This memoir tells the story of a man’s life, particularly his spiritual journey as a minister in the Religious Society of Friends. Lloyd Lee Wilson began keeping a journal when he was eight years old, and he has kept journaling his entire life. This book contains descriptions of events taken from the journals, including recountings of vocal ministry and prayers; other writings by Lloyd Lee (and the writings of others); and Lloyd Lee’s reflections on events and his inward journey as well as his inward state today as he looks back on his life.

Lloyd Lee writes in his introduction to this book: A wise Friend once said that since Friends have no creeds to define us, we have to tell our stories in order to remember who we are as a particular people of faith. These stories from my own life are shared as insights into who Friends have been in the places and times I have occupied, to help us remember. They are an account of my trying to be faithful to a call into public ministry among Friends and others and of my consequent struggles to find the support and accountability among my faith community to answer that call faithfully.

It is the intent of the publisher to bring this book into print for the benefit of the reader so they might use it in reflecting on their lives and discerning choices and possible calls laid before them. The spiritual journey that leads to putting God at the center of one’s life is the beginning point for doing good works in the world.

Lloyd Lee Wilson has been active in the public ministry since his youth on the eastern shore of Maryland, becoming a Methodist certified lay speaker at age fourteen. He encountered Quakers while attending MIT in the late 1960s and soon became fully committed to the faith and practice of Friends.

His service to Friends includes time spent as general secretary of Friends General Conference, serving on various Friends United Meeting boards and commissions, and yearly meeting appointments in New England, Baltimore, and most recently North Carolina Yearly Meeting (Conservative), where he has been presiding clerk and clerk of the yearly meeting of ministers, elders, and overseers. Lloyd Lee has written a great deal on Quaker faith and practice as well as given talks and lectures and led workshops and retreats. He has been a recorded minister in four different monthly meetings of the Religious Society of Friends.