Dancing With Mystery: Reflections on One Man's Journey

This book is about mysteries--the mysteries which confront and confound every one of us. They come into focus when we ponder how to respond successfully to the proverbial "speed bumps in the road" of our lives. There are no quick or certain answers. The challenge is in the process of dealing with them.

The author asserts that we have essentially three choices. When encountering these mysteries, we can choose to (1) wrestle with them, (2) dance with them, or (3) wrestle with them while we dance.

This is Ray Dressler's first and only book. New to this endeavor, and enthusiastically encouraged by his children to write it because they want their children and grandchildren to learn about his interesting career, he accepted the challenge. After seventeen years, his work is complete.

He begins, where else, with his earliest childhood recollections. Having no idea whatsoever where his journey will take him, he invites his reader to walk along with him through his life's adventures to the day when he retires from his naval career aboard the historic USS Constitution ("Old Ironsides") in Boston Harbor

His career is unique because he begins his professional studies in electrical engineering and architectural design. In his second year of college, however, called by God, he switches to philosophy and theology and begins his studies for the pastoral ministry.

His theme is, as the title declares, Dancing With Mystery. His conviction is, "Mysteries remain mysteries, until God is brought into the mix." As he pursues his dream, he becomes aware of an additional truth, that "coincidence is God's way or remaining anonymous."