How Far to the Promised Land Quotes

“…there is no joy without suffering, and it is both the joy and the suffering that make me who I am.”
― Esau McCaulley, How Far to the Promised Land: One Black Family's Story of Hope and Survival in the American South

“If we're all a mix of good and bad then there's always a chance that good might emerge victorious in the end if we give God enough time to do His work. Patience with broken people and broken things is a manifestation of trust in God.”
― Esau McCaulley, How Far to the Promised Land: One Black Family's Story of Hope and Survival in the American South

“Patience with broken people and broken things is a manifestation of trust in God.”
― Esau McCaulley, How Far to the Promised Land: One Black Family's Story of Hope and Survival in the American South

“If we’re all a mix of good and bad, then there’s always a chance good might emerge victorious in the end, if we give God enough time to do His work. Patience with broken people and broken things is a manifestation of trust in God.”
― Esau McCaulley, How Far to the Promised Land: One Black Family's Story of Hope and Survival in the American South

“Ours is like any marriage that lasts. We had to give up enough of ourselves to make room for the other person, but we had to retain a sufficient amount of who we were to avoid bitterness. All marriages become a third thing—neither one partner’s dream, nor the other’s, but a different glory, an ordinary one we made together.”
― Esau McCaulley, How Far to the Promised Land: One Black Family's Story of Hope and Survival in the American South

“People are always more than the bad decisions they make. As long as we draw breath, there is always a chance to start anew. That is the central teaching of Christianity”
― Esau McCaulley, How Far to the Promised Land: One Black Family's Story of Hope and Survival in the American South

“One night when I had convinced her to take yet another respite, I pointed up at the stars as we crossed the quad. “Do you see that?” I said. “That’s the Big Dipper.” Putting my arm around her to direct her vision, I added, “And that over there is Orion.” She glanced up in the sky and then back at me and said, with mock outrage, “No, it’s not. Orion is not visible this time of year.” “Well,” I replied, laughing, “I was only half paying attention in astronomy class.”
― Esau McCaulley, How Far to the Promised Land: One Black Family's Story of Hope and Survival in the American South

“There is no Black faith that doesn't wrestle with the problem of evil.
My reply to these questions is: We who have suffered must have some say in how that suffering is interpreted. We won the right, through our scars, to discern the significance of what we endured.”
― Esau McCaulley, How Far to the Promised Land: One Black Family's Story of Hope and Survival in the American South

“sometimes feel like a doctor telling a patient that their illness is more serious than first thought. Recovery will not simply involve taking medication; it must include surgery and a change in lifestyle. The truth stings, making hostility toward the bearer of such bad news inevitable.”
― Esau McCaulley, How Far to the Promised Land: One Black Family's Story of Hope and Survival in the American South