Next Door Saviour

It is not often that I recommend a book here in my blog. Probably never before.

Here's a really good one. Next Door Saviour, by Max Lucado.

Have you ever gotten bored reading the Bible?

You've read those same passages, again and again, many times over. You've heard those popular verses recited and quoted times and again in Sunday Sermons and Christian gatherings. Yawn...

Each morning as you religiously open the Book, do you wonder if there still anything new in store; this same Book that you've read over and over in the past many years as a faithful believer? What runs through in your mind? Excitement? Expectation of new discoveries, new revelations?

Or is it, more like lugging your stiffened mind and treading along the well-traveled route, can't wait to get the the end of it and move on to something else. Just get over with the duty, the obligation, coz that's what good Christians are supposed to do, so you were taught. A chore. Those same verses, same passages, you could almost recite them. So, what's new?

I could spend an entire night sleepless devouring Dan Brown's Da Vinci's Code, yet doze off after ten minutes of the Bible. Bad Christian, I hear you yelling at me. I am just being honest, and honesty is a virtue, right?

Here's what's new: the Bible is richer than you think. If only you and I would look further, go deeper. This book by Max Lucado showed me how.

The same passages, the same scenes surrounding Jesus' brief stay on planet Earth, Max's writings bring them to life. You wonder where he gets such wisdom from. Ten verses in the Bible, Max expands into ten pages. He paints in the background, fills in the actors, he even invites you to explore the minds of each character. He gathers details from elsewhere in the Scriptures, and presents to you, a complete story. Ah oh, he writes with such flair, such beautiful play of words; a pinch of tease, a sprinkle of sarcasm, a touch of mystery. Almost poetic. Max's writings engages your mind, your feelings and emotions, absorbs your entire attention.

Here is a man who could see through common events in everyday life and relate it to the Scriptures, and see the hand of the Creator.

Have a read at it, and you will see those same passages from a new perspective. More than that, you will learn to see those boring and mundane routines in you life in a whole new light. Try it.