Living for Another

• Living for Another: More of Others, Less of You by Brent Gambrell on Amazon

Living for Another is an outstanding resource and reminder for Christians on any level, whether brand-new, with a lifetime of faithful trust and service, or "fairly mature with a long way still to go" in-between where most of us probably would place ourselves. "Another Life" is the other than us, the friend, family member, acquaintance, or total stranger God places alongside us and calls us to serve—sometimes at not very convenient times.

As the author reminds use, spending a season with Saint Teresa of Kolkata's peeps, serving a church-related teaching, humanitarian, or proselytizing mission in a third or fourth world country can be relatively easy, and though God calls some people to that type of service (some even spend their entire adult lifetime and raise their kids in those settings) that's not what God calls most of us to do most of the time.

The end of each chapter has a "So What" worksheet section that probes more deeply into chapter content and has a fair amount of journaling space readers might like to use; a short more action-oriented "Now What" page concludes each chapter.

I especially love Pastor Brent's explanation of and emphasis on forgiveness couples with his reminding us forgiving does not mean being a doormat, and at times resuming a relationship that has injured you is not wise or healthy. Exactly as our interim pastor observed: it's always possible to forgive; it is not always possible or a good idea to reconcile.

Toward the end Gambrell reminds us yes, God created us in his image and calls us to be and act as Jesus showed us and in the Holy Spirit enables us, but God created everyone in the divine image, so when we encounter or serve another, we need to approach and love them as we'd interact with and love God. The Great Commandment!

• My Amazon Review: outstanding resource!