Book Review Time!

I do book reviews for Familyman Ministries - please check out their site. Here is one of the latest reviews for them:

The shrill ringing of the phone broke the sterile silence that had enveloped my office. It was one of the men in my church asking for a suggestion to read for his weekly men’s small group study. Every pastor should jump at those types of questions, shouldn’t he? In my pastoral leap, I landed flat on my face…or so it seemed. I told him I would get back with him, hung up and promptly panicked.

It was a day or two later I received an email concerning a book with its own study guide entitled, Hazards of Being a Man by Jeffery Miller. I ordered it and read it. I immediately was convinced that this book would go on to be a resource I could recommend to men’s study groups and men looking to improve their Christian walks. I expected the same old admonitions of evils of sexual sin and time spent away from family – but was encouraged with so much more! Yes, Miller does address these issues, but stepped outside the ‘norm’ and hit me hard in several other areas. He writes of the hazards of: deflecting responsibility, manipulation, misplaced priorities, individualism, lust, insensitivity, absence, partial obedience, unresolved anger, discontentment, unteachability and unchecked motives.

With each hazard, Jeffery Miller uses a biblical example to illustrate his point, thus tying Scripture to each and every lesson to be learned. At the end of every chapter he suggests how to right the wrongs, provides reflection questions and (my favorite) gives Bible memory work to coincide with the lesson. This book stretched me in uncomfortable ways!

It would be a great study guide to use in a men’s group, as an individual man or even a father / son study. Just under 200 pages, this book is easy to read with short and to the point chapters. If you desire straight-forward advice, this book is for you! I highly recommend it, and will no doubt be re-reading it for myself soon.