Personal Testimonial – Mike Robinson

My Journey to The Urantia Book and CFU

A personal testimonial by Mike Robinson

My journey to The Urantia Book started at age 20. My grandparents were raised in the Amish faith and their families left the church when they were young. They joined a conservative Mennonite church in Indiana and my parents, from similar families, rebelled from it as teenagers and ran away to Colorado to start their own family.

My older brother and I were not exposed to religion of any kind. We would visit my grandparents in this “other world” of farms, horses and buggies, and strange clothes, but it was not our world. To me, religion was the odd collection of rituals and beliefs of others. At age 20, when I was attending college, I was approached by a rep from Campus Crusade for Christ. They showed me their pamphlet and my Thought Adjuster and Spirit of Truth lit up! I knew there was truth, but two days later, I asked them about hell and atonement in relation to this loving God I had just discovered. They didn’t have a good answer.

Discouraged, I went in search of a “better” truth. I discovered The Psychology of Spiritual Living by Marvin Gawryn (which I discovered years later was a UB secondary work) and loved it. A few months later, my brother showed me a copy of The Urantia Book he had stumbled upon. I was intimidated by its heft and didn’t engage with the book until I saw a copy of the Jesusonian magazine “Life after Death.” The picture on the back cover was the “Journey to Paradise” by John Byron and it resonated deeply. I asked for my own copy of The Urantia Book for Christmas in 1989 (it was not cheap!). I was 21 years old.

Like most, I didn’t start with the Foreword. I was drawn to Paper 99 and after a few sequential papers, I returned to the beginning and studied it methodically for the first 18 months to finish my first pass. I made study aids, took copious notes, and participated in weekly study groups along the front range of Colorado during the early 1990s, but was weirdly confused as to why there were no other readers in their 20s or 30s in attendance.
When I read that Jesus’ real purpose for his trip around the Mediterranean basin was to know men, I made plans to backpack around Europe and spend 3 months traveling through 13 countries, staying in people’s homes, volunteering in youth work camps, and getting to know people from different cultures. I turned 23 during my trip. One of the smartest things my TA led me to do in my early years!

Before I left for Europe, I applied to Berea College in Kentucky on a whim (I knew no one in the state or had any knowledge of the school). I came back, started school, and after getting a degree in psychology, started a graduate program in educational leadership so I could become a registrar, which my family friend did vocationally at the University of Northern Colorado.

My professional career has been in higher education as an administrator and consultant for the past 25 years. I am passionate about education as a liberating and transcendent force. I love the UB quotes about our ascension career being akin to a vast experiential university. We understand through the UB that our universe is focused on learning and doing, education and experience. I’m excited that it’s not just my life’s work, but also the work of eternity!

Turning to my family, my wife Poppy also works in higher ed administration, and I have two adult daughters who attend college. My oldest daughter lives in Bellingham, WA and the rest of us live in San Diego, CA. I have had the pleasure of living in many states in the US over the years and have been in CA for the past 15 of them.

I was drawn to volunteer for the Center for Unity when I saw an article in the Fellowship’s Mini Messenger newsletter in August 2022 that was titled “Looking for Data Curators.” As a lover of data and research, I knew combining this with my love of The Urantia Book was a calling that I couldn’t pass up!

If a funny turn, I came prepared for my first meeting with Gabriel and Luis with a quote that I felt was drawing me to their project: ‍

What an awakening the world would experience if it could only see Jesus as he really lived on earth… 195:9.8 The Urantia Book

I was ready to share it with them when I saw that this quote was actually in the vision statement of their presentation deck.

Since beginning my work in data curation in the Jesus Metaverse project, which was recently renamed the Discover Jesus app, I also joined the writing team and do editing and technical editing. I have also joined the development team which looks at user experience and user interface. We are close to completing 100 essays focused on Part IV of the book, so we are making great progress!

In addition to volunteering for CFU, I have been regularly taking UBIS courses from the Foundation since 2021. I recently completed the teacher/facilitator training and am now volunteering as the registrar for all English language courses (full circle!). Apparently, I am still learning how to say “no” to volunteer work for The Urantia Book.

I will be attending IC23 in Chicago in July and hope to meet many individuals that I have yet to meet or have only met virtually (for those attending this event). If you are not attending, don’t worry – we have an eternity to cross paths in our long and exciting journey to Paradise.

In light and life,
Mike Robinson

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