Book Review: Great Day Every Day by Max Lucado

Title: Great Day Every Day: 
      Navigating Life’s Challenges 
      with Promise and Purpose

Author: Max Lucado

# Of Pages: 176

Publisher: Thomas Nelson

Publication Date: January 3, 2012

Level: Adult (Non Fiction)

Rating: 4 Hearts


NOTE: I received a copy of this book from the publisher through BookSneeze.com in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis

(From Amazon.com)

The alarm clock rings in a new day and a chance to rejoice in it. After all: "This is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it."

But what about those days when the traffic snarls, airports close, and friends forget? Is there any hope for the days riddled with the hang-ups and bang-ups of life?

In Great Day Every Day Max Lucado unpacks Jesus' blueprint for dealing with such days: Saturate your day in Jesus' grace. Entrust your day to His oversight. Accept His direction. It's the only prescription to fill your day with God-given purpose.

When you find the divine promise of each day, you can face whatever it brings. Speed bumps and speeding tickets won't derail you. Hiccups and hard times don't have to ruin your day. In fact those days can become great days. Whatever you face, you can have a great day every day.

My Verdict

Great Day Every Day was another great book by Max Lucado. I’ve read two of his earlier books, which I thoroughly enjoyed so I had no doubts when getting this book that I would enjoy it too.

One of the things I love about Max’s writing style is how casual it is. It gives the feeling as if you are sitting down and having a conversation together. Another thing I like is his sense of humor. He is able to write serious books about serious issues but still be funny, I often found myself smiling or laughing as I read.  I also like how he uses real life examples of church members, athletes, etc. to get his point across. I’ve learned so many amazing stories from his books. Here is my favorite from this one.

“When ancient sailors sketched maps of the oceans, they disclosed their fears. On the vast unexplored waters, cartographers wrote words such as these:

“Here be dragons.”

“Here be demons.”

“Here be sirens.”

…Unlike his colleagues, however, Sir John Franklin was a man of faith. The maps that passed through his possession bore the imprimatur of trust. On them he crossed out the phrases “Here be dragons,” “Here be demons,” Here be sirens.” In their place he wrote the phrase “Here is God.”

Each chapter was closed with what was called A Daily Compass, which summarized the key point and offered encouragement for bringing this to fruit in your own day; each one also included a few Bible verses. This format seemed to me that you were meant to read a single chapter a day, but I often read two or three in a sitting.

The actual book was only 112 pages, with a large discussion guide (pgs. 117-136) in the back as well as a Thirty Day Journey that offered daily goals, encouragement, and Bible verses.

It’s been a while since I read one of Max’s books and I forgot that you always have to have a pen/highlighter handy while reading. I found myself tearing little scraps of paper and marking a bunch of pages I wanted to go back to later. Here are just a couple of the parts I marked.

“Worry is to joy what a Hoover vacuum cleaner is to dirt: might as well attach your heart to a happiness-sucker and flip the switch.”

“Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrows, it empties today of its strength.”

I found his words sticking with me throughout the day. I would often be at work or about to complain about something when a specific passage would pop into my mind and help me to work on changing my attitude. This book is definitely one I’ll be keeping on the shelf to read again.