The title Lead Me Home (subtitle: What if all we’re looking for is right where we are?) first caught my eye. I was surprised and hooked to the story after I read the first line, “All at once, the Reverend James Horton understood why Frank Whitmore had killed himself.”
What? I’d never read a book that started out like that. This made me read more. Then I checked out the author note to reader section; she says,”…my heart was … broken for small churches, small towns, and the over looked among us…”It’s not easy being small these days, It’s not easy being the church these days either. Many small towns, independent farms, and churches are dying; just like in the fictional town of Sycamore, Indiana. Many folks like James Horton and Noble Burden wonder how they could possibly be in the right place. Many feel insignificant – even invisible – because of how they compare to the biggest churches, farms and dreams all around them…they struggle to feel like they matter when every sound bite, every social media outlet, everything that saturates our senses says that bigger, louder, stronger, smarter, more beautiful, more independent, and more trendy is better.”
I appreciated hearing her heart about these matters before I plunged into reading the rest of the story. The main character Pastor James Horton struggles with insecurity and the ability to wrap his mind around the church he’d been given to serve for years is closing. His wife was killed in a car accident a few years back and now he was facing the death of his church. How was this possible? Didn’t he hear from God about being the Pastor at this church? Deep down he didn’t blame the people for going to a more modern looking church.
“Higher Grounds resembled the TajJahal rising above the cornfields where the interstate rounded a bend on the way to Indianapolis and traffic getting in an out three morning and one Saturday evening service.”
“Sycamore Community Church (who James Pastored) had been a small ragamuffin church that still used hymnals, recited the Apostles Creed, sang the doxology after the offering, and typed and printed their own bulletins. James Horton didn’t doubt that Higher Grounds preached the same gospel…He wondered why so many were attracted to the loud and shiny places that made old places like Sycamore Community Church seem obsolete, even ignorant by comparison, on days James felt most discouraged, all he wanted to know from God was: Wasn’t the gospel supposed to be enough? Wasn’t he enough?”
This was a good point and fascinating to read about. Across the field Nobel Burden had put his dreams on hold after his father left them behind to run a dairy farm and take care of his younger brother and mother. His dream is to move to Nashville and play his music. The thing that keeps him planted is his family and the love he has for a young lady in town who hasn’t talked to him since her mother died in a car accident.
I felt for each characters situation. Nothing was easy but in the end the author reminds the characters and the reader of something important. Nobel says, “I think I’m realizing God’s been wanting to comfort me, but that he can’t if I don’t let him. If All I’m doing is running from him, I ain’t gonna find him because I’m looking in the wrong direction….Nothing can ever separate us from God’s love…”
This author explores both of these men’s’ situations as they seek God for answers and don’t hear a response right away. In the end both come to the same conclusion on their own; “Grace is abundant for each of us who chooses to believe.”
This is a moving, thought-provoking story with characters I deeply cared for. This is the first novel I’ve read by this author it won’t be the last. This would make a great book pick for your book club.The author has included twelve discussion questions to help you create a lively discussion. It’s a must read! Add this title to your summer reading list.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from The Book Club Network site and Tyndale Publishers. 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 “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”
Nora St. Laurent
TBCN Where Book Fun Begins! [...]
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