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After Shock: Searching for Honest Faith When Your World Is Shaken

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This is the second book of Kent Annan's that I've read, and like the 1st, (Following Jesus Through the Eye of the Needle) it was hard to put down, not only because of its raw honesty, but because Annan has a powerful way of drawing the reader into his stories. I finished his first book on Haiti a year ago, just after the earthquake struck, and was deeply troubled, wondering what happened to all of the people he wrote about that I had connected with through his writing. This second book answers that for me, but that's about all it answers, which is a very good thing. In After Shock, Annan takes an honest and necessary--however uncomfortable at times--look at issues of faith, hope, love, and doubt that arose for him out of the rubble of the earthquake. If you have ever struggled with questions about your faith, but didn't know if it was okay to ask them out loud, you need to read this book. If you haven't had those struggles, then it will help you better connect with those who do. This is one of the most "real" books out there on doubt and faith.

This book came in on 1/18/2011. I was "itching" to read it ...got through the first early pages on the night of 1/19. It got me at the "first hello!" I cannot wait to sink my teeth into this book. It is about the CRISIS OF FAITH, which so many so-called Christians deny that they have from time to time. "Faith that can't withstand getting rocked by all of this (earthquakes and tsunamis) ought to crumble like those concrete buildings. But faith that isn't shaken by regular life isn't trustworthy either. Maybe this crisis of faith, this search for faith is something like yours."
If you've searched for FAITH during the "driest, longest desert" of your life...this is a book for you. "How Long, O Lord? How long?" I'm still searchng this question now. And it's not just about Haiti. It's about living in this world." Do you know WHAT Kent Annan means? If so...grab THE BOOK!

Kent Annan wasn't in Haiti when the earthquake hit but in a way he had never left it. In "After Shock" he shows us the dark night of his soul as he confronts the what seems to be the casual malevolence of natural disaster wreaked upon an already collapsing society. An example of the chaotic absurdity following the quake is the son of a Haitian friend who was injured in a house collapse--unlike the thousands who were killed in collapses or who suffered without help, this young boy was rushed to a makeshift hospital by his father. His injuries, while frightening and painful, weren't life threatening but one the doctors realized that he was suffering from leukemia. He and his father got one of the last places on a mercy flight to Florida where he was taken to a hospital for treatment of his blood disorder. It is one of the many times that grace during times of trouble is shown--if not for the quake the leukemia wouldn't have been diagnosed in time to treat it or if discovered it wouldn't have been treated locally.

Kent Annan's Christian response is not the only valid one to such terrible suffering; existential nihilism and the realization of the ultimate nothingness of being could be another; a Buddhist might see the necessity for mindful compassion toward the injured and dying while realizing that it is part of their karmic destiny.

"After Shock" is extraordinarily well written. It reflects the jagged consciousness that afflicts everyone living in and through such entropic confusion. The short chapters jump around in time and place, going from Port-au-Prince to Miami to North Dakota, from the memories of the recent past to the sharp-edged reality of the author's present. Making sense of horror--an earthquake, a tsunami, the death of thousands or the death of one--may be impossible while it is happening or in the harrowing aftermath but Annan's faith, personal courage and his felt relationship with Christ, as he makes clear on page after page, is certainly a way through the worst of it.

I brought this book along with me on vacation, but I'm an abnormal person. This is not light beach reading. This book is about a wrestling match between the author and God. It's not a flashy, staged, professional wrestling match with a certain outcome, but more of an amateur match, at the high school level. This is not an insult of Kent Annan's writing, but, if you've ever been to some of those high school matches, an analogy to the long and drawn out contests between kids who are evenly matched and make slow progress. If I may reach for a Biblical metaphor, this is like Jacob's long night of wrestling with God, from which he emerged, crippled but with a stronger faith (see Genesis 32).

The earthquake in Haiti, which killed his friends, yet also enabled others to fly to the US for expert medical care, and destroyed his friends' homes and churches, and fractured families, fractured his faith and crippled his soul. He found solace in the blues catalog of the Bible, the Psalms, Psalm 13 in particular. In the Psalms he finds freedom to complain to God. Sometimes his sentences are clipped, coming in gasps of pain and anger and frustration. Sometimes he writes with hope. He learns from the Haitians, who worship more intensely after the quake. While he brings physical aid, they bring aid to his soul by their deep faith. What he learns about faith has helped me. He writes,

Faith like this is a kind of following, and following is, of course, trying to get closer to something or someone (or at least trying not to fall any farther behind). I can follow Jesus even if he sometimes seems elusive or disappears over a mound of rubble. Faith that doesn't keep seeking dies, and the distance between God and us seems to expand. If I still have a measure of hope and gratitude, I can follow, though I'm full of fear or doubt, though I'm angry or disappointed. p.96

This is a short book, but a not a shallow one. It's not for those who fear an honest wrestling with God, that sometimes loses perspective, because the view is so close, and all that can be known is the stink of sweat and the grunts of pain. This book is also for those who want to help Haitians, as he is donating all his proceeds to Haitian Partners.

Trying to recover after large-scale disasters--from floods and fires to earthquakes and hurricanes--can devastate families and their faith. As a journalist, I've covered disasters in the U.S. and other parts of the world, and I've experienced this rattling of family foundations even if everyone emerges physically unhurt.
Millions around the world face these crises, unfortunately. Most events are not on the scale of Haiti's massive earthquake, but Kent Annan's very readable book about the personal and spiritual aftermath of that earthquake has become a great gift that we should read and share with others.

Just as the earthquake shattered buildings and institutions built on poor foundations in Haiti, Kent emerges from that experience wanting his teaching, preaching and writing about faith to be built on rock-solid ground. That means that he is not willing to settle for many of the easy answers people tend to pass out after a disaster. As a journalist who has circled the globe reporting on such major events, I found a refreshing honesty in these pages and a stirring faith as well.
Kent is best known as the head of Haiti Partners, a faith-based, grassroots educational program that was working on the ground in Haiti when the January 2010 earthquake killed thousands and shattered many communities.

Kent says about this book's sharp-edged spiritual honesty: "It's one thing to sit with friends and debate answers to such questions, when you're watching something far away on television. But the devastating experience of an earthquake changes your life. This past year, I had to work with suffering on a huge scale. I spent so many days with friends who were suffering, I went to so many buildings where bodies were still trapped inside--and I came away from that experience saying: Anyone who walks into these situations and says that there's a simple theological formula of A plus B equals C with God--that's just pretending. People mean well, but they're not honestly interacting with the lives and the experiences I saw in Haiti. Until the earthquake, I had never been forced to look this directly at relentless suffering on such a scale."

What is so moving about his book is that Kent comes away from all of this with a renewed faith and, to this day, continues to work tirelessly with Haiti Partners.

After Shock - Kent Annan

January 2011 an earthquake shaked Haiti's world, and many of those who had ties to the people and ministries in Haiti. Kent Annan has worked in Haiti for many years and was in the USA when the earthquake happened. 6 days later he landed back in Haiti to see the devastation. This book chronicles Kent's faith as he sees first hand trauma as well as the continuation of faith in God by those most affected.
As Kent sits amongst what once was a church he says "The rubble seems like evidence of God's absence or abandonment, and yet here I sit, talking and eating the rubbled body of Christ. (in a church service taking communion). Here week after week, people come to find Jeuss. The rubble may make him harder to find, but maybe, like the rafters in the center of this leveled church, he never left and never will."
The book starts out just like a person going through the stages of a death and leads to the ending emotional of acceptance and the realization that in the tragedy, God is still present.
When I started this book I didn't care for it. I felt like the author was being to unforgiving, too transparent for me..someone who hasn't lived through the tragedy. I decided to muddle through it and was glad I did as I began to see Kent's progressing through the emotional phases, and coming to the honest faith he was searching for. I just loved the stories of the Haitian people and all that they had gone through, yet in their loss they still praised God. The Haitian Christians have earned my deepest respect in a situation that I am not sure many in America could endure and still come out with their faith intact on the other side.
"It was like the world was ending and Jesus didn't show up...but then God did, when_________ came and was so kind". A stranger. A friend. Offering encouragement or a meal, a job or a room to stay in." It was easy to see the love of Jesus in the midst of the tragedy.

I received this book as a first read from goodreads.com

Reading this book was such a relief because it proved to me that I'm not the only Christian who struggles and has doubts about God and his motives. This author is brutally honest and I found that to be so refreshing. He loves God yet still struggles...I appreciate that. Everything he debates I've surely thought or wondered at one time or another. Not only was he brave enough to write about these very difficult and heart breaking issues, but he went one step further and sent them to a publisher!! My hats off to you, Mr Annan.
I'm thankful that I was lead to this book and am spreading the word to anyone who will listen. To anyone considering buying this book, buy it! You will not regret your purchase.