I sometimes got hung up on the writing style, but the message is challenging and a great reminder to not get caught up in what our culture tells us is good, right, and normal. The book is a challenge to live in ways that challenge us and shake us up, but that allow us to be used by God where he wants us.

Shannan Martin's writing style is not my favorite. Often I wasn't really sure what she was getting at. For example, she is talking about how we need to be like the woman at the well, drop our water jars, and run to tell people about Jesus. She writes, "Once that jar hit the dirt, the gates swung open and the razor wire lost its sharp edges." Ummmm, is this called mixing metaphors? In another place she is thanking her blog readers and she writes, "On one of my hardest days, you baked loaf after loaf of warm, virtual banana bread and I've never felt more sustained by imaginary food." What does she even mean?

But then the book is full of challenges and quotable lines and so I love the book after all. Warning, if you are living the American dream and don't want to have your toes stepped on, you might not want to read this book! Mrs. Martin steps ever so gently, but believe me, you will be challenged to move from your comfortable life.

Mrs. Martin and her husband had high-powered Washington DC jobs, lived on their dream farm in Indiana, spent huge amounts of time worrying about their investments and accounts, enrolled their kids in the best schooling possible, and attended church with people who looked just like them. Little by little God unraveled that life. They moved into the city, got involved with their neighbors, most of who had prison records, were drug addicts, or in abusive situations. Their kids went to the public school down the road and they started attending church with people whose lives were messy. Her husband took a job as county jail chaplain, they lost their big income, and they learned to live simply.

Subjects she covers are adoption, choosing to have less, letting God un-plan and re-plan your well-planned life, being willing to live simply and smaller, being involved in community life, showing hospitality, letting God be the one to protect your kids, involving yourself in a local church where people can come with their lives in a mess, and giving generously.

As I said, Mrs. Martin's writing style may not have been my favorite, but here are some quotes I LOVED. "We elevate our families above God's divine plan to heal humanity through his glory, but we are fooling ourselves when we believe we can rubber-stamp a guarantee of protection and provision across their lives, prioritizing their perceived safety above our call to go swiftly to hard places." "Without even catching my mistake, I had idealized 'church' into a temple created to fit perfectly around the shape of my precious soul. I was fine. I was great. I wasn't looking to be changed by the communion of its fellowship. I clearly wasn't searching for Jesus." "Quite bluntly, we have lost our way. Rather than being reclaimed by the alliance of our poverty, we've learned to endure a false community of the proud polite. We've sworn membership to our fell-good Sunday club where the real troublemakers are outside our walls, and we're honestly a bit suspicious when one straggles in. We maintain the illusion of 'family' despite not even truly knowing one another. But hey, that's what boundaries are for -- separation of church and life and all that jazz."

Can I encourage you to pick up this book and allow it to challenge your thinking?