I have to admit that at the beginning of this book, I wasn't too excited. I have read my share of Max Lucado books. He often has great devotional insight, but I figured I had heard it all before.

As I read, I discovered that this book was different. I got into the meat of the book, and I realized that the premise of his book was to live the gospel we preach in tangible ways. You can tell a hungry child all you want that Jesus loves you, but what will that mean to him or her without giving a hearty meal to the child in need? We tend to get so caught up in our own lives that we just don't slow down enough to put into practice what we profess to believe.

One of the messages that really touched me was when the Apostle Paul was brought up. We know that he was the chief persecutor of Christians, and then Jesus met him and changed his life forever. Lucado pointed out that even those we think are far gone and seem like they will never turn to the Lord should not be the ones that we abandon and say they will never change. We have to keep praying. In fact, as Lucado points out in another chapter, we should pray first, not last.

This would be a fantastic book use in a small group Bible study or devotional time. There is a discussion guide in the back of the book. But if you are not willing to put action behind what you are learning, you and your group would be wasting your time. One person can make a difference. If everyone on earth believed that he or she could not make a difference, nothing would ever change. He challenges us to be like Mother Theresa who, though dead, still lives on through her tremendous work with the orphans of Calcutta.

Just beginning to study this book, but like it very much

Great everyday challenges on our thinking and actions. Would recommend to anyone at a crossroads in life or their faith. Think would make a great study/group/missions programme.

I am using this as a basis for an adult Sunday school class. We are now discussing various mission projects we can do as a group, or as individuals. This can be a life changing book, both for those who read it and for those it encourages us to serve. I would highly recommend it, and have already told several of my friends that this is a must read book.

Book -Outlive Your Life

I finally finished reading this Book and I am sad to say that I was quite disappointed with this book.

Normally I can't get enough of Mr. Lucado's books, but this time I had to start and re-start reading this book over and over. Not that the topic was not interesting, but I found it hard to read as it just seemed like a few of Max's books had been combined into one single book and had a new title slapped on it.

The only part of the book that got me thinking was the story at the beginning of the book called "Finding Father Benjamin". If I were to pass away like Father Benjamin, would my friends show people the things that I had done... Would they be able to speak about where I lived and what I had done with my life.

I also did not like how Mr. Lucado took liberties in the retelling of the bible stories used to illustrate his points. It would have been nice if only one version of the bible was used and not a mish-mash of different volumes.

All in all, I can not recommend this book as it does not teach anything new, but uses the ideas from some of Mr. Lucado's books.