Review of After Shock by Kent Annan

On January 12, 2010, we watched our screens in horror at the devastation happening in Haiti. Seeing the destruction the 7.0-magnitude earthquake caused was heartbreaking. Care and support poured into Haiti from around the world and we said that we will never forget.

Have we forgotten?

I know I have forgotten about Haiti and its ongoing recovery more than I’d like to admit. So as we approach the second anniversary of the earthquake, I’m be doing a few posts to help myself (and hopefully you) never forget.

While we were all heartbroken at the loss of life and the multitude of injured, Kent Annan felt the pain more personally than most of us did. At the moment of the earthquake, Kent was at home in the states, but he’s worked in Haiti since 2003–first living there and then traveling there regularly from Florida. So he watched the news, not only devastated, but also wondering about the fate of many of his friends in Haiti.

I was fortunate to meet Kent in late 2009 (about a month before the earthquake) when he spoke in Philadelphia after releasing his first book Following Jesus through the Eye of the Needle, about his work in Haiti with Haiti Partners. I was writing Because I Can at the time and he graciously answered some questions for me about writing. I was impressed with  Following Jesus, so I looked forward to After Shock, his second book, released in January, 2011.

And After Shock: Searching for Honest Faith When Your World is Shaken did not disappoint. I rarely read a book twice, but I have read After Shock twice.

After Shock covers Kent’s visit to Haiti, six days after the earthquake and many subsequent trips. Kent shares details about the destruction to his adopted country, include seeing the pile of rubble that used to be the church he had attended while living there. But Kent shares much more than what’s visible to the eye by delving into the question many of us have when we experience suffering.

Where is God?

Kent’s work in Haiti for years prior to the earthquake was to help Haitians with the daily struggles they all face. Now seeing their already fragile world shaken so drastically had him grappling with his faith. In some ways, reading After Shock is almost like reading Kent’s private journel… he’s raw, honest and vulnerable.

Next Tuesday I’ll post the complete Q & A with Kent, but today I’ll share his answer to one of my questions, because it describes the wrestling felt in After Shock so well.

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Janet: How did the process of writing/publishing After Shock change your own emotional and spiritual journey?

Kent: I’m really grateful I had the chance to write this. These questions had been lingering, but I hadn’t taken them on this directly before. Like I write in the book, at times I’ve felt like I’m in a cold war with God — the hostilities of these doubts and questions are there, but instead of engaging I just set up a demilitarized zone between us (God and me) and act as though that’s a good way to coexist. It’s not though. So this forced me to engage more. To articulate my doubts, disappointment, even anger. The doubts didn’t go away, but my faith became more alive. So I’m grateful. And there is this life-giving hope in God that I can’t seem to shake, sometimes despite my best efforts! This book seemed, for me, a way to do some Jacob-like wrestling with the angel.

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Check back on Sunday for the video trailer for After Shock and on Tuesday for the complete Q and A with Kent, including his answer when I asked him if he’s any closer to having an answer to the question on the book cover. “Where was God during and after the Haiti Disaster?”

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Kent Annan is author of After Shock (2011) and of Following Jesus through the Eye of the Needle (2009) and co-director of Haiti Partners, a nonprofit focused on education in Haiti. He’s a graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary. He is married to Shelly, and they have a young daughter (2005) and son (2009).

Find out more about Kent at his website and get your copy of After Shock here (because you aren’t getting mine, I want to read it again!)

 And readers, you can help the people of Haiti today!

100% of Kent’s proceeds from both his books
goes to Haiti Partners’ work.

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What are your memories of January 12, 2010? Were you glued to the news? Or was the pain and suffering too much to watch and you (like I did at times) turned away? 

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My Other Friday Reads:

My Amish Roots by Shawn Smucker
Seasons of Solace by Janelle S. Hertzler
Not Alone – edited by Alise Wright
Growing up Amish by Ira Wagler
Run with Me by Jennifer Luitwieler
AFTER (the before and after) by Karen Anderson

Love Wins by Rob Bell

Oh Me of Little Faith by Jason Boyett

Evolving in Monkey Town by Rachel Held Evans

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