Christian Book Notes

Book info: Burnham, Gracia and Dean Merrill.  In the Presence of My Enemies.  Carol Stream: Tyndale House Publishers, 2009.  384 pp.  $13.99.  Purchase at Amazon for $10.07 or less.

Audiobook info: Narrated by Pam Ward.  Esconido: christianaudio, 2010.  11 hours.  Download mp3 for $14.98 or less, CD for $26.98 from christianaudio.

Introduction and Summary

Gracia Burnham has a foundation dedicated to ministering to Muslims (their captors), missionary aviation, the persecuted church, and tribal missions.  That foundation is named the Martin and Gracia Burnham Foundation.

This video featuring Gracia Burnham is a fitting summary.  It is more than  nine minutes in length, but is well worth your time to watch:

Audio Book Review

The audio book was narrated by Pam Ward.  She did a fine job of telling the story with emotion.  It seemed to me; however, that Pam offered too much emotion.  She seemed really “sharp” during a few exchanges between Gracia and her captors.  Everything I have seen with Gracia talking gives me a different perspective of her personality. Gracia seems much more humble than how Pam portrayed her in voice.

Nonetheless, listening to Pam’s take on the emotional setting throughout the book definitely left you feeling intense and angry when you should have been feeling intense anger!  Having never read the book (and not being a Christian during the first half of this ordeal), I was not too familiar with the story.  Pam did an excellent job articulating the words and bringing them to life in my mind.

There is one part of Gracia’s testimony that does not sit well with me. It is when she is explaining why God would allow something like her captivity happen. In a nutshell, her answer is that sometimes God is at an impasse because of man’s free will. I cannot agree with this for that would bring into question God’s ultimate sovereignty.

Recommendation

If you are like me and have never read the book, do yourself a favor and go get it!  The faith of the Burnham’s will be a blessing to your soul.  If you are not much of  a reader, then by all means, download this book or purchase the CD’s.  Give it a good listen to and know that in so doing you will be changed for the better.