Jesus Is Better than You Imagined
Ratings3
Average rating4.3
15
Ratings3
Average rating4.3
Is the God who created us better than the God we've created? After following Jesus for nearly two decades, Jonathan Merritt decides to confront the emptiness of a faith that has become dry, predictable, and rote. In a moment of desperation, he cries out for God to show up and surprise him, and over the next year, God doesn't disappoint. In JESUS IS BETTER THAN YOU IMAGINED, Jonathan shares vulnerable, never-before-shared stories of how he learned to encounter Jesus in unexpected ways. Through a 60-hour vow of silence in a desert monastery, he experiences Jesus in silence. When a friend dies of a rare disease, he sees Jesus in tragedy. Through confronting childhood sexual abuse, Jonathan discovers Jesus in honesty. In an anti-Christian-themed bar, he finds Jesus in sacrilege. And when he's almost kidnapped in Haiti by armed bandits, he experiences Jesus in the impossible. Though Merritt finds himself in places he never dreamed of, he doesn't lose his way. Instead, these experiences force him back to the Bible, where he repeatedly offers fresh, sometimes provocative, interpretations of familiar passages. Along the way, he throws back the covers on the sleepy faith of many Christians, urging them to search for the Holy in their midst. Pointed and poignant by turns, Jonathan helps readers open their hearts to a mysterious God and a faith that sustains, guides, and most importantly, surprises. His fearlessly honest story invites us all to discover the messy mercy and crazy grace of a sometimes startling Savior.
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Short Review: I theoretically like memoirs and spiritual biography. I think it is useful to see how God walks through the lives of both famous and unknown Christians. The problem with memoirs is that usually they trace the path of God as if it were as clear in advance as it is in hindsight. And with words that sound wise because the author has had lots of time to think about the situations. (In comparison to most of the rest of us that don't see those great God connections in the midst of daily life.)
That being said, I still think the memoir is worth reading (although not in too large of doses.) This is a good example of a memoir. Merritt is telling his story on his terms and with a real sense that Jesus is better than what we would imagine for ourselves.
My full review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/jesus-is-better/
