I love to read, and I find myself reading a lot. In fact, my library and love for reading has become a little bit of a joke since we arrived at Faith about a half a year ago. Getting all my books in the office and in order has been an unfolding project that many have had no shortage of amusement over.

Even with that love of books and reading, I must admit that there are rarely books that I read that I cannot put down. Sure, there is the occasional John Grisham novel that is a little like eating two desserts for supper or a Tom Davis novel that has captured a subject that is so compelling that I cannot sleep until I finish it, but those reads are few and far between.

I want you to know that Upended: How Following Jesus Remakes Your Words and World by Jedd Medefind and Erik Lokkesmoe was a can’t put down book for me. Part of what makes that remarkable to me is the genre of this book. Usually, really good stories are the type of page-turners that I cannot wait to get through. Upended is a non-fiction book about how to follow Jesus contemporarily, but it is not the average discipleship book.

First, Jedd and Erik are quite insightful in the areas of life they have chosen deal with as important to our following Jesus. Whether it was wrestling with what it really looks like to inhabit Kingdom values in daily life or “making Truth touchable” by acting on our beliefs as a pretext to sharing them, I could not wait to move from chapter to chapter. Over and over, I found myself thinking, “These are the things I needed to wrestle with.” Within each of the subjects, their approach was fresh. In a world where very little new is being said, Erik and Jedd caused me to consider new facets of thinking and action in some of the places I struggle most.

Second, the book is well researched and documented. As a bit of a “research nerd,” I really appreciated the care that the authors took in uncovering the real crux of each topic they presented and the attention they paid to the good research and commentary of credible voices in helping us respond to the challenge of following Jesus in each area of life.

Finally, the authors are masterful in weaving their stories and the stories of others into the fabric of the book. They present the challenges, how-to’s, and whys of following Jesus among the challenges of today’s life through the lens of the real experiences of others. It was not enough for them to present a factual recitation of the problems or their solutions. In instance after instance, they help us see what following Jesus looks like through the example of folks who are living it.

If you are like me and wrestle with what it looks like to follow Jesus in the complexity of the a fast-paced and often confusing world, read Upended.

I would love to hear your insights about Upended. Leave your comments to add your voice to the conversation!