I was just thinking about some of the reasons that I get so much out of your books - even more than the great theologians. Why? I love authenticity. Paul in Romans 7 says I’m not perfect but says follow me as I follow Christ. Calling himself the chief of sinners, yet also straining forward continually, and challenging me to do the same. When I read your stuff I read a REAL man, with real challenges, real emotions, real temptations and a contagious faith. Its almost like you’re saying, “Hey Mike, this journey is tough, but dude, we can do it. Let’s go, He’s with us." Mike from Surrey, BC

2012 welcomed me with a rip-snortin' head cold. Couldn't stay tucked in bed, either, as I needed to travel home from Alberta on New Year's Day. Fortunately for me, I have my own personal and handsome professional driver who agreed to marry me back in 1977. For that, he gets the privilege of toting my sorry carcass around without benefit of a chauffeur's paycheque. Even when healthy, I'm typically a useless lump on the passenger seat. I'm either sleeping, engrossed in a book, or grumbling about how uncomfortable I am. I figure if people were meant to travel, we'd have been given wings. Or first class airline tickets.

            So you can imagine what a peach I was on this particular travel day with the addition of a brutal virus. You'd be right, too, except I'd been given a gift while we visited family and friends over the holidays. Phil Callaway is a prolific humour writer and speaker who lives in Three Hills, Alberta. I was given an autographed copy of his latest book, To Be Perfectly Honest: One Man's Year of (Almost) Living Truthfully Could Change Your life. No Lie.

            It seems Phil's editor at Multnomah Books dared him to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth for an entire year, then write a book about his experience. Now, if presented with the challenge of telling the truth for a year in a public forum, I wouldn't exactly jump at the chance, would you? Which begs the question, why not? Are we habitual liars? If not, it should be easy. Right?

            Intrigued, I offered to start reading the book aloud as soon as the sun came up, about an hour after our departure. I didn't think I'd last very long, given the stuffed up sinuses and all. But we found it so delightful, I kept going...and going...and we were disappointed when we ran out of daylight around 5:00 and had to put the book away. I have since finished reading it and my driver is working on it. Not while driving.

            Phil Callaway makes his living as a humourist. Everyone knows what makes humour funny is usually exaggeration. Exaggeration might be 97% truth. It might even be 99% truth. But it is not whole truth. This presented a dilemma. But as Phil discovers, we humans are so adept at presenting ourselves in untruthful ways, we fool even ourselves. The stories he shares, presented in journal form, are hilariously entertaining and refreshingly, painfully honest. I can relate to this guy.

            One of the more benign and funny adventures was when an elderly man calls him one Sunday evening to apologize for his extreme anger after Phil cut him off in the church parking lot that morning. The problem was, Phil was out of town when the infraction occurred. He explains this to the man, but the man insists, "No, it was you, I know your car." In the end, Phil told what he hopes is a guileless lie, forgiving the man for his angry outburst. (He never says whether he also apologized for cutting the guy off.)

            I highly recommend this book for its thought-provoking self-disclosure, heartwarming tales, and sheer entertainment value.

            It will not, however, cure your cold. Terrie Todd  

(click on book cover to read more or order an autographed copy)

          I heard you speak recently and purchased your Laughing Matters book. Since reading it my anxiety and depression have been replaced with JOY. Thank you God! After your marriage talk, my husband, who has problems being loving at all, said, "I have to get rid of the mountain of self in front of me (and he's not found "him-self" again either!). I have shared your book and jokes with dozens of elderly HomeCare clients and with comatose seniors in a nursing home church service. The laughed so heartily I could not believe my ears. [name withheld by us]

 

I am loving your book Laughing Matters. My husband and I know too well those feelings of fear and uncertainty. We had three daughters (in 4 years). When our youngest was born, she was nearly dead. A shocked immune system the doctor told me after 3 months of watching her get sicker and sicker until she was in ICU. We were told to consider preparing her funeral. But it didn't end there. God had also decided that our middle daughter should have epilepsy and our oldest should develop asthma. Strange huh? At one point all three children were in different hospitals at the same time. We spent several days driving from one city to another just to be with our children. In that time, our faith was tested to its limits and yet, in that time, we saw God's hand move in the most obvious ways. Today, all three girls are adults and illness free. We have three miracles and now God has blessed us with six more miracles in grandchildren! And we love the sons-in-law that he added to our family too. Thank you for writing such a faith-filled book and for reminding me of God's great love. 

Donna Dawson

My daughter bought me With God on the Golf Course for Christmas. I am really enjoying it. This is pretty good since I am basically a non-golfer, maybe a beginning golfer. Last fall we stayed at Fairfield Bay, Arkansas for a week, just off the fairway of one of the courses. In the early mornings, I would sit on the deck and drink ice tea and be amused by the golfers. I determined there are 3 types of golfers: Those that like to cuss, those that go to get 3 sheets to the wind, those that really enjoy the game. I have always wondered why people golf. I have a sign on my desk " Golf courses, what a waste of good pasture land." But on this particular trip, I decided, since we are here, maybe I should investigate this thing called golf. I signed my wife and I up for a lesson. It was enjoyable. When we got home, we took some more lessons. Last October we went to Hilton Head Island South Carolina for a week. I actually played my first round of golf ... the earth shook...did you feel it in Canada? It was pitiful, but fun. The old guy watching over the course came up and said we needed to speed up...we explained this was our first round ever. So to kept the old guys behind us appeased we skipped a hole and he kept coming back to help. He made it a pleasant experience. God was smiling that day as a 58-year-old cowboy tried something he always thought was nuts and really enjoyed it. If you ever get to East Tennessee, please look me up. Bob Hilzinger

After my son was born I received a tape of your on Focus on the Family. You have no idea how much it has meant to me as a lonely traveler driving an hour to work each day to build auto parts in Saginaw, MI. I would pop in your tape whenever I felt down or depressed not because I wanted to laugh but because I needed to be inspired and that my friend is what you have done. I have literally spent hours listening to your every word about GUYS: Graceful, Understanding, Yielding, and Successful. This has become more than just a funny routine to me, it is what I try to remember each time God challenges me to grow in this ever-darkening world. Using your words as an inspiration I have been able to survive! I am not suggesting that without you I would have just laid down and died because my faith is strong but you are the light at the end of the tunnel. You have made me Homesick for Jesus. I lent your tapes to a man at the new GM plant in Lansing MI and he says he has listened to it four times and will return it after a few more listens! Maybe if I get one of your books and read it I can trade it for my tape back?

Kevin B.

 

 

My friend loaned me a copy of Making Life Rich without Any Money about a year ago. I kept it for so long that I ordered my own copy. That copy has been lent to two friends from my small group. I am now re-reading it in my spare time. I will be buying as many of your books as the Aussie bookstores can sell me. 

Julie B., Australia

 

I was off work for six weeks following surgery and a friend brought me your book Family Squeeze to read during my recovery. I loved it and ordered three others. Making Life Rich Without any Money was great. I know in my head that it is relationships that make us rich, and that having money won't solve my problems, but somehow I can never quite get that message down to my heart. I sincerely believe God loves me and that He will always look after me, but I still worry about money. I will be reading the book again and again and again. I am finishing Laughing Matters and have benefited from this one too. As I laughed my kids started saying, "There goes Mom again!" We have lived through some difficult times over the last 14 years. Though we trusted God, we became entangled with a cult because our families were. But my husband couldn't stop reading, digging, questioning, and wanting more of God. Once he started translating the New Testament himself, well, that was the end of the cult. We finally got out over 18 years ago, but not without heavy casualties. His family still won't speak to us. We ended up in a wonderful church, then felt called to full-time ministry. After a few years we both walked joyfully into our first pastorate. And were blindsided. We expected the rejection we received leaving the cult, but what do you do when you are beat up by the Church? This wasn't supposed to happen. That was about 14 years ago, and successive events didn't improve much. It has left us both exhausted and wondering if the joy will ever really come back to our family. For some reason the verse I kept coming back to was, "Though You slay me, I will trust you Lord." Not a verse to inspire comfort, you would think, but it has. Your books have reached me too and spoken in a way that I really needed. Thank you. May God bless you richly.

[Name and address withheld by www.laughagain.org]

P.S. By the way, my computer crashed (again) so I am sending this from my husband's computer. Don't tell anyone, but I am a Computer Technician and I have more trouble with my own computer than any computer I have yet met at work!