Brennan Manning - Patched Together: A Story of My Story

What people are saying about

Patched Together

The simplest of stories often penetrate the heart most deeply ... like this one!

William Paul Young, best-selling author of The Shack

For several years Brennan Manning has assured me in his writings that I am Abbas child, loved by God. Patched Together is no exception. Willie Juans journey is Mannings, yours, and minebroken human beings desperately suffering and in need of love. It is the story of Gods journey too, He who comes down to take our suffering upon Himself, freely giving His love away. My soul felt restored while reading Mannings lifelong message in story form, and more, my heart ached in recognition of my own spiritual journey.

Lisa Samson, best-selling author of Quaker Summer and The Church Ladies and coauthor of Justice in the Burbs

Brennan Mannings books have shaped the way an entire generation understands the love of God. I will never be the same because of them. In Patched Together , he carefully weaves words that penetrate your soul and change you from the inside. Thanks, Brennan; I love God even more because of your legacy.

Tom Davis, author of Fields of the Fatherless and Scared

Brennan Manning is a master storyteller, and he has once again used his marvelous gift to remind us of the one story that bears repeatingbecause we need to hear that wondrous good news over and over, because we wander and forget, because our hearts are so easily hardened, and, most importantly, because it is true.

Ashley Cleveland, Grammy-winning gospel singer and songwriter

Thank you, Brennan, for telling us your story again and again, only to remind us of the deepest storythat God is absolute Love and that there is truly and forever no catch! Patched Together: A Story of My Story tenderly reveals that God is the Grand Storywriter of our lives and He longs to write only Love on every piece of our stories.

Sharon Hersh, speaker and author of Bravehearts: Unlocking the Courage to Love with Abandon and the Hand-in-Hand Parenting series

Absolutely beautiful. This is not Brennans story alone. This is our story. We can find ourselves somewhere along its journey, where weve been or will be. And in the pages we see ourselves; we are consumed by the terrifying nearness and overwhelming reality of Gods lavish love for us.

Candi Pearson-Shelton, singer, songwriter, and author of Desperate Hope

Praise for

the furious longing of God

Sometimes I think that Brennan Mannings books should come with tear marks and nicotine stains. He dares to write who he is, and in so doing never fails to shape and change me into a more human, more honest disciple. The Furious Longing of God is one of the most startling apologetics for hope you will read this year.

Pete Greig, one of the founding leaders of The 24-7 Prayer Movement

the ragamuffin gospel

In our society, we tend to swear unyielding allegiance to a rigid position, confusing that action with finding an authentic connection to a life-giving Spirit. We miss the gospel of Christ: the good news that, although the holy and all-powerful God knows we are dust, He still stoops to breathe into us the breath of lifeto bring to our wounds the balm of acceptance and love. No other author has articulated this message more simply or beautifully than Brennan Manning.

Rich Mullins, songwriter and recording artist

I found deep comfort in realizing that Jesus loves even me, a ragamuffin, just as I am and not as I should be; that He accepts me, though I am most unacceptable. I came to this book hungry; I tasted and saw afresh that our God truly is good and that He is, after all, for us.

Michael Card, musician, recording artist, and author of A Violent Grace

So much religion is conveyed to us as bad news or bland news that we are immensely grateful when it is spoken freshly as good news. This is a zestful and accurate portrayal that tells us unmistakably that the gospel is good, dazzlingly good.

Eugene Peterson, author of The Message

Brennan Manning does a masterful job of blowing the dust off of shop-worn theology and allowing Gods grace to do what only Gods grace can doamaze.

Max Lucado, bestselling author of No Wonder They Call Him the Savior and God Came Near

Some books are a great read. Some have taught me lifelong lessons that have made my life more of what Im sure God intended it to be. And of course some have impressed my friends but gathered dust on my shelves. The Ragamuffin Gospel was and is different. It transformed me. I will never be the same.

Michael W. Smith, Michael W. Smith Productions

abbas child

Brennan is my friend, walking ahead of me on the path toward home. As I watch him from behind, I am drawn to more closely follow on the path, to more deeply enjoy Abbas love.

Dr. Larry Crabb, author of Inside Out and Finding God

Brennan awakens a sense of wonder at the possibility of real relationship with the Abba of Jesus. I was gently led closer to becoming a true child of Abba.

Michael Card, singer, songwriter, and author of Immanuel: Reflections on the Life of Christ

Brennan Manning has the wonderful gift of making Jesus a real answer to our real questions, a desirable lover for our ever desirous hearts. He does it again in Abbas Child .

Richard Rohr, founder of the New Jerusalem Community in Cincinnati and the Center for Action & Contemplation in Albuquerque

PATCHED TOGETHER

Published by David C. Cook

4050 Lee Vance View

Colorado Springs, CO 80918 U.S.A.

David C. Cook Distribution Canada

55 Woodslee Avenue, Paris, Ontario, Canada N3L 3E5

David C. Cook U.K., Kingsway Communications

Eastbourne, East Sussex BN23 6NT, England

David C. Cook and the graphic circle C logo

are registered trademarks of Cook Communications Ministries.

All rights reserved. Except for brief excerpts for review purposes,

no part of this book may be reproduced or used in any form

without written permission from the publisher.

The Web site addresses recommended throughout this book are offered as a

resource to you. These Web sites are not intended in any way to be or imply an

endorsement on the part of David C. Cook, nor do we vouch for their content.

This story is a work of fiction. All characters and events are the product of the authors

imagination. Any resemblance to any person, living or dead, is coincidental.

Scripture quotations marked NASB are taken from the New American Standard Bible ,

Copyright 1960, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked NJB are excerpted from the Jerusalem Bible,

copyright 1985 by Darton, Longman & Todd Ltd. and Doubleday &

Co., a division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc.

LCCN 2009941184

Hardcover ISBN 978-1-4347-0003-2

International Trade Paperback ISBN 978-1-4347-0047-6

eISBN 978-1-4347-0099-5

2010 Brennan Manning

Published in association with the literary agency Alive Communications, Inc.,

7680 Goddard St., Suite 200, Colorado Springs, CO 80920.

Morning previously published as The Boy Who Cried Abba by

HarperSanFrancisco in 1997 Brennan Manning, ISBN 0060654562.

Morning and Noon previously published as The Journey of

the Prodigal by Crossroad in 2002 Brennan Manning, ISBN 0824520149.

The Team: John Blase, Nicci Hubert, Jaci Schneider, and Karen Athen