Jack S. Deere - Even in Our Darkness: A Story of Beauty in a Broken Life

It doesnt happen often, but every once in a while, a gripping book comes along that is profoundly unmasked, unsettling, and unforgettable. I couldnt put this down: This is one devastating, thought-provoking, and needful read that will change the landscape of your soul.

ANN VOSKAMP, New York Times bestselling author of The Broken Way and One Thousand Gifts

Even in Our Darkness is filled with the raw pain, beauty, mystery, and grace that our hearts were meant for. There are no religious platitudes or ethereal ideas in these pages, just Gods grace and affection washing over a family time and time again through the highs and lowest of lows. I found the vulnerability and transparency of this book to be shocking, and a desire arose in me to live all the more in the light as God is in the light. This book will encourage you, and I pray it will warm your heart toward the affections that Christ has for you.

MATT CHANDLER, lead teaching pastor of The Village Church and president of Acts 29 Network

We all have our times of darkness when our circumstances are difficult, with no idea of where Gods presence is. It is one of the most painful human experiences possible. Jack Deere speaks on a vulnerable, raw, and honest level about his own narrative and the darkness he has encountered, both around him and within his own soul. He ultimately points the reader to the God who is always there and who always sustains.

DR. JOHN TOWNSEND, New York Times bestselling author

Ive known Jack Deere for nearly forty-five years. Or at least I thought I knew him. After reading his memoir, I became truly acquainted with my longtime friend for the first time. I cried. I gasped for air. I laughed. And I worshiped God. For Jacks story is really a story about friendship with a God whose love and faithfulness are constant, whether we are on top of the mountain or walking through the valley of the shadow.

SAM STORMS, pastor of Bridgeway Church in Oklahoma City and past president of the Evangelical Theological Society

How do we make sense of the pain and evil in this world, and who is this good God who has allowed it? This powerful and poignant book goes a long way toward answering that for all of us. Written beautifully and harrowinglyand so grippingly that you wont want to stop readingthis story is everyones story. If a few of us could be nearly as transparent and honest as Jack Deere is here, the light of Christ would shine far brighter in our culture, turning many hungry hearts toward himself.

ERIC METAXAS, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Miracles, If You Can Keep It, and Martin Luther

Many pastors write memoirs, but no pastors write memoirs like this. Jack Deere takes us into a world of evangelical nobility that is as pocked and flawed as any we Christians like to pretend we are aboveand then plunges us into the torrents of a family disintegrating in the Class 5 rapids of a tragedy. Raw, gritty, and transparent, Jacks writing rings with effervescent joy and searing pain. I read the last seventy-five pages with my heart in my throat and tears in my eyes. Even before I finished, I was making a list of friends to whom I plan to send this book. If I could, Id send every person reading this a copy myself. Its that good.

LYNN VINCENT, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Same Kind of Different as Me and Heaven is for Real

Dr . Jack Deeres brilliantly written memoir of his extraordinary life is a must-read for any person who has come from a dysfunctional family. Jack shows the wonderful possibility of peace passing understanding when traumatic circumstances would dictate otherwise.

R. T. KENDALL, author of more than fifty books and former minister of Westminster Chapel

We fell in love with Jack Deeres son Scott, never dreaming it would forge a friendship with Jack and Leesa. Jacks raw and gritty expos of his life demonstrates beauty in imperfection and love that is refined through hardship.

NANCY DUARTE, CEO and author

This is a gut-level story that leaves no illusion that life can be defined by mans religion. Ive known Jack Deere and his family for more than thirty years. Ive watched and walked with him during some of the events covered. The story is real. Gods love always shines through the darkness.

DUDLEY HALL, author and president of Kerygma Ventures

I feel privileged to have witnessed this book being lived before it was written, as my mentor Jack Deere showed by example how to savor Gods friendship through our darkest days. This story inspires hope, not by sanitizing reality, but by artfully displaying a transcendent realitythe beauty of God even in our darkness.

MICHAEL ROWNTREE, senior pastor of Wellspring Church, North Richland Hills, Texas

ZONDERVAN

Even in Our Darkness

Copyright 2018 by Jack S. Deere

ePub Edition February 2018: ISBN 978-0-310-53815-8

Requests for information should be addressed to:

Zondervan, 3900 Sparks Dr . SE , Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Deere, Jack, author.

Title: Even in our darkness : a story of beauty in a broken life / Jack Deere.

Description: Grand Rapids, MI : Zondervan, [2018]

Identifiers: LCCN 2017050239 | ISBN 9780310538141 (hardcover)

Subjects: LCSH : Deere, Jack. | Christian biography. | Christian life.

Classification: LCC BR1725.D377 A3 2018 | DDC 277.308/3092 [B]dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017050239

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV . Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc . Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.Zondervan.com. The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc .

Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the King James Version. Public domain.

Any Internet addresses (websites, blogs, etc .) and telephone numbers in this book are offered as a resource. They are not intended in any way to be or imply an endorsement by Zondervan, nor does Zondervan vouch for the content of these sites and numbers for the life of this book.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any otherexcept for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Cover design: Brian Bobel

Cover photo: iStockphoto.com

Interior design: Kait Lamphere

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Information about External Hyperlinks in this ebook

Please note that footnotes in this ebook may contain hyperlinks to external websites as part of bibliographic citations. These hyperlinks have not been activated by the publisher, who cannot verify the accuracy of these links beyond the date of publication.

For Scott

thanks for the laughter,
thanks for the tears,
and thanks for the prayers beneath heavens altar.
Good-bye for now, Scotty boy,
but only for now.
Love,
Dad