two books that can change you

So, here are my book reviews as promised! :)

This first book, Justice in the Burbs, by Will & Lisa Samson, can be an easy read. But let me warn you... just because it's an easy read, doesn't mean that you can just read it and forget it. This book will likely make you think about where you're spending your time and make you uncomfortable with life as usual. It will likely make you mad & sad sometimes at the same time, and make you disagree with the authors and agree with them - all on the same page.

This book is about social justice... something that those of us who live comfortably in the suburbs often easily forget about. This book shows how we can be a force for social justice in the world - from where God has placed us - right here in the life suburbia!

The book takes you through one couple's journey through life in the burbs as they begin to notice and act on issues of justice they begin to recognize everywhere throughout their day-to-day lives. A great synopsis from the back cover book states, "This engaging narrative will help you kiss apathy and ignorance good-bye in favor of a life of concern and action."
"Concern and action"... that's where I want to be... what about you?

Justice in the Burbs is moving and inspiring, and God has used this book to help me think more about living justly and to take small, meaningful steps toward social change. The book helped me be more aware of specific ways I can be the hands and feet of Jesus right where I live. God hasn't called me to be an over-seas missionary (at least not yet), and He hasn't called me to move my family into the inner-city (at least not for now), but that doesn't mean that He hasn't called me to act with His sense of justice in the everyday decisions I make right here and now.

I highly recommend this book if you're out there wondering what more God has for you!



This next book is pretty popular, so I'm guessing you might have heard about it or even read it already... Same Kind of Different As Me, by Ron Hall & Denver Moore. A friend gave me her copy to read and several others recommended it at different times, too, so I finally got to reading it and couldn't put it down! I even had a guy walk across a parking lot to talk to me about the book when he saw me take it out of my purse to show a friend. This book is that powerful!

For those of you who don't know about it, Same Kind of Different As Me is a contemporary true story about a homeless black man who grew up in the sharecropper system in Louisiana and an affluent white guy who's an art dealer in Fort Worth,TX and how their lives came to be woven together with tremendous purpose. This book will make you cry and laugh. It will make you appalled with the systems and racism that have kept so many people down - even within our lifetimes. It will give you a heart for the homeless that you likely will never have had before. And, like Justice in the Burbs, it might just move you to action for justice in the name of Love. Or in the least, it will give you a wonderful new perspective on who people really are and can become.

When you come to know Denver and Ron, you'll see that usual stereotypes don't even have a place near them. If I had just met these two men (or others like them) in their respective places of residence or along my path through life, I would have judged Denver to be a mean bum who made terrible choices that deemed him deserving of life on the streets, and Ron to be an uppity, money-hungry socialite who cares little about people outside his inner circle. But reading about their lives you see that not only are they different than what you'd guess on the outside, but maybe others I judge to quickly are different, too. This book led me to see that behind every person I can judge with an instant label like "homeless bum" or "selfish socialite" is a human being with a story - most likely a beautiful story, if I would just take time to find out. And that my life can be enriched by the most unexpected people.

You'll see yourself in this book... maybe it's in the middle of Ron's journey from a calloused heart toward the homeless to a heart wide open and humbled by an amazing man who chose homelessness... or maybe it's in Denver himself who stayed in the shadows most of his life until someone gave him a chance... or maybe it's in Debbie, Ron's wife, and her tenacious love and persistence toward everything she set out to accomplish, including fighting cancer.

I highly recommend this book if you're up for something great and willing to let God move you toward something beautiful!

Both of these books have websites with more info and even short videos to promote them. (I've included the link with their titles above.) If you read one or both of these books, let me know... I'd love to discuss them and find out how they moved you.