Have y'all read this book? I guess it came out a decade ago, and I'd heard people rave about it, but I just hadn't gotten around to buying and reading it.
That's what sisters are for! Kerry read it and raved about it, but she was also generous enough to lend it to me and leave me with no excuse for not reading it.
I thought it might be another cheesy Christian book, but I opened to the first page...and never put it down (except to do all the necessary things in life). My boyfriend Steve can attest that I have become it's biggest raver of all.
I have never (and I grew up in a Christian home and worked for two churches) seen the Gospel portrayed so vividly. And I do mean seen. It takes a story to paint the Gospel, doesn't it? And this story, an allegory of the Book of Hosea, of a pure and upright man marrying a prostitute, comes close to doing Redemption justice. The contrast is so stark between innocence and defilement, humility and stiff-neckedness, selflessness and self-loathing. And when you see God in the former and yourself in the latter, over and over, it breaks your heart.
I think I shed a tear for every 10 pages of this book. There it was again, the love of God! Seeing me in the brothel, binding Himself to me, taking me home with Him, washing me and caring for me, anguishing when I go back to my sin, and going out to find and rescue me again (and again, and again).
Now that I'm finished, I miss Angel and Michael and Miriam, and I wish I could find out how they're doing. If you haven't read it, read it. If you have, read it again.
(Thanks B!)
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