Quintessentially Quilly

A book review & a giveaway.

I once invited someone to my church who promptly responded that she had only ever been to one church in her entire life. I was rather surprised since she had lived in many different parts of the world. I asked her to tell me about her church. She shrugged and told me the name of her church. I asked her what made it so special to her. She said that was where she was baptized. I asked why she had chosen that church for her baptism. She responded, “Because my father was baptized there.”

Upon further questioning, I found that my friend knew nothing about the tenants of her faith. She knew that she was a Christian because her parents raised her to be a Christian, had her baptized, and took her to church every Christmas and Easter. Once those would have been my answers, too.

Thankfully, God shook me out of that comfortable place and made me stretch and grow.  Stretching and growing always involves struggle of one sort or another.   If you are ready to stretch and grow, here is a book that will help you in the struggle.

40 Loaves
Breaking Bread With Our Father Each Day

This book is advertised as daily readings to renew a hungry spirit and covers 40 of the toughest questions believers wrestle over.  Since the questions are not easy, they do not come with pat answers.  They do come with scripture, a real-life vignette, and questions to help you formulate your own thoughts and ideas.

With these 40 readings, C.D. Baker tackles the BIG question believers ask — is it okay to question our faith?  Baker asserts that not only is it okay for believers to question their faith, but it is imperative they do so in order for their faith to become real.  Unsupported beliefs are illusions and habit.  They provide no substance or comfort in times of storm and doubt.

For me this book was not a simple matter of 40 readings for 40 days.  Some of the issues I had already grappled with, so I did not need to visit them long.  Other issues I lingered over for several days.  A couple of the issues I am still revisiting.  I almost wish that each question in this book was covered with a bit more depth and came with instructions for Bible reading and journaling.  I think this would make an excellent group study book — one week for each lesson.   Most of the points are too big to tackle in the standard “daily devotions” format.

C. David Baker resides on Grace Haven Farm in Bucks County, Pennsylvania and received his Master’s degree in practical theology from the University of  St. Andrews, Scotland.  Baker claims that the failures and deep valleys of his own life have lead him to God’s unquenchable well of Grace and blessed him with the ability to write as he does.

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This book was provided for review by the WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group.  Further, WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group has provided me with an additional copy of the book to give away to one of my lucky readers.  If you wish to be considered for a copy of this book please leave a comment specifically telling me to include you in the drawing.

Rules:

1. The contest comments will be compiled in the order they are received and the winner will be chosen by the Random Number generator.
2. To be included in the drawing all comments must contain the words “enter me in the drawing”.
3. The contest will end at 6:00 p.m. HST, December 16th, 2009
4. The winner will be posted on this blog on December 17th, 2009.
5. I don’t believe that God recognizes borders and nationalities so neither do I. Everyone is welcome to enter.