Mike Yankoski was sitting in church one Sunday when the pastor gave a very powerful sermon "the gist of it was, 'Be the Christian you say you are.'"(pg.4)
Mike realized that he was not living into that. What followed was a six month journey on the streets, experiencing God's presence as he relied moment by moment on the provision of God and God's people.
The book is more than one (actually two, as Sam joins Mike on the journey) man's life as a homeless person. Mike takes us through the steps he took to be sure this is what God was calling him to do; the people he met who mentored and taught him along the way; and the steps he took to begin the journey. Mike volunteered at the local food kitchen and he and Sam began their journey living in seperate men's shelters in order to meet the kind of people they were likely to run into on the road and to learn how to act in a 'homeless/helpless/lost' situation.
But what struck me most about this book is that it is not so much a commentary on the homeless in America, but how open Mike was about his own journey and his growth along the way. Each chapter, each city, Mike allows the reader into his heart. We see the struggle he has not only with the situation he finds himself in, realizing that others don't have an 'end date' for their situation, and how truly his life is in God's hands. He shares his struggles not only with how he is reacting to what is going on in his new daily life, but what will be the long term effects of this experience on his 'real' life.
Even if you don't have a heart for the homeless or are not looking to learn more about the situation, the spiritual journey that Mike allows us to share makes this book well worth your time.
"I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review"
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)