It’s no secret that I like food.
Like many people, resisting eating too much food is a temptation I struggle with.
But, thank God, I also have a taste for spiritual food.
Two weeks ago, I wrote about my experience at a conference with about a dozen pastors. I came out of that with a recommended reading list of about a half-dozen books, which is a very good thing as I often find myself searching for something to read (in addition to the Bible) with some spiritual “meat” on its bones.
Among those books was one called, “Bo’s Cafe” by John Lynch, Bill Thrall, and Bruce McNicol.
I normally read non-fiction explorations of various aspects of spirituality or theology. I have even read countless sermons going back hundreds of years. So, “Bo’s Cafe” was a bit different for me as it is a novel.
But, it’s a very well-written novel.
It’s about a highly-successful businessman named Steven who has a highly unsuccessful marriage, which is not a terribly unique plot line for a Christian novel, but the book works with that concept in a unique and effective way.
It starts with a couple of very funny and engaging scenes mixed in with a bit of mystery. That was skillfully done, but then I found one of the main characters is fond of wearing Hawaiian shirts and drives a 1970 Buick Electra. (It’s like Lynch, Thrall, and McNicol had looked into my closet and my DMV records.)
The other thing that made it seem as if the book was written with Dan Jones as its specific audience was that it has this kind John Steinbeck vibe to it. Many, many years ago, one of the books that I greatly admired was Steinbeck’s classic, “Cannery Row” which is set, just like this book, in California.
It was Cannery Row that made me say to myself, “Man, I want to learn to write like that guy.”
And right about the time I’m trying to put my finger on why I like the writing style of “Bo’s Cafe” so much, the authors come right out and quote Steinbeck:
“It has always seemed strange to me… the things we admire in men, kindness and generosity, openness, honesty, understanding and feeling, are the concomitants of failure in our system. And those traits we detest, sharpness, greed, acquisitiveness, meanness, egotism and self-interest, are the traits of success. And while men admire the quality of the first they love the produce of the second.” (Page 107)
Okay guys, you totally got me there.
And that’s what the novel is about.
We have this concept, I should say, “I have had this concept…” that Christianity is about being perfect.
While the temptation to be a multi-millionaire has never been extraordinarily strong in my life, one of the most difficult things in my early Christian life was coming to grips with the fact that God didn’t make me perfect the minute I believed in Jesus Christ.
I still sinned!
Paul’s incomparable angst in Romans 7: 14-25 could have been my life verses at one point. I even publicly stated that I should have Paul’s “wretched man” lament printed on a T-shirt. (They actually do make such a thing.)
And that’s what the main character, Steven, struggles with throughout the book.
His anger and his shame are destroying him and his wife, and it’s only through the conversations he has with the colorful and compelling characters in the book that the lights begin to come on through the understanding and communication of grace, mercy, compassion, freedom, and love.
In the end, “Bo’s Cafe” serves up a hearty feast of meaty spiritual food. The dialogue of authentic love and real fellowship and true brotherhood between the characters beautifully illustrates what real Christian relationships should look and taste like. There’s a refreshing honesty and a powerful depth in who the characters become as the novel draws to a close. There’s even a strong whiff of what a real church looks like.
And that’s why I think “Bo’s Cafe” is a fitting and apt subject for the Kinship Christian Radio blog. None of us became perfect the minute we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior. None of us become fully sanctified by listening to a song or a sermon or a testimony on the radio –but they are all part of the process. They all add up. They are all part of the life-long, glorious, wonderful journey we take as brothers and sisters with the Lord as our Father, Jesus as our Savior, and the Holy Spirit as our Guide.
Until we all sit around the table with Him in the light of eternity.
Today’s Praise
When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us? Luke 24: 30-31 (NIV)
Written by Dan Jones