Life with Lucas 2 (by Jeff Lucas)

(Amazon UK link)

Some time ago I read - over the course of a year - the first ‘Life with Lucas’ book. It contained daily thoughts on Bible passages on a variety of themes. I always enjoy Jeff Lucas's writing, and found it quite helpful and encouraging. So a little over a year ago I bought its sequel when I found it available inexpensively second-hand.

Like the first book, ‘Life with Lucas 2’ is divided into several sections. The first, covering about nine weeks of the year, looks at the life of the Old Testament prophet Samuel and his dealings with King Saul. The second section, ‘Friendly Fire’, is on the topic of conflict and features a wide variety of Bible passages. Similarly, the rest of the book switches from examination of Biblical stories and Christian themes, ending with a look at the ‘seven deadly sins’ from a Scriptural perspective.

As with the first, there are not in fact seven pages allocated per week, but six: the weekend is counted as one day, and often serves as the introduction to the following five days’ worth of readings. So there are not 365 sets of readings and thoughts, but 312, labelled by weeks. The days in 2014 didn’t quite match with the way the book was laid out: the year did not start with a weekend. But that didn’t matter; I didn’t always remember to read a section every day, so sometimes fell behind, and sometimes read two in one morning. During the summer I was away from home without the book so towards the end I made it my aim to read three every morning in order to finish at the end of the year.

I found the selection of passages helpful, the writing sometimes inspiring, sometimes informative, sometimes thought-provoking. There were, of course, days when I forgot what I had read as soon as I put the book down, but I like Jeff Lucas’s style of writing and thought he made some excellent points. I don’t think I learned much that was new, but it’s useful to have a reminder of important facets of faith, and on the whole I’d say it was a valuable tool to start the day.

Not something that would be of any interest to anyone who is not a believer, and not for anyone wanting to do serious Bible study or deep thought. But as a ‘thought for the day’ for Christians I would recommend this.

Review copyright 2014 Sue's Book Reviews