I began reading this book when I was a freshmen in college. One of my athletic trainers introduced it to me, but because I wasn’t an avid reader back then, I never finished it. It was so moving though that I told myself one day I would. I even made a conscious effort to bring it all the way to California from Alabama knowing that I would one day get through it. So here I am about five years later. The reason I added this book to the list is because the stories the author told still stick with me to this day, and I have retold them on numerous occasions. They have changed the way I’ve looked at Christianity, so hopefully as I finish it this time around I encounter more of those life changing stories so that I can share them whenever I get the chance.
- Comment
- Reblog
-
Subscribe
Subscribed
Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
12 Books a Year 
June 6, 2017 at 6:51 pm
Such a great book and Shane’s pursuit of peace and reconciliation of people to their Creator is wonderful to follow. Great choice!
LikeLiked by 1 person
June 7, 2017 at 7:17 pm
In reading up to chapter 3 right now, Ive found it reallly interesting because I think people find some hypocrisy in religion. For me I was raised Catholic but consider Myself more Christian than anything else. I just got married to my beautiful wife last year in the Catholic Church. It felt very wrong in my eyes that we were being charged $1500 to get married. In my eyes that is not what God would do, a donation seems right. So I can understand where Shane is coming from in his experiences. I can definitely say as you did I have already told a few of Shane’s stories from this book to people. I believe that one’s spiritual journey to finding Jesus is a long one. The work Shane has done for people Jesus Love in his heart is truley amazing. I’m excited to keep reading to hear more stories, they are very inspiring. I recently started a Raiders Fan Club in Los Angeles and the most exciting part is probably the fact that im going to use my passsion for the Raiders as an avenue to raise money for charities and raise awareness for different causes. What chapter are you on, and what are some of your thoughts from the first couple chapters? #RAIDERNATION
LikeLike
June 15, 2017 at 12:42 am
I’m a little ways into the book and so far I have found it very insightful I especially enjoyed the part where he is in Calcutta. There is such great messages behind all of the stories in the book. So far I am liking it, good choice!
LikeLike
June 16, 2017 at 4:42 pm
His experiences in Calcutta paint the perfect picture of the message he is trying to convey. He is challenging the way we look at Christianity, he met Mother Teresa there who committed her whole life to helping the sick and poor, but wasn’t married. A lot of times there is a certain stigma attached to a Christian who isn’t married, although Jesus himself was never married. When he met the older guy in Calcutta who gave up all his riches to follow Christ, that was truly astonishing. How many of us are willing to do that today? Most of us are probably like the rich young ruler in the Bible. The way Shane touched and loved the lepers like Christ did showed me that he was truly on a journey to become more like Christ. Today, we are willing to send money to the sick and poor, and maybe even spend some time, but how many of us are willing to touch them so that they feel the love?
LikeLike
June 17, 2017 at 3:53 pm
I am a little ways through this book. It is a inspiring read. I find it interesting the way the author points out flaws in the way his church was ran as a kid. He has some similar and some different views than me. The author is a good writer and it makes the book a lot more interesting.
LikeLiked by 1 person
June 25, 2017 at 12:23 am
I have now finished. I still share my same views as to it being an inspirational read. I found the Calcutta part interesting as well. His idea that Christianity not only lives in the church but also on the streets with the homeless or in Rutba with the hospitable doctors and the rest of their community or the leper homes. It is really great how he encourages others to follow the path (of Christianity) that he chose for himself. Thanks Amari for the great book list! I look forward to reading the next ones!
LikeLiked by 1 person
June 25, 2017 at 12:40 am
I finished! It was very good although I feel that the author repeated is beliefs a lot , this can be looked at as a good thing or a bad thing. Him talking about about his adventures in Calcutta is still one of my favorite parts but I also enjoyed when he went to Iraq as a peacemaker. That little war torn town of Rutba was just beautiful, the way they treated the newcomers even thought their countries were at war, I wish all places were as kind as this little town.
This book was very insightful, as I said previously, the author shares some very interesting points of view some I agree with and some I don’t. I would like to hear everybodies opinion on his different beliefs especially his views on politics mixing with Christianity. Thank you for another amazing recommendation! I can’t wait for the next one!
LikeLike
June 26, 2017 at 8:55 am
I love how he shines light on the parts of the Bible we tend to ignore because we simply don’t want give up our lives to follow Christ, literally. He gives numerous examples of people in the Bible leaving their families to follow Christ, abandoning everything they own to follow Christ, but because it would be in direct opposition of the “American dream” which is like the holy grail to most people, we tend to overlook those passages. What I love most about this book is the fact that it is just a collection of real life stories that he and his friends have experienced on their journey to finding Christ and becoming more like him each and every day. One of the stories that resonates with me most is when he and his friends decided to throw a party at one of the parks in Philadelphia to give food and clothing to the homeless and to sleep with them. Philadelphia made it illegal to feed and sleep with the homeless in the parks so they were thrown in jail. But when they went to court he wore a shirt that read “Jesus was homeless” and the judge said that that was something she did not know. So he proceeded to quote the verse where Jesus said “the son of man has no place to rest his head.” This part was really eye opening to me because it showed me that even some of the smartest people in our society, people who have read law books in their entirety, people who seemingly know just about everything, don’t really know the word as well as they should, and it hinders them. Two of our main purposes in life is to know God and become more like him, but we can only know him by reading the Bible. If we don’t do that then we cannot become more like him and we can’t possibly do things the way he did them, which was perfect. Instead we respond in ungodly ways. I think this was his whole point of writing the book. At court that day the judge set them free, stating that the law that hindered them from feeding, clothing, and sleeping with the poor was unjust, and if it were not for people breaking unjust laws in the past, we wouldn’t have the freedom we have. We would still have slavery. To me, her whole decision was based off of what she had learned about Jesus that day. She had grown to know him more, and became more like him.
LikeLike
June 27, 2017 at 8:20 pm
I also enjoyed that part, and when he was at a gathering of republicans and when the president started to give the speech he began to yell about Jesus and I think that was really brave especially in front of the President of the United States. I recently did something that I think the author of this book would either do himself or encourage others to do. I made kits for homeless people that include a water bottle, two high protein granola bars and a pair of socks. My family and I hand these out to people on the street who are holding signs asking for help. At first it was a little weird because I thought what if they don’t want it but once I gave out more it got easier. Then when I started reading this book this was exactly the kind of thing the author would encourage us to do. The author also makes some points on mixing politics with religion that I find quite interesting what are your views on this?
LikeLike
August 22, 2017 at 11:11 pm
i’ve read this book a few years ago.. i wish i could say i flipped the pages however it was an ebook – it had changed my outlook on certain situations, taught me to think before judging. Between this book and being in the Army, its helped me to understand – going that extra mile with even the more trivial things from helping a guy out of a car with a broken leg, or offering to carry the neighbor ladies trash to the dumpster. Such little things if rubbed off can have a huge positive impact in our society. you got good taste coop.
LikeLike
August 23, 2017 at 2:31 am
I agree, I’m glad the book gave you an opportunity to put some of the things you learned into practice in a positive way.
LikeLike