Undaunted: One Man's Real-Life Journey from Unspeakable Memories to Unbelievable Grace

by Josh McDowell, Cristobal Krusen (Editor)

Overview

Undaunted—both the book and movie—chronicles the riveting true story of a young farm boy named Josh who carried unspeakable memories of an alcoholic father and a farmhand’s abuse, causing him to defy God’s existence. Yet God redeemed a horrible situation with his unbelievable grace. Today Josh McDowell is one of the most popular evangelists in the world who defends the reality of Jesus Christ to millions through his presentations and classic book More Than a Carpenter. Undaunted unfolds the dramatic spiritual transformation in Josh’s life when he faces his past head—on and puts everything entirely in God’s hands. The result is an undaunted faith, a gift freely offered to everyone who seeks it.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781414371221
Publisher:	Tyndale House Publishers
Publication date:	09/01/2012
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	5.64(w) x 8.06(h) x 0.77(d)

Read an Excerpt

Undaunted

One Man's Real-Life Journey from Unspeakable Memories to Unbelievable Grace

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By Josh McDowell Cristóbal Krusen

Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.

Copyright © 2012 Campus Crusade for Christ, Inc.
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4143-7122-1

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Chapter One

All's Right with the World

IT WAS AN UNUSUALLY warm day for so early in spring, and my car windows were rolled down to catch whatever breeze there might be in Wheaton, Illinois, thirty miles west of Chicago. I was a junior at Wheaton College, working my afternoon job of delivering administrative papers to local high schools. More than a part-time job, it provided me a small break from the unrelenting pressures of the academic workload at college.

I had hoped to get across the tracks at the Chase Street crossing before the Chicago commuter train rumbled past, but it seemed my approach was choreographed to coincide precisely with the lowering of the gate and the flashing of the red warning lights. I pulled to a stop and leaned back in my seat to relax. The clanging of the signal played a discordant counterrhythm to the number one hit song the Shirelles were singing on the car radio—"Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?"

I glanced in my rearview mirror at the serene view of the Wheaton campus extending up the hill behind me, with venerable Blanchard Hall at its apex. The scene brought to mind the words of Jesus in the Gospel of

Matthew: "A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden." Would I leave a mark on the world for Wheaton? If so, what would it be?

My eyes turned back to the passing train. Such a soothing sound it made. I remembered lying in bed at night as a child, listening to the freight trains that passed by, their sound rolling unimpeded over the Michigan farmland. How resolute the locomotives seemed to be, their horns blaring fearlessly in the dark while the boxcars clattered rhythmically behind, their sound rocking me to sleep.

I sighed contentedly. For some reason, I thought of Robert Browning's oft-quoted line, "God's in His heaven, all's right with the world."

I sang along with the car radio,

So tell me now, and I won't ask again, Will you still love me tomorrow?

Suddenly, in the rearview mirror, I noticed a pickup truck barreling toward me, swerving erratically and gathering speed instead of slowing down. I blinked hard and looked again. The vehicle was not going to stop—it had no time or room to stop. With the train still passing in front of me, I reached for the gear shift to put the car in reverse, but there was no time to back out of the way. The truck was nearly on top of me when I threw the gear into neutral, pressed down on the brake as hard as I could, and braced for impact.

In a split second, my life flashed before me—a life that, for the most part, I wanted to forget.

(Continues...)

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Excerpted from Undaunted by Josh McDowell Cristóbal Krusen Copyright © 2012 by Campus Crusade for Christ, Inc.. Excerpted by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

Contents

Preface....................ix
CHAPTER 1 All's Right with the World....................1
CHAPTER 2 In the Beginning....................5
CHAPTER 3 Wayne....................23
CHAPTER 4 Junior's Betrayal....................33
CHAPTER 5 High School....................43
CHAPTER 6 Air Force....................51
CHAPTER 7 New Horizons....................67
CHAPTER 8 Great Britain....................87
CHAPTER 9 The Journey Continues....................115
CHAPTER 10 New Beginnings....................129
CHAPTER 11 Wheaton and Beyond....................145
CHAPTER 12 Going Home....................151
CHAPTER 13 Summer 1961....................167
CHAPTER 14 Senior Year....................191
CHAPTER 15 Engagement and Graduation....................201
CHAPTER 16 A Final Summer....................209
CHAPTER 17 Out West....................219
CHAPTER 18 The Call....................231
CHAPTER 19 The Ocean Blue....................237
Epilogue....................245
Acknowledgments....................249
Discussion Guide....................251
Notes....................255
About the Authors....................257

Editorial Reviews

Josh McDowell would become one of the world’s most well-known evangelists.
But his story begins with a young boy on a farm . . . one who didn’t believe in God.

There’s a saying that childhood is the most beautiful of life’s seasons. And so it should be. But that wasn’t true for Josh McDowell. He was born to an alcoholic father who showed him no love, who valued him only as a farmhand. He endured years of painful abuse. Josh’s mother loved him but was unable to rescue him. In the midst of circumstances no child should have to suffer, Josh cried out to God for help, but He seemed silent. And so Josh believed God wasn’t listening—or even there at all.

How does a boy overcome such adversity to become one of the most impactful evangelists for Christ that the world has ever known?

This is Josh McDowell’s story. For the first time, Josh fully reveals the dramatic spiritual transformation that occurred when he faced his past head-on and put everything entirely in God’s hands. It’s a story of overcoming shame, grief, and despair and embracing real love for the first time. It’s a tale of divine grace: when the worst that life can throw at you happens, you can come out on the other side with a faith that is full, free—and undaunted.

From the Publisher