In the Eye of the Storm (by Max Lucado)

(Amazon UK link)

A friend had acquired several books which she didn’t plan to keep, so I had a quick browse through and picked up a few by Max Lucado. I hadn’t previously read any of his books in full, although I have often seen quotations by him, on a calendar, or social media. I usually like what he says, so thought a few of his books would add nicely to our collection of Christian books.

‘In the Eye of the Storm’ is a very light-weight read, designed for a general audience. It contains many thoughts and meditations inspired by what the author calls Jesus’s second most stressful day. I’m not sure I agree with that definition, but that’s not particularly a problem. The day in question is one when he healed a lot of people, was surrounded by crowds, fed the five thousand, and eventually met the disciples on the lake, during a storm. Busy and full, certainly. But my feeling is that many others would have been considerably more stressful.

The book is divided into three broad sections, which the author calls ‘Stress of Demands’, ‘Storms of Doubt’ and ‘Sting of Failure’. Within each of these sections there are several short pieces of writing, mostly about five or six pages long, some shorter, expanding on the ideas. There are some personal anecdotes, and also some extrapolations of the relevant verses of Scripture, looking into how the disciples might have reacted, or what Jesus might have thought.

I found plenty to think about in the book, and it was good to start each day for a couple of weeks reading two or three of these short sections of the book. There wasn’t anything that jumped out at me, or anything new; but there were some useful reminders, and some interesting accounts of the author’s experiences.

One slight gripe is that there in places there is rather a lot of repetition. Max Lucado seems to like saying the same thing in slightly different ways, too many times. Perhaps that would work in a talk, although it can be irritating; in a book in seemed unnecessary. It didn’t happen all the time, but when it did I mostly skipped to something different.

My other minor annoyance is that the book is very American in outlook and in some of the examples given. The sports references, for instance, went completely over my head.  And some of the assumptions - that the reader would have any interest in film stars or sports celebrities or wealthy CEOs - left me shaking my head in slight bewilderment.

However, they're minor issues, in the scheme of things, and not serious enough to stop me reading.  I think this book is a good addition to our shelves; it would be ideal as something to dip into, rather than to read straight through. It could also be useful for anyone wanting to speculate how Jesus and his disciples might have felt or reacted on what seems to me to be a fairly typical day of his life. Or, indeed, for someone feeling over-stressed with demands from others, or plagued by self doubt.

So, on the whole, I would recommend this in a low-key way. It's very expensive for what it is as a new book. But it's worth picking it up if you find it second hand, or - like me - have a friend giving it away.

Review copyright 2019 Sue's Book Reviews