Jonathan, in his zeal to serve God, gave away all of his belongings & traveled to Africa to serve the needy. The organization he worked with was a controlling one, taking away his privacy & his ability to speak out about the wrongdoings he had witnessed in the church. His plane ticket to return home was withheld until more money was sent to the organization. These among other negative experiences led to Jonathan becoming a prodigal.
When I 1st started reading this book, it was intriguing to me. I felt inspired to do what I could to help those in need. But as it went on, I became bored & confused. I couldn't decipher who the speaker was in the story, the mother or the son. While I feel that it is important to warn people about the negatives of missionary work, this story seems to be quite discouraging. It appears that Jonathan was more focused on what people were doing than on God. Human beings are flawed & unfortunately, they tend to disappoint. But that shouldn't stop us from serving God. There will be unpleasant experiences no matter what the circumstance, but especially when you're trying to do God's work. We should expect the enemy to try to hinder us.
Amy, Jonathan's mother, seemed fairly pissed about what happened to her son & rightly so. But naming names didn't seem like Christian behavior. I got the feeling that this book was written more out of revenge than anything else. Statements like "picking up God's slack" & "God distanced Himself", let's me know beyond a shadow of a doubt that this is NOT a Christian book. I wouldn't recommend it unless you want your faith shattered to piece & you enjoy feeling depressed.
This book was received complimentary from Family Christian in exchange for an honest review. This is a sponsored post.
