Christian Bookworm

In Priceless, by Tom Davis, we join Stuart Daniels from Scared on a journey to Russia. In Scared, Stuart rediscovered his faith, and gained a new purpose while covering the AIDS crisis in Africa: to educate people about the social injustices that are being perpetrated on others in the world.
 
Stuart travels to Russia to interview an old friend who is the director of an orphanage about the increase of AIDS in orphans, and suddenly finds himself helping to smuggle two young teenage girls out of his hotel. What follows next is an education in the sex slave trade. It’s not just an education for Stuart though and it’s not fiction. Tom educates the reader as well, and as I read, I was sick at the horror that so many children have to face each day. 

One of the most disheartening things in Priceless was how the government and/or people who are supposed to be helping these children are involved in the process of kidnapping, beating, often times drugging them, and then forcing them to become sex slaves in brothels or prostitutes working the streets and hotels.  If they can get away, most of them are afraid to try because of threats against family members. These boys and girls can be as young as my youngest, who is seven. I can’t even imagine my nine year old daughter in that situation.

While the story in Priceless is fiction, it is a reality that many children face on a daily basis. It breaks my heart that children the age of mine are forced into the sex trade with no way out. Tom’s purpose for writing Priceless was more than just writing a good novel. These are stories you don’t hear from the news organizations. He is on the ground helping to rescue children who are forced into these situations.  You can find more about his work here.

What did you think about Priceless?

Scared: A Novel on the Edge of the World by Tom Davis is a work of fiction that explores the AIDS crisis in Africa. It is a story about Stuart Daniels, a photographer who 10 years earlier took a photo that earned him world wide acclaim, but left him with nightmares, a broken marriage and a career in ruins.

With one last chance to redeem his career, Stuart accepts a job that takes him to South Africa, to show how the AIDS crisis has affected the country. What he doesn’t expect is for this job to affect him so profoundly.

While in Africa, Stuart meet Adanna, a young girl of about 12 who is taking care of her sick mother, younger brother and sister. She has suffered much in her short life. Her father, the family’s source of income, disappeared several years ago and has not been seen since. She’s been molested, raped and attacked.  Through it all, she writes in a journal she received as a gift and shares her thoughts and feelings about life.

Tragedy and beauty are the key themes in Scared. Tom Davis does a wonderful job of describing the beauty of the African continent, the animals, the mountains, etc. He also does a wonderful job describing the heartbreaking tragedy that many people, the majority being children, live in on a day to day basis. We in America see and hear the news reports, but after a while I think we become a little immune to it all. There is so much happening in so many places; it’s easy to become numb to it all. For me, even though this was a fiction novel, Tom made the AIDS crisis personal through the story of one village and one girl. 

We see redemption in the life of Stuart, as he once again hears God’s voice and climbs out of the pit he was in, and we hear God’s voice in the words of Adanna, a 12 year old orphan that shared the little food she had left with the children in her village after a devastating flood. “These children are here and they are hungry. Why would I not feed them?”

I felt like I was there in Africa with Stuart while I was reading Scared. I was amazed to see the extravagance of the eating habits of those who could afford to eat in nice restaurants, while outside and a block away people were starving.  Tom Davis really made the AIDS crisis in Africa personal for me, by giving me a face to put with AIDS even if it was a fictional one.  By the time I was finished reading, I was ready to hop on a plane and go take care of those kids.

What would you be willing to give up to feed someone else?

Love Has a Face by Michele Perry is the true story of one woman’s journey to love like God loves. It is a book that has made a huge impact on my life. I just finished reading it a few days ago and I’ll be honest, it really made me think, and cry. Could I do what she has done? Could I leave all that was familiar and travel to a foreign, war torn country with no plan of action other than to follow God?

Michele was born without a left hip and leg, and other major health problems. By the time she was 12 she had already endured 23 surgeries. It was during a hospital visit at age 12 that she had a vision of Jesus which changed her life.

Michele’s story is a one of challenges, the supernatural, the miraculous but most of all the love of Jesus. Her purpose is to show the love of Jesus to everyone. I loved reading about the healings that she has seen. One of my favorite stories about healing was when a woman she met and prayed for received her sight. I loved Michele’s descriptions and the woman’s reaction to seeing for the first time. 

I loved reading how, during times of prayer, worship and teaching, God’s presence has been manifested, not only in and through her, but through her children. Michele tells stories of her children ministering to the sick during outreaches and reaching the lost for Jesus.   

Michele tells a story of how her children wanted soccer balls and the miraculous way God provided those soccer balls. To me it just shows how God cares not just about our needs, but about the things we want also. To Michele and her children, experiencing the supernatural is a normal every day activity.  What would this earth be like if we all walked in that?

Michele says in her book that love isn’t always convenient. Sometimes it’s messy. Sometimes it’s lying down in the dirt with someone until they know they can trust you. But it’s always worth it. I know that for me, I will try to follow Michele’s example to see with Jesus’ eyes and love like He loves us.

I actually went to the bookstore to buy out their stock of this book to give it to all my friends, but they were already out of stock, so now I have a 3 month wait to get more. You’d better believe I will be buying them up and giving them out. It’s well worth reading, and I challenge YOU to let Love Has a Face  change you.

Will you take my challenge?

Blood Ransom by Lisa Harris is the first in her Mission Hope series and pulls you in almost instantly. This is the heartbreaking story of slavery in Africa. It is the story of Joseph who, while returning to his village from the city, witnesses the villagers being beaten, killed and taken as slaves by the “Ghost Soldiers” to work in the gem mines. It is also the story of Natalie and Chad, two Americans who have come to Africa to make a difference.

Lisa’s story is gripping and keeps you on the edge of your seat. For me it was also disturbing to think about the reality of slavery that many people face every day. The bravery shown by Joseph, Natalie and Chad in the face of danger and betrayal is the same bravery I hope I would show if faced with the same situation.

The three experience a plane crash, being chased on a river barge, chased through the jungle and a kidnapping as they race to stop the presidential elections that they have discovered are rigged. They must determine who they can trust, and who is not what they appear, while others must decide if they are going to take a stand for their beliefs.

What would you do?

The Heavenly Man is “the remarkable true story of Chinese Christian Brother Yun” and is probably one of the most powerful books I have ever read. I heard about this book for the first time in church a few months ago, as our Pastor Mark Brazee had begun reading it. Then a few weeks later his wife, Pastor Janet Brazee began talking about it and I knew I had to read it.

Although I knew this book is a true story, it read like a fiction novel. We all know that China is not a Christian nation, nor a nation of religious freedom, but it’s truly hard to imagine the things that Brother Yun went through for the sake of the Gospel.

He has been beaten, abused, broken, threatened and yet never once did he renounce Jesus as the Chinese government suggested in order to have his sentences reduced. With complete honesty he admits that he missed it sometimes, and that in his arrogance caused some of what happened to him. He is also honest about getting mad at God and whining to God about his suffering but as with all of us, God never gives up on us and he’s big enough to handle our temper tantrums and self pity, and loves us no matter what.

Something else amazing about The Heavenly Man is the miracles that Brother Yun and other believers in China experienced. The first one is how Brother Yun came to know Jesus at the age of 16. China was a Communist country by the time of Brother Yun’s birth. However, before the Communist government took over in 1949, his mother had heard the Gospel of Jesus and pledged her life to follow Him.

Many years later when Yun’s (born Liu Zhenying) father was dying of stomach and lung cancer, Yun’s mother heard a “very clear and tender, compassionate voice tell her that “Jesus loves you”.” She repented of her sins and rededicated her life to Jesus. She then called the family together and told them that Jesus was the one who could heal their father and they all prayed to Jesus, crying out in a simple prayer “Jesus, heal Father.”

By the next morning Brother Yun’s father was much better and continued to improve and was completely healed of his cancer. This is the first of too many miracles to count.  Miraculous healings, escapes from prison (he flew over a large pond during a prison escape), provision and divine connections are all in The Heavenly Man.

Obviously I loved this book. At times I could barely read due to the tears in my eyes over the suffering Brother Yun experienced. He was very matter of fact in his telling, and that made hearing it all even harder.

It wasn’t only Yun that suffered, for his wife did also. She was raising their children (wait until you read about the birth of their daughter Yilin), trying to feed her family and not sure if or when her husband was going to be able to return to her.

We take so many things for granted here in America. That fact was really evident while reading The Heavenly Man. As bad as things are here, and seem to be getting worse, it is nowhere near as bad as other nations. At least here we can worship where and how we choose, without being beaten or tortured.

I’d love to hear your favorite part of the book.