Captivating

I'll never forget when my pastor (whom I greatly admired and respected as a leader and teacher) stood onstage a few years ago on a Sunday and held up an interesting looking hardcover book. "You won't hear me endorse many Christian books," he said, "because, let's face it, a lot of them aren't worth reading. But if I could endorse just one, it would be this one. You must read it." He was talking about Wild at Heart, by John Eldredge. I was impressed by his passionate plea, but I didn't run out and get the book. I did, however, nab it from my dad once he bought it and read it. Thus began my slow, concentrated devouring of one of the best books I've ever read. It took months for me to get through it. I read and re-read the sentences, laughing, crying, nodding, sighing, catching my breath. I took it to France on a month-long school trip, and spent the quiet moments in between classes sprawled on the tiny bed in my dorm room, reading and feeling my heart skip beats. A dorm mate was engaged to be married, and I let her borrow the book to read a chapter one night. She returned it wide-eyed and speechless the next morning.

I'm not trying to be all dramatic and sappy here, people. The book is good. It's truth. And now I'm experiencing the wonder all over again with Captivating, by John and his wife, Stasi.

To put it shortly and simply: if you are a woman, if you love a woman, if you came from a woman, or if you are married to or hope to marry a woman, READ THIS BOOK. And men, you might want to start on page 85 and read a few pages before reading the whole thing. That's where John talks about how he didn't want to co-author the book, even though he knew it needed to be written, because he knew it would require much of him. He had an inherent, strong feeling of back off... women are too deep and too much. Yep. You heard me right. It's okay if you feel that. Just don't believe it, and go get the book.

That's probably not all I have to say about that. :)