Bo's Cafe

Bo's Café is a different kind of place. More than a good read, this novel is like a secret passage, a hidden portal to a place where the reader's heart sighs and says "I'm home."Have you ever finished a well-written, spiritually rejuvenating book, only to realize shortly afterwards that you simply don't have what it takes to stay connected to your newfound joy and excitement? You lose momentum, you trip up on old habits, and the excitement quickly fades. You wonder, why. What is it about me?As a Christian seeking to love God and learn His ways - do you yourself ever have an overwhelming desire to be known; to be understood deep down inside; to be fully accepted for who you are? What would it be like to experience a place where you were completely exposed for who you are - ALL of you, the good and the dark? And through that process, find the secret to a meaningful and rewarding life - a life of enjoying God, enjoying others, and enjoying yourself, consistently . . .I have come to realize in my own Christian experience, that I hide and judge others to protect myself. This helps ensure my "rightness" and better-than-ness. It also ensures that I lose out on enjoying God and others, and am left craving acceptance from others and from myself. "Oh what a wretched soul am I." There must be a way out, for Jesus "came to give us life, and life to the full". Where can I see, where can I experience a REAL example of life without my shame?I visited Bo's Café. Got to know some of the regulars. I joined Steven for a while in his fight to hold on to his rightness and superior position, trying to keep an image of himself that he thought would bring acceptance. Then I experienced, in the story of Steven, his strange friend Andy, and his wife Lindsay, the secret to enjoying a fulfilled life. A place where you already have everything it takes to learn this secret. I encourage you to make your way to Bo's . . .

Cheers for Bo's CafeWarning. If you read this book on an airplane, you'll have to explain to your seatmates why your eyes get teary-eyed toward the back of this can't-put-it-down novel. (Fortunately, the middle seat was empty on my flight.)"Why do you enjoy making everything I say sound stupid?" Steven Kerner asks his Southern California out-of-the-box mentor. The loud Hawaiian-shirted, 1970 Buick Electra-driving, cigar-smoking, becoming-a-trusted-friend responds, "I don't. I only enjoy making the stupid things you say sound stupid.""Will grace finally win?" is the big question in this life-changing, profound first-person story. It's a novel, but don't let that fool you. It's in-the-trenches real life. Uncomfortably so. It's for Christ-followers who don't and it's for Christ-seekers who might.Andy, the Beach Boys-era sage (with his own warts) comments, "Nothing defines religion quite as well as a bunch of people trying to do impossible tasks with limited power while bluffing to themselves that it's working."Bo's Café is the Pacific Ocean view hangout. The assembled cast is part Cheers (where everybody knows your name) and part sit-com accountability group. Carlos (who used to fake it as a pastor) guts it out about the environment of grace that is the gang at Bo's Café:"Listen, we don't need places like this to become more like church. We need churches to become more like this place. You know?"But don't think that this is about church or Cheers. Fast-track marketing exec Steven (age 34, married, one daughter) has blown it. Married. Marriage problems. Angry. Anger problems. Serious mask problems. All the past fixes don't fix it. "Lies picked up when we're young can stay with us for a lifetime."And so enters grace. An environment of grace. I won't spoil the story. But let me say this. I read a book-a-week. I have three more months of books to review this year. I can announce already that Bo's Café is on my Annual Top-5 list. It's that important. You'll hear from God and want to share it with many, many others.I'm so grateful for John Lynch, Bill Thrall and Bruce McNicol--and the whole TrueFaced team--for this gift to God's people. William Paul Young, the author of The Shack, writes, "Bo's Café is a treasure for all of us who harbor a longing to be authentic." Treasure indeed.

The story is about a highly successful corporate type and it all starts the week his wife kicks him out. He runs into someone who subliminally leads him in the right direction. All the while he fights him on everything, but the dynamic between the two gives the book charm and makes it so real and relatable! I found myself laughing out loud many times. It's an easy read I read it in the car on a two-day road trip. I chose to purchase this book after one of the Author's John Lynch came to speak at our church. His message of grace was so different, true and dynamic it left me wanting to know more. The story shows us the reality in which allot of live in, going through life wearing masks and not really being honest with others or ourselves. We wonder why or how our lives have ended up this way? We create a life based on lies and deception. All the while going through the motions weather we want to or not, because we think that this is the life of "a successful person." But one day (it always comes) it all comes crashing down and we don't know why? Our priorities change once we look at our lives through different eyes, Gods eyes. Although the book is not a religious one it does use God's blueprint for creating healthy relationships. Which I give 2 thumbs up! This book has the potential to change your relationships and life if you are open enough and willing to do the work. The idea is simple...Honesty and truth.

One of my favourite books of all times!If you haven’t read it yet- do it!

I️ would recommend this book to anyone who needs to face the reality of self-denial but needs to receive God’s grace and the importance of authentic community!

Steven Kerner is a successful, driven, 34 year old who outwardly has everything but inwardly is falling apart. Everyone else around him knows it but himself. This is the story of how he comes to own up to the lies he's been believing all his life, and gradually turn away from them. How? Bo's Café.I found this book good in the sense that it took me further along the journey of understanding that God likes me for who I am, not for what I do or don't do. I hardly know what good literature is any more - I love reading the classics and assume that they're good, but I rarely read a book these days unless I'm going to learn something by reading it, and most modern books, especially Christian books, seem to me to unbearably trite and shallow.Ok, this isn't necessarily a classic, (I even found it a bit irritating at first, yes, even somewhat clichéed - I suppose it's the overabundance of American culture which permeates the globe - but so what? the authors are American) but the writers didn't write it to be great literature - they wrote it to help others along the journey of discovering 'the life and freedom in Christ that living in His grace affords us." I think that this parable does that.I am desperate to know God more and to learn to walk in His truth. I realise more than ever that I don't have all the answers, but He does, and I am grateful that there are some who are further along that path than I am who can help me. I can think of at least a hundred people in Germany alone I'd like to give this book to.

This is more than just a novel, this book is packed full of real life examples of how we become trapped within ourselves acting out our pain & shame, wearing masks to keep people at a distance to us & not realising we lose sight as well of the God who loves us unconditionally. This story reveals truths about real freedom in relationships with others & God where we learn to be safe with the worst of us with those who love us helping us live lived and free

For those disappointed in today's churches, this is a very good book. It gives some good insights. I think I'll read it again.