'Where's Your Jesus Now?' author's new book asks

New book stresses Christ's love, mercy and grace

BY ALLISON KENNEDY - akennedy@ledger-enquirer.com --

She has friends who have buried children, and her own child was briefly paralyzed at age 3. She's in regular contact with victims of crime and disease, and in 2003 she boarded a plane to Vietnam to make peace with her deceased father killed in the war.

The experiences aren't wasted. They make their way into stories and into books.

Karen Spears Zacharias, homegrown in Columbus, now finds herself an editorial writer for the Fayetteville (N.C.), Observer. Editors offered her a job there -- twice -- and after she turned them down the second time, she rethought her decision. "You know that still small voice?" she said in an interview this week from North Carolina. "I try to listen to that voice." Her latest book, "Where's Your Jesus Now?" pushes readers to think of Jesus not as a task-master but as one who loves deeply and gives mercy and grace beyond understanding.

"As long as we view God as the Great Punisher, we will continue to behave like an abused child," she writes, "in a constant state of fear and condemnation, unable to give or receive a restorative love and constantly trying to fix everybody and everything."

Following is the recent interview with Zacharias.

Being a Southerner, I have to ask -- How's your mama? Mama is good. She's still in Washington state and has taken up painting.

What kind? She works in acrylics, and some oils. They sell her paintings in the little beach community where she lives.

Being published by Zondervan is a big deal. How did it come about? I was in Fairhope (Ala.), as a writer-in-residence. I was working on the crime story, which has not been published yet... . With "After the Flag," a professor I know in Chicago said to them, 'You have got to read this book,' and they did. The editor said it was one of the most redemptive stories he'd ever read. So I did this one for them. I have a deadline for a second, and the third is under consideration. It was great; it was the easiest way for it to happen... . Want to know the new title? "Will Jesus Buy Me a Double-Wide?" It's the anti-"Secret" book.

Where are your kids now? Stephan is 29. He's an actor in Colonial Williamsburg. Our daughter Ashley is 26 married and she works for the Boy Scouts in Spokane. Her twin Shelby just finished her master's at George Mason and is now job-hunting and husband-hunting. That's a mom thing to say. Konnie is 24 and she works at St. Charles Hospital in Bend, Ore.

And Tim remains in Oregon? Yes, we are still married. We just had our 30th.

Your personal stories in the book -- from your own life and from people you know and from the news -- they're mostly about hurt and pain and grief. Was that intentional? I don't know. Maybe it's because a sad person finds sad people. I just think those stories are about life. What is it Anne Lamott says? We tend to our own two acres. I have been friends with Sherri Callaway (of Harris County) since childhood. She and Ken have lost two children. I cannot imagine that grief. When we were girls, I never imagined that's how her story would unfold, and she didn't either... . It rains on the just and the unjust and we have to find hope. We have to find a way to rise above the despair.

 

Next >>