What Others are Saying...

He wants to be, not your Santa Claus for earthly gain, but your Savior for eternal joy." 

Does God have a tattoo? According to  the author, one interpretation of Isaiah 49:16 indicates that he does.  But is that such a surprise? After all, this is the God who keeps  company with prostitutes, addicts, strippers, murderers, and transients.  Somehow, he never adopts their bad habits, though he raises plenty of  eyebrows among his devoted followers doing so. He has a loving Heavenly  Father who directs his steps and comforted him in his despair in the  Garden of Gethsemane. If he didn't, or if the Father had rejected him,  his crucifixion would have meant nothing. It would not matter whether he  had been born in Bethlehem and been laid in a manger or in Bakersfield  and a feeding trough. But God the Father did not reject him, and so his  birth and death do not just matter but have set the course of history.  And because they matter, so does every living person. 

Through poetry, short pieces of  creative nonfiction, and encouraging insights into the heart and mind of  God, Bender shares a lifetime of learning and growth in his Christian  faith. This book explores fundamental tenets of Christianity not just as  they are explained in scripture, but as they might have been had  circumstances been different at the time or if occurring today. What if  Jesus had been born in contemporary Bakersfield, California? What if God  had been a dismissive, dysfunctional father figure to Christ in  Gethsemane? With what kinds of undesirable people would Jesus associate  today? Bender, the benevolence director at his Mississippi church, has  vast experience caring for the marginalized as he provides food and  assistance with utility payments to those in need. Tenderly, the author  addresses both seasoned Christians and those new to the lifestyle as he  comforts, corrects, or speculates through each piece.

-by Heather Brooks

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