In this joint memoir, mother Angela Yuan and son Christopher Yuan alternate chapters in describing Chris' prodigal son experiences, in parallel with Angela's experiences as a mother moving from suicidal depression to Christian community, along with hope and prayer for her still-troubled son. Their voices trade off as describe Chris' early successes in grad school, his growing identification with the gay community and embrace of a partying lifestyle, and his movement into success as a drug dealer. His crash when busted and jailed, along with his mothers' prayers and involvement, leads to his conversion to Christianity and eventual role as a prison minister. Now, it seems, he and his mother speak at Christian events about his transformation, a role which I assume has produced this book.
I got this review copy for free from WaterBrook Multnomah (full disclosure!), and was initially quite skeptical and concerned with how the book would portray homosexuality. Because the book is written within the conservative Christian social field, it probably will not be appreciated by liberal or secular readers. But for its intended audience, it strikes the right note. Addressing this social issue with both grace and truth has been a difficult issue for the American church, and it would be easy to turn this story into a polemic about sexual identity and the church.
But the Yuans, in general, refrain. While their story clearly fits within the cultural genre of "Christian testimony" (with overtones of Augustine's confessions as well as an identification with the specific trope of the prodigal son, moving from pride to fall to faith to restoration), it is well-handled, emotive, and lovely -a good example of the genre. In his chapter on Holy Sexuality (182-189), Chris is frank about his long-standing desires and rejects movements which focus on trying to change a person's sexual orientation:
"But now, as I searched the Scriptures for the way I should live, I began to ask myself a different question: Who am I apart from my sexuality? ... I had always thought that the opposite of homosexuality was heterosexuality. But actually the opposite of homosexuality is holiness. God never said, 'Be heterosexual, for I am heterosexual.' He said, 'Be holy, for I am holy.' ...Holy sexuality is not focused on becoming straight -orientation change -but on obedience." (p.187)
Chris recommends that Christian sexuality remain within cross-gender marriage or celibacy, the most predominant framework within the Christian faith. In acknowledging his inborn nature but reframing the discussion from sexual identity to Christian identity, Chris moves away from sexual identity as a central social marker for the Christian and towards the question of what it means to be a Christian. This seems to be one appropriate stance within the Christian context -I would love to hear others address Chris in dialogue about this. I know that Jenell Williams Paris has recently written a related book, The End of Sexual Identity, and hope to review her book soon!
In the 1990s, Christopher Yuan was a gay man who worked hard and played harder. After an experience with the drug Ecstasy, Yuan quickly became one of the top drug dealers in the major gay clubs of the Southeast, living the glamorous lifestyle marked by cars, clothes and the adoration of his new family in the homosexual community. As spectacular as the story of his life in the 90s is, it is not the subject of this book.
Yuan's world eventually came crashing down. Arrested for conspiracy and intent to distribute illegal drugs and later sentenced to six years in prison, Yuan was abandoned by all but a very few of his supposed "friends". To add insult to injury, Yuan learned, while wearing the tell-tale orange jumpsuit of the Atlanta Detention Center, that he was HIV positive, likely the result of one of his sexual encounters of the previous several years. As dramatic as the story of his Yuan's fall is, it is not the subject of this book.
In recent years, Yuan, now a Christian speaker and HIV/AIDS activist, has garnered a fair amount of notoriety for his frequent speaking engagements in which he talks about HIV and issues surrounding sexuality and Christianity. For this he has been both praised and roundly (and often angrily) criticized. Though one of this book's thirty two chapters is entitled "Holy Sexuality", neither HIV nor questions of Christian faith and sexuality are the subjects of this book.
What is Out of a Far Country about? It is a modern-day prodigal son story, about a son who rebels against his parents and effectively abandons his natural family in favor of living life on his own terms. It is about an awkward boy whose struggle to fit it and to make sense of his attractions led him on a journey into manhood defined by rises, falls and, ultimately, redemption. It's about a God who says to us "I created you in my image and, for that reason and that reason alone, I love you. Period." It's a story that demonstrates that God's ways are not our ways and that God uses whomever He wills, however He wills and does so perfectly. Yuan's journey from outcast kid to drug dealer to HIV statistic to Christ follower is, at bottom, simply a story of God's unconditional love for even "the least" of us.
More than that, Out of a Far Country, is about a mother's struggle. In alternating chapters running roughly chronologically with Christopher's story, his mother, Angela, tells her own story of redemption through the trials of a rebellious son, a lifeless marriage, and lifelong scars that haunted her inmost being. From her childhood in Shanghai and Taiwan to her life in the United States with husband, Leon, Angela describes for us her journey from atheist to Christian, from staunch anti-religionist to powerful prayer warrior, from suicidal mother to child of God. Hers is a story not only of redemption but also of the power of a praying parent who asks God not to bail her son out of whatever situation he might be in, not to allow him to remain in a school threatening to expel him, not to spare him from prison, but to do "whatever it takes" to bring her son to a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. It was a bold prayer. It was an instructive prayer. It was an effective prayer.
At bottom, Out of a Far Country is a story of hope. No matter how far from God we may think we are, God pursues us in the most unlikely ways and in the most unlikely places, in a swank Atlanta apartment, in a prison bunk--even in a trashcan. Read the book. You'll understand.
Buy Out of a Far Country: A Gay Son's Journey to God. A Broken Mother's Search for Hope. Now
On January 16 I attended a Chicago area seminar titled: "A Conference on Faith and Sexuality." The topic was same-sex relationships and the church. The host church invited four speakers to give biblical and theological presentations. The speakers clearly held widely different perspectives. The last of the four speakers was Christopher Yuan. Since I did not know Chris at the time I as not prepared to be moved to my depths by his story of a life of homosexual practice and drug dealing followed by a powerful conversion to Jesus Christ. After three years in prison, an HIV-positive blood test result, and an obvious transformation in Christ, Chris entered his new Christian lifestyle, a lifestyle that has been tested and proven for some years now. Our of a Far Country is a unique book in so many ways but one of the most unique aspects is that it is the story as told by both Chris and his mother, Angela. This means parents will be especially grateful for insights they can gain on how to respond to a prodigal child.
Christopher Yuan is one of two sons of Chinese immigrants. His father, as my father was in his professional career, is a dentist. Angela assisted Dr. Yuan in his dental practice. Chris' dad had a nominal Catholic background but Angela was an atheist. Chris was thus raised in a context without the church or any real expressions of faith around him. At an early age Chris discovered that he had an attraction to other boys. He tried dating girls but still felt strongly attracted to guys. His mother was, in her own testimony a "controlling mom." The more she tried to control her own life, and that of her son Chris, the worse things got in the Yuan family. Then Chris returned to Chicago from dental school in Louisville, Kentucky, and "came out of the closet" about his sexuality. Prepared by his homosexual friends for total rejection this is exactly what he got thus he stormed away from his family looking for love, acceptance and a new family identity in the gay community. Angela's life then spiraled out of control even more then ever once she began to deal with her feelings about her unresponsive husband and her gay son. She determined to take her own life in despair. In his mercy God intervened and Angela became a devout follower of Jesus as Lord. She had a lot of things that needed changing. She began to absorb the Scriptures and grow in God's grace. Her marriage was turned around, hope became her spiritual strength and Chris became the focus of her regular prayer and fasting times. She learned to accept Chris and love him without conditions.
Hearing this story from the perspective of a heart-broken mother, and a rebellious son who finally came home to Christ, makes it one of the most unique accounts of a prodigal's conversion that I've read in modern narrative memoir. I would not hesitate to give this book to parents or even to older (young adolescent) children. Some may question the wisdom of older children, say 12 or 13, reading a book like this but this is a book that explains how sexuality identity can destroy lives. And it explains how God's grace puts them back together again. It is not so much a book about homosexuality, as such, but a testimony that homosexual advocates should be encouraged to read since the story truly rises above the various debates and takes the reader into two human hearts longing for God and his glory above the clamor of modern disagreement.
Does Chris have a view about homosexual identity? Yes, and it seems that he accepts the fact that he has homosexual desires regardless of how this happened. (He doesn't address the debates about how a person becomes homosexual, simply saying he was drawn to boys and men.)
Does Chris have a view about homosexual practice? Yes, he does. He shares it in only a few pages without the typical polemical rhetoric. He tells of searching the Bible soon after his conversion asking "How should I now live?" He began with the feeling that it would be pleasing to God for him to remain a practicing homosexual and a follower of Christ. He ends, without telling you all the turns in the road, saying he came to believe that he was called to a higher standard of sexual purity thus he should stop practicing same-sex intercourse. This has led him to become a celibate in the years that followed his conversion. He says nothing about desiring marriage, about changing his sexual identity per se, etc. What makes his story so compelling to me is that he never engages in attacks on other views and people but very simply allows his story to stand for what it is, the story of a remarkably changed man. The reader can judge what they will about Chris and his life but you can be sure of this he is a man who knows who he is in Christ and is clearly following holiness as he understands it in Scripture. Honestly, this makes the book unique since it is a story, not a biblical defense or apologetic in the normal sense of these terms.
Chris and Angela cast an extremely compelling vision of God's love, God's grace and God's holiness. Their book really speaks to prodigals of all kinds and to the parents of prodigals. And yes, it speaks to those who want to minister to the gay community in a way that is not based on rancorous polemical stereotypes and arguments.
After attending Moody Bible Institute Chris did an M.A. in biblical exegesis at Wheaton College Graduate School, as a Charles Colson Scholar. (This is a program designed for ex-convicts). He is currently pursuing a doctor of ministry at Bethel Seminary in St. Paul (MN) and is teaching at Moody Bible Institute. He also travels with his mom speaking to churches, conferences and youth groups about God's desire for all prodigals to come home to him.
I recently had lunch with Chris and can tell you that he is the real person this story presents him to be. I love him as a brother and friend and hope you will read his story and pray for both Chris and Angela. You can follow Chris on his blog. You can see his amazing story, from Saddleback Church, on YouTube.
Read Best Reviews of Out of a Far Country: A Gay Son's Journey to God. A Broken Mother's Search for Hope. Here
What resonated with me most was Christopher's discussion of identity. I think for those of us who have transgressed the body with sexual sin, identity in Christ is such a huge concept to accept, and it takes time to accept. I Corinthians 6:12-20 addresses this. The last stumbling block perhaps to accepting grace in full. Once understood and accepted, though, what a freedom, what a privilege to identify with Christ. He is our identity, not the earthly identities we either grew up inherently believing in or were abused into believing through mockery or similar (and here I'm speaking of sexuality). This part of the book is very profound and timely for the sexual culture prevalent today (though it's always been around hence the eternal relevance of the scriptures!).
Second, Angela's testimony convicted me. I'm a mother now and I struggle with praying for my kids. She set an example! The prayer closet, the fasting, and memorizing of scripture. She inspired me to get on my knees for them, even though they are so young still. It is an issue of obedience and also of reverence to lift up the gifts God has given us to him in prayer.
Last, I think that the transparency of the book, the frankness and openness will entice readers. There's no Christianeze or gloss. It's hard to read sometimes, but the details do not glorify the sin but rather the redemption story.
I praise God for this testimony!
Want Out of a Far Country: A Gay Son's Journey to God. A Broken Mother's Search for Hope. Discount?
A mother and son both struggling with their lives, and losing. He has come out as a homosexual and rejected his family to pursue something new. She has lost her son to something she doesn't understand, while living a cold, dying marriage. Over time, they realize God's presence in their lives, but not after a rough and rocky journey.
This book markets itself as a story of a son who is gay and leaves to live a prodigal son's life, while the distraught mother turns to the only thing left in her life, God, to find a way to bring him home. The preview focuses heavily on his homosexuality and how difficult and unknown a lifestyle that is to come out of. But to be honest, they didn't really discuss his homosexuality very much. It was in the beginning, and he resolved it in the end but the majority of the book is about his drug addiction and the troubles that came with this.
Its not a bad book, a little dry to read at times because they are not writers, they are people telling their story. But the end is very encouraging, and his idea of 'holy sexuality' is something I've never heard of before, but very biblical.
All in all, I would recommend this book, but not as a guide on a Christian's response to homosexuality. Its a redemption story, pure and simple.
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