I’ve known, since I was a kid, that I was born on the exact day that the Hungarian Revolution started. That has always intrigued me.

I just finished James Michener’s 1957 account of the Hungarian Revolution, “The Bridge at Andau,” published when I was one year old. It’s not a great book, by Michener standards. It feels like it was rushed into print. He writes with much personal outrage at what Hungarians endured during ten years of Soviet enslavement. A proud nation had been turned into a brutal, repressive, horrible prison state. Refugees told him numerous stories of torture and imprisonment at the hands of the secret police, stories that turn your stomach. As Michener notes, the Soviets imposed the same cruel oppression on all of its satellite states–East Germany, Romania, Bulgaria, East Germany, and others.

The book begins by stating my birthday: “On Tuesday evening, October 23,1956–a day which the world will be slow to forget–a boy of 18…” and we’re off and running. A student demonstration attracts a crowd. Shortly, stones will be thrown, gunfire exchanged, buildings stormed, Russian tanks destroyed by kids. The people won their freedom, and for a couple weeks, made plans for a new Hungary. But Russia couldn’t let that happen.

The Russians invaded in force in November 4. The people put up a heroic resistance, destroying hundreds of Russian tanks with makeshift weapons. But defeat was inevitable. Thousands were killed, and thousands more were packed into cattle cars and shipped to Siberia. Darkness once again descended.

Over 200,000 Hungarians fled the country, most crossing the border into Austria. Thousands emerged from swamps to cross a footbridge near an Austrian town called Andau. Michener was there in late 1956 as a young reporter. He risked his life to help hundreds of Hungarian refugees evade Russian soldiers and secret police and cross that border. And he recorded their stories for the world to hear.

I finished my 200th book in the “Black Lizard” imprint from Vintage Books. It was Dashiell Hammett’s “Nightmare Town,” a collection of short stories. It’s fitting, since the first Black Lizard book I read was Hammett’s “Red Harvest,” starring the semi-anonymous Continental Operative.

The Black Lizard imprint has gobs of great authors–mystery masters–going back to the early 1900s. I’ve now read all of Hammett’s books, all 9 Raymond Chandler books (starring the great Philip Marlowe), 9 Gregory McDonald books (the Fletch and Flynn series), 12 Ross MacDonald books (with Lew Archer), 15 Henning Mankell books (including the entire Kurt Wallander series), plus a number of books by old-time writers David Goodis, Jim Thompson, James Cain, Harry Whittington, Charles Willeford, Dan Marlowe, Patricia Highsmith, and Eric Ambler.

But Black Lizard also has many superb writers–like Don Winslow, Joe R. Lansdale (the Hap & Leonard series), Jeff Lindsey (Dexter), Joe Nesbo (Harry Hole), Steig Larsen (the Dragon Tattoo trilogy), Hakan Nesser, Andrew Vachss (Burke), and more.

I’ve got a shelf filled with Black Lizard books I haven’t read yet. Seldom am I disappointed, especially with the older masters.

Nik Ripken spent six years ministering in Somalia, including during the Black Hawk Down episode. When he went, there was not a single church in all of Somalia, and not enough Christians in the country to fill a small church. When he left, there were only enough to fill a pew. His organization would feed a village, and the next day, Muslim rebels would attack and slaughter villagers BECAUSE they accepted help from a Western organization. Any Western organization was assumed to be Christian, and anyone working for them was suspected of being a Christian (which is why Ripken almost entirely employed Somalis with solid Muslim credentials).

Ripken would share his work with other Christian organizations. They would acknowledge the need, but would decline to get involved because of safety and security concerns. He understood, but….

One of the most profound spiritual experiences of Ripken’s life was when he and two other Westerners shared a clandestine Lord’s Supper with four Somali Christians. A few weeks later, all four Somalis were ambushed and killed in separate, simultaneous attacks. Death threats followed, and nearly all Western relief workers pulled out; within two months, their number plummeted from 70 to 4.

Ripken writes, “We stayed because we were convinced that Jesus was still there. Long ago, Jesus had explained that whatever we, as His followers, did for ‘the least of these’–the hungry, the thirsty, the sick, the naked, and the persecuted–we did to Him. We believed that we were ministering to Jesus in the least of these throughout Somaliland.”

But eventually, he, too, left–in despair.

Ripken’s experience in Somalia led him to ask, as he states in the introduction, “Does God, in fact, promise his children safety?” He says he grew up with “the idea that obedience to God’s call would result in a life of safety and security.” He was told, as I remember hearing myself, “The safest place to be is right in the center of God’s will.”

To answer that question, Ripken decided to interview Christians who had lived under persecution–Russians during the communist years, and present-day Christians in China, Muslim nations, and elsewhere. Over a period of years, he visited many countries and interviewed nearly 1000 Christians who had lived under persecution. He tells many incredible stories in “The Insanity of God,” the best Christian book I’ve read this year. I highly recommend it. The book blew me away.

In China, Ripken encountered Christians who asked him if people in other countries knew about Jesus. That’s how isolated they were. Few house-church leaders had their own Bible. House-church leaders would meet clandestinely, and before leaving, they would rip up a Bible and give each house-church leader one complete book to take home. Ripken saw this happen.

Going to prison for three years was extremely common for Chinese leaders, almost an expected right of passage–the seemingly inevitable result of obedience to God. They viewed prison as their seminary. One large house-church movement, when Ripken visited, had over 400 members in prison at that time. Christians lost jobs, families were separated, and they faced incredible suffering and hardship.

Does obedience to God guarantee our safety? Absolutely not. But among these terribly “unsafe” persecuted Christians, Ripken discovered a dimension to their faith that was lacking in the West. They were partaking in the sufferings of the Lord–not the little things we in America inflate into a War on Christianity, but hardcore suffering and persecution. Although they knew obedience to Christ was unsafe, they obeyed anyway.

Ripken writes, “Ironically, avoiding suffering could be the very thing that prevents us from partnering deeply with the Risen Jesus.”

I subscribe to Bookbub, which sends me a daily list of free and inexpensive epub books to download. Today’s email includes a Christian fiction book with a plot which just made me want to laugh out loud (but I didn’t).

A mad scientist builds a time machine and, gun in hand, goes back to 57 AD to kill the Apostle Paul. A woman archaeologist gets sucked back in time, too. Can she save the Apostle Paul? Sure, the guy had been beaten, stoned, shipwrecked, and everything else. But can he survive a 21st century mad scientist with a six-shooter?

The book is “City of God” by R. S. Ingermanson. I’m sure it contains some deep theological truths which would revolutionize my spiritual life. But I think I’ll skip it.

A study identifies Lee Child has having the strongest reader loyalty of any bestselling author. For instance, 41% of John Grisham fans say they plan to buy his next novel, but 70% of Child fans want the next Jack Reacher novel.

I’m one of those Lee Child fans. However, were Robert Parker still alive, I’m guessing he would top the list, at least with the Spenser books. A Jack Reacher book is a Must Have. A Spenser book was a Must Have NOW.

There are two important elements: the author, and the subject. You need to like the author’s writing style. But also, you need to like the subject. For that reason, a continuing series helps. If you like the character, you want to keep reading about him/her. Lee Child writes ONLY about Jack Reacher. A Cross novel from James Patterson may be a Must Have (it is with me), but not necessarily the novels from his many other series.

Who are your Must Have Next Book authors? Or is there a particular character you follow (like Spenser, but not Jesse Stone or Sunny Randall)?