Tuesday, May 05, 2009

Think. Learn. Pray. Plan. Dream. For soon… you will become.

Think. Learn. Pray. Plan. Dream. For soon… you will become.


“We need to get a little perspective.” Said Jones. And thus unfolds the best literary work I’ve had the privelege to read in the last 12 months. I like to think I read a lot. I read for a few different reasons. Most to educate myself and to expand my thinking on subjects usually related to my faith. For some reason this usually steers me away from picking up fiction. However, this time I reasoned I would pick up The Noticer for a quick read and promptly review it for my commitment to Thomas Nelson.


It was a typical quick-read fiction work… until it taught me more than any work I’ve read recently.


It was unexpected in every way. But around every corner author, Andy Andrews, has a little nugget of wisdom planted that, if embraced, has the ability to change a life. Andrews seemingly picks apart many of the times we broken humans can “lose perspective.” In doing so, he offers something for anyone.


A few of my favorites are as follows:


“I think it’s amazing… That a person could lose everything, chasing nothings.”


“Most people spend so much time fearing the things that are never going to happen or can’t be controlled that they have no energy to deal with the few things they can actually handle.”


“After all, the seeds of depression can’t take root in a grateful heart.”


“Your very breath provides authentic and infallible absolutes that cannot be disputed.”


I could fill the next five pages with little one-liners that were page-stoppers. Andrews is knowledgeable, biblical, well thought and extremely well presented. Page after page provide one “Ah ha moment” after another. This being the case, I found it impossible to read this book without a pen and someone to tell about it.


So, if you are going to read one book this year, let it be this one. Allow yourself to be vulnerable. Put yourself in the characters shoes instead of “them”. Learn that whatever you focus on, increases. Learn to think. Learn to Pray. Learn to Plan and learn to dream. For soon… you will become.




Justin Vance
http://www.justinrvance.blogspot.com