Review: If you like your books short and sweet
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 04 27, 2014
I wavered between three and four stars for this book. Randy Kirk will say in two paragraphs what other people need books to say. He said we need to praise God. That's true. I prefer how Anne Voskamp said the same thing in 1,000 Gifts.When he starts the book by telling us of people who decided to follow God and now they head huge organizations, I found myself resisting rather than rejoicing. I know he means to be encouraging us with those examples, but it feels like he is saying that those of us who, by our giftings, our mental capacities, our situations etc. are called to be happy as small cogs in someone else's machine, are inferior. Of course he is saying no such thing. While I could not speak to his chapter about fasting as I have not fasted for decades now (health reasons), I thought he was good at pointing out necessary disciplines for the Christian. In contrast to his direct style of writing, I prefer works with nuance, supposals, poetry and thinking out loud sorts of writing. To that, I can almost hear in my head a big So What? You like steak, I like goat cheese, we both get protein. Most people do not have the time I have nor the speed I have to read. I can read massive tomes with nuance and alternatives. Most busy people cannot. If you prefer your books to be fairly short and filled with short, declarative sentences, this is your book. He is good at referencing other people's longer books about topics you might want to spend more time on. Every time I got worried that he was saying something that might be a little harmful, further reading corrected my initial impressions. If you feel like you need some exhortation or teaching in what the Christian life entails, this book may be helpful for you.