⇠ Danny isn’t here, Mrs. Torrance.

It Seems Diplomacy Has Failed ⇢

Faith is About Doing

I discovered Have A Little Faith quite accidentally and I enjoyed it very much. It is not the kind of book I would normally read and certainly not the kind I would buy – but I did both.

I was very interested in the 10 Million Words project (which incidentally ended just today – how weird is that?) and I wanted to see if I could follow along. I knew I would not be able to read all the books so I made the decision to start small. My goal was to read or listen to each of the books that made it to to number one or number two on the list. If I was ever caught up, I’d try “number threes” and so on.

I even set up a web page to help me keep track of which books to read.

Anyway, one day I as at the local bookstore and decided to start on a couple of books – two I would buy but I figured I could read this little book before I left the store. It was clear before I was finished the first dozen pages that I’d want to own the book so I decided to take it home with me.

Other reviewers call this a story about two men and their faith but it is really a story about three men – the author, an agnostic with a religious Jewish upbringing; his former Rabbi, who has asked the author to deliver his eulogy; and a former drug dealer, now a Christian minister working among the homeless in Detroit.

There are many lessons one might learn from this very small book. The greatest, in my opinion, is that our faith should not be what divides us – it should be what unites us. We’ve all grown up in a world where our religions alienate us from one another and that shouldn’t be. I’m not talking about conceding the major tenets of one’s faith and agreeing that all religions are equally accurate about the meaning of our existence, etc. I’m talking about working together despite those differences.

If you are suspicious of these popular, feel-good, miracle stories; don’t let that stop you from reading this book. Read it – you’ll be glad you did.

In any case, it won’t take long for you to read and prove me wrong.

⇠ Danny isn’t here, Mrs. Torrance.

It Seems Diplomacy Has Failed ⇢