My Review of "Strangers at My Door"

This book was difficult to read. Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove and his wife, Leah, are the founders of Rutba House in a small section of Durham, NC, called Walltown. Walltown is a predominately African-American community. Rutba House is a Christian communal house that takes in homeless men and women so that they can land safely and try to take control of their lives.

Strangers at My Door: True Stories of Finding Jesus in Unexpected Guests is an account of all those folks.

And that's where this book was difficult for me. It's a challenge to all I've thought about homelessness, poverty, and prison.

It's also a challenge to think about and practice a radical Christian hospitality. A hospitality that moves beyond supporting our local food pantry, and, instead, making a place at our table.

My husband is a minister. So you'd think this wide-open, mind-blowing love that looks a lot like the Jesus of the Gospels is at the how we keep our home. Jesus cared for murderers, tax collectors, prostitutes, and the demon-possessed, without judgment or finger pointing. So what would happen if we did the same.

Strangers at My Door is inspirational. These stories challenge me.

But no matter the challenge, I'm also beyond grateful for these stories and for the homeless people, drug addicts, and criminals who have names at Rutba House. I've learned so much from them.

I've loved reading stories like these because they challenge me to be more gracious and more openhearted. So I think this book is a 5-star, must have read for all those Christians who aren't sure what we can do about poverty, homelessness, drugs, and those in prison.

__________

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookLook Bloggers <http://booklookbloggers.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Comments

My Review of "The Tea Planter's Wife"

Dinah Jefferies' The Tea Planter's Wife is a fun novel that vividly depicts the 1920s. Gwendolyn Hooper, her 19-year-old heroine, speaks for an empire-branded breed of gutsy young British women who left the security of England to embark on extraordinary adventures abroad. Not the back-packing, "lonely planet" travels of today, gap-year kids constantly connected with the folks back home via internet and smartphones, and usually safely and predictably back home for good inside a year. Girls like Gwen married men who made their living and fortunes out in the colonies -- or what until very recently had been colonies -- and went out to join them, standing shoulder-to shoulder with their husbands to face down hardship, danger, disease, monsoon, drought, and not least the simmering and sometimes murderous resentment of locals. That makes The Tea Planter's Wife so much more than a love story -- it's a recognition that girls like Gwen had guts, and c...

My Review of "The Happiness of Pursuit"

All of life is filled with journeys, with adventures. No one knows this better than Chris Guillebeau, whose own life adventure has included visiting every country in the world. And in The Happiness of Pursuit: Finding the Quest that Will Bring Purpose to Your Life , Guillebeau writes about what that journey in our lives can be like. In so many ways, he's a modern-day Don Quixote and he's teaching us to dream our own impossible dreams. And then turning those dreams into real life. This book is all about picking, planning and achieving your own individual life's journey. And because our lives are all so different, Guillebeau packs The Happiness of Pursuit with lots and lots of examples. He draws from so many categories -- like academic or creative, self-discovery or activist -- and provides very practical advice for how we can get there on our own journey. The book itself has the most inviting writing. It's easy to read. I ...

My Review of "Deal of Duel"

Deal or Duel is a must-have for all those Hamilton lovers out there! While I ordered it because of the musical, when my husband and I played after dinner one night, I was hooked for the history. It's beautifully designed and filled with all the trivia you didn't get in your high school American history class. Players pit their survival skills against one another, trying to do the one thing that really is American -- try to win all the money ... or die trying. We love it and plan to share with all our friends and family. I received a free copy of this game from the Blogging for Books review program in exchange for my honest review here.

The Mrs. & the Minister

Search This Blog