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The Winding Path of Transformation: Finding Yourself Between Glory and Humility
Jeff Tacklind, pastor of Church by the Sea--a quirky, diverse congregation in Laguna Beach, California--knows from decades of ministry experience that sometimes effective leadership looks like standing in the middle of conflict, holding the tension.
In The Winding Path of Transformation, Tacklind describes spiritual transformation as an invitation to paradox. By entering into suffering, he says, we find joy. By embracing the downward path of humility, we find glory. And by remaining small, sometimes we grow to great heights.
Any leaders who have wondered if God really called them to lead a congregation will resonate with Tacklind's vulnerability in this honest and meditative account. So will readers who have found their own spiritual journey to be winding and halting rather than a constant ascent of growth. Tacklind draws from the natural world--trees, waves, mountains, and canyons--to bring to life the lessons that he has picked up along the way. C. S. Lewis, Henri Nouwen, Soren Kierkegaard and others all serve as guides who light the way on the winding path of following God.
In The Winding Path of Transformation, Tacklind describes spiritual transformation as an invitation to paradox. By entering into suffering, he says, we find joy. By embracing the downward path of humility, we find glory. And by remaining small, sometimes we grow to great heights.
Any leaders who have wondered if God really called them to lead a congregation will resonate with Tacklind's vulnerability in this honest and meditative account. So will readers who have found their own spiritual journey to be winding and halting rather than a constant ascent of growth. Tacklind draws from the natural world--trees, waves, mountains, and canyons--to bring to life the lessons that he has picked up along the way. C. S. Lewis, Henri Nouwen, Soren Kierkegaard and others all serve as guides who light the way on the winding path of following God.
- GenresChristianitySpirituality
192 pages, Paperback
Published July 9, 2019
9 people are currently reading
58 people want to read
About the author
Jeff Tacklind
1 book4 followersJeff Tacklind is lead pastor of Church by the Sea in Laguna Beach, California, where he lives with his wife and three children. He is a spiritual director and has a master's degree in philosophy and a doctorate in semiotics and future studies.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
September 12, 2019
This book is full of wisdom, fun, and will bring the reader so much joy! Jeff's insight into a life of spirituality and apprenticeship to Jesus will light up souls and remind them how loved and cared for we are. This book told me that God cares about the little things we pray for. That while we are going through the stages of transformation, we are embarking on significant opportunities for growth in the midst of them, no matter how dark they may feel. This book is beautifully written and will leave the reader with a smile on their face :)
September 22, 2019
Summary: The author proposes that spiritual growth means walking in paradoxical tensions of glory and humility lived out in a winding journey toward the transformation of our character and spiritual freedom.
Jeffrey Tacklind proposes that the path to spiritual transformation is lived in a middle place between glory and humility, and similar tensions or paradoxes. In truth, we often find ourselves in that tension, at once longing for greatness, while conscious that we are finite and fallen creatures. We are "glorious ruins" in the words of Francis Schaeffer.
Tacklind traces this journey for us, using incidents in his own journey to illustrate this journey, one that is not arrow straight but winding. He describes an encounter with an alder tree in a dry stream bed, with roots that grow deep to draw any bit of water and branches flexible to bend with wind and flood. To be rooted without being rigid is indeed to live in a middle place. He describes vocational tensions of ambition and rejection and hearing God just say "do this" as he engages a visitor to his congregation in a coffee shop, one who was spiritually seeking and asking questions.
He walks us through the winding trail of life's different seasons of birth, death and resurrection. He urges us to face desolation to find joy, to wait in a pressured, distracted world, to face our longings to belong and the pain of choosing to stand between opposing sides without belonging to either (naming a pain I have often felt). He invites us into a path of living in the questions rather than grasping for certitude.
The path to transformation is a slow path as it wanders toward wholeness. There is the struggle to discover who "me" is, drawn as we are by "shoulds" and comparisons. Sometimes, it is small prayers and consequent obedient faith that discovers God in the small things like finding a son's lost report card award card. It is learning that it is in our brokenness that the work of the cross manifests in our lives.
A fly-fishing episode illustrates another part of the path. God has his own ways in our joy grief, our glory and humility. Pulling fish out of the river is more than just a good cast and setting the hook. It is yielding to the wisdom of the river, the wisdom river guides learn in studying the river for where the fish are. It is a wisdom that ceases striving and yields. God leads us out and leads us back, again and again in life.
One has the sense of listening to someone whose life is very much a "work in progress" and his refreshing candor helps us relax into the possibility that life and spiritual progress are like that for all of us, and that's OK. This is not a book of prescriptions for a fulfilling spiritual life, but an account from one pilgrim to others of what the journey is like and insights into the way God meets us in the tensions and contradictions and perplexities of our lives. You may have reached the point in your journey where all the "answers" of how the Christian life works don't seem to quite fit your own winding path. This work might better help you understand the true nature of the journey on which you've embarked, while encouraging you with a hope that may be even richer than you thought.
________________________________
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
Jeffrey Tacklind proposes that the path to spiritual transformation is lived in a middle place between glory and humility, and similar tensions or paradoxes. In truth, we often find ourselves in that tension, at once longing for greatness, while conscious that we are finite and fallen creatures. We are "glorious ruins" in the words of Francis Schaeffer.
Tacklind traces this journey for us, using incidents in his own journey to illustrate this journey, one that is not arrow straight but winding. He describes an encounter with an alder tree in a dry stream bed, with roots that grow deep to draw any bit of water and branches flexible to bend with wind and flood. To be rooted without being rigid is indeed to live in a middle place. He describes vocational tensions of ambition and rejection and hearing God just say "do this" as he engages a visitor to his congregation in a coffee shop, one who was spiritually seeking and asking questions.
He walks us through the winding trail of life's different seasons of birth, death and resurrection. He urges us to face desolation to find joy, to wait in a pressured, distracted world, to face our longings to belong and the pain of choosing to stand between opposing sides without belonging to either (naming a pain I have often felt). He invites us into a path of living in the questions rather than grasping for certitude.
The path to transformation is a slow path as it wanders toward wholeness. There is the struggle to discover who "me" is, drawn as we are by "shoulds" and comparisons. Sometimes, it is small prayers and consequent obedient faith that discovers God in the small things like finding a son's lost report card award card. It is learning that it is in our brokenness that the work of the cross manifests in our lives.
A fly-fishing episode illustrates another part of the path. God has his own ways in our joy grief, our glory and humility. Pulling fish out of the river is more than just a good cast and setting the hook. It is yielding to the wisdom of the river, the wisdom river guides learn in studying the river for where the fish are. It is a wisdom that ceases striving and yields. God leads us out and leads us back, again and again in life.
One has the sense of listening to someone whose life is very much a "work in progress" and his refreshing candor helps us relax into the possibility that life and spiritual progress are like that for all of us, and that's OK. This is not a book of prescriptions for a fulfilling spiritual life, but an account from one pilgrim to others of what the journey is like and insights into the way God meets us in the tensions and contradictions and perplexities of our lives. You may have reached the point in your journey where all the "answers" of how the Christian life works don't seem to quite fit your own winding path. This work might better help you understand the true nature of the journey on which you've embarked, while encouraging you with a hope that may be even richer than you thought.
________________________________
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
January 21, 2021
A well read author. I added multiple books that he quoted to my list after reading. I liked how he honored life’s “middle spaces” and tensions, particularly from the perspective of an introvert.
September 16, 2019
This tremendous book is quite challenging to write a review on as another reader mentioned. There's so much in it but I sense most of it is still working it's way through my heart. Interestingly, this is the essence of Tacklind's book as he concludes in the Afterword:
"The work of heart transformation os like peeling away layers of an onion ... And the work is never ending. The wounds run so deep. And so the work will always continue."
Tacklind is tremendously insightful and wise. He reminds me a little of a Brennan Manning or a Trevor Hudson in describing the way of the heart. It's so rare for a man to dig deep in his search for the true meaning of relationship with God. He writes with such humility and its certainly clear he doesn't have the answers but invites us to embark on an exploration of the heart.
How he outlines the path for stepping into the liminal space of glory/humility, strength/weakness and greatness/surrender is outstanding. Each chapter is short, 8 to 10 pages long, and they end with 3-4 very pertinent challenging questions/reflections for the reader to explore based on the chapter's content.
Using many Biblical analogies of the river, roots, seeds and the like, together with his own stories of surfing and hiking, Tacklind's gentle writing style provides a safe environment for the reader to be drawn into the adventure of walking side-by-side with Jesus in this transformational journey.
I can't recommend this book enough. Even though I read an early-reader's copy provided by IVP and Netgalley I anticipate buying a number of copies to share with friends plus one for myself to re-read.
"The work of heart transformation os like peeling away layers of an onion ... And the work is never ending. The wounds run so deep. And so the work will always continue."
Tacklind is tremendously insightful and wise. He reminds me a little of a Brennan Manning or a Trevor Hudson in describing the way of the heart. It's so rare for a man to dig deep in his search for the true meaning of relationship with God. He writes with such humility and its certainly clear he doesn't have the answers but invites us to embark on an exploration of the heart.
How he outlines the path for stepping into the liminal space of glory/humility, strength/weakness and greatness/surrender is outstanding. Each chapter is short, 8 to 10 pages long, and they end with 3-4 very pertinent challenging questions/reflections for the reader to explore based on the chapter's content.
Using many Biblical analogies of the river, roots, seeds and the like, together with his own stories of surfing and hiking, Tacklind's gentle writing style provides a safe environment for the reader to be drawn into the adventure of walking side-by-side with Jesus in this transformational journey.
I can't recommend this book enough. Even though I read an early-reader's copy provided by IVP and Netgalley I anticipate buying a number of copies to share with friends plus one for myself to re-read.
July 27, 2019
I was pleasantly surprised by this one. I have never read anything by Tacklind, hadn't heard it recommended or anything, but the book theme intrigued me. It was such an honest and vulnerable book, maybe one of the most vulnerable books a pastor has written in a long, long time. There were a few golden nuggets in this one. Easy to read and relate to. Great stuff.
July 9, 2019
I call Jeffrey Tacklind one of those unique 'big brain-big heart people.' I am personally challenged by his intelligence and depth and blindsided by his humility and massive heart. You don’t expect someone so smart to be so relatable—at least I don’t. I’m stunned by his balance, his tender way while delivering a powerful, transformative message. He’s a beautiful truth-teller. I’m smart to listen.
July 28, 2020
What can I say about a book that will change your way of thinking? I don’t think I quite have the words to describe the fullness and beauty I found in this book. The paradoxes in faith may always be a mystery, and it’s nice to know you’re not alone. I’m thankful for Jeff’s insights and narrative.
July 17, 2019
One of my favorite books this year. Jeff weaves his own journey toward transformation with wisdom and humility that takes us on our own journeys.
September 21, 2019
This book is full of ancient Christian wisdom rewritten for the current age. A beautiful and useful book.
April 2, 2022
Beautiful, contemplative, meandering, honest, and hopeful.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews