Sunday, August 07, 2011

Rumors of God

“Rumors of God”, Experience the kind of faith you’ve only heard about by Darren Whitehead & Jon Tyson

The authors springboard this book off of the prayer of Habakkuk which says, “Lord, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, Lord. Renew them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy.”

The premise of the book is that God can do for us today what he did for those in the past.

This book begins with the story of Catherine, a woman who grew up in church, trying to serve the Lord. Her experience with God had begun to grow stale until she was asked to go on a mission trip to Costa Rico to minister among women involved in prostitution. As she came back to the states she began using her vocation as a make-up artist to work in a strip club to help women with their make-up before they went out to perform. As she ministered and as some of the women’s lives began to change, she experienced a renewal to her own faith.
The next couple of chapters deals with God giving us dreams that are bigger than what the world can offer, not just rumors but the real thing.

Some of the chapters that the book covers that I feel were lacking (or at least presented better by others) are on love, grace, forgiveness.

Some of the other chapters such as justice, hope and community they did a good job with stories and illustrations to back up their points. In emphasizing our need for community over our cultures “radical individualism” they illustrate by closing the chapter on community with a man who had died at his house, in front of his TV still on, months before anyone knew about it.

This book was a good read and the authors made their point in only 173 pages.