This week, the
Matthew Raley is senior pastor of the Orland Evangelical Free Church in northern California, where he lives with his wife and two young children. For fun, he enjoys playing chamber music with friends, giving occasional solo recitals, and playing first violin in the North State Symphony. This is his first book.ABOUT THE BOOK
Jim was at work when his eyes drifted to the coffee shop visible from his office window. An attractive woman driving a Mercedes pulled up to the curb . . . and Jim’s married pastor emerged from the car. When Jim delves deeper into his pastor’s world, will he be able to handle what he discovers? Is he right to suspect that Dave is having an affair? In the behind-the-scenes church battle that ensues, Jim is torn between duty to his church and a desire to show grace. A ripped-from-the-headlines drama of suspense that keeps you engaged to the last page.Fallen is the story about Jim’s relationship with Dave—how Jim tries to do the right thing to keep Dave accountable, but finds the situation getting worse and worse. It’s also about Jim’s other relationships. Just as he discovers hypocrisy in Dave, Jim discovers his own sins against his wife and daughter.My thoughts: At first I was thinking Jim needed to mind his own business. What right did he have in immediately judging Dave for being in a car with another woman. I almost quit reading the book because I was tired of Jim’s judgmentalism. Almost. Thankfully I didn’t because I ended up getting caught up in Jim’s thoughts of trying to figure out Dave was up to and what would happen next.I was interested in reading Fallen because we all sin. All of us have fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23) and pastors are no exception. Also, it has been mentioned by my pastor that most of the people in the Bible didn’t finish strong. For example, Moses didn’t get to cross over into the Promised Land and King Saul lost the Israelite kingdom. Heck, even King David made mistakes. King Solomon who was the wisest man ever left God to worship the gods one of his wives led him to. Point is none of us are exempt. Accountability should be a priority for us and that is a topic covered in Matthew Raley’s book Fallen.
I have to admit that Matthew Raley could improve on his writing style but everyone has to start somewhere. Matthew Raley has a great concept and brought it around full circle causing me to think about what I do. Overall I enjoyed the book.
Thank you for allowing me to be a part of this Blog Tour.
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