Fearless - Max Lucado

I am reading constantly. I am not really content unless I'm reading. As a pastor and happy bookworm, reading is a blessing I believe I have to offer the busy people around me. Some of this reading is profitable and some less so.

But in all the reading I do, there is one sure and certain way to tell a book is connecting with me. After decades of bookwormism, I now have a distinct pattern. Somewhere in the middle of the second chapter, I will put down the book, go get a good pen and a cold Diet Pepsi. Then I plop back down in the easy chair, take a lusty gulp or two of the soda and start making a mess of the book with the pen. If I haven't picked up the pen and the Pepsi by chapter four, chances are good I'm only finishing the book out of duty or because I promised someone I would.

Max Lucado's newest book, Fearless: Imagine Your Life Without Fear got inked up and messy by the second chapter. To be honest, it would have gotten inked up in the first chapter, but I was feeling lazy when I started reading.

This book is wonderful not because it is particularly novel or inventive. It really isn't. It is wonderful because it is a comfortable, favorite old Sunday shirt freshly laundered and pressed. It is an old friend reminding us of all those things we know to be true at just the very moment we most need to be reminded.

Lucado's faithful, meticulous use of Scripture, familiar use of stories, and colorful prose always make for an encouraging read. True to Lucado form, there is almost always a tiny biblical insight that might possibly stretch the text a little, but not enough to negate the value of the application Lucado draws from it. For example, at one point Lucado is discussing Jesus' mention of five sparrows sold for two pennies. He says that price works out to two sparrows sold for a penny and a fifth tossed in for free. He then draws a lovely metaphor around that freebie fifth sparrow. He says,"Society still has its share of fifth sparrows: indistinct souls who feel dispensible, disposable, worth less than a penny." Lucado says God doesn't want us to feel that way. God wants us to fearlessly understand how valuable and remembered we are. This is such a lovely discussion, Max! While Jesus may well not have been thinking specifically of this "fifth sparrow" stuff when he spoke these words, Lucado's application is still tender, profound and truthful. I'm quite sure Jesus doesn't mind any possible stretching of story...

The whole book reads that way. It is a very nice Sunday afternoon read. Even the dust cover of the book will make you smile and remember "true love casts out fear." Even the dust cover gives us a metaphor to remember and be encouraged.

Thanks for another great afternoon of ink pens and easy chairs, Max!