Out Walking: Reflections on Our Place in the Natural World
Creation is a classroom full of Gods lessons. Sadly, too often we playtruant. We skip school in the pursuit of the supposed good life cultureoffers usa life that trashes Gods handiwork while filling our closets with manufactured junk. Leax models a wonderfully respectful approach to what God proclaimed as good. And in the process of following the authors steps back into creation, we find both our minds and our hearts renewed. Leaxs book is a generous, spirited offering  --Gordon Aeschliman, Target EarthJohn Leax guides us into the sanctuary of nature to show us vividly that the world doesn't need to be remade. Instead, he suggests very lovingly, we do. In this book full of wonder, he shows us how to see  --James Calvin Schaap, author, Romeys PlaceJohn Leax, one of our most important authors, is a fusion of poet, religious contemplative, ecologist. He staresstares for himself and for usuntil his staring realizes grace and resolve. In Out Walking he tells us that we must marry the earth. By poem and essay, by steady eye and honest voice, he helps us discover the complexity of this profound concept and, with him, to desire to live it. Long after its last page, this book will remain a presence for us  --William Heyen, professor of English and poet in residence, SUNY at BrockportLike a hike with a good friend, this book will lead you into the splendor of the Creators world. I enjoyed Leaxs honest stories and his creative witness to the world around us  --Stan L. LeQuire, former director, Evangelical Environmental NetworkOut Walking ought to become a precious heirloom in the rich tradition of North American nature writing. John Leaxs work is warm and substantial, crusty and sweet. Most delightful, though, is the careful leavening of wisdom and joy from our Christian experience I found in Out Walking. Leax takes us from the glittering surface of his backyard lily pond, to the cool darkness of Delaneys Cave, to the broad horizon seen from Mount Tam, to the moonlit shadows of a snowy night, then back to the words of Scripture and the prayers of the heart. A delightful journey  --Michael Crook, editor, Creation Care magazineThe main thread running through Out Walking addresses an important issue: the place of people in the natural world. Though Leax resists the temptation of thinking that the earth exists for our use alone, neither does he advocate that we keep our hands off it altogether. Instead, by example he encourages us to pay attention to the effect of our everyday actions on the world around us  --Carl Pope, executive director, Sierra ClubWhen Jack Leax pens an essay or writes a poem, he never fails to stop me in my tracks. Astonished all over again, I look; I listen: How did I miss that? Every new book he writes adds to his statutre as one of our preeminant witnesses to the creationa believing witness inviting us into a life of prayerful appreciation  --Eugene H. Peterson, professor emeritus of spiritual theology, Regent College