LET GO AND LIVE

A book that’s part memoir and part investigation into personal Christianity.

Debut author Dyche explains that, as a teenager, he yearned for freedom, which resulted in his joining the military. During his time overseas, he says, he “lived a very riotous life” and missed his family dearly. Later, he received a call that his father had been diagnosed with lung cancer and he made the drive from California to visit his family in West Virginia. Although the author would take time to talk with his father about God, his dad’s eventual passing would leave him in a “very tender spot.” Dyche says that he came to realize that “Being thankful for the time you have and not holding on to your true feelings for people—that is what truly matters.” He would also come to believe that his father wasn’t truly gone because “he now has life in God through Jesus.” Dyche follows these personal revelations with biblical quotations and reflections on topics such as faith, sin, and his own numerous tattoos (which he doesn’t describe in detail). The tattoos, he says, often work as conversation starters and tend to lead “into a witness of his testimony”; some people, he says, are surprised that someone who appeared to be a “bad boy” had embraced Christianity. Many other books discuss how “Jesus was the payment for sin” and the significance of Psalm 23, but the author’s personal account provides some engaging insights. Dyche explains his father’s vision of heaven and how “He talked about the grass, warm winds, and the clouds, and the overwhelming peace that resided there.” Another meditation on the author’s relationship with his wife includes how they “live life together even when it is undesirable and messy.” The conversational tone creates a feeling of authenticity and, at less than 125 pages, the book is a swift read.

Some material here walks a well-trod path, but readers will still find much to discover in the author’s journey.