I just finished "Searching For God Knows What" by Donald Miller. He's one of the few authors that can evoke almost every possible emotion. There were times that I completely disagreed with him or was just annoyed by what he was talking about and I was tempted to put the book back on the shelf.But I stuck it out. And I think it was worth it. Miller does a great job in reminding us that our faith is not based on formulas, but rather it is based on relationships. I felt like I got my butt kicked because I often times read the Bible looking for some sort of working formula that I can apply to my life for a quick fix. But, what I need to do is read it as part of a larger story of how God works in and through relationships.
I may not explain this very well. I can never seem to write good book reviews/reports. But I was left thinking, and that is a good thing.
What sticks with me the most is his "lifeboat" analogy. He tells of a teacher who once asked his class what they would do if they were stranded in a lifeboat with a group of different people and then they had to get rid of somebody. Miller talks at length about how we constantly seem to be comparing ourselves to everyone and trying to somehow prove that we are better than others. We try to convince ourselves that we have more of a right to be in the lifeboat than somebody else, when in reality God is not looking at any of us as more important than another.
It was just a really good reminder that I need to be aware of what I'm thinking about others.
3 comments:
i loved that book. i don't say that about alot of popular books on christian bookshelves either. its true that were potential things to disagree with, mind you i saw it as a sort of autobiographical presentation of the faith and so allowed for a lot of theological fuzziness or artistic freedom. i'm not sure what you disagreed with or were annoyed with. only thing that i really thought was weird was the romeo juliet gospel thing, but even there he made some solid points, or should i say evoked some profound feelings/thoughts.
good review. you are quite good at them.
jon
I'd be interested in hearing you expand on what it was that you disagreed with or were annoyed with enough to consider putting this book down.
For me, I almost put the book away at a few points, mostly when he was talking about war. It's quite apparent that he's against Bush and the war, and he's entitled to have his belief. I should point out that I'm not even saying that I'm "for the war".
I'm just not a fan of politics (sorry Dave!) and I particularly don't care for American politics creeping into my reading.
Sorry, it's not a very intellectual arguement and I'll admit that he even makes some good points. I just felt like I was geeting "preached at" and it almost made me close the book.
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