I’ve finished reading a book called “11”, by Leonard Sweet. Here is an interesting statement from his acknowledgements:
“In a culture where the commoditication of relationships is so severe that we have disposable kinfold, it may come as somewhat of a surprise that “good relationships” are key to a healthy, happy life. This book was written because of the need for more specificity in what kinds of “good relatinships” keep us from not needing a therapist.”
Sweet goes on to talk about a Nathan, a Jonathan, Jethro, Timothy, Barnabas, Peter, Paul, Deborah, Zacchaeus, Rhoda, VIPS, Jerusalme and the Paraclete. Although at sometimes the writing feels a little rushed, the overall idea of the book is great!
Um, Ron, maybe dig a bit deeper into who Leonard is and who his heros were. (just google leonard sweet heros) Specifically check out http://www.mountainstreampress.org
Hey Ron
I like reading Leonard, he has such a high view of Scripture. His writing is a little frenetic I agree, but it is stimulating. He makes a valid point about relationships, all too often we treat them like so much in our society -toss and replace. In a conversation with someone we were bemoaning manufacturing quality. You don’t fix things, you just toss them and replace them. Diagnostics in automotive service seems to becoming rare. “We’ll replace this part and if it works then that was what was broken.” We do this with relationships too as Sweet points out. And sadly we often do it in the church. If we can’t get it to work, we move on. Sometimes you must move on, but I wonder, do we give up on people to soon sometimes because we can’t fix them….?