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The Sky Beneath My Feet

Lisa Samson

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Jul 01, 2016 Lisa of Hopewell rated it liked it

Shelves: audio-books, read-in-2016

2.5 Stars

I chose this one purely for the cover--I love a VW Bus. Turns out it's actually a VW Van of a later vintage but.... The story was ok, though I did get a giggle out of the trauma of a teen smoking pot! Heavens! If you attend a popular church a lot of "deep" stuff is pretty cliched. I'm glad, though, that several positive reviewers openly stated they had no idea going in that it was a Christian book, but still liked it. I did too in spite of my picky comments below.

It is always a shock t 2.5 Stars

I chose this one purely for the cover--I love a VW Bus. Turns out it's actually a VW Van of a later vintage but.... The story was ok, though I did get a giggle out of the trauma of a teen smoking pot! Heavens! If you attend a popular church a lot of "deep" stuff is pretty cliched. I'm glad, though, that several positive reviewers openly stated they had no idea going in that it was a Christian book, but still liked it. I did too in spite of my picky comments below.

It is always a shock to people outside the church to discover that all Christians--even all Evangelicals--are not the same. Yes, people do smoke, do drink, do watch R movies. They do want "stuff," they do begrudge giving to the church. That's all called honesty. Free Will. No, they don't all vote the same either. And pastors do very little "come to Jesus" any more. The head of a mega church is corporate CEO pure and simple--he just happens to speak about God, usually in the form of multi-week sermon series, and teach a Bible Study class that usually needs the biggest room. I liked that this book shows that.

Summary?
Hipster wife of a bored pastor leaves her Pinterest-worthy cottage on a great family estate to discover the kind of inner-city poverty that no one "waxes lyrical about" like they do over Haiti. Her husband, offered an escape from his wasteland job as "Men's Pastor," [whatever that is] at a Mega-church he [co?] founded, decides to go on a personal retreat in his office/shed to decide on a great new job offer. Wife decides he's too self-focused and flounces out of the room to do some predictable soul-searching about her faith.

P:icky stuff
Are there real-live editors anymore? I wonder. "Fronted" is over-used to the point it could be a drinking game. "See-Sawed" is close behind. Also, I've never heard of someone having "Fronted the [news] paper." Hmmmmm And can we get over the cliche that Evangelicals know nothing about the Catholic Church? Seriously--my current pastor was raised in the Catholic Church as were more than a 1/3 of my Sunday School.

Finally, I thought it was playing to a stereotype to have the outspoken African American woman running a supposed half-way house have a "rap sheet" so long, while the white suburban pastor's wife and her friend (brother?) "rescue" a white suburban teen druggie from her clutches! That lost the book an entire star for me. Too many megachurch Christians fear everyone with dark skin. This doesn't help. Yes there are charlatans of every race, creed and color, but this was not the point being made. And urban poverty, drugs, crime are a big deal. As big a deal as Mission-tourism trips to Haiti. Picky, picky....

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Apr 07, 2013 Laura marked it as to-read

Shelves: christian-lit

May 12, 2013 Stacy marked it as to-read

Sep 02, 2017 Kristen marked it as to-read

Shelves: christian, fiction, audio-ipl-overdrive

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