The Land Between

I was going to the bookstore today simply to see if Max Lucado's new book was out "Outlive your Life". While there I picked up Hybels' book, "The Power of a Whisper" but I am overjoyed to say I ran into a book and author, I was unaware of but this book has blessed me. It was a quick read but left a powerful impression with me.

The book is by Jeff Manion who pastors in Grand Rapids, Michigan and the book is The Land Between, "Finding God in Difficult Transitions". I highly recommend adding this to your library and the next time you are on a plane or have a trip, read it and it will bless you.

Manion says, "The Land Between is where life is not as it once was and where the future is in question, its the land where everything normal is interrupted by "one sentence":
Your position has been eliminated
I don't love you anymore
The tumor is malignant
The church is meeting to take a vote of confidence
Mom, Dad, I'm pregnant
I'm having second thoughts about the wedding
Your mother and I are getting a divorce
Mom has been rushed to the hospital, how soon can you get here?

"In one sentence we are ripped from normality and find ourselves in a new world, BETWEEN. In our more faith-filled moments, we know that we will regain our footing and find some kind of balance in a new normal, but for now we are simply and suddenly "BETWEEN" and at a loss as to how to navigate the terrain".

Manion uses the Biblical story of the Israelites' journey through the Sinai desert as a metaphor for being in an undesired transitional space. Transitions are our greatest opportunities for spiritual growth because in our chaos and emotional upheaval, God desires to meet with us the most.

"The Land Between is fertile ground for our spiritual transformation and for God's grace to be revealed but it is also the place where we can grow resentful, bitter, and caustic. The same wilderness where faith can thrive is the very desert where it can dry up and die if we are not watchful".

It has been a long time since I sat down and in one setting, read a book form start to finish but this book blessed me and I hope it blesses you as well. The next time I run to Grand Rapids to the Baker Book house, I will stop off at the Ada Bible Church and meet this pastor/author.

Owens