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Born to Wander: Recovering the Value of Our Pilgrim Identity
Why are we so restless?
All of us have a little wanderlust - a desire for that next thing, that new place, but this competes with our longings for security, control, and safety. We don’t like how it feels to be unsettled and uprooted. Whether we’re navigating a season of transition, dealing with the fallout of broken relationships, or wrestling with a deep sense of restlessness, we are all experiencing some form of exile. And most of us do whatever we can to numb the feelings of unbelonging, powerlessness, and unsettledness that come with it. But the truth is that exile has a profound purpose if we can just learn to lean in.
Over and over again Scripture tells us that the people of God are exiles and wanderers. And this is good news because exile is what transforms us into pilgrims. In Christ, we are no longer directionless wanderers, but pilgrim followers who have a clear purpose and a secure identity. In Born to Wander, Michelle Van Loon weaves together personal stories and keen insights on the biblical themes of pilgrimage and exile. She will help you embrace your own pilgrim identity and reorient your heart toward the God who leads you home.
Engaging and thoughtful, enhanced with practical suggestions, prayers, and questions, Born to Wander will teach how to trust God even when you don’t understand what’s happening around you and follow him even when it hurts. If you keep chasing security, you’ll never find it. Embrace the purpose behind the wandering and discover the freedom and safety of resting in God alone.
“Every one of us carries a restlessness that runs as deep as the marrow of our born-again bones. Our relationships shift like tectonic plates. We change jobs. We switch churches. And our culture tells us the cure for our restlessness is to buy a new mattress, a new car, or a new tube of toothpaste.”
All of us have a little wanderlust - a desire for that next thing, that new place, but this competes with our longings for security, control, and safety. We don’t like how it feels to be unsettled and uprooted. Whether we’re navigating a season of transition, dealing with the fallout of broken relationships, or wrestling with a deep sense of restlessness, we are all experiencing some form of exile. And most of us do whatever we can to numb the feelings of unbelonging, powerlessness, and unsettledness that come with it. But the truth is that exile has a profound purpose if we can just learn to lean in.
Over and over again Scripture tells us that the people of God are exiles and wanderers. And this is good news because exile is what transforms us into pilgrims. In Christ, we are no longer directionless wanderers, but pilgrim followers who have a clear purpose and a secure identity. In Born to Wander, Michelle Van Loon weaves together personal stories and keen insights on the biblical themes of pilgrimage and exile. She will help you embrace your own pilgrim identity and reorient your heart toward the God who leads you home.
Engaging and thoughtful, enhanced with practical suggestions, prayers, and questions, Born to Wander will teach how to trust God even when you don’t understand what’s happening around you and follow him even when it hurts. If you keep chasing security, you’ll never find it. Embrace the purpose behind the wandering and discover the freedom and safety of resting in God alone.
“Every one of us carries a restlessness that runs as deep as the marrow of our born-again bones. Our relationships shift like tectonic plates. We change jobs. We switch churches. And our culture tells us the cure for our restlessness is to buy a new mattress, a new car, or a new tube of toothpaste.”
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Published November 14, 2018
19 people are currently reading
232 people want to read
About the author
Michelle Van Loon
13 books76 followersMichelle Van Loon’s Jewish heritage, spiritual hunger, and storyteller’s sensibilities have been informing her writing and shaping her faith journey since she came to Christ at the tail end of the Jesus Movement. She is the author of eight books, as well as numerous articles, and several full-length plays for the educational market.
She's been a church communications director, served on staff at Trinity International University, and been the U.S. Administrator for an educational ministry based in Jerusalem. She earned a graduate certificate from Northern Seminary in 2017. She's married to Bill, and is mother to three and grandmother to two.
She's been a church communications director, served on staff at Trinity International University, and been the U.S. Administrator for an educational ministry based in Jerusalem. She earned a graduate certificate from Northern Seminary in 2017. She's married to Bill, and is mother to three and grandmother to two.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
December 18, 2019
There is much about this book that called to my heart. We are surely pilgrims in a strange land, making our way home, step by step.
July 3, 2018
I did not set out to live at the same address for 25 years, and, technically, I suppose my deep roots in this country hill may disqualify me from reviewing a book entitled Born to Wander: Recovering the Value of Our Pilgrim Identity. At the outset, I actually thought I had been born to wander, having purchased my first one way plane ticket at age 17 with no intention of ever returning to Maine.
Life does have a way of handing us gifts we didn’t expect, and for me, the gift has been rootedness. For the past 25 years, the only time I’ve changed mail boxes is when the snow plow has wiped ours out and sent it flying into the ditch. However, having read Michelle Van Loon’s thoughts on the pilgrim life, I have found that there are those who “pilgrim in place.” (135) This is good news to me, because I know from experience that it is possible to choose to stay in one church for two decades because staying put is more difficult than cutting and running. I have borne witness to the gritty process of knowing and being known by people who remember most of my faults and failings, but love me anyway.
Looking for Me in All the Wrong Place
Even when staying put, the pilgrim at heart acknowledges that the Christian life is one of exile. Post-Eden, humanity has lived uprooted. The people of Israel in Old Testament times were formed by wandering and displacement. The New Testament church grew because the hot breath of persecution blew them like milkweed over the field of the world. Contrary by nature, Christians have become experts at finding ways to live opposed to this part of our history, either by leaning into safer narratives and getting stuck or by turning the pilgrimage into a self-centered pleasure jaunt.
Van Loon describes a tourist mentality as a “slogan-based approach to faith.” (39) When we fold aspects of the American Dream in with a pinch of entitlement and a dab of self-focused ambition, we have dropped our pilgrim’s staff and re-defined the following life.
The Gentle Slope, Soft Underfoot
C.S. Lewis’s Screwtape described the safest path to hell as a gradual one with a “gentle slope, soft underfoot without sudden turnings,” and perhaps this is also the best description of how easy it is to fall into the life of the “Settler” — without even realizing it. While we crave contentment and were created with a longing to live in safety and security, the Apostle Paul describes a form of contentment alien to most of us in 2018 with our desires continually spurred on by affluence and Amazon Prime. This godly contentment says “enough” regarding material things, while also keeping the believer in a state of discontentment that will not be assuaged on this planet.
“Godly contentment makes pilgrims out of us.” (55)
The pilgrim life is lived in moment-by-moment obedience, praying like breathing, and assiduously avoiding the diversions offered by formulaic living. This is best done in community, but with the caveat that “formulas may work in math class, but real life in a rebel world is rarely that simple.” (152)
From the moment of new birth, the believer is drawn into the wandering life that is imprinted upon our spiritual DNA. As we follow the invitation to come and be loved by the God who promises to meet us at every point until the end of our following road, we find that the home we have always longed for is not a destination, but a Person, and can be captured by this question: “Are we moving toward God or wandering away from him?” (26)
Many thanks to Moody Publishers for providing this book to facilitate my review, which, of course, is offered freely and with complete honesty.
Life does have a way of handing us gifts we didn’t expect, and for me, the gift has been rootedness. For the past 25 years, the only time I’ve changed mail boxes is when the snow plow has wiped ours out and sent it flying into the ditch. However, having read Michelle Van Loon’s thoughts on the pilgrim life, I have found that there are those who “pilgrim in place.” (135) This is good news to me, because I know from experience that it is possible to choose to stay in one church for two decades because staying put is more difficult than cutting and running. I have borne witness to the gritty process of knowing and being known by people who remember most of my faults and failings, but love me anyway.
Looking for Me in All the Wrong Place
Even when staying put, the pilgrim at heart acknowledges that the Christian life is one of exile. Post-Eden, humanity has lived uprooted. The people of Israel in Old Testament times were formed by wandering and displacement. The New Testament church grew because the hot breath of persecution blew them like milkweed over the field of the world. Contrary by nature, Christians have become experts at finding ways to live opposed to this part of our history, either by leaning into safer narratives and getting stuck or by turning the pilgrimage into a self-centered pleasure jaunt.
Van Loon describes a tourist mentality as a “slogan-based approach to faith.” (39) When we fold aspects of the American Dream in with a pinch of entitlement and a dab of self-focused ambition, we have dropped our pilgrim’s staff and re-defined the following life.
The Gentle Slope, Soft Underfoot
C.S. Lewis’s Screwtape described the safest path to hell as a gradual one with a “gentle slope, soft underfoot without sudden turnings,” and perhaps this is also the best description of how easy it is to fall into the life of the “Settler” — without even realizing it. While we crave contentment and were created with a longing to live in safety and security, the Apostle Paul describes a form of contentment alien to most of us in 2018 with our desires continually spurred on by affluence and Amazon Prime. This godly contentment says “enough” regarding material things, while also keeping the believer in a state of discontentment that will not be assuaged on this planet.
“Godly contentment makes pilgrims out of us.” (55)
The pilgrim life is lived in moment-by-moment obedience, praying like breathing, and assiduously avoiding the diversions offered by formulaic living. This is best done in community, but with the caveat that “formulas may work in math class, but real life in a rebel world is rarely that simple.” (152)
From the moment of new birth, the believer is drawn into the wandering life that is imprinted upon our spiritual DNA. As we follow the invitation to come and be loved by the God who promises to meet us at every point until the end of our following road, we find that the home we have always longed for is not a destination, but a Person, and can be captured by this question: “Are we moving toward God or wandering away from him?” (26)
Many thanks to Moody Publishers for providing this book to facilitate my review, which, of course, is offered freely and with complete honesty.
January 5, 2019
I think I had this selfish hope to connect with this more. Not that it wasn’t a good, informational read - I just felt myself putting a healthy distance between my heart and certain passages. And maybe that’s the point, you know? Maybe being uncomfortable pushes us forth. - I did my fair share of highlighting and took a step backward from preconceived notions toward the end. - Overall, my favorite part was the sectionalized prayers @ the closing of each chapter. Interesting concept. Thorough timeline of biblical history, too.
February 19, 2024
Michelle Van Loon is a great writer and kept me reading, but I don’t think the message of this book was really about pilgrimage. I enjoyed the prayers at the end of each chapter.
August 1, 2018
[Note: This book was provided free of charge by Moody Publishers. All thoughts and opinions are my own.]
I feel I must admit that I wanted to like and thought I would like this book a lot more than I did. I'm not sure whether that is because the author simply rubbed me the wrong way, or whether there is something more substantial in the author's approach that I found to be bothersome that may be shared by a broader audience. On the one hand, the author's discussion of our status as pilgrims and sojourners in this earth is a worthwhile one [1], but the author seems to approach the subject from two particular points of view that I find deeply troublesome. For one, the author has more than a bit of that social gospel tendency to praise political leftism as if it was godliness, something that is deeply unscriptural and personally offensive. Additionally, the author seems to be showing off by tossing around Hebrew words even if she appears not very knowledgeable in or obedient to the Torah. The result is a book that promises much but disappoints much as well.
The less than 200 pages of the book are divided into eleven chapters with single word titles in which the author mixes her attempts at exegesis and discussing the relevance of the topic for contemporary believers along with her own reading and stories from her personal life that are designed to increase our ability to relate to her. Through these eleven chapters the author tells us how we as believers are uprooted, sent, waylaid, displaced, warned, divided, remembered, trekked, sojourned, and diverted before God finally reveals His plans and purposes for us. Each of the chapters closes with some discussion questions by the author that are meant to spark thought on the subject matter by the reader. For the most part, though, I found myself in reading the book rather annoyed or irritated by the author's approach and point of view and not inclined to make myself vulnerable to her even as a reader, much less as a reviewer, and it seems likely that this book will likely be most appreciated by those who either think the author more knowledgeable about the Bible than I do or by those who empathize/sympathize with her more than I do.
Ultimately, this is a book that talks about a worthwhile subject but where the author (and whoever was editing her) likely could have done a lot better job at focusing on how to appeal to her target audience. Even as a single, never married believer I found the author's insult of churches for focusing on families in light of the societal crisis we are in right now. The author was similarly tone deaf on showing herself to be in general the sort of leftist Social Justice Warrior whose books I regularly skewer with relish, which made it strange that she tried to present herself as representing a biblical view rather than owning her partisanship. The book's back cover presents her as a "master storyteller" but the author would have been better served to have increased her humility and decreased the shrillness of her presentation of the various alienating experiences of her life as well as her worldview errors. Even so, the historical commentary the author provides is at least interesting and the author appears to have at least read very worthwhile books, so there is something to get out of this book, namely a feeling that with so many similarities one should like the author and her book more than one does.
[1] See, for example:
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2018...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2018...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2013...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2013...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2012...
I feel I must admit that I wanted to like and thought I would like this book a lot more than I did. I'm not sure whether that is because the author simply rubbed me the wrong way, or whether there is something more substantial in the author's approach that I found to be bothersome that may be shared by a broader audience. On the one hand, the author's discussion of our status as pilgrims and sojourners in this earth is a worthwhile one [1], but the author seems to approach the subject from two particular points of view that I find deeply troublesome. For one, the author has more than a bit of that social gospel tendency to praise political leftism as if it was godliness, something that is deeply unscriptural and personally offensive. Additionally, the author seems to be showing off by tossing around Hebrew words even if she appears not very knowledgeable in or obedient to the Torah. The result is a book that promises much but disappoints much as well.
The less than 200 pages of the book are divided into eleven chapters with single word titles in which the author mixes her attempts at exegesis and discussing the relevance of the topic for contemporary believers along with her own reading and stories from her personal life that are designed to increase our ability to relate to her. Through these eleven chapters the author tells us how we as believers are uprooted, sent, waylaid, displaced, warned, divided, remembered, trekked, sojourned, and diverted before God finally reveals His plans and purposes for us. Each of the chapters closes with some discussion questions by the author that are meant to spark thought on the subject matter by the reader. For the most part, though, I found myself in reading the book rather annoyed or irritated by the author's approach and point of view and not inclined to make myself vulnerable to her even as a reader, much less as a reviewer, and it seems likely that this book will likely be most appreciated by those who either think the author more knowledgeable about the Bible than I do or by those who empathize/sympathize with her more than I do.
Ultimately, this is a book that talks about a worthwhile subject but where the author (and whoever was editing her) likely could have done a lot better job at focusing on how to appeal to her target audience. Even as a single, never married believer I found the author's insult of churches for focusing on families in light of the societal crisis we are in right now. The author was similarly tone deaf on showing herself to be in general the sort of leftist Social Justice Warrior whose books I regularly skewer with relish, which made it strange that she tried to present herself as representing a biblical view rather than owning her partisanship. The book's back cover presents her as a "master storyteller" but the author would have been better served to have increased her humility and decreased the shrillness of her presentation of the various alienating experiences of her life as well as her worldview errors. Even so, the historical commentary the author provides is at least interesting and the author appears to have at least read very worthwhile books, so there is something to get out of this book, namely a feeling that with so many similarities one should like the author and her book more than one does.
[1] See, for example:
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2018...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2018...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2013...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2013...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2012...
June 30, 2018
Both my husband and I found some things in the book that we liked, but we also found things we questioned and wondered about.
There was a broad survey of “pilgrimages” in scripture, and aspects of life's journeys, both physical and spiritual. Many places she encourages the reader to discover ways to use the desire to wander to grow in Christ and find their true calling/purpose for serving Him. This is something we can agree with. We all need to learn our purpose and to live out our part in the Body of Christ.
The things we questioned were what we thought was stretching Scripture to fit what she was talking about. Every believer is to be a pilgrim in this world, journeying purposefully to closer fellowship with God and better conformity to Christ's example. We are in this world, but not of this world. But instead of using personal stories to illustrate biblical principles for Christian growth, the author seems to use her personal experiences to determine the principles, and find something in scripture involving travelers to back up her conclusions.
Biblical principles, standards of the world, and personal history all seem to have equal weight, and everything is seen through the lens of wandering with little to no balance.
There is enough to glean from the book to encourage you, but we think some caution is needed in reading it to remember that Scripture should be the beginning and final authority Our faith should start there, not in what we believe and then find Scripture that supports that belief.
There was a broad survey of “pilgrimages” in scripture, and aspects of life's journeys, both physical and spiritual. Many places she encourages the reader to discover ways to use the desire to wander to grow in Christ and find their true calling/purpose for serving Him. This is something we can agree with. We all need to learn our purpose and to live out our part in the Body of Christ.
The things we questioned were what we thought was stretching Scripture to fit what she was talking about. Every believer is to be a pilgrim in this world, journeying purposefully to closer fellowship with God and better conformity to Christ's example. We are in this world, but not of this world. But instead of using personal stories to illustrate biblical principles for Christian growth, the author seems to use her personal experiences to determine the principles, and find something in scripture involving travelers to back up her conclusions.
Biblical principles, standards of the world, and personal history all seem to have equal weight, and everything is seen through the lens of wandering with little to no balance.
There is enough to glean from the book to encourage you, but we think some caution is needed in reading it to remember that Scripture should be the beginning and final authority Our faith should start there, not in what we believe and then find Scripture that supports that belief.
April 29, 2024
After reading the salt path, a book about a homeless couple struggling to survive illness and financial loss this book hits the spiritual side of walking. The author deals with spiritual pilgrimage Much of the sacred text deals with people in pilgrimage. We face moral physical and spiritual pilgrimage. The author traced her struggles in life and sees them in the wider context of growth in her spiritual life. God frequently surprises us not meeting our expectations our dreams and so forth. But in the end or rather along the way we grow more than if life were all laid out like a day by day tour where all is laid out in advance. Check out this book.
April 11, 2018
Michelle Van Loon has created something marvelous with this book. As one who is always wandering, it sets my mind at ease. Yet it also gets me moving again...this time in the right direction—to the One who’s calling me home. A truly great and enlightening read!
August 13, 2018
Summary: An exploration of the theme of our pilgrim identity as followers of Christ, and how this makes sense of the seasons of transition and loss, and struggles for control in our lives.
It seems we spend our lives searching and longing for home. We move, we change jobs, churches, and sometimes, relationships. We experience transition and loss. Sometimes the restlessness is an inner one--a longing for God knows what. Michelle Van Loon, a writer who has know seasons of transition, dislocation, and loss in her own life, suggests that instead of efforts to control our lives and settle, these longings point us as Christians to our identity as members of a pilgrim people longing, and wandering toward our true home.
In this book, Van Loon explores three kinds of pilgrimage:
Moral pilgrimage focuses on every day obedience to God.
Physical pilgrimage emphasizes a bodily journey to a holy site in order to seek God.
Interior pilgrimage describes the pursuit of communion with God through prayer, solitude, and contemplation. (p. 14)
In the eleven chapters that follow this introduction Van Loon explores this idea of pilgrimage through a combination of biblical reflection, personal narrative, and formative insights. Uprootedness is explored through the life of Noah, sentness through Abraham, being waylaid on the journey through Israel's Egyptian years and displacement through Israel's wilderness wanderings and grumblings. The warnings Israel is given as they cross Jordan remind us of the two ways we might choose, and the hope of restoration, even when we choose wrongly.
Van Loon speaks tellingly of the subtle ways idolatries divide us from God and others. She observes:
"...I'd like to suggest that most of us have a personalized collection of housebroken idols vying for our love every single day."
She especially singles out our idolatry of nuclear families, and how difficult this idolatry is for those who are single.
She speaks of the importance of remembering, here as elsewhere using word studies to explore several passages (Josiah's kingship, Lamentations, Psalm 137) to consider how remembering leads us into pilgrimage. In "Trekked" she explores the value of physical pilgrimages, particularly to "thin" places where we might experience the sacred. "Sojourned" considers the journey of the disciples following Christ. She warns of how reaction to preserve ourselves in a decadent culture might divert us from the pilgrim life:
"A desire for self-preservation is a reaction against a decaying culture. A reaction is not a calling--and it is not an option for a pilgrim. We walk toward God not in reaction, but in response to His invitation to follow, no matter where He leads."
She concludes in her chapter "Revealed" with the use of the word "Come" --the invitation to follow but also the revelation that the bridegroom is coming for his bride, that becomes the pilgrim's cry, "Come, Lord Jesus." Pilgrimage is not hopeless wandering, but a journey toward the day when we will truly be welcomed home,
What I most appreciated about this work is that it reflects a second half of life spirituality--a spirituality that moves beyond the first flush of life in Christ, new jobs, homes, and marriages. It is a spirituality for those who have lived long enough to get beaten up by life at times and who are wondering how to live when the old answers don't work as well anymore. Where do we go when we experience disillusionment, when the rising career trajectory crashes and burns, when the group we felt so close with scatters? Van Loon's openness about her own experiences invites us to explore how these disrupting and displacing experiences may be God's way of calling us into a deeper journey with him, one that involves leaving the homes of self-protection and control for the uncertainty of trusting to God's protection and leading on pilgrimage.
The book is designed for personal reflection with questions and writing space at the end of each chapter and a prayer that expresses back to God and personalizes the themes of the chapter. There are so many places where we face the choice of clinging to the safe and familiar, even as circumstances may be wresting these from our arms; or choosing to step into the unknown of a pilgrim journey. This book make a good companion for those considering embarking on that journey.
____________________________
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
It seems we spend our lives searching and longing for home. We move, we change jobs, churches, and sometimes, relationships. We experience transition and loss. Sometimes the restlessness is an inner one--a longing for God knows what. Michelle Van Loon, a writer who has know seasons of transition, dislocation, and loss in her own life, suggests that instead of efforts to control our lives and settle, these longings point us as Christians to our identity as members of a pilgrim people longing, and wandering toward our true home.
In this book, Van Loon explores three kinds of pilgrimage:
Moral pilgrimage focuses on every day obedience to God.
Physical pilgrimage emphasizes a bodily journey to a holy site in order to seek God.
Interior pilgrimage describes the pursuit of communion with God through prayer, solitude, and contemplation. (p. 14)
In the eleven chapters that follow this introduction Van Loon explores this idea of pilgrimage through a combination of biblical reflection, personal narrative, and formative insights. Uprootedness is explored through the life of Noah, sentness through Abraham, being waylaid on the journey through Israel's Egyptian years and displacement through Israel's wilderness wanderings and grumblings. The warnings Israel is given as they cross Jordan remind us of the two ways we might choose, and the hope of restoration, even when we choose wrongly.
Van Loon speaks tellingly of the subtle ways idolatries divide us from God and others. She observes:
"...I'd like to suggest that most of us have a personalized collection of housebroken idols vying for our love every single day."
She especially singles out our idolatry of nuclear families, and how difficult this idolatry is for those who are single.
She speaks of the importance of remembering, here as elsewhere using word studies to explore several passages (Josiah's kingship, Lamentations, Psalm 137) to consider how remembering leads us into pilgrimage. In "Trekked" she explores the value of physical pilgrimages, particularly to "thin" places where we might experience the sacred. "Sojourned" considers the journey of the disciples following Christ. She warns of how reaction to preserve ourselves in a decadent culture might divert us from the pilgrim life:
"A desire for self-preservation is a reaction against a decaying culture. A reaction is not a calling--and it is not an option for a pilgrim. We walk toward God not in reaction, but in response to His invitation to follow, no matter where He leads."
She concludes in her chapter "Revealed" with the use of the word "Come" --the invitation to follow but also the revelation that the bridegroom is coming for his bride, that becomes the pilgrim's cry, "Come, Lord Jesus." Pilgrimage is not hopeless wandering, but a journey toward the day when we will truly be welcomed home,
What I most appreciated about this work is that it reflects a second half of life spirituality--a spirituality that moves beyond the first flush of life in Christ, new jobs, homes, and marriages. It is a spirituality for those who have lived long enough to get beaten up by life at times and who are wondering how to live when the old answers don't work as well anymore. Where do we go when we experience disillusionment, when the rising career trajectory crashes and burns, when the group we felt so close with scatters? Van Loon's openness about her own experiences invites us to explore how these disrupting and displacing experiences may be God's way of calling us into a deeper journey with him, one that involves leaving the homes of self-protection and control for the uncertainty of trusting to God's protection and leading on pilgrimage.
The book is designed for personal reflection with questions and writing space at the end of each chapter and a prayer that expresses back to God and personalizes the themes of the chapter. There are so many places where we face the choice of clinging to the safe and familiar, even as circumstances may be wresting these from our arms; or choosing to step into the unknown of a pilgrim journey. This book make a good companion for those considering embarking on that journey.
____________________________
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
December 26, 2018
I have moved a lot in the last 15 years, 9 times to be exact and three of those were different state moves. Those were certainly not in my plan, but God had a plan in each of those! So the title of this book Born To Wander ~ Recovering The Value of Our Pilgrim Identity by Michelle Van Loon, looked to be a good read for me and it was! Also one of my favorite hymns is about wandering, Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing:
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it;
Prone to leave the God I love:
Take my heart, oh, take and seal it
With Thy Spirit from above.
Rescued thus from sin and danger,
Purchased by the Savior’s blood,
May I walk on earth a stranger,
As a son and heir of God.
So if you are a wanderer like me and/or know that this place is not our final home, then get this book. Michelle writes about pilgrimage from a Biblical perspective, showing how God’s people were (and still are somewhat) on a pilgrim journey, even when in exile. Michelle also shares some insights from her personal experiences, that were relatable to me. She writes, that those who are settled and comfortable have no real incentive to follow Jesus, and that is a great point! Here in the US we have become a people of comfort and crave rest, but that isn’t the example Jesus led.
Here are a couple quotes from the books:
Those steps away from our regularly-schedule ideas of what our life is supposed to look like uproot us from our state of exile. They pivot us toward pilgrimage. It is on that very journey into the unknown that Abram became Abraham and Simon became Peter. It is how we will become most truly ourselves.
Living with the “deep, strong, blessed restlessness” of the pilgrim can be an uncomfortable way to live. But it is far better than the alternative.
Godly contentment says “enough” instead of spouting Christianized versions of “I want more.” I appreciate the irony of Paul saying that godly contentment is the only “more” for which we should be aiming ” (1 Timothy 6:6).
Self-pity is the fruit of pride, which is the root of all other kinds of sins…Self-pity turns our story into a tragedy with no hope of redemption. It robs us of our belovedness. It makes exiles out of us.
The deserts in our lives are where we begin to discover how to follow God even when–especially when–our circumstances don’t make sense.
God doesn’t waste a single component of our experiences by asking us to forget. Remembering can be a holy activity.
No matter where I wander or on which side of the dividing line I find myself, my truest longing is for a place I’ve never been. This I know: I am far from home.
We Christian moderns emphasize the importance of owning and sharing our story. But the Song of Ascent remind us that our stories are hollow echos if they’re not centered on the One who is their author.
Tourists are searching for an experience. Settlers are looking for security. Neither desire is wrong, but if we allow experiences or security to determine our journey, we will remain wanderers.
Michelle did a wonderful writing job of sharing the Biblical stories and history in this book, as she focused on pointing to God and what we can learn in our everyday journey’s.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it;
Prone to leave the God I love:
Take my heart, oh, take and seal it
With Thy Spirit from above.
Rescued thus from sin and danger,
Purchased by the Savior’s blood,
May I walk on earth a stranger,
As a son and heir of God.
So if you are a wanderer like me and/or know that this place is not our final home, then get this book. Michelle writes about pilgrimage from a Biblical perspective, showing how God’s people were (and still are somewhat) on a pilgrim journey, even when in exile. Michelle also shares some insights from her personal experiences, that were relatable to me. She writes, that those who are settled and comfortable have no real incentive to follow Jesus, and that is a great point! Here in the US we have become a people of comfort and crave rest, but that isn’t the example Jesus led.
Here are a couple quotes from the books:
Those steps away from our regularly-schedule ideas of what our life is supposed to look like uproot us from our state of exile. They pivot us toward pilgrimage. It is on that very journey into the unknown that Abram became Abraham and Simon became Peter. It is how we will become most truly ourselves.
Living with the “deep, strong, blessed restlessness” of the pilgrim can be an uncomfortable way to live. But it is far better than the alternative.
Godly contentment says “enough” instead of spouting Christianized versions of “I want more.” I appreciate the irony of Paul saying that godly contentment is the only “more” for which we should be aiming ” (1 Timothy 6:6).
Self-pity is the fruit of pride, which is the root of all other kinds of sins…Self-pity turns our story into a tragedy with no hope of redemption. It robs us of our belovedness. It makes exiles out of us.
The deserts in our lives are where we begin to discover how to follow God even when–especially when–our circumstances don’t make sense.
God doesn’t waste a single component of our experiences by asking us to forget. Remembering can be a holy activity.
No matter where I wander or on which side of the dividing line I find myself, my truest longing is for a place I’ve never been. This I know: I am far from home.
We Christian moderns emphasize the importance of owning and sharing our story. But the Song of Ascent remind us that our stories are hollow echos if they’re not centered on the One who is their author.
Tourists are searching for an experience. Settlers are looking for security. Neither desire is wrong, but if we allow experiences or security to determine our journey, we will remain wanderers.
Michelle did a wonderful writing job of sharing the Biblical stories and history in this book, as she focused on pointing to God and what we can learn in our everyday journey’s.
July 26, 2018
I’m reading Born to Wander by Michelle Van Loon and she brings the wonderful reminder that we are all pilgrim travelers, with a clear purpose, a secure identity, and a safe resting place in God.
“Wandering” has been defined as “moving from place to place without a fixed plan; roaming; having no permanent residence” (dictionary.com).
I’m not one to move about. I would say I have a permanent residence as we have lived in our current home for twenty seven years now and have no intentions of moving. Yet I have been on a pilgrimage my entire life, as have all of us.
We are each set out on this pilgrimage from the day we draw our first breath. Every twist and turn of the road is meant to be a powerful compass directing us back to the place which is truly home.
Jesus unsettles us, nudging our souls from the comforts of home.
“He [Jesus] is calling us to un-settle and embrace a life of pilgrimage. He modeled it for us as He journeyed to the cross. Those who are settled and comfortable have no real incentives to follow Him. Nor are those who’ve wrapped themselves so firmly in the identity of exile they’ve learned to live in a bunker and sought salvation as a way of avoiding a world they don’t particularly like. (page 14)
But as author J.R.R. Tolkien noted. “Not all those who wander are lost”. Michelle Van Loon also observes, “You were born – and born again – to wander.”
She leads us through eleven chapters of “wandering”, each chapter bringing to life the story of pilgrimage in Scripture. She shares stories from her own life, transparently, to illustrate the common roots found in our wandering.
She closes the first chapter with an insight and question designed to pull the reader into this most thought provoking book:
“The ache of being uprooted is designed to graft us into the One who made us. Uprooted-ness is an uncomfortable identity and not one most of us would choose for ourselves.
Early church fathers said the state of humankind was that of the homo viator (traveler, pilgrim). We have been born to wander. The questions of where we’re from or where we’re going are clarified by this truth. They become: “Are we moving toward God or wandering away from him!””
The book is beautifully written, explaining Jewish terms often hidden from those without a Jewish heritage, bringing the familiar stories of the the Israelites and their wilderness wanderings to life with new insights.
The idea of wandering continues into the lives of believers today as well. Jesus invites us each to journey with Him:
“He Himself is on the road we travel and is our companion on the way. And He is our destination, calling us to come to Him.
We were born to wander, but we are born again to wander home.”
(from page 173)
*I was provided a copy of this book by Moody Publishers for review. All opinions are honest and my own.
“Wandering” has been defined as “moving from place to place without a fixed plan; roaming; having no permanent residence” (dictionary.com).
I’m not one to move about. I would say I have a permanent residence as we have lived in our current home for twenty seven years now and have no intentions of moving. Yet I have been on a pilgrimage my entire life, as have all of us.
We are each set out on this pilgrimage from the day we draw our first breath. Every twist and turn of the road is meant to be a powerful compass directing us back to the place which is truly home.
Jesus unsettles us, nudging our souls from the comforts of home.
“He [Jesus] is calling us to un-settle and embrace a life of pilgrimage. He modeled it for us as He journeyed to the cross. Those who are settled and comfortable have no real incentives to follow Him. Nor are those who’ve wrapped themselves so firmly in the identity of exile they’ve learned to live in a bunker and sought salvation as a way of avoiding a world they don’t particularly like. (page 14)
But as author J.R.R. Tolkien noted. “Not all those who wander are lost”. Michelle Van Loon also observes, “You were born – and born again – to wander.”
She leads us through eleven chapters of “wandering”, each chapter bringing to life the story of pilgrimage in Scripture. She shares stories from her own life, transparently, to illustrate the common roots found in our wandering.
She closes the first chapter with an insight and question designed to pull the reader into this most thought provoking book:
“The ache of being uprooted is designed to graft us into the One who made us. Uprooted-ness is an uncomfortable identity and not one most of us would choose for ourselves.
Early church fathers said the state of humankind was that of the homo viator (traveler, pilgrim). We have been born to wander. The questions of where we’re from or where we’re going are clarified by this truth. They become: “Are we moving toward God or wandering away from him!””
The book is beautifully written, explaining Jewish terms often hidden from those without a Jewish heritage, bringing the familiar stories of the the Israelites and their wilderness wanderings to life with new insights.
The idea of wandering continues into the lives of believers today as well. Jesus invites us each to journey with Him:
“He Himself is on the road we travel and is our companion on the way. And He is our destination, calling us to come to Him.
We were born to wander, but we are born again to wander home.”
(from page 173)
*I was provided a copy of this book by Moody Publishers for review. All opinions are honest and my own.
August 21, 2018
“Every one of us carries a restlessness that runs as deep as the marrow of our born-again bones. Our relationships shift like tectonic plates. We change jobs. We switch churches. And our culture tells us the cure for our restlessness is to buy a new mattress, a new car, or a new tube of toothpaste.”
Distorted thoughts on what stability and commitment mean for a believer finds it’s foundation in our fleshly desires. Michelle Van Loon picks this apart and explains the struggle between comfort and safety vs our wanderlust spirit. She paints a picture of how the desires in us all point to our longing for home.
In this book, you’ll be taken on a journey through history to learn how God’s people have always been pilgrims, exiles, and sojourners. We have long been on the move to the promised land, our home, where we can finally rest. We will pilgrim as long as we’re on this earth. As the people of God, we are always an exile in one way or another. But this leads us to pilgrimage, which is our calling. To be transformed into one who goes wherever He leads, having Him as the light before us and recklessly living in complete surrender.
This book will explain how our God is always leading us home; right back to Him. Michelle picks apart real life scenarios and shows us how to surrender our comfort for the pilgrim lifestyle instead. With her questions and prayers at the end of every chapter, you are able to apply what you’ve just read to your own life as well as come before the Lord.
There is freedom in wandering. Not in aimless wander that points us back to ourselves. But in wandering with a purpose, we are pointed toward home.
Distorted thoughts on what stability and commitment mean for a believer finds it’s foundation in our fleshly desires. Michelle Van Loon picks this apart and explains the struggle between comfort and safety vs our wanderlust spirit. She paints a picture of how the desires in us all point to our longing for home.
In this book, you’ll be taken on a journey through history to learn how God’s people have always been pilgrims, exiles, and sojourners. We have long been on the move to the promised land, our home, where we can finally rest. We will pilgrim as long as we’re on this earth. As the people of God, we are always an exile in one way or another. But this leads us to pilgrimage, which is our calling. To be transformed into one who goes wherever He leads, having Him as the light before us and recklessly living in complete surrender.
This book will explain how our God is always leading us home; right back to Him. Michelle picks apart real life scenarios and shows us how to surrender our comfort for the pilgrim lifestyle instead. With her questions and prayers at the end of every chapter, you are able to apply what you’ve just read to your own life as well as come before the Lord.
There is freedom in wandering. Not in aimless wander that points us back to ourselves. But in wandering with a purpose, we are pointed toward home.
September 25, 2018
Born to Wander was recommended to me before its publication, and I pre-ordered it. I am writing a study on the Pilgrim Life of the Christian - the Christ follower, not the cultural confessor. This book was all I'd hoped it would be, and more. It refined my understanding of the difference between being an exile INTO this broken world, and a pilgrim walking THROUGH this broken world to arrive at last to his real home - walking through not as a tourist, or a settler, or a defector, but as a true pilgrim. Michelle Van Loon doesn't shy away from the hard questions of suffering, persecution, discouragement, or distraction, nor of dulling fatness or desperate need.
I highly recommend this book to anyone wondering about the life of following hard after Jesus and walking with Him rather than being religious, or the one who wants to stop being a coddiwampler and start seeing purpose and destination in her journey, or the one who just longs for Home. Jesus said, "Come to me; follow me" and at the end He says "Behold, I come!"
For this reviewer whose own heart is desperately set on pilgrimage, the book made me weep, as one does when she sees her own heart reflected in words that say what she can only feel, as one does when by faith she sees The God Who is There and Who is not silent, but is both with her and calling her Home - to her real Home, where she will not be a pilgrim any more.
I highly recommend this book to anyone wondering about the life of following hard after Jesus and walking with Him rather than being religious, or the one who wants to stop being a coddiwampler and start seeing purpose and destination in her journey, or the one who just longs for Home. Jesus said, "Come to me; follow me" and at the end He says "Behold, I come!"
For this reviewer whose own heart is desperately set on pilgrimage, the book made me weep, as one does when she sees her own heart reflected in words that say what she can only feel, as one does when by faith she sees The God Who is There and Who is not silent, but is both with her and calling her Home - to her real Home, where she will not be a pilgrim any more.
September 25, 2018
Do you consider yourself a spiritual tourist, settler, pilgrim or spiritually aimless?
In Born to Wander, Michelle Van Loon shows us the value of our pilgrim identity, as she walks us from Genesis through to Revelation, identifying pilgrimage throughout. It is a part of our identity and purpose as God's people. Security is not our purpose in life, but rather finding rest in the wandering that we all experience in our lives. She shares her thoughts on the meaning of contentment, what our true identity is, hope, and where our wandering takes us. All of our stories and journeys are different, depending on so many things including our personalities, passions, and circumstances. Our lives involve moral, physical, and interior pilgrimages, and when centered on God, we have purpose, and transformation occurs.
I especially loved the prayers at the end of each chapter - they were powerful and helpful in summarizing each chapter. As well, there are study questions for each chapter, which makes this book a great one to read along with a friend.
A lot of study and research has gone into this book and I didn't find it a quick read. I appreciated definitions of key words focusing on Greek roots. This book is one to read or reread with a pencil in hand. Recommended!
"We are born to wander, but we are born again to wander home". Michelle Van Loon
This book was provided free by Moody Publishers, in exchange for an honest review. Thanks, Moody!
In Born to Wander, Michelle Van Loon shows us the value of our pilgrim identity, as she walks us from Genesis through to Revelation, identifying pilgrimage throughout. It is a part of our identity and purpose as God's people. Security is not our purpose in life, but rather finding rest in the wandering that we all experience in our lives. She shares her thoughts on the meaning of contentment, what our true identity is, hope, and where our wandering takes us. All of our stories and journeys are different, depending on so many things including our personalities, passions, and circumstances. Our lives involve moral, physical, and interior pilgrimages, and when centered on God, we have purpose, and transformation occurs.
I especially loved the prayers at the end of each chapter - they were powerful and helpful in summarizing each chapter. As well, there are study questions for each chapter, which makes this book a great one to read along with a friend.
A lot of study and research has gone into this book and I didn't find it a quick read. I appreciated definitions of key words focusing on Greek roots. This book is one to read or reread with a pencil in hand. Recommended!
"We are born to wander, but we are born again to wander home". Michelle Van Loon
This book was provided free by Moody Publishers, in exchange for an honest review. Thanks, Moody!
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August 20, 2019I enjoyed the author’s personal reflections upon her own sense of unsettled living. It reads less like teaching on living the Christian life, and more a believer’s personal biography and reflection upon what it is like to live in this world as a believer with a sense of dislocation (with scriptural annotations).
I don't think the scriptural concepts (such as ”exile”) are always used in the most helpful way. For example ”exile” is the fruit of God’s judgement - not a great word to use for a believers uneasy sense of unsettledness in this world. There is little discussion of how faith in Christ’s work embolden us. Although hope is alluded to, it is given little content that would equip us to endure. More focus is given to our own personal experience of living an unsettled life than to what it looks like to love God and one another as we endure.
I don't think the scriptural concepts (such as ”exile”) are always used in the most helpful way. For example ”exile” is the fruit of God’s judgement - not a great word to use for a believers uneasy sense of unsettledness in this world. There is little discussion of how faith in Christ’s work embolden us. Although hope is alluded to, it is given little content that would equip us to endure. More focus is given to our own personal experience of living an unsettled life than to what it looks like to love God and one another as we endure.
March 16, 2025
I started this book very unsure of whether I’d finish it or not. I liked the yellow cover and the title. But for some reason it felt wrong to read a book that spoke on the side of wandering when I’ve read so many about being still or being content.
This book was a huge blessing to me. So many relatable quotes and stories. Things that you read and say “I knew I wasn’t the only one who thought like this….”
There’s so much more to the Christian life than being still. While waiting is a huge part of the Christian walk, all of that waiting is for a purpose. This book shows you how to wait with a purpose and how to start wondering when it is time.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who is restless and longing for more in their walk with God….
This book was a huge blessing to me. So many relatable quotes and stories. Things that you read and say “I knew I wasn’t the only one who thought like this….”
There’s so much more to the Christian life than being still. While waiting is a huge part of the Christian walk, all of that waiting is for a purpose. This book shows you how to wait with a purpose and how to start wondering when it is time.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who is restless and longing for more in their walk with God….
November 11, 2018
Van Loon combines insights on the human condition, compassion for her fellow pilgrims, and humor with her gift of story telling in this marvelous book. As always, she is winsome and wise, thoughtful and challenging. Here’s a sample from chapter three: “Godly contentment will keep us in a state of discontentment with the world around us. It will help us recognize temporary comforts such as a full stomach and a safe place in which to lay our heads are not the destination in our lives. Godly contentment makes pilgrims out of us.” Ultimately, all of us are trying to find our way back home. Michelle’s book serves as a wise field guide.
July 4, 2020
What a beautiful summation of the journey I have been on. I connected so deeply with this. This ache for home is in every one of us. It reminded me of all the right things and gently pushed me to go deeper still. My heart is set on a beautiful pilgrimage. You could feel the genuine kindness of the author shine through as she walks us through the steps we must journey through. I found myself connecting deeply with the Jewish history and root word studies in Hebrew and later Greek. They give subtle clues into how we are supposed to be approaching this journey. This book was healing balm for my soul!
July 16, 2018
An incredibly insightful read!
Written with clarity and wisdom only God can give. I began to understand my life long desire to wander; often a little above the earth at times when I just couldn’t fit in where I was planted. My journey through suffering is a true gift that is slowing transforming me into the pilgrim I long to be. Thank you for giving me clarity and support with your words. A must read for anyone on the eternal journey.
Written with clarity and wisdom only God can give. I began to understand my life long desire to wander; often a little above the earth at times when I just couldn’t fit in where I was planted. My journey through suffering is a true gift that is slowing transforming me into the pilgrim I long to be. Thank you for giving me clarity and support with your words. A must read for anyone on the eternal journey.
March 30, 2024
Author Michelle Van Loon has written a beautiful book on our pilgrim wandering on earth. She explores the topic of pilgrimage through the many wanderings of God's people in the Bible. My biggest takeaway is that while the world focuses on reaching a destination, we can find beauty and freedom when we embrace our identity as pilgrims on earth. We find joy in remembering that God walks with us on our life journeys.
June 8, 2019
This book is a great reminder to Christians of our pilgrim identity and gives a refreshing look at this idea, rooted in the history of the Israelites as pilgrims following God. The format also makes it accessible for a book study. While provoking lots of food for thought, Michelle Van Loon's writing style makes it easy to engage with the concepts.
January 20, 2019
I really enjoyed the way this book explores what it means to be a pilgrim and traces the story of the Jewish people through defining events in their history. God uses journeys to bring us closer to Him and this book is a great reminder of that.
September 1, 2018
A lovely, quiet walk through the author’s wanderings as connected to Biblical stories and scripture. Each short chapter features questions and prayers at the end. An excellent study.
November 6, 2023
3.5
Brief but helpful considerations of Scriptural belonging, wilderness, and pilgrimage with/toward Jesus.
Brief but helpful considerations of Scriptural belonging, wilderness, and pilgrimage with/toward Jesus.
October 22, 2025
A few thoughts and phrases from this book were worth highlighting; but overall it wasn't what I was expecting. I feel like the back cover gave the wrong impression about the content.
May 29, 2025
Not a bad read but I wouldn’t recommend it. I liked the writing but ultimately couldn’t buy into the premise. It seemed like the author needed to find meaning and divine calling in her adverse tendency to put down roots. While God calls us to follow his lead, I think the premise that we are all transient pilgrims in Christ is a bit flawed and was used here to justify an inclination that is not always God’s will.
I kept hearing in my head the lines from Come Thou Fount: “Prone to wander Lord I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love” Not all wandering is good and can often lead us away from God rather than towards him. I would proceed with caution here.
I kept hearing in my head the lines from Come Thou Fount: “Prone to wander Lord I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love” Not all wandering is good and can often lead us away from God rather than towards him. I would proceed with caution here.
March 7, 2023
A decent look at the Christian life as a pilgrimage filled with personal stories and a journey through the story of Scripture looking at the themes of exile and homecoming. My favorite chapter was the one that discussed the Pilgrim’s Progress…so maybe I should just read that.
August 21, 2021
I think the idea that will most stick with me is that humankind has been wandering since the beginning, and even what seems like stability is just another pause. This context demands more grace for those who wander now - be they exiles, who flee something, or pilgrims, who seek it.
I also appreciate that the difference between an exile and a pilgrim is often (especially for those of us privileged enough to to have never experienced literal forced displacement) just a shift in perspective. Which force is more dominant in our lives? The things we are afraid of or the ones we run toward? It begs the question: what do we worship?
I also appreciate that the difference between an exile and a pilgrim is often (especially for those of us privileged enough to to have never experienced literal forced displacement) just a shift in perspective. Which force is more dominant in our lives? The things we are afraid of or the ones we run toward? It begs the question: what do we worship?
February 17, 2021
Nice devotional or group study format. Author weaves personal heritage of and Biblical descriptions of Judaism into the present-day identity we Christ followers have as strangers and aliens in this world.
August 7, 2021
Well written perspective on the pilgrimage of a believer in Jesus
I loved this book. Loved it!
I loved this book. Loved it!
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