Well, welcome back to another edition of Struggling Well, the podcast that we bring to you every week and, we usually do this, Suzi, in the beginning of the year. We usually have like a list of books that we recommend for people to read. And I don't know that we've ever had a novel, a work of fiction that we recommend. But coming off of last the last podcast where we talked about the meta story of scripture, this novel fits that meta story in the sense of it's about the redemption of an individual. It's the book's called Theo of Golden and you and I both have read it as has Tim
Tim Briggs
Tim Briggs So I'm gonna start with you Suzi and why because you had said it's one of the most impactful books you've ever read
right
um
I think you even rated it ahead of my book which is a little hurtful but you did
well yours isn't fiction
it's not fiction so there you go
so give us your thoughts and then I'm going to ask Tim to give us his thoughts
okay I love to read and when my dear friend Sandy gave me a copy of this and the cover was daunting to me it's white with a feather on the front and she raved about the book and I was I thought, "Oh no, this is going to be one of those this is a great book and I'll be disappointed." But I started it and got immediately pulled in. I don't know Alan Levi. I saw him at a conference once a hundred years ago. but he is an incredible writer and he has woven a story that captures your heart with his phrasing and charact literature development and setup. But that's not what is amazing to me about it. It is a masterpiece. now I am not, you know, the New York Times reviewing his book, but I will tell you that the way that the story has come has been there have been three things in this year that have moved my heart and that God has been working on my heart with. And I would say the first thing has been my own personal Bible study. I've been working on a course called de developing a discerning heart and it's incredible and God has taken me through the basics of faith and refreshed me in a new way and that has been exciting. The second thing has been watching my brother as you all know walk through his journey of suffering and cancer. And the third has been this book and it's be it's because I believe that when Alan Levi wrote this book this is my thought I don't know him at all. that I wonder if God had called him to write this and he was obedient to it and so the message has this obedience flavor to it. I don't know if that makes any sense, but he wrote it and it's a story of redemption all the way through. And what I love about the book is that it's not just a story that you then put down, but there's enough in there that God will use as he has in my heart to challenge me about the way that I live.
Yeah. And so Tim, give us your thoughts because you also have read the book.
I love the book. I don't read a ton. I read a good bit. I would say it's probably my favorite book of the last 10 years. And what I really appreciated about it, especially for a fiction book, is that it stoked my imagination for what a faithful Christian life is. Yeah.
Without giving away too much of the book, there's a character in the book that as the book follows him, you're just saying to yourself, I want to live like this guy.
And so I loved that. I love too that, you know, I could hand this book to a non-believer and I would feel really good about it. It's very winsome in the way that it talks about following Jesus in the book.
And I think it would captivate somebody who's not of faith. I think they would be very interested in the way that these characters live out their faith
in the book. And I think the third thing I loved about it, again, without giving too much away, there's a character in the book who takes such an interest in people
and he just loves hearing their stories and just the power of getting someone talking about their own lives and connecting the dots and talking about where suffering happens. And he was just really good at that. And it just was again encouraging a good reminder of just the power of sitting with someone.
Yes.
And hearing their story. So it's the book is it stands on its own with the character development and the story but all these other things too just make it a wonderful book.
I found myself as I was reading it Tim two things and you mentioned one of them about sitting with people and hearing their stories but I also found a yearning in my heart that I would want people that would want to know me in that way because I think we all desire that. And but I believe that what Alan Levi has done in this book is lead you to the place that there is one who does want to know your story and who is the author and creator of all that is be beautiful whether it be music or flowers or art or whatever. And there's a beautiful blend of that as well. Babe, how about you?
Yeah, I think it's it to me is all the things that you guys have said I would add to it this it set and it takes place in everyday life
and it's in the everyday common experiences. I think it's easy to forget sometimes as we go through our days that just seem normal, nothing out of the ordinary, it's routine, maybe it's mundane. that God is moving in those moments as well. And so in these everyday moments of this town and this setting and people going to coffee shops and doing all these normal things. God is in the midst of all that and he's working through the story of people's lives. and so I would agree with what both of you have said. It's just a great read and we get no re renumeration for plugging this.
We don't know Alan Levi and you can buy it online like we bought it online. but it is something that's I think you would find and this is a phrase that again a mentor of ours used a lot. What lingers? I think you'll find that there are things that linger from this book that stay with you and are a great reminder of the story that God is telling the master storyteller that really Allan, Levi, and others are just copying the master himself and God and the story he's been telling. So, go pick one up and have a great week.