Sharing My Christian Walk with the Baxters

 The Baxter Series

I still remember the day I checked out the first book in the Baxter series, Redemption, from the local public library.  I had read One Tuesday Morning as my first Karen Kingsbury book.  I had been a Christian for only a short amount of time.  Bookworm that I am, I had felt the conviction of God to change my reading choices.  He wanted me to make some choices in my reading that would encourage and educate me about Him.

I wasn't sure what to expect as I delved into the series.  I knew it was a series, but at the time (2005), there were only five on the shelves.  I devoured them, one after another, and entered the lives of the Baxter family.

They were so different from any family I had ever known.  They were Christians.   They were imperfect.  The parents, Dr. John Baxter and his wife, Elizabeth, were wonderful.  I so wanted to know them.  Their children were young and flawed and I related to them so well.  Brooke, Kari, Ashley, Luke, and Erin.  I felt an affinity for this large family, despite our differences.  Like them my family was a group of seven.  Like the Baxters, we live in Indiana.  Those snowy winters and hot, humid summers weren't a stretch to the imagination for me.  I can see the corn fields out my window.   Reading about a large, Christian family living in Indiana while trying to find my way as a new Christian with a large family living in Indiana... it was inspirational for me.  In so many ways, the Baxters began to walk with me.

As I read the books, lived with these characters through the years, I grew with them.  I grew in my faith and learned so many lessons, both in real life and in reading about their lives.  I grew to feel like I knew the characters.  The lessons from their lives felt so real to me, and often were as new to me as they were to the characters that learned them the hard way in the story-lines.  I remember John Baxter praying for his kids as he looked at their senior pictures.  At the time, I had two daughters in high school, and I remember thinking what an amazing idea that was, to pray for my kids when I saw their pictures.

The cast of characters grew over the years.  It was occasionally reduced also, and those moments were heartbreaking in ways I can't describe.  And yet, even in the goodbyes there was hope and love and even, somehow, joy.  I was shocked the first time that there wasn't a happy ending.  We get so used to happy endings, and in Christianity, we tend to believe that God will fix everything the way we think He should.  Life isn't always so neat and formulaic.  In fact, many times, life is messy and very hard.  God is not a predictable God that works on our timetable.  His plans can be tough to understand.  And, Karen Kingsbury doesn't shy away from tough topics.  She tackles the hard things, from terrorist attacks to the loss of a loved one.

The first time a main character didn't get a miracle, where there wasn't a happy ending, I was deeply grieved.  It was like losing a member of my family. Little did I know that there would be other times of loss in the series that would take my breath and leave me wrung out emotionally, grieving as if I had really lost a member of my family.  Of course, being a bookworm, I tend to get overly engrossed in the books, but I soon discovered that I wasn't the only one that felt an attachment to these characters.  I introduced the books to so many others, and would gladly do so again.  I even had two of my daughters read the first ones.  Seeing those I introduce to the books get hooked, get emotional about the lives of the characters, proves to me that these books are powerful.

The Baxter family, the Flanigan Family, and so many others in the book series have walked with me through my journey as a Christian.  Every year or so a new book would come out, and the Baxters would come alive to me again.  I felt as if I could drive to the Baxter home, have a cup of coffee with Ashley, see her paintings, and talk with her about marriage, raising children, and following Jesus.  I even wanted to talk with her about being the black sheep of the family, as she was at first.

I wish I could tell about all the coincidences that occurred while I read.  My oldest left for college while I was reading Leaving.  My family endured such a trying time for so long, and becoming Christians didn't take away the problems.  I love that the Baxter family had real problems too.  I like that they struggled with their faith, had deep doubts, and great sorrows.  I like that they messed up.  I like that they occasionally still struggle with the same issues that have come up in the past, but keep pushing forward in Christ.  I like that they sometimes disagree, get on each other's nerves, and even have to overcome hurts and wounds.  I like that it sometimes doesn't happen in a single book, that the happy endings glorify God, but so do the ones that aren't so happy.

The first book, Redemption, was published in 2002, but it was late 2005 or early 2006 before I read it.  (I became a Christian in November 2005.)  Now, sixteen years after they were first published, and twelve or thirteen years after I first met them, the Baxters still continue to touch lives.  Karen Kingsbury still writes about them, though I am certain the plan was never to have thirty books in a series!  I have read all except the newest one, and I will read it soon.  Some made my heart soar with joy and hope.  Others made me cry, heartbroken and devastated.  Some were romantic.  Some showed God's plans in ways we wouldn't have expected to see.  Some were bittersweet.  And yet, in each one, was a focus on Jesus.  In each one was the theme of a grander story, the ultimate redemption of all our souls.

The Baxters are a legacy.  The characters and their lives live on in millions of readers and Christians all over the world.  We all will think a bit of the Prodigal son when we read of Luke's struggles in Return.  We will all yearn for John to find the son he never got to meet, and rejoice when he does.  We will all feel the glory of salvation when Dane finds Jesus.  And happily ever after is not supposed to mean betrayal or birth defects or a drowning accident or cancer or life-altering tragedies.  Through the years, millions of us have clung to this family, grieved with them, prayed with them, laughed with them, gotten angry with and at them, and learned with them.  Most of all, we have grown closer to Jesus as we shared their lives.

The Baxters series is being developed for television.  I look forward to that, but also carry the apprehension that every reader holds when the books he or she loves is adapted to film or television.  We carry the images in our minds and hearts and fear that the portrayal won't be the same, no matter how talented the actors and actresses.  However, letting the example and love of the Baxter family, which is full of the love of Jesus, reach out to those that haven't read the books makes the endeavor worthwhile.

One day the last Baxter book will be published and written.  The fans will have a difficult time letting them go.  I know I will.  I can only thank Karen Kingsbury for writing the series, because she has given me so many wonderful examples of faith.  She has written stories that have taught me much, put me through an emotional roller coaster (and I loved it), and helped me draw closer to Jesus.  She has given me encouragement in some tough times, and showed me that the story isn't over, even when the last chapter of the book is read, because Jesus isn't done.