As a boy, I heard my mother sing “Amazing Grace.” She said grace over meals and praised all graciousness. My father, on the other hand, rarely spoke the word, relegating it to Sunday vernacular, with little use in an accountant’s calculated life. But he showed grace through his actions, by caring for me the best he could even when his own heart was broken.
For most of my life I have thought of grace as a hope of a bright tomorrow in spite of the darkness of today—and this is true. In this way we are all like Pamela, walking a road to grace—hoping for mercy. What we fail to realize is that grace is more than our destination, it is the journey itself, manifested in each breath and with each step we take. Grace surrounds us, whirls about us like the wind, falls on us like rain. Grace sustains us on our journeys, no matter how perilous they may be and, make no mistake, they are all perilous. We need not hope for grace, we merely need to open our eyes to its abundance. Grace is all around us, not just in the hopeful future but in the miracle of now.
And, if we travel well, we will become as grace and learn the lesson meant from the journey, not to dismiss error, but to eagerly forgive the err-er, to generously share the balm of mercy and love for, before the eyes of Heaven, we all walk as fools. And the more we exercise our portion of grace, the better we receive it. The abundance of this grace is only limited by ourselves, as we cannot receive that which we are not willing to accept—be it for ourselves or others.
It’s been written that, He who does not forgive is guilty of the greater sin. That verse had always confounded me. I had considered it unjust at best and cruel at worst. But these words were not meant as condemnation—rather as illumination of an eternal truth: that to not extend forgiveness is to burn the bridge that we ourselves must cross.
I have found grace in my walk. I saw it in the joy of Pamela’s freedom, in the hope in Analise’s eyes, and in the forgiving heart of Leszek. I found it in Washington in the wisdom of Ally and the friendship of Nicole, and walking through Idaho in the gratitude of Kailamai. And even now, in my moment of uncertainty and fear, I see it in the presence of Falene. Grace is all around me. It always has been. How could I have been so blind?
I am still in the hospital. My father arrived a few hours after I woke. Tests have been done, and, no doubt, there will be myriad more to come. We do not yet know if my tumor is malignant or benign, and whether or not it has spread. I know only enough to fear. I fear death, as any sane man does, but I’m a creative man so my fears are greater than most.
Still, part of me—a dark or light part I’m not yet certain—hungers for death’s sleep, perhaps to wake in the brightness and warmth of McKale’s arms. This might seem a fool’s hope—to seek love in death—but, truthfully, I do not know where McKale is but death.
I don’t know. Not since I set out from Seattle has my journey been more uncertain. I don’t know if or when I will be walking again. I do not know whether or not I will reach Key West. But this much I know—whether I accept the journey or not, the road will come. The road always comes. The only question any of us can answer, is how we will choose to meet it.
SIMON & SCHUSTER
READING GROUP GUIDE
Introduction
In the third book in Richard Paul Evans’s bestselling series, former advertising executive Alan Christoffersen continues his walk across the United States in an attempt to find solace after the death of his wife and the betrayal of his business partner. When a mysterious woman begins to follow him on his journey, Alan is forced to confront his past and some hard truths about his late wife’s family.
TOPICS & QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
1. Many characters in both film and literature embark upon journeys as a reaction to unexpected life events. How does Alan’s journey compare to other “journey” narratives you’ve encountered? What is significant about Alan’s determination to cover hundreds of miles by foot?
2. Do you think that Pamela’s explanation of her behavior justifies what she did to McKale? Are her actions understandable?
3. Based on your knowledge of Alan’s history with his former business partner Kyle Craig, were you surprised that Leszek was able to convince him to initiate contact with Kyle? What does this say about how Alan may have felt on a deeper level? How does Leszek’s own story help Alan put things into perspective?
4. Discuss Alan’s reaction to Analise when he wakes in the middle of the night. Did you guess at her secret before she told it to Alan? Could you understand Alan’s reaction? Why are Analise and Alan able to form a bond so quickly? Have you ever experienced a similar, immediate connection with someone?
5. Were there any towns that Alan visited that held particular interest for you? What was interesting about them? Have you been to any of the places he visits during the novel?
6. Discuss Alan’s memories of the one birthday party his father threw for him. Why does he thank his father for throwing this party? What is Alan thankful for? What has happened in the novel up to this point that may have changed Alan’s view of his past?
7. Israel asks an interesting question: How could a just God give an eternal punishment for a sin that took place in a limited time? How do you feel about this question?
8. Of all the different individuals Alan encounters during The Road to Grace, who do you think had the greatest overall effect on Alan’s character? Which character did you most enjoy reading?
9. Alan says that some of America’s small towns “were tinder for some of the world’s greatest people and ideas.” Discuss this statement. How might small-town living breed greatness in people?
10. How has Alan changed since the beginning of The Walk series? How do you describe the concept of grace? Do you think Alan has found grace?
11. During the ghost tour in Hannibal, Alan learns that the elderly Mr. Lewis has been searching for the ghost of his wife for decades and thinks, “I had seen the possibility of my own ruin.” What do you think Alan means? Why does Mr. Lewis’s behavior have such a great impact on him?
12. Analise tells Alan that she understands his impulse to walk across the country after McKale’s death more than he knows, while Leszek is at first confused by Alan’s journey. How do the different ways characters respond to Alan’s walk reflect the state of their own lives? How does the theme of seeing ourselves reflected in others recur throughout the novel?
13. Were you surprised by the news Alan learns from Falene at the end of the book? Did you expect something like this to happen? How did Evans foreshadow this news earlier in the book? Given what Alan learns at the end of The Road to Grace, where might you see his journey leading next?
14. Discuss the theme of forgiveness in the novel. Consider Alan’s conversation with Pamela and Leszek’s story of his captivity and escape in your response. Have you ever been confronted with the choice of whether or not to forgive? Is there any action that you would consider to be truly unforgivable?
ENHANCE YOUR BOOK CLUB
1. Create a playlist of songs that inspire you and listen to them on a long walk around your neighborhood or a local park. Reflect on any problems or issues you are currently facing and use your walk to begin thinking of steps toward a solution. You’re guaranteed to raise your spirits! At your next book club exchange playlists or share ideas generated during your walk with the rest of the group.
2. Watch the 2011 movie The Way, directed by Emilio Estevez and starring his father, Martin Sheen, which tells the story of a grief-stricken father who, after the death of his son, decides to walk hundreds of miles through Spain on an ancient spiritual route. Discuss the similarities between this movie and The Road to Grace.
3. The Road to Grace is full of interesting facts about American history and culture—Wall Drug to Walt Disney to Mark Twain. Put together a list of the notable Americans you admire most, and the attractions, town, and museums you’d most like to visit. At your next book club, map out a fantasy road trip based on where your members’ interests intersect both geographically and topically. Maybe it will
even inspire you to start planning a real trip!
4. To learn more about Richard Paul Evans, visit his website at www.richardpaulevans.com and become a fan of his Facebook page at www.facebook.com/RPEfans. To find our more about his charity, The Christmas Box International, visit www.thechristmasboxhouse.org/wp.
Coming Spring 2013, book 4 of The Walk series:
A Step of Faith
To learn more about The Walk series or to join Richard’s mailing list and receive special offers and information please visit: www.richardpaulevans.com
Join Richard on Facebook at the
Richard Paul Evans fan page
www.facebook.com/RPEfans
Or write to him at:
P.O. Box 712137 • Salt Lake City, Utah • 84171
Richard Paul Evans is the #1 bestselling author of The Christmas Box. Each of his twenty novels has been a New York Times bestseller. There are more than fifteen million copies of his books in print worldwide, translated into more than twenty-four languages. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the American Mothers Book Award, the Romantic Times Best Women’s Novel of the Year Award, the German Audience Gold Award for Romance, two Religion Communicators Council Wilbur Awards, the Washington Times Humanitarian of the Century Award and the Volunteers of America National Empathy Award. He lives in Salt Lake City, Utah, with his wife, Keri, and their five children. You can learn more about Richard on Facebook at www.facebook.com/RPEfans, or visit his website, www.richardpaulevans.com.
ALSO BY RICHARD PAUL EVANS
The Walk Series
The Walk
Miles to Go
A Winter Dream
Lost December
Promise Me
The Christmas List
Grace
The Gift
Finding Noel
The Sunflower
A Perfect Day
The Last Promise
The Christmas Box Miracle
The Carousel
The Looking Glass
The Locket
The Letter
Timepiece
The Christmas Box
For Children and Young Adults
The Dance
The Christmas Candle
The Spyglass
The Tower
The Light of Christmas
Michael Vey: The Prisoner of Cell 25
Simon & Schuster Paperbacks
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2012 by Richard Paul Evans
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Simon & Schuster Paperbacks Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
First Simon & Schuster trade paperback edition March 2013
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Designed by Davina Mock-Maniscalco
The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows:
Evans, Richard Paul.
The road to grace : the third journal of the walk series / Richard Paul Evans.—1st Simon & Schuster hardcover ed.
p. cm.
1. Executives—Fiction. 2. Life change events—Fiction. 3. Walking—United States—Fiction. 4. Loss (Psychology)—Fiction. 5. Diaries—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3555.V259R63 2012b
813'.54—dc23 2012004985
ISBN 978-1-4516-2818-0
ISBN 978-1-4516-2828-9 (pbk)
ISBN 978-1-4516-2833-3 (ebook)
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to thank the following for their assistance: Once again, my writing assistant, travel companion and daughter, Jenna Evans Welch. (And Ally, who came along for the ride. And Sam, who also came, but against his will.) My friends at Simon & Schuster: Jonathan Karp, Carolyn Ready, my editor Trish Todd (and Molly) and copy editor Gypsy da Silva. Mike and Cathy Hankins of the Southern Hotel in Ste. Genevieve, Kelly Glad, Judge Samuel D. McVey, Dr. Steve Schlozman, and The Cancer Learning Center at Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah.
My staff: Diane Glad, Heather McVey, Barry Evans, Karen Christoffersen, Doug Osmond (Osmonds rock!), Lisa Johnson, and Camille Shosted. And my agent, Laurie Liss. Good work. I’ll most likely kill you in the morning. (Just seeing if you really read my books.)
To my daughters, Jenna Lyn and Allyson-Danica.
The Okefenokee wouldn’t have been the same without you.
I love you, girls.
Faith is the strength by which a shattered world shall emerge into the light.
—Helen Keller
More than once, usually after getting a strange glance from an occupant of a passing car, I’ve wondered what people think of me—a lone man, unshaven, long hair spilling from beneath his hat, walking alone along some forsaken stretch of highway. They wouldn’t likely guess that I once owned a prestigious advertising agency, or a multimillion-dollar home, or shared a love that others only dream about. Nor would they guess how badly my heart’s been broken. We don’t think those things about strangers.
The truth is, they probably don’t think about me at all. Or at least not for very long. We have become proficient at blocking each other out. Just like we block advertising noise. I’m not claiming this is a sign of societal decay or moral deficiency. I think it’s a necessity. There are far too many people for us to think about each of them during our short stay on earth—like the thousands of books in a library we haven’t time to read in an afternoon. But this is no excuse to cease browsing. For every now and then, we find that one book that reaches us deep inside and introduces us to ourselves. And, in someone else’s story, we come to understand our own.
I don’t know how you found me, but my name is Alan Christoffersen. And this is the story of my walk.
PROLOGUE
Maybe, if we just accepted our deaths, we might finally start to live.
Alan Christoffersen’s diary
Am I dying?
It’s a stupid question, really, as we’ve all got an expiration date. I guess the real question is not if, but when.
As I was walking through the South Dakota Badlands—before I knew something was wrong with me—I had this thought: What if we all carried little timers that counted down the days of our lives? Maybe the timer’s a bit dramatic. Just the date would do. It could be tattooed on our foreheads like the expiration date on a milk bottle.
It might be a good thing. Maybe we’d stop wasting our lives worrying about things that never happen, or collecting things that we can’t take with us. We’d probably treat people better. We certainly wouldn’t be screaming at someone who had a day left. Maybe people would finally stop living like they’re immortal. Maybe we would finally learn how to live.
I’ve wondered if, perhaps, at some deep, subconscious level, we really do know our time. I’ve heard stories of people spontaneously buying life insurance or writing wills just days before an unforeseen calamity takes their lives.
In my own life I’ve seen evidence of this. My mother—who died when I was eight—told my father more than once that she didn’t think she would live to an old age or, to her great sadness, to see her grandchildren. Some might say that she jinxed herself, but I don’t think so. My mother wasn’t a pessimist. I think she knew.
Whether we know our time or not, it doesn’t change the truth—there is a clock t
icking for all of us. I suppose this weighs heavily on my mind right now because my clock seems to be ticking a little more loudly lately. A brain tumor will do that to you.
If you’re picking up my story for the first time, my name is Alan Christoffersen and I’m walking across America. I started 258 days ago from my home (or what was my home) in Seattle, Washington. I’m walking 3,500 miles to Key West, Florida.
A day ago I was found unconscious on the side of Highway 61, about forty-five miles from where I am now—the St. Louis University Hospital. All I know for certain about my condition is that the doctors found a brain tumor. This came to me as a complete surprise.
Almost as surprising as my wife’s death—which is why I’m walking to begin with.
Nearly ten months ago my wife, McKale, was paralyzed in a horse-riding accident. While I cared for her, my advertising agency’s clients were stolen by my partner, Kyle Craig, and the loss of income coupled with mounting medical bills sent me spiraling into bankruptcy. My cars were repossessed and my home was foreclosed on. A month later, when McKale died of complications, I lost everything.
At the time, I wanted to take my life. Instead, I decided to take a walk—one that would take me as far away from Seattle as physically possible. I’m a little more than halfway. Perhaps death has been following me all along.
Richard Paul Evans: The Complete Walk Series eBook Boxed Set Page 52
