Christina N. (cejaystine) reviewed on 9/17/2008

Frankly, I read this because it was a church-wide book study and I would have had to drop out of attending any sunday school class for the better part of two months to avoid it... So begrudgingly, I got my book and went thru it chapter by chapter week by week... Each chapter, except for the last, had 7 parts which for our purposes was intended to be read one part each day over the course of the week... In fitting it around my life I chose not to dissect it so infinitesimally but it does take a some time to chew through each chapter because of the reflection style questions at the end of each section... so I spend probably around 3 days a week on it most weeks...

This was a surprisingly decent read... He said some things that made me roll my eyes (he tried a bit too hard to be funny and witty at times), but he also said some very thought provoking things at other times. And some of the "dive in" questions really seemed no brainers, but others were deeply stirring (some so much so that I'd revisit my notes later in the week or even in successive weeks to add new thoughts)... This book also had some interesting stories, especially so when you consider his only moderate age... Plus, I really LOVED some of the quotes he thru in there... of course many I knew, but almost equally as many I didn't...

In a way, I'm glad he's not my pastor as his personality wore on me before the end of the book... but it really made for a more solid interuption to our bible study than I'd expected and he really did work hard to back up most of his assertions with scripture... If you are doing this in a sunday school format, we found the supplemental teacher's materials to be very helpful with additional related scripture and expansion of some of the thoughts addressed. I don't know if I'd officially recommend it but it was more than just tolerable if that helps in yor decision process. But you'll really need to plan on setting aside some reflection time if you want to get a lot out of it...

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