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All right. 
Hey friends. 

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OK, so if you're here, you want 
to hear us talk about books, 

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which we'll be honest, this is a
little self indulgent. 

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I'm with my friend Sarah and we 
just love talking about English 

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classes and the books that we're
reading and all that good stuff.

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So you heard Sarah mention the 
book James in our podcast and 

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that actually came out of, we 
have a staff book club that is 

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now affectionately called the 
Bailey Book Club or the BBC for 

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short. 
We do have stickers if you would

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like one, if you'd like to join,
but we read James. 

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Sarah picked that out for us. 
And so I got to read it as well.

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And it really, it reminded me of
a lot of my English classes and 

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just like strong literature 
that's well written. 

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So we'll talk about that for a 
little bit. 

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And then our current book club 
book that we're actually getting

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ready to talk about this 
afternoon is Theo of Golden, 

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which has been, I think, super 
popular, especially in Christian

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circles for good reason. 
And so I've got some fresh 

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thoughts. 
I finished that at midnight last

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night for our book club. 
Then we'll talk about that as 

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well. 
And by the way, we are going to 

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have some spoilers in here. 
So if you have not read these 

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books, definitely hit pause, Go 
read them and then come back and

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listen to our thoughts. 
You've already talked about 

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James a little bit, Sarah, But 
yeah, what are some thoughts 

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that you have that, you know, 
maybe go a little bit more into 

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what the book is actually about?
So this was fascinating to me as

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someone who loves American 
literature and I've studied Mark

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Twain, I've studied his works 
and have a retelling of a 

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classic novel like Huck Finn 
from the perspective of a 

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different. 
Character was. 

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Really neat. 
And one thing that is prominent 

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in this book is language, the 
idea of how we speak and what 

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that means, which is fascinating
because Mark Twain was one of 

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the reasons he was is known and 
famous in American literature is

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because he was one of the first 
authors to write dialect. 

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Right. 
Like it sounds. 

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Yeah. 
So if you pick up Tom Sawyer or 

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Huck Finn, the words are written
phonetically how someone would 

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speak in that context. 
Which sometimes can be hard to 

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read. 
You're like, wait, what are they

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trying to say? 
You know, But it really does 

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bring you into the world of that
character. 

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And they actually, you learn 
more about who they are in their

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identity through the way that 
they speak. 

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Yes, yes. 
So it is. 

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It's a really important thing 
for Samuel Clemens and then it's

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really highlighted in this book,
James. 

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So one interesting thing that 
Whitney and I we've talked about

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before that this is fascinating 
is that so the character of 

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James is actually literate, 
which was probably unlikely for 

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a slave in this time period to. 
Suspend some disbelief, yes? 

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We have to kind of buy into the 
concept, but he is literate and 

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he teaches his children how to 
read and write and how to do so 

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properly in the grammatic sense.
However, when they are in the 

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presence of white people, they 
code switch back to that African

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American dialect of the time and
the and the book really dives 

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into how they could not give any
kind of illusion of their 

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knowledge because then their 
masters would be threatened, 

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right? 
Because proper language, the 

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ability to read and write, that 
is all tied to this idea of 

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power. 
Humanity. 

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Education, being able to read 
something gives you power. 

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And so they had to kind of 
pretend when there were white 

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people present that they were 
ignorant. 

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And again, like it's Whitney 
said, you kind of have to 

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suspend disbelief because it's 
very unlikely that that would 

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have actually been true. 
But it does make you think. 

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It makes you think about the 
role of language and reading and

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writing and how we talk and what
does that mean about our 

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community and belonging. 
Like I'll, I'll tell a funny 

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story on my dad. 
So my dad's side of the family, 

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he grew up in Honey Path, South 
Carolina, which is very rural 

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area. 
And he is a software engineer 

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and went on a Clemson and highly
educated man. 

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But when he is with his family, 
his dialect changes. 

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It goes back to, well, hey, Ma 
and that. 

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And I remember as a kid being 
like, man, dad does not talk 

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like that regularly. 
But when we're all together as a

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family, it was just part of the 
family culture and brought a 

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sense of belonging and 
togetherness with that was how 

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he grew up hearing his parents 
speak. 

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And it's just fascinating the 
role that all that plays. 

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And I've even found that as an 
English teacher, I pick up on 

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the lingo of these teenagers. 
You know, I'm like lock in chat,

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you know, like trying to to 
reach them to to connect with 

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them, to try and use their 
words. 

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What up twin? 
And nobody knows what I'm 

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talking about unless you have a 
teenager in your, but just 

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that's something that that is 
really delved into you in the 

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book of James that I found 
fascinating. 

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Yeah, and I'm so glad you bring 
that up. 

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Another book that we read, and 
this was actually my pick for 

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our book club, we read Born a 
Crime by Trevor Noah. 

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I will give a little bit of a 
content warning on that. 

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There's some language and things
in there, but Trevor Noah is a 

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famous comedian, and he was born
in South Africa during 

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apartheid, and his mother was 
black and his father was white. 

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And so he talks a lot about 
language as something that 

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establishes your identity even 
more so than race, even more so 

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than your financial status, your
class. 

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And for me, yeah, I agree. 
Like you guys heard in our 

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episode with Brandon Garcia, 
Scott made me speak a little 

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Spanish. 
I majored in Spanish. 

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So I have spent a lot of time 
thinking about language and it 

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is so interesting that it allows
you to enter into a culture. 

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And, and I think it's also 
equally the thing that can 

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divide people and create 
distance and boundaries is not 

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really so much how you look, but
how you sound. 

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Because if we can communicate 
with each other and understand 

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one another, then we're in the 
same tribe. 

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We're in the same group, we're 
the same people. 

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And so, and that's what James is
teaching his children. 

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Like you can belong if you can 
communicate well with somebody. 

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Trevor Noah makes that same 
point of there's all of these 

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tribes in Africa that have 
different dialects and things, 

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and they don't like each other 
because of their history and 

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things. 
But if he can learn to speak 

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like a certain tribe, then 
they're like, we don't think 

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that you're with us, but like, 
you sound like us. 

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So OK, welcome. 
You know, you're here. 

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But it does give you access to 
the world, you know, and if I 

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can get give a little soapbox, 
like I always say that learning 

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language is the best way to love
somebody because it is how you 

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look. 
And you say, I'm going to come 

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and meet you on your terms 
instead of expecting you to come

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meet me on my terms, which of 
course is exactly what Jesus did

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for us. 
He didn't say like you got to 

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get yourself together before you
can get into heaven and come get

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on my level. 
He's like, no, I will become 

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like you so that I can love you 
and care for you. 

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So big fan of language and yeah,
personal Everett really just 

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accomplishes that so well in in 
the book, James. 

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So we encourage you guys to go 
read that one if you haven't 

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already. 
And then view of golden. 

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It's so sweet, like it's just 
really beautiful. 

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It's a great summer read because
it's just kind of light hearted.

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It's encouraging. 
It was helpful for me to kind of

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inspire how to be creative with 
generosity. 

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So the premise is that you have 
the protagonist, Theo, who is 

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conveniently named. 
I realized about halfway through

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the book that Theo, of course, 
means God. 

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And then you learn later on his 
full name is Theophilus, which 

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means friend of God or loved by 
God. 

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So I was like, very well done by
the AHU there. 

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But he moves to a town and he 
sees all of these portraits on 

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the wall of a coffee shop of the
local people, and they're done 

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by a local artist. 
And he decides that he's going 

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to buy them and give them to the
people. 

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And every time he kind of sits 
down and bestows 1 to a person, 

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that word. 
Bestowal is so intentional 

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throughout the book, and it's 
very it's a. 

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Formal word I'm. 
Going to bestow this upon you, 

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but it is a fascinating choice 
because it does because it kind 

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of captures the idea of 
benevolence and intentionality. 

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Not just like, oh, I picked up 
this thing for you. 

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It is this was mine and I am now
giving it to you with purpose 

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and intention, out of a sense of
benevolence and goodness. 

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And so it even just those little
word choices are really. 

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Neat. 
Yeah. 

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And even in that episode that we
just did, like, as you're 

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talking about, you sit down with
your kids and have a family 

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meeting. 
I love that you call it that 

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before the EOC and you're like 
looking into their soul. 

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And you're like, I need to tell 
you something true about who you

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are and your identity as an 
image bearer. 

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And it's really what Theo does 
as well. 

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Like he hands him this portrait 
and he's like, I see that you 

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are a kind person and that you 
are hard working and that. 

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And he calls everyone kind of in
the end, he's like, this person 

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is capable of saintliness, which
is just beautiful. 

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You know, that he's just taking 
each person as an image bearer 

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and just speaking truth into 
them. 

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So that was just helpful for me 
to kind of think through like, 

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yeah, how can I be more creative
in my generosity? 

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Like, it doesn't always have to 
be money. 

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And and I think there's 
something about overcoming the 

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little bit of awkwardness that 
we have as human beings where 

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it's like, gosh, that's a really
deep thing. 

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And I've just met this person, 
but this is a worthy thing to 

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say. 
And if they don't receive it or 

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it's a little awkward, like, OK,
you know, but that's God 

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especially has us as believers 
saying the things that people 

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don't say. 
And that does set us apart in 

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some ways. 
And I, I, it really connected 

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with me. 
Like he, he also asked people to

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share their story with him and 
he kind of learned some things 

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about them. 
He creates that safe space. 

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And for me in my job where I get
to work on life change stories 

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with our people. 
Like, I really feel that of I'm 

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calling someone up and, you 
know, a staff member has given 

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me their name. 
Deepest things. 

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That you have. 
Experienced. 

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Right. 
Their deepest, hardest thing and

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I'm trying to make them feel 
safe, but it is such an honor. 

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I mean, I always say I have the 
best job on staff and I, I know 

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a lot of our staff get to do 
versions of it, but it's so 

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encouraging. 
And you do get to like look 

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people in their eyes and tell 
them, I need you to know that 

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this is how God thinks of you. 
So Sarah, I know you said that 

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you had read this one a little 
while back, but any any big 

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thoughts that come up about it? 
So I love a novel that gives me 

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a really strong sense of place. 
And that is something that's 

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really strong here. 
It's it's a fictional town, but 

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it's definitely, we were, we 
were like, oh, it makes you 

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think of like Savannah or, you 
know, some of a deep Southern 

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town. 
And so there's some really 

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beautiful description in there. 
One of my favorite things about 

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Theo is his curiosity. 
He every person he meets, he 

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wants to know their story. 
And it's not just out of a 

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desire to be entertained or 
anything like that. 

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He genuinely cares about people 
and wants to know, you know, 

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both the good and the hard 
things that they have 

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experienced. 
And that's part of kind of his 

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mission. 
And I think you use this word 

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earlier, Whitney, is that he is 
creative with his generosity. 

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It's not just like, oh, I'm 
going to send them a gift card 

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or I'm going to, you know, give 
more money to this to church or 

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to this nonprofit or whatever he
thinks specifically about, you 

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know, how can I care for this 
individual? 

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And so to do that, he gets to 
know them in some really 

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interesting ways. 
So yeah, it's it's a beautiful 

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probably the best way I could 
describe it is kind of a series 

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of vignettes where he goes 
through this process. 

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It does. 
You know, I don't, I don't, I 

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hate to give away the ending. 
It does it, it does kind of all 

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come together at the end in a 
way that makes us think about 

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sacrifice. 
And I don't know how else to say

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it. 
The true nature of generosity, 

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to deplete oneself for the good 
of another. 

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And that's something that God 
has called us to you. 

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So yeah, I thought it was it was
a good book. 

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I I have to nerd out a little 
bit and don't come at me. 

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But like literally it is more. 
It doesn't have like, a super 

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strong plot or character 
development or some of those 

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things that I look for in a work
of literature, but it still was 

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a really valuable, enjoyable 
read. 

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Yeah, so hot take maybe. 
I agree. 

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I know it's it's a very beloved 
book. 

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I had like 10 people recommend 
it to me so I'm really. 

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I only give it four stars on 
Goodreads. 

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I know it's, it's very, it's 
very encouraging. 

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And I'll be honest sometimes, 
like I just want a book where 

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there's not like massive 
conflict and things like 

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sometimes it's just nice to read
a sweet story and to feel 

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encouraged. 
Yeah. 

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I do think like my one critique 
is kind of like we were talking 

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about with James, how Percival 
Everett really takes pains to 

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write out the dialogue and he's 
really mirroring Mark Twain in 

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that to make you feel like 
you're in that environment and 

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you're just like in that world. 
Even though Theo Golden takes 

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place in the South, you know, 
there's one point where Theo is 

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like, oh, this is the first time
I've heard someone use the word 

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ain't. 
And I'm like, oh, well, if 

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you're in the South, then we do 
say that a lot. 

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So there's again, a few things 
like that that suspend our 

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disbelief, but I certainly do 
not think that I could do 

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better. 
And I mean, this is Alan Levi's,

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I believe, his first novel. 
And for a first novel, like it's

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beautiful and incredible and the
New York Times bestseller, so 

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and just really cool to see him 
pursue like representing the 

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gospel and like those themes in 
a way that is not. 

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Hugely. 
Overt and so I mean, I'm hopeful

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that, you know, somebody will 
pick this up and really get to 

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hear the heart of the gospel in 
a new way. 

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We have some more thoughts, so 
please come find us and. 

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Yeah, we want to hear what you 
think. 

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Yes, for all of these, send us 
emails or reach out in the 

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comments. 
And like we'd love to just, we 

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love talking about books. 
Please continue to engage us and

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tell us what you think. 
Tell us your critiques. 

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00:15:28,920 --> 00:15:30,480
Tell us if you think that we're 
wrong. 

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We'd love that too. 
So thanks guys. 

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We'll see you next time on the 
Grace Church Podcast.

