Gallant Fool

<p><p>My solution was to keep marching forward a gallant fool. I was most angry at this fool's seemingly unstoppable march.</p><p></p><p>Gallant Fool examines the painful subject of carrying emotional wounds into Christian leadership. It follows the author's life in ministry and toxic relationship with shame and anxiety through starting a church peaching and leading a congregation managing staff members at Gospel missions and working with authority figures like board members a CEO and other pastors.</p><p></p><p>Ministry requires faith; shame and anxiety corrode it. Living in a paradox this way is a burden. The author's burdens followed him into his faith in Christ and stayed with him through his career and marriage. He now realizes that for years he believed and preached a Christian message that often worked against bringing peace and resolution.</p><p></p><p>The book contains sixteen short essays and ten chapters to describe carrying this burden and an eventual resolution which the author describes as Christ's deliverance through a process of awareness acknowledgment and acceptance.</p><p></p><p>Cooney makes the point that Jesus offers relief to anyone carrying burdens and he delivers his children regardless of the nature duration and magnitude of the burden; that's because God delivers us by grace through faith a message that is familiar and at the same time elusive for its simplicity and refusal to credit anyone for a successful deliverance except God. Gallant Fool offers hope by putting the spotlight on where it belongs: God and his grace.</p></p>