"A Sometimes Stumbling Life" by Mike Khandjian. A Review.

A Sometimes Stumbling Life: Making Sense of Our Struggles and God's Grace in the Journey of FaithA Sometimes Stumbling Life: Making Sense of Our Struggles and God's Grace in the Journey of Faith by Mike Khandjian
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Eugene Peterson pictured the Christian life using a phrase from Nietzsche, "The Long Obedience in the Same Direction," which gets a good handle on an important aspect of being a disciple of Jesus. Mike Khandjian, Senior Pastor of Chapelgate Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Baltimore, Maryland, does something similar with the title of his new 212 page paperback, "A Sometimes Stumbling Life: Making Sense of Our Struggles and God's Grace in the Journey of Faith". The title gives out the main thrust of book.

The eleven chapters are packed with stories from Sacred Scripture and real life. They follow a flow from the first steps to the final sojourn, examining and illustrating the often forward stumble of Christians. Each chapter takes up and wobbles it's way through fears, fixations or failures and arrives at a hope-filled conclusion. Every page is packed with encouragement to lift the heart. As an example, "Sin pleads with me to hide in secrecy. The Gospel assures me I don't suffer alone. Sin constantly attempts to convince me I can fix what I have ruined. The Gospel alone leads me, again and again to Jesus, which receives sinners with welcoming Prodigal Son grace. Sin displays what I have lost. The Gospel offers the relentless love of God in Jesus" (68-9). Good news as we stagger and stammer forward!

"A Sometimes Stumbling Life" is a read that will take one to Jesus over and over again. It would make an ideal gift for anyone from graduates to grandparents. The volume can also make a good addition to your church's book table. Grab a copy, and get ready to be encouraged. I highly recommend the book.

Thanks to whiteblackbirdbooks.pub for the copy of the book used for this review. The sentiments and statements are mine. And this review is freely given without any compulsion or coercion by the publisher or any other party.


View all my reviews

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

“The Shift” - 2023 Movie. A Review

Image
  What do you get when you cross a dark dystopian storyline with sci-fi, alternative dimensions, theological and philosophical questions, and the biblical book of Job? You get The Shift , written and directed by Brock Heasley, produced by Ken Carpenter, and distributed by Angel Studios. This roughly one hour and 45 minute tale swirls around Kevin (Kristoffer Polaha) as he moves from one realm of life, with it’s happiness and heartbreak, to another dimension that is a dismal existence clearly governed by The Benefactor (masterfully played by Neal McDonough). A viewer will be asking questions all the way through, and picking up clues and answers that pull the story together bit-by-bit. The story bumps up against an infinite set of alternative possibilities, of time, space, and versions of one’s self that will likely stoke a viewer’s imagination. But the heart of the narrative - besides love, grief, loss, trust/distrust - is around the place of evil, specifically, personal or human evil.
Read more

"On Getting Out of Bed" by Alan Noble. A Review

Image
  When it comes to family members or friends going through a significant mental crisis, or suffering, we often can feel like we’re fumbling about to help them. Sometimes, we can become like Job’s friends, whom he had to call “miserable comforters” (Job 16:2). But very recently Alan Noble, assistant professor of English at Oklahoma Baptist University in Shawnee Oklahoma, and cofounder and editor-in-chief of “Christ and Pop Culture” penned a deeply beautiful 120-page hardback that addresses mental affliction. “On Getting Out of Bed: The Burden and Gift of Living” is written for those who struggle with mental affliction, but also pastors, teachers, parents, and loved ones, to “help them understand their loved one’s suffering. It is for anyone who ever struggles to get out of bed” (3). I finished this book earlier this week, and kept finding myself saying, “Finally! Someone gets it!” Eight chapters fill up this handy manual. They run through several subjects, like not sounding like Job’s f
Read more

Community?

Image
  (This is from my letter to my congregation I sent out today, 30 August 2023) As one of my elders was leading us through Carl Trueman’s Strange New World in our adult class , I appreciated Trueman’s emphasis on community. And our discussions, especially the last two Sundays, were very fruitful as we thought out loud together about this subject. Therefore, I thought I would share something from David Brooks, an Op-ed columnist that leans into this discussion.   Brooks published a book in 2019 titled, “The Second Mountain: The Quest for a Moral Life”. In that work he was taking a gentle punch at destructive trends he has been seeing, and giving some helpful correctives. And so, he notes that “Individualism, taken too far, leads to tribalism” (34). He then shows how the loneliness and spiritual emptiness of individualism taken too far have become more prevalent in our time and the ways that they lead to very dark social consequences. These darker social consequences foster the need t
Read more