Clutter-free Christianity

I had an unusual encounter this morning at the grocery store. I stopped by to hit the sales after working at Mia's school. After I finished putting all of my items on the belt, one of the supervisors came up, stood next to the clerk checking me out and said, "Were on an episode of Cops last night?" I was stunned, all I could get out was a "No". The clerk asked her why on earth she would ask a customer something like that, and the supervisor said, "Well, she looks just like her!" The clerk said, "You don't think she's be standing here checking out calmly if she had just been arrested last night, do you?" She replied with, "It could have been a repeat," then turning to me said, "Are you sure it wasn't you?" I shook my head no again, not believing what I was hearing. She finished by saying, "Well, if it had been you, I would have split the Crimestoppers reward with you for your capture."

I woke up this morning not feeling the greatest, but I had errands to run and chores to do so I did my best to put on a happy face and get through the day. I started off my day with prayer and prayed again on the drive into town for God to help me through the day. That woman's words were like a punch in the gut. I just want to hide in the house. Jesse says that I should call the store's owners and complain about her behavior. I don't want to cause a problem, and I definitely want to act in a way that demonstrates my faith, but right now I just want to cry.

Clutter-free Christianity by Robert Jeffress helps cut through the dogmatic differences between denominations to get to the heart of faith. Jeffress focuses in on ten main points that are necessary to not only be a Christian but to grow in faith, such as prayer, obedience, and forgiveness. He develops each point through Scripture and short anecdotes bringing to life what it means to have a relationship with God. Sometimes the language seems a bit too professional for the average reader, but every point is solid and informative. Jeffress emphasizes growth from the inside out, and readers can't help but be affected.

The winner of a copy of this book was Karen Nielsen. If you didn't win this time, don't give up hope! I'm staring a new contest on Monday.