HONESTLY—Getting Real About Jesus And Our Messy Lives

Wednesday, April 20, 2016

HONESTLY
Getting Real About Jesus
And Our Messy Lives
By Daniel Fusco with D.R. Jacobsen

OVERVIEW: There are two universal truths for every person who has ever walked this planet: Life is messy. Jesus is real. In this book Daniel Fusco takes you on a wild, grace-filled journey through the book of Ephesians. He'll unpack what happens when the craziness of life meets the presence of God—and something beautiful is created. Honestly.

AUTHOR: Daniel Fusco is lead pastor of Crossroads Community Church in Vancouver, Washington. He is also a three-time church planter, author, evangelist, and musician. He and his wife, Lynn, have three children.

MY REVIEW: This is a book about the mess all of us are in. That's right. The mess we are all in. Life doesn't always make sense. Daniel Fusco writes about what was happening to the church in Ephesus. He shows us that messiness is a universal concept and the church in Ephesus in the mid-first century had its fair share.And the important thing to realize is that we do too. Life is a mess! But there is good news. Life is a mess and Jesus is real. That's the gospel. "He's where everything that's healing and good and grace-filled begins and ends."

If you are not "into" jazz and have no appreciation for it, you may find it difficult to understand why Fusco moves through the Book of  Ephesians the way he does. He divides Ephesians along the lines of Coltraine's A Love Supreme. The album is designed in four movements—Acknowledgement, Resolution, Pursuance, and Psalm. It all makes sense when you get into it.

"Life is a lot like jazz: one giant mess" ..."But when we listen closely to life, we can start to hear the melodies in the midst of the mess. It takes study, and digging deep, and being patient enough to learn. And if we're lucky, or blessed, we discover something about the mess: Nothing we do is free of the mess, but sometimes in our mess we catch the tune of the master."..."Life will always be messy. But Jesus will always be our beauty in the middle of the mess. Jesus is our Love Supreme."

I recommend this book. Get a copy. Read it and pass it on.

(I received this book from Tyndale Blog Network in exchange for a fair and honest review.)