During one cool summer day after Sunday church service, a dear friend approached me and gave me this book to read. It was the first time someone at my "new" church home allowed me to borrow a book.
I was told by that person she thought of me after finishing it. She clearly enjoyed the book, and, without knowing about its content, I wondered why she thought it would be relevant. Knowing a little about my past, she may have figured it would be inspirational.
Okay. I'm game for some book entertainment, and I later found it was indeed a quick and good read. My brief opinion on the book --- quite entertaining. It is a somber and also edifying autobiography about Jay Bakker.
Yes, he is the son of Jim Bakker, former leader of the PTL Club and Heritage USA.
(BTW, while on vacation, college friends and I visited the Heritage site in North Carolina after coming back from Spring Break in SC. Of course, we weren't allowed inside the complex after it closed, but we got to take pictures in front of the big sign.)
Some people may think initially it is a book designed as a venue for moaning and whining, but the writing was sincere and filled with candor. The book did not point to unfruitful directions fortunately.
He is a survivor. This young man went through so much during the early part of his life, growing up with such a scandal, and he is brutally honest about what his feelings about the church and his family after his family life went to pieces.
His story reads like an emotional confession from a journey starting as a royal son to TV pastoral royalty of Heritage USA, declining in a downward spiral when his family was ripped apart from that famous 80s controversy in which his parents' ministry was taken from them, and then ultimately leading to recovery and restoration from his personal pit.
His book clearly reinforced my thoughts that a pastor's family goes through tough episodes like any other family. I already knew that as I have watched other pastors' families go through some difficult situations.
He was quite frank about his feelings toward his family. It reminds about my candid conversations with my family.
While reading the first few chapters of this book, I got an impression that he is a young man still undergoing recovery, "in process" as those who have undergone through counseling/therapy can understand.
Still in process, I'm reminded of my own process and recovery.
So, that's where the book is relevant to my situation.
The book is revealing. The primary lesson I can take is that you can escape from an earthly "heritage" and eventually take on and accept a different path, God's heritage in your life.
It's not being part of an earthly dynasty that makes him so different compared with other human beings.
He eventually understood that it IS about a relationship with Jesus, grace, and a daily submission to God that will allow you to move forward, beyond your situation (Isaiah 54:4-6) and give it over to the Living God to take our individual brokenness (whether it is past hurts, addictions, bondage, etc.) for His will. It doesn't mean that we don't take responsibility for our failures or poor choices. It's about our actions after the fall or the bad decisions.
Do we keep moving closer to the edge? Do we ever walk away from it?
technorati tags: book review; jay bakker; jim bakker; family; memoir
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