Wrestling with an Angel: A Story of Love, Disability and the Lessons of Grace [Paperback]

Greg Lucas (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 7, 2010

"It sounded at first like something out of an old horror movie. I thought maybe someone was just playing around, but then I heard it again and again, a loud piercing cry, and less like Hollywood every time. The windows were down in my police cruiser on that warm fall day, but I still couldn't tell where the sounds came from. I began looking around for the unlikely sight of someone being disemboweled in a mall parking lot on a Saturday afternoon. Seeing nothing, and still hearing the screams, I called in a 'disturbance.' Around the next corner I found the source of the commotion." So begins Greg Lucas' captivating account of life as a husband, a police officer, and Jake's dad. Jake Lucas, the first of four children, lives with severe physical and mental challenges. Caring for him each day is an ordeal few of us can imagine, and this story of Jake's first 17 years is not one you will soon forget. But the remarkable thing is how the whole narrative is saturated with wonder at the grace and goodness of God, who brings hope and promise through his Son into the darkest of circumstances. In this book, we see that Jake's problems are our problems, only bigger, and the challenges of caring for him carry profound lessons about God's care for us. Wrestling with an Angel is about tragedy and laughter and pain and joy. It is about faith and grace and endurance and God's unfailing, loving wisdom daily being worked out in each of our lives, whatever the nature or extent of our difficulties. Here is a book that may explain faith to you in ways you never quite grasped, through a life few of us can relate to. When it is all done, we come away better able to live as Christ calls us to live.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Witty...stunning...striking...humorous and heartfelt. A fresh, honest look at one father's struggle to embrace God in the midst of his son's disability. Can sheer laughter and weeping gracefully coexist? Greg knows all about it. I highly recommend this wonderfully personal book!"
- Joni Eareckson Tada, Joni & Friends

"C.S. Lewis wrote that he paradoxically loved The Lord of the Rings because it 'broke his heart'--and Greg Lucas' writing does the same for me. I heartily commend this book--especially for dads...many of us need to taste afresh the goodness of God and the grace of the gospel."
- Justin Taylor, Managing Editor, ESV Study Bible

"This is not primarily a book for parents of special needs children....Jake's father, Greg, is a captivating storyteller. When he writes about life with Jake, I recognize God's grace and loving persistence in my life. I want more!"

- Noël Piper, author, and wife of pastor and author John Piper

About the Author

Greg Lucas is a husband, the father of four, a police officer in West Virginia, and a graduate of Boyce College.

Product Details

• Paperback: 108 pages
• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (September 7, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1453818774
• ISBN-13: 978-1453818770
• Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 0.2 x 7.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #581,188 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars About the grace of our Lord, not just disability... October 1, 2010

By J. Dan Byrd

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

In his book, Greg Lucas turns the diamond of Grace in such a way that you see facets you never really noticed before. Whether or not you are doing life with someone struggling with a disability, you will be encouraged and challenged by this book. Please do not pass up the opportunity to read this book simply because "disability" doesn't apply to you. If you believe in God, this book is for you. If you don't believe in God, then go read the Bible....and then buy this book. Lucas is a superb, gospel-drenched story-teller. I'm ready for another book by Greg Lucas.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Hilarious, Heartbreaking, Wonderful --An Excellent Book November 5, 2010

By S.D. Smith

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Greg Lucas' book is outstanding in several ways. Foremost, it speaks truth. Greg offers sound, biblical observations that don't hurt people by matching a challenging life with theological compromise (that is, lying to himself and others). This is a brave and humble thing he does.

The book is also alternately hilarious and heartbreaking --which I love in fiction and in non-fiction alike. Wrestling With An Angel actually sometimes feels like fiction, which tells me it is more honest than most so-called "true stories." It is brilliantly, yet simply, told. A fine, short work of deep truth, honest orthodoxy. A compelling collection of true tales.

A warning. Be careful. This book will awaken your heart to the beautiful pain of adoption, the eucatastrophic revelation of the heart of God toward sinners. Not sentimental in the avenue of a Nicholas Sparks yarn, but heartbreakingly lovely to the core. Sobbing will happen.

I recommend it without reservation.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Gospel Reminders! MUST READ! February 15, 2011

By Aaron Sellars

Format:Paperback

When I was asked to read this book, I was not expecting what happened next. Wrestling with an Angel by Greg Lucas is the best book I've read over the last year. I am pleased to have read the book and know I will continue to reference it. The author, Greg Lucas, writes the book almost as if he were writing and copying straight out of his journal, describing what God has taught him through his disabled son. Not only is it easy to read, but I could not put the book down and finished it in one sitting. Wrestling with an Angel opened my eyes to my own need of the gospel and my heavenly Father. It is a book I will highly recommend to anyone.

Wrestling with an Angel bears the subtitle A Story of Love, Disability, and the Lessons of Grace. The story traces Lucas' personal story in regards to his son Jake--how he came into their family, lived with their family, transformed their family, and led Lucas and his wife closer to the throne of grace and a deeper understanding of our Heavenly Father. Jake is Lucas' adopted son who has sever mental disabilities. This book does a marvelous job at tracing how God used--and likely continues to use--this father-son relationship to teach Lucas about his own desperate need for Jesus and his grace.

This passage sums up the whole book for me:

I hear religious-minded people say all the time with good intentions, "God will never place a burden on you so heavy that you cannot carry it."
Really?
My experience is that God will place a burden on you so heavy that you cannot possibly carry it alone. He will break your back and your will. He will buckle your legs until you fall flat beneath the crushing weight of your load. All the while He will walk beside you waiting for you to come to the point where you must depend on Him....
"My power is made perfect in your weakness," He says, as we strain under our burden.

As I read Wrestling with an Angel, I was repeatedly reminded of this quote. How many times do I feel as if God intends only good for me? How many times do I think that even my burdens will be easy? How often do I think God will make life easy? As Lucas said, "God will place a burden on you so heavy that you cannot possibly carry it alone." I want to depend more on God; I just don't want to carry any burden, to be honest.

Lucas also does a great job at illustrating sin and its effects. He shows how sin has affected all aspects of his life, by seeing his own son Jake as a person in need, who acts like a child although no longer is a child, a person in desperate need of his father's love. This is the gospel. As I read Wrestling with an Angel, it was a joy to see God's grace emulated through this father's relationship with his son, just as our heavenly Father shows his love towards us. It must not be forgotten though that Lucas shows us how he still needs his own Father in heaven. Lucas clearly realizes his own sin and depravity by experiencing the feebleness and helplessness of his own son Jake.

The best part of this story is the fact that you can see the gospel threaded throughout the book. Lucas does a great job at allowing the gospel to be the focal point. He doesn't focus on his pain, his son, or even himself as the writer. He focuses on Jesus. The main objective of this book is that the gospel would be displayed and manifested to the reader. This is why I recommend this book to all. We all need more of the gospel in our lives and this is just another great reminder of the great God we have. We can all learn from this book, to not forget that God is intimately involved in our lives and continually showing us our ultimate need for him. Read more ›

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars From A Father About The Father November 5, 2010

By Josh Perry

Format:Paperback

This book is written by a father. It's written by a masculine soul. But most of all it's written by one who has been devastated by the grace of God in Christ. If you have a special needs child or know someone who does then this book will be immeasurably encouraging. If you're a parent you'll be convicted of wasted opportunities and go kiss your kids on the mouth and let them sleep in bed with you tonight. Every chapter is extraordinary, but only because the ordinary has been transformed through the lens of the gospel of which Greg Lucas is a master communicator. I give this book the highest compliment I know how to give: After reading this book, I love Jesus more.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars The grip of grace January 2, 2011

By Permit me

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Having lost a six year-old special needs child with physical and psychological problems in 1983, and now,having adopted an emotionally-related special needs child in 2009, I can attest to the problems and challenges Mr.Lucas and his family endured. I can also say he's right on the mark with his profound and candid questions about the eternal state of these precious souls and how God views them.

I especially like what he said toward the end of the book; "Beneath the death grip of every parent holding tightly to their special needs child is the strong, reliable, and gentle hand of a Father who will never let go - the Deliverer, the Surgeon, the reliable object of our faith. Suffering reveals the Savior. He will direct your life in whatever way is necessary to loosen your grip - not to take something away, but to make possible more than you could have ever hoped for or imagined.
This is the grip of grace."

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Simply Inspiring December 21, 2010

By Justin Eason

Format:Paperback

This is a great book not just for those who are the parents of kids suffering with a disability but everyone who knows what it is like to know suffering, hard times and also grace and love.

Very well-written and easy to read (I read it in about 2 total hours). Has many funny moments and fuses together these moments with truth and how God has sustained this family and given this family wisdom through difficult times.

Great as a gift for anyone going through difficult times. Biblical perspective on suffering and how God is using trials to make us more like Christ. Also includes a discussion on how people with mental disabilities can understand the gospel. Gives much hope in this area.