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Living Loved: Knowing Jesus As the Lover of Your Soul

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Martha Sterne, in the Foreword to this book, says "Peter Wallace invites us to come in from the cold and to `choose to live loved.'" It is a magnificently simple, to-the-point, description of this delightful book, Living Loved.

I first met Peter Wallace in the lobby of the First Baptist Church of Nashville, Tennessee. The occasion was the annual Festival of Homiletics, an event that is, in part, sponsored by Day1, the program for which Peter is Producer. He noticed the logo on my shirt, "Questing Parson", and immediately engaged me in conversation. During the course of that talk, he wrote down the address of this blog and promised he'd check it out. It was less than a week following I received an email from him commenting on The Questing Parson.

I relate this to simply reveal something about the author of this book. Peter Wallace is one who deeply cares about persons because he sees them as children of God. He is one who, when he engages you in conversation, actually listens. And he listens not just to hear the words but to discover who you are and to see the possibilities of the holy within.

Wallace is the Vice President of Production of the Alliance for Christian Media. In this responsibility he oversees the staff which produces the highly respected Day1 weekly radio program (formerly known as The Protestant Hour). It is heard over 150 stations throughout the United States, on the Armed Forces Radio Network, and on stations in Canada and overseas. One cannot help but think it is his exposure to the leading preachers of this land through this program that encouraged Peter to the publication of this work.

Living Loved is a delightful book. I read it in two sittings. Peter Wallace's unique talent for coining a phrase, weaving words, and giving flesh to the message of love from Jesus through stories from our contemporary life provide for an ease of reading that captures one's attention and forces the turning of page after page.

The work is divided into three sections: 1) Knowing His Love (Why can't we know Jesus' love more profoundly?); 2) Experiencing His Love (The experience of love brings both beauty and pain.); and 3) Sharing His Love (The love of Jesus is too big to keep bottled up in our own hearts.). Each chapter can be read as a daily devotional or the book can be read in sections as a whole. I have found this work to be both a devotional source (Following my initial two session reading of the entire book, I re-read it in more devotional settings.) or as a wonderful source for homiletic material.

I think it was Sam Keen who said, "Tell me your story and you'll tell me mine." In many of the personal narratives that populate this book, Peter Wallace has told us his and our story as children of a loving Savior. From Peter's revelation that it took him years "to open my clenched fist in major areas of my life ..." to his revelations of spiritual drought as seen in the tubing trip he took with his kids down a river where the tubes drab bottom, he opens his experience of God's love to us and offers us the opportunity to see it in our own living.

One can feel the joy as Peter's toddler grandchild runs to him. One can feel the consternation as that same grandchild runs away. This book vividly describes the ebbs and flows of life that are part of Living Loved.

Peter Wallace's experience of Living Loved obviously flows from the heart of one who knows himself loved by Christ, but it is also informed by the words of Henry Nouwen and others as well as the punctuations of being loved he has experienced along the pathways of living.

When we read this work we find ourselves listening to Peter's description of the one who was "sitting beside the well for thirty-eight years." And then we ask ourselves, or Peter asks for us, "How long have I been sitting beside my own little pool of unreached dreams?"

This book should be on every preacher's shelf as a source of devotion and a resource for preaching.

I am convinced that interwoven among the lines that comprise Living Loved is the story of a pilgrimage of one who had surprisingly and joyfully discovered himself to be loved and in that discovery loves and desires each of us to know we are loved. "There's light ahead," says Peter Wallace. "It is the light of freedom and truth, of love. I am heading toward it step by step. ... I know Jesus is."

Peter Wallace probably knows more about great preaching, these days, than anyone else in America, because he works with many of our greatest preachers in producing the weekly Day1 radio broadcasts -- and in developing the Day1 web site, as well.

What he has learned is that the most important spiritual messages are sincere, interwoven with compelling stories and directly address the daily lives of ordinary men and women -- folks like you and me.

Peter begins the book by admitting that this 90-day journey through lessons from the gospel of John -- with Peter's reflections on the nature of love -- were the direct result of an especially painful period in his own life. What was that painful period? It doesn't really matter. What matters is that most of us hit periods like this in our own lives.

I've read hundreds of spiritual books over the past couple of decades and have an eagle's eye for false assumptions and spiritual bravado that says more about the writer's pride than our needs as readers. And, so, it is high praise from me to say: There is not a single false note in this book.

The daily readings are short -- but there's great strength here that builds through the weeks we spend with Peter and his meditations on what it means to love -- and what it mean to let God love us. That may be the toughest section of his book for many of us. And, then, he carries us forward in the final third of the book to the calling we all have to share God's love with others.

Living Loved is a compilation of moving devotionals all centered on one unifying theme: love. In his collection, Peter Wallace offers an in-depth analysis of the biblical Gospel Of John, the reason being that John was considered to be the most loved of all the disciples of Jesus Christ. As such, John is naturally assumed to have the greatest insight into the nature and various dimensions of Christ's perspective on love.

Each devotional expounds on a particular passage from the book of John, providing a holistic overview of the true meaning behind each chapter and verse. Considering the concept of love from all angles, Wallace's interpretations invite the reader to explore the value of a deeper relationship with God, made manifest through the love of Christ, as a balm to the ails that afflict us everyday. Consider this comment by Wallace as testament to that fact:

"Within each soul there is a thirst for love that sometimes feels deeper and broader and more tumultuous than a stormy ocean. At times our lives seem merely to be an ongoing, frantic effort to satisfy that thirst, to quench it with one puny cupful of saltwater after another...yet these efforts come nowhere close to filling the ocean of need within each heart. Those puny cupfuls of saltwater are actually filled with our tears."

One may think that Wallace's observations would border on proselytizing, but he does an outstanding job of presenting his positions objectively, considering equally the multifarious nature of love in all its various forms, from sacrifice to service to obedience to guidance and beyond. As a proviso, he even goes into detail regarding the potential consequences that await us should we choose to deny that which is freely available to us all.

Bolstered by instructional anecdotes, as well as the enduring wisdom of biblical parables, Wallace's opus is an invaluable guide to developing a greater appreciation for a seemingly simple concept that many struggle to embrace everyday. For those who desire to gain a more firm comprehension of the universal constant of love, Living Loved is a highly recommended starting point.

Vice President of the Atlanta, Georgia Alliance for Christian Media Peter Wallace presents Living Loved: Knowing Jesus as the Lover of Your Soul, a heartfelt tour of Jesus' overflowing love as seen in the scripture of the New Testament. Offering in-depth reflection upon Jesus' words, emphasizing on the glory of knowing, experiencing, and sharing His love, Living Loved quite literally lives up to its title. "When we live in his love, experience it as real, and let it overflow our hearts and spread to others, there can be no doubt that we too are disciples that Jesus loves."

Another Wallace gem! Peter Wallace writes with intimacy and honesty as he takes us into a contemplative real world study of the book of John in a most unique way. We feel loved as we go on the trip, both into the author's life and into the life of the beloved John, standing in the heart of Jesus. Peter Wallace's openness is refreshing, his writing style is easy and comforting. I read "Out of the Quiet," and joyfully add this book to the Wallace library of work. This book is a treasure to cherish, and it's a perfect gift to send or give anytime for something we all seek, to love and be loved.

LIVING LOVED is a devotional book of meditations based on specific verses or passages from the Gospel of John. It uses the highly acclaimed and popular translation, The Message, by Eugene Peterson. Like Wallace's earlier book, Out of the Quiet, it consists of short and very accessible meditations, approaching Jesus through the eyes of the disciple whom Jesus loved,- so that men and women can begin to see themselves in John's place as the beloved one, and, as a result, take up the responsibilities of discipleship in a world that needs Jesus' loving touch.

Praise for Living Loved:

"An open-hearted book on knowing, experiencing and sharing love. Peter Wallace has thoroughly studied the Gospel of John, and he brings to us fresh words and loving insights."
Nora Gallagher, author of Changing Light

"Peter Wallace's wonderful book Living Loved teaches us how to do just that. With touching examples and personal stories he interprets the sometimes abstract language of the gospel of John to help us feel and experience the love we so desire.
Edward L. Beck, author of God Underneath: Spiritual Memoirs of a Catholic Priest

"With the Beloved Disciple as his muse, and using Eugene Patterson's ear-catching translation of John's gospel, Peter Wallace reminds us that 'the Word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood."
Martha Sterne, author of Alive and Loose in the Ordinary

"Peter Wallace takes us on a breathtaking voyage, seeking along the way the kind of love that doesn't pander to sentiment, but puts wind in our sails and sends us out into the deep sea of meaning and service."
Thomas G. Long, Candler School of Theology, Emory University

"Encounter by encounter and phrase by phrase, I was led into the presence of Jesus and his love. Living Loved is a profound meditation on scripture, accessible to anyone who hungers and thirsts for the abundant life."
Kenneth H. Carter, Jr., Providence United Methodist Church

My pastor referenced this book in a sermon.
This was after my gifting him with the book.
One could link this book to Nouwen's "Life
of the Beloved."

"Living Loved" is Peter Wallace's best book to date. It is honest, down-to-earth, thought provoking and challenging.

I have studied the Bible (and other texts) for years - and have never been a fan of traditional "devotional" books. That is, until I encountered Wallace's. Of the five of his books I've read - this is the best.

"Living Loved" is based on the gospel of John. Each "lesson" contains a biblical text, Peter's insights and a prayer.

The biblical texts are quoted from "The Message" - a translation which is both accurate - and yet speaks to the reader in everyday terms that are difficult to ignore. Peter then shares stories - often his own experiences or those of his friends. He then suggests the practical implications of the text - what might happen if we were to take it seriously.

Peter then closes each lesson with a prayer. Often, it is a very different prayer than I would have chosen - because Peter doesn't let me get away with something "wishy-washy". Rather, his prayer speaks directly to the core message of the scriptures and their specific challenge and implications to my life.

I was given Living Loved as a present from a dear friend for my 50th birthday. It is a powerful, beautiful and soulful book that I return to often.

I read a review of this book, and was hoping that it would be a little more in-depth. The daily thoughts are OK, but the prayers aren't as in-depth as I thought they'd be. This book reminds me more of a specialized Upper Room. It's not terrible by any means, just not what I was hoping for.