A Journey of Beginnings: The Making of a Life

By James M. Campbell

Beginning with his childhood in the hills of rural western Pennsylvania, master process facilitator and author James M. Campbell shares his life experiences to discover how his personal history has shaped his relationships with others and his care for the world. Nothing about Jim's life has been ordinary, from his birth in 1940 to his retirement in 2013 in Colombia. Over and over again he found himself setting out into a new chapter with new demands and new challenges. Jim shares what he has learned about the world and himself through this journey of beginning again and again. In his introduction to A JOURNEY OF BEGINNINGS, Jim writes: "I believe that everyone has a vocation". And so, Jim takes us on the journey of his life, fulfilling his vocational vision; caring for the innocent human suffering of this world. As Jim shares the making of his life, four great themes emerge that reveal the depth and power of what Jim was able to create. The first is simply that making a life requires profound trust in life. Jim writes, "If we don't trust what is the basis of our relation to our life--suspicion and distrust? How can you affirm your life if you relate to it with distrust?" The second is that making a life requires moving beyond the familiar and deeply trusting in new beginnings. It is only as we dare to leave our familiar ground behind us that life opens before us and new vistas emerge; and in these new vistas we find new power and possibility. The third is that making a life happens when we engage with others who share our vision. The power of our passion is released when it is harnessed with that of others in a community that dares to act out their lives in service to the disinherited of this earth. And finally, making a life means trusting that all life is open to transformation and that, in surrendering ourselves and risking all, we can truly bring about a new day. Making a life of service means creating hope where it did not exist before. Jim discovered his vocation on a train in Southern Chile in 1962. All human beings have a vocation; Jim considers himself fortunate to have found his vocation as a young adult and to have found the community that gave him the knowledge and skills to truly BE his vocation. In the conclusion, Jim reminds us of William Ernest Henley's words: It matter not how strait the gate, how charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul. This book tells us of one man's living of those words.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1689345292
• ISBN13: 9781689345293
• Release Date: August 2019
• Publisher: Independently published
• Length: 300 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.5" x 0.7" x 5.5"