FOREWORD

 

Up from the Ashes is a story of restoration and redemption. It is not a script for Reality TV, nor is it a fictional yarn hatched in an imaginative mind. Rather, it is the drama of real life. The author, Ken Walls, knows it is a true story, because he lived it.

We often say that experience is a great teacher, but what it teaches us has two sides. On one side, good experiences tell us what we want to repeat—behaviors worth continuing, conduct that adds value, and relationships that need to be perpetuated. But on the other side, bad experiences also provide lessons, hard lessons. They tell us where we do not want to go again. Every life has both good and bad.

So why, when we have experienced the best, would we choose the worst? How could we fall hard and fast to the bottom after having been at the top?

In this stark account, Ken gives us answers by tracing his fall from successful pastoral ministry to unfaithfulness and adultery. His account bleeds authenticity. He is painfully honest. Every reader can learn from his tragic experience: heed the words of the Apostle Paul, “So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall” (1 Corinthians 10:12 niv).

Redemption is not designed for “good” people but for sinners, and that includes you and me. None of us can point fingers at Ken Walls and ask, “How could you,” because we also have fallen—perhaps not as noticeably and dramatically as Ken, but fallen nonetheless.

As a stumbling pilgrim, I am always encouraged when I read these words to a prophet who was disobedient and angry and had a bad attitude: “The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time” (Jonah 3:1 niv). When we fail God, as Ken did and as we all do, our faithful God comes a second and third and fourth time—as many times as needed—and offers us a redemptive, restorative word. He is indeed the God of a second chance. From the ashes of our fallen lives, He rekindles the flame of passion for Him.

I am happy to recommend Ken’s story to you, because it is intertwined with the story of Jesus. Without Jesus, the story would end badly. But Jesus made the difference for Ken, and He will for you too.

 

Warren D. Bullock

Executive Presbyter,

Northwest Region,

General Council of the Assemblies of God