Jesus and the racing rat

Before I was a pastor I spent nearly 15 years working in an office.

Most people, not all, but most have the sorts of jobs that they look in their diary on a Sunday evening and the most interesting thing they have in prospect a slightly dull meeting in a hotel just outside Leighton Buzzard (on Thursday). The subject in question will be the quarterly sales and brand share figures of a brand that you and I glance at as we sweep up a supermarket aisle. To us it is something we clean our sink with -to them it is their life.

Simply living life can be a major challenge. Getting the kids fed, up and out the door, sitting in traffic, paying bills, difficult relatives coming to stay for the weekend and a boss that thinks your priority in life should be getting some information to HR for him by Wednesday. On top of all this, there are all the things you are meant to be doing 'for church'.

It is so easy to forget the stress, complexity and demands of modern living.

One person who really understands this is Geoff Shattock. He gets the fact the most people spend most of their lives at work. That's why I think I enjoyed his book so much. He gets what so many people who run churches don't.

Here is the first page of his book which I love and hope will convince you to read it....

YOU SHOULD READ THIS BOOK IF:

1 You would like to reduce the unnecessary stress in your work and life
2. You would like to create a climate of encouragement at your work
3. You want to live a balanced life without being a bore
4. You want to work with integrity, being true to your values and beliefs
5. You want to do your job without becoming an obsessive perfectionist
6. You'd like to be yourself at work
7. You'd like to find daily meaning while earning daily bread
8. You are a follower of Jesus of Nazareth and would like to see how he tackled the exact same issues that face you at work
9. You are not a follower of Jesus of Nazareth and would still like to see how he tackled the exact same issues you face at work
10. You'd like to see how a man who changed the world can change the way you work

YOU SHOULD NOT READ THIS BOOK IF:

1. You don't like thinking deeply
2. You believe that work is all about money, power and status
3. You are stress-free, always encouraging, perfectly balanced, completely integrated, always true to yourself, regularly get the job done, and never lose sight of the deeper meaning of things (If this is you, you should be writing your own book, not reading mine!)
4. You are allergic to any notion of "spirituality" or "Christian"
5. Your too busy to go on a journey of discovery.

On second thought, you just might like to read this book anyway....

I commend this book to you-you can buy it HERE