Ever since he was a boy growing up in his community’s synagogue, Mitch Albom’s first instinct when seeing a Man of God was to run away.  He grew up, marking the milestones of his faith and then just drifted away from God in pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness.  That all changes the day that the Man of God of his childhood, Rabbi Albert Lewis, asked Mitch, “Will you do my eulogy?”  

So begins Mitch’s journey with not one, but two Men of God.  Mitch agrees to do the eulogy on the condition that he get to know the Reb as a man.  Mitch meets with the Reb in his home and office over the next eight years.  During this same time, Mitch meets Henry Covington, a Detroit pastor of a run-down church and leader of I Am My Brother’s Keeper homeless ministry.  Henry grew up in a life of poverty and crime.  He did prison time and drugs.  He gave his life to God while hiding behind trash cans one night in fear for his life.  These two very different Men of God lead Mitch on a journey back to his faith.

I wanted to read this book with pen and notebook handy.  It is filled with words–quotes–I want to remember.  Here are some of my favorites:

“The most inspirational man I knew only reached his potential by helping a child reach his.”  Mitch

“Faith is about doing.  You are how you act, not just how you believe.”  the Reb on the importance of ritual

“That’s what faith is.  If they spit in your face, you say it must be raining.  But you still come back tomorrow.”  the Reb.  You’ll have to read the story it is the punch line to.

“We were part of each other’s lives.  If someone was about to slip up, someone else coudl catch him.”  the Reb, on community

“When you come to the end, that’s where God begins.”  and “It is far more comforting o think God listened and said no, than to think that nobody’s out there.” –  the Reb

“Getting old, we can deal with.  Being old is the problem.”  – the Reb

“I’ve spread as much as God’s word on that wall, as I have inside…Because some people arent ready to come in.  Maybe they feel guilty, on accounta what they’re up to.  So I go out there, bring them a sandwich.” – Henry

“I don’t care if you’re drunk, oryou just left the drug house, I don’t care.  When I’m sick, I go to the emergency room.  And if the problem continues, I go again.  So whatever’s ailing you, let this church be your emergency room.  Until you get the healing, don’t stop comng.” – Henry

“Our faith tells us to do charitable acts and to aid the poor in our community.  That is being righteous, no matter who you help.”  – the Reb

What if someone from another faith won’t recognize yours?  Or wants you dead for it?  “That is not faith.  That is hate.  And if you ask me, God sits up there and cries when that happens.” – the Reb

If the only thing wrong with Jesus is that he’s not yours; if the only thing wrong with mosques, Lent, chanting, Mecca, Buddha, confession, or reincarnation is that they are not yours–well maybethe problem is you. – Mitch

“No, I say.  You knew me.  You knew that person,but you don’t know the preson that I’m trying to becomes.”  – Henry, on overcoming your past

on why there is evil:  “Because one thing God gave us–and I’m afraid it’s at times a little too much–is free will.  Freedom to choose.  I believe he gave us everything we needed to build a beautiful world, if we choose wisely.  But we can also choose badly.  And we can mess things up something awful.”  – the Reb

“I think prayer and God are intertwined.” – the Reb

But it’s not me against the other guy.  It’s God measuring you against you.  Maybe all you get are chances to to do good, and what little bad you do ain’t much bad at all.  But because God has put you inthe position where you can always do good, when you do something bad–it’s like you let God down.  And maybe people who only get chances to do bad, always around bad things, like us, when they finally make something good out if it, God’s happy.”  – Cass

“You can’t work your way into heaven.  Anytime you try and justify yourself with works, you disqualify yourself with works.  What I do here, every day, for the rest of my life, is only my way of saying, ‘Lord, regardless of what eternity holds for me, let me give you something back to you.  I know it don’t even no scorecared.  But let me make something of my life before I go…And then, Lord, I’m at your mercy.'” – Henry

“Youre a man of God, too.  Everyone is.” – the Reb

“My answer here, too, is yes, there is something.  But friends, I’m sorry.  Now that I know, I can’t even tell you.”  – the Reb’s last words (recorded and played at his funeral).

And it hit me, finally, that this was the whole point of my time with the Reb and Henry:  not the conclusion, but the search, the study, the journey to belief.  You can’t fit the Lord in a box.  But you can gather stories, tradition, wisdom, andint ime, you needn’t lower the shelf; God is already nearer to thee. – Mitch