I read this book because I was getting ready to preach a message on prayer and Phillip Yancey is one of my favorite authors. When I got the book, I doubted that I would finish it simply because it was longer than most books I read. One of the things I have discovered about developing the habit of reading, is to know your limits – know what you will and will not read and stay within those boundaries. Even with all of that in mind, I bought the book.
I was right. I did not finish the book but what I read was well worth it. As always, Yancey inspired me spiritually. I can’t say that I learned anything about prayer I did not know but the way he presented some of the aspects of praying, helped remind me of what it is all about. Here are a few of my favorite lines from the book:
“Prayer allows me to admit my failures, weaknesses, and limitations to One who responds to human vulnerability with infinite mercy.”
“Prayer is the act of seeing reality from God’s point of view.”
“I am overwhelmed by the vastness of God, the imbalance of any creature’s relationship to such a being. Since it is God we are speaking of, you do not understand it. If you understood it, it would not be God.”
For those of you who have a longer attention span than I do, you will read the whole book and enjoy it. For those of you like me, you will read part of it and say it was worth it.