Steve Carter - The Thing Beneath the Thing: Whats Hidden Inside (and What God Helps Us Do About It)

PRAISE FOR THE THING BENEATH THE THING

Some books have the potential to literally save your leadership (and your life). This is one of them. Piercing, scary, genuinely laugh-out-loud funny, and completely disarming, The Thing Beneath the Thing will take you places you dont want to go but absolutely need to go.

Carey Nieuwhof
Bestselling author, podcaster, and speaker

My brother Steve Carter is a gifted archaeologist of the soul. Theres so much thats inside all of us: both beauty and brokenness, pain and hope. Some of it is buried deep. And it takes a trusted, skilled, and seasoned guide to lovingly help us discover not just whats there, but whats possible. Steve is that guide. He doesnt invite you just to look at the dusty, hollow bones of your mess, but to discover the fullness of who God longs for you to be on full display: out of the hole and wholly into the light. This journey of The Thing Beneath the Thing will require a willing heartand Steve Carter has gone first, giving the fullness of his heart to us.

Ashlee Eiland
Pastor, Mars Hill Bible Church and author of Human(Kind)

Steve wrote the book I wish I had to guide me years ago. If you want to live an authentic life, an actual Jesus-centered life, and a life that is truly healed and whole, this is for you. Filled with hope, humor, and a whole lot of grace, this is a book youll want to return to again and again and give to everyone you know who wants real freedom.

Hosanna Wong
International speaker, spoken-word artist, and author of How (Not) to Save the World

Steve Carter is a guide, a sage, a man who has seemingly lived this life before. We all need them, but very few of us have thempeople like Steve. As soon as I picked up this book, I couldnt put it down. The Thing Beneath the Thing is raw yet relatable, real yet reasonable. Steve provides a playbook on how to handle our emotions, both spoken and unspoken. How to lead with courage and address the areas in our lives that weve been afraid to talk about. He helps us heal. Leaders and followers, both young and old, need this book. Men, women, and children need this book. I need this book. Thank you, Steve, for being courageous enough to go there.

Sam Acho
Author, speaker, nine-year NFL veteran

Steve Carter hits the bullseye in this riveting book. Why do we do what we do? Steve expertly unpacks how to identify the source of our behaviors, which, he explains, is ironically the best way to uncover our truest selves! This beautiful truth is shared with wisdom, grace, and humor. I laughed and cried! This book sparked a longing in me for a deep and honest life. These truths will help us all live the life weve been made for.

Danielle Strickland
Speaker, trainer, global social justice advocate, and author of Better Together

Steve is the guide that many of us have been searching for and are finally discovering. His words have spoken so much truth into my life over the past few years, and now, with the release of The Thing Beneath the Thing, Steve will send those words of healing into the hearts of thousands. Im certain that healing and freedom will follow every single human who digests them.

Carlos Whittaker
Speaker, author of Enter Wild, and host of The Human Hope podcast

When I think of healthy leadership and leaders who can help me work on that, Steve Carter is one of the first names to come to mind. So for him to write a book on the layers below our decisions, emotions, and directions is a blessingto all of us. This book is a must-read for anyone, especially a leader, helping them to grasp those things lurking deeply that will allow them to fall or push them to succeed.

Tyler Reagin
Founder of Life-Giving Company, author, and cofounder of 10TEN Project

The Thing Beneath the Thing

2021 Steve Carter

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Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by W Publishing, an imprint of Thomas Nelson.

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Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations 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 NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, a Division of Tyndale House Ministries, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021934627

ISBN 978-0-7852-3553-8 (HC)

ISBN 978-0-7852-3560-6 (audiobook)

ISBN 978-0-7852-3559-0 (eBook)

Epub Edition June 2021 9780785235590

Printed in the United States of America

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To Sarah Lynn,

words can never fully describe who you are and

what you truly mean to me. WATW.

BENEATH THE SURFACE OF ALL THINGS IS THE REAL HEART of thingsand this will always surface, one way or another.

This you know.

Which may be why youre wisely holding this book, this key, in your hands right now. How can you come to understand what is happening underneath the surface of your only life? Why do we wake with great intentions, visions of thriving relationships and flourishing dreams, and yet someone obliviously says something, or something unexpectedly happens, and we stumble and falland why do we do the same thing again tomorrow and, yet again, fall hard?

You must know this: in the deep of the New Zealand forest, a kauri tree fell.

Kauri trees are known to grow to be giants, the tallest of which is known as the Lord of the Forest, standing at a staggering 168 feet high, with a stretching 115-foot-wide canopy. Who knows exactly why this one particular kauri tree fell hard in the forest? Lightning? Disease? Cut down in its prime? Whatever the reason, the rains came and fell on the forest floor. The dark nights shrouded the forest in a returning blanket of velveted black, and, night after night, far above this fallen kauri tree and its jagged stump, the stars danced and swirled in choreographic grace. Seasons turned. Sun and moon and solar systems spun.