Book Review: Total Abandon by Gary Witherall and Elizabeth Cody Newenhuyse
This is the gripping story of a modern-day martyred Christian missionary. The martyr is Bonnie Witherall and her widowed husband Gary (who has since remarried) tells the story from his perspective.
The book tracks the life of this young Christian couple from when they met in college at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. Bonnie was from the Pacific Northwest and Gary is a native of England. They fell in love, felt a call to the mission field and then went to Sidon, Lebanon to work with a Christian clinic for pregnant women among the Palestinian refugee community. Bonnie was brutally murdered at the clinic one morning in 2002. They never found the killer. Gary went through a great deal of trauma (which he chronicles in the book) and now speaks to groups about his experiences. His challenge is to all Christians that following the Great Commission is neither easy nor safe. It requires a total abandon of everything we hold close, dear, and valuable – even the price of our own lives.
I was particularly interested in reading this story not only because I can relate to the feeling of being young and married with an interest in the mission field but also because I once met Gary Witherall at a wedding for my close friend Michael Kaspar. Michael and Gary work with the same mission organization: Operation Mobilization. I recommend this book to anyone. Be cautioned: you will probably cry. I know that because I do not often cry and this book caused me to weep.
I would love to hear from any of you who have read this book. Thanks, Jesse
