Being Jesus in Nashville, by Jim Palmer
Let’s cut to the chase. Jim Palmer is in trouble. Trouble beyond divorce, two near death accidents, bankruptcy, and being rejected by his publisher. Palmer is in trouble just being Palmer, er…’being Jesus’.
Jim speaks openly and honestly about his life. In this book he invites us into the web of his life – into both the joys and the agonies. The stories are captivating. His pain palpable. What he learns through each incident is aggravatingly provocative. Some will resonate. Others will, of course, conclude that Jim has totally slipped off the proverbial slippery slope – the one he’s been flirting with for many years. Yet, Jim Palmer just keeps on moving ahead, evolving.
Would you have developed similar insights having endured the same trials and tribulations? Can you, at least, understand why he sees life as he currently does? Could you have survived as many losses? Actually, none of those questions capture the point of his book. For me, the salient truth is in the question, ‘would I be willing to pursue truth wherever it led me, regardless of the results?’ Where might Jesus lead me if I truly took the time to directly ask Him? That would be ‘the way of Palmer’.
‘Being Jesus means…’ is the launching pad for each chapter. This is a measurably different approach from asking, ‘what would Jesus do?’ and settling for the usual institutional Christian answers. Jim, wisely, decided to ask Jesus, God, Himself. ‘What does it mean to be You, right now…’ Isn’t that pretty much how Jesus lived each moment? Didn’t he claim that he didn’t say or do anything except as the Father gave him direction? Wouldn’t we, in one sense, ‘be’ Jesus if we invited Him to speak and act through us? Huh? Not so novel, right? Yet, so decidedly not orthodox.
