Literary Review:
Postcards from Fred by Brad Whittington
Welcome to 2014! One of the things I feel God calling me to do
more of this year has to do with this blog. God has given me a platform, at
least with a few people, and I desire to use it to glorify Him in a greater way
this year. Feel free to keep me accountable on that! :-) I would also
appreciate you sharing any of these posts with your own friends if you find a
blessing here.
This morning, I had the privilege of finishing my first book of
the new year! Although I had chosen it as a light-hearted Christian fiction
read, I soon found it to be anything but frivolous. With all the wit and
reality-based humor of numerous situations that clearly mirrored my own daily
life as a mom of boys, the author quickly gives his premise. He writes from the
perspective of a teen-aged boy who, in retrospect, wonders whether he was
foolish to commit, during a revival the previous summer, to ask "What
would Jesus do?" in every situation. Having grown up as a preacher's kid,
he had irreverently considered himself immune to the common malady of
flash-in-the-pan revival decisions. But somehow, God had brought him to this
decision, and now he was determined to pay the price, regardless of the misery
it brought him personally. Nice, huh?!
As the narrator begins to pursue dating, he is stymied by The
Question. It seems that every Christian he asks inserts his or her own
philosophy into the answer. Each of them tells him that Jesus would do
something relating to one of their own pet peeves. And none of them offers a
suitable answer to his newest application, "What would Jesus do... on a
date?" So, instead of marching onto the dating scene with confidence, he
struggles with stops and starts in his pursuit of a fellow PK from a
neighboring town. She has no such compunctions about seeking Jesus in every
interaction, and has been raised in a much more separated (i.e. strict)
pastor's home.
The story is peppered, both with hilarious interactions with a
local deacon, who is too "spiritual" for the Biblical messages
preached by the narrator's father, and also with the typical school bully
issues. Between his difficulties in flying under the deacon's radar, escaping
the romantic pursuits of the bully's sister, and delivering the paper to
various idiosyncratic neighbors, the narrator had me in stitches and reading
aloud several sections to anyone close enough to enjoy them with me.
Without giving away the entire story, I can tell you that the
author's treatment of this question is unique and meaningful. It challenged my
thinking as a follower of Christ in a way that it has not been challenged for
too long. The book's final chapters left me convicted about things I can change
in my daily life to be more like Christ, and challenged me, too, to re-visit
the question, "What would Jesus do?"
I would encourage you to find this book at your local library, or
support the author by purchasing it here. Personally,
I'm looking forward to finding more from the Fred series, and perhaps some of
Mr. Whittington's other novels, and enjoying them soon!
What books have blessed your spiritual life recently? Share in the comments so we can all benefit!
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