An interview with Carl Kerby, author of
Reasons for Hope in the Mosaic of Your Life
“The two most important pieces of information I will take away
from this book: stay bold and be prepared to give a defense of your faith. This
book will inspire Christians to do just that. Your story, from your checkered
childhood to your resistance to God’s path for you, is a strong reminder that
God has a plan for us all. Your explanation of how the Bible fits into the
modern-day world, tackling issues such as evolution and race, is crucial to
today’s Christian.”
~ Rich “Ace” Franklin, three-time UFC
MMA Champ
Life is often not picture-perfect, and difficult times can
make it hard to see a plan or purpose for our lives. In this inspiring story of
one man’s journey, you will learn to see life from a different perspective. No
matter what your circumstances, God can gather up the broken pieces and random
elements of your life and form them into a beautiful mosaic—making you a useful
vessel for His glory.
Q: In what ways are our lives like mosaics?
Q: In what ways are our lives like mosaics?
To me, a mosaic is a fitting
illustration of the way God can take the broken pieces of our lives and create
something beautiful from them. My life has been filled with boulders and broken
stones. Yet God, in His grace, has put those stones together in a mosaic to
make me into a useful vessel for His glory.
I once saw a large mosaic but
was too close to understand the design, so I backed up to get a better view.
Just as the mosaic picture didn’t make sense until I got a broader perspective,
I had to do the same thing with the struggles I’ve encountered. As I look back
over my life from a different perspective, I can see why God has allowed me to
undergo some of the challenges I’ve had.
I also realized that the more
broken pieces in the mosaic, the more beautiful the picture and the greater its
value. The more we’ve gone through, the more amazing the picture our lives
can be when we have God’s perspective.
Q: How can Christians use
the mosaic of their life to bring hope to others?
People are often encouraged
by my story, when they realize that God can use anyone to do His work—even the
messed-up son of a professional wrestler who ended up earning his livelihood as
an air-traffic controller and then a public creation speaker. Growing up I
struggled with a lot of things other people do: an absentee father, my parents’
divorce, alcohol and drugs, run-ins with the law, even being homeless at one
point.
No matter our background, we
can all share our own life stories, our mosaic, to tell others how God has
taken the broken pieces of our life and made something beautiful and valuable.
Those rocky areas in our life can be steppingstones for sharing the love of
Christ with others.
Q: You address the topic
of racism in Reasons for Hope.
Why was that issue important to include?
Sadly, evolutionary teaching
promotes the idea that people are divided into different “races” with some
“races” better than others, leading to all sorts of prejudice, hatred, and
bloodshed. I know I was wrong in my racist attitudes when I was young, and many
still believe the same way I did. That’s why I take such a strong stand on this
issue today.
Ultimately, the issue of
racism comes down to this: where did humans come from? When you reject what the
Bible says about man’s origin, you will end up with all kinds of wrong beliefs.
But biblically and scientifically, there is only one race of people—Homo
sapiens—all made in the image of God. So we need to abandon the term “races”
and instead talk about “cultures” or “people groups.”
We have to teach people the
truth about racism, but what bothers me the most is that the church has dropped
the ball on this issue. In fact, the church (in some instances) is one of the
last bastions of racism and prejudice in America. And if we, as Christians,
cannot grasp the need to eradicate racism, how can we expect the world to do
that?
Reasons for Hope in the Mosaic of Your Life by Carl
Kerby
Genesis Publishing Group/December 15, 2011
ISBN: 978-1933591094/208 pages/paperback/$14.99
To learn more about Reasons for Hope* visit www.rforh.com.
For review copy and interview information, contact:
0 comments:
Post a Comment