“We need a place where we cannot hide. We need a place where we cannot get lost.”

I haven’t had the brain space to read any print or digital books since February, but this book was the exception. It’s about being a person and belonging. The phrase “quiet alert,” about being attentive and contemplative, resonated very strongly. It strikes a chord for me this week because I’m at a conference-like event, and I’m fighting nerves about talking with so many people and being overwhelmed. But part of the point in this book is that people can become a faceless mass, but persons are individual, unique beings. So I’m trying to take this week one person at a time. The book is written from a Christian perspective, so maybe it’s not for everyone, but it was definitely for me, for right now. 

One of the pleasures of my new job is that I get to be Andy Crouch’s colleague. Full disclosure: I received this advance paperback copy shortly after I started in my role, but I would have read the book anyway. I already had so much respect for Andy as a writer and thinker, and if that makes me a biased reviewer, well, there you have it.