Gutsy Faith

I was given the opportunity to review the book Gutsy Faith by Jeff Edmondson. This book is published by Beacon Hill Press and is Edmondson's first attempt at adult Christian Inspirational/Spiritual formational writing.

The book begins by outlining several stories, stories that basically are meant to be the hook by which the book will catch you in order to reel you in. Real stories from real life that leave the players in the midst of a tragedy or moment of crisis in their spiritual journey. Having known a little about Jeff's life I was not surprised that he used his own experiences to highlight the main purpose of this work. Will circumstances dictate faith? Will problems cause us to have a lack of trust? What do we do when we are seemingly surrounded on all sides by trouble? These are the basic questions that we face as Christians when life brings troubles and these are the questions that Edmondson attempts to deal with.

The subtitle is Hard Conversations with God. The book focuses highly on the role of prayer in the life of the believer. His basic premise is that the majority of Christians fail to truly understand what it means to share genuine intimacy with God and therefore miss out on the fullness of experience that we can have by living out the Gutsy Faith that we are called to.

Edmondson begins each chapter by narratively retelling a passage of scripture illustrating for him what it means to have Gutsy Faith. Characters such as David, Samuel, and Elijah are used as exerpts from their lives are chosen to demonstrate elements of the gutsy life. We are reminded how prayer, scripture and meditation are all parts of our growth in grace. True intimacy with God means that we quiet our lives, spend time talking with God, meditating on his word and listening to His voice.

Edmondson has done a good job bringing to light some of the basics of spiritual formation. This book is an easy read and the stories pull you to each chapter. Although it was written to be used in a small group setting it is equally as good when used as quiet time reading. Although I do believe that the questions could have been a bit more challenging particularly in light of it preferred use as a small group curriculum. Otherwise I believe the book is well written and would make a good addition to any small group looking to deepen their understanding of spiritual formation.