A Gentle Thunder by Max Lucado

A Gentle Thunder is a beautiful collection of short devotions, and/or stories with a spiritual message presented in a way that only Max Lucado can.


Lucado uses folk stories, true stories, metaphors and scriptures to point the reader to various truths about God, and how he speaks in this confusing, modern day. He is compelling in this menagerie of devotional stories.


Then, he uses the same devices to guide the reader  into a definite answer to the voice of God: the choice. He makes the point that we are to choose. He opens this section up with a folk story about the two sons of a King who were caught in a debate about which is true: Is a man born a gentleman or can he be trained to be a gentleman? The answer, of course, is that he must be born a gentleman. This story is used as a metaphor by Max Lucado to provide the groundwork for the idea of “being born again”, as one must be to inherit the kingdom of God. It further points out our passivity in righteousness; it is only because of grace that we are righteous, not because we earn it, for our true nature is sinful.


He explains the pursuit of God for our love with a story about James Whitaker, a crew member of Eddie Rickenbaker’s B-17 flying machine during World War II. The bomber went down at sea and the crew was forced to float in a raft for a month before they were found and rescued. They had nothing to eat, but one thing that one of the men did was to read scripture in that raft and pray. It was after one of these times of devotionals that a bird landed on the head of Capt. Rickenbaker, who was able to kill this bird and prepare it into a meal that saved the crew from starving to death. The crewmembers were able to use parts of  that bird for bait to catch fish. That became the turning point for Whitaker to change from an agnostic into a believer.


One word after another, one story after another, one scripture after another Lucado, leads the reader along a path of simple, but sometimes poetic descriptions of important truths about God.


I recommend A Gentle Thunder to all readers who can use a book of devotionals that gently explain the beauty and ugliness of life, in which the beauty of Christ wins.


Amen.




copyright 2011 by Kathy Robbins