David Trotter had a wife and two children. He was a successful preacher and leader at a very large and successful church he planted in Southern California. He was well respected in the community. He seemed to have it all, but the years spent trying to eclipse past success lead to his downfall. Lost+Found is his story. Lost+Found: Finding Myself by Getting Lost in an Affair By David Trotter Nurmal Resources 2010 Finding himself in a marriage that lacked connection and a job that took up too much of his time and energy David found himself struggling to maintain equilibrium. On a mission trip to India, the pressures – external and also, importantly, internal – he found an answer to his life’s lack of passion: another woman who happened to be his wife’s good friend. Their mutual attraction and flirting continued even after getting back to the United States and soon they found themselves planning on leaving their spouses, giving up their life and running away with each other. Then they did. David resigned from his church, packed his bags and moved in with his lover. After 40 days, the affair ended when David’s mistress decided to go back to her husband and four children leaving him alone: no church, no family, and only a couple of friends willing to associate with him. Lost+Found is the story of how one man can throw everything away trying to find what he is looking for, what is lacking in his life, only to recognize that it was in front of him the whole time. This book isn’t a cliff hanger as the sub-title gives away the ending. After David suffers a mental breakdown and works through his issues he ultimately decides to pursue and win back the wife he left. The ending isn’t what makes this book fascinating. It is the journey. Rarely do we get to see from the inside an honest recounting of how actions and situations lead to devastating sin in someone’s life – especially not in the life of a ministry leader. David Trotter does just that, and he pulls no punches. This book is so raw and so unswerving in its effort to be honest that I sometimes felt I was reading the juiciest gossip ever. For instance, David recounts that the first night that he spent with his mistress they were up until 3 a.m. having sex. He doesn’t hold back or try to whitewash the feelings that were going through him as he flirted with another woman. The conversations that he writes about, cuss words and all, are raw and realistic. And when he breaks down we get an inside look at what he was thinking while it happens. Everything about this story is shocking and honest and … amazing. I read this book in one sitting. After reading thousands of books in my life I had never done that; Lost+Found is that compelling. I had to know what happened next. I needed to understand what was going on in the mind of this successful pastor. I wanted to know so it didn’t happen to me. This story isn’t about Super Christian overcoming his sins and being restored to righteousness. It isn’t a happy or good story at all because the hurt and pain that David caused lives on in the lives of so many of his previous acquaintances and his former flock. I’m not sure most readers will end up liking David or even be happy for him and his reconciliation with his wife because of the terrible decisions he made. But this book isn’t about David at all; It’s about us. While reading it I could not avoid putting myself in his shoes and evaluating my life and that makes this book immensely important. This is a story for those who think that this cannot happen to them as well as for those who have sinned so that they can find hope in forgiveness. An important book that should not be overlooked, I cannot recommend Lost+Found more highly.