Jesus and the Beanstalk

I almost refused to read this book, based solely on its quirky title. BIG MISTAKE! Don't judge a book by it's cover.

Wow! I feel like Lori Stanley Roeleveld is a personable new friend. I wish we could sit down and have coffee (or tea, since I detest coffee, but I was going for coffee house intimacy with that phrase!) and a long chat together.

As God so often does, He put this book in my life at the same time He was putting the spotlight on the same part of Scripture through other means. I had just started a new Bible study on 1 and 2 Peter when He brought this book across my path. Seeing the back cover blurb about "use the hidden gifts in 2 Peter to topple the giant challenges in your life," made me willing to give this book a (albeit skeptical) chance.

The subtitle: Overcoming Your Giants and Living a Fruitful Life, was also highly appealing, being on the spiritual fruit journey I've been on for these past 5+ years! The list of words, "Faith, Godliness, Affection for Others, Love, Perseverance, Goodness, Knowledge, Self-Control," had enough overlap with the Fruit of the Spirit I'm dissecting, to get me a little excited, before I even opened the front cover.

Now that I'm well into the book (I'm a SLOW reader, thanks to dyslexia then my strokes), I can't imagine a better-fitting title than Jesus and the Beanstalk. Lori has so masterfully woven familiar fairy tales together, Jack and the Beanstalk in particular, to illustrate deep spiritual truths. As a writer, I marvel at her clever mastery of both the English language and cultural concepts, with nearly every turn of the page. This one should become a bestseller if enough readers can get past the "irreverence" (my primary objection) of the title and delve into the richness behind the selected monacure.