Monday, February 17, 2014

Book Review: The Question That Never Goes Away, Why


     

By Philip Yancey

Mr. Yancey discusses the always present question when things go wrong. When he was a year old, he lost his father to Polio. His first book, entitled Where Is God When It Hurts?” dealt with the grief and pain of times when God allowed suffering into the lives of His children.
In his latest book The Question That Never Goes Away, he visits three areas of the world where disaster prevailed. He discusses the tragedy of the earthquake/tsunami and the aftermath. He relates what he saw in the bloodbath of the Balkans some 30 years after the civil war there. He then writes about his experience of going to Newtown, Connecticut and speaking to those who lost children in Sandy Hook Elementary School.
Clive Calver, someone with whom Philip had worked some time ago, called him to come to Newtown and speak on his first book Where Is God When it Hurts? Mr. Calver served as a minister in a church just outside the town limits of Newtown. Several of the church members were teachers at that school. Philip Yancey asked for prayers from a group of close friends to pray for him as he spoke at “the toughest speaking assignment” he ever had.
This book is not an ‘easy read’. It is a necessary read for Christian counselors, first responders, pastors, and dedicated prayer warriors,

I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers through its BookSneeze program. All I was asked to do was read it and give an impartial review.

Graphic:http://booklookbloggers.com/

10 comments:

  1. Hi Cecelia! I'm sure that this book, and his first one would not be an easy read as you say, but what important work. Tragedy brings out my extreme empathy, but I often don't really know what to say.

    How was your PT apt today?
    Blessings to you my friend,
    Ceil

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  2. Ceil: Thank you,He said the talk he gave at Newtown, Connecticut was the hardest one he ever gave. I was a steward for nine years in our old church.
    I learned about pain, illness and other issues. Sometimes, we aren't supposed to say anything but just listen.

    We have bad weather (freezing rain and ice) predicted for our area again. I rescheduled for Thursday. Our schools had to make up a snow day today (Presidents' Day) but they let out around 1:00.

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  3. This is an everlasting question, isn't it? Someday we will all understand better God's plan and purposes. Thanks so much for sharing the review.

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    1. Karen: When we are new to Christ, we ask it all the time. As we mature in Jesus, we might ask it less and less. But the instances Phil Yancey speaks of in this book makes us all ask that question.

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  4. Thank you for bringing this book to our attention. Understanding why God allows tragedy is important. This obedient acceptance that God allows bad things to happen guides us in times of confusion, desperation, and grief.

    Be well and stay warm!

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    1. Janette: Your are welcome. You are right;we have to understand the reason for these events and for other disasterous ones. We have to cling to Jesus when we experience terrible issues in our lives.

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  5. This sounds like a very interesting book. I'm glad you featured it because I'd not seen it yet. I'll have to look for it.

    Thank you.

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    1. Rhonda: This book deals with unspekable horror that God's people have had to witness or be a part of. We need to know how to deal with these times. Most of us do but we sometimes forget when issues we can't control stare us in the face.

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  6. Oh Cecelia, thanks for sharing this review, sounds like a very interesting book. And Yancey is an excellent writer... I'll put it on my to-read list.

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    1. Marja: Thank you for your kind thoughts. HIs accounting of the disasters makes me stop and think about a lot of things.

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I would be honored to hear what you think about this.

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