40 Loaves - Review and Giveaway

UPDATE: Sunday, 12/20/09 @ 9:45 pm -- WINNER!

True Random Number Generator
Result: 9
Congrats to Janet Ruth! Email me your address and I'll send the book your way!

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Do you ever have questions about faith or your walk with the Lord? Are you ever hesitant to voice them aloud due to the fear of being looked down upon or judged to be lacking in your beliefs? Then C. David Baker has written a book just for you!

Titled 40 Loaves: Breaking Bread with Our Father Each Day, this book is full of "daily readings to renew a hungry spirit." Each chapter title poses a question and utilizes Scripture to point to the answer along with examples, reflections and teaching. The questions addressed get right down to the nitty-gritty of Christian living and include:

• Why does God seem silent in my life?
  
• Why does grace sometimes make me uncomfortable?
  
• Why are some Christians so hard for me to like?
  
• Why do regrets have so much power in my life?
  
• Why don't I feel safe at church?

Each chapter ends with additional Food for Thought questions and a prayer. Many of the prayers are from the Psalms; others are from Christians who lived long ago, including some in the 16th century.

This would be a great stocking stuffer and would be a good book for a Bible Study group or accountability partners to do together. And at the end of this post, you have a chance to win one of these books!

You can learn more about the book, read an excerpt, or purchase it here.

SUMMARY:

Why don’t I have more faith?
Why am I so bored with Jesus?
Why don’t I feel connected at church?
These are the types of questions the religious establishment often makes it uncomfortable, if not impossible, to ask. And by asking them, C. David Baker, author of 40 Loaves: Breaking Bread with Our Father Each Day hopes to start a conversation in people’s hearts, then with others, and ultimately with God. Many circles of Christianity have led us to believe that certainty and confidence are the proof of true spirituality; questions are discouraged.

But Jesus offered his followers an ongoing conversation—a relationship built around a free, open-ended discussion. Questions were encouraged. They were often impertinent, sometimes alarming, and the religious establishment was distinctly uncomfortable with them … just as it is today.

“40 Loaves is something of a collection of the kinds of questions I felt finally free to ask of myself and of my relationship with Christ,” says Baker. “It’s my belief that these questions are shared by many others who long for the freedom to simply ask them out loud. I hope this book becomes a platform that frees others to search their hearts more deeply and be fed with the Bread of life.”

Each “loaf” here is a big question that stimulates discussion, investigation, and contemplation; it will take hours—or days—to digest. Conversational, inviting, disarming, and real, 40 Loaves nourishes self-examination and offers validation for those who feel discouraged, guilty, or even shamed when the realities of their lives don’t match up with the ideals of the Christian establishment.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
C. David Baker founded an award-winning business before redirecting his career to write full-time from his small farm in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. He is the author of eight books, including six novels, one of which was nominated for a Christy Award. He has contributed articles to the Christian History Institute’s international publication Glimpses, and to Christian Singles magazine. Baker has a Master’s degree in theological studies from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. Learn more about him at his website.



GIVEAWAY!
The publisher has graciously provided a copy for me to give to one of you. Just leave a comment on this post by Sunday night at 8:00 pm CST, and I will draw a winner. US and Canada residents only, please.



Books provided for review and giveaway by the WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group.