Books: Dead Reckoning

Sooner or later we all come to moments of crisis. Some will face the dreaded moment of economic redundancy, others will face health setbacks. Some will lose loved ones and others will face financial crises, but eventually we all face the great equaliser, death.

A whole mix of factors combine to make us what we are, who we are. The apostle Paul said in Romans 8 that we are thus all vulnerable to our own vanities or predispositions.

The problem is that prevailing reason regards these as inevitabilities of life - that's just the way we are, such is life. However, the bible sees these things as opportunities for divine intervention.

God is not fatalistic, resigning us to our status quo and leaving us to stew in our own juices without hope of redemption. Rather He allows our foibles and handicaps to bring us back to Him so that He can restore us and renew our life purpose. All our predispositions ultimately bring pain in one form or another and CS Lewis argued that such pain is God's megaphone to speak into our deaf worlds.

"Dead reckoning" explores how life crises bring us to a predictable breakdown. There God resets our compasses and reclaims our lives, giving us hope in what at the time may seem mindless and irrational.