Settling down without settling down.
Purchase from IVP or Amazon.com.
Watch the authors discuss their work on Vimeo.com.
How does this book relate to you? How does reading the story of a couple who lives “outside of the ordinary” and does crazy things for years upon years on end, how does this story relate to you? How does a year struggling with diarrhea while tilling gardens in Africa, then transitioning to life in the States (with all its glitz and glamour) relate to you or I?
Put simply – and what appears to be the thesis of the testimony recorded in these pages – God is in it all. God is in and over every scribble of every story ever, ever written. If I can be a little personal, our society loves to look at the macro and overlook the micro work that God is doing in our lives. We love to overlook the details, how God sustains us from month to month (or, how about from moment to moment?). I’m getting preachy and am slowly inching away from the details of the actual book … Sorry!
This text tells the story of friends who become a couple, and in turn, become a family. The stories that they tell are continually intertwined with what they learn about God through it all. Which gets to the point of the book, and the point of our lives, that is summated by Eugene Peterson and also concludes Jeske’s book:
Our stories are interesting, but they are not the point. The point is Christ and His glorification. (paraphrased) It is to this end that Christine and Adam write and it is to this end that they live. Their testimony should be a lived example for each and every one of us. I recommend this book to anyone who thinks they’re the center of the universe. You aren’t, God is. If you want to hear the story of two people who understand that, and live that way, pick up this book. A beautiful story.
Back cover (see also ivpress.com) reads:
They started out living the dream. They promised themselves and each other that every day would be an amazing day. They even stuck that phrase—”Amazing Days”—on their refrigerator, like Martin Luther pounding his conviction into a door and launching the next great era of the church. “Ready or not,” they told the world, “here we come.”
They traveled the planet, doing missions and community development work in Latin America, China, Africa. Then they went back home—to the land of shopping malls and manicured lawns. And they wondered what had become of their amazing days.
In This Ordinary Adventure Adam and Christine Jeske mine their experience, from riding motorcycles in Africa to dicing celery in Wisconsin, in search of a God who is always present and who is charging every moment with potential. Read along and you’ll see your life—your ruts and routines, your frustrations and exhilarations—through different eyes, maybe for the first time. You’ll discover the amazing things God is doing in the shadows of even the most ordinary day.
Contents:
1. Dented Dishwashers: Becoming Ordinary
2. The Last Hurrah: Leaving Adventures Behind
3. Faith Muscles: Getting Moving
4. Thorns and Thistles: Work
5. The Cool Table: Identity
6. All I Got for Christmas Was Malaria: Suffering
7. Washing Machine Guilt: Money
8. The Honeymoon Never Ends: Marriage
9. Baby Slaves: Parenting
10. The Revolution: Community
11. Putting on Underwear: Fear
12. Dragonfly Resurrections: Choosing
Epilogue: La Celebración
Appendix: Reader’s Guide/ Discussion Questions
Discussion Questions
Notes
Connect and Share
It’s been summarized as what follows…
- Provides a new perspective on discipleship in everyday life
- Written by a Christian couple who have lived many adventures throughout the world and settled down in suburban America
**This book was provided free from IVP with my promise to provide my friends with a summary and review of the book!
