Steve Daugherty - Experiments in Honesty: Meditations on Love, Fear and the Honest to God Naked Truth

Praise for Experiments in Honesty

There is a way of putting Jesus on a sacred pedestal so distant from our everyday wheeling and dealing that we can honor him with our lips by calling him Christ while mocking the witness of his life with all that we are. Steve Daughertys Experiments in Honesty helps turn this ship around by presenting Jesus of Nazareth as one whose divinity cant be made separate from his status as a pioneer of human seriousness. Do we want to follow Jesus down the path of industrial-strength honesty? For anyone serious about taking up this question, Daughertys work could prove immensely helpful.

David Dark
Author of Lifes Too Short to Pretend Youre Not Religious

If Brennan Manning and Mike Yaconelli had a love child it would be Steve Daugherty. In contrast to much of the pious claptrap out there these days, Steves voice in Experiments in Honesty is an heir to grace, quietly and humanly reminding us that we are too. We really are.

John Blase
Poet and author of The Jubilee: Poems and Know When to Hold Em: The High Stakes Game of Fatherhood

Steve Daughertys inaugural book is a literary treat, a visual pleasure, andmost vitallya spiritual feast. Meditations on well-worn biblical moments retold through a storytellers heart give me pause. If you find yourself starving on fast-food religion, do yourself a favor and pick up Experiments in Honesty. Youll find yourself at a table set with slow-cooked revelation.

Mike Morrell
Collaborating author of The Divine Dance by Richard Rohr

Experiments in Honesty is a fresh take on Christian spirituality and a fantastic read. Unpacking traditional Scripture in a frank, its-okay-to-question-everything narrative, Steve Daugherty draws you into his life and faith, quietly daring you to lift the veil and take another look at your own. Each chapter is a little bit like exposure therapy to the truth, pushing you to be more honest with yourself and your faith. If you read nothing else but the title, you have already begun your journey in faith and your own experiment with honesty. This is a must read!

Anne Kubitsky
Founder & CEO of The Look for the Good Project and author of What Makes You Grateful?

Steve Daugherty writes as a practical mystic, inviting readers to discover more in everyday moments and those stories weve read numerous times in the Bible. He encourages self-contemplation through his humor and insightful perspective of life. Youll see with fresh eyes as you continually wonder how youve never had these thoughts before. Grab a coffee to drink deeply as you read through Experiments in Honesty. Youll notice yourself exploring profoundly into your journey with Jesus at the same time.

Jeremy Jernigan
Lead pastor of Abundant Life Church and author of Redeeming Pleasure

STEVE DAUGHERTY

Copyright 2018 by Steve Daugherty

Published by Worthy Books, an imprint of Worthy Publishing Group, a division of Worthy Media, Inc.,
One Franklin Park, 6100 Tower Circle, Suite 210, Franklin, TN 37067.

WORTHY is a registered trademark of Worthy Media, Inc.

HELPING PEOPLE EXPERIENCE THE HEART OF GOD

eBook available wherever digital books are sold.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Daugherty, Steve, author.

Title: Experiments in honesty : meditations on love, fear, and the honest to God naked truth / Steve Daugherty.

Description: Franklin, TN : Worthy Publishing, 2017. | Includes bibliographical references.

Identifiers: LCCN 2017054501 | ISBN 9781683971351 (tradepaper)

Subjects: LCSH: God (Christianity)--Worship and love. | Fear of God--Christianity. | God (Christianity)--Love.

Classification: LCC BV4817 .D38 2017 | DDC 231.7--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017054501

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.

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are taken from the ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. | Scripture quotations marked NASB are taken from the New American Standard Bible, Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org) | Scripture quotations marked NIV 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.

For foreign and subsidiary rights, contact .

Published in association with The Christopher Ferebee Agency, www.christopherferebee.com.

ISBN: 978-1-68397-135-1

Cover Design: Kent Jensen | Knail

Cover Image: Steve Daugherty

Interior Design and Typesetting: Bart Dawson

Printed in the United States of America
18 19 20 21 22 23 DPI 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

CONTENTS

Truth and Lie went for a swim. After a while, Lie got out of the water, put on Truths clothes, and ran into a nearby town. Unwilling to wear Lies clothes, Truth also got out of the water and chased Lie naked. As Truth reached the town limits, he was turned away for being naked. Lie, of course, was let right in, looking enough like Truth to go unchallenged.

PART ONE

Naked or Afraid

Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
and grace my fears relieved

John Newton, Amazing Grace

Quintessential Love purges fear.

1 John 4:18, my rendering

Too afraid of God to not be afraid of God

HIP-DEEP IN SEAWATER and dragging their boats ashore with exhausted hands, Peterwho at this point in the story still went by Simonas well as the other fishermen heard someone speaking.

A group of a dozen or so was huddled together, walking along the beach, listening to a man talk. A predawn prayer group, by the looks of it. The tired anglers pretended not to notice them, but they did.