Book Review: The Noticer by Andrew Williams

I love books, I hate spending money.  Thomas Nelson publishers have provided a great solution for me.  They have allowed me to review one of the books that is being released today for free as long as I write about it.  So here it goes.

The book is The Noticer by Andy Andrews.  You may be familiar with him from his other book, The Traveler's Gift.

Now, it is worth noting that I am not a fan of reading fiction.  I don't have a lot of time to read, so I want to make sure that I can gain the greatest amount of new information in the shortest time, which is usually done through non-fiction.  But the book was such a fast read that I didn't mind at all.

I can say I thoroughly enjoyed the book and found it to be a  a compelling story being used to set up a variety of great quotes and life truths for people in a variety of situations.

Also, being a lover of history, the author uses so many historical and biographical references to drive home his ideas that almost every page had something useful for personal development or for basic knowledge growth.  He even describes historical biographies as "adventure books!"  I love that.

The story basically follows a man name Jones, not Mr. Jones (but as a lover of Counting Crows, I couldn't get the song out of my head anyway).  Jones is some type of drifter/sage who is full of what he calls "perspective".  He helps various people see how they can grow and improve their unique life situations if they just look at them a little differently.

The book deals with topics such as poverty, old age, ambition, integrity, marriage, dating and others.

It is a great "catch all" book that is filled with wit, wisdom, knowledge and it is short enough you can finish it very quickly.

Here are three quotes that I connected with:
  1) "Ask yourself this question every day: 'What is it about me that other people would change if they could?" (pg. 15)
  2) "Most folks figure a true friend is someone who accepts them as they are.  But that's dangerous garbage to believe" (pg. 30)
  3) "I think more people would want to go to heaven, if they weren't afraid it'd be like church when they got there!" (pg. 96)

Some thoughts about worship feedback

So . . . Sunday was interesting. 

I wanted so bad to give a deeply inspiring and positive message about the freedom that is found in Christ when we get over ourselves and start to truly walk out of the slavery that we find ourselves in, especially the slavery of dark secrets. 

I failed miserably (I'm not writing for sympathy or hoping you will disagree with me, I know what I did). 

As I told Jeff Bush after the first service, "I'm sorry.  I was flying the plane, I saw the mountain, I just couldn't pull up."

I drove that message into such a dark place that even I was depressed at the end of it.  Here I am trying to share the good news of Jesus Christ and I made it depressing.

A few weeks ago someone asked me if I was going to be preaching for Easter Sunday.  I told them, "No.  Easter needs to be a positive and happy message so Brian Henry will be preaching.  I don't really do positive and happy that well, he does."

How true, how true.

Then, because I wasn't being depressing enough, I went off on my rant about the general atmosphere of worship in our church.

Since then, I have had a few people tell me how much they appreciated the rant, and others tell me how disappointed they were in the way that I shared it.

So, wherever you stand on it, let me share this.  I stand by what I did.

I came across as smug and condescending.  It came out as arrogant and rude.  I did not mean for that and would not share it the same way if (or when) I need to do that again.

But, it needed to be said.  I know that there were individuals in church on Easter who had real struggles and deep pain walking into church.  Others were fully engaged and caught up in the truth of the resurrection of our Lord and Savior.  I get that, my rant was not for you.  The sentiment that I shared was for the others.

It was for the ones who would rather sit and complain about volume (either too loud or too soft), song selection (not enough hymns, too many hymns, what's a hymn), musical style (drums are too pounding and the bass was rumbling, I need more snare drum and I wish I could feel the bass guitar more), and for the people who are more concerned with getting through the service so that they can at least say they were in church on Easter.  It was for those who sit there and critique the atmosphere but choose not to participate which would go a long way for improving the atmosphere.  It was for those who are distracted by trivial events and miss the fact that Jesus, who was dead, has risen from the grave to destroy the works of the Devil and set the world right once more.

It was for those who have chosen to be very religious and completely miss out on the relationship that you are called to.  Because in a religion there is no reason to be excited, you are just trying to get through and get to heaven.  In a relationship you are overwhelmed with what God has done, is doing and is going to do and there is nothing that will keep you from expressing that joy.  The same way that you can be in a wonderful and engaging conversation with a friend and completely ignore everything that is going on around you.

Am I sorry for the way that I shared my opinion (and know that it was only my opinion and not those of the church leadership)?  A little.  I do not want to polarize people on such a topic.

But if I had chosen not to share, I could not say that I truly love this church family.  I love this church family too much to allow some of those within it to remain unconnected with the joy and the power of a resurrected savior.  I worry for some that they are very religious, but have a small relationship.

If you were offended by the way that I shared it, I am sorry.  If you were offended by what I shared, it may be time for a self evaluation.