Unexpected Journeys: My Search for Adventure, Love & Redemption on the Other Side of the World

by Paul Perkins

Overview

When 28-year-old Paul Perkins, a recent law school grad and White House staffer, leaves his hectic life and travels to the other side of the world, he expects the adventure of a lifetime. Not a head-on collision with his pain-littered past.
But with each new adventure, he’s confronted by dark memories and questions of faith—while surfing Bali’s legendary waves, and driving a motor scooter along Thailand’s breathtaking coastline; during a guilt-ridden encounter in a red-light district, and an anguished reunion with his older brother; while teaching a class of veiled girls, and preaching before a crowd of India’s poorest widows; through friendship with unlikely locals and fellow travelers, and the thrill and confusion of romance.
Along Paul’s epic journey, he learns to loosen his white-knuckled grip on life as God confounds his expectations, heals his shame, and reveals that redemption is always possible—even when least expected.
 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781629117003
Publisher:	Whitaker House
Publication date:	04/01/2016
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	256
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Paul Perkins is an attorney and former White House staffer. His writing has been featured at The Huffington Post, Boundless, and RELEVANT. He lives in Washington, DC, with his wife and their daughter.
 

Table of Contents

Author's Note 10

Part 1 Indonesia

1 Time of My Life 15

2 Moonwalking Across Java 26

3 Monsoon Nearing 38

4 Surfing in Bali 49

5 Waiting at the Bar 76

Part 2 Thailand

6 Memories with My Brother 95

7 Alone in Paradise 117

8 Before I Looked Away 134

9 One Pedal at a Time 151

10 Darkness All Around 163

Part 3 India

11 Welcome to India 179

12 Preaching to Myself 193

13 Wandering Through Kerala 206

14 Together at Last 218

Part 4 United States

15 Attempt Life 235

Acknowledgments 251

About the Author 254

Editorial Reviews

With exceptional subtlety and clarity, Paul Perkins unfurls a lifetime of personal hurdles that are—one by one, chapter by chapter—overcome with crystalline Christian conviction and personal humility. This memoir is endlessly inventive as Perkins takes the reader on an epic global journey that is, at once, a journey into the very heart of God. With crisp brio, Perkins allows the reader to be swept up again and again in the moment, and always animated by his sensitivity and transparency. As a writer, he has a wondrous touch.”
—Tim Goeglein, Senior adviser, Focus on the Family


“Brave and raw, Paul tells his unfolding adventure with honest self-reflection. His stellar writing style kept me turning the pages. And his discoveries about God, love, and life inspired. A great read.”
—Lara Williams, Speaker and author, LaraWilliams.org


“Paul’s voice is honest, broken, and still hopeful. His story, emotional and raw…, is a universal one that reveals the presence of a faithful and loving God through our suffering. This is a beautiful, redemptive work.”
—Kevin Palau, President, Luis Palau Association, Author, Unlikely


“This book is the story of a…[guy] who went halfway around the world, where he discovered God’s unmerited favor. Paul shares the tragic experiences that cauterized his heart—and the unexpected ways God broke through.”
—David Murrow, Author, Why Men Hate Going to Church


“Paul Perkins magically cloaks the reader in a refreshingly honest story of adventure, redemption, and the creative spirit inside all of us. Unexpected Journeys is a candid account of big ideas in a small world.”
—Marty Makary, MD, New York Times best-selling author, Unaccountable


“Unexpected Journeys is more than a tale of a twenty-something’s travel through Asia—it brings to life what we know to be true: that even in the deepest of valleys, God is working for our good. Paul Perkins’s writing is authentic, honest and captivating. I enthusiastically recommend this book!”
—Marc Vaillancourt, Blogger and host of The Conversation Hub podcast


“There are some books that, when you’re finished reading them, you put them down and go on living life. But then there are other books with such storytelling depth that when you finish reading them, you can’t help but pause and reconsider the story you’re living. Unexpected Journeys is this sort of book. I’m thankful for the story God gave Paul, and that Paul had the courage to pen it down.”
—Neal Samudre, Creator of EssentialHustle.com


“Paul Perkins’s spiritual memoir offers an inspiring story of self-discovery and spiritual healing, in which Christian faith prevails against despair. Some in his generation ponderously critique the faith they inherited. In contrast, Paul courageously recounts how he finally found deliverance through divine grace.”
—Mark Tooley, President, Institute on Religion and Democracy

From the Publisher