Book Review -- TerKeurst

"The Best Yes: Making Wise Decisions in the Midst of Endless Demands" was not an impressive book, but it was okay.  Lysa TerKeurst's books are not deep theology.  They're more like having a cup of tea with a girlfriend, chatting, supporting each other, crying on each other's shoulder or giving each other something to laugh about.

"The Best Yes" seemed to be primarily encouragement that we need to say no sometimes.  We can't always be people-pleasers and say yes to anything and everything.  

The best nuggests from the book were things I already knew, but it's good to be reminded.

• Any time you say yes to one thing, you're saying no to something/someone else.  Whenever you say yes, then something else has to make way for the new commitment.
• We are wearied by overcommitment.
• It's better to say no from the start rather than get involved and have to admit later that you can't carry through on what you promised.

I think the thing that surprised me the most about the book was that the theology was pretty decent.  Yes, she uses some evie-lingo.  And the book would probably not pass doctrinal review for my Lutheran synod.  But it's not offensive in the way that many books of this genre are.  And that made me feel comfortable enough to pick up another of her books.

The Law of God Is Good and Wise

I've been reading a book by a non-Lutheran writer, who quoted a non-Lutheran preacher (Levi Lusko):

When God says "don't,"

we should read it as "Don't hurt yourself."

That sounds a lot like a certain Matthias Loy hymn.

Ain't it great?

God's don'ts are not constraints intended to ruin our fun, but are rather protections for us.

Don't hurt yourself.

The Nice People Here

My daughter works at a restaurant.  As far as the employees knew, a new guy became general manager last fall.  Well, it turned out that, a couple of months later, he bought the restaurant from the long-time owners.  One of James's observations was that the people around here are NICE.  Really nice.  Patient.  Kind.  The employees are (overall) more agreeable to work with, and they have a better-than-average work ethic, as well as respect for their co-workers.  The customers, too, are a whole level of different of nice from the customers he worked with in other cities.

Fast-forward a few months.  Now it's Lent.  This restaurant traditionally sees a sizable increase in business during Lent, largely due to sales of cod, shrimp, and walleye.  

The new owner and new managers were surprised by the sales of fish dinners.  They hadn't seen anything like this in the other locales where they'd worked.

Just a thought ...

Are the type of people who keep the Lenten fast also the type of people who take their Christianity seriously ... and are thus nicer people overall?

Not saying that those of us who eat burgers and chicken during Lent are lesser Christians.  Also not saying that those of us who are strict with our no-meat-Lent are necessarily more patient or kind than others.  

But it is interesting that there were two separate observations of the culture of our area.  And maybe there's a correlation that's not readily obvious to the casual observer.