Beauty on the Backroads

Stories of grace for life's unexpected turns

Non-fiction

What no one talks about: Review of The Spiritual Danger of Doing Good by Peter Greer

No one tells you when you’re signing up for nursery duty or applying to be a missionary or answering a call to pastoral ministry that it might be spiritually dangerous.

But as Peter Greer writes in his new book The Spiritual Danger of Doing Good, Christian service, whether paid or volunteer, ought to come with a warning label. (Disclaimer: I received a free advanced reading copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.)SpiritualDangerOfDoingGood_200rgb-662x1024

While charity can harm others, doing good can also wreak havoc on us. … Without evaluating our motives, it is possible to love our service more than we love our Savior.

Greer is the CEO of HOPE International, a nonprofit that focuses on microfinance as a means to end physical and spiritual poverty. His book is full of personal experiences of doing good for the wrong reasons with the wrong motive and paints an honest picture of what can happen in a person’s life, family and ministry when service takes precedence over everything else.

The book is funny and a little bit self-deprecating. Greer gives readers no reason to think he’s got it all together or is a saint when it comes to serving for the right reasons. Even as the CEO of a nonprofit, he’s still a human. He includes stories of others who have experienced personal failure while their ministry was thriving. It’s a fascinating and quick read, though by no means is it an “easy” read.

The Spiritual Danger of Doing Good is a warning as well as an encouragement to check your ego, your motives, and your personal relationships often in the midst of whatever job or ministry God calls you to. I wish this book had been published five years ago, before my husband went to seminary. And I’d recommend it to anyone who serves in the local church, as a longtime volunteer or full-time paid staff.

Greer’s message is that important.

Practical, applicable, relevant, The Spiritual Danger of Doing Good is not to be missed. And each chapter concludes with a link to bonus material on Greer’s Web site in the form of photos and videos. I look forward to viewing these “extras.”

For more about Greer, visit his Website www.peterkgreer.com.

 

What happens when God says 'go': Review of Road Trip to Redemption by Brad Mathias

Brad Mathias’ family survived a crisis due to his infidelity when God miraculously restored his marriage and transformed his life. Eight years after that life-changing event, the Mathias family would find itself in crisis again when their middle child, Bethany, began to withdraw from everyone and everything she used to enjoy.

Responding to a prompt from God to ask her what she was hiding, Brad and his wife, Paige, discovered the root of her withdrawal, a close call with death and an eye-opening revelation that they were not as engaged with their children as they could be.

One of the ways God led them in healing and restoration was to take a two-week roadtrip to Canada and the western United States to experience nature and be together as a family.

road trip redemption coverIt’s a journey Mathias chronicles in his book Road Trip to Redemption. (Disclaimer: In exchange for my review, I received a free copy of the book from Tyndale House Publishers through the Tyndale Blog Network.)

The first section of the book is some backstory and parenting principles, and while I found them helpful, I was eager to hear about the road trip and the experiences the family had traveling together. So, the first 100 pages were a little slow for me.

But sticking with it paid off. The road trip chapters are well worth the first part of the book (which gives the road trip context) and are inspiring. Mathias’ love for his children and his desire for them to see God for themselves in a personal way in their lives is evident. We’ve experienced one road trip vacation as a family with our young children and Mathias’ tales of their trip made me eager to take our kids on trips as they grow older.

The point of the book, however, is not to say that every family needs to pack up and head out on a road trip, although Mathias provides some tips and plans in the back of the book for that. Instead, he encourages families to be in tune to the uniqueness of their personalities and engage kids where they are. One of the reasons this road trip was necessary for Mathias’ family was the disconnect between the parents and what was really going on with the kids.

In the final chapter, Mathias ties the road trip to parenting and what all parents can learn from this experience.

Overall, I enjoyed the book, which contains pictures of their trip and journal entries from Paige and the kids, and found it a helpful reminder to invest in my kids and my marriage and not become too busy or out of touch that I can’t see what’s really going on. I was inspired by Mathias’ obedience to God when he heard things that didn’t seem to make sense but turned out to be some of the most special experiences of the trip.

For more, check out http://roadtripparenting.wordpress.com/