The Life and Reflections of Tom Carson by D. A. Carson.
I’ve listened to quite a few of D. A. Carson’s sermons and lectures (Okay, I’ll be honest. I’ve heard every single one I can download for free.), so I already knew some of his stories about his family and upbringing. I already knew that there were at least a few parallels between my own upbringing and his. My dad, for instance, was a small church pastor and missionary like Carson’s father, Tom Carson, and some of what I’d heard Don Carson say about his father made me think that he might have been a bit like my dad. My own mother used old adult-sized clothing to create cute clothing pieces for my sister and me, while Margaret Carson, Tom Carson’s wife, remade hand-me-down suits for her husband. And like D. A. Carson, I grew up poor, but unaware how much less we had than most people around us until later.
This is the reason I was hoping I’d be able to read and review Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor, Carson’s new book on the life of his father, who was a missionary pastor in Quebec. I can’t pass up a good biography, anyway, and if there are similarities between the people portrayed and the people I know and love, so much the better. And this was a good biography. I received my review copy in the mail on Thursday and finished it a couple of nights later because I stayed up reading until 2:30AM on Easter morning.
As it turns out, Tom Carson was different than my own father in many ways. Still, the parallels are notable, making the book all the more engrossing for me. Like my dad, Tom Carson was a faithful, ordinary pastor. His congregations were small; he wrote no books. His circumstances were often difficult, but he kept on serving and loving God, serving and loving his family, and serving and loving God’s people. He was disciplined in his use of time, one thing I’ve decided I need to work at more consistently.
The marketing for Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor seems to be directed primarily to pastors. If you aren’t a pastor, don’t let that keep you from adding this book to the list of books you wish to read. You may be particularly interested in reading about the life of Tom Carson if