Jesus Is Better than You Imagined

Jonathan

John

Is the God who created us better than the God we've created?

After following Jesus for nearly two decades Jonathan Merritt decides to confront the emptiness of a faith that has become dry predictable and rote. In a moment of desperation he cries out for God to show up and surprise him and over the next year God doesn't disappoint.

In JESUS IS BETTER THAN YOU IMAGINED Jonathan shares vulnerable never-before-shared stories of how he learned to encounter Jesus in unexpected ways. Through a 60-hour vow of silence in a desert monastery he experiences Jesus in silence. When a friend dies of a rare disease he sees Jesus in tragedy. Through confronting childhood sexual abuse Jonathan discovers Jesus in honesty. In an anti-Christian-themed bar he finds Jesus in sacrilege. And when he's almost kidnapped in Haiti by armed bandits he experiences Jesus in the impossible.

Though Merritt finds himself in places he never dreamed of he doesn't lose his way. Instead these experiences force him back to the Bible where he repeatedly offers fresh sometimes provocative interpretations of familiar passages. Along the way he throws back the covers on the sleepy faith of many Christians urging them to search for the Holy in their midst.

Pointed and poignant by turns Jonathan helps readers open their hearts to a mysterious God and a faith that sustains guides and most importantly surprises. His fearlessly honest story invites us all to discover the messy mercy and crazy grace of a sometimes startling Savior.

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