cover image Moments of Mystery and Wonder

Moments of Mystery and Wonder

John Garland Thayer, Vantage, $21.95 (170p) ISBN 978-0-533-16293-2

Retired educator and United Methodist pastor Thayer recalls moments of divine grace throughout his life as a student, husband, father, teacher, and minister. His spiritual awakening occurred in 1934, when Thayer, then an ill four-year-old, sensed an angel at his hospital bedside assuring him he would recover because "God had a purpose" for him. Over the years, Thayer continued to find himself miraculously aided through trials big and small—as in 2008, when a friend donated money for a golf cart to help him traverse his six acres of Tennessee land. A few anecdotes may strike readers as merely coincidental: Thayer appearing at the hospital at the exact moment someone was praying for a minister; Thayer receiving the perfect evening jacket from a stranger. However, episodes that feature voices or visions urging the author into action capture brushes with divinity with clear language and a homespun lyricism.