So it took me awhile to understand how Brand connected his title Restoration to the interesting stories of imperfect people. I think I finally figured it out a little. Brand paints this picture of Jesus like I have never seen or heard before. I have always thought of Jesus as this handsome guy who walked around in sandals helping and healing people, a person glorified and worshiped by those around him. But then Brand tells us his image is different (p. 50). Jesus becomes this image of a man, broken, unworthy of worldly beauty.  Brand states that “any of those desirable qualities may raise a barrier against the image of God, for virtually an quality that a person can rely on makes it more difficult for that person to rely on the image of God” (p. 54). Jesus was and is the image of God. We must not depend on our so called talents and abilities because we are imperfect. We must rely on Jesus and his image of God to be restored. Brand also says, “…collectively, in all our diversity, we can come together as a community of believers to restore the image of God in the world” (p. 53). When we try to become more like Jesus, our imperfections become a piece to the puzzle in restoring the image of Jesus in the world.

I really liked the simple but powerful message in the chapter about blood and power. I had not remembered that Brand had at first shied away from the medical field because of blood but then was brough back to it by the power of blood. Brand says that “the memory of shed blood had kept me out of medicine; the power of shared blood ultimately brought me to it” (p. 67). At first I was somewhat confused by his statement that shed blood had kept him away because I was thinking about Jesus shed blood on the cross and its power to cleanse. But then I thought about how the sharing of his blood to cover our sins was really what has given us power. By Jesus “sharing” his blood with us, he has given us life. We live because “every cell in every body lives at the mercy of blood” (p. 73). That blood comes from Jesus Christ and we should share that message of power and life-giving blood with others.