My Review of "Good God, Lousy World and Me"

I have worked with troubled teens from broken homes, teens whose lives are themselves more broken than any thirteen year old girl should endure. I have worked with adults in residential facilities, who developmental disabilities have broken my heart. I now work with adults with autism. My work has taught me to grieve at the world's brokenness. These are jobs you shut off when you clock out. That kind of brokenness sticks with you.

So in reading Holly Burkhalter's Good God, Lousy World, and Me: The Improbable Journey of a Human Rights Actuvist from Unbelief to Faith, I found a kindred spirit.

I cried -- tears of joy. But also tears of pain.

This book is her honest journey from unfaith to faith. And rather than glossing happy and pious, Burkhalter writes with all the honesty that is at the heart of following Jesus.

There is darkness and evil in the world. She's seen it. And her accounting of all that pain gripped my soul. There's so much of it in the world. So, if God is so good, why is there all that suffering?

That's the question she seeks to answer in the book.

This is, after all, the single biggest roadblock for so many people. And Burkhalter talks about those times she couldn't get around it.

Until, she met those who lived Jesus in the midst of all that brokenness. People who taught her to pray and love, to hope and struggle, to believe and doubt.

Compassion, empathy, kindness, prayer, love, and help. In the middle of a "lousy world", that's what kept her going on this journey of faith.

Reading this book helped to settle some of my own doubts. But I'm still a companion on this way. It's a true answer, though: Love, love -- God's love in and through Jesus, in and through us. Love is why I believe.

This book brought tears to my eyes. Because it's a picture of our world. It's a picture of me, of those I work with. It's a picture of my husband's work in the church.

And it's a book you deserve to read!

___________

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookLook Bloggers <http://booklookbloggers.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Comments

My Review of "Radical Spirit"

Joan Chittister's Radical Spirit: 12 Ways to Live a Free and Authentic Life continues her literary tradition of making Benedictine spirituality accessible for new generations. I read her Distilled from the Daily several years ago and found her spiritual wisdom deep and transformative. In Radical Spirit Chittister focuses on the tough "spiritual hinge" of Benedict's Rule: The 12 steps of humility. Through her judicious use of spiritual parables from around the world and events from her own life, Chittister engages readers with narrative and humor, drawing them down a path to self-revelation and spiritual grounding. These thoughtfully choreographed chapters address the individual and offer an antidote to contemporary trends where "demagoguery is the new political brand, where narcissism is too often misunderstood to be leadership." Chittister writes that humility is the corrective to dangerous grandiosity, which "in religion ... makes i...

My Review of "Come as You Aren't"

Come as You Aren't: A Role-Playing Game for Adventurous Couples is a simple role-playing kit for couples who want to explore and experiment in ways to seduce one another that they simply wouldn't have imagined otherwise. The set is meant to offer one partner who draws a Who, a What, and a Where card at random and places them in an envelope for the other partner. From there, it's up to them to enact the scenarios as they see fit. The instructions are printed on the back cover of the box and the deck comes with a few blank cards for couples to customize. This is a fun little gift for couples -- and just in time for the holidays. I received a free copy of this game from the Blogging for Books review program in exchange for my honest review here.

My Review of "Misfit Faith"

Jason Stellman's Misfit Faith: Confessions of a Drunk Ex-Pastor was not quite the book I had expected it to be. It was so much better! Jason Stellman was a Presbyterian pastor, but he became a Roman Catholic. I expected Misfit Faith to be, therefore, a semi-autobiographical work of Catholic apologetics. I read of Scott Hahn's mentorship of Stellman, and expected Misfit Faith to be a new, milder version of Hahn's scholarship. But I did not see any defense of Peter being the first pope in Misfit Faith , or any criticism of Sola Scriptura, or an explanation and defense of the Catholic understanding of justification. Instead, I read the story of Stellman's own spiritual journey. From the opening confession that Stellman had flirted with Christian universalism, I knew this wasn't going to be a Catholic apologetic. I wouldn't even characterize Misfit Faith as an apologetic at all. Because if there's one thing Stellman isn't sure on...

The Mrs. & the Minister

Search This Blog