Matthew Paul Turner is quickly climbing my favorites list.
In Beatitude, he shares his story of blindly following the harsh Jesus of the fundamentalists, coming to grips with spiritual doubt, wrestling with truth, and finally learning to rediscover the Jesus of the Bible for himself.

Turner shares his rediscovery in such a way as to make Jesus seem more real and attainable as I read. Non judgmental. Non boring. Just honest storytelling and heartfelt pondering about the magic of seeing Jesus as He is, and learning to understand the heart of what kind of people Jesus expects his followers to be.

I love the way he speaks of Jesus and their relationship. It's so real and open. I love the quotes from The Message about the purpose of "salt" being to enhance "the God flavors" in the world, and "light" to "enhance the God colors" in the world. It makes so much sense.

"I didn't see the connection between how I view the world's perception of me as a me problem. But Jesus basically pointed out to me that when I am concerned with what everybody else thinks, I'm putting myself on a pedestal."

My review's not very good, but the book is. For serious. :)