The Sports Guy is doing it, now I'm going to give it a try. Every Tuesday (I saw every, I'm not very good at keeping up on things like this, but I'm giving it a shot) I'm going to post a brief book review of a text I highly recommend and one that has gone a long way in shaping my worldview and the life I seek to live.

This week's is a no-brainer, I took one glance at my book shelf and it basically threw itself at me. "Safely Home" is a fictional account of the Chinese church at the current time, when the government of China is trying to put on the front that it allows religious freedom to its people. I am usually am not a fan of fiction (find it somewhat of a waste of time, especially fiction in the Christian genre), but this book, while fiction, takes events that truly happened and revolves them around one character, Ben Fielding.

Ben Fielding is your typical American businessman who has bought into the lie that our faith is a private matter and any sign of one expressing their faith (a cross on one's desk, the sight of a Bible, someone professing their faith in Christ as a reason for doing something) should be prohibited. He is in a management position and while a church-going believer, he does not allow this activity in those underneath him, especially his co-worker named Doug who is very pro-life and will not go along with the tolerance espoused by his company (side-note - I use tolerance here in a negative way, as I believe it has been forced on us by the liberal world. I believe we should be tolerance of others, accepting of their differences. However, the new definition as it has been forced upon means that we must not disagree with anyone or say that any culture is belief or lifestyle is wrong. This is just not true, there are some worldviews that are wrong. Take for instance radical Islamic governments who believe they are in a jihad with the infidels, or parts of India and China where children are just thrown on the road when they are not wanted, or parts of Africa where the culture tells the men the way to get ride of AIDS to is have sex with a virgin, and the only way we can be sure one is a virgin is to rape a ten, six, or two year old, or younger. I love these people with the love of God, but their behavior is wrong and I will not tolerate it.) Anyway, Ben is about to fire Doug due to him being vocal about his religious beliefs.

But then a turn in the story happens when Ben has to return to China for some business (a place he has spend a good deal of time in) and happens to receive a letter from his old college roomate requesting he visti. Li Quan, the name of his roomate, is a pastor of an underground church in China and one that the government has been watching out for. He also has received his share of beatings. Ben doesn't know this until he visits, which he doesn't want to do but feels obliged, and he gets a different view of Christianity than he has experienced in the West. The story continues to tell of Li's struggles along with Ben's eye-opening experience in a world he never know. While the book is over 400 pages, it can be read in a few days (I couldn't put it down, believe it took me three) and encourages one to pray for those around the world as well as take a look at our own faith and ask whether we have bought into the Christianity the world and the West tells us is okay, which may be contrary to what Jesus is calling us to. I urge you to check it out, I have a few extra copies if you want to borrow one.