Looking for God

I was at a bookstore sale and had accumulated an armload when one of the clerks pointed at Looking for God and said, "If you buy anything, you need to get that book. It's the best book I've read in a long time." I had glanced at it in passing already but I decided to buy it based on the clerk's recommendation. I'm glad I did.

Do you ever read those books where the author tells you how wonderful his/her life is and how yours can be just as great if you only follow these __ easy steps? Those are annoying books. You know that real people who are fully aware of their surroundings don't have lives like the ones in those books. Only plastic people have all of their problems solved by the end of the last chapter and I, for one, am not plastic so their solutions don't apply to me.

Nancy Ortberg isn't plastic either. She hasn't solved her problems and she's not about to tell you how to fix your life. She is, however, willing to tell stories about how she jumped over, plowed through, or crawled under some personal hurdles, with the hope that her readers might be encouraged, and maybe even possibly learn from her successes and failures. We don't have a perfect-on-the-outside-but-completely-hollow figurehead pointing at herself here. Instead we have a disarmingly open, honest, wise, and passionate woman eagerly pointing her life towards God.

Each chapter in this book is its own freestanding essay. Although they work well together, they don't necessarily have to be read in order. It's a bit like scrolling through a blog - more formal than a journal, but still very personal. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and plan to re-read it in a few months' time. If you're looking for discussion group starters, you might find this material useful.

Looking for God : an unexpected journey through tattoos, tofu & pronouns by Nancy Ortberg. Published in 2008 by Tyndale. ISBN: 978-141431332-0.