I have read many Christian books over the years - hundreds. Adrian Plass wrote that they are like Chinese meals - great at the time but you soon feel like you need another one.

But there have been the occasional books that are different. The ones that grab you by the throat, pin you against the wall and mug you of your preconceived ideas about yourself and God. I'm thinking of books like Disciple by Ortiz, Father Heart of God by McClung and Ron Sider's rich Christians in an Age of Hunger. .

This remarkable little book by Jim Palmer comes into this later group.

He was a high profile Christian leader who was caused by circumstances to re-evaluate all that he has done and said. He shares this with an openness and vulnerability that I have rarely read or heard. Don't you have to wear a cape to be a Super Christian who writes books? On this journey he finds Jesus. Not in meetings, right theology or mega churches - but in ordinary people. A waffle waitress, a couple who run a garage, a tyre salesman, a gay friend and others. We soon revisit our own ideas about those we accept or reject and how this contrasts with Christ himself. `In my world there was no such thing as a gay Christian; a greedy, gluttonous, hateful, prideful, selfish, lustful, dishonest, hypocritical, vengeful, callous, slanderous, angry Christian maybe, but not gay.'

He also gives us a fresh insight into leaving the comfort zone. What a clichéd phrase that has become. I have embellished talks with it for years. But it takes on new meaning on a visit with IJM to rescue child prostitutes in south East Asia or when he sees a tyre dealer go several extra miles for a homeless visitor. In the former case his writing comes into its own as he shares with us the drama of the rescue, the revulsion at what is happening and the honest but entirely reasonable questions of God and how He feels about this oppression. `These IJM guys have a slightly different picture of Jesus than most of us do, convinced that if he were bodily present, his boot would have been the first kicking in the door....sure we need to pray for victims of injustice, but has anyone thought of, well, like, rescuing them.'

This is the sort of book which can be read in a couple of hours. But its effect will last far longer. Get it, read it, now! ( )