A Story of Faith

It’s the story of a man named “Increase.”

We recently spoke with HRock church deacon and new author Douglas Love, about his new (and first) book, On the Increase: A Journey into Freedom.

As Love, a Fuller Theological Seminary graduate, describes it, “It’s a semi-autobiographical, allegory novel, and I’d say this with great humility, as in the (religious satire) Screwtape Letters from CS Lewis, or something along those lines, in that the characters don’t have ordinary names.”

“They have names that are more descriptive of who they are,” Love explained. “For instance, the main character, his name is Increase because he is a man who was hungry and passionate and desiring for more. In every aspect of his life, it’s certainly the most important, more of the spiritual journey.

Love continued, “Increase is a man who longs for more than the ordinary. This is his story as he pursues abundant living, regardless of the personal cost. Through the highs and lows of life, he discovers a friendship that is transformative, and comes to experience a level of freedom that he never knew was possible. Increase lives in a town called Partly Right, and says Love, “Growing up and trying to fit in in a town like Partly Right is extremely difficult for a man who wants to experience more of life.

“The people and systems of Partly Right claim tohave all the answers,” he continued, “and there way of living doesn’t allow for any questioning or coloring outside of the lines.”

Naturally, Increase discovers that the town and its leaders don’t satisfy the deep longings within his soul. He goes on a quest to discover a more, genuine abundant life, but his quest for more has a cost to it, and Increase soon discovers that not everyone is supportive and some are outright threatened by it.

He encounters a gentleman who really life altering in a way he lives his life,” says Love. He’s a very free and very powerful and very ‘alive’ guy, by the name of Sparkly Zoe.

Increase is thrown for a curve, though, when terrible events affects those close to him.

He really is shaken and really has to evaluate, “What am I doing? What am I living on? What’s the core of who I am?” describes Love. “And the answers that I thought were big enough they got shaken to that event.”

“A divine encounter with a character named Charis Ma begins to show him another way of living that’s much more about freedom and grace and mercy and joy, and it’s not so much about rules and commandments — it’s about laughter, and freedom and life,” says Love.

Love naturally draws liberally from his own experience in detailing the life of his protagonist, Increase.

“As he puts it, “It’s a novel, so it’s fiction, so I’ve drawn a great deal from my own life experiences. . There’s a story about when Increase gets cancer and I personally am a cancer survivor and that was really a life-changing thing, so a lot of those things are real. On the other hand, a lot of it is fiction too, because you know I’m trying to write a really good compelling story as well.

Love was inspired to pen the book a few months ago, when he “literally had nothing on my calendar and nothing to do in my business, which never happens. And here’s the cool thing, within five minutes, I have the genesis of the idea. It was like within five minutes I have the genesis of the idea and that very first day of writing, I wrote about 30 pages, not expecting it to be published.”

Crazier things have happened.

Douglas Love’s book, On the Increase – A Journey into Freedom, can be found at Amazon.com

HROCK Church at the Ambassador Auditorium, 131 S. St.John Avenue, Pasadena, (626) 794-1199 or visit HRockChurch.com