The Love That Matters: Meeting Jesus in the Midst of Terror and Death

A blond-haired blue-eyed Lutheran man is approached on the streets of Chicago by members of the Latin Kings so he may teach them how to pray and he does so with grace--this mans story one suspects isnt going to be a typical one. Life has not been easy for Charles Featherstone. From being bullied by peers and teachers in school to his refusing to become a bully himself by leaving the armed services to wandering the world in search of work and finding unexpected hospitality as an outsider nearly everywhere to witnessing the 9/11 attacks from his nearby office Featherstones story is a tale of survival akin to Jacobs wrestling the angel at the River Jabbok. It may well leave the reader limping a bit too for the encounter with God found in these pages is stark and startling. Truly Gods love knows no bounds and cannot be captured by labels--but as Featherstones life attests that love just might capture you. Charles Featherstone could have turned to blowing things up. Instead we get this little eruption of grace. I find his voice hauntingly beautiful. Maybe it takes a modern-day holy fool to profess to hear the voice of God. Others will too through this wise work of testimony. --Jason Byassee author of Discerning the Body I read the unedited galley on the flight to Boston this morning. It started out good and it kept getting better and finally I couldnt believe how good this thing was. Im not kidding when I say this: Charles Featherstone has written an American spiritual classic. I have never read a book like this--one thats so ragged raw and real. I couldnt put it down except that one time when the shock of recognition was so great that I had to set the book aside and think deeply about what I had just read. --Rod Dreher author of The Little Way of Ruthie Leming Charles H. Featherstone is a former newspaper and wire service reporter a singer and songwriter and a graduate of the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. He is currently seeking a call to pastor a church.