What I'm Reading

I got this through Thomas Nelson's Book Review Blogger program.

Buy		Read

Product Detail ISBN: 0849921392 ISBN-13: 9780849921391 Format: Jacketed Hardcover Trim Size: 6.20 x 9.30 x 1.10 Style#: 9780849921391 Page Count: 224 Carton Qty: 24

With Fearless Max Lucado examines some common fears. By re-examining our fears through the lens of the Bible, we can gain a new perspective on them "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." 2 Tim 1:7 The book includes a discussion guide with sections on "Examining Fear", "Exposing Fear" and "Battling Fear" making it suitable for personal, or group, study. It has fifteen chapters, so it could easily fill a few months' classes. The book's content is only 180 of it's 224 pages, so it's suited for light reading, as well.

Lucado does a fair job of examining common fears in broad strokes, i.e. 'Fear of Not Mattering', 'Fear of Disappointing God', etc. He uses anecdotes, examples from his own life, and examples from scripture to look at the source, the consequences, and an appropriate response to the fear. For me, his use of so many different translations of the bible (the acknowledgments lists ten), sometimes several within the same paragraph, got very annoying. He quotes 'The Message' a lot, which, to me, is the same as being too lazy to paraphase a verse yourself. It gave me the impression he was just using whichever translation fit his interpretation at the time. He always give references, so you could read it in your own preferred translation, though. That being said, I'd still recommed the 'Fearless'. In fact, I'm loaing to one of my church's education ministers tomorrow.