The Year 1963 From Chubby to Chiseled
by Ochs and Sperry Publishing
When I was 12, my family made a quick decision to move from my hometown of Independence, Missouri, to Boulder, Colorado. My younger sisters and I were not too excited about leaving all our friends and family behind. For me, it was a culture shock to discover that my new classroom was multiracial. I especially wondered how I would cope.
This book is about my coming-of-age story. It proved to be quite a learning experience and an adventure, during which I discovered some latent aspects of myself that I had never realized before. It is during this time within a person's life when they learn much of what defines their personality and character as an adult. Adolescents and young adults will empathize with the pretense and hard lessons associated with this age group. For parents with children, it may be just what the doctor orders for your young teenager.
More books by Ochs and Sperry Publishing
Finding the Nature of Christ
A Seekers Saga Toward Discovering the Unknown Truth
In an era when religion is increasingly influenced by precedent and routine, Robert Ochs presents a candid, unadorned tale of spiritual dissatisfaction and search in his work, Finding the Nature of Christ: A Seeker’s Saga Toward Discovering the Untold Truth. This introspective memoir begins not in a position of assurance, but in the stillness of discontent, an attitude many others quietly share but seldom speak out about.
As the pastor, Ochs was at a turning point. Even though his name appeared alone on the list of nominations for re-election, his heart was not at peace. He describes himself as spiritually stagnant, stuck in a cycle of rote studies that no longer satisfy his hunger for knowledge. It was this dissatisfaction that led him on a life-changing quest to discover what he terms the “nature of Jesus Christ,” a quest not limited by conventional scripture, but motivated by an insatiable hunger for truth above denominational boundaries.
The first chapters are a moving combination of personal memoir and theological exploration. We meet a man who, although a spiritual leader, is prepared to face his uncertainties and heed the small, interior voice that beckons him toward something greater. Through recollections of dreams, memories, and meditative paragraphs, Ochs describes moments in which he felt the divine urging him onward, even in danger of offending his congregation.
One of the strongest elements of Ochs’s story is how he defies the strictures that are commonly placed by institutionalized religion. When he challenges whether divine truth can be restricted to a select few sacred writings, he is speaking from a place that many contemporary readers will be sympathetic to. His openness to the investigation of contradictions within scripture and consideration of the historical legitimacy of its writers is an act of bravery against spiritual smugness.
His musings on quiet, reflection, and inner struggle offer a universal theme: duty versus desire, institutional expectation versus personal epiphany. Ochs is not afraid to pose the uncomfortable questions and, in the process, invites readers to ask themselves their own.
Finding the Nature of Christ is greater than a memoir; it is a spiritual guide for those courageous enough to question, search, and mature. Robert Ochs does not provide simple answers, but he provides something even better: a window into the soul of every seeker ever to ask themselves whether there may be more to the Christ story than what tradition holds. And for that, his tale is not merely refreshing, it’s essential.