Beauty on the Backroads

Stories of grace for life's unexpected turns

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You can’t even imagine: Review of The Polygamist’s Daughter by Anna LeBaron

A couple of weeks ago, I told a group of people that I was reading a book about a polygamist cult. (I had a good reason. Kind of.) And the reactions varied from disbelief to horrified.

That’s a little about how I felt about this memoir. Though The Polygamist’s Daughter by Anne LeBaron contains the kinds of stories you might see on a crime drama on television, this was her real-life childhood as the daughter of notorious polygamist Ervil LeBaron. (Disclaimer: I received a free copy of the book through the Tyndale Blog Network. My opinion reflected in this review is not affected by that.)

If this was a novel, I would have found it thrilling. A page-turner. But because this actually happened to a child, I hovered between sadness and despair. Anna LeBaron recounts tales of last-minute moves from one state to another, leaving everything behind, being dropped off in Mexico to stay with other members of her father’s cult and having to sell things door-to-door to earn money for the family. She is often separated from her mother and rarely sees her father. She is surrounded by people who are related to her in some way. (The book begins: “At age nine, I had forty-nine siblings.) There are moments of peace and relative security, but much of her stories are full of longing for a normal life.

The good news of Anna’s story is that she is now a living, breathing picture of the redemptive work of God. She found family and Jesus and monogamy. She was even able to reconnect with some of her larger extended family in adulthood.   Hers is an incredible story, yes. It’s also one of hope. Though she grew up one of many children, overlooked and forgotten, she became a woman known and loved by God.

It is not an easy read, especially if you have young children and can’t imagine dropping them off in another country and leaving them in the care of virtual strangers. But it’s a worthwhile read to know that no matter how awful life’s circumstances, God can work with them and in them to bring about something beautiful.

Telling this story is so brave. And it’s so necessary. Don’t let it scare you to read about Anna’s life.

More than a clever title: Review of The Bad Habits of Jesus by Leonard Sweet

Sometimes I’m drawn to a book just because it has a provocative or catchy title, and that was certainly the case with this new book by Leonard Sweet, The Bad Habits of Jesus: Showing Us the Way to Live Right in a World Gone Wrong. Although I’ve not read any of Sweet’s other books, we have a few in the house and I know that his titles often draw readers in to something deeper. I found this to be true for this book. (Disclaimer: I received a copy of the book from the publisher and my review reflects my honest opinion.)

More than just a clever title, The Bad Habits of Jesus reminds followers of Christ that he wasn’t always a “good” person as we might define good. He broke the rules, spent time with people he “shouldn’t” have, wasn’t polite and often appeared wasteful, extravagant or like he was procrastinating. I found Sweet’s listing of these habits interesting and a reminder that my life is only “good” when it lines up with Jesus.

In the opening chapter, I was challenged to think anew about the time when Jesus spit on the ground and used the mud to heal a man. Spitting in our culture is frowned upon, at least in public, and I’ve never thought of it as an insulting gesture. Sweet says this, “From a gesture of insult, Jesus created a magnificent and powerful blessing. And isn’t that how God works anyway?” (p. 4)

Sweet’s writing style is quick-paced and he plays with words in a way that I almost envy. Sometimes his turns of phrase are a little too cute for my tastes, but he makes memorable points. In a chapter about Jesus spending too much time with children, he challenges the church to inclusion of children because Jesus cared not only about their presence but about their wisdom. Sweet writes, “Truth is truth whether spoken by a child or a king. There is no halfway Holy Spirit. The question for Jesus was not ‘How old are you?’ but ‘Do you have ears that hear?'” (p. 115) I wonder how many times I’ve dismissed my own children for thinking they can’t possibly know spiritual truth.

I was overall encouraged and challenged by this book and would recommend it as a refreshing look at what it means to be a follower of Jesus. Towards the end of the book, Sweet lists all the ways Jesus wasn’t a “very good Christian” by our definitions of that phrase. It’s convicting.