By Kelly Bridgewater
Description:
What if you met your
twenty-three year old self in a dream? What would you say?
Brock
Matthews’ once promising life is unraveling. His coffee company. His marriage.
So when
he discovers his vivid dreams—where he encounters his younger self—might let
him change his past mistakes, he jumps at the chance. The results are
astonishing, but also disturbing.
Because getting what Brock wants most in the world will force
him to give up the one thing he doesn’t know how to let go of . . . and his
greatest fear is it’s already too late.
My Thoughts:
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| From Amazon |
James Rubart is an author that I have
never read. I have heard many people talk about how good his books are, and
even took a class offered by him at the 2014 ACFW conference. I even planned to
read all his books this year, but review copies of books keep showing up at my
door, and I don’t have time to squeeze anything else in. But when The Five Times I Met Myself came up for
review, I said yes because I finally get to read a book by James Rubart. And I’m
really glad I did.
Getting down into the soul of a person
is Rubart’s greatest strength in my opinion. Right from the first chapter, I
could totally relate the marriage of Brock and Karissa. Being married for
fourteen years with three boys and one a teenager, I sometimes feel like my
husband and I are missing the fun we used to have together. Time flies by and schedules
for the kids and our lives keep us busy, so we don’t date and pursue each other
much as we should. I have had doubts and wondering if I went back and made
different decisions would my life be different? That is what Rubart is getting
at. God has a plan for our lives, and we should trust him with the plan.
Rubart’s use of short chapters
intermingled with time jumps didn’t confuse me at all. Brock comes back to a
number of different versions of 2015 before dream hopping back into the past.
When he dreams, he travels to a whole bunch of different times in the past. The
transitions between the time periods were woven seamlessly together with Brock
going to sleep or waking up to an alarm that I followed Brock on his journey. I
had a really hard time putting the book down. It captured my attention and did
not let go. I wanted to see how Brock would end up.
The title says five times that Future
Brock met younger Brock, but I counted seven. As I reflected on the story, I wondered
why Rubart only mentioned five times in the title, not seven. I think, and I
could be wrong here, but the five times he first met him are the times he asked
for younger Brock to change something in his life. Those five times had a
profound effect on his future. The last two times were to fix the mistakes he
instructed younger Brock to take. Seven is an important number in the Christian
faith so that could be a connection too.
Restoration can happen at any time and
can take many years to feel the full effect. Rubart did a great job at showing
how one decision can affect our entire future. If we’re not spending time with
our kids, what could our children perceive our relationship as? If our job is
more important or finishing the last chapter in a book instead of hanging out
with them, do they resent you as the years pass? Even I struggle with this.
I wouldn’t change anything about the
story; I truly loved it.
In conclusion, James Rubart’s The Five Times I Met Myself is a original,
gripping narrative that had me questioning what do I place value in and do I
really trust God’s will for my life. I really enjoyed this book and need to go
find the rest of Rubart’s books, so I can stand stronger on my faith. The Five
Times I Met Myself haunts me even now, long after I finished the story.
I received a complimentary copy of The Five Times I Met Myself from Thomas Nelson and the opinions stated are all my own.
My Rating:
5 out 5 stars
Purchase The Five Times I Met Myself
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