author J. Ellsworth Kalas reflects on the tenth year of his life, and how that one special year shaped him and his Christian faith in so many important ways. He shares stories about what it was like growing up in Iowa during the days of the Great Depression, and he remembers the people, places, and events of those times that continue to have an impact on his life to this day. The author invites readers to think about their own life journeys and faith stories at the same time, and he explores several key themes, including the importance of connecting with your past, salvation, hearing God's call, living life with urgency, self-worth, investing and giving wisely, discovering the richness of the Bible, having confidence in God's promise, and looking back over your life to make sense of all the lessons you have learned. The book includes a discussion guide. J. ELLSWORTH KALAS has been part of the faculty at Asbury Theological Seminary since 1993, after thirty-eight years as a United Methodist pastor and five years in evangelism with the World Methodist Council. He has been a presenter on Disciple videos, is the author of the Christian Believer study, and has written more than thirty books, including the popular "Back Side" series, The Thirteen Apostles, and Longing to Pray: How the Psalms Teach Us to Talk with God.

Review Quotes

"I read somewhere that for most people the tenth year of life is the most important. It shapes, perhaps even controls, much of what follows....My tenth year is a long one. It began in August 1932 when I was still nine, and concluded in February 1934 just as I reached eleven. Everything that has happened to me in the more than sixty years since then is a product of those eighteen months....Our food was unimaginably simple, our clothing so limited that some of our bedrooms had no closet....And of course we lived very close to poverty and pain; our elders didn't try to shelter us from such realities. But we had a surprising sense of dignity and self respect, and we believed that virtue had its own rewards, and we intended to pursue those virtues. And even in the least religious homes there was likely to be a wall hanging with a Scripture verse, or a reminder of God: 'Christ is the head of this house; the guest at every meal; the unseen listener to every conversation.