The Damascus Way Quotes

“Love. Forgive. As you forgive, you will be forgiven.”
― Davis Bunn, The Damascus Way

“Forgive me for not being willing to hear your call until now, dear Lord. But I am here and I am ready. Direct me to where I should next go. Reveal to me how I should next serve you. Grant me the wisdom and the strength to trust you in all things. Wherever you lead. Whatever task you set. Help me, Lord.”
― Davis Bunn, The Damascus Way

“Several hundred men filled the main chamber. Women’s voices could be heard from beyond the cloth screens running down the eastern wall. The gathering quieted for the service, which followed the same pattern as in Judea: a song and then a Scripture reading from the Torah scrolls, followed by a prayer from the Psalms. Some men departed to begin their day, but most remained. Jacob stayed where he was, repeating silently the Psalms that resonated with the emotions filling his heart. How precious, O God, is your constant love. You let us drink from the river of your goodness. You are the source of all life.”
― Davis Bunn, The Damascus Way

“You are correct. God has indeed changed me. I know it. I feel it. But there is one thing I have not let him do for me. Not until now. But he has just whispered to my heart the words that I needed to hear. Words of peace. Of forgiveness. He has forgiven me. Now I must forgive.” Helena seemed puzzled. “Who . . . ?” “Father.” “Your father? What has he – ” “Not a thing. Nothing but care for me.” “Then . . . ? I do not understand.” “What he has done to you, Mother. I have felt angry that he has treated you with such injustice. Leaving you with no legal status. No security as a wife would enjoy. I have been so angry. And you don’t even dare accept a faith because of his . . . his ownership. I . . .”
― Davis Bunn, The Damascus Way

“How can I live so that when someone sees me, they are pointed to Jesus? When I speak, is it the Messiah’s truths they hear? How can I live that no power is seen to be mine, no authority, no crown, no glory. It all belongs to him. I am the willing, loving servant, providing hands, feet, voice, eyes, and ears for the Holy Spirit to use.” “It is the challenge we all should accept,” Alban said slowly. “Once again I am blessed by your words.”
― Davis Bunn, The Damascus Way

“Live a life of rightness. Seek to follow the blessed Lord, and pray for enlightenment for others.”
― Davis Bunn, The Damascus Way

“the challenge is to do that without getting in the way of the message.” Alban added, “He must increase. I must decrease.”
― Davis Bunn, The Damascus Way

“Merely looking at this bit of carved wood lifted Linux beyond himself, carried upon a promise as strong as it was eternal.”
― Davis Bunn, The Damascus Way

“Sometimes I wonder how often we've been so shielded from troubles that we remain blind to the power of God at work around us.”
― Davis bunn Janettte oke, The Damascus Way

“To Judeans the cross was perhaps the most hated symbol of Roman rule. The deadly silhouette had scarred too many hilltops, signifying the most ignoble of deaths, a lingering torment that carried shame for all who witnessed it. And yet here it was, portraying a hope that transcended their worries and fears. Merely looking at this bit of carved wood lifted Linux beyond himself, carried upon a promise as strong as it was eternal.”
― Davis Bunn, The Damascus Way

“Saul said, “I have been wrong in my thoughts and deeds. But God in his great mercy has given me light. Light through blindness. I now stand here to proclaim that Jesus is the Messiah, the risen Lord, the Son of God. He is come to save man from his sins. He is the gateway to heaven! Accept him as your Savior, and receive God’s forgiving grace!” After a stunned silence, a clamor of voices filled the air. Had this man just said what they thought they heard? The murderer, Saul of Tarsus, proclaiming Jesus Christ as the Messiah?”
― Davis Bunn, The Damascus Way

“Part of coming to know Jesus is coming to know ourselves, Papa. Seeing all the things that we otherwise might wish to keep hidden. Even from our own minds.” Jamal lifted his face, creased in sorrows only he could know, to hers. He shook his head as if to clear it. Julia said, “The closer we come to Jesus, the more we recognize his perfect love. And the more we see how far removed we are from this perfection. He calls to us with that love and forgiveness. He invites us to grow, to become more than we ever could be on our own.”
― Davis Bunn, The Damascus Way

“observant Judeans would make a stop by the baths before morning prayers, as immersion was a component of spiritual cleanliness. For Jacob there was far more here than merely cleaning off the road’s dust. He knew that the act of immersion was considered a symbol of change. Of elevating oneself from the earthly to the heavenly realms. Jacob wanted to mark all that had happened with such an act, and to complete the action with prayer.”
― Davis Bunn, The Damascus Way

“The Temple Pharisees were known as keepers of the tradition, staunch defenders of the Jewish law – and the minutiae with which they had surrounded it. Unlike the Sadducees, ardent foes on the Temple Council, the Pharisees traveled about Judea, lecturing in synagogues and searching out any perceived wrongdoing. Jacob”
― Davis Bunn, The Damascus Way

“ancient indeed. Joppa was a walled city with a stone barricade curving like a quarter moon around the natural port. Along its length, seven watchtowers rose like pillars holding up the sky. The ancient port had long since outgrown its former boundaries, however. More people lived outside the city walls than within.”
― Davis Bunn, The Damascus Way

“led him into the water. When they were waist deep, Philip declared in a voice that rang strong over the sunlight sparkling upon the water’s surface, “I baptize you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. As the water washes your outer body, so may the Spirit cleanse the inner man. Rise up into the eternal life that has been prepared for you!”
― Davis Bunn, The Damascus Way

“Philip’s words. Though the story was by now well known to him, still it held a powerful resonance. What he saw and heard was not merely a retelling of the Lord’s coming, but rather the fulfillment of words written centuries before by their most revered prophet.”
― Davis Bunn, The Damascus Way

“He was like a sheep being led to be killed. He was quiet, as a lamb is quiet while its wool is being cut; he never opened his mouth. He was shamed and was treated unfairly. He died without children to continue his family. His life on earth has ended.”
― Davis Bunn, The Damascus Way

“scroll written in Greek. The text, known as the Septuagint, was a translation done by Judean scholars, and it had been completed a century and a half before Jesus was born. Jacob had studied those very scrolls in his youth, and he knew the text was usually referred to as the Seventy, representing the number of scholars who had labored on the translation. All students were required to memorize the prophets in Greek as a beginning to their studies. The Hebrew version of the Scriptures was used only during the formal reading of the Sabbath services.”
― Davis Bunn, The Damascus Way

“Here they were, a group as diverse as one could possibly bring together. Jew, Samaritan, Roman, Greek – all united because of one who had come from God and returned to God only a few short years ago. Surely here was living proof that the eternal truths brought to life during Jesus’ time on earth meant transformation was not only possible, it was real.”
― Davis Bunn, The Damascus Way

“lived from day to day, his testimony of the risen Lord would ring true, that others who would accompany Alban on his journey would bear strong witness wherever they went.”
― Davis Bunn, The Damascus Way

“The village had survived many such storms. They knew what to expect – before, during, and afterward The Plains of Megiddo were a silent void. Nothing stirred – no wind, no birds, no animals. Even the buildings that marked where the roads joined were blanketed by sand, rendering them all the same shade of sunlit yellow. The stone walls that had faced the storm’s wrath were all heaped with sand as high as the roofs. Doors had to be forced open. The finest dust had sifted through the sealed portals and now coated every surface. The work done in the village above had to be repeated here, but there was no rush. Yelban predicted it would be at least a week before the next caravans arrived, perhaps longer.”
― Davis Bunn, The Damascus Way

“constantly urging them to ever greater speed. All the villagers had survived such storms before. They could taste the friction on their tongues, feel the hair standing away from their bodies, as if the earth were quarreling with the sky. The storm lasted two and a half days. Below them in the valley, the sand boiled and rushed, like a nightmare river. The Valley of Megiddo was filled from one end to the other, north to south, east to west. The sand was the color of old rust, and the noise was fierce. A howling dominated the world and did not stop, not to draw breath nor to let them sleep. Sand rattled against the doors, fistfuls of grit tossed upward like froth from a crashing wave. The dust settled everywhere. Abigail bathed Dorcas, and before the child was dressed again she would be covered with sand as fine as milled flour. It was in their food and in their water. It clogged their nostrils and filled their ears. They took to wearing their shawls wrapped around their faces even when indoors.”
― Davis Bunn, The Damascus Way

“You have just convinced me the faith you have found is what I need. What I have longed for. There is nothing further you could have said that would have convinced me. But this? This need to forgive. That is real, Julia. Genuine. I know it cannot come from within – except by the help of your God. Would you tell me how I might receive this ability to forgive from the God you have claimed as your own?”
― Davis Bunn, The Damascus Way

“I need . . . I need your God. I have watched you and . . . and you have such joy. Such peace. Both you and Zoe. How I long for it. But, Julia, I cannot go to your meeting to find it. Your father would be very angry. He might disown both of us.”
― Davis Bunn, The Damascus Way

“Whatever have you done?” “Just what you have said. Tried to change you. Argued with you. I am sorry, Mother. I had no right to coax and cajole. It is only God who can change a person’s heart. It is his Spirit that will draw you to him. And it happens only when you desire it, Mother. God never forces himself on anyone. I was wrong to push – ” “Oh, my child,” said Helena, reaching out to draw Julia into her arms. “I have been so overwrought. For so long. If I thought for one moment that this . . .”
― Davis Bunn, The Damascus Way

“Go into all the world and preach the gospel.’ ” Martha nodded slowly. “So the challenge is to do that without getting in the way of the message.” Alban added, “He must increase. I must decrease.”
― Davis Bunn, The Damascus Way

“All the verdant growth had been left behind them to the south. Up ahead, the roads dissected what looked like a vast wasteland. Far in the distance rose a lone hill, upon which a Roman fortress held its place like a stone buzzard. The desert plain seemed to go on forever. And over it all, the wind moaned.”
― Davis Bunn, The Damascus Way

“There before you is perhaps the most important juncture in all the eastern empire.” He slid down from his mount to point out one road after the other, naming the destinations. “The port of Joppa lies three days to the southwest, and beyond that the road continues on to Egypt. The southern road there leads to Jerusalem. Along the eastern route lies Tiberias, and beyond that Damascus and the province of Syria. That road leading north and west goes to Tyre, Sidon, and on to Tarsus.” They stood upon a gentle rise, perhaps two hundred feet above the Megiddo Plains.”
― Davis Bunn, The Damascus Way

“the hills of Galilee were divided into two distinct segments. The southern range split the Samaritan Plain from the Megiddo Plains, or Armageddon, as it was sometimes known. The northeastern hills wove around Tiberias and stretched up to meet the Golan highlands. Between the two, some twenty Roman miles west of the Jordan River, stretched a broad flat region. All the main arteries connecting the northern and southern realms, except for the one Roman road that skirted the western shore of Galilee, met at this point.”
― Davis Bunn, The Damascus Way