Laurie Beshore’s new book, Love Without Walls: Learning to be a church in the World, for the World just arrived at Zondervan. I consider it a unique privilege to show up at my job only to find new books laying on my desk. It’s a book nerd’s dream come true.
I’ll be talking more about Love Without Walls in future weeks here on the blog. It’s the newest book in the Leadership Network Innovation Series. You can look for it in stores in early June.
Following is an excerpt from the introduction, entitled “Going Boldly”. And although “going boldly” is a Star Trek reference, because of the new Avengers movie I couldn’t help but think of Hulk, Thor, and Iron Man as I read this passage. Take a look and you’ll see what I mean….
We all love stories of heroes. Of great battles fought and won. The “Cinderella story” of coming from behind and claiming victory. Whether fictional or true to life, these stories capture our attention, emotions, and hearts. They inspire us to do great things. They give us hope and faith in our world and humankind.
No one is inspired by no-win scenarios. The lost cause makes us drop our hands to our sides and walk away.
Looking objectively at the world around us, we can put much of what we see in the second, less desirable category. I’ve spent the past twenty-five years confronting situations many would consider no-win. The challenges in our society are great and seemingly hopeless. We see generational cycles of poverty, unemployment, illiteracy, inadequate health care, child abuse, elder abandonment – the list goes on. These issues seem insurmountable, and we sometimes want to turn our heads and hope the problems go away. What difference can we make?
And yet.
