Jen Hatmaker

I like the title. I was hoping for more suggestions in my life to improve myself. I thought the 7 experiments against excess with the number 7, as 7 is considered a holy number in the Bible. A few messages hit home, like taking one's shoes off at church and donating the homeless who attended there. I thought the book was a little long and wordy, after each topic was driven home. I already am a neat freak, so giving up possessions would be a piece of cake, especially on that small of a level. I have a husband who is a hoarder, who would not be able to do this. I was impressed with the adoptions. I don't know that I would have put children through so many extremes, though. If you have an issue with understanding that everything truly belongs to God, then this book will be of high value to you.… (plus d'informations)

I did not love this book.... that is not to say there are not some things I gleaned from it because there were. I just did not like the tone throughout the book. It is like reading a blog or online journal in many ways. It was not super deep throughout much of it. It even seemed shallow and trite at times. Her tone was one that poked fun at herself but it also poked fun at other things, too, and sometimes it was a bit uncomfortable like when you are in a group and someone says something a little bit inappropriate and you think, "Hmmmm... that was uncomfortable." There were some parts that grabbed me... the adoption story was beautiful and the media chapter spoke to me pretty strongly. I picked this book up on recommendation but I am not sure I would have chosen it on my own. There were times I was thinking that she was giving up many things that I have already given up because we don't have the luxury to do many of the things she was laying aside. I am also not a huge fan of the mystic/contemplative movement so some of the authors she referred to are not people I would read. Maybe I have become jaded to some degree in this realm but I am very picky about Christian books because I think many are misleading in this mystic spiritual realm. I don't think she, in particular, really said anything that I questioned but I have questioned many of the authors she reads regularly. Interesting read.... thought provoking to a some degree but not deep and theological by any stretch of the imagination. This is certainly not C.S. Lewis or Tozer. If you want to read something a little more impacting from modern Christianity I would recommend David Platt or Francis Chan.… (plus d'informations)