"Rediscovering the Way of Life"

"Dedicated to my daughter, Whose name means, 'My God has Answered' My Gift, My Miracle My answered Prayer"

I am writing to announce the official publication of Rediscovering the Way of Life, my first book on Christian theology. But before we talk about the book, let us explore the rather severe story behind it.

In April of 2024, my wife told me she was pregnant.

This is not itself exceptional; it occurs every hour of every day, and always with a joyousness unique to new life. But to my wife and I, for our family, it was exceptional. We had been trying to conceive for more than seven years. The first four years were filled with only miscarriages, and then—

Nothing.

For nearly three years there was only barrenness. We drove to St. Louis repeatedly for fertility treatments, all to no avail. We had no answers, and we had little hope.

Prayer was a staple. Every night, from the moment my head hit the pillow until I fell asleep, I cried out in desperation to God. I offered Him a promise: if He would see fit to bless my wife and I with a child together, if it conformed to His will, then I would be sure to raise him or her to love and know Him as I do.

Eventually, we could not afford any more fertility treatments. For all intents and purposes, we had given up. Even if we did not admit it to one another, we had. We both hurt, and we both knew, but neither of us had a solution.

But there is always hope in faith, and faith is what we clung to.

The night we had discussed discontinuing treatments was especially dark. I went to bed early, not to sleep but to pray. It was all I could do. I entreated God, repeating my promise again and again.

Two weeks later, my wife was pregnant.

That day, I began to study and to write. I knew that God had acted.

I poured myself into Scripture with a fervor so passionate that it bordered on madness. I wrote in the early mornings before work, and wrote in the evenings after. I read the Scriptures front to back, critically and with great care. I studied the Old Testament in both Hebrew and Greek, and the New Testament in its own native Greek.

My prayers changed to thankfulness, hope, and renewed promises to raise my child as I had sworn to do. I presented a new request, one of humbleness and admitted inadequacy, that the Lord would guide my thoughts and words so that I would not produce a single syllable contrary to His will.

This is a prayer I repeat many times a day, every day.

After nearly a year, I published the product of that promise: Rediscovering the Way of Life.

In my mission to fulfil my promise, I found that there was much more that I could do, and to limit my efforts only to my daughter would be an error. How could I justify putting such effort into helping my child find peace with God, but then constrain it only thus when I could potentially help others? It was then that I decided to take the book I had written for my daughter and share it with the world.

What I found throughout the process was far more than simply a fulfilled promise. In my effort to satisfy my vow to God, I discovered a strong conviction to abandon all prior pursuits and focus on defending raw, pure Christianity from the wolves of the world, be they from within the church or from without.

This book is the first step in that process. It is deliberately short, and very simple, a reflection of the wondrous parsimony of Christian faith.

The purpose of the book itself is likewise simple. First, it was to condense Christian faith in a Scripture-only format that was easy to read and understand. Second, to address prominent challenges within Christianity itself, and third, to approach and answer some of the most common questions that obstruct the earnest seeker from fully committing to God. These are often the questions I once asked and found no one to help answer them.

In tandem with the Scriptures, Rediscovering the Way of Life could very easily be the only theological book a person ever owns or reads, and in its pages still discover the fullness of faith. That was and remains its intended purpose.

And so I invite you to read the book, whether in print or digital, and to share it with others, especially those who have struggled to find faith in their individual walk. By doing so, you help me fulfil my own promise to God, a promise that began as an earnest hope for a child that has grown into a conviction of mission and purpose.

With all my Love in Christ,

Shane Caraway