Tag: memoir

Thrift Store Saints: Meeting Jesus 25¢ at a Time

By Jane Knuth (reviewed by Peter DeHaan)

Jane Knuth never set out to help the poor; that wasn’t her plan and wasn’t her calling.

She was merely trying to buy a rosary at the local thrift store—and was frustrated with the whole ordeal—when a spry octogenarian asked her to help them out.

Reluctantly she agreed, but only on a temporary basis, until other help could be found. But what was she to do there? Emptying the trash and cleaning the toilet were the first areas of need mentioned.

However, they assigned her the job of ordering the religious gifts they sell, a task she felt most unsuited for.

Fifteen years later Jane is still volunteering at the St. Vincent de Paul thrift store in Kalamazoo Michigan. Along the way she has become a full-fledged Vincentian—and she has stories to tell.

Her first story was written to share with family and friends, to help them better understand the typical happenings at the thrift store. But it was soon passed around in larger circles and eventually published in a magazine.

More stories followed and a monthly column was birthed.

Along the way, Jane’s faith became deeper and wider as she continued on her journey; it was one that included many unexpected turns and was full of surprises.

Jane volunteers at the St. Vincent de Paul thrift store to help the poor, but they help her too.

Every day they teach her (teaching is a primary precept of the St. Vincent de Paul Society) and their stories, which have become part of Jane’s story, are able to teach us as well—if we will let them.

[Thrift Store Saints: Meeting Jesus 25¢ at a Time, by Jane Knuth. Published by Loyola Press, 2010; ISBN: 978-0-8294-3301-2; 159 pages.]

Read more book reviews by Peter DeHaan.Save

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

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By Theresa L. Flores, with Peggy Sue Wells (reviewed by Peter DeHaan)

The Slave Across the Street, by Theresa L. Flores puts a face—a middle-class American face—on human trafficking, specifically for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation.

This real-life account of Theresa’s recruitment, manipulation, and coercion to become a sex slave will surprise and shock. The result is a poignant portrayal of a reality that many would deny or choose to ignore.

Coming from a well-to-do middle class family, having both parents present, and living in an affluent neighborhood, Theresa Flores does not fit the stereotypical image of a girl who is unwillingly sucked into a life of forced prostitution.

Wisely sparing graphic gratuitous details, only enough is shared to allow readers to begin to comprehend the horrors that Theresa endured during her two years of sexual exploitation, physical violence, and emotional threats.

Even with these minimal details, it is at times too much.

The purpose of The Slave Across the Street, however, is not to shock or overwhelm, but to inform.

First, human trafficking for the sex industry is an evil reality in the United States.

Second, no one is truly immune from being forced into this insidious practice. Third, many people could have prevented Theresa from being pulled into it or helped extricate her from it, but they didn’t.

They chose to look the other way, to be passive and avoid doing the right thing.

This included the very people who should have protected here and kept her safe: teachers, school counselors, security guards, police and the even moms living in the houses where her abuse took place,

How does the story end? This isn’t a spoiler; the subtitle makes it clear: “The True Story of How an America Teen Survived the World of Human Trafficking.” Most girls in situations like Theresa’s are never freed from it.

Many remain inextricably mired in it until they die, often by suicide or murder. Theresa Flores, however, is a rare exception.

Once liberated, Theresa’s road to recovery was long and painful, but now she is a powerful voice, speaking out against the horrors that she endured as a trafficked teen.

The book concludes with a list of ten ways concerned people can get involved.

The Slave Across the Street is a book that I didn’t want to read, but couldn’t avoid—and neither should you.

[The Slave Across the Street, by Theresa L. Flores, with Peggy Sue Wells. Published by Ampelon Publishing, 2010, ISBN: 978-0-9823286-8-2, 183 pages, $14.99]

Read more book reviews by Peter DeHaan.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

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Letters to Gabriel: The True Story of Gabriel Michael Santorum

By Karen Garver Santorum (reviewed by Peter DeHaan)

Karen Santorum’s book Letters to Gabriel is a touching true story about life and celebrating life, no matter how brief. The book is comprised entirely of letters Karen wrote to her son, Gabriel over a 16 month period.

With a pregnancy that only lasted 20 weeks, Gabriel was born too soon and lived for just a couple of hours. And this was despite the extraordinary efforts of his parents and the medical community to produce a happier outcome.

Letters to Gabriel exudes family and faith: a close family that provided support and encouragement and abiding faith that sustained and was clung to during the darkest of times.

Letters to Gabriel does not provide simplistic answers to complex questions, but is real and honest when Karen asks God, “Why?”

Chronologically parallel to Gabriel’s gestation, brief life, and the subsequent mourning over what was not to be is then-Senator Rick Santorum’s legislative fight to ban partial-birth abortion. Ironically, abortion was an option recommended for young Gabriel.

This book, however, is not a political treatise. And for those may who read this as an effort to advance an anti-abortion agenda, they are missing the book’s main point.

Letters to Gabriel is simply a poignant chronicle of two parents’ boundless love for their son and their efforts to help him realize the promise and potential of life.

[Letters to Gabriel: The True Story of Gabriel Michael Santorum, by Karen Garver Santorum. Published by CCC of America, 1998; ISBN:1-56814-528-4; 132 pages.]

Read more book reviews by Peter DeHaan.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

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Get the Bible Reading Tip Sheet: “10 Tips to Turn Bible Reading from Drudgery to Delight.”
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