The world is full of so many kinds of trouble. What difference can one person make?
Austin Gutwein, a teenager who has already made a huge difference in the lives of thousands of children in Africa, is convinced that, through Christ, each one of us can have an amazing impact on the world.
Using the story of the feeding of the 5000, when one boy’s lunch fed a huge crowd through Jesus’ miracle, Gutwein encourages young people that they, too, can serve God with the gifts he has given them.
All we have to do is figure out who we are, what gifts God has given us, and how we can use them … and pray to God for all we need to serve Him with them. Gutwein deals with uniqueness, gifts, abilities, passions, the importance of Bible reading and prayer, our fears, the persecution and bullying we can expect, some of Satan’s temptations, and the personal benefits of working alongside God when He does something great. In an engaging way, he ties this all in to the story of the feeding of the 5000.
Gutwein’s style is chatty and informal, from one teen to another, but he presents his ideas carefully and quotes the Bible accurately and respectfully as he encourages his readers to find out how they can work miracles with God. Not that God needs us, but He wants to work with us, as explained in the beginning of the book.
Sometimes the topic’s relationship to this Bible story is a bit forced, as in the chapter on bullying. A few times an over-confident attitude of ‘we can do this’ shines through. But on the whole, Live to Give is an inspiring and practical book for young people on how they can serve God using the gifts He has given them. Similar in purpose to Do Hard Things by the Harris brothers, Live to Give encourages younger readers as well as older ones.
For more information and a preview, visit the Live to Give website.
This is yet another book in the in the 2012 52 Books in 52 Weeks Challenge, and is also linked to Saturday Reviews and Favorite Resource this Week.
Disclosure I received a review copy of this book courtesy of Thomas Nelson and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts about this book, and thanks for linking with Favorite Resources. The book does sound interesting!