“A man named Daryl walked into a pawnshop in Los Angeles with a guitar.”

From Levi Lusko’s Through the Eyes of a Lion.

This book is a father’s verbal, mental, and spiritual journey through the process of mourning. The unexpected death of his young daughter pushes this father to reexamine everything that he thought he knew about life, death, and faith. Many look at Christians today and expect to see a hypocritical life that falls apart at the first sign of trouble, and others expect to see the lives of good people to be filled with only good things, but this author begins in chapter 3 to be brutally honest when telling of the horrors that became his family’s reality. Lusko begins with his many accomplishments in his career as a pastor, but then he moves right into the day when the world fell apart and those “accomplishments” became worthless. The writing is raw and honest; Lusko doesn’t seek to make every reader a Christian by beating the Bible into them, but he does explain how his faith has changed through great tragedy. There are enough pop culture references to keep under-40 readers engaged, and enough context for everything he says so that the other readers don’t get lost. The book is very well-written so that anyone could find enjoyment somewhere between the pages, but is especially beneficial for those who have lost a family member or close friend. Everyone knows that life is a painful, complicated journey, and Lusko seeks to share his story in a way that is helpful for both those who have already experienced loss and those who will one day, inevitably, face loss. If you’re not a religious person, don’t count this book out immediately; this is not a book written by a pastor, this is a book written by a father who has learned what life after death looks like.