Jumping through Fires Review

I’m not sure what I expected when I “picked up” a copy of David Nasser’s new book, “Jumping through Fires: The Gripping Story of One Man’s Escape from Revolution to Redemption.”  I heard David Nasser speak last year at the National Worship Leader’s Conference.  If you know me well, you know that I often say that most people learn their theology from what they sing in church, not what they hear in church.  What you remember is not usually specific examples from the sermon, but rather the songs that you sing in your car, home and often in your head.  There are however a handful of times that I’ve heard a message by a speaker so riveting that I remember it starkly.  One example is when Pastor Mark talked about what divorce really is.  He talked about two becoming one flesh.  Then to demonstrate what happens when you tear that flesh apart, he ripped a teddy bear in half.  The one message that has been on my mind for the last half of a year or so is David Nasser’s message.  If you go back through my blog a bit, you will find the link to the video of that message.  It is powerful, but I highly recommend that you watch it a couple of times.

So, it was with that frame of mind that I sat down to read this book.  Jumping through Fires is a well written, engaging book.  I would say that it is an easy read, and I got through it in a couple of hours.  Nasser’s style is storytelling at its best.  He tells the story in a linear style, and then goes back and fills in the tangents that would have sidetracked most authors throughout.  The result is that you become so engaged in the story he’s telling that when he goes back afterwords and fills in holes, you appreciate more the stories he just told.

Reading about Nasser’s life is really reading about Jesus’ working through a tapestry of events that unfolded over the course of 20 or so years.  You really see how God moved through events, often events that are bleak, to eventually bring a young man to saving faith, and then send him out to touch the lives of people all over the globe.

The story starts when David Nasser is 9 years old, and his family is caught up in a religious revolution that changed their world.  Nasser talks about moving to America, going from shy Iranian kid, to school druggie, and then Christ taking hold of his life and story, and using it to spread the gospel.  One story that moves me is the story of his first visit to youth group, and how God used a team of worshipers with servant hearts to soften the hard heart of Nasser’s Muslim father.

I did find myself wanting more from this book.  Perhaps because the book is a strict autobiography, and at no point does Nasser go off on a tangent and start preaching at his readers.  He simply lets the events speak for themselves and lets the reader draw their own conclusions about God’s power in lives.  It does give me a bit of perspective on the talks I have seen him give, and likely on any future books I will read by him.

I would encourage you to go out and grab a copy of this book and enjoy!