Come as you are

By Lynn Cavanaugh-Blades

"Perhaps it wasn't a running away that she truly needed, but a running towards....towards LOVE." The year is 1971 and the Jesus movement, a huge spiritual counter culture, is quickly spreading from California across America. By early May, it reaches 15 year old Lynn in the southern town of Rocky Mount, bringing with it the beginnings of contemporary Christian music and a radical relationship-based Faith. Lynn quickly discovers that she fits right into this movement, with its "hippie culture," most likely because of her huge love for music, especially rock and roll, and her desire for a belief not based on tradition or formalities, like her Southern Baptist roots, or the perfection she believes is required to be truly loved and accepted. Set on a "real life" stage, decorated with Debutante Balls, small town Christmas parades, bike rides to the City Pool, bellbottoms, poetry, POW bracelets, journals, summer love, the beauty of Atlantic Ocean, the legend of the Fort Fisher hermit, and the lights and magic of the Carolina Beach boardwalk, combined with a soundtrack packed full of some of the best music of 1971, "Come as you are" reminds of our own "coming of age stories" as we identify with Lynn in her struggle to find her true "home" in the world, and what her real identity is. Already feeling a little uncomfortable in her own skin, things become worse for Lynn when her family is faced with a sudden loss in April and then later in June too, when she witnesses something shocking at Carolina Beach which ultimately forces her to decide whether to "run away" from it all or truly believe it is possible to "Come as you are."

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 153014065X
• ISBN13: 9781530140657
• Release Date: March 2016
• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Length: 154 Pages
• Weight: 0.64 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.3" x 6.0"