Mealtime Habits of the Messiah

I blogged a couple of times about this book as I was working my way through it. Well now I've finished I'd like to recommend it. Really recommend it.

Don't be fooled by the sometimes light-hearted approach that Conrad takes in his presentation. This is a book to stir your thinking as much as any theology book might set out to do. What this book has is spoonfuls, no buckets full of thoughts and insights that will make you nod and say to yourself, "Hmm. Now that's an interesting thought." Take the story about Jesus calming the storm:

it would be one thing if a bunch of strangers witnessed Jesus calming the storm and then asked themselves, "Whoa! Who is this guy?" But the disciples? Why should this miracle cause them to rethink their ideas about Jesus? 

Why indeed? From there Conrad takes us on a journey through the Hebrew mindset and culture. Later he points out that:

God tends to represent himself through fire: the pillar of fire, the burning bush and so on. But he tends to demonstrate his power by exerting control over waters and the face of the deep.

Now there's a connection I hadn't personally given much thought to.

So the disciples have to rethink who Jesus is in light of his ability to control not only the water, but the wind and the waves too (okay so waves count as water). And later, of course, Jesus will ask them how their thinking is coming along.

Each chapter, or encounter, in the book is relatively short–only 3 or 4 pages at the most, and each opens with the full text of the story being considered. And there are 40 of them, so if you're looking for something other that The Purpose Driven Life to read over 40 days, you might find this refreshingly different. It's less systematic and, dare I say, a bit more fun without being any the less challenging.  You might not be able to write your definitive life purpose statement at the end, but you will have thought a little more deeply about Jesus that's for sure.

In the forward, written by the late Rob Lacey, he says of this book:

The mental commentary of his reader while digesting this book will be less along the lines of "Yes, I knew that" or "Well, that's something to add to my Jesus database of useful facts". It will sound much more like, "Oh, I didn't think you were allowed to ask that!," "Well, if that's the case, then maybe I can play around with this idea" and even "That's funny–I'll remember that!"

I enjoyed this book, and I hope you might enjoy it too. It's the best free book I've had!