My heart broke for Jonathan and his family. That’s what I have to say first. My heart just broke. Runaway Radical is written by Jonathan Hollingsworth and his mother Amy, and chronicles his life -the experiences and decisions that led him to serve in Africa for a year, and the circumstances that made him come home early, broken and lost.
While reading, I could tell that both Amy and Jonathan have pure, gentle hearts. The book was interspersed with some of Jonathan’s early blog posts, and I loved his idealism. At one point he said this,
“I think people are tired of being told about a Jesus they haven’t experienced. If someone has never been shown love or peace or mercy, but I claim that Jesus is all of those things, I have done nothing to help that person understand. Instead of just telling people that Jesus loves them, what if I showed them love first? … If I do that, then at least I can say the next part, the most important part: ‘Friend, the same way i have loved you is how Jesus loves you, and he loves you even more than I can.’ “
Can I get an amen? How powerful and true is that imagery? We must do as Jesus would, we cannot just tell. From that passage you can also tell how passionate Jonathan was (is) about sharing the goodness of Christ. But in trying to save the world, Jonathan got caught up in legalism and radicalism, and began a downward spiral of despair and shame. And the sad part is is that his church and the organization he worked with in Africa only furthered that shame and despair he felt. He was in bondage, he was not free, and for a while, he lost his faith.
Jonathan (and Amy)’s message is one of hope and mercy and grace. People across the world are falling. Falling for the idea that in order to be a “real Christian” you must be radically obedient. The idea that it is not enough to only do good, you must do the most good, all the good, do good every day,all day. There is no room for failure, only room for you to do more. And while the bar is set ever higher, there is no way to reach it. And thus we are left with children, broken and crying on the floor, feeling that they have failed, that they are not good enough, that God does not love them and does not hear them because they did not do enough.
And how heartbreaking that is.
God is good. He is merciful. He is ever-loving.
Jonathan learned this, and is now reaching out to all the current “radicals” out there.
And I hope they will listen to his voice.
I received free product from Family Christian in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
Wife to Kyle, and momma to Abe, Eliza and Jonah. I'm a stay-at-home momma by day, and a blogger by naptime. I graduated from BYU with a degree in Human Development, and I love to read more than anything. I love my Savior, and sharing His love for others is my greatest passion.
