One of my favorite book genres is the memoir. And one of my favorite daily emails to receive is the Zondervan Breakfast Club email from Suzanne Beecher. When I discovered Suzanne had a book coming out, I knew it was a must-read for me!
In Muffins and Mayhem, Suzanne Beecher, creator of the online book club, DearReader.com, combines her life story with 30 of her favorite recipes. With striking candor, Suzannetakes readers on a journey from her lowest moments to her greatest joys and personal victories. Suzanne writes about personal successes and failures and what each taught her about life, love, and her capacity to persevere.
Scattered throughout Suzanne’s memoir are favorite recipes, and each is accompanied by a personal anecdote. Suzanne believes that recipes are more than just a mix of ingredients: they’re food for the soul, and she doesn’t leave readers hungry. From humorous tales about avoiding her mother’s liver dishes as a child (and Mom’s Thanksgiving meals as an adult!) to a reverent account of how a childhood hero touched her life through frosted meat loaf, Suzanne’s food-filled memoir warms the heart as well as fills the stomach.
Gathering thirty wonderful recipes and the memories surrounded them, Suzanne shows us the author as a child who learned to cook when she was just eight years old while singing backup to the Monkees, a woman who struggled with difficult parents, a hardworking mom who loved making cookies for her kids, a recovering addict, and a writer who has learned much along the way by remembering that love is the most important thing in life.
This beautifully written celebration of life, friends, and family will nourish Suzanne’s numerous fans and those who have yet to discover her simple, homespun magic.
Here is Suzanne’s biography:
Suzanne Beecherhas owned a restaurant, founded and published a business magazine, founded a non-profit program to feed the homeless and home-schooled her youngest son. She writes a daily column at DearReader.com and designs book clubs for publishers, booksellers, and libraries across the country. She lives with her husband, Bob, in Sarasota, Florida.
Here is the engaging author explaining how to make her Whoops Banana Bread:
Suzanne’s childhood did not include the warm memories that she wishes she had to dwell on; it affected her adult behavior:
So I accepted my fate as an adult deprived of a childhood. Or at the very least an adult deprived of those warm and fuzzy memories I should have been able to tap into when I wanted to go back home in my mind. But then it occurred to me that I’d always been ambivalent about going home, anyway – not only in my mind, but in my car, too. At least it seemed that way. Whenever I planned a trip to see my parents, I’d get sick. I’m not kidding! Two or three days before I was supposed to leave, an illness would consume me: wheezing, sneezing, that all-over crummy feeling. Nothing serious, a twenty-four-hour virus sort of thing – but just enough “miserable” so I’d have to cancel my trip. My recovery period was amazing. And eventually I realized there was a pattern: As soon as the “magic hour” had passed, and it was too late to go, no hope of getting back home in time for a weekend visit, I was cured. (p. xi)
One bright memory in her childhood was a friend’s mother, Mrs. Creswick:
Years ago I’m sure Mrs. Creswick thought she was simply giving me a recipe for meat loaf, and for a long time that’s what I thought, too. But suddenly it was all so clear – the things that make me what I am today, the things I really like about myself, they all came from growing up in Cuba City [Wisconsin]. Remember the girl who was ambivalent about going home? Mrs. Creswick’s meat loaf finally showed her the way.
So if a plate of cherry tomatoes and cottage cheese, and a Frosted Meat Loaf recipe could leave such a big impression on my heart, maybe there were other little things in my life I was overlooking?
I’m a daily columnist who writes about life, and after I wrote the story about Mrs. Creswick’s Meat Loaf the tone of my columns changed. I guess what really happened is I wasn’t afraid to open my heart and let readers see the real me. Now I freely write about my feelings I wrestle with every day – my father’s final farewell apology, embarrassing moments like the day I was trying to make a big impression but suddenly realized a lint roller was stuck to my behind, trapping Mighty Roach in the middle of the night, and how I couldn’t get back in the groove after my mother died even though we’d never been close. (p. xii)
Even as a little girl, Suzanne had a certain flair:
I’d always get the work done, at least most of the time. But the “getting-it-done” didn’t start until about an hour and a half before my parents came home for lunch, because I’d get sidetracked by other important things. Like lip-syncing with the Monkees.
Hey, hey, we’re the Monkees
And people say we monkey around.
A bottle of Pledge was my microphone and a pair of my mother’s heels gave me the onstage look. I’d draw the curtains over the big picture window in our living room – I wasn’t ready for an audience yet – then I’d slide back the cover of our dark wooden console stereo, put the Monkees’ 33 1/3 LP on the changer, click the switch, and when the needle dropped the magic would begin. (p. 10)
Suzanne’s life was a little off-kilter early on:
For longer than I care to admit, I walked around with loose wires in my brain. While other teenagers were applying to colleges and planning their futures, I was getting drunk and looking for love in all the wrong places. Some people were quick to blame my parents; instead I used to blame myself. The truth is, Mom and Dad and I were each doing the best we knew how to do. Yes, parents are supposed to know the way, but my parents missed the day they passed out the informational brochure about How to Love and Raise a Well-Adjusted Child (I’m pretty sure their parents were absent that day, too). Mom and Dad didn’t intentionally fall down on the job; they simply couldn’t give me what they’d never experienced themselves. If they could have freely let go of their love and still survived, I believe they would have.
So where did that leave me? Trying to figure out how to write a successful recipe for my life, a better recipe than the one my parents were using. Common sense told me when you’re trying to figure out how to do something better than before, you need to take a closer look at before. “Learn from your mistakes,” advises the old adage, and eventually I did write a new recipe for my life, but it sure was rough going for a while. People seem to be amazed when I find the courage to tell them about the things I did when I was young – young, maybe, but old enough to know better. Some perils are embarrassing and downright insane, even I shake my head in amazement. What was I thinking? (pp. 27-28)
I loved Suzanne’s description of the first encounter with her husband, Bob:
I was impressed – not only was this guy talented, he owned two businesses, took full-time responsibility for his children – and he was a handsome man. Gorgeous, really, but I could only dream. This responsible clean-cut guy was way out of my league.
“But love is blind, and lovers cannot see,” wrote Shakespeare, which must account for Bob’s impression of me the first day we met: “I was a single parent, working around the clock trying to run two businesses, couldn’t remember the last time I’d had a date, or even left my house except to go to the grocery store – and there you were. A goddess walking into my office asking for help. It was love at first sight. You were a smart girl – I knew it right away – and you were hot!” (p. 39)
Suzanne has always questioned her abilities, and the boogeyman (I would interpret that as Satan) is happy to come alongside to question herself:
Well, I’m here to tell you (and him) the subject is alive and well in my life. Questioning my abilities, talking myself out of feeling like a loser, these are conversations I know by heart – both sides. The boogeyman doesn’t even have to actually say anything to taunt me, I do that job myself. Suzanne, you’re not talented, you’re a big loser, people think you’re strange, crowds of people are snickering behind your back, every other writer is in, but you’re out. The list could go on for hours and, unfortunately, some days it does, until even I have had enough – for heaven’s sake, Suzanne, give it a rest. I get upset and angry with myself – and what’s when the “magic” happens. Because in my weakness I find my strength. Get me angry and I come out fighting. Not fisticuffs, but with just enough feistiness to protect my feeling and in the process, I decide I’ll show ‘em I can accomplish things, and so I do. (p. 69)
Boy, can I relate to that paragraph!
God truly blessed Bob and Suzanne with each other:
My husband says he was put here on earth to take care of me. Now how could a woman possibly argue with that kind of logic?
Our marriage must be for keeps because every day it just keeps getting better and better, even after being married for thirty-two years and working together every single day. But working together harmoniously wasn’t something that came about naturally. Shortly after we were married, we went several times to see a therapist so we could learn how to work together. “Learning” requires several sessions because it took me a while to recognize and to finally ‘fess up to the fact that I think my way of doing things is the right way. (And just between you and me – most of the time it is! I’m smiling, just kidding.) (p. 114)
I love this life lesson:
I’ve always thought my job, my purpose here on earth, certainly must be something more dramatic than simply loving and taking care of the people around me. So I’ve strived to be clever, artistic, and talented in business. But as I sit here at four in the morning looking around the room and looking at my grandson, I realize I’ve been looking at life all wrong. It’s not complicated, there’s nothing to prove. My mother was right. It’s really very simple. What’s really important is love. (p. 218)
And this one:
Writing has taught me that simpler is better. That it easy, slow down, Suzanne, and simply say what’s on your mind. Maybe I should use impressive words, sonorous adjectives, or make the sentences complex. But writing isn’t really any different from other things in life. Too much eye shadow – what was I thinking? The first Dove Bar tasted divine, so I ate another – my stomach rebelled. The man at the deli thought he was doing me a favor when he put a little bit more of everything on my sandwich, but it was too much. (p. 226)
Interspersed throughout this book are tasty recipes, including the Whoops Banana Bread, Funeral Cake with Buttercream Frosting, Mrs. Creswick’s Frosted Meat Loaf, Porcupine Meatballs, and, of course, Suzanne’s Chocolate-Chip Cookies. I am not the cook in the family (God blessed me with Fred, who loves to cook), but these look really easy and tasty – too hard to resist!
This book was everything I expected – and more! You can tell Suzanne is a wonderful person; she’s someone you’d love to hang out with at Starbucks – with the hopes that she brings her famous chocolate chip cookies with her! She is genuine and real, and her number one aim is to make people feel comfortable. I really enjoy her daily emails on life and love, and I really appreciated learning more about her life by reading this fun and entertaining book.
The Advanced Reader Copy of this book was published by Touchstone Books, a Simon & Schuster Publishers imprint and provided by Meryl L. Moss Media Relations for review purposes. The page numbers included in this review are from the Advanced Reader Copy, and may be different from those in the final edition.
It is always satisfying to read a book series, and have it finish well. That is the case with the latest novel by Lisa T. Bergren, ‘Claim: A Novel of Colorado,’ the final book in the ‘Homeward Trilogy’ series.
Here is the synopsis of this book:
He’s relinquished his fury – can he learn to love?
Sent West by their father to make a new life, the St. Clair siblings have done so – but hardly as he’d imagined. Moira, beautiful but severely burned, remains in Colorado, trying to pull together the pieces of her life…as well as fight for a chance at love. Odessa and her husband, Bryce, are rebuilding their ranch and negotiating me challenges. And Nic, the prodigal son, is slowly making his way home – dead broke and haunted by unmet promises.
Nic knows that before he can face his sisters, he must come to terms with the past as well as the present, but peace eludes him. Only as he mines an old claim deep in the Rocky Mountains and becomes intrigued by a local schoolteacher does he begin to understand how passionately God loves him and how long his God has pursued him. But even as he nears his goal, Nic discovers there is one last battle to fight…
Here is the book trailer for this wonderful novel:
Here is the biography of this author:
Lisa T. Bergren is the best-selling, award-winning author of more than thirty books, with more than 1.5 million copies sold. A former publishing executive, Lisanow splits her time between writing, working as a freelance editor, and parenting her three children with husband, Tim. She lives in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
This book focuses on Dominic (Nic) St. Clair, who has just arrived in Colorado after being out of the country. The secondary story focuses on his sister, Moira St. Clair, who had just been through a traumatic accident which left her scarred internally and externally. In Book Two of this series, ‘Sing,’ Moira met a gentleman named Daniel, who figures prominently in this book. They both have feelings for each other, but both are damaged by life. Here is an exchange between the two:
“Afraid? You think I am not? I come to you scarred in so many ways, when you, you, Daniel, deserve perfection…”
“No,” he said, shaking his head, too. “It is I who carry the scars. You don’t know me. You don’t know who I am. Who I once was. What I’ve done…”
“So tell me,” she pleaded. “Tell me.”
He stared at her a moment longer, as if wondering if she was ready, wondering if she could bear it, and Moira’s heart pounded again. Then,“No. I can’t,” he said with a small shake of his head. He sighed heavily and moved up the hill. “Not yet.” (p. 15)
Nic met a schoolteacher named Sabine LaCrosse upon his arrival in Colorado. Feelings for her grew, despite his attempts to talk himself out of them:
You have no business entertaining thoughts of Sabine LaCross, he told himself for the hundredth time. He was about to sell the mine and leave. There was no time for a romance to develop, even if he was interested and she happened to be interested too, which he hadn’t yet ascertained. It was an idle, foolish distraction, this idea of Everett and Sabine and him somehow being together forever. She had her life. He had his. Everett would find his way, too, in time. (p. 125)
Everett was the son of Peter, a gentleman who was killed by outlaws and left as an orphan; Nic took claim of Peter’s gold mine upon his death.
Moira made a decision to visit New York City and leave Daniel behind – but she did so reluctantly:
Her eyes moved to the window. Daniel. The thought of leaving him behind tore at her. But she steeled herself against it. He had left her. He had made no promises. Even if he came back to her today, she would still struggle over his decision to be sheriff. He could get shot. Die.
No, she’d had enough of death, from her brothers to her parents to Gavin. She wanted life. Dreams that she could capture, even if she couldn’t capture the man that she loved. Now that she’d decided to go, her heart pumped with excitement, the thrill of rediscovered freedom and choice. (p. 219)
God had been doing a work in Nic’s heart throughout the storyline. He explains his feelings to Sabine:
…“God has been working on me, softening my heart. Healing me. Getting me ready for you. I was angry at Him for a long time, which made me angry at the world. But it was only when we were in danger, when you and Ev were in danger, that I wanted to fight again. I’m going to do my best to be a man of peace. The only thing that will move me to fight is defending you, Ev, myself. All right?” (p. 278)
At the same time, Moira was establishing a relationship with her Lord; He reassured her that she was beautiful in His sight:
Moira paced for a bit and then wearily sat down on her bed. I’ve been so foolish, Lord, she moaned in silent prayer, falling to her back in the soft, luxurious folds of the coverlet. She closed her eyes, wanting him to feel closer. Forgive me, Father. I’ve fallen prey to my own old sins. I desired so much, Lord. I wanted acceptance. And accolades again.
She reached up and pulled off her wig, letting it flop to the bed beside her. She rubber her head, feeling the short hairs as they ran through her fingers. I wanted to be seen as beautiful again. I wanted to be admired. Acknowledged .
You are beautiful, Moira. Nothing makes you more so than being one of My own.
She groaned. I have difficulty with accepting how You define beauty. I am scarred.
So was I. In your scars, you will find strength.
Moira frowned. I need strength, Father. I need an escape.
Trust in Me, child. Trust in Me. And wait. (p. 347)
In addition to a wonderful story, Mrs. Bergren does a terrific job in portraying the beautiful state of Colorado. I have only been there once; the way it’s portrayed in this book makes me want to return!
I enjoy the feature in David C. Cook books called ‘After Words,’ in which there are discussion questions (terrific for a small group study) and author interviews. I especially liked this question and answer:
Q: What motivated you to write about prodigals?
A: I think we’re all prodigals, in some fashion. After college, I had my own prodigal experience, during which I was actually bartending on Sundays instead of doing anything that my God would be proud of. I grew deeply depressed, had a come-to-Jesus experience, and left for the Holy Land. Literally. I went from bartending to Jerusalem, to visit my cousin who was studying the life journeys of Paul. After a few weeks in Israel and Egypt, I returned home – physically and spiritually. And went to work in an industry that has helped call me home – Christian music and books.
This is the final book in Mrs. Bergren’s ‘Homeward Trilogy’ series. I read the second book in the series, ‘Sing’ (you can read my review here) and enjoyed it just as much as I did this one. I love Lisa’s writing style, and look forward to reading more from her computer in the future. Truth be told, I was a little disappointed that Moira’s story was not ‘wrapped up’ in the same way that Nic’s story was (you will have to read it to see what happens at the end for him!). Overall, I loved the two books (and I sure I would have loved Book One, ‘Breathe’ as well) – Lisa writes in an engaging style, and she magnifies the Lord, which is the most important thing to me!
I have long been fascinated with what was happening in the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s. One of the big movements at that time was the Jesus Movement. In ‘ReBorn to Be Wild: Reviving Our Radical Pursuit of Jesus,’ Ed Underwood, who encountered Jesus for the first time as a student in California at that time, explains the beliefs of that movement and how we can revive that movement today.
Here is the synopsis of this book:
Are you a tame evangelical?
Maybe it’s time for a Wild revival!
Long before becoming a pastor, Ed Underwood was a “Jesus Freak” – a young man whose life was set on fire by the Jesus Movement of the ‘60s and ‘70s. He and his friends threw their hearts into a revival they knew would change the world. Except it didn’t.
Instead, as years passed, the Jesus Movement seemed to stop moving. How did all those passionate, young Christians morph into today’s tame, suburban evangelicals? That question sparked this passionate, provocative book, which exposes six seductive lies that can sidetrack a revival…and affirms five life-changing truths that can keep a revival going.
Underwood writes to fan the flames of enduring revival today: “I’m asking God to use this book to show those of us from the Jesus Movement generation how to finish what we started. But more than that, I’m begging Him to call Christians of every generation to the radical commitment that fuels revival.”
Here is the trailer for this interesting book:
Here is the biography of this author:
Ed Underwood oversees the ministries of Church of the Open Doorin southern California with Judy, his wife of almost forty years. Still a “Jesus freak” at heart, Underwood placed his faith in Christ during the Jesus Movement of the late 60s, and his passion in life is to see revival one more time. Before becoming a pastor and an author (When God Breaks Your Heart), Ed worked as a firefighter for the U.S. Forest Service and a commissioned Army officer. He wrote When God Breaks Your Heartafter almost dying from a vicious and chronic disease.
In the Foreword, Bodie Thoene, a longtime acquaintance of Pastor Underwood, explains the book this way:
ReBorn to Be Wildis an eyewitness account of the Jesus Movement of the 1960s and ‘70s. What God did in our generation ranks among the great spiritual revivals since the day of Pentecost, when Peter stood up and shouted to the religious establishment: “Men of Jerusalem! This Jesus whom you crucified is alive!”
Personally meeting the risen Jesus changes everything. It happened to our generation in a movement so powerful and unique that it will be mentioned in church history along with the revivals of Wesley, Moody, and Billy Graham. (p. 15)
In the Preface, Pastor Underwood asserts that we need to learn from the mistakes of the past in order to move forward into a bright future:
By learning from mistakes of the first-century church and our failure to heed the warnings of Christ and His apostles, you will know that there is a way to see this revival through – to finish well, to get moving again, to get back on track, to reenergize the wild heart of sold-out believers. What is He asking you to risk?
Everything. That’s right, everything. That’s the cost of revival, the cost of discipleship – everything. But you will not miss any of it.
I want to help you become the type of devoted disciple the Lord uses in a revival. I’m asking God to use this book to show those of us from the Jesus Movement generation how to finish what we started. But more than that, I’m begging Him to call Christians of every generation to the radical commitment that fuels revival.
This is a book for those who want to live expectantly and wake up every morning thinking about Jesus and what we can do for Him, and go to heaven with stories of what He did in our lives that we will be talking about forever! (p. 21)
Pastor Underwood explains his salvation experience:
Keith began talking about God and Jesus and truth and mercy and a word that I was especially attracted to: grace. He was so gentle, so real, and so different from anyone who had ever talked about God around me before. And it was on a curb in Bakersfield, California, on that summer night, that the Jesus Movement moved into my heart.
The man I had just met asked me to pray with him, and I did. In everyday sentences, I told God that I knew I was a sinner, that I believed Jesus died for my sins, and that I wanted to receive Christ as my Savior. Keith said “Amen,” grabbed me in his arms, hugged me wildly, and read from his Bible how the angels were having a party right now because they were so excited that I had become a Christian.
That was the night the light dawned in my heart and the darkness lifted from my life. Like the thousands of others who were meeting Jesus through the Bobbies and the Keiths in their lives, I knew I was different. Especially when the darkness tried to hang on while Jesus pulled me from its death grip. (pp. 39-40)
Pastor Underwood points out a key to revival:
The only starting point is grace, pure and free. If you want revival, you must embrace grace, or it’s not Christianity. Grace sets Christianity apart from all other religions. It’s what makes our message good news.
Years ago a group of British thinkers on comparative religion furiously debated whether one belief set Christianity apart from other world religions. C.S. Lewis wandered in late, took a seat, and asked, “What’s the rumpus about?” When they told him they were trying to determine Christianity’s unique contribution among world religions. Without hesitation he replied, “Oh, that’s easy. It’s grace.”
It’s grace. Would you say that? Without hesitation? If not, you’re not ready for revival. Whether you met Jesus in the Jesus Movement like me or you’re an emergent Christian or you’re a believer anywhere in between who’s asking God to use you to make a revival-difference in this world, you have to get it straight.
Only those who are willing to join God in risking grace by extending it to sinners without hesitation or compromise will know the spontaneous spiritual joy that sparks revolution.
Undeserved, unending, unearned, unconditional, uncontrollable, unblinking, unbound, undefiled, undeniable, unequivocal, unfaltering, unhinging, unlimited, unmistakable, unprecedented, unsettling –grace – God’s gift of life to all who believe in His Son, unheard of anywhere else but in Christ. (p. 43)
The Jesus Movement followed Jesus’ example, and that’s how it grew exponentially:
We were refreshingly naïve, didn’t know any better, never thought of explaining this command [the Great Commission] away with evangelotalk models of why this didn’t mean us. We just took Jesus at His word – He had the power and did what He said. We told people about Him and trained them to tell others.
It happened much faster than you would expect if you have read any books about evangelism and discipleship that tell you that most Christians aren’t capable of telling people about Jesus until they have memorized their stuff or been to their seminars or learned how to be more churchlike.
But if you’ve read the story of the early church in Acts, perhaps you’ve tried to picture that revival in your mind. If so, then maybe you already know that this is how it always happens: People who barely know Jesus make some of the best introductions to Jesus. (p. 46)
The enemy of our souls overlooked the Jesus Movement at first:
Had the devil known what God was up to, he would have marshaled his forces against us with murderous rage. Christians underestimate the power of grace, but Satan never does. He knows the dangers. He saw it before when John the Baptizer pointed to Jesus of Nazareth, declaring, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world!” (John 1:29). Since then, he tried every malicious weapon and committed every wicked warrior to his defense against grace. Nothing works; grace is too powerful and pure. (p. 63)
In Part Two of the book – ‘A Revolution Stalls’ – Pastor Underwoodreviews six lies the Jesus Movement people believed that caused them to veer off the narrow path:
1.More is Better
2.“Churchianity” is Enough
3.Power is Good
4.Bigger is Better
5.Enemies All Around
6.It’s All Mine
In the ‘More is better’ chapter, Pastor Underwood makes the point that the way the Holy Spirit is viewed has been very divisive in the Body of Christ:
Only in the last ten years have some of us from both sides repented of our divisive and narrow behaviors and conversations. The healing has begun, but it’s been forty years! Four decades of allowing those on the fringe of both circles to define us by what we were against rather than what we were for.
Who could envision Jesus’ precious promise of a Comforter becoming so divisive? Only the accuser of the brethren, the divider of God’s people, saw it coming and licked his evil lips, anticipating and even plotting the fight. The holy lips of the One seated at the right hand of the Father quivered with grief. His people divided over their only source of strength and it broke His heart.
His name is Jesus. Tragically, our preoccupation with the limits of His Spirit’s work among us caused us to ignore Him. (p. 99)
In the ‘Bigger is Better’ lie, many pastors were distracted by trying to have more attendees than at the church down the street. Pastor Underwood fell into that trap briefly:
My life changed the day I realized that the bigger-is-better lie had sidetracked my revolutionary heart. I never stopped being ambitious for Christ’s kingdom, but I did stop being ambitious for mine. That’s what I had always wanted anyway, and what Jesus always wanted to give me. I think God wants to know if we really want to be great according to His measure and grace and faith, if our ambition is really godly.
So will you take the same commitment I did concerning true greatness? Will you commit to firmly and finally rebuking the lie that bigger is better?
God is calling you back to the vision that pulled your heart toward greatness, the vision He planted in your heart when you first believed. Picture what your life will look like after you break free of the envy and shame of pursuing other Christians’ boundaries. You will see His mighty hand working in your life again. You will know the satisfaction He reserves for those who live only to hear His applause. You will see those you love – your spouse, your children, your family and friends – drawn to Christ by the great adventure of your life. (p. 157)
Many Christians are anxious for heaven because they want to avoid the evil of this world; that is not the point!:
I hear Christians say that they can’t wait for heaven because they’re tired of having to live around all this sin and pain. The remark reveals a longing for a place far removed from the wickedness that touches our lives every day in a million ways.
The Bible says that heaven will be void of evil, but that’s because it’s full of something else – the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ (Rev. 21:23). I expect the absence of wickedness to thrill our hearts, but that’s not the main attraction. What pulls our redeemed hearts to heaven is the promise of face-to-face intimacy with Jesus (Rev. 22:4). Biblically, “going to heaven” isn’t running from the presence of evil of this world, it’s running to the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. (p. 171)
The only way back to revival is to focus on Jesus:
The only way back to revival is through Him. Our relationship with Jesus must once again define our lives. When we put Jesus back into the Jesus Movement, He will finish what He started through us. When you put Him back into the center of your passion for revival, you will join our spiritual revolution.
If I could do it all over again, I would pay a lot more attention to the very simple words of Jesus and a lot less attention to the convoluted teachings of men. I listened to their “enlightened” explanations of why we couldn’t take Jesus’ words at face value, why they don’t apply to us today, and why they’re not as radical or dangerous as they seem at first glance. I wish I would have trusted my first pure understanding of His radical words rather than their taming clarifications of “what He really meant.”
When we reembrace the simple but transforming words of Christ, when you and I, no matter what our age, believe them as much as we did back then, then we will all begin to experience revival again.
The six lies sidetracked us and gentled our wild hearts, but we can get back on track by believing five simple truths from our Savior that guided our revival and radicalized our hearts. (pp. 198-199)
In Part Three, ‘A Revolution Reborn – Call to Radical Commitment,’ the five simple truths are:
1.Our Only Hope, Our Only Hero – Jesus
2.Our Only Goal, Our Only Gold – hearing “Well done!” (Matt. 25:21)
3.Our Only Treasure, Our Only Investment – God’s Kingdom
4.Our Only Community, Our Only Care – to love one another
5.Our Only Plan, Our Only Power – Faith in Christ
It is clear to me, as it is to Pastor Underwood, that the only solution to our problems is Jesus. I thank him for showing us the original heart of the Jesus Movement “Jesus freaks,” and thank him for giving us a blueprint for bringing forth revival again.
I am a native Michigander who loves - Christ, my husband Fred, our English Cocker Spaniels Shelby and Sammy, God's Creation aka The Great Outdoors, the latest gadgets, Jeeps, marathons, the Appalachian Trail, books, movies, music,and on and on it goes! I look forward to my new business venture with Thirty-One Gifts!
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