Open: Get Ready for the Adventure of a Lifetime

by David Gregory

You’ve accepted the invitation. Are you ready to take the next step?
From the New York Times bestselling author of Dinner with a Perfect Stranger , Open will forever change the way you think about faith.

It wasn’t the end of the world. It was just the end of Emma Jameson’s world. Fresh off the heels of a devastating breakup and floundering in her career, Emma is struggling to come to grips with why God allows so much pain in our lives, why He seems so absent when she needs Him most, and why the Gospel accounts―our supposed guide for how to lead a contented Christian life―feel so completely irrelevant.

Then one day, a mysterious envelope arrives in Emma’s mailbox with the word Open written on the outside. Inside the envelope is a card bearing the following “For a real adventure with Jesus, go through the nearest open door.”

Skeptical, but having absolutely nothing to lose, Emma steps through the pantry door, only to find herself instantly transported back to the first century, where she is taken on a personal tour of various Gospel accounts by none other than Jesus himself―an experience that radically challenges Emma’s perception of the Gospels and what it really means to be a Christian.

Genres: Fiction, Christian Fiction, Christian, Spirituality, Christian Living

160 pages, Hardcover

Published October 1, 2016

About the author

David Gregory's life has come full circle. Despite a love for writing and liberal arts in high school and college, David opted for a “more practical” business degree that launched him into a successful ten-year career in compensation management with three consulting firms and Texas Instruments. After a decade of spreadsheets, however, he was ready to look for a career offering more personal meaning.

David returned to graduate school, earning a master's degree from the University of North Texas with concentrations in communication and sociology. During that time, he began creative writing in the form of two short screenplays, one dramatic and one science fiction. He also started a periodic newsletter before joining a Christian ministry as staff writer and editor. While there, he coauthored two nonfiction books, The Marvelous Exchange and The Rest of the Gospel: When the Partial Gospel Has Worn You Out.

While earning another master's degree from Dallas Theological Seminary, David entertained a new craft: writing fiction. He decided that in a culture dominated by sound bites, reality TV, and the Internet, communicating through story could reach otherwise untapped audience. Taking some material on worldviews that he had planned to put into nonfiction form, he began writing Dinner with a Perfect Stranger.


David's current study focuses on the postmodern worldview and how it intersects with the Christian conception of God, meaning in life, and the process of knowing (epistemology). He is currently writing his second novel.

David lives in Texas with his wife and two children, where he works for a nonprofit organization.

Reviews

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the third book I have read by this author.

Emily is recovering from a painful breakup, dealing with a stagnating career, and struggling with her relationship with God. 

Subsequently, Emily receives a handwritten card without a return address. On the back of the card, there is one word in fancy lettering "Open".  Inside the envelope contains a handwritten note "For a real adventure with Jesus, go thru the nearest open door."

Emily decides to open the pantry door and step inside. Next, thing she knows she is sitting in a boat during a storm on the Sea of Galilee. Emily witnesses firsthand Jesus saving his disciples from drowning. 

Jesus then continues to help Emily restore her relationship with God through personal experiences with notable events of the Gospels. For example, the woman at the well, Mary anointing Jesus's feet with perfume, and the resurrection of Jesus. 

I loved the idea of seeing and living the significant episodes of the Christian doctrine. Additionally, I enjoyed how the entire book helped interpret Christ's teachings in a very uncomplicated fashion. 

[Nora St Laurent · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story opens with Emma Jameson a twenty nine year old breaks up with Jason after a two year relationship. She then receives a mysterious note that says, “For a real adventure with Jesus go through the nearest open door.”

Emma opens what she thinks is the nearest door and the adventure begins. It’s not what she expected. What she’s thrown into could kill her if she isn’t careful. Great! This is not what she needed right now.

She doesn’t know what to think. Was this a joke? Why would God allow this? She had to be honest with herself and God. She speaks to him when the storm dies down.
“God I don’t feel like I’m getting anything at all from your word. What good is me reading these stories? None of them have anything to do with what I’m dealing with right now!...She continues, “God himself was supposed to be my fulfillment. Isn’t that what the Christian music said, or implied? And that’s what I’d been told over and over by every Youth Pastor, College Pastor, Normal Pastor, Abnormal Pastor, whatever – let God himself satisfy you.” Right?

Jesus helps her uncover the truth about the lies she believes about him and herself. He says to her, “pain is what God often uses to make you ready to grow. It’s up to you whether you cooperate with Him. You don’t learn to love unless you cooperate with Him….” He goes on. I don’t want to spoil it for you so I’ll stop here.

David Gregory’s first two books have been made into movies Dinner with a Perfect Stranger and Day with a Stranger. I’ve watched these movies and read the books at book club. These books lead to lively discussions at book club. I am a David Gregory fan. This book is just as wonderful and thought provoking as the others he's written. I’ve given you a peek into the feel of what’s inside this novel and Emma’s dilemma. This is a quick read. It’s encouraging and speaks to your soul.
GREAT Read. I am a David Gregory fan. This book is just as wonderful and through provoking as the others he's written. Don't miss it!


Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from Tyndale publishes. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”

Nora St. Laurent
TBCN Where Book Fun Begins! www.bookfun.org
The Book Club Network blog www.psalm516.blogspot.com
Book Fun Magazine www.bookfunmagazine.com

[Ian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Emma is experiencing a challenging moment in her life when one day she receives a card that gives her a simple instruction. To her credit she follows the instruction and to her amazement is transported to another time and place. The only person who can see Emma in Israel is Jesus who is in the last three years of his life on earth as a man. They strike up a lovely relationship as Emma continues to be transported to different places on Jesus journey. We get to experience through another set of eyes many of the stories of the Bible and the people who featured in them including the disciples, Mary, Martha and Lazarus.

This is a powerful short book that combines showing us how Jesus loves first hand and his instruction on how to live a life of abandonment to Him. I particularly enjoyed this emphasis of explaining how to "choose" such a life through your daily interactions and events. Choose to see Jesus in them all.

There are some particularly powerful scenes where Gregory uses fictional licence to explore what might have taken place in a particular scene. The scene of Jesus on the Cross was brilliant in how he used the supernatural realm to intersect with the natural.

There's power in the ease with which you can read it. The story flows and Emma asks all the types of questions that I found myself asking. Fortunately for us Jesus had answers to them all.

I would have loved to have seen more of Emma's post-Isreal life to see how her new found "knowing" impacted her back home. But maybe that's for a sequel or another time.

Highly recommended.

[Cheryl L · Rating 5 out of 5]

I WAS BEYOND BLESSED , MOST EXCELLENT BOOK PURCHASE THIS BOOK YOUR LIFE WILL BE IMPACTED

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK FOR ANYONE WHO LOVES GOD WITH YOUR WHOLE HEART!!! MAY YOUR LIFE BE FOREVER CHANGED. HAVE YOUR OWN OPEN DOOR EXPERIENCE.

[Anne Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read! His insights wanted me to reread the book as soon as I'd finished it! I marked several passages! And I bought 10 copies to give to friends. This book changed my thinking about my daily walk. And encouraged me.

[Bri · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am usually not into spiritual books but this one sounded so different from any book I have ever read. I was sucked right into it and loved every bit of it. This was a great read!

[Deanna Rinebolt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good book. I couldn't put it down.

[Donna Foster · Rating 5 out of 5]

A perfect Christmas read.

[Allison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful and imaginative!

[Michelle Sauvageau · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book! Not my favorite of David Gregory’s, but another great story to draw me closer to God and remind me of God’s chosen plan! I particularly loved this quote:

“I am eternal life. And when I’m living in you, eternal life is living in you. That’s present tense. God is always present tense.”

I pray to never forget God is present tense!

[Becky · Rating 5 out of 5]

A couple of years ago, I found a couple of books by David Gregory that turned my world upside down. They asked the question of "What if?"--What if Jesus invited you to dinner? What if you got to spend a day with Jesus? How would those events change your life? I was intrigued, I was pulled in, I was shaken a bit, and I was challenged. Tyndale House has now published another book by David that changes the reader's thinking, expectations, and gives the reader a feeling of having been with Emma in her adventures.

David's question in this book is what does it mean to grow spiritually. What is spiritual growth? At the beginning of the book, Emma is rather broken by her breakup with her boyfriend, she's feeling abandoned, alone, and spiritually dry. She comes home from work to find a card in her mail with a cryptic note inside: Go through the first open door. She writes down every open door she can think of on a mental level--get a different job, move in with her friend, change churches, but those don't seem to be what is meant. So she goes into her bedroom, but nothing there catches her eye. Then she sees that the pantry door is open just a bit. She opens it wider and finds herself on a boat in the middle of a storm in first century Israel. And she begins an adventure with Jesus that comes full circle to her finding what true spiritual growth is--Abide.

Since finishing the book, I've been thinking about what abiding means for me. How do I abide in Jesus? First I have to remember that Jesus is fully man with the emotions and feelings that make Him most empathetic to me, but He is also fully God and by virtue of the fact that He is fully God, He is fully Love. It took several episodes with Jesus for Emma to figure all of this out, and I can relate. It often takes me a while for these kinds of things to soak into my spirit, but once it's there, it's there indefinitely.

One thing about David Gregory's books is that it doesn't take a lot of time to read them, but it takes quite a bit of time to digest the information he presents. I found not only his story, but also his precepts compelling. Five Stars, Two Thumbs Up, and Jesus to calm your storm.

My thanks to Tyndale House for allowing me to read and review this book.

[Zoe Schoppa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have mentioned this before… some books are hard for me to review. Open is one such book. The reason that Open is difficult for me to review is the fact that God is using its message, along with John Bevere’s book The Bait of Satan (a bible study that I am currently going through), to work on a painful personal stronghold in my life. I was hurt deeply a few years ago. The kind of hurt that has radically changed the lives of my family. I need to get past that offense. Both of these books…one fiction, one a bible study…are like a one-two punch at the heart of me. Therefore, I can’t break the story down analytically. All that I can say is that God is using the works of David Gregory and John Bevere to show me the sin of holding onto an offense. I am lovingly being reminded that Christ is the answer. He is the healer. What I have specifically received from Open is a reminder of the personhood of Christ. That as a believer I need to love and seek Christ. Christ hasn’t given me a series of steps/rules to be followed… items to be checked off a mythical list of required acts for good Christians. Instead, He calls me to seek after Him. To worship Him. To love Him.

“Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”
John 14:21

God always has impeccable timing. It is only God that can orchestrate a friend inviting me to a bible study while at the same time I finally pick up Open to read (a book that I am very late in reviewing… I should have already read it). I pray that God will use Gregory’s story in your life as He is doing in mine.

Soli Deo Gloria!

I received a review copy in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. My thanks to the author and publisher.

For all of my reviews visit blessed and bewildered

[Christi · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s so easy to get into a rut. Life can get so mundane and routine and sometimes it takes some unforeseen circumstance to knock you down and make you realize all the things you have unknowingly taken for granted. For Emma Jameson it was the ending of a relationship. She’s in her late twenties, feeling sad and lonely, and at a crossroads. Isn’t life supposed to be better than this? Where is she supposed to go from here? Where is God in all of this?

Haven’t we all had times like these in our lives? Those moments when life doesn’t go the way you expected it to and you don’t know which way to go?

After a note telling Emma to go through the next open door she decides to take a chance. What does she have to lose? She walks through a door and suddenly is in Biblical times walking with Jesus! As a Christian, this is something I have always dreamed of. To be able to ask Jesus whatever you want and to be able to see Him actually teaching the disciples, walking on water, and performing miracles. To see His smile and hear His voice. So amazing! The author did a wonderful job of bringing the Bible to life.

This book is such a treasure and so easy to read. The author has a wonderful way of bringing you into the story and the entire book just flows. It reminded me that there are things that I can do in my Christian walk but then there are things that I simply cannot do and it’s time I stopped trying and “instead, start abiding.”

I received a free copy of this book from Tyndale House Publishers in exchange for an honest review

[Phillip Cole · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stuck in a monotonous existence, Emma Jameson wonders why she has ended up settling. More than that, she wonders why God doesn't seem to be around and what is missing from her Christian life. When a card with a simple invitation arrives, she finds the answer in David Gregory's Open.

Using the gospel accounts as a start, Open creates a kind of "what if" story that does a great job of bringing Christ's words home. Seeing the parables and miracles of Jesus this way, as actual words and events, is how we should be seeing them, but sometimes we just see them as ink and paper. Gregory helps bring depth to them Though I have heard the stories many times, I saw them from a new perspective in the book. One thought that really stood out was, "You have to decide if your God is big enough to trust with every adversity in your life."

Open is easy to read, and each chapter flows into the next one. Gregory's writing lets you imagine being there with Emma and learning along with her. It made me look at myself and realize that I, too, keep trying to be a Christian on my own instead of relying on Jesus to do what I cannot.

I received a free copy of this book from Tyndale House Publishers in exchange for this honest review.

[Joan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Emma Jameson can’t seem to get past her break-up with Jason. While he’s moving on with his life, she’s stuck, struggling with why God allows lives to be painful, why the Gospel seems so irrelevant to her life.

When she receives an invitation for “a real adventure with Jesus,” she follows the instructions to walk through the nearest open door and finds herself in the first century where Jesus takes her through several well-known Gospel accounts.

Combining fiction with Gospel narrative, the author pulls readers into the moment along with Emma. Each story, [Mary and Martha, raising Lazarus, the woman at the well, among others] offers readers insight and greater understanding. The well-drawn crucifixion scene is particularly moving and is acutely compelling. Together, the scenes in which Jesus gently teaches Emma result in a powerful, thoughtful discourse on what it means to grow in faith. Emma asks all the questions readers might wish to ask if they’d found themselves in her position; the answer, always encouraging, always thought-provoking, is revealed to be a Person.

This message in this short, easy-to-read narrative is likely to remain with readers long after they’ve turned the final page.

Highly recommended.

[Jason Stanley · Rating 4 out of 5]

David Gregory is the New York Times Bestseller author of Dinner with a Perfect Stranger. In that book, the main character receives an unusual invitation. It is unsigned and the inviter has invited himself to the character’s home for dinner.

The character prepares his home for a visit for an unknown stranger, wondering what person of great importance has chosen his home to visit.

The perfect stranger is revealed to be Jesus.

In Gregory’s new book, Open, a young woman named Emma receives a similar, unsigned invitation. Her invitation is not to dinner. The invitation reads, “For a real adventure with Jesus, go through the nearest open door.” Emma’s curiosity recalls for the reader young Lucy’s innocence in walking through the wardrobe into Narnia. Emma, a bit more broken than Lucy, is transported through time to Jesus’ day.

Read more at http://jasoncstanley.com/book-review-...

[Bethany · Rating 5 out of 5]

This little book is such a little gem, it is a small, easy to read book, I read it it one afternoon! Such an engrossing little story and one that sticks with you long after you have put it down.
Emma is like so many of us, struggling in life, not excelling in relationships or her job and wondering where God is in all of it. When Emma starts getting mysterious envelopes to follow Jesus through the nearest open door she is off on an adventure that answers many of her deepest questions. I love how this little book tackles some really heavy stuff all in a simple, easy to understand manner.
I love how this books really brings the gospel to life, so often it is easy to understand the power and majesty of God and this book does a great job at catching a glimpse of it.
I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Imagine finding a note that instructs you to go through the next open door. By so doing, you are transported to ancient Israel to have a personal encounter with...Jesus. What would you do? What would you say to Him?

David Gregory, in his latest book Open, takes the reader on an amazing story of how to find trust peace and love. This narrative guides the reader through ups and downs and brings a culminating ending onto one person: Jesus.

I found this story to be engaging and deep. I am familiar with Gregory's other works and this one is equal to those. Get a copy for yourself and maybe a second to loan out. It is so good you may not get your loan copy back.

*I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

[Janet · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the "what if" books from this author. They all make you think, question and put in the presence of Jesus.

If you received a card saying go through the closest open door would you? And what would you expect? Our main character, Emma, is going through some personal tough times and takes the challenge. It lands her in Jesus' day and she is able to witness his talks and actions. Very thought provoking and encouraging.

[Tracie Kowalski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Part story, part instruction manual for how to deepen your relationship with Christ. Written within a modern context, this novel's main character begins living the stories of the gospels after stepping through a door. Well written and so different from the standard Christian self-help book, this one is a quick read that keeps your attention.

[Sondra Dellaripa · Rating 5 out of 5]

A rich, thought provoking, inspiring book. The author answers your questions as they appear. Beautifully, and with real appreciation for our humanity, the story applies Gospel to life. I listened on audible, the only fault is the author narrates the book (male voice) and the books Main character is female. That was a little distracting.

[Debbie Desotell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very moving. It was a book like no other. This one, you get out what you put in. Think about it.

Very moving. It was a book like no other. This one, you get out what you put in. Think about it.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a little cheesy but the theology is right-on & expressed in a living, real way that can connect with your heart. "Stop trying. Start abiding."

[Becky · Rating 5 out of 5]

I won this book in a Goodreads Giveaway.

[Cindy Conlan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kept me interested, very thought provoking.

[Lou · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really opens your mind up to new ways the God wants you to understand His relationship with you.
Light read and very up to date. Enjoyable and thought provoking.

[Lathan Craft · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible book. Impossible to put down. Have never ready anything like it! Gregory hits a home run with this one!

[Telps · Rating 5 out of 5]

I truly enjoyed this book!

[Nancy Mills · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book which walks a hurt girl through many stories contained in the Gospels. It was so good to be reminded of the stories and how they relate to our lives today, Highly recommend!

[Corey Hilla · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's written by the same author as the Perfect Stranger books. They each have unique encounters with Jesus.
This book follows a lady named Emma who is going through a bad breakup, and she gets a letter telling her to go through the nearest door to go on an adventure with Jesus.
Like Narnia, she is transported to specific events from scripture, and has personal conversations with Jesus at each event.
This book is similar to Night with a Perfect Stranger, as it is from the perspective of someone who is already a Christian, and is looking for deeper understanding/illustrations on topics like trust, forgiveness, and God's connection to enable these.
I've always liked the lessons that the Perfect Stranger books taught, descriptions they use, and this book uses a similar format.
Through most of the book Emma related lessons to her breakup which I didn't relate to very much, but I learned something from each lesson.
While it isn't my favorite Gregory book I'm glad to have it in the collection.