"The story isn't boring."

I love to read. I find it very therapeutic. However, I am a creature of habit and I don't like trying out authors I've never heard of before, and that is why the book I read this weekend was so strange.

Samson and the Pirate Monks by Nate Larkin came recommended to me by a close friend (unbeknownst to him). After I ordered the book it was again recommended to me by another close friend (once again, unbeknownst to him). I had never heard of Nate Larkin before, but I trust what these guys read implicitly.

I was anticipating the arrival of the book all week and I was thrilled when it arrived and couldn't wait to begin reading it. The book did not disappoint and I had it finished in about a day. I absolutely could not put this book down.

Samson and the Pirate Monks is a book for men who are struggling. It is a call for men to engage in authentic brotherhood. It is a cry for help and a message that needs to be heard and heeded. It is not a book purely about overcoming sexual struggles, although this book does detail Larkin's own struggles with sexual addiction. This book has a lot to say about so much else as well. For example

"The church, according to the New Testament, is not a loose confederation of individuals. The church is a body- a living, breathing organism whose members are so intimately connected that they can only move together. On any given day, every member of that body needs help, and every member has some help to give."- 73

"God, in His grace, has used addiction to shatter my moralistic understanding of the Christian faith and force me to accept the Gospel. I am not a faithful man. That's why I need a savior. I cannot live victoriously on my own. That's why I need a Helper and brothers. I cannot keep my promises to God- the very act of making them is delusional- but God will keep His promises to me." 132

"When our companions ask for help, our first instinct is probably to offer them our strength, a quick answer, or an inspiring success story. That, indeed, may be what they need, but there is also a paradoxical power in weakness, a strange encouragement that comes from questions echoed and failures shared. Sometimes the greatest gift we can give a brother is to say, "Me too." 163

I hate to even begin quoting anything out of this book for fear of leaving something equally or more important out. In all honesty, I probably have more than 60% of the book underlined. And as much as I learned about overcoming temptation, I learned just as much about the church, the family, brotherhood, honesty, and the list could go on and on.

For those who love to strain a gnat and would get mad if there was nothing critical found from reading a book, here is a paragraph for you. Some will have a problem with the author's view on alcohol and the fact that the brotherhood to which he belongs meets at a pub after their "official" meetings. When telling a story about King David, Larkin uses a little freedom in his telling of the story. For me to even mention that is almost hypocritical, as I am an avid fan of John Eldredge. Larkin also suggests that to fully engage in a brotherhood you have to abandon self-help methods and yet this book is more or less a self-help book.

Once again, the above paragraph is there after having to look hard to find anything to complain about with the book. It will be one that I read over and over again and I give it a ringing endorsement and encourage all men to read it, POST HASTE!