Jim Palmer - Divine Nobodies: Shedding Religion to Find God (and the unlikely people who help you)

Early Praise for
Divine Nobodies

I am tempted to say that Jim Palmer could well be the next Donald Miller, but what they have in common, along with an honest spirituality and extraordinary skill as storytellers, is a unique voice. So I might instead say that one of our best young writers in the future may well be called the next Jim Palmer. Divine Nobodiesis a delight to read, and it did good for my soul to read it.

Brian McLaren,
Author of
The Secret Message of Jesus

Jim Palmer has written a winsome, thought-provoking, and highly readable narrativeits about being Christian and about being who God has created you to be. Jim obviously knows who he is, and hes a keen observer of humanity, which is why this book hits home. Im happy to self-identify as a divine nobody.

Tony Jones,
National Coordinator of
Emergent Village
(www.emergentvillage.com)
and Author of The Sacred Way

As soon as I saw the title of this book, I had a strong feeling I was going to like it. I had no idea that I would be giving away loose-leaf chapters to friends before I had even finished reading it. Jim Palmer might be at the head of the pack of the new Evanradicals.

Oteil Burbridge,
Bass player, The Allman
Brothers Band

You hold in your hands an amazing story of a broken man finding freedom in all the right placesin Gods work in the lives of some extraordinarily ordinary people around him. You will thrill to this delightful blend of gut-wrenching honesty and laugh-out-loud hilarity, and in the end youll find God much closer, the body of Christ far bigger, and your own journey far clearer than you ever dreamed.

Wayne Jacobsen,
Author of
Authentic Relationships

I love this book! Coming from a non-church, non-functional, non-connected family I see myself as being a divine nobody in the hands of God. When we come to see ourselves as divine nobodies we see the divine in all-bodies.

John OKeefe,
Founder of
www.ginkworld.net

Divine Nobodies

Divine Nobodies

Shedding Religion to Find God
(and the unlikely people who help you)

jim palmer

2006 Jim Palmer.

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or otherexcept for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson. Thomas Nelson is a registered trademark of Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Thomas Nelson, Inc., titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, fund-raising, or sales promotional use. For information, please e-mail SpecialMarkets@ThomasNelson.com.

Scripture quotations are from the following sources:

The Holy Bible, New International Version (NIV). 1973, 1978, 1984, International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan.

The Message (MSG), 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.

The Amplified Bible (AMP), Expanded Edition, 1987 by The Zondervan Corporation and The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Palmer, Jim, 1964
Divine nobodies : shedding religion to find God (and the unlikely people who help you) / Jim Palmer.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-0-8499-1398-3
1. Palmer, Jim, 1964 . 2. Christian biography. I. Title.
BR1725.P225A3 2006
277.3'0830922dc22
[B]

2006012455

Printed in the United States of America
08 09 10 11 12 RRD 7 6 5 4 3 2

Contents

1. Touched by a Drummer (Saint Kit)
Knowing God

2. Hip-Hop Geography (Extreme Doug)
Straight Up

3. Waffle House Theology (Wanda the Waitress)
Calling

4. Death to the Phantom (Worthless Grace)
Identity

5. What the Sheep Do We Know!?
(The Kids of Silent Rocks Farm)
Openness

6. The Black Hole of Intimacy (Laddie the Dog)
Depression

7. Dont Mess with the EAMC
(Mr. Adams, ASE Certified)
Institutionalism

8. Pride and Prejudice (My Gay Friend Richard)
Wholeness

9. Daughters (Jessica, an American Girl)
Parenthood

10. August 7, 1959July 22, 2000 (Father of Four)
Belief

11. (E) None of the Above
(Jill, the Flaming Swim Teacher)
Politics

12. Sex, Lies, and Paratroop Deployment
(Rescued Varsha)
Worldview

13. The Great Reversal (Father Jeff)
Religion

14. Left Behind (Dominique, the Abandoned Boy)
Scars

15. Where the Rubber Meets the Road
(Rick, the Tire Salesman)
Overflow

(or The Thing That Sort of Seems Like
an Introduction but Is a Pretty Poor
Excuse for One)

YOU WILL EVENTUALLY SEE THIS BOOK HAS TWO INTRODUCTIONS, the Pseudo-Introduction and the Real Introduction. Having not yet said anything, I have already broken one of the publishing worlds ten commandments: Thou shalt not have two introductions. Both introductions are essential, which begs the question, Why didnt I just make them chapters and not have to write this paragraph? After all, some people, probably most people, skip the introduction in search of the good stuff. Instead, what I ended up with is two introductions for them to skip and a grim warning under the chapter 1 title begging the reader not to skip them. Two intros cost me two fingers, one for each commandment broken, the second being, Thou shalt not tell the reader how to read his or her book.

I wanted to write a novel. I have long believed fiction is the highest evolved form of communication. My Virginia Tech hat is off to anyone who has both the imagination and the skill for creative writing. For years, I consumed nonfiction books that stated plainly in systematic fashion how to do Christianity better. I got the mechanics of Christian living pretty well down. Then I got a wild hair and read Wendell Berrys novel Jayber Crow, which deeply affected me. I discovered that good fiction has a way of opening you up and is cathartic for the soul. Jesuss creative way of conveying truth through stories and parables has been a magnet drawing me more deeply into life with God in recent years. I would read anything written by Jesus, not to shortchange Wendell Berry, who is also near the top of my list.

Prolific fiction writers blow my mind. I have pieces of a novel in progress stored in multiple files all over my computer. One day I realized my novel was really a personal memoir. I didnt want to insult people who truly have enough original thinking to write fiction, so I decided to lay it down for now. I realize most novels are to some degree autobiographical. Mine was entirely, save names of people, places, and a few cosmetic changes, designed to cast doubt in the minds of the actual people I was writing about (e.g., brunette, fair-skinned Pam in real life became blonde, tanned Patty in the novelyes, my skills of throwing people off the trail are truly astounding). I also realize there is the creative nonfiction tactic of inventing people and plots to say something with an artsy twist. Finally, it dawned on me that there was a real story needing to be told, and given my track record as a novelist, I should just stick to stating it plainly the best I could.

I was taught when reading books to consider the source, which may not bode too well in my favor. So, I feel some sense of obligation to share certain things about myself that could dissuade you from reading any further. Heres a random list of facts about me (some of which I am embarrassed about but willing to own up to):