Why do I call this blog "sown roots?" For me, I was not born within Friends. I was 26 years old, and I had bounced around three or four different denominations. In hindsight, I was, like Fox, looking for something which spoke to my condition. I came to Friends through my fianceé, and I could tell fairly quickly that I had found something which could have a deep impact upon me. There was something different about Quakers that I wanted in my life. And so, I began to explore Quaker roots. Harold Antrim was my pastor and he offered a class on Friends. I eagerly took his class, which lead me to exploring more in depth. I even earned a Master's degree from Western Evangelical Seminary in Church History & Thought in order to explore Quakerism more extensively. Through all of this study and searching, I came to one, life-altering realization, which is best summed up by Thomas Kelly: "This experience of the Divine Presence, as a repeatedly realized and present fact, and its transforming and transfiguring effect upon all of life, this is the central message of Friends.

My condition was spoke to and transformed by the Risen Christ. At the churches I had been at before Friends, their Christ was the Christ of 2,000 years ago. Friends, however, testified to a Christ of today, here and now. The atoning work achieved by Christ upon the cross makes it so that we can experience and have a relationship with God in 2010.
These roots, that Christ can speak to anyone's condition and transform him or her, I do not leave as admirable antique theological ideas. Rather, I sow them in my relationships, in my family, and in my church. What springs up from this sowing, I leave up to God.