Once Caught, No Escape

Book excerpt: In Once Caught, No Escape, Norman Grubb's autobiography, we come to know a remarkable soldier of Christ, one who has made a unique contribution to Christian thinking in the 20th century. This riveting account of his life includes a fascinating description of missionary life in the early 1900's in the heart of Africa, his memories of World War I army days, and his little-known role in the development of the Christian Literature Crusade and Intervarsity Fellowship. Norman shares the three spiritual crises that shaped his life-his salvation, his identity in Christ, and his seeming loss of faith. How he forever settled his Galatians 2:20 identity by faith is critical to an understanding of his life and serve as a roadmap for all facing the same heart cry, and his interpretation of his final crisis is a superb and concise summary of what he came to call the total truth, expanded and developed in his later works and was to become the keystone of his theology for the rest of his life. In the foreword to Once Caught, No Escape, Norman says that he has written "straight out of my heart and mind," and that he has surely done. He writes with unreserved honesty, self-deprecating humor, and profound insight. He was a man drenched in the scriptures, and totally dedicated to sharing the great truth of Jesus Christ-our savior, indweller, and life. He laid down his life that many others might come to know who they are in Christ, and paid the intercessor's price to do so. The book is aptly titled, for once God "captured" him, Norman was driven to share the truth he knew, no matter the cost.