Outlaw

I usually get swallowed up in a Ted Dekker book from page one. This was not the case for me in Outlaw. I struggled to identify with the main character and did not expect a Dekker book to take its time building a foreign world. Once I got to part two of the book, I saw that slow build in part one was necessary to get where he was going.

Dekker is more direct with his message in this book than most. It is easy to focus on one aspect of the message rather than trying to see the bigger picture. The overarching message is that sons and daughters of God have nothing to fear in this world. That is what I love about the story and how the characters struggle with this in reality versus in belief. I do see some of the details differently than Dekker, and that is why it is important to keep the major theme in kind foremost. The secondary theme them became more clear to me: when we see people and the world from God's perspective, we become free of fear and free to forgive.