Touching the deepest hurts

By R. Wayne Hagerman and ChristianWeek | March 9, 2011

In his foreword to Hurt Healer, Johnny Hunt writes, â€œIf there was ever a generation or a time in history when people were in need of hope, it is now. This book has the potential to touch a generation not only in America but literally all over the world as we consider that the deepest need, the deepest hurt, and the deepest wounds can only be healed in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ."

Tony Nolan is an author, evangelist, and speaker and his goal in writing this book is to put to print his own life-story of pain, abuse and redemption in an effort to inspire readers to become Christ-like Good Samaritans in their very own hurting communities and world. Through a series of very personal chapters, telling his own and other's stories, he utilizes the biblical parable of the Good Samaritan found in Luke's Gospel (10:25-37). It is a springboard and definitive interpretation on how Christians can be and become realistic healers in their own generation and place.

It is his contention that we are all damaged in some way or another, and that we all live in a very damaged world that needs our stories of pain and redemption told and retold and then practiced, in order to make definitive connections on behalf of Jesus Christ.

Although I find Nolan's theological interpretation of this parable somewhat stretched, (he believes it to be an actual event that took place, as opposed to a parabolic teaching point of Jesus) and then manipulated and stretched very thin chapter by chapter so that it almost becomes unrecognizable, Nolan does connect the reader with an imaginative, complex set of â€œwhat-ifs?." It sets up another set of scenarios describing how loving someone in deep need is much more than just a random act of kindness.

It is Nolan's contention that too often Christians do random acts of kindness without thought or regard for the eternal consequences, that is to say, connecting help with the gospel's offer of eternal life. This book is an interesting and engaging series of stories, analogies and truths with skin on, designed to stir the reader's heart, soul and mind into action to become a true Christ-like healer in his or her own hurting world.

Nolan certainly comes across in this book as a true evangelist and compelling writer. Each chapter finishes with a series of engaging questions to assist the reader, or a small group, to both internalize and then externalize what they have read. This is a challenging and welcome book for our time.