Growing Up Amish

I just finished Growing Up Amish by Ira Wagler. A relatively quick read full of emotion to keep you involved. I liked reading an Amish story from a male point of view. Better still was that Ira lived it. It isn't fiction. It was so hard to read his spiritual struggle; trying so hard to feel at peace. Within a super strict Amish community he felt his life was strangling him. Outside that community, feelings of home and the desire to belong pulled him back. He was in a constant tug of war between freedom and stability. Ira was never happy in either world, as his condition was spiritual not physical. How sad that in such a religious upbringing he constantly felt lost and so alone. Feeling God was so distant and removed from his life, Ira didn't know if there was a God. Even with a large family he never learned to communicate and therefore never knew how to let someone in. Thus became a pattern of leaving and returning. Never begin content anywhere. Ira stated "a mental choice, absent real internal change, is no choice at all." He tried to be Amish, but could never change the way he felt deep inside. Again, it was spiritual not physical. Ira knew he was lost, but didn't have any idea how to change that. I was so relieved when Sam walked into his life, and shared Jesus with his life and his words. What a revelation that Ira had when he realized he could leave and not be lost. "That the box of Amish life and culture might provide some protection, but it could never bring salvation." His yearning to be free was finally achieved when Christ set him free.