Review & Giveaway \\ The Secret Life of a Fool by Andrew Palau

And the winner is . . .  Sandra Stiles!

"People seem to want guys like me—son of a preacher man—to have some scandalous reason for all my 'mistakes.' But my scandal is less of what you might expect and more like something we all deal with: our dirty selves."

\\ About the Book \\ He spent his growing-up years living for himself-recklessly rebelling against his evangelist father's faith, numb to God and to the letters his father wrote him, immersed in the dark side of life. Until one intense night in the Jamaican Blue Mountains that allowed him to see himself in the mirror of grace, changing everything. The Secret Life of a Fool is Andrew Palau's unforgettable journey of running from God-and the crushing, freeing experience of coming back to Him. It is a story of getting high, burning up cars, being stranded in Europe, surviving a near-fatal plane crash, and utter despair overcome by simple grace-and a father's love, expressed in excerpted letters throughout this book.

"This book then is a peek into my life, but more than that, it's a story-arc that tells how a life that was discarded and broken can be gathered up again and remade." 

Honest. That's the adjective I think best describes Andrew Palau's new memoir, The Secret Life of a Fool: One Man's Raw Journey From Shame to Grace. It's a thoughtful testimony about an imperfect person's encounter with a perfect God. I love it.

I love it because the author doesn't try to build himself up in any way. Andrew Palau recounts his past in often vicious terms, refusing to, as he says in one chapter, consider his past mistakes as moments of "sowing wild oats."

I love it because, while reading The Secret Life of a Fool, I felt like I had just sat down with Andrew Palau to share stories and encouragement. I didn't feel like I was being preached to, but that someone who really cares wanted me to know I was not alone in my mess-ups, breakdowns, and all-around selfishness.

I love it because, unlike some memoirs, The Secret Life of a Fool ends in hope. There is a real-life happy ending here, and it is filled with the grace and peace that only God can give.

If you are curious about the Christian life, if you're a fan of memoirs, if you just want to know that someone else struggles to, this book is for you.

\\ About the Author \\ Andrew Palau, son of international evangelist Luis Palau, is an evangelist in his own right—organizing outreach events worldwide for the Palau Association and regularly sharing the gospel with tens of thousands. Andrew can be heard on the daily radio program Reaching Your World, which is on more than 850 radio stations in 27 countries. He and the Palau team have also been featured in some of the world’s leading media outlets including the Associated Press, Forbes Online, The Washington Post, CNBC Asia and USA Today. In addition, Andrew maintains his own website, which receives 5,000 visitors a month. He and his wife have three children and live in Portland, Oregon, close to the world headquarters of the Palau ministry.

Are you interested? Worthy Publishing has most kindly offered one of my readers a free copy of The Secret Life of a Fool! Leave your email address in a comment below and on April 19, 2012 a winner will be picked! Please enter; this is a great book. And before you go, watch the book trailer below.

\\ In Case You Were Wondering \\Title: The Secret Life of a Fool: One Man's Raw Journey from Shame to GraceAuthor: Andrew PalauPublisher: Worthy PublishingPublication Date: April 3, 2012Pages: 191ISBN: 193603476XMany thanks to the publisher for sending me a review copy!

Memoir | Life, In Spite of Me

She wanted to die. God had other plans.

Overwhelmed by wave after wave of emotional trauma, Kristen Anderson no longer wanted to live. One January night, determined to end her pain once and for all, the seventeen-year-old lay across train tracks not far from her home and waited to die.

Instead of peace, she found herself immersed in a whole new nightmare.

Before the engineer could bring the train to a stop, thirty-three freight cars passed over her at fifty-five miles per hour. After the train stopped and Kristen realized she was still alive, she looked around—and saw her legs ten feet away.

Surviving her suicide attempt but losing her legs launched Kristen into an even deeper battle with depression and suicidal thoughts, as well as unrelenting physical pain—all from the seat of a wheelchair. But in the midst of her darkest days, Kristen discovered the way to real life and a purpose for living.

For anyone struggling to find the strength to go on, the message of this heart-wrenching yet hope-building book is a clear and extraordinary reminder that even when we give up on life, God doesn’t give up on us. 

Life, In Spite of Me is the true story of Kristen Jane Anderson (it's written by her and Tricia Goyer). Filled with all sorts of emotions from pain to anger to peace, this book is about real life. The story is intriguing, Kristen's honesty is encouraging, and the conclusion—that God doesn't fail us when we trust in Him—is appropriate.

Starting this review, I wasn't sure how much I should say about some aspects of the book, considering this is one girl's very true life story. So, in order to remain courteous, I'm only pointing out one thing that I noticed.

In a book about suicide, the big question arises: Theoretically, would a professing Christian who committed suicide go to heaven? Kristen doesn't seek to answer this question in depth, and that's what bothers me. I can understand why: it would definitely draw a dividing line and, of course, some people might be offended. The only passing thing Kristen says is that she knows she would've gone to hell because she wasn't a Christian, not because she committed suicide. It's disappointing to me that in a book about a girl who has realized all that God is, she can't delve into the Bible to search for an answer to this. Who knows, maybe she has. Maybe she just didn't want to offend. It's a topic that's left unfinished, and I felt that gap in the rest of the book.

Life, in Spite of Me shows life at its worst; it also shows how trusting in God can change everything for the better. While I was reading it, I thought of Psalm 139:13-16:

For you [God] created my inmost being;
   you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
   your works are wonderful,
   I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
   when I was made in the secret place,
   when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed body;
   all the days ordained for me were written in your book
   before one of them came to be.

Read an Excerpt | Visit Kristen's Website | Read The Parchment Girl's Review

I receive a complimentary copy of this book from Waterbrook Multnomah.

Memoir | Craving Grace

Craving Grace is the true story of a faith dramatically changed: how in one woman’s life God used the sweetness of honey to break through stale religious practices and hollow goodness, revealing the stunning wonder that is God’s grace.

When Lisa Velthouse felt unsatisfied in her faith, she decided to do more of what she had always done: become better by doing more good and enforcing more discipline on herself. This became the start of the Honey Project, a six-month fast from all things sweet; it became something greater. Lisa realized deeper issues looming inside her, and over the next several months discovered the beauty of God's grace.

Craving Grace appealed to me, someone who does not often read memoirs, because of the author who wrote it. Years ago I read Saving My First Kiss, and the news about Craving Grace mostly circulated around the fact that she didn't save her first kiss as she had promised to. I wanted to know why; not because I was upset about it, but because I wanted to know what changed the girl who had passionately written about saving her first kiss. What had happened in her life to cause a need to discover grace once again?

Lisa Velthouse delves into the details of her life pre kiss book and post kiss book, discussing and dissecting her emotions and feelings and, most importantly, her perception of God. It's an interesting account filled with moments of hilarity, passion, sadness, and confusion. It's real life, and time after time I stopped mid-chapter to sigh and consider how similarly I've felt in my own walk with Christ.

For Lisa,

Fasting brought out a brand-new mirror, I found. It was embarrassing to face my reflection in it, complete with sins I was incapable of ridding myself of. . . . This, for someone who lived life thinking she was very good, was a major blow. . . . Without sweets, my flaws and my spiritual flab and all my inadequacies were bared, and I couldn't find a fig leaf anywhere that would be big enough to cover who I was. (Velthouse 142)

My only hope for a future apart from my sin is to accept the one gift I can never deserve: Christ's sacrifice. (Velthouse 186).

It is only through much heartache and turmoil that Lisa discovers what grace is really about, and what the God who gives it freely is really like. It's a touching, inspiring story, and even if you're not big into memoirs, I'd give this one a shot anyway.

Lisa Velthouse's Bio | More About the Book

Memoir | Churched

"In 1978, when Matthew Paul Turner was five, his family became sold-out members of an independent Baptist church, joining without any firsthand knowledge of Christian fundamentalism, only his parents’ sincere desire to follow God. In Churched, with wit and careful observation, he reveals the tenderness and grace that managed to seep through the cracks and a young man who, amidst the chaotic mess of religion, falls in love with Jesus." (From the publisher.)

That description intrigued me. Many of us who grew up "in the church" could write our own memoirs, detailing the journey with insight and plenty of hilarity. With that in mind, I wondered what Matthew Paul Turner had to say about his own experience, and, more curiously, how he decided to resolve it, remember it, and move on from it.

At the end of the chapter called "Prelude," Turner remembers telling a man that his (the man's) church "'might have a little baggage.' [Turner's] grin faded. 'But who am I to judge? I'm still unpacking my own.'" Readers should take this as a warning sign. Churched is a memoir, and leaving that jewel at the end of a prelude only means one thing: Turner is about to unpack all over you. And he does, with wit, humor, and at times a necessary seriousness.

Churched is a quick read, filled with remembered thoughts of what it was like to be a young boy and then a young man growing up in a rules-oriented church, trying to figure out what Christianity is really all about. I enjoyed it from that aspect, that we all must, at some point, look back on our own journeys (though maybe not write a book about them). As I approached the ending, I was ready to see how Turner had used all of this life stuff to become the man he is today. That's where things took a turn.

In the final chapter, I hoped that Turner would tell readers that he decided to dive into his Bible and discover what church is supposed to be about, and then headed to church to help others form a more Christ-like view of church as well. Unfortunately, it seems that Turner's journey taught him to be more laid-back, but perhaps too laid-back. Instead of turning to Scripture (something he is unsure about anyway), Turner decides to go with his instincts and feelings, to appreciate his un-afraidness at the new church he and his wife joined.

Is that bad? Not really. But in an age when church brings a wash of strange feelings over every person who grew up in one, I expected a memoir about church to be more conclusive. Maybe that just shows that people still can't figure it out; I'd venture to say, that people still can't come to their senses and turn to the Biblical definition of church.

Churched is certainly a thought-provoking, laugh-inducing, sentimental memoir of "One Kid's Journey Toward God Despite a Holy Mess," as the subtitle says. But don't look to it for answers on how to unpack your own church baggage, or you may be greatly disappointed.

To read an excerpt from Churched or to buy the book, click here.
To learn more about author Matthew Paul Turner, click here.



Notice: I received a complimentary copy of this book from WaterBrook Multnomah. I was not paid to review this book, and all opinions of this book are my own.